Nolongerworking

Thank you

Thank you 

Hi Elmsliebev thank you for your response, I spoke with TUI yesterday and Charlotte was really helpful to me and she talked me through the cabins which were best for less movement and we have booked 0631 and 0638, great to know it’s a good location for getting on and off.  We are really looking forward to this cruise as none of us have done the Caribbean before.  Is there any excursions you could recommend?

Hi everyone it’s our first cruise next year on Marella Celebration around the Caribbean a 2 week cruise with b2b iternary we have booked an inside cabin and it will be on deck 1 / 2.  We would like to reserve 2 cabins as there are four of us travelling and don’t want to change cabins after the first week.  What cabins numbers are best for mid ship and not a lot of noise I.e., docking in the morning etc., any pluses or minus on cabin numbers etc., so we know which to avoid lol, hope someone can help us thank you.

4192 is a great location I think we had 4191 on the other side of the ship recently.

. So handy to Stairway D which provides quick access to Kings Court on Deck 7, also for going down to the Queens Room. You can also pop down to the Britannia Dining Room using the back entrance, upper and lower levels, really good if you are going there directly from cocktails in Queens Room to dinner. We used to prefer cabins near the front of the ship but now find it better near the back on QM2.

Thank you looking forward to the cruise soon be here.

We were in 4211 last summer. It's on the starboard side of the ship, but otherwise it's in just about then same location as your cabin. There was no noise and it was nicely situated for the Britannia dining room. Being far to the stern, you will have a hike back from the theatres, the library, and the Commodore Club, but the long walks may be all to the good! I would suggest that, if you're taking the stairs down to the lobby, the dining room, the shops, etc., you pass by stairway D (the first you'll encounter) and take stairway C instead.

 

Have a wonderful sailing!

Thank you walking sounds good, love the tip about the stairway C, trip coming closer now yippee!!

Has anyone travelled in the above cabin, we booked a guaranteed sheltered balcony and have been given this cabin, we are new to Cunard and wondering if there are any pitfalls in location or noise issues etc.,

I'm on the uk website so maybe had already bought casino credits so strange not allowed now

 

 

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Hi Korkee, I am also UK based and did buy casino credits about 2 months ago. My first attempt there was only obc so tried another day and casino credit was right at the bottom of the web page and purchased them. However, I was showing a friend of mine on Sunday how to buy casino credits and it wasn't on Princess main site and I went to show him on my cruise planner and I couldn't find it there either. Might be worth ringing them direct to ask if you can still buy.

Yes, as long as your name is on that page.

Thank you

Yes, as long as your name is on that page.

Thank you

Read the requirements that are on the form provided in the link above your post. It states what is acceptable. Make sure you make a copy before faxing and cross out your brokerage account number.

 

 

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Thanks Pat

For the shareholder benefit you will need proof that you own 100 or more shares of Carnival Corp stock. The most common method is a recent copy of your stock account from your stock broker. It can be a copy of the actual stock certificates or a current stockholder report. I copy the last stock statement from my broker and send it to Princess along with the information about the upcoming cruise. Be sure to block out any account identification like account number or other stock owned. I submit it shortly after final payment but has to be at least 2 weeks before you sail and can be faxed or snail mailed but not emailed. There is a form to send in but it is not needed. All you need is your name, reservation ID, ship, date of sail and port of embarkation. The benefit is per cabin so that if more than one in the cabin owns 100 shares, only one gets the benefit. If both spouses each own 100 shares, only one can claim the benefit.

Hi, I have just purchased 100 CCL shares and want to apply them to my cruise booking for October, can I use the share dealing history page from my stock broker which confirms I bought within the 90 day window?

Snap. Both DH and I finished 2 years and 18 months respectively. Got the chance to go at 55 so took it. Yes we always book our flights independently. There is a risk doing this incase there are any flight delays etc that may mean you missing the ship. If that was happens you are on your own, apart from your airline. So now we head out a day or so earlier, especially on long haul flights. This enusres we get there on time. We have looked into flights through Princess but they are always more expensive, plus they send you all around the houses and never direct. These journey's are long enough without going via Europe or mid America.

 

We really enjoyed our Hawaiin cruise a few year back. Which ship are you sailing on? Enjoy

Hi, same as hubby finished 2 years last June and I 18 months ago February 2015, same neck of the woods as well Manchester lol.

We are going on the Crown in October and really looking forward to it. We went on the Star Princess last year around South America and really enjoyed it so bought 4 lots of future cruise deposits for further cruises. Going to make sure I do my homework for next cruise lol. Independant air travel sounds good as normally we have to fly to Heathrow or Gatwick to get onward flight to cruise ship to LA and flights are long enough.

