cruisinsince75

41 minutes ago, telecheck said:

 

True, I frequently receive comped or heavily discounted cruises also. For instance, today, upon signing into my Princess account, I noticed the $99 16-day Iceland/Greenland and $49 Alaska with Glacier Bay cruises. Are these deals too good to be true? I'm starting to doubt because I can't determine if they're legitimate or just a system glitch. There's no indication that they're casino deals either. While I'm tempted by the Iceland/Greenland cruise, I'm hesitant to book it now. I don't want to receive an email days later claiming it was an error, making it a hassle to cancel. When I booked the Barcelona cruise last Wednesday, I even called Princess, and they confirmed my booking was valid. We all know what happened afterward.

 

 

I'm not seeing those when I log in.  Worst that can happen is find out it was a mistake and they refund you the deposit.

On 4/30/2024 at 3:03 AM, Ombud said:

No and factor in that they tend to do 6 pours per bottle so you can factor that in the when determining costs. 

 

FWIW Kim Crawford Chardonnay is A$18 per glass. 6×18=A$108+18%. For a A$22 bottle. 

 

BUT my bottles tend to be a lot more (I just used KC as an example as it was the one I took to our roll call wine sharing event). I usually carryon 3+ and am prepared to pay corkage 

 

If they are squeezing 6 glasses out of a 750 mil (25.36 oz) that is some serious nickel and diming.  Guess I'm a lush.  At home it only gets me 4. 

17 hours ago, artvlay said:

I was told not to use ATMs in an airport as they charge higher fees and exchange rates.

Is this correct?

In Europe ATMs are called Bancomats.  At airports use one only from an actual Bank and not one attached to a currency exchange.  Use your debit card and not a credit card.  The exchange rate will be calculated by your bank and you will pay a small foreign transaction fee (generally 1-3%).  

At stores and restaurants, I always use my credit card that has no foreign transaction fees

19 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

Get a CVP if you don't use a travel agent. Book another cruise before the expiration using the FCDs. Then when the booking you want is available, ask the CVP to cancel the old booking and transfer the FCD to the new one. This has worked in the past, but I haven't tried it recently - so no guarantees.

That was exactly what I was going suggest.  I have also done that in the past, but not recently.

19 hours ago, mustgo said:

Thanks for your answer. Seriously thinking about giving up cruising. We have had a good run

Both my wife and I require the use of scooters.  The ones we have are made by Travelscoot,  www.travelscoot.com  The width is only 21.5" and fits through all standard size stateroom doors.  It is also collapsible and lightweight.  Might be an option for you to consider.  

We have booked an accessible mini-suite on the Regal for November because my wife had a stroke.  She is able to walk just fine, but cannot bend her leg in order to get into a bathtub/shower combo.  

We found out that our MA mini stateroom was more expensive than a standard mini MB, but weren't charged the additional, because there are no MB staterooms that are accessible.

17 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

The cruise terminal in Barcelona where Princess ships dock is the Adossat Quay Cruise Terminal where there are five terminals - A, B, C, D and E. The Adossat Quay Terminal is about 2km from the end of Las Ramblas. There is a port shuttle for a cost that goes from near the end of Las Ramblas to the terminals at Adossat or you can get a taxi there. Either check which terminal your ship is leaving from or you will be able to see the ships once you get to the Quay and you can tell your taxi driver that you want to stop at the Princess ship.

 

The World Trade Centre Terminal at the foot of Las Ramblas is only for small ships and Princess ships are too large to dock there.

 

We stayed at the Eurostar Gran Marina at the WTC twice.  1st time was for our Royal Caribbean cruise that departed from Adossat.  2nd time was on Silversea that departed from the WTC South Terminal.  That was really nice to be able to walk from our hotel room directly to the terminal.  Also, there is a port shuttle to take you to Arossat from the WTC.  

Here is a map of the port

https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/cruise-port/map-of-barcelona-port.html

1 hour ago, antsp said:

90210

And for phone number 867-5309. 🤪

1 minute ago, skynight said:

Normally if you have a late Princess bus transfer that is on the way the ship will adjust the sailing time to allow for this. I have seen it many times. 

This cruise was on HAL.  Not sure why they didn't in this case.  

21 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I just did a search using Google Chrome and it looked the same as usual to me.  

Me too!

1 hour ago, skynight said:

Not likely. The deadline to file the manifest is 60 minutes before sailing. 90 minutes provides a small buffer. Just plan on arriving a few hours before sailing and don't cut it so close.

And those 60 minutes before the ship sails is FIRM.  Years ago people heading to FLL via DFW the day before our cruise got stranded due to a tornado touchdown.  Our flight the day of the cruise was delayed taking off and we nearly missed our cruise.  We ran and caught a cab and made it just before the cutoff.  Those that were on our flight that had bus transfers did not.  

