Happiest when cruising

1 hour ago, Italy52 said:

So, does this memo mean that if I booked before June 29, 2023 I can get both benefits even if my cruise will be in June of 2024?  Seems like it could work, right?

I don’t think so, since it departs after September 12, 2023. It actually doesn’t say “book “by” - just Effective on June 29. So..maybe they clawback anyone they have recently credited past the September date? 
I am just going to wait to read the official document when it comes out to the public. 

12 minutes ago, ldtr said:

the obc is probably less than the second set of taxes and fees and the second set of gratuities that couples pay

 

Keep in mind that there is lost revenue anytime a 2 person cabin is filled by a solo.  Better than an empty cabin but to the cruise line much worse than two.  

 

In general with 35% of revenue coming from on board sales if the fare is X then

For a solo revenue would be  2X + .53X = 2.53X

For two the revenue would be 2X + 2(.53X) =3.06X

 

That is why the cruiselines tend to not give many breaks to Solo cruisers.

I do wonder about that.
From reading all these posts on OBC for various reasons, it seems many people aren’t actually shaking down their own wallets, and come off a ship with a zero balance. I know we have come off a cruise with a cheque due to us.  Sometimes we have a small balance due, but we are not making too many onboard purchases anymore. It really depends on length of cruise and how big our budget is at the time. 
 

And..it looks like we might be watching for the solo rate sale and book 2 cabins…I’ve always wanted my own bathroom. 

5 hours ago, dockman said:

The crown in regular rooms has good sized flat screen TV's mounted above the cabinet that holds the refrigerators...not sure of size but they are not small screen and are as big as they could fit in that space..plenty big enough and good viewing angles etc ...

I actually really dislike having that screen across from the end of the bed, but that’s the life of a cruiser in an inside cabin. It’s too bright when I’m trying to sleep while hubby is watching some old movie. For myself, I don’t bother wasting time watching TV during a cruise, there’s too much other stuff to do. 

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Just curious, does that mean they still have the small tvs on the shelf above the refrigerator area?  
 

Ooops….I guess I didn’t pay attention to your whole post. The TV was above the refrigerator, but it was a small flat screen. We were in an interior. I never bothered watching it, but my husband liked the Wake show. 

3 hours ago, Momma Mojito said:

We just booked the Crown Princess to Hawaii last week.  We will be in Honolulu on Veterans Day and I would think Pearl Harbour would be having special services commemorating the day!   One of the Princess tours we wanted to take is already booked.  We would like suggestions on what  Pearl Harbour tours any of you have taken, as long as they have good ratings it doesn't have to be with Princess.  Thanks

You do not need a tour to go there.

You can purchase your own ticket for 1.00 to go to the memorial.
 

Here is  the link. 
https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/233338/ticket/16

You can take an Uber or public transit there, too. 
 

On 6/17/2023 at 5:07 PM, tcdcruiser said:

TheCrown was the last ship not to finally have the wall mounted big, flat screenTVs. Has this finally been remedied?   Thanks 

As of May 5, no big flat screens. 

On 6/17/2023 at 3:30 PM, Ombud said:

I repeat ... ELITE WAITING ROOM WAS MICHAELANGELO MDR AND THE WAIT WAS LESS THAN 10 MINUTES WHEN I GOT OFF!! Where were you waiting? Please come back and state what time you went to the Elite waiting room. (I agree that non-Elite wait times were really long)

No need for the Capital letters.
I believe we were on different ships. So, I don’t have the answer you think I should. I’m glad you had a short wait. 

3 hours ago, mskaufman said:

How far in advance do we need tickets?

https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/233338/ticket/16

Here is where you can purchase tickets, without buying some sort of excursion. They sell out fairly quickly. We bought them as soon as they opened up and were able to get morning tickets. It really depends on what else you want to do that day, but we only wanted about 3 hours there, with still time left to do something else in the afternoon. 
I’ve attached the schedule for you, currently selling up to August 13. With lots of says sold out. You can also just show up and and get in the stand by line…but you’d probably be waiting a bit. 

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

Excellent point....I am a little rusty since not having cruised since the shut down!

15 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Book a snorkel tour with Captain Steve's Rafting and use the credit elsewhere-- over the years he's become our favorite operator for both whale watching and snorkel tours. The snorkel tours they do are off of the island of Lanai so you get to cover an additional island you wouldn't normally go to on a cruise. If it's during whale season they will also take you whale watching to and from Lanai. 

 

They depart from the Mala boat ramp which is on the north side of town. 

But….with the time it takes to get off the ship, if it tenders in 
Lahaina, you might not make it. The last several have been around 3 hours to get off the ship, unless you have a Princess Excursion, and the Elite priority waiting area  also took a very long time. 
 

