Can you board on Princess at a destination port?

[waterdave]

Hello all, does anyone know if its possible to begin a cruise on the Princess line in St Maarten? Even if the ship is based out of Puerto Rico?

 

I spend most of the year in st maarten, and read a local travel agent ad promoting a southern caribbean cruise in april that you can board in st maarten, but it dodnt list the cruise line. I think it might be princess cruises....

[delidan]

I wanted to do that in San Francisco on a 7 day cruise out of LA. I was told I would have to by 2 cruises to cover the 1/2 weeks the room would be empty.

[Essiesmom]

Did it give any more of the itinerary? I can't find any cruises that depart from St. Maarten...Some of the non-US cruise lines have cruises that you can board in mutiple ports, but I can't even find them listed . I think you might have to call that travel agency..

Addendum...I did find one on Windstar that boards in Marigot and goes to Barbados, Nov. 17, 2011.

Windstar and Seabourn also sail from Philipsburg. Pricey company....EM

[Pam in CA]

If one of the ports on the itinerary is St. Maarten, it's potentially possible but you would have to purchase the entire cruise, it wouldn't be pro-rated, and you'd have to disembark at the final destination. You would absolutely, positively have to make prior arrangements with Princess and receive permission.

[firefall]

I booked (and paid for) an 18 day TransAtlantic...Venice to Fort Lauderdale. We will board the ship 3 days later in Naples. No problem. We just informed Princess at the time of booking and now our booking says: Embarkation-Naples, Italy.

 

Kathy

[greysol1]

I booked (and paid for) an 18 day TransAtlantic...Venice to Fort Lauderdale. We will board the ship 3 days later in Naples. No problem. We just informed Princess at the time of booking and now our booking says: Embarkation-Naples, Italy.

 

Who did you contacr. I want to do the same thing in Nov 2012. The ship leaves from Southampton but we want to board the next day in Le Havre, France. We want to spend some tike in Paris never having beeen there.

[paul929207]

Check with Princess. It can probably be done with advance planning

[greysol1]

I booked (and paid for) an 18 day TransAtlantic...Venice to Fort Lauderdale. We will board the ship 3 days later in Naples. No problem. We just informed Princess at the time of booking and now our booking says: Embarkation-Naples, Italy.

 

Kathy

 

Are you on the Oct 19, 2011 Ruby sailing. If so, we have a pretty active roll call going. We are on this one also.

[waterdave]

Thank you everyone for the help.

Its a strange itinerary- for the 14 days Southern Caribbean Grand Adventure Roundtrip From San Juan, embarking sunday april 1st, 2012-

It appears the ship goes back to its home port mid-cruise- I'm guessing it is to pick up and drop of 7 day cruise passengers etc. (I dont want to call the travel agent yet, its more rewarding to research the whole thing first, then call them already knowing the details...)

 

(BTW this is copied straight off of Princess.com website- its kind of funny that its 4th stop is Auckland New Zealand, which apparently is between Tortola and Dominica!)

 

itinerary:

1San Juan, Puerto Rico11:00 PM

2St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands7:00 AM6:00 PM

3Tortola, British Virgin Islands8:00 AM6:00 PM

4Auckland, New Zealand8:00 AM5:00 PM (???)

5Dominica8:00 AM5:00 PM

6Barbados8:00 AM5:00 PM

7At Sea

8San Juan, Puerto Rico6:00 AM11:00 PM (deja vu???)

9St. Maarten10:00 AM6:00 PM

10St. Lucia9:00 AM6:00 PM

11Grenada7:00 AM2:00 PM

12Bonaire12:00 PM7:00 PM

13Aruba7:00 AM5:00 PM

14At Sea

15San Juan, Puerto Rico6:00 AM

[firefall]

Who did you contacr. I want to do the same thing in Nov 2012. The ship leaves from Southampton but we want to board the next day in Le Havre, France. We want to spend some tike in Paris never having beeen there.

 

My TA contacted Princess and then informed me when I received permission from Princess. Embarkation port is Venice, Italy and I am getting on in Naples, Italy...not sure how it works when your dealing with two different countries. Just an FYI...we did Paris then took the 1 1/2 hr ride on the Eurostar to London then had Smiths For Airports take us to Southhampton...just another option for you.

 

Yes, we're on the Ruby in Oct...VERY active roll call :eek: Posted a few times but I just read now. See you on-board!

 

Kathy

[Tkennedy]

WaterDave.

