runner2013

The travel agent found him. He was cold called by someone from Princess Promotions.

I know right!!! He has the booking #, and does see the cruise in the personalizer. According to Princess personalizer he's paid in full, but according to buddy's own math, he hasn't paid the full price yet. The Buddy is getting his own flights to Rome, he's isn't using ez air like he first thought he was. Far as I know, he hasn't confirmed with the hotels yet. Or maybe he has but just didn't tell me. Not sure.

Hello everyone, I have another update!! Quick recap for those who've come late to the party. My DH's friend booked a cruise through Princess Promotions and was being told all sorts of wierd things ranging from he only needed 65% of cruise paid off before sailing, to free hotel stays nights before the ship leaves in Italy. (its a 21 day trip from Italy ending in Florida ) Ok, here we go.. I talked to his buddy on speaker phone last night and got the scoop. Supposedly princess promotions originally called him and asked if he wanted to book a cruise. He said yes but wanted to talk with his sister and brother in law to see if they were interested as well. The representative he spoke with when he called back to book was located in London. He was originally told only 65% payment needed before the cruise sails. He was given his invoice # and all other details they had at that time. Fast forward to several months later. The buddy was called in the middle of the night and told he needed to make final payment or trip is cancelled. He hung up on the guy saying he was told that's not true. The Buddy then called his person at Princess Promotions next day, told him what happened, and the rep said he did the right thing by hanging up on the person. So, Fast forward to now: The itinerary has been changed due to what's happening in the Red Sea. He was told they will get 300. OBC for the change, (that sounds ok to me but who knows) He will also get (and here's where my alarm bells go off) 7 free nights in any hotel anywhere in the world. So, the buddy hearing this, chose 2 nights in Rome before the cruise leaves, and 2 nights in Florida after it ends. But...... he has to pay roughly 124. for the 2 nights in Italy, and 100 for the 2 nights in Florida. I finally stopped him at that point and asked him if he actually logged into princess.com and saw his trip and invoice #. He said he did, it is there, and it shows as fully paid off. (he has a gauranteed balcony so no actual cabin assignment yet) Now according to his calculations, he has not finished paying off the trip and doesn't understand how this could be. So his sister called Princess directly and they too show it as paid off in full. hmmm no idea how that works. He's never gotten any type of cancellation email or call from Princess so he's sticking with his story that he's all paid off. Now.... last week his credit card is charged another $500.00, for what he doesn't know so he calls the rep at Princess Promotions. He is told (and again my red flag went up) "oh when you booked your cruise you also booked 2 future cruises as well. That charge is for your future cruise" He kept telling the rep he didn't book any other cruises and the rep said you didn't read the fine print about this promotion, you needed to book 2 more cruises to get the promotional cruise. They didn't give him any type of invoice number, where, when, what ship, etc. for this future cruise, just that the money taken out was for that future cruise. So, his sister calls Princess directly again and they were no help at all. They don't know what his sister is talking about and didn't have any other invoice #'s and don't show them booked on anything else but the one trip leaving April 3rd. I stopped him again and asked him what I think is the next important question: DOES HE HAVE TRAVEL INSURANCE? He said no, and I told him in no uncertain terms they needed to get real travel cruise insurance immediately!! He referred to the cruise line's insurance and my DH and I both said absolutely not!!! He needs to get and independent travel insurance company to cover this because we both feel something isn't right and it just doesn't make sense. His buddy doesn't know what to think now, he's getting nervous because no one at Princess directly can give him any answers and what he's being told from his rep at Princess promotions he doesn't thinks makes sense. I told him I've been cruising for a while and some of what he's being told doesn't sound correct to me at all, but I said I'd post something on here to get the opinions of all you 'heavy hitters' out there who've been cruising a lot longer than me and know a whole lot more about things. So, after reading my foolishly long post, does everything seems just a little fishy or am I making a big deal over nothing. This is the first time his buddy has actually talked to us about the trip, and we felt badly being so negative, but we don't want him to fly all the way over to Rome and be told he can't go because he was scammed. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Again, sorry for the long post..

I received it on my cruise in January. From what I've read on here, it's Royal trying to speed things along for folks who've done all their pre check stuff ahead of time. Several others on my trip also got it. It was random.

Hi all, DH and I are looking at a cruise on the Constellation next Jan. We just reached Diamond on Royal so we know we'll transfer our status over and be Elite for the cruise. I've read in the CC benefits there is a daily cocktail hour from 5-700pm each day. But what I can't find is whether that is only in a certain lounge like it is on Royal, or is it in any bar on the ship and you just need to order from the specific cocktail hour menu that's provided? Any help much appreciated. Thanks

Is the gift for any length sailing?

I'm referring to the Q&A on here for Insuremytrip.com

Hello, Could you tell me if the companies on your site offer an option for advance payment to a hospital/medical facility to secure a person's admission if needed? Thank you.

Thank you for the link to the cruise. I couldnt find it amywhere

regardless of what the friend says on Thursday, DH isn't going to get involved with helping him download the app or do any of the pre cruise things that need to be done. He's staying far away from that. If, something does go wrong, he doesn't want the friend to blame him for it.

