Price Drop for Panama Canal

[Travelrd]

thank you, i've seen that hotel online and it looks nice. i like the idea of the free shuttle too.

[CalGal777]

I am booked at the Hyatt Plaza very close to the cruise port and they provide free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the pier. Reasonable rates.

Thank you for the information, have sailed out of FLL many times but since we live in Houston always come in the same day. This time since we leave on a Monday, we are planning to arrive a day early.

[jfv379]

thank yoiu for starting this thread, i called my ta monday morning and she said she would check with princess about my april 2010 pc cruise. guess what? she called me back and i got a $735 lower price! thanks so much cc and this poster for saving me so much money.

 

David,

 

Which cruise are you on. Sure wish mine was $735 cheaper.

 

John

[MQU]

I am booked at the Hyatt Plaza very close to the cruise port and they provide free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the pier. Reasonable rates.

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place (I don't know if this is the same) but enjoyed walking over to the Groupy Gator for dinner and getting wine at the Total Wine store. We also enjoyed walking up the bridge seeing our ship waiting for us in the morning. At the time orbitz had a good price so I called the hotel reservations and they matched it plus gave us our AAA discount. We did not book through Orbitz because we to had a gift card and also could cancel if needed to.

[jfv379]

Daivid,

 

I saw your subsequent post so I know which cruise your on.

 

John

[Pia1913]

I am booked at the Hyatt Plaza very close to the cruise port and they provide free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the pier. Reasonable rates.

You are booked at the Hyatt PLACE; there is no Hyatt Plaza. ;) This is the old Amerisuites, one block off 17th St.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Ok you guys, I am truly depressed now! :(

[comfortcove]

The Hyatt Place is on various web booking sites for our date in October for $94. Looks okay but people have said it has a bad odor, a musty smell.

 

Has anyone stayed there and liked it?

 

Thanks!

 

Comfortcove

[kilimaspitz]

Hi Billie and Charlie's Mum, you're not the only one that is despressed. We don't take price reductions either in the UK, well we never have if the price has gone down, don't know if any-one else has ever managed it?

Melanie

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Hi Billie and Charlie's Mum, you're not the only one that is despressed. We don't take price reductions either in the UK, well we never have if the price has gone down, don't know if any-one else has ever managed it?

Melanie

 

Hi Melanie, from what I gather Aust and UK are the forgotten countries. We don't get price reductions and frankly it sucks. Discrimination I think!

[kilimaspitz]

Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum, our lovely, (not), PM has now increased the tax on flying. So along with being forgotten about by Princess I think it will probably cost us £240 extra now to fly to the USA. Couple that with the virtually 0% interest we are getting on our savings and it all adds up to a very depresssing time:(

Melanie

[MQU]

The Hyatt Place is on various web booking sites for our date in October for $94. Looks okay but people have said it has a bad odor, a musty smell.

 

Has anyone stayed there and liked it?

 

Thanks!

 

Comfortcove

 

We stayed there last April. No complaints. It is not the Embassy Suites but for the money we found it to be ok. The shuttle picked us up at the airport and took us to the ship. We stayed a night after and the shuttle picked us up at the pier and was able to check in early.

We liked the fact that you could walk to restaurants, Total Wine and to the water Taxi.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum, our lovely, (not), PM has now increased the tax on flying. So along with being forgotten about by Princess I think it will probably cost us £240 extra now to fly to the USA. Couple that with the virtually 0% interest we are getting on our savings and it all adds up to a very depresssing time:(

Melanie

 

Wow, and I thought our government ripped everyone off!!!!!!!

 

Hang on a minute - you have a tax on flying? What the h*ll is that for?

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum, our lovely, (not), PM has now increased the tax on flying. So along with being forgotten about by Princess I think it will probably cost us £240 extra now to fly to the USA. Couple that with the virtually 0% interest we are getting on our savings and it all adds up to a very depresssing time:(

Melanie

 

Can't you drive over to France and then fly from there?

[NSWP]

Crikey, Billy & Charlies Mum..you will be a riot on Coral Princess..wish I was on board with you!!!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

[quote name='NSWP']Crikey, Billy & Charlies Mum..you will be a riot on Coral Princess..wish I was on board with you!!![/quote]

RAOFLMAH!!!!!!!

They ain't seen nothin yet! Roll on Feb!

