Shippy

Princess is a nice cruise line. We are sailing on the Royal this weekend... Royal Caribbean in January & Holland in March. My FAVORITE is MSC Yacht Club next September. We basically only choose Princess for convenience. We live on the West Coast & Princess is regular there. REMEMBER...when comparing cruise lines, it really gets down to the category. You cannot compare a balcony experience on one ship with a penthouse on another. Bedding, towels, food, service cabin, etc. are all different. This weekends cruise is in a Penthouse on the Royal. First time although we have done half a dozen Princess cruises. I am sure this will up my opinion of Princess but this was an exception deal. Probably will not be able to do that in the future. Now that I am older, I tend to look for the BEST category cabin I can get for the cheapest price. Most all cruise lines are great in a suite :O)

Safety, I am sure is one reason it has been scaled down. MANY decades ago, the baked Alaska was balanced on their heads with the meringue on fire !

WOW.....what did they charge ??? It is a minimum of $500. pp and with the ship markup......

California hospital emergency room just for the prescription

no pharmacy around where i live will do that. We did a home test. Positive. Called the hospital advice nurse. She because we were old we should take Paxlovid & go to the emergency room to get the prescription. Our symptoms were that of a very mild cold. No fever. Oxygen level fine. The only reason I took the test was because we had just taken a cruise. Side effects of Paxlovid were worse than our Covid symptoms !

I forgot to add...although we did not have to pay, it is over $500. per prescription ( google it) so you can imagine what a ship would charge you !

PAXLOVID My husband & I were both given that last month. We were NOT given any blood tests. We had to get it at a pharmacy we do not usually use because they do not all carry it....so I do not think ships would. THINK TWICE before taking that on a cruise ship. It definitely will give you diarrhea !

do not think you will be cruising for long. recently off MSC & they had something very similar. I think all cruiselines will have something like that soon.

Last month, we got off a different cruiseline & 2 days later discovered we had covid We are vacc'd & booster and OLD. We will be on a Princess ship next month. THIS FAR INTO THE PANDEMIC, EVERYONE SHOULD ASSUME THEY MIGHT GET IT IF YOU TRAVEL. THAT IS A RISK YOU TAKE & SHOULD NOT BLAME OTHERS. ALL SHIPS HANDLE IT DIFFERENTLY & i DOUBT MANY ARE SATISFIED WITH THEIR EXPERIENCE. THAT IS ANOTHER RISK YOU TAKE. I DOUBT THINGS WILL CHANGE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. COVID OR SOME OTHER VIRUS WILL BE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME. WE ARE OLD & CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THESE RISK AS WE WANT TO FINISH OUT OUR LIVES DOING WHAT WE WANT & NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT IT !

With the way technology is today, anyone that wants to know about you does not need a medallion app. Ever google someone ??? then go to linkedin follow with ancestry... Probably why I am so inundated with unsolicited emails. Part of life nowadays. Unless you want to live under a rock...

All cruiselines do this. My internet agency shows which cabins are available BUT I know this is not all of them.

Sorry to say there appear to have NO penthouse suites available. The top category I found was an MB mini suite of which 11 are available.

cannot find an 11/28 Princess ship in the Caribbean.

what ship ?

MANY years ago with my daughter. It was only a 3 day coastal cruise. Now that I am really old & falling apart..... (O: I will really enjoy a full week in a suite !

apparently not with the phone number they provided...800-774-6237 The gentleman I spoke with did not have a clue what I was talking about. The only point I was really trying to make was that I thought it would be a bit easier since you had already provided a credit card number when you bid. Some people might have thought the same. Sorry, if this post was beneath you.

done through my agent

I had bid on Penthouse Suite awhile back & heard nothing. This weekend I added on a bid for a Premium suite S5. Both minimum bids. This morning I got an email saying sorry, your bid not accepted. It did not specify so I figured I would go to the original email I had bid from & up the other bid. Well, each one said NOT ELIGIBLE ! So, I went to bid on the Club one & that also said NOT ELIGIBLE ! I was a bid mad because I thought if they turned you down, you could go back & modify your bid but it would not let me :O( 2 hours later, I get a congratulation email, your bid is accepted. It was for the Penthouse suite. Although I thought a lot of money, I guess a good deal. From our mini suite, 7 day cruise, $700. pp to S4 Penthouse. Now, the fine print...eventhough you have to put a credit card down when you bid, it says you are not paid. I wonder what happens to people that do not see this ? They have already taken away your original cabin & given you the new one. Would they just cancel your cruise ? Ours is only 3 weeks away. Anyway, I called Princess to try & make the payment but the man was really confused about what I was talking about. Luckily I was able to get my agent who straightened everything out.

Is anyone familiar with those cabins. I have bid in a PS but if I do not get it, I might bid on the S5. Is this considered a full suite for benefits ? If you have stayed in one before, would you book that cabin again ? thanks

My cruise leaves on Nov. 6th....have not heard anything yet :O(

We live by San Francisco so Alaska is easy for us to get cruises. Probably been there at least a dozen times from all ports. Vancouver is a beautiful city. Nice to do a round trip there & go in a few days early. We have cruised all the different dates & actually prefer the early season cruises. You can get the best deals on then. If I had only one shot shot at an Alaskan cruise...it would be Anchorage to Vancouver NOT the other way around. You are up quite a bit higher in the state & get to notice things like MUCH longer daylight. The cruise actually leaves from Seward. Fly into Anchorage one or 2 days early. Then you take the Alaskan railroad to Seward. It stops right at the port. You could actually walk to the boat but there is a bus for the 5 min ride if you want. It leaves early in the morning & is about a 4 to 5 hour trip. There is a dining car & glass domed car. You ride through the Denali forest which is quite spectacular & there will be a guide telling you about all the things you are passing. For us, we get the long flight to anchorage out of the way & then only have to fly back from Vancouver to San Francisco. You will notice that most cruises going the other way, Vancouver to Anchorage are cheaper. That is because it is a pain in the butt to get back from there. The train or bus if you prefer, has to make the long trek back to Anchorage & you would probably wind up with a night flight to get anywhere.

I think it means a lot...if I had counted all the categories it probably would have been 300. AND only 3 1/2 weeks to go !

Thank you for all the replies. Remember the $178 total would be the MINIMUM bid. I was really hoping that the dinner menu would be much upgraded but it does not really sound like that. Our cruise leaves in less than a month. San Francisco round trip. Apparently not a very popular cruise. I just went on an internet site to count the available cabins. I stopped at a little over 200 & still had many categories to go....So that tells me we will not have much of a wait, if any for dinner.

Just for reference....the minimum bid for our 7 day is $89.00pp

I have a chance to bid on a club class upgrade. Is it worth it ? I hear the main benefit is the dining. How much better are the menu choices ? Love to hear from someone who has had club class before. Would you pay the extra to book that again ? thanks