11 hours ago, cr2000 said:

Exactly, he's just wrong. It was not related to weather, it was clearly some type of compliance and/or technical issue that prevented the ship from entering Kotor. I tend to think it's simply the ships physical size (would be the largest to ever enter the Bay of Kotor) though there has been speculation that it's tender related - possibly due to a ballast issue with the ship effecting water height and tendering operations.

 

And while I don't think Princess has deliberately misled passengers, I do think they didn't do ANY homework when adding that port to the itinerary - much like they have screwed up many other areas of the ships launch. And worse, I suspect they now know they won't call on Kotor but aren't pulling it from posted itineraries just yet because that could effect summer bookings.

There was only one small 1200 ton ship scheduled to call on Kotor on the 11th, so overcrowding doesn't appear to be the issue.  

Mistakes can happen.  Shoot, we even had one cruise with Silversea that had an itinerary change that we weren't notified about until we boarded the ship.  Apparently, someone had miscalculated the distance between ports and some had to be dropped and others added to keep the ship on schedule.  That was interesting.  I would have hated to be working at the excursion desk onboard.

Maybe the port made the decision and just informed Princess or there was some technical reason that Princess had to call it off.  

23 hours ago, Amy G said:

The Sun is also supposed to be there on July 8th.  It is still showing up on our itinerary, I hope it does not change.

Sorry, I missed that one.  I hope everyone that is booked on the Sun makes it to Kotor.  It is a gorgeous port.

I think a murder mystery on a cruise would be fun.  Years ago my wife and I wrote and directed a couple of mysteries for a small group of friends where each had a part to play.  One was Murder on the Mauritania and the other was Hijinx in the Hindenburg.  We gave the actors crazy names like Senator Phillip Buster and textiles heiress Polly Esther.  It was a blast.

4 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

A good comedian might find material in your mentioning an escape room in a wedding chapel. We cruise more than the average cruiser, though certainly far from as frequently as some posters here. Haven't seen anything like this onboard, though I've read about it. 

 

 

I think High Seas Heist is only available on ships sailing the Red Sea or off the coast of Somalia.  🤪

According to the Kotor port schedule, the Sun was to be in Kotor on the 11th, again on May 6th, June 17, July 29, August 19, September 9th.  The Sun Princess at 175,000 tons is by far the largest ship on the port schedule.  http://www.portofkotor.co.me/

I suspect, as previous posters have pointed out, is the ship is too large to navigate the channel.  Celebrity Edge is slightly shorter and slightly narrower than the Sun, and is 140,000 tons and only calls on Bar, not Kotor for every Montenegro stop this season.

We actually docked in Kotor a few years ago when on the Azamara Quest and remember one of the Princess ships anchored.  This is a beautiful port and one of our most memorable cruises.  It would be a shame to miss it.

If so, how much?  Thanks!

On 7/23/2023 at 2:26 PM, jelayne said:

Yes you can pre - order breakfast.  There is a door hanger menu in you cabin you can fill out and hand on the door the night before.  Continental breakfast is no charge, however if you want hot items then there is a service fee of approx $12.

 

There normally is coffee available in the Oceanview cafe 24 hrs, how fresh it is ??

Really?  A $12 charge if you want eggs and bacon in the morning.  Do they charge for room service every time you order something throughout the day?  That's insane!

We are considering a fall 2025 TA cruise between HAL and Celebrity.  Both are similar in price with similar sailings, but the Have It All package with HAL seems to include more.  This would help doing a side by side comparison.  Thanks in advance.

We had the same thing happen on our Nov Regal cruise.  Our situation was a little different.  We were in an accessible Mini.  Since there were no accessible Minis available in the base category we were only charged for the base Mini Suite.  When the base fare went down, we tried to re-fare, but the price actually went up.  So we canceled the original booking, and booked online at the lower price. 

On 1/5/2024 at 11:29 AM, ClayS said:

As far as I know, she is still there. On my Apple TVs, one of the screensavers is a flyover of Hong Kong harbor. You could see her front and center, still looking as beautiful as can be.

I've seen that too!  We had her booked, but she got sold before we were able to cruise on her.  We got a nice offer from RSSC that made up for it, but we still would have loved to sail on her at least once.

1 hour ago, beach_fever_4ever said:

Maybe, but we are in bed when the light comes on. Must be that mouse somebody mentioned in a previous post 😁

That's only on Disney! 🤪

3 hours ago, DCThunder said:

Or do you want to go all the way back to the 1970's and the Original Love Boat with lecherous doctors, perky cruise directors, and hip bartenders?  Oh, and Charo, of course!

 

 

 

 

Can you imagine?  Isaac, can I have another drink please?  Sure, but where is your medallion sir? 🤪