[kilimaspitz]

Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum. The tax is a way of the government recovering more money. The longer your flight, the more you have to pay and, if like us, you upgrade your seats you have to pay double. A bit like our Council Tax, the bigger your house the more you have to pay despite the fact you only have the same refuse collection, policing, street lighting etc etc as others who live in smaller houses/falts and don't pay as much. I could go on more but it's too depressing:( Great Britain definately isn't great anymore!

[NSWP]

[quote name='kilimaspitz']Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum. The tax is a way of the government recovering more money. The longer your flight, the more you have to pay and, if like us, you upgrade your seats you have to pay double. A bit like our Council Tax, the bigger your house the more you have to pay despite the fact you only have the same refuse collection, policing, street lighting etc etc as others who live in smaller houses/falts and don't pay as much. I could go on more but it's too depressing:( Great Britain definately isn't great anymore![/QUOTE]
Just like Australia

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

[quote name='kilimaspitz']Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum. The tax is a way of the government recovering more money. The longer your flight, the more you have to pay and, if like us, you upgrade your seats you have to pay double. A bit like our Council Tax, the bigger your house the more you have to pay despite the fact you only have the same refuse collection, policing, street lighting etc etc as others who live in smaller houses/falts and don't pay as much. I could go on more but it's too depressing:( Great Britain definately isn't great anymore![/quote]

:eek: You have to pay for the size of your house!!!!!! No wonder you all live in tiny little houses!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

[quote name='NSWP']Just like Australia[/quote]

No Les, we pay for the size of our land not the size of our house.

[jfv379]

I hesitated to get in on this conversation, but in the States our property is taxed on assessed valuation. Usually re-assessed every four years. House and property combined. Bigger house bigger land bigger taxes. Big house big lot big taxes. Small house small lot taxes. Now throw in location, location, location and it screws up everything either up or down depending on location.

[Pia1913]

[quote name='jfv379']I hesitated to get in on this conversation, but in the States our property is taxed on assessed valuation. Usually re-assessed every four years. House and property combined. Bigger house bigger land bigger taxes. Big house big lot big taxes. Small house small lot taxes. Now throw in location, location, location and it screws up everything either [B][COLOR=red]up or down[/COLOR][/B] depending on location.[/quote]

Up......always up. Smaller more expensive house, different location, more taxes.

[chamima]

[quote name='jfv379']I hesitated to get in on this conversation, but in the States our property is taxed on assessed valuation. Usually re-assessed every four years. House and property combined. Bigger house bigger land bigger taxes. Big house big lot big taxes. Small house small lot taxes. Now throw in location, location, location and it screws up everything either up or down depending on location.[/QUOTE]


AND, to add insult to injury, here in Michigan, where the real value of homes has DROPPED for the last 3 years or so to a total of about 40%(:eek:)our assessed valuation has continued to go UP. Every year, in the letter with the notice of assessed valuation we get another letter explaining why it will take several more years for real value to catch up (down) with assessed value.
Long story shory - my house is worth 40% less and my property taxes are going up.

[sheeper370]

[quote name='kilimaspitz']Hi Billie & Charlie's Mum. The tax is a way of the government recovering more money. The longer your flight, the more you have to pay and, if like us, you upgrade your seats you have to pay double. A bit like our Council Tax, the bigger your house the more you have to pay despite the fact you only have the same refuse collection, policing, street lighting etc etc as others who live in smaller houses/falts and don't pay as much. I could go on more but it's too depressing:( Great Britain definately isn't great anymore![/quote]

[quote=Billy and Charlie's Mum;20516958]:eek: You have to pay for the size of your house!!!!!! No wonder you all live in tiny little houses![/quote]

UK population = 60million. 1/5th that of US population in tiny islands that would easily fit inside Texas = expensive land = small houses. :rolleyes:

[smoosh21]

[quote name='jfv379']Price drop for three Panama Canal Cruise in Apr 2010 on Princess web site.

Only $200.00 total for us but better than nothing. Actually the online agency was way cheaper than Princess when we first booked, but this was even cheaper. They adjusted with no charge.

I still don't under stand why starting prices for Inside, Outside and Balcony's are all the same price. Mini Suites are more.

Being OCD definitely pays off. Still checking every day.[/quote]

There is a lot of Toll Charge built into the price of the Panama Canal cruise that is not part of the port taxes that you pay. I think the captain told us on our cruise in March that the Toll was over $300,000, which is over $160 per passenger.

I noticed the same thing about fees on our trip. The price differential between an inside cabin and a mini-suite was extremely small. There was only about a 50-60% increase in price from the cheapest room to a mini-suite