Olivia, the CD, made it seem like it was a one off, but apparently it was not. I’ve read enough about the situation to realize it has been going on for quite a while, and is still continuing. We were on the Crown in Mid April. 

9 hours ago, fpsphil said:

This has been my experience since the restart. We never wait more than 10 minutes in the elite holding area.

You would not have enjoyed Lahaina this April. For sure people were waiting a very long time in the waiting/holding area.

1 hour ago, memoak said:

My CVP handles all my casino deals with no problems 

I don’t think I’ll ever qualify for one, but I know it has been a bit of a hassle for some people.

On 6/5/2023 at 12:30 PM, Shippy said:

To book with a casino discount....You NEED to book through the casino department !

Actually, you no longer have to. Your PVP can book it for you. Whether they want to or not, is another matter. 

4 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

First visit to Hawaii, have shipboard excursion credits to use.  We are water folks all the way.

 

Looking for recommendation of a snorkel tour we are in port 8-8 tender port in Lahaina.

 

What I have seen on You Tube, it appears that most tours depart from approximately 30 minutes away.

 

Has anyone done the Turtle Snorkel Adventure via Catamaran with HAL?  That is the only snorkel excursion offered otherwise we would book independently and use our excursion credits elsewhere.

 

TIA

If you are tendering in, do use up your OBC by booking the cruise line tour. You will get off the ship in time to make your excursion. It’s a crazy waste of time otherwise. We waited about 3 hours to get off there and another 3 to get back on. 

11 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have not. However, we have been to New Orleans before on a land vacation, at the cruise ships dock quite close to the center of town.

Thanks for your response. I just have to figure out if I can manage being in huge crowds of people. It would be a weird thing to just use the ship like a hotel on land, but I’m interested, for sure. 

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I just got finished posting the below on a Celebrity thread, but thought it would be fitting to post here as well.

 

Here’s a fun fact. If you add the Princess Plus Package to any of their refundable deposit bookings, it’s a flat $60 per person per day, regardless of your loyalty level or cabin category. If you add the Celebrity All Included package and upgrade the Basic Internet package to Premium, which would make it comparable to what you get with the Princess Internet service, it’s about $95 (or $82 for AI + $13 with the elite discount) per person per day. Then for me to get Baileys and Moscato included with my Celebrity AI package, I have to also upgrade the Classic beverage package to Premium, which is another $20 pp/day making it $115 pp/day to match what we’re getting with the $60 pp/day Princess Plus package. Sorry, Celebrity’s AI prices are getting a little crazy if you stop and do the math.
 

Then there is the ridiculous $100 pp/day cost difference, at least on our July 2024 12-day Apex cruise in Norway, when booking a Celebrity NRD booking versus a RD booking, while Princess bookings are all refundable unless you choose one of the cheapest guarantee cabin categories, which we never do.
 

Don’t get me wrong, we will still continue to book cruises with Celebrity when they have an awesome itinerary like going to the Galapagos, or a cruise to Norway when they include 2 days cruising above the Arctic Circle, or a cruise that docks in New Orleans for 3 days in 2025 during Mardi Gras. But Princess also has quite the selection of way more unique 3-5 week itineraries at much more reasonable prices. 

 

Have you done the New Orleans itinerary? I’m thinking of booking it for 2024. How close is the ship to the fun? 

9 hours ago, ski_mom said:

 

Thank you for that comment and I agree - I know my comment sounded negative and that's not really how I feel.  I'm getting to travel with my family of 5 (my husband, daughters 26 & 25 and son 20), my sister's family (her, her husband and two daughters 18 & 14) and my mom.

 

I just worry too much about it because my family travels more, so I tend to be the one to handle all of the details. My sister's family is not nearly as "go with the flow" as my family so things that we wouldn't worry about or wouldn't bother us in the least tend to be bigger deals with them.  I know it will be a great trip and we always have fun together.  We all live in the same town and see each other often. 

 

Thanks again for the reassuring comment!

 

 

What about letting your sister handle some of it, especially if they are not go with the flow type. That way, she can take responsibility for what she planned, and you get to relax a bit. 
I love a vacation where I do not have to plan anything, and it did it once with my sisters. Best vacation ever, but you have to be in that mind set.  I usually like to be the one in control of everything, but I kept my mouth shut when things were different than what I what I would have done. I just handed over my share of the costs, and let it be…

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

That figure was supposed to be the CAD equivalent of $60 USD.  It is using PCL's current exchange rate of 1.35m but folks can do a little better these days if they have their own source of USD and a USD credit card.   I believe the poster was confused in some way.

 

That said, I have no doubt at all that a subset of cruisers on Princess who pay $60 now for Plus would find value if they had to pay $80.

