Fishboy1947

I have only cruised with Princess but found itineraries that I prefer on other lines.

I have always paid refundable deposits, if cruise cancelled prior to final payment. This allowed rebooking if fares dropped or cancellation for other reasons.

When I look on Royal Caribbean their $500 per couple deposit is nonrefundable. If I understand Celebrity, their $500 deposit is nonrefundable unless you pay a $262 fee for a balcony room. 
 

Have these lines typically had nonrefundable deposits or is this something new?

It’s a major difference for us booking a family cruise a year away

Two weeks before our trip to Italy my significant other wound up in a boot. I had planned a free day touring Rome on our own with a lot of walking. I searched for alternatives and found a golf cart tour for two. It was great zipping through the small back streets all day, also a knowledgeable young guide.

For a cruise tour, our two day TJ Tour of St Petersburg was fantastic.

6 hours ago, dog said:

I suggest submit paperwork regardless of what agent told you to file a credit card dispute. Can only tell you it does not meet dispute requirement, right?

I had no problem disputing charges well beyond 60 days with Citi and Chase. Just indicated that services were cancelled by me. Instant credits received from both, although subject to their resolution with Princess. Received final resolution within 4 weeks from Chase confirming >$6,000 credits.

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Once again, people must remember that it is the Passenger Vessel Services Act, not the Cruise Vessel Services Act.  The act does not simply cover the narrow field of cruise ships, it relates to a "passenger vessel", which in US and maritime law is defined as "any vessel that carries more than 12 people for hire".  So, the PVSA covers every ferry, commuter boat, water taxi, dinner cruise, casino boat, whale watching or sightseeing boat, and larger charter fishing boats.  I personally would not want to allow these vessels to become foreign flag, hire foreign crew, and not be subject to USCG regulations on construction, safety, training, and crew competency.  And, before you say, "well, we can limit it to "large" passenger vessels", you would have to change the definition of "passenger vessel" in maritime law (getting the members of the IMO to agree), or the new law would face a court challenge from the Alaska Marine Highway system as to why they cannot gain the benefits of foreign flagging, as they are "passenger vessels", too, and they would win that court challenge.

 

And, as I've repeatedly reminded folks here, CLIA has publicly stated that none of it's members (95% of the world's cruise ships) are interested in a modification or repeal of the PVSA, since they see no benefit to their bottom line from pursuing it.

 

Hopefully this is not a "vociferous" attack on you.

Are there changes that you feel would be beneficial for the US and/or US cruisers? 

I appreciate what you add to these conversations. I feel that I am intelligent but I find these laws complex and confusing 

We’re in the same position, cruise in late June, and will probably cancel before final payment due to the uncertainty. If Princess adopted the Viking cancellation policy it might make me reconsider. 

On 2/19/2020 at 4:59 PM, voljeep said:

Book one adult and one child in each cabin, to potentially maximize status benefits, and OBC's

I’m missing the point, how does this affect OBC?  We have always received the same OBC based on room selection and promotion whether adult or child.

I guess the status benefits would relate to elite status only?

Whatsinport & my internet searches show which ships are in a given port on a given date but I cannot find a website that indicates which pier the ship will be assigned.  This comes in handy for ports with multiple piers that can be miles apart. 

I have seen people indicate specific piers, like Regal Princess was at pier 2 in Port Everglades on Feb 2.

Just trying to learn something new, since I had the question about Cozumel and have had the question before for planning port days.

When planning for port activities, how can I find out which pier we will be at in a given port?

We will be stopping in Cozumel and they have 2 piers about 3 miles apart. I’d like to know how to look it up, rather than give my ship and arrival date.

Wanted to see Alaska and was told a cruise was the way to go. Figured I would put up with the cruising so I could see Alaska.

At end of cruise, couldn’t decide if we liked Alaska or cruising the most.

Took whole family, 19 of us 5 families, on cruise to Alaska last summer. Everyone raved about the trip and cruising.

17 of us cruising the Caribbean this summer. They’re all hooked

We had 6 diverse teens14-17, 4 boys & 2 girls, on the Royal last June in Alaska. They had a great time in the teen room, they still talk about it.