This is the itinerary I see http://www.princess.com/find/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=B215A&tourCode=&date=0412&noOfPax=2&resType=C&definition_name=&bID=PCPB&itinPort=&tourIds=

 

It doesn't get to St. Maartin until the 9th day. Why bother?

 

Tom K.

[Carolyn R]

St. Maarten is a new stop which replaces a repeat of St. Thomas if you are doing a b2b or have booked as a 14-day cruise. I think the Auckland, New Zealand is a typo and is really Antigua. San Juan is turnaround as the CB cruises can be booked either 7-day or 14-day. With Princess permission you could board in St. Maarten rather than San Juan but you would have to leave the ship in San Juan and would not be able to debark in St. Maarten. Book it now for this winter because Princess is pulling the CB out of San Juan after 2012.

[greysol1]

Who did you contacr. I want to do the same thing in Nov 2012. The ship leaves from Southampton but we want to board the next day in Le Havre, France. We want to spend some tike in Paris never having beeen there.

 

My TA contacted Princess and then informed me when I received permission from Princess. Embarkation port is Venice, Italy and I am getting on in Naples, Italy...not sure how it works when your dealing with two different countries. Just an FYI...we did Paris then took the 1 1/2 hr ride on the Eurostar to London then had Smiths For Airports take us to Southhampton...just another option for you.

 

Yes, we're on the Ruby in Oct...VERY active roll call :eek: Posted a few times but I just read now. See you on-board!

 

Kathy

 

That is an option, but who are Smiths for airports? Is this an airline or other. The Southampton airport is very small and the one airline I found is a small commuter with very limited luggage limits. There is a train to Southampton also but the rates were very expensive. Paris to London is quite a distance - 1 1/2 hours doesn't sound right??

[firefall]

That is an option, but who are Smiths for airports? Is this an airline or other. The Southampton airport is very small and the one airline I found is a small commuter with very limited luggage limits.

 

Smiths for Airports is a shuttle company that picked us up from St Pancras Station (Eurostar) in London and took us to the ship in Southhampton. (No airport or planes involved)

[greysol1]

That is an option, but who are Smiths for airports? Is this an airline or other. The Southampton airport is very small and the one airline I found is a small commuter with very limited luggage limits.

 

Smiths for Airports is a shuttle company that picked us up from St Pancras Station (Eurostar) in London and took us to the ship in Southhampton. (No airport or planes involved)

 

Train from Paris to Londom is $200pp plus the transfer to Southampton!! I would rather miss one dinner on the ship and take an inexpensive transfer from Paris to LeHavre.

[paradiseisaprincessaway]

we are on that sailing as well !!! very excited

[Twickenham]

That is an option, but who are Smiths for airports? Is this an airline or other. The Southampton airport is very small and the one airline I found is a small commuter with very limited luggage limits.

 

Smiths for Airports is a shuttle company that picked us up from St Pancras Station (Eurostar) in London and took us to the ship in Southhampton. (No airport or planes involved)

 

Train from Paris to Londom is $200pp plus the transfer to Southampton!! I would rather miss one dinner on the ship and take an inexpensive transfer from Paris to LeHavre.

 

Have you priced the cost of a Paris-LeHavre transfer? We're talking a distance of 120 miles, after all...

 

The Eurostar between Paris-London takes about 2h20, and the prices I'm getting for this November are around 45.50 pounds, or around US$73, per person. Alternatively, you could fly from Orly to Heathrow, which for this November is about $83, or Orly-Southampton, which is $97.

[Cruise Junky]

Have you priced the cost of a Paris-LeHavre transfer? We're talking a distance of 120 miles, after all...

 

 

Rail Europe is showing $49 pp and they're usually about a 20% mark up over booking it on the French site.

[greysol1]

Rail Europe is showing $49 pp and they're usually about a 20% mark up over booking it on the French site.

 

Yes, that is what I intend to do, assuming I can board at Le Havre.

[raven31]

Train from Paris to Londom is $200pp plus the transfer to Southampton!! I would rather miss one dinner on the ship and take an inexpensive transfer from Paris to LeHavre.

 

If you used the eurostar.com site and put in 2 passengers, the price they're showing is total ticket cost, not pp. Check for October of this year for something that's likely to be comparable to Novmeber. I just picked a random day in October and it showed $76pp for an early-morning train.

 

You'd still have to pay for the transfer from St Pancras to the pier, which makes it more expensive than just taking the train out to Le Havre.

 

Either way enjoy the train trip! The scenery through northern France is beautiful and I wish the US had as comprehensive and functional a rail system as Europe does.