BabySarge

Our upcoming August cruise is the first time we have used EZ Air for our flights and for the most part all has gone well so far. The only possible hiccup I see is that my husbands reservation is showing "ticketed" with the airlines and I have the e-mail confirmation of that; however, my reservation is still showing as "ticket pending" and has been since final payment was made in early June,

My question is should I contact Princess about this or deal directly with the airlines? Which would be the most effective? I'm thinking the airlines but never having used EZ Air before am not sure.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

AWT

Wishing you and your husband all the best and sending good thoughts your way for a speedy recovery.

Thanks for a great review. Will be on the Regal at the end of August doing some, but not all, of the same ports as you and your review has helped quite a bit with our planning. Again, thanks for a great review.

AWT

Hey BabySarge, this was a Princess Excursion. It was fairly easy and mostly flat. The only uphill part was going up to the palace and we all just got off and walked it up. They do have different gears on the bike. I never bike at home and don't have a bike but like to do it in the ports to cover a lot of ground. So yes I think you could do it. You also make a few stops and if some people get stopped at a stop light we all stop to wait. So not strenuous at all.

 

The only fast part was getting your bike. When we got to the shop we decided to use the restroom up the stairs down the hall. When we came back it was find your own helmet and bike and the first 12 went with the first guide and we went with the second guide. There wasn't anyone to really help you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you - feel confident from your answers we could do this. Appreciate very much you responding. AWT aka BabySarge

Was the bike tour thru Princess or a private tour? Was it a fairly easy ride over mostly flat and even ground? Was the speed easy and relaxed or pedal like mad to keep up? Do you bike a lot at home or is this something an infrequent biker could do?

Many thanks in advance for answering my questions. DH who is 74 and I (63) are doing this cruise on the Regal at the end of Aug, so really enjoying your review.

Thanks,

AWT

Love getting the stickers and adding another one to my "passport" book. Really, really hope they don't do away with them. I'm sure they are an added cost with very little return value for Princess/Corporate and that many people do just throw them away but honestly will be a bit disappointed if they do away with them completely. Make them available with the Captains Circle Host/Hostess and by request but please don't do away with them.

Just a heads up that when we were on the Island in Dec 2015 our muster station was the gym and there was nowhere but the floor to sit.

AWT

You might want to try the USPS Premium Forwarding Service. We used it last year when we were gone for 79 days and it worked great. It is a service you pay for and once a week they will package your mail up and forward it to whomever you tell them to. It does not change your address and you set the dates you want your mail forwarded.

https://www.usps.com/manage/forward.htm

We live in DE and had the mail sent to my sister in NJ so it doesn't have to be someone close by necessarily but for convenience sake it helped that we are only an hour apart and I just drove up to collect the mail when we got back.

AWT

If you can wait until your booking agent/consultant returns from vacation I would recommend doing that and dealing with them directly. If, however, you leave before that would happen why not try calling Princess and working with whatever agent answers to get things sorted out. For whatever reason we have also had these types of things drop off our summary and fortunately I save all the summary copies they send each time I pre-pay for something and am able to attach them in an e-mail as proof if need be. Once our consultant handled the matter and once a random agent at the 800 number took care of it. It is absolutely best to get it sorted before you board as once on board I believe you won't get much assistance. Best of luck and please let us know how it turns out.

Would hate to see any negative changes to the very generous OBC program Princess has. No idea how Princess decides who will become crew with them but hope they don't change it because IMO they have the nicest, friendliest, and most professional crews at sea; especially those that work the hardest like wait staff and cabin stewards.

I get a manicure and pedicure every two weeks at home and for gel polish French manicure on fingers and regular polish on toes I pay $55 USD. For the exact same thing on Princess my last one on Coral Princess in December 2016 cost $225 USD. Fortunately I had OBC to cover the cost, but bottom line is I will not be doing it again. I didn't buy any product and while the service was good, it certainly was not worth $225.

Should you decide to do it anyway, I would suggest getting a full breakdown of the cost prior to the service and make them write it down if you can. I find they tend to tell you the basic price and then when all is said and done there are a bunch of add ons - extra for gel removal, extra for gel polish, extra for this and extra for that.

