beg3yrs

We're in the pick them up at the terminal camp. Last cruise in early January our medallions got held up for two weeks in what we think are US Customs (Carson, Ca) and finally reached our home the afternoon of the day we flew out in the morning. Needless to say at the terminal we didn't have medallions and Princess hadn't prepared them for pickup as they didn't know we didn't receive them in time. That was a shuffle that really cost some time. An old-style cruise card had to be made in the terminal so we could board and then we had to exchange that for a medallion freshly made on the ship at GS during the commotion of embarkation day. For our upcoming cruise we decided that rather than chance it, just have it ready for us in the terminal. Doesn't matter if the shipping was free or not. Heck, can you imagine trying to get your $10 back because the medallion didn't show up in time. After all the horror stories of trying to "submit a form" to Princess? I know from experience they get ignored until after six months you write a nice email to Padgett and the heads of all the departments responsible. Then suddenly you get a note of apology and a refund in a week. Too much trouble for me. NO SHIPPING!

Some government agencies will guarantee increased staffing, for a fee paid in advance as it usually involves paying overtime wages. Something Princess is likely loath to do.

I suspect the "high glass" is there to reduce the amount of wind across the cabana area.

fpsphil is correct but Guest Services gets slammed during the last days on the cruise. Best to apply them earlier IMHO.

Not my experience at all. They've been delivered from the nearest bar except when you are in your cabin. Then room service delivers drinks.

We did the land tour followed by a cruise in Alaska in late May of 2022 and had the same concerns. Turned out that there wasn't a single bag per person limit for the Join Me Tonight nor the Join Me Onboard categories. Upon arrival to the first lodge from the airport we were given information envelopes which also contained the bag tags. More bag tags were available upon request and there was no issue at all.

While not answering your question directly, I sense a concern as to does using LNG limit where these ships can go. My understanding is that the marine engines that burn LNG are dual-fuel and can also burn bunker oil. As long as the Sphere Class ships have tanks for oil as well, we're good.

Have you personally done this recently? IIRC I have tried something like this quite some time ago and was unsuccessful with an iPhone. The iPhone would not connect to WiFi for Internet service and simultaneously act as a hotspot. It would only be a hotspot if using cellular data for Internet.

The idea was that given six days to the next available flight home or spend over $1,000 (don't know if that was apiece) more to get to Calgary earlier versus renting a car in Seattle one way and driving back to Calgary for a drop off. Don't know if the costs of the rental would be feasible but it certainly could have been looked at. BTW, I erred in the drive time. From Seattle add another two hours so less than thirteen hours, definitely a long drive and might require an overnight (for us older folks anyway).

It's less than eleven hours by car ...

I see a lot of truth in this. As soon as I read the first sentence I immediately thought of the bridge officers and then you mentioned that towards the end of your post. Already we see bridge officers who get "seconded" from one line within the Carnival Corporation to another. I'm pretty sure this happens with the engineering / technical officers as well. Medical staff is another area that may already be subcontracted. We all know the casino staff works for an overarching Carnival Corporation company. While I don't see all of this as a bad thing, what I would miss is if we get a lot of subcontracted areas that are mostly passenger-facing, Princess will begin to lose its "personality" or "family feel" if you will. We all have our favorite captains and the more experienced of us like to mention to captains that we remember them when they were third officers or even deck cadets. Same goes for the entertainment staff. How I love to see a new CD and remember them as a very young junior rookie organizing the champagne bottle ring toss game. Going to stop now as this is making me feel old...

We've seen '80s and White Nights combined on both the Sapphire Princess and the Island Princess in 2022 and 2023. It generally ends up being in the Explorer's Lounge with the dancers and cruise staff in all in white dancing with the passengers to disco music. But, no costumes required of the passengers. Just make do or have fun trying to anticipate what might happen!

The only airline mentioned in all these posts is Air Canada. Is this a problem mostly with Air Canada? My personal experience with EZair has been excellent for international flights (from the USA and not on Air Canada) and fair for domestic. While domestic economy for me has been priced about the same between the airline and EZair, the previously stated advantages in other posts often swing me into an EZair booking. I also notice that domestically it's a bit more competitive in first class bookings, sometimes to the point that the fare difference between first and economy is often more than covered by the increased baggage allowance over economy.

We were on the Sapphire Jan/Feb of this year. The MUTS screen definitely needed some help. Glad that happened!

This information is over a year old. Ancient by the latest standards ...

Yup. We all know how well Princess keeps their website up to date and is always consistent. 😅

Back in the day of Princess Ultimate Ship Tours, during the visit to the laundry the laundry master emphatically told us that all laundry was done in hot water. DW writes in large letters on her laundry list "Cold Water Wash Please". I sincerely doubt that happens but who am I to argue... When I have something that can't handle hot water I send it out separately with a ticket specifying the Professional Cleaning process. It's not dry cleaning but something similar and I don't believe hot water is involved. Next time I take a ship tour (Sun Princess in 2024 I hope) I will ask.

Why would they reject a bid when there's still a chance of last minute cancellations? Even if all your bid categories are sold-out, the chance is still there.

And some of my middle names shouldn't be printed cuz they're only spoken in anger...

The TV was a required change for all Medallion Class ships. The old smaller TVs (and the even older CRT TVs) didn't have the connectivity (i.e. Ethernet) or interactivity required for the Medallion Class capabilities. Pretty sure this happened before the post-Covid restart.

Despite my silly comment earlier, a company sending you an email and asking you to keep it and/or your answers confidential can't really expect the receiver to honor that request unless there has been some kind of formal agreement. This is usually called a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and that then becomes a legally binding civil document. Sometimes they'll insist you agreed to the request by clicking through to the next page but it's easily defensible in a jury trial. That said, the receiver may from their own background and character honor the request but really doesn't have to. IMHO the survey does two things for Princess. 1) It gets them some information as to what new itineraries might sell well and .. 2) It generates "buzz" on Cruise Critic and other similar social media sites.

Maybe OP has experience with the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

You put a lot of thought into this, thanks for prodding Princess to keep up with the times!

And Princess calculates your drinking day as 6 AM to the next 6 AM.

Just remember, In Heaven There Is No Beer, so, Roll Out The Barrel on your vacation and have as much fun as you can!