No, his friend isn't lying, he's not that type of person. that's just not his personality. Plus, there are 2 other couples also going with him and his girlfriend, so I would think it's rather hard to dupe everyone. 🤣

Hello all, Thought I'd check back in and let you know what the status of DH 's friends cruise situation is. Hubby was able to get some more info out of him. DH asked if he originally used a travel agent for his booking. The friend said Princess called him, said they noticed he was Gold tier and ask if he was interested in booking another cruise. (For those who haven't read all the way back, the friend has only been on one Princess cruise) The friend told DH Princess said he has something like 1600 cruise points. (not possible, but the friend may have misunderstood this) Princess rep said he only had to pay 65% before sailing and pays the rest in installments. (he's doing $500. monthly) Princess gave him $800 obc with his initial booking. May or may not be accurate, it is a 23/24 day trip?. Princess has supposedly changed the itinerary because of what is happening in the Red Sea, and because of this, they are giving him $300 more OBC. They are also giving him a choice of 15% off a future cruise OR 15% off the remaining balance off what he owes for this cruise. (again, i'm still stuck on the fact I've never heard of you not having a cruise paid in full before you sail so I can't wrap my head around this. If I'm wrong someone please set me straight) The friend booked the flights through Princess with EZ air. Supposedly they are giving him 2 complimentary nights hotel stay in Italy. (no idea why?) I originally thought the friend said they were leaving from Rome and ending in Fort Lauderdale, and he was picking up the cruise on April 2nd of this year. I also thought he said it was on the Island Princess. When I go look for trips now, I can't find anything even remotely close to resembling that. So once again, DH and I are totally baffled with everything that the friend is telling him. DH is going skiing with the friend this Thursday, he is going to ask if the friend has actually logged into the Princess planner and checked out all of his info, made dining reservations, etc. We'll see what happens.

Hello All, DH and I just reached Diamond and are looking forward to booking our first cruise at that level. We've had 2 different TA's we've gone with in the past and never used Royal directly for our past bookings. Now that we're Diamond is it better to book with Royal directly to make sure we get any/all eligible discounts, or can we just stay with our 'regular' TA's? Is there much of a difference one way or the other? Any advice appreciated. Thanks

I was in the same situation. I needed 6 points to reach Diamond. DH is a skier and was given a bucket list opportunity to ski out went in March. Since I have a lot more points than him, (when we met, he had never cruised and I was platinum at that point), we decided I'd make the supreme sacrifice and do a solo cruise for 3 days to get the points we needed.🤣 Now we're both diamond and getting ready to book our first trip with the status. It took me a long time to reach diamond. Work and life and the cost of cruising always seemed to get in the way. But I knew it would happen eventually. If you have to wait a few more months before you reach diamond, so be it, it will make it all the sweeter when you finally do.

My hubs just texted me. He went into our accounts individually and took out the Loyalty number then put it back in. That did it. We both now show Elite in the app and on the website. Problem solved. Thanks for the help everybody😊

I understand that. but if my status on X says I'm still Select, how will the crew and ship know I should be getting the elite perks?

HI all, Have a question about reaching Elite status on X after becoming Diamond on Royal. DH were Emerald status on Royal last year, we took our first X cruise over Christmas and were given the reciprocal status of Select which was great. We've been on Royal since then and have now reached Diamond level status. I was looking at cruises for us on X again, and noticed my account still says my status is Select and not Elite. We were under the impression when we reached Diamond on Royal we would also move up on X and become Elite status level. (at least as far as the perks go. We know our actual point value is much lower since we've only sailed on X once.) Are we wrong in our thinking? or is it we just need to call X and let them know to adjust it? Any help greatly appreciated. TIA

If you read my original post. I specifically said I picked the highest priced cabin , during a Christmas sailing to see what they were charging. You are correct there are much cheaper cabins available in different categories, but just because I pointed out what something costs doesn't mean I'm complaining. Simply stating a fact of what I found on several different search engines related to pricing. You may not know anyone who is paying those elaborate prices, but it's a big world out there, people may absolutely be paying ridiculous prices if they so chose. As I said, more power to them, if they're blessed enough to have the money to spend, they should by all means use it how they wish.

I never said anyone was forcing me to go. Just that I feel the pricing is ridiculous. I"m not always the mindset of bigger is better. We don't have children and have no interest in rock walls or water slides(did those when we were younger and enjoyed it but have moved on to other interests). I can see why Royal is making such large ships, all for the family dollar which is good business. But, as you said, I don't need to be part of the circus atmosphere on board.🤣

I guess it goes to show if there wasn't a demand for 'bigger and better' Royal wouldn't have built something so large. I just hope they keep some of their 'smaller sized' ships around for a while. I'd hate to see them all go to make room for just more and more larger ones.

You are right about that.

Ok, So, I thought I'd have a laugh and see what price range Royal was asking for Icon during the Xmas Holiday this year. I picked the most expensive cabin showing available, the Icon Loft, category IL. Per person before taxes or gratuities it starts at $38,522.00. After taxes (and they threw in the gratuities-oh boy) it came out to $77, 421.00 all total for two people. 🤣 Now, I'm a Royal fan, DH and I just reached Diamond and are looking forward to the perks that come with it but come on!! If we were in that tax bracket where we could actually afford that price for a week's vacation, we wouldn't be spending it on a mass market cruise line. We'd be renting a place on a private island and chartering a yacht for a week. Even a category v4 interior cabin is going for over $10,600.00. That's just silly to me. I realize this year because she's new, people will pay top dollar for a chance to be on her, but once the novelty wears off does Royal actually believe there's that much of a client base with pockets deep enough to afford those prices? No shade on anyone who's financially blessed enough to be able to do this, if you have it, spend it right, more power to you, but it just seems too outrageous for me. What do you all think. Am I in the minority or majority?

Thanks for the info. I always thought it was like any other port stop with excursions on the island. Good to know it's more of a Coco Cay type day.

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to try that.

Hi Everyone, I originally planned on posting my question in the ports section but Labadee isn't even listed so I thought I'd try my luck here. Are there no excursions available for Labadee at all? No matter what search venue I use, or what time of year I try it's coming up as none found? If none are offered what would you do all day while docked/tendered? Any insight appreciated. TIA