JayRich65

We are doing this in April, like other providers of shore excursions, they will have a full bus on passengers, they will get you there before the ship leaves.   I think I saw that they'll get there about 200.  Really looking forward to seeing Stonehenge, I have no concern at all about missing the ship.

The old pier at the Casa Marina (still in disrepair from previous storm), I've seen a bunch of fish and even lobster under the pier.  Without going to Casa Marina, you can swim over from Dog Beach (besides Louie's Backyard) also there is a small public park just to right of the pier that you could also swim out, but no beach.  Again this one is weather dependent too.  If you really want to snorkel, do a 4 hour excursion out to the reef

I've seen this recently on the Crown and Regal, I've sworn off triple zero roulette.  I did find on both the Crown and Regal an electronic roulette game with only 2 zeros.  Would rather improve my odds a little versus the table game.

I typically use EZAir and book with Delta, this next cruise, short 4 day out of FLL, JetBlue was offering a direct flight 1/2 the price of Delta.  I could have booked direct with JetBlue, but my thought process of using EZAir is if for some reason, that flight is cancelled (It's been ticketed) then Princess will help me get there.  If booked direct, it would have been on me to figure out flight cancellation.

1 hour ago, rjack22 said:

     We are trying EZAir for the first time.   I booked EZAir back in June for a February flight.   The price was good and I wanted the flexibility since with all the COVID protocols still in place we weren't sure if the cruise would be a go for us.  Yesterday I checked with the airline to see what the current prices are and was shocked to see that our same flights were now $910 more than what I had booked 5 months ago!  Yikes!    Final payment is due in 4 weeks.  So far EZAir has worked out great for us.

 

Sounds like you're happy with your flights and the $'s for the flight.  I would recommend requesting early ticketing on the Princess site.  There have been reports about delayed ticketing and I've heard a few stories of problems when flights change, thus if you're ready to pay for the flights request early ticketing.

I took a COVID test 72 hours prior to getting on the ship.  I did not take another COVID test after cruise and before, during or after the land portion.  Agree with others, land portion is hectic, but going south to north, the views get better each day.

I have always received miles when booking with Delta on EZ air.  Just make sure to ask for early booking as soon as you're comfortable with airline, flights, days, and $'s

There have been a lot of post on FB about folks not have flights ticketed at 45 days, if under 45 days, I would encourage you to call and get them ticketed.  If outside of 45 days, I would request early ticketing if you're comfortable with flights and price.

Italy is very easy to do on your own.  A few years ago we did Barcelona to Rome and then took the train and spent a week on the Amalfi Coast.  Also have gotten off the boat and spent a few days in Rome.  I'm sure the Princess escorted trips are fine, but I found Italy very easy to navigate on my own.

21 minutes ago, voljeep said:

i'm in favor of giving the client the aforementioned OBC on the next cruised booked with the FCC the client got from the cancellation, regardless of if the TA gets any/more commission on the new cruise

That is exactly what the big box did for my on my 2nd cruise that i paid for with the FCCs.  Transfer the OBC from canceled first cruise to 2nd, since the TA was only getting minimal commission on 2nd cruise.  Now the 2nd cruise has canceled so now all of the FCCs and hopefully the original OBc will transfer to the next cruise,   Confusing yes, but it does make sense to me now.

14 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

"Princess will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full, in recognition of the critical role they play in the cruise line's business and success."

 

Since Princess is protecting the commission to TA's for bookings that were paid in full shouldn't we get the perks promised (not their commission). I use a big box company and had a $900 OBC coming so shouldn't that still be paid to me when they get their commission?

I asked my Big Box company and the first response was we didn't get the full commission, so no refund for you.  Upon my FCC posted to my account, I called big box to transfer FCC to new cruise (which was now cancelled), I was promised $425 OBC on 2nd cruise ($210 first cruise).  When I applied the 175% FCC to my 2nd cruise my $425 went to $0, when I called back to inquire.  I was able to get the $210 applied to new cruise but told Princess is taking the 175% FCC and applying it against new cruise fare so my $5500 cruise fare is not only $600, but TA commission is now like $11.  So, big box did get commission from cancelled cruise paid in full, and they should get it on the 2nd cancelled cruise but it will be very little.  I have no idea how round two will work since I made final payment on Saturday.  Hang in there everyone.

7/15 cruise, I've been upgraded from basic balcony to club class mini-suite, my theory is that they keep upgrading me so that I won't re-fare.  The current fare is about $500 less for the original balcony that I booked, so I can rebook or keep the current OBC and club class balcony with higher fare.  I think I'm going to try the club class, since I know I wouldn't pay for it.  Again, I do doubt that it will go but willing to take a FCC.

Many folks including myself have reported getting free upgrades in the last month or so.  I went from balcony to mini-suite for July cruise on Sky.   I actually believe this is to discourage folks from re-faring, since prices have gone down dramatically.  Did you agree to be upgraded?  If not, I would change that first and give it a little time and see if you get a free upgrade.  Good luck.

I sent my form as soon as it was available, just hoping it comes my end of month, I've got to pay my July cruise and would really like to use the FCCs.

I've gotten two upgrades in the last week, from Balcony to Deluxe Balcony to now Mini -Suite, I'm pretty sure this is to discourage us from re-faring, which at the end of the day is still pretty good.