Did the Chef's Table on the Island in Dec 2015 and it was awesome!! Most recent Chef's Table we did was on Coral in Dec 2016 and it also was awesome. Hope this helps.

Never had a problem carrying my Leatherman in my checked luggage until boarding Emerald Princess in Southampton this past September when I was paged to the security area dockside and had the choice of mailing said Leatherman home at a cost of 36 pounds (about 43 us dollars) or tossing it in a sealed disposal bin. I wasn't 36 pounds attached to my Leatherman so I tossed it in the sealed bin. I did have to laugh though when the security inspector asked me if I wanted to keep the case it came in...I said no, it's not really much good without the Leatherman inside it and headed to Vines to drown my sorrow...oh, who am I kidding I just wanted a glass of wine but did miss my Leatherman later in the cruise when I could have used it.

If they don't ask at check-in, just tell them. Same thing happened to us a few cruises ago and I just informed them at check-in and gave them the new card info - they took care of it right then and there.

Smoking on the balconies is not allowed on any Princess ship. Smoking is generally in the casino with occasional "smoke free" nights. Not sure where the other smoking area is on the ship but again, absolutely not allowed in cabins or on balconies.

Thought he was terrific on our B2B Panama Canal on the Island in December. Interesting, fun, well spoken, extremely knowledgeable about cruising. The lecture/presentation he gave was excellent.

We get the same feeling boarding a Princess ship that we do after being away from our house...."ahhhh, it's good to be home". There is just a feeling of comfort and welcoming that is hard to put into words every time we step foot on Princess. It's been that way since we started sailing with them in 1994 and while many things have changed over the years the one thing that has not changed is that feeling of comfort, warmth, and welcome.

Only 50 or so days until we get to say "ahhhh, it's good to be home" again. :D

stewart's real name is; piso mojado i see him with a sign saying that all the time.

:d lol!!

Did you notice that your list of "pros" is longer than your list of "cons"? Which may be your subconscious telling you to go for it. Your Mom will be with you every step of the way and still sharing the journey and adventure with you and maybe you will be able to fill the empty spot in your heart that her passing left by completing this journey you were going to share with each other.

Wishing you all the best,

And while it may not be a huge amount you will also receive a $30 dividend for the 100 shares once a quarter in addition to the OBC when you cruise. We figure the dividend pays for at least one or two bottles of wine once on board :)

While we have not cruised out of Dover we have taken the hydrofoil/car ferry from Calais to Dover and then the reverse Dover to Calais and am 99% sure the cruises leave from the same port area as the hydrofoil/car ferries. With that being said, as long as it is daylight out you should be able to see the cliffs.

You could almost hear Vera Lynn singing they were so magnificent.

From Post #906 on the Emerald Princess Sept 28 Roll Call regarding the Visa for India:

"Following a conversation with Princess the details for the references we put for the Visa were:

In India

JM Baxi

No 1566 Subramanian Road

Willingdon Island

Cochin

Phone Number 91-4842667474"

Much prefer the banquette type seating personally. As I am vertically challenged with a relatively short P:K ratio (posterior to knee bend) I find the seats on the banquette to be generally shorter than that of the dining room chairs . In the dining room chairs I cannot sit far enough back to rest my back without my legs sticking out and find that by about halfway through the meal my back is quite uncomfortable. So much so that on our next cruise I plan on taking a small pillow with me when going to the dining room.

We have always had to wait until on board before purchasing the wine package (last cruise was 30 days in Dec 2015). Your waiter/assistant waiter can sell it to you when you go to the dining room for first dinner. There are generally waiters/assistant waiters wandering around the buffet area when you first board that you can get it from also if you wish. We generally wait and get it from our waiter/asst waiter as I think it is brownie points for them.

As others have said muster drills on all Princess ships are held indoors. Another note about the life jackets is to please remember that the last time the whistle was cleaned is probably when it was installed on the life jacket and who knows whose mouth was last on it. It always boggles my mind the number of adults and others who appear to be fairly intelligent that put that whistle in their mouths and blow on it. Now, if I was truly in danger or in the water and needed to get help I wouldn't hesitate to blow on that sucker, but otherwise.....not happening!