mtnesterz

Small clarification, there will be two formal nights on a 12 night cruise. There will be more people dressing up if your canal passage is part of a world cruise segment. I agree with you that dressing for dinner helps make the night special! I wish more people saw it that way.

What we like is not really at issue. What matters is what will be your favorite thing. I've noted you have started a few threads asking about Princess details. You don't like surprises and that is why I think you will enjoy Princess. By and large, crew service on Princess is consistently good, training is very good. The ship has always been in kept up. Sure the occasional thing need fixing, but those things happen anywhere. By comparison, we've been on two Celebrity cruises, one was the best cruise we've been on and another ship was the worst. Zero consistency. There will be a new App soon. Many, including us, had trouble with the old app. View the stickies at the top of the Princess board. But hopefully the new App will be better for you.

When I read these type of threads, it strikes me that there are basically two types of cruisers, with a generous mix of the somewhere in-betweens. Some vacation with the ship as the destination. Princess offerers an vacation on a budget, instead of vacationing at something like Disney World, they will sell you all you might want onboard to make your vacation memorable. At the other end, the ship is a conveyance between distant ports. After a day's excursion, get freshened up, dress for a nice dinner, an evening's entertainment and prepare for the next adventure. Which is more expensive than seeing Europe by carrying a backpack and staying at an Airbnb, as our daughter and son-in-law prefer. So to anyone who says Standard is going cheap, you might consider at that in a different light. We don't drink alcohol. In Japan last month, the ship's internet was spotty. Only our phone with international service was consistently reliable. Excercise classes, Ice cream, Alfredo's a charge now? We don't care. It's not why we cruise, so why buy a package? It's clear that people increasingly look to a cruise vacation as a resort. I think the time is coming we move on.

I received a summary today too. Cruise was months ago. No new charge, but I wondered why. Great having CC to get others experiences, thanks for posting!

We did have one time when a drink was erroneously charged to our bill. The charge was on the Mrs' medallion, who does not drink or go into the bars. We don't know how the charge got there. Yes, a Faraday cage; a metal or mesh pouch, works, but it would be a hassle in other ways. The charge was easilty removed at Passenger Services, though it could be said, having to take time to do that was also a hassle.

You ask as if I am old enough to know firsthand. Some say Walpole, but it has Twain's wit.

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. --Mark Twain. Bring a lined windbreaker jacket, not a sweater. It's the wind blowing off the water.

You don't mention the hours you were to originally have spent in Costa Maya, but for the other ports, It looks like you are getting another hour or two at each port. How you look at it I guess. We lost two ports on our August cruise, Lahaina due to the fire and Ensenada due to hurricane. Princess had no problem correcting excursion amd dining reservations.

There can be monies in both refundable and non-refundable credit. You loose any non-refundable credit. The upside, in my experience, that gets used up first. Refundable credit up to $US 25 may be redeemed in cash at Passenger Services if you close the account the last night. More than that gets refunded to the credit card you gave for onboard use. Perhaps there are other options, but hope that answers.

Maybe I'm not understanding this right. First, if I read the above inserted policy correctly, for the charged meals, it is not a gratuity, but a service charge, which can't be refused. An (auto)gratuity can be tacitly accepted, adjusted or refused, unless bought as part of a package. Servers in the specialty restaurants, in our experience, also work in the buffet and are covered by the auto-gratuity, or if you prefer, Crew Appreciation. Since paying Crew Appreciation is the default, package or not, those who choose the Standard plan, pay 17% more for the same meal. Since neither of us drink, we don't buy a plan. I think we'll pass on specialty dining in the future.

Coffee becomes bitter when it is weaker, not stronger. Not changing the filter could cause the maker to overflow. I hope you reported that crew member. I suspect this practice is not within their training. Fun fact though. If you do get a bitter cup of coffee, sprinkle just a few grains of salt. The chloride ions in the solution block the bitterness sensing taste buds on your tongue.

No, but Princess will sell you Michael Godard's art work. (Which often features stuffed olives.)

While it was announced the App would come out Dec. 1st, the other thread on this subject posted the announcement the release would be delayed. That thread is up to 5 pages now and could easily have been missed. To me, this portends another wonky app.

We were in Kona in August this year, a substitute port we learned we would make, as on the way over, the fire broke out in Lahaina. We are so very thankful the Emerald's 3K passengers were not ashore when the fire broke out given the speed of the fire! Anyway, since you haven't been there, Kona is the dry side of the island. The town of Kona, well, there's not much to see. Snorkeling for the active crowd. If you're like us, more the history and culture type, we took the coffee roasting, City of Refuge with tide pools area and historic Catholic church tour. It was OK. But if you just stay at the dock, just a little shopping and bars. There used to be a shuttle that took passengers to the Walmart but we didn't see those running. Must have Musubi from the ABC store. Yummy!