Sorry facts, I was intentionally trying to be a little vague, EZAir booked 7/12 - RIC-JFK-LHR, 700AM - 10:45PM, Delta cancelled 700 flight RIC-JFK, so automatically rebooked RIC-LGA-BOS-LHR, leaving 7/11 at 245PM, arriving 7/12 715AM.  There is a desirable option to change going over RIC-DTW-LHR, but then the problem is changing the return (as I'm not sure if I can only change one leg). 

I'm on the 1235pm on 7/27, LRH-JFK-RIC, originally about a 3 hour layover is now a 7 hour layover arriving RIC at just before mid-night on 7/27.  The only return flights on Delta now being offered is leaving late afternoon on 7/27, requiring overnight layover at JFK, which is actually more expensive then I originally was quoted.  So, yes it appears until it's ticketed, airline takes no responsibility for schedule changes and I'm stuck with the auto rebook.  I did book EZAir directly, but I called TA for advice and see if there were any other options.

Once it is ticketed, then yes Delta will help with flight changes, but it has not been booked yet.

We got off boat earlier, caught ferry boat to peninsula with Viking and Fram, we were able to beat the cruise buses to the Viking museum, when we were done the buses started to arrive.  We then walked to Fram, and were back in Oslo for a late lunch.  With four folks, taxi may be quicker and not much more expensive.  Especially if you want to go out to ski jump or park too.

Sorry, a little long, but wanted to try to fully explain. 

I've used EZ-Air at least 5 times without any hiccups, but our flights to our cruise this summer have gotten caught in the downside.  Let me first say, it would not be as big of a problem, if I didn't really want to stay with DELTA/SkyTeam, as of today, I could book flights on other airlines a little bit cheaper or right around the same price but I want to stay on my preferred airline. 

The last couple of flights to Europe, I've taken a direct flight from IAD then connected.  This trip I chose to flow out of my local airport and connect to direct flight to LHR (final destination).  For outbound, Delta has changed my departure time by about 16 hours earlier (from 7AM to 3pm day before, with 2 connections) because it cancelled the 7AM flight, for the inbound Delta moved the connection about 3 hours later, so now I have a 7+ hour layover in JFK, neither of these are ideal, but I guess workable.  Since these flights have not been ticketed, Delta is under no obligation to change to desired flights.  I talked to my TA and the only way to change flights, is to now accept what is available on EZ-Air at that current prices, or accept the changes.  Presently there are very limited options on Delta coming home all including an overnight stay at JFK.  At the end of the day, I'll keep checking both Princess EZ-Air and Delta, currently booking Delta direct is about $300 more in total.

Anyone else run into the downside?

following

Following, also hoping for feedback.  Their website looks nice and the tours look reasonable, hoping for some positive feedback and I'll probably book on of their tours for July.

On 11/26/2019 at 11:15 AM, ontheweb said:

 

We're  doing a Princess transfer that includes Stonehenge, which we really want to see. It says for flight 4 PM or later. (Ours is scheduled at 4:01). 

 

I would imagine the direct transfers without a touring stop would get there much earlier.

 

What time does Princess say should be the earliest for catching a flight? Though our first Princess cruise was out of Copenhagen. We had a great flight deal, but it left at 9 AM which Princess and our TA both said was much too early, so we stayed a day in Copenhagen afterwards. But, when we got the form for what color tag you needed to disembark, we saw not only a tag for continental flights at 9 AM, but also one for flights before 9 AM. though I guess there is a big difference in time to the airport versus Southampton to Heathrow.

  I usually like to book my own transfers, bus, train, metro, etc. and I'm considering a transfer from LHR to Southhampton which includes a stop at Stonehenge, it's not cheap 94 pounds, but we've never been to Stonehenge.  But coming back from Southhampton to LHR, we have a 1230 international flight booked through Princess EzAir, so I'm a little leary about taking private transportation to LHR, in case something goes wrong and Princess tries to blame on us, if we miss flight.  So, I'm considering just sticking with the LHR transfer with Princess.

Airport and cruise terminal are on different sides of town, and there isn't much close to cruise terminal.  Thus you need to decide between close to airport or in town.  We choose and were very happy with AC Bella by Marriott.  Airport Shuttle, easy walking distance to Metro to get to town, shopping mall with food outlets, grocery stores for wine

 within extended walking distance.  We just took Taxi to cruise terminal about $60 US dollars.

If you go back to airport after getting off ship there is a great cheap shuttle option from ship to airport too.

On our cruise last month, we could exchange the liquor for beer, but they would only let us exchange for Dos Equis or Heineken. We wanted Bud Light, but we ended up having to pay for those separately.

On the Regal last month, I swapped out mine for Bud Lights and Diet Cokes. No problem

No, hour and twenty minutes from time we walked off ship to through security, but since we were flying through Paris, did not do immigration at Copenhagen, not sure about London. We had plenty of time to relax before 1210 flight.

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I just got off the cruise shuttle 100 Danish Kroner, 15 euros or $18. I couldn’t believe there were only 8 people on the 800 Bus. I think they run at 730, 800, 830 and 900, there may also be more. 40 minutes and at the airport. Cash and credit cards accepted. 1/2 of cost of Princess transfer. The only downside is you have to find your luggage and take it to bus about 20 meters, they were just outside door. I think they also offer a transfer into town, hold luggage and transfer to airport later in the day. Highly recommend

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