Hi there Nolongerworking (isn't it great to be retired :D)

A few years ago now, like you, we learnt the hard way. We wanted to pay for an upgrade but Princess would not give us the then offer price but the much higher price as it stood on the day we had booked the cruise. Anyway, we now book directly with Princess, that way they will deal with us directly if we have an queries. In the past year or so they will now reduce your cruise price if you see it on sale, you just have to give them a call. They have always been helpful and pretty clear about what they can and can't do. But it is always advisable to check out what the 'sale price' is on. If it is on new bookings only then you are stuck. Regardless of all that, have a wonderful cruise.

Hi, it's great to have finished work, we got the opportunity to finish early so still in our 50s, eighteen months on and still can't believe every day is our own to do as we please. Think we will definitely look at booking direct now, we have a future cruise deposit to use by December 2017 so will have a good look at the intinaries, by the way do you book your own flights? Or through Princess? Really looking forward to our Hawaiian cruise now.

Well, I am not from the UK, but I think at least part of your question applies to any passenger, regardless of where they are located and how cruise lines (and in this case Princess) handle bookings, self upgrades and upsells. So let me give it a shot and others can chime in.

1. Princess won't talk to you about your specific booking if you booked through a TA, so don't waste your time trying to make any booking change without involving your TA. That works on both sides of the pond.

2. If you want to self upgrade, your cost will be the difference between what you paid and what that new level of cabin is selling for now BUT it does not include pricing that is 'for new bookings only' which is probably what you ran into in looking online. (And this does not include the US $ price vs the UK £ price differences, which is a whole different issue). Self upgrading pricing cannot be at restricted prices (flash fares, new bookings, special rates, etc), it must be done at the non-restricted rate.

3. Princess rarely (never??) does purchased upgrades at embarkation. They will do upsells, sometimes at a great rate, sometimes not, about 4-6 weeks prior to sailing. These offers would be conveyed to your TA first, who would need to contact you about the offer. I know these happen in the US, not so sure if they also happen in the UK market.

 

Hope that helps to explain what is going on.

 

Eta-I checked your roll call for the upgrade/downgrade situation you described. The key here is that is a US booking and it is before final payment. In the US, you can make just about any change for a new price prior to final payment, including completely canceling without incurring any penalty. The poster erroneously called it a flash sale, which is a misnomer. But they booked a guarantee, were assigned upgrade cabins, saw a new lower price (not restricted) for a guarantee balcony and opted to take the lower price in lieu of the upgraded cabins. They still have another week before final payment is due.

Hi, thanks for your explanation on the upgrading / downgrading situation before final payment date in the US, even cancelling without penalty before final payment date, pity we Brits cannot have the same restrictions lol on our bookings.

We no longer use a TA and book direct with Princess. If you see that Princess is offering a much better deal than the one you booked with your TA then see what the penalty is for cancelling with them and factor that in with the possibly better price direct. If you come up trumps then cancel and book direct.:)

Hi Ron, interesting that you no longer use TA, I will look into booking with Princess directly via Southampton I think? Do they lower the price of your booked cruise with them if they release newer prices like they do with the US bookings. Also do they offer competitive flights or do you get your own flights independently.

We have always booked our own holidays independently but never thought of doing this with cruises. Doh!!

As to upgrading on board, most if not all of the Princess ships I've sailed on in the past few years have had a sign up on the Customer Services desk to say that the ship was sailing full. I doubt the people you saw queueing were being upgraded. There are all sorts of reasons to go to the desk. I go soon after I board to request an extra copy of the ship's map. If you want a different class of cabin, you need to pay for it now.

Thank you think we will stay in our inside and spend the money on other things and learn for next time lol

There are quite a few differences between UK and US booking in terms and conditions.

 

They will be quoting you the extra for the balcony price when you booked your current cabin and not what the balcony ones are going for now.

 

I doubt you will get anywhere with Princess or your TA and I think that your only option will be to cancel your current booking - and lose your deposit - and rebook a balcony cabin as a new booking. It depends on the costs involved whether this would be an option for you and if you think it's worth it.

 

If you book through a TA the cruise company won't generally speak to you but refer you back to your TA to do the talking to them. Happened to me a few times. I know that when such good offers come up and you've paid far more,

then it can leave a bad taste, especially when our US cousins get a far better deal. This is what we have to adhere to if we want to cruise and the U.K. terms do give us more protection if things go wrong.

 

I hope you get a good outcome and enjoy your cruise.

 

 

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Hi Homelessbear, thank you for your input, unfortunately we gave already paid our final payment so cancelling won't be an option really. Seems a bit unfair on differences between US rules and UK rules but hey life is unfair so will just grin and bear it. Maybe I'll send a request to the universe it may just well work. Looking forward to the cruise whatever's happens less than 90 days and counting.

