hawkesbaynz

I paid TA the balance via Amex. TA called back and said they had spoken to Princess who will update my account as having paid by end of week. They blame Princess for showing balances on my personal webpage. I cannot see why that would take so long. I’ll wait and see what happens by end of week. Our friends who booked separately had the same experience. I will not be using the ’ to …. and beyond’ TA again

I have evidence on Amex card and from the TA too. Just spoke to them and was given the same promises as I received a few weeks ago… Demanded manager call me back and to speak to Princess to find out why not showing.

We have never booked with Princess via a TA. I have a cruise this mid-June on Sky Princess. I paid the TA early February although the Princess pay-by date was mid March. I noticed early April that my Princess account still stated that I had circa £4k outstanding. I spoke to the TA and they said it was an accounting issue between them paying Princess on invoicing and Princess doing the adjustments. I looked again last week and the same amount outstanding. The TA reassured it had been paid. The Princess agent said it had not been. I asked the TA to check with their accounts staff and get back to me by Friday. They did not. Have emailed again. Unfortunately am in Spain at the moment on leave. Anybody have any experience of a time lag between TAs paying Princess and the money clearing the outstanding accounts. In the past I have booked direct with Princess or Celebrity. Wish I knew about the Price promise when I booked. So much easier direct!

We wanted a fortnight Artic Circle Norway cruise this year. Princess about £1k less and 2 extra nights in comparison with the Apex. Off on the Sky Princess next month. I imagine the Silhouette would have been similar price if she had not been replaced by the Apex. We have done several X but only one Princess cruise. Like them both. Never been on E class but will be trying the Ascent in the Med in September. We have become itinerary based cruisers. Sailed Royal, P&O, Oceania, Marella, Princess. Enjoyed them all but X is our go to if price and itinerary is the same. Trying Azamara for South Africa.

You can bring soft drinks onboard I believe. Take your favourite drinks and ask the steward to clear the fridge. Buy the rest with the onboard account. You can find water available in the buffet and the gym ? spa cafe. We had two bottles of water every day in recent Aqua cabin. My recent Millenium cruise I planned to do Pilates. However not available. It will depend on what the instructors are trained in. I like to use the sauna after the gym when on a cruise. Millenium's sauna was not hot enough.

@Travelling2Some Hah Ha but I imagine you are one of those gorgeous well dressed people we see on the X adverts. Just decorating the ship with your natural good looks and flair for fashion. That will be why they take your custom. Likewise have never gambled on the ships. Went to Las Vegas and am still missing that $5 I frittered away. Happy for people to gamble to their hearts content. Sure it is helping the X profit-loss account and keeps the prices down(!).

We have enjoyed eight cruises on X (just stepped off Millenium after an excellent Japan cruise) but only one Princess cruise (Enchanted). Pros and Cons for both but comparable enjoyment and overall cruise. We have a cruise on the Sky to the Artic in June. The comparable Apex cruise was £1000+ more for fewer days. If the Sky is as good as Enchanted we will go ahead booking on itinerary and price.

We are using the train to get to Yokohama on Sunday. Taxis very expensive for there and Tokyo. On return from the cruise we have two nights in Tokyo. Have booked a taxi to the terminal via Vioator as the Limousine service seems to start too late for our flight. However the taxi service is pretty specific - only two suitcases. Look at the Bus Limousine service as per DaKuna. Stops at numerous hotels encourages:https://webservice.limousinebus.co.jp/web/en/

There is a Princess Sales office in Southampton. My neighbour works there. Worth a try.

Contact a local taxi/tour company to pick you up in a minibus and take you to the cathedral. The driver Could stay with the bags and you can then transfer to the port later. Perhaps have a mini tour of Barcelona. Will cost more but… When we were last in Barcelona we had a couple on our Barcelona tour who were picked up at a hotel, we dropped the bags of at the port, did the tour then dropped them back in time for departures. Tad annoying for the rest of us within extra travel but worked for them.

We use an Uber. Cheaper than a taxi. Usually book a day room in the Doubletreee near the airport via Dayuse.com as UK flights are late out.

Glad you had a good cruise with TUI. We had an enjoyable cruise in East Med on one of their old ships (now scrapped) but really due to the ports and company. I’d try them again but DW not keen. I would have booked the whole package but plan to use Airmiles for direct business class.

Newbie Azamara cruiser. Can you upgrade drinks and pay the individual price. DW is a gin snob and will only drink Hendricks/Botanist quality. On Celebrity you can pay the difference per drink which works at much cheaper than upgrading to their Premium package. She is an absolute dipsomaniac for sparkling water. Happy with supermarket quality at home as long as there are bubbles. Is it included? We have enjoyed port intensive Oceania cruises without packages just drinking gin in the cabin and taking wine to the restaurants and paying the corkage. Bit of a cheek Azamara charging corkage for own bought wine if their wine is poor.

I used a TA who is on that list and got a Much better cooool price than the Azamara website price. When I sail with Celebrity I go direct as receive a decent military discount. However the TAs discount was much better than the usual 10% discount. As for Azamara advisors. Our South Africa cruise had the itinerary changed. I had an email advising me but no updated itinerary (why do that?). I called the office as advised but they knew nothing. Promised to call me back. Am still waiting.

