land lover

7 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

We have never had to pay anything other than the difference on any of our cruises.  But as other have mentioned, make friends with the bartenders.  When we want a bottle of wine, most times our bartender will charge 5 glasses against the beverage package and charge us the overage on each glass and then give us our bottle of wine to take to the room or the dining room.  Only one bartender in the past five or six years have declined to do this - we then just find another bartender.

 What a good idea...if we ever cruise again, hope they will still do this.....

58 minutes ago, casofilia said:

NO!!!!   We cruise to see new countries and ports.

 Hi Casofilia, what's the latest from NZ? Have they allowed you guys to travel to AU yet? How are your family members doing? We had another circumnavigation booked for this fall but that got scrubbed....Another one we have booked leaving from Sydney in April, it is a 21 Day | Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands, but I doubt that will go....I agree with you, sea days are not my cup of tea....looks like we will be limited for awhile, so I am willing to take anything, just to escape....lol

Absolutely.....

But, be serious u live in CA, so do I, look at r State....and the other countries no one wants Americans or Californians for that matter even in our own Country, there r 14 day quarantines .... even if you do fly.... I have 2 children that have changed their employers during this Pandemic and have moved or are moving to other States...regulations and  shut downs are so fluid....it has been a nightmare....

There is no doubt about it, I need a cruise!!!!!(my last returned on March 8th)...I would take one in a heart beat....When this started I had 2 summer land trips planned  to Germany, Oberamerau and Japan, Olympics.....only benefit of all these cancellations as I have been able to assist my kids....But when you start traveling thru the states and observing what people are doing...the logistics of getting people to comply with rules on a cruise ship...... really????? How long do you think it would take us to board???? I have 5 cruises booked...ports of departure L.A. and Sydney......one can hope....

Re: FCD...a few months ago canceled a  Feb. 2021cruise and wanted to transfer the FCDs to a future cruise the FCDs were just a few days beyond their expiration date and no go.... the system pulled new FCDs from our acct and the rep did not figure that out until my TA amd I started questioning why I had less FDCs in my acct. I did get a credit on my credit card for the deposits just last month...no mystery envelope in the mail as I have received before...

So reuse them before they expire..according to princess the only thing I could have done to save them was to rebook the cruise I just cancelled.

wow..... Majestic going out of LA..now that's a treat....I love that ship...sign me up.....

12 hours ago, bronzey214 said:

Sail Date: July 27th(?) 2020, 

Received refunds for all of the "extras" we cancelled in mid-March (gratuities, purchased OBC, coffee cards, water) yesterday, predated for June 25th.

Still waiting for cruise fare and airfare. But at least I got my $7.08 back for water.

 LOL there is always something to be thankful for.....

10 hours ago, Tedferg said:

One poster said they often wait until after Final Payment to book and it got me wondering. We are not too fussy on cabin location, so would be OK to take a chance. Are fares usually much lower after Final Payment, this would be the only reason to do this. Not sure we would do this if air, hotels were involved but a spontaneous California Coastal or Mexican Riviera would be fine.

 

I wonder too if Princess limits the number of available cabins shown on website. A large number of available cabins might encourage people to delay booking.

 In the last 7 years  we have done many last minute cruises, after final payment...... just got to get away......we live in Southern California so Mexico, Alaska, PC and Hawaii are calling when rates are good and cabins don't matter and I simply gotta get away.....availability changes from year to year...2018, worked well for us...2017, we paid more for our " last minute cruises" and 2019 we were lucky to get on at the end of February, but no deal on that, we booked way in advance and pricing never budged.

Regarding those who have gotten price drops after final payments...it happened back in 2013-2015 out of San Pedro or at least you could get room upgrades....but in recent years  many available cabins go last minute to gamblers who have points, with California and LV casinos or on-line so they go "free"...so many sailings especially in the fall are full several weeks before sailing.

I am hoping for Hawaii at Christmas out of SP...well one can dream.....it's possible...I booked 2 other Hawaiis in 2021..so maybe one will go.....fingers crossed.

On 5/23/2020 at 3:45 PM, Coral said:

I would not be interested.

 

I want to see ports. I don't cruise just for the ship but for the convenience of not packing and unpacking

 me too....I've always used a cruise for transportation.....

Princess has no ships that I would enjoy being on for several sea days in a row, three is my limit...now other cruise lines...I could go for Panorama out of San Pedro or a mega RCI(if only)  Not enough variety food/ entertainment on board with Princess...always has been a port cruise line for me...

Totally of topic, just curious OP,  have you received your rewards from your citibank card for your "trip"?

23 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Please tell me you have tomorrow's Winning Lotto Numbers too!!! 🙏

LOL....No, but I have been pretty fortunate, so you might want to cruise with me....even though I have had many difficulties...which have been overcome, those experiences have make my outlook far more positive.

Don't think a vaccine will make a difference, it will be the delivery of it and how effective it  is,  that will have an impact...I  believe cruising will begin faster than many think...

On 5/16/2020 at 9:04 AM, voljeep said:

August cruises - Majestic - Japan - does anyone really believe that will happen ??

 

September - Austrailia - that ain't happening either

September - West Coast , including Vancouver  Victoria as a port ??