Hi, I was wondering is there are any UK cc who knows an answer to this post, I was after changing from an inside to a balcony cabin on a Hawaii cruise I have booked, I have seen good prices for balconies and have approached my travel agent who can offer an upgrade but the price is £2360 each on top on what we have already paid for the cruise. I contacted Princess to see if they were able to assist us with a lower price considering the new bargain prices, however they referred us back to our TA, contacted them again they confirmed they could not do anything else for us only what they stipulated. Contacted Princess again and reiterated what had been said and they advised us to contact TA as they sold cruise and they would not be able to assist in this regard. My final punt was to ask any experienced CC on here would there be any chance of getting an upgrade on embarkment if we were to ask at customer services I am not sure if they do this sort of thing once on board but last cruise we were on there was a lot of people at customer services when first boarding and I am sure they weren't complaining. I know there are differences with the way Princess works in the UK and USA regarding pricing etc., any help would be appreciated.

By the way I know there are roughly 50 balconies cabins left at the end of last week. Also someone has posted on our roll call that they had a guaranteed balcony and was offered a more superior cabin which they took. They were then contacted by Princess and were offered 900 $ each so 1800 $ if they ave up their new upgrade and go back to guaranteed balcony which they did, makes me question their workings.

Hi, spoke with a broker and he has clarified it to be in pence and not pounds so will be buying stock today, happy days $250 OBC for forthcoming trip in October and following April.

Have to agree that my Carnival stock has been an excellent investment. Between dividends and an average of two cruises a year, we are very happy with our return. (I'm even happier after reading this thread - I bought my shares in Sept of 2013 when it was $29 a share! Of course it sits in my Roth IRA so I haven't recognized any of that benefit, but it definitely has been a good investment. My financial planner thought I was nuts when I bought it. I'll have to rub it in at our next review [emoji1])

Hi, 100 carnival shares bought and ready for next cruise free money is always good.

Yes I know what you are saying but UK price is Three thousand five hundred and sixty two pounds and zero pence which is what I am seeing on UK based brokers as opposed to forty five US dollars, which I see on US sites, I will ring a trader tomorrow when the markets are open just to clarify, hopefully I am misreading the GB sterling price as it is in pence as opposed to £s, fingers crossed. Hoping a UK shareholder may come along with an answer.

Hi, spoke with a broker and he has clarified it to be in pence and not pounds so will be buying stock today, happy days $250 OBC for forthcoming trip in October and following April.

Isn't the UK stock in pence not pounds? That would make them about the same.

Yes I know what you are saying but UK price is Three thousand five hundred and sixty two pounds and zero pence which is what I am seeing on UK based brokers as opposed to forty five US dollars, which I see on US sites, I will ring a trader tomorrow when the markets are open just to clarify, hopefully I am misreading the GB sterling price as it is in pence as opposed to £s, fingers crossed. Hoping a UK shareholder may come along with an answer.

Just some basic math.

Yesterday's closing price was $45.94/share. The past annual dividends have been $1.40/share which would be $140 for 100 shares, and a rate of 3.05%. If you purchase a min. of 100 shares you are then eligible for the shareholder benefit. If you take just one 7 day cruise/year you would receive a $100 OBC. If you add that to the $140 dividend the return rate goes to 5.2%. More cruises/year will increase the return.

 

Of course stock values go up & down and you could loose or gain based on that. But as long as CCL still offers the shareholder benefit your return will be based on your actual purchase price. I purchased my stock for under $40/share so my percentage return is greater than the numbers stated above.

Hi, we are based in the UK and the CCL shares price here is quoted as £3562.00p which is a lot more than $45.94 share you quoted, just wondering why there is so much difference in the price, could run to $ price for 100 shares but not UK price lol wouldn't have much left for cruises.

As for the drink package, it truly up for you to decide. My inlaws typically cruise for 2 weeks, and they have wine in the evening, a cocktail/beer at night. So it wouldn't be worth it for them, their tab was about 300 for a two week cruise ( which is not bad at all. For my husband and myself, we work hard, are young parents, and really like to induldge on vacation. Which means mimosas/cappuccinos for breakst, fruity drinks by the pool all afternoon ( which aren't really strong btw), wine with dinner, and post dinner martinis. I kept a tally of our drinks ( about $8-$10 each) and by the 3rd day of our 7 day cruise, the drink package paid for itself!

We took advantage of the sip and sail promotion, so the drink package is free for us( whoo whoo)

 

Enjoy cruise :o

Thank you for your input we are still deciding on the drinks package alas we could not get the sip and sail promotion so have to pay £39.45 each per day so for 2 people on a 28 day cruise it will cost well over £2000 and not sure if it's in my nature to pay that much for drink!! Lucky you getting this perk

Yes

Thank you re casino credits just got to figure how to do them now as I cannot see casino credits in onboard reservations like last time I bought them. Any help would be appreciated.