If it wasn’t for these forums I would be unaware that people can reprice their cruises, although unfortunately not in the UK😞. From a Roll Call Princess thread I looked at re-pricing a cruise that had gone down in price several hundred pounds. The TA really did not want to help re-negotiating (not replying to emails or calling back) but eventually I was advised to cancel, loose freebies and gain a couple of hundred when the deposit was lost. I did not bother, but will not be using the TA again. However a Celebrity Roll Call was talking about price hikes for a Med cruise. My cabin had gone up three thousand! I think I gained over all. I recently booked an Azamara cruise at a great price with another TA. I won’t be checking the prices again. Oddly I noticed I have yet to have the Azamara invoice so will hold off booking flights until I have that. The price sounded too good. I often cross check prices with US TAs. Rarely the difference seems worthwhile. I have done once and the currency exchange went against me.

Interesting thread. We were on that Oceania Marina cruise last February. We went to the pleasant town of Castro as there was bad weather at Puerto Chacabuco. The Chilean Fjords were fantastic. Amazing eating dinner on a beautiful Summers evening watching the scenery go by from the window in the Marinas fantastic restaurants. Shipwrecks and all! We passed by a glacier at 5am in the morning. Actually one of the worst days of weather. I got up topside whilst DW rolled over in bed. There were better glaciers in Antarctica for her. We had great weather for the entire cruise including Drakes Passage, Antarctica and Falklands. Enjoy Princess and Celebrity cruises too. Have Azamara booked too. However no line could beat Oceania’s itinerary for SA.

We are using https://www.discover-japan-tours.com/ for a disembarkation tour from the Millie dropping us off in Tokyo city for 85,000 Yen for six of us. They may be able to sort out a tour for you. Not cheap but an inclusive tour unlike the other tours I have booked in Japan with Tourswithlocals etc.

Great review😀. We did the overnight in Hanoi with X and it was massively overcharged. However we had lots of OBC A couple who joined us with Xuan did a private tour, just them and a guide, and it was half the price. Incidentally Xuan WhatsApp’s me today to with HNY. I’ll give him a well deserved plug: https://www.tourwithxuan.com/

Looks like a coffin! Jim I often wondered why you were so loyal to X when you enjoyed the finer things of cruising without the casino, shows & pools. Luxury lines would suit you. We really enjoyed our couple cruises with Oceania and are trying Azamara in 2025. We have three excellent itinerary cruises booked with X ((Japan, Med on the Ascent, New England/Canada) and then will be looking for new adventures & Cruise Lines. We do have an Artic Circle cruise with Princess from Southampton in June. We find Princess just as enjoyable as X but cheaper. Unfortunately the pennies do not allow us to try Regent/Silver sea etc. Cunard seems good value although they seem to have less port time on similar itineraries to competitors.

It snowed a little when we were in Antarctica in February. Otherwise cool and crisp. Placid seas. I did 30 minutes walking the deck post gym sessions in shorts and tee shirt. Otherwise a down mid-layer with a windproof/waterproof outer layer. A buff and woolly hat. I use soft shell walking trousers for walking the dog in foul weather and bought a new pair for the trip. Very comfy. Decent shoes or boots, I had a pair of approach goretex trainers. This will be suitable for Falklands/Ushaia/Punta Arenas. No need for heavy down jackets you may use in the Canadian Winter. Layers is the key.

Am living a Deja vu… we had Mr Hoi last month and the same tour thru Xuan LeTours. Charming chap but his English not as good. Enjoyed the lunch the most in Nha Trang. I am Elite too and asked if all our group could meet at Cellar Masters where they were prioritising higher Captain Club members. They agreed although not all were CC Elite. However one couple were in the Retreat and we met outside Michael’s Club and walked off with the Retreat person (feeling a bit bad). Chan May is easy. I could see Xuan Le standing by the minibus from our balcony. Enjoy😀.

Brought back great memories of our HCMC tour with Xuan Le early November. Great guide and a really nice young man. If you are using him for Chan May Port send him our best regards - Roger & May from Southampton. He arranged another guide for Nha Trang. Xuan Le advised us there was no requirement to cover up in Vietnam.

Following too. Really appreciated your TR on Japan tour cruise &tours We were in Blu in November on same itinerary. The South African ass. MD was great. She had an amazing memory for names (unlike mine). Wonder if she still remembers our Labradors name😀 How do you seem to manage to eat so much food but still look so trim? I wish my wife would be as adventurous as yours with oriental food. Roger

We did the cruise in November. Although we exchanged currency in Vietnam there was no need. Everyone was happy to take small denomination dollars. However HK dollars were required to get a taxi on disembarkation. There was a change kiosk at the port adjacent to the taxi queue although we had very little currency of any kind to change as no ATM. UBER did not work at the port but did elsewhere?? The old Botanical Park is great in Singapore too.

Such a shame you are in Napier for such a short time. A drive around the vineyards and a meal at Craggy Range would have been fantastic. Napier is an easy walk around. The museum is interesting too. I really miss New Zealand pies….