September - CA Coastal - with Ensenada, Mexico as a port - that looks at least like a possible ??

September - Panama Canal - RT Los Angeles ??

September - Hawaii ? also includes Vancouver

 

Canada / New England - see ya in fall 2021  -  no 2020 on schedule per Princess website

 

Caribbean - November 4th start-up ?

 I think Australia might begin sooner than you think...many cruises don't need international travelers ...with all ports in Australia and all Australians on board, why wouldn't that work?...just sayin'...

How can anyone benefit from a cancelled cruise...?  You lost out on experiences which are priceless, at least that is what master card  tells us...🤪Anyway...IMHO no amount of money can replace opportunity lost...Never could understand why people would accept move overs for a future cruise. I have accepted a downgrade, but having to replace an existing cruise with a possible free future cruise....not appealing to me as one never knows what the future holds.....

On 5/8/2020 at 3:59 PM, cruise2relax said:

The law allows the vendor to offer the voucher, not require it.  So far in my experience cancelling tours on this cruise, she is the only tour operator mandating the voucher.  That will destroy her as a cruise tour operator.  

why?

3 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

TBH I don't miss those and always wondered why people would spend so much of their vacation time online doing that. But I am probably in the minority.

 I agree.  But I can see those who are unable to cruise  living vicariously thru others that are sharing their experiences. So I just skip over those threads.

Hyvää Syntymäpäivää!

BTW...when booking  my Sea Princess cruises for  Oct.,/Sept.2018...thru Princess U.s.A., they kept on saying Princess Australia handles it differently etc..etc..etc... so cut me some slack...

And another point.... I am an intelligent and beautiful southern Californian girl, born and raised...look at my avatar and you can see I am not lyin'....enjoy the afternoon/evening..or should I say day for those who are in the 9:00am hour...

Okay..if Princess can get it together or should I say Carnival.......really life is to short...

4 minutes ago, getting older slowly said:

There is no such thing as "Australian Princess" unlike P&O Australia....

 

Main ships were the Golden and Majestic ( plus others ) .....and now the Sapphire to replace the Golden.....which is due August 2020

 

Basically they were using the off season ships from Asia and Alaska to offer cruises in Australia ...

 

If something goes ahead good if it does not fine......

 

Looking at it Australia would be a good starting point of the cruise line..... plenty of coast line so lots of sea days and it is all one country..... so logically it would be easy to do out and back cruises in Australia than other parts of the world...

 

Please note the above is the rambling of some old bloke whom is stuck in an apartment and want to go on  a holiday.... even a drive would be nice....

 

Cheers Don 

 Tough crowd....lol

16 minutes ago, voljeep said:

what ships does "Australia Princess" own ? - certainly not Ruby Princess ...

 

so, what ships ???

Lol....never notice you lived in an Altered state.....

You knew what I meant...

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Our B2B2B is totally booked via FCD. At this point I wish Princess would just go ahead and admit the cruises won't happen. We are 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% certain they won't happen. I would imagine Princess is about that confident as well.

Well, most people on our cruises will be from Australia/NZ......So why should Princess cancel them? If Australia Princess can get it together and the government says okay, it could be a possibility, for AU or AU&NZ citizens.

In reality our cruises would not have happened if the virus had not presented itself. So there has always been a question about sailing....

You had the FCD and used them..... would have you put the "real" deposit down if you did not have available FCD?

I paid with FCD as well. My situation is different as my final payment for my Sept 19 cruise was changed to 60 days before. But, I would have never paid 800 bucks to secure my booking..I would have waited to book after final payment.

Me thinks Princess wants anyone who is not AU or NZ to cancel as they can easily fill up the ships with locals, especially at the discounted prices I saw and ones they could potentially offer....I guess time will tell...

On 5/5/2020 at 12:08 AM, Pippawhipper1 said:

Hi 

Thinking of changing this till next year does any one know if that is possible without charger

Thanks

Carol

 Carol...u would have to talk to your TA....here in the states it can be changed easily with no charge, don't know what the rules are for UK bookings...

The reality is most of the cruisers on these Aus cruises are from down under and the cruises are often sold out in the US/UK market, long before the ship is actually full, its apparent Princess would much prefer local cruisers.

This year with the Sapphire entering the picture in March, with more cabin availability and  inexpensive cruises, that have never been offered before,  I quickly booked a cruise, leaving Sept 19. It is not on the cancel list yet, but I am not holding my breath.

In Sept/Oct 2018 we enjoyed  Queensland  and Circumnavigation cruises on the Sea Princess and after our return I immediately  booked another circumnavigation in Feb, 2021. It had been sold out until recently. A few weeks ago, the Pacific Princess showed some availability on a Solomon island cruise leaving out of Sydney in April 2021, so I grabbed a cabin.

From what I have read about the Australian situation, I certainly can understand why the Australian Gov. wants to be careful about who comes into the country. I read that the new push is to promote tourism within the country.

If any Australians are still reading, do you agree with some other articles I have read that say the wild fires  kept tourists out which in turn might have helped with less spread of the virus?

Looking forward to turn to Australia someday....L🙃ri

What I think is interesting is all the rewards points that will be in