What would I be confused about? 60 USD is currently around 81 CAD. I am using 35% as an average…of course people might be able to do a bit better through some online searching.
I actually have a USD credit card and USD bank account and I was a banker for 25 years, so I’m pretty sure I understand how to get the best rate on the exchange. 
You still need to have the available funds to buy the USD. 
 I still need to pay attention to how much I am willing to spend on vacation extras. Maybe one day, I won’t need to do that. 
 

I had not considered the Premium package where people are already paying 80, I think. 

4 hours ago, memoak said:

Yes it would still be a good deal for us at $81. We both average at least 6 to 10 drinks a day plus waters and coffees 

Thanks for your response. I’m waiting for a really great sale where I just won’t want to say no to it. 

1 hour ago, 1emerald1 said:

The Discovery is the most beautiful ship, but the crowds and lines spoilt the experience.  And good luck trying to find a place to sit for a pre-dinner drink.

Luckily, that’s not something I have to worry about…we don’t use those bar venues. We went on the Discovery last fall and had a great time, but it was only 6 nights and not too crowded at that time. 

10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

IMO, the exchange rate argument is irrelevant.  If a guest is going to consume onboard Medallion Net and sufficient beverages (presuming they pay Crew Appreciation as well), those expenses are all in USD and the Cruise Fare option is $60 USD.  It always comes down to what the guests are going to consume and spend a la carte versus the package add-on.

Would you consider it if it was 81.00 USD per day, per person? 

We make our money in CAD, and we spend in CAD. If a base price cruise is 6 K USD, then that 8100 for us. So, we need to plan for that. 
162 per day is high… I’ll just pay the gratuities and half price wifi cost, at about 55.00 CAD for both of us per day.
 I only need one device for the wifi as my hubby locks his phone in the safe, the moment we get into our cabin. 
I won’t get into the drink piece of it, as it isn’t something we are very interested in. I also think…would we spend over 100 per day on drinks/ coffees, if we were at home? I don’t really understand the “I’m on vacation mentality of it” either.  There are options for everyone on a cruise and that’s why we like it. 

 

13 minutes ago, memoak said:

Another reason we avoid the buffet

Yep, there are lots of reasons not to go there, and a few reasons to go for a quick meal. Sometimes the dining room just takes too long, even for lunch. 

1 hour ago, mistyPA said:

Caribbean in April 2024 on Enchanted. Inside solo saved $620, $300 obc and plus package included, plus gift card.

 

That’s amazing. Which one? Did you have to call in to get the price, or was it just whatever is showing on their site? 

24 minutes ago, memoak said:

We are just the opposite. Right now we are on the Discovery and it is packed. On sea days you can’t really move around and to get into Gigi’s yesterday was a 45 minute wait. We waited for an hour to get sushi after ordering. We are booked on Grand class ships for the nex 4 cruises and are happy to do so

Oh…we like the older ships, but that buffet on the Crown was not very big and quite crowded most times. I’m ok with having to look for a seat, but since it was cruising to Hawaii the weather was not great, so there were many more people eating indoors than what you would see in the Caribbean. 

On 4/10/2023 at 8:06 PM, jeromep said:

Well..., until details are made more public, a 4 week dry dock, which is about what the gap in schedule seems to indicate, can get a lot done.  It is about 2 days to transit from San Francisco to Portland, plus it is a bit slow going heading up the Columbia River and to the Willamette River.  I suspect at least another day of transit to get to Vigor in Portland, assuming that the suggestion I read in the thread indicating that the dry dock is going to occur in Portland is correct.  Probably another day to float the dry dock.  And then reverse the whole thing back the other way again to get to San Francisco for the Panama Canal Cruise.  So the dry dock will probably only be about 2 weeks, and maybe a couple of extra days.

 

A lot can happen in 2 weeks, with enough workers and good project coordination.  A 2 week drydock is going to handle any mechanical needs that can't be done while the hull is wet.  I suspect hull painting and coating will occur.  Propeller resurfacing is also likely.  Inside the ship they can change a lot.  And a lot of soft surfaces will be replaced, lots of upholstery, and carpets to be changed.  Sure, they aren't going to be doing major structural changes to the ship, but once done I suspect she will be incredibly fresh and new.

Would I be dreaming to hope they get the newer Marketplace Buffet? We’re booked on the Circle Caribbean cruise in March, but we just did 21 days on the Crown, so now I am rethinking the cruise to maybe something newer, even if we have to go back to FLL for a btb. 

15 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

No reason why they shouldn't accept the gift cards, but instead of 400 in OBC I can get about a 500 discount through my TA.  The extra 100 savings plus having it in my pocket on the front end instead of on board spending makes it worthwhile.

What level or price point of a cruise do you book that they would discount it 500.00?