A passenger I spoke to mentioned the same thing. He bought a package and spent much time ashore on a port intensive itinerary. He didn't live it up on shore as he might have, since he figured his drinks etc. were already paid for onboard. Agree it's something to consider.

I suppose it's because we have booked so many cruises through our CVP, we probably get better service. And from reading here, other CC members claim to cruise more than we do. When we have had questions or problems, I have not had the need to use the Chat feature, wait on hold, deal with accents or misinformation from someone inexperience or poorly trained. Our CVP is our go-to for answers or as liason to other Princess services. YMMV

Understood. If you have a CVP, that would be best for your airport-port transfer refund, but I have no experience with refunds, except the three cancelled cruises during Covid. They will return your money. I understand any anxiety you naturally feel at this moment and hope all works out well and you enjoy your cruise.

I had a very similar situation for upcoming out of Ft. Lauderdale, the airline cancelled the flight. We were notified as you were of the problem by email. First, your transfers are still paid for and not lost. You just need to book another flight. I wasn't certain if you self-booked your flight, or used EZ Air as I did. Go to the Princess website and log in to your booking. You will receive another pop-up notice about your conflict. As I recall the website either took me to my booking, or maybe I went to the flights section of my booking. Well, either way, you need to get to the EZAir page. It will prompt you to rebook. I was anxious, but it was actually very easy to fix. Now, if you booked on your own, not EZAir. That is out of my experience. I wish you good luck,

We were on the Emerald in August this year. The sauna and steam room access has been changed and now you must buy into the spa to use them. It used to be that on Grand and Crown class ships they were included in fare. Royal class ships have always had them located within paid access.

It was mentioned earlier that the Medallion App, 1.x, will end functioning in February, although a date was not stated. FWIW, I agree with @Rick&Jeannie, take the plunge in December and get up to speed with 2.0, good or bad. We do our preboarding on the web based version and find Apps access to onboard services not to our needs. Point is. If you do preboarding on the web version, then use the App onboard, and the staff has your information with their software, it means your information is centrally stored, not on your device.

We completed a circle Japan cruise on the Diamond Princess three weeks ago, nice variety. Time well spent for you to read the Ports of Call Asia section of Cruise Critic. First the Japan immigration. There is a 150 page tutorial on how to get through it. Or, most of it is pretty self explanatory. Look for my question posted in that section. You'll need the answer. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2969475-visit-japan-web-for-cruisers-question/#comment-66312185 If you take certain medications, for example, if prescribed amphetimines for sleep-wake disorders, or on a Cpap machine and certain other things, you'll need to file a Yunyu Kakunin-Sho for it/them. This comment will probably generate comments here from the chronically pedantic, but I'm only saying, here is the link, look for yourself. Click the blue links and it will take you to the form in English and where to send it. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health-medical/pharmaceuticals/01.html Exchange money before you leave home. T-Mobile phone for free international calls is your communication, period. Ships wifi was spotty. Rented pocket WiFi from the airport was wonky and expensive.

For a month long trip, you will need to make plans for bills and expenses as you would incur if you were at home. Look back through your checkbook for the previous year and see if any expenses come up that month you'll be gone. Perhaps you auto-pay or have someone to pay, for example, the gardener. It could be whatever unique to your situation, but enough said to say that someone needs to watch your place and things at home continue on as they would if you were there. In the World Cruise section of CC there is a thread about this.

You missed my point completely. Host CJSKIDS says, "No way I'm changing anything since I board 12/9." If staying with the old App, what difference would any change 2.0 make on that sailing? The only thing that matters is that the App doesn't crash. I'm just trying to be helpful. And none of us knows what 2.0 really entails. Is it just a change of names? It was mentioned that all the Medallion names cause confusion for new customers. If more changes, how much more? Is it just a new skin over extant problems? I don't mean to sound negative here, but in this specific case, meaning a cruise on 12/9, I agree with the poster who wrote, "The devil you know."

I might suggest to stop receiving updates. A couple weeks ago on the Diamond, the Medallion App updated mid cruise and wouldn't work after that.

I've gotta say, I don't like the changes they made to Cruisedeckplans. Not as searchable. But I found the C106 and C109. I know they're not the forward facing ones. I though it might be worth the check. https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/ov.php?ship=Sapphire-Princess&cabins=C106-C109