WAussieSFO

On 5/7/2020 at 9:51 AM, sfkaren said:

We were on the infamous Grand cruise to Hawaii and have not yet received refundable OBC that is due as a result of taking a move-down offer. However, we have received a check for OBC that was pre-purchased via Paypal and also what was given by our TA. A friend that had also purchased OBC for us as a gift also received a refund to her credit card.

Our check for was received today, exactly 2 months after docking in Oakland.

Canadians disembarked today in Port Everglades and are now back in Canada per a post on another site by a guest entertainer.

We were on the infamous Grand cruise to Hawaii and have not yet received refundable OBC that is due as a result of taking a move-down offer. However, we have received a check for OBC that was pre-purchased via Paypal and also what was given by our TA. A friend that had also purchased OBC for us as a gift also received a refund to her credit card.

12 minutes ago, PandaBear62 said:

The announcement is on the Princess website:

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/global-ship-operations-pause-extended.html

 

Just before I read this I noticed that the only cruises available for Alaska were out of Seattle.

The decision has been made for me, I'm not going to Alaska this year 😞 since there will be no sailings out of San Francisco.

For those who are booked on Panama Canal Cruises in December this year and beginning of next year and have flights booked with EZ Air, you may want to check prices. I've had flights from SFO to FLL come up that cost $0.00. 

We just got off the Golden after a short 3 day cruise from Vancouver to San Francisco. Corey the CD hosted an awesome Couch Potato Trivia game which covered television shows over the decades. There were 5 questions for each decade, and for each decade he provided a different type of clue (picture, quote, theme song etc), at the end of each 5 question round you took your answers up for marking. In the last round, he gave 3 separate clues, if you were certain you got the right answer with the first clue you would take your answer up for 3 points, 2 points if you got the answer after 2 clues and 1 point after seeing all 3 clues. If you got the answer wrong you could not go up again.

It was the first time I've seen a trivia game like it, and don't think that you could cheat unless of course you had seen/done it before with the exact same shows and clues.

On a cruise earlier this year we along with our friends went to a trivia a couple of days in to the cruise, as luck would have it we actually won with a couple of good guesses. A few teams came over to us after the game to congratulate us on beating the team that had won all previous trivia games. The congratulations from fellow cruisers was a great prize!

7 hours ago, Bluesky014 said:

My husband was a Naval Officer in the British Navy, but because we now live in Australia he has been advised that he is not eligible. If we still lived in England he could get it, or if he had served in the Australian Navy he could, but not if you live in a different country to that you served in. I find that a bit strange - he still did his Military Service.

 

My husband was in the RAAF and we live in the US, he had no problem getting the military credit.

1 hour ago, Scorpio41 said:

 

This sounds interesting. Do you know what cabin grade they are or where to look on the ship plans?

They are on Fiesta Deck 6, starboard side and category S7. They are known to sell out quickly as there are only 7, with one be smaller than the other 6.

Grand Princess is one of three ships in the fleet that have Window Suites that are great value if you want all the benefits of a suite without a balcony and at a price comparable or cheaper than a Club Class Mini-Suite.

Here is a great review by a member who went in June this year.

Thank you for a fantastic review. Like you we do not have a cruise in our Personalizer for next year, maybe I can get my husband on board to do this one. We love the scenic part of cruising, hence our 5th cruise to Alaska next month.

Congratulations also to your son. My husband was RAAF for 10 years, unfortunately he didn't get to see much of Australia while serving as he was posted back to our home town for the majority of his 10 years.

1 hour ago, The Mikado said:

 

 

We do have two chairs on our balcony. I’ve read other posters referred to “barrel chairs”. I have no idea what those are but we do have two semi-comfortable chairs and a small round table on our balcony. 

 

Bon Voyage!! Love the closeness and convenience of access to the aft of the ship from that cabin.

Barrel chairs are in the cabin, we still had one in the cabin when we were on the Grand earlier this year.

4 hours ago, mum and son said:

Excellent news. I'm booked in that cabin next month. Out of interest, were you able to have the divider to the neighbouring "dead space" opened to create even more space?

We had read about opening up the divider to the "dead space" but as we had plenty as it was we didn't bother asking.

We were in Baja 739 for the first sailing of the Majestic out of Sydney. The balcony was partially covered and was big enough that we had a Ultimate Balcony Dinner for 6. I love Aft cabins and wouldn't hesitate to book this one again.

Was on the CB in May, obstructed oceanview cabin with a barrel chair in the cabin when we boarded.

I've had great phone and email service from my local office. Transferred an existing booking to them and they were able to add the perks to that booking.

I also got a quote for another cruise, it does appear that I can book it direct with Princess a little cheaper which I will continue to do and then transfer before the 60 day deadline. As I would normally go with an obstructed ocean view on the cruise that was quoted, I was told that if booked during the 3-day event, paid gratuities, coupon book and obc would apply, just no premium beverage package.

I transferred just before reaching the 60 day deadline, a direct booking for a NZ/Aus cruise in Feb 2021 to the TA offering the paid gratuities and beverage package and have received confirmation that the perks have been added with no additional increase in fare.

I’m on the Caribbean Princess now and can can confirm the medallion is waterproof. My husband wore his while swimming at Princess Cays yesterday and I’ve been in a pool today, both medallions are unlocking our door without a problem.

I was able to purchase two yesterday without a hiccup. I've received emails for both gift cards and bonus gift cards.

11 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Has anyone actually confirmed that the 2 for 1 restaurant coupon is still in the new books this year?

We received the coupon books on our Mexican Riviera cruise last month. We asked our steward for them when we saw him and he was able to get them to us in time to be able to use the specialty restaurant coupon which we had planned to do, but due to unforeseen circumstances did not happen. The coupon book has an expiration date of 12/31/2019 so we plan on using the coupon on our cruise in May.

Just noticed this in my cruise personalizer.

5 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Did you just get the $100 per person off of the cost of the cruise or did they give you the OBC as well. I always understood that the OBC portion only applied when you used the FCD as you deposit on a new booking.

The FCD onboard credit is showing in the cruise personalizer.

3 hours ago, diane.in.ny said:

I happen to have an FCC sitting on my desk because we recently returned from a cruise.

 

It can only be used for new bookings.

 

That said, you may be able to cancel your current bookings (assuming refundable deposit) and rebook. But you'll have to look at the pricing and promo you are booked under (free gratuities? OBC?) to determine if it is worth it.

I booked a cruise on the last $1.00 deposit day and was able to add a future cruise deposit to that same booking a couple of weeks later.

3 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

Have you tried that - getting 5% off gift cards using a Target card?  I have read elsewhere that gift cards are not discounted.

Target has 10% of of their gift cards today (maximum $300) which I would think that you would then be able to buy a Princess gift card with. Just out of curiosity I also included a Princess gift card in my cart and it did show that I would get 5% off of the Princess gift card when using my Target card to purchase it.