wallyj

Hi @_1nc0gn1t0_, I am pretty sure on your 3 day cruise day3 is port day in Ensenada so NO specialty restaurants will be open but Playmakers should be open to use UDP.

Hi @Senga, thank you for the update and happy to see all is good and promises kept.

Hi @lx200gps, thank you the updated screenshot. it HAS been updated since I last checked. The date says June 24, 2022, but I know the website was not when I last checked in early July as I was hoping the language would be updated to ‘days’ instead of the ‘48 hours’ as I could have had a little less stress of being able to have 3 days instead of ‘48 hours’. It appears Canada is reinstating ‘random testing’ effective July 19, on arrival, but you do not have to test immediately? Something about they are trying to track variants?

Did you book May of this year? Best Price Guarantee up till 48 hours before sailing ended as you needed to book by March 31, 2022 and Sail by September 2022, if I remember correctly. If you are still before final payment then Yes, you should be able to refare, make sure you are comparing same category and GTY or pick your own cabin fares.

I thought I saw, coming to Royal ships soon will be the introduction of Starbucks coffee at Cafe Promenade and you WILL be able to use your D, D+, or Pinnacle drink vouchers. Are you D or above level? If so, you would probably will want to enjoy the coffee machine in the DL instead of the free drip coffee at Cafe Promenade, otherwise for their specialty espresso based drinks, they have the professional machine for coffee drinks for a fee.

Hi @YORKI1, I am currently on the Grand and I boarded on Wednesday July 6 in Vancouver. If you look at the Princess website, you need to scroll down a little as they have specific differences if you are embarking in Canada. Yes, it does state 48 hours instead of 2 days. I took it as 48 hours from check in which for me was 10:30 am, not expected ship departure time. I did my antigen test at about 11am on Monday, July 4th. I do not think the person checking my test result really paid attention to the time, but YMMV, but know you do not have to wait till 4pm or after the Monday before you embark on Wednesday to test. I would say anytime after 10:30 am on the Monday would be fine as official check in started at 10:30, but I showed up at 10:10 and about 100 passengers had already checked in, so they started early, and they were not checking what boarding/check in group you had on your medallion app.

Hi @LACruiser88, I know you did not elect to take the replacement cruise for the canceled April SYD/LA sailing, but Princess has decided to reinstate this sailing and it is back on and was available for booking as of yesterday 4pm pacific time, in case you want to reconsider.

FYI, I was informed we will have on board the most traveled passenger with Princess who will be sailing for 4 weeks and will celebrate 3000 days with Princess. Of course, she will be #1, and I heard she is staying in a suite. For those that may not know, when you are #1, suite breakfast in the specialty restaurant is a perk extended to you being the #1 passenger on the voyage.

Hi @Senga, Kimberley just called me and said she just audited her records and confirmed she promised you a future cruise discount. She told me you should see it within 24 hours. Let me know if it does not show up.

I think I saw on the RCL website when you want to see the benefits of each level, there is a footnote regarding DP340 stating not available on summer sailings and holiday sailings

You still need to be aware of the ‘lower’ possible fares offered by a TA. On some of my recent bookings, a TA F&F fare was a subtle that was lower than the published RCL fares, but these TA F&F fares would NOT be combinable with shareholders, so it can depend on your individual situation and what other OBC you might want to be available to you.

I believe the Spa services on both lines and actually most cruiselines are provided by the UK based company Steiner and they should be using/selling the same products on board. I believe they carry the Elemis brand of skin care but may have others

Hi @Senga, would you provide sailing date and cabin number and if you can what issues so I can relay to Kimberly, also if you can your names, but cabin number and sail date she can look up, I think. She is leery of me posting her contact info on a social media site.

Hi @nini, I just woke up today in Whittier, to check for replies. It is very cloudy and looks like rain soon. Breakfast in the dining room was 6-8am, as they shuttle early to get those off doing the land tours. I booked the cruise as 14 days as it was offered as 14 day or you could book the 2 seven day segments NB or SB and hope the same cabin is available. Princess does reserve separate inventory of cabins for the 14 day . I think the condition of the ship is fine. Spent 29 days on Grand since the Sept 2021 restart in Los Angeles last year and the crew are still great , although all mostly new crew as many finished their contract that were on last year.

Hello, currently on the Grand and thought I would share what has been going on this past week. We have had mostly cloudy weather. Ketchikan was drizzling in the morning but it stopped and was just windy and cold for the rest of the day. Juneau was overcast most of the day but was still pleasant. Skagway started bright and sunny but then turned overcast by mid morning. I believe we were scheduled to be docked at RRF(railroad Forward) but wound up docking at the Broadway dock. A smaller Regent ship did dock at RRF and I think it was a Silver Seas ship that was docked next to us. I was told the NCL SUN was supposed to be in port with us but is still being repaired from its run in with a ‘growler’ The ship passenger count is only about 1485, with just over 1000 bluebies(first time on Princess), there are only 58 elites so laundry is taking the normal 1 day turnaround. The cutoff to make the MTG event which was a lunch was just 150 days. The Captain and some staff were there to greet us, but we were told no pictures will be taken. Production shows are British Invasion and Sweet Soul Music. Today, Princess Prizes were awarded in the Piazza at 7:45 pm. They already had the winners names and cabin numbers on the prizes so they are drawn I guess in secret somewhere before so the Prizes are not drawn ‘live’. They gave 4 $25 prizes, one $50 prize and then one $100 prize, followed by a Grand prize of $5000. Fortuna Lick was present and you had to see a Casino rep to claim your prize so it appears this program is connected to the Casino? They say you can win a cruise, but did not explain how or which prizes are awarded based on ? Some guy is super lucky as he won the $50 prize AND the $5000 prize, as he was present in the piazza to claim the prizes. I wonder if he was contacted to show up to this event as the photo department was there to take pictures of each ‘winner’. I will try to check this thread, if you have any questions, in Skagway, internet was not working till about an hour after leaving port. Ok reception in Glacier Bay and College Fiord.

I am currently on the Grand Princess and we were scheduled for RRF(railroad forward)but we docked at the Broadway dock 2 days ago. There did have a smaller Regent ship at RRA(railroad aft) without tendering. I believe the NCL Sun was scheduled but still out of commission because of hitting a ‘growler’.

The ‘suites’ breakfast is only on your milestone and not every cruise once you hit 750. The first milestone is recognized at 500 and then every 250 days after, it is not till 750 that you are invited to ‘suites’ breakfast was the point I was making.

Making the MTG cutoff precovid gave you the opportunity to have a usually nice lunch or cocktail party with the Captain and senior officers. Now, you get a photo op with the Captain and some officers may show up but they no longer stay and sit at tables. Milestone cruises come with some nice amenities, like a flower arrangement, bottle of decent champagne, certificate recognition at Captain circle party and starting at 750 days milestone, you get to enjoy ‘suites’ breakfast in the specialty restaurant. With the elimination of the loyalty OBC based on cruise credits, cruise credits as I said really are not important after reaching elite if you do not qualify by number of days. Your reply to my post said Princess does not count Days, but credits, I was informing those that may not be aware Royal handles solo’s differently and as most other cruise lines base their loyalty on ‘days’ not cruise credits, the faster accumulation of days not credits is more beneficial.

Hi @Ombud, Princess DOES count cruise days or Cruise credits to determine your Loyalty Tier, whichever benefits you as some passengers only take longer cruises opposed to multiple cruises, so someone can take a world cruise and another longer cruise and reach ‘elite’ after only 2 cruise credits. Number of ‘days’ is also important in determining the Most Travel Passengers/Guest. Your milestone cruise used to be determined by cruise credits but is now determined by number of days sailed, so cruise days is still an important ‘marker’. Unless Princess creates a new higher tier, after you reach 16 credits, they don’t really help you. Doubling cruise days would be more helpful reaching milestone cruises and making MTG cutoffs.

Hi @geoherb, RCL does have an internet benefit, for Diamond 80+ points you get one free 24 hour period of ‘surf’ internet or the equivalent value dollar discount which is about $26, and cruises of 6+ days you will get $10 discount on fill a bag of laundry that is normally $34.99, at Diamond Plus 175+ points you get 2 twenty four hour internet or the equivalent value off any other internet package which is about $52.98 value. You also receive 1 free bag of laundry per member. RCL also states you are only suppose to put t-shirts, underwear, , socks and shorts and PJ’s, anything else is charged at regular price. YMMV, as others have posted they have put polos and other items in the ‘bag’ and were not charged. RCL beats Princess as a solo traveler as they give 2 cruise points per night when you travel solo, as princess does not double ‘cruise days’. Royal’s top tier is Pinnacle at 700 points, which will give you free internet for you entire sailing and 6 drinks a day up to $13 value per drink. Also you get a free 7 day cruise at 700 points and every 350 points thereafter, so it depends on what amenities are more important to you.