Apparently what goes on in the teen room stays in the teen room.  They only tell us it was great fun and they made several friends

They also enjoyed dancing in the piazza and karaoke, we learned how outgoing they could be 

We did a multi family cruise to Alaska on the Royal last June. None had cruised before. Our 6 diverse teenagers, 14-17, had a great time. We didn’t expect them to use the teen room but they loved it.  All they talk about now is doing another family cruise.

so we’re doing a Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess in June. The 18 yr old is bummed out since the teen room is 13-10 only.

Several people have mentioned that they added a BEST2 add on to their bookings that are for cruises prior to March 26.  I called Princess and my TA and both said this is definitely not an option, only for cruises after March 26.  Any insights?  Any reference that I can use?

I have a booking for Feb 2 with no included extras. 

We we would like to add on the BEST2DG since we already have internet minutes

My TA said she was told by Princess that the promotion was only for cruises after April 2020, mine is Feb 2.

Can I request directly with Princess or do I have to go thru TA?

For anyone waiting to book on the new sale, i would book now on the Cyber sale. With the little info that is available it looks like fares will be increasing and you can rebook or do an add-on later if you like.  Their flyer states " When we compare the fare for Best Sale Ever with our previous sales, we see that the vast majority of guests still have the best fare for their cruise."

1 hour ago, lstone19 said:

 

Almost true as I'm reading it. It appears Princess is also offering add-ons that can be used with previous promos to make them the same as Best Sale Ever. $25 per person per day (pp pd) adds the beverage package and Internet (if you already have gratuities), $30 pp pd adds the beverage package and gratuities (if you already have Internet), and $40 pp pd adds all three (if you have none of them).

 

We're currently booked for Jan 2021 using Cyber so will strongly be thinking of doing the $30 pp pd add-on as $14.50 of it is taken up by gratuities alone meaning the beverage package ends up costing us only $15.50 pp pd.

can you tell me where you found the info for the $30 and $40 options.  Sounds great

On a Medallion cruise what apps are now used? I’ve installed MedallionClass and OceanCompass. Are the other Ocean apps now incorporated in the MedallionClass app?

3 hours ago, cruiserdru said:

On my Samsung, you press the volume up button and the power button at the same time and it takes a screen shot and puts it in your gallery. I spent a lot of time researching how to do that on the Internet. I also learned that my printer is not compatible with my phone and I could not print from my phone to it anyway. I did manage to transfer the screenshot to my laptop and print it.

 

Unfortunately, the whole ocean ready pass does not display on the screen and my screenshot was worthless.

 

Later, I discovered that I could go to ocean.com on my laptop and use my login for ocean ready and print it from there.

 

If you have your ocean ready pass, you do not need your boarding pass. It does say that on ocean.com.

 

I am not sure that we need the OC pass if we have our medallion. At the time I was playing with the OC pass, the software was telling me that I would have to pick up my medallion at the port as it was too close to sailing, or my cruise had sailed (it was 75 days out), or I was in an undeliverable area (a major metropolitan area in the US). Now, I have an order number for our medallions and I hope that means what I did worked.

I opened Ocean Ready on my desktop but cannot find where to print the Ocean Ready Pass. The site indicates I am Ocean Ready and has all of my info

thanks

1 hour ago, idahospud said:

The ship is again skipping the Seymour Narrows today and is coming around Vancouver Island on its way back to Vancouver. Hope tomorrow works out for you!

 

Where can I get this info and map? Really enjoy many of your posts and your Alaska Royal blog

Does anyone know if renting fishing equipment is still available? Could not confirm with my searching 

Thank you, good options 

We embark in Vancouver for Alaska. How early can you drop bags if you want to walk around the city?

Thanks to all of you for the comments. We are joined as a group. TA to make dining arrangements but I will confirm ASAP on embarkation day

We are a family group of 22, grandparents, 3 families of 5, family of 3 and a couple (including 9 children ages 5-17). We have chosen early TD. Are the largest MDR tables for 8 or 10?

I think we will have to initially indicate who is sitting at each table. Thereafter will we be able to switch around between the assigned tables?

Any other general suggestions for cruising with a large family would be welcome. 7 day June cruise to Alaska

We were very happy with PJS, Renee was great

Does each person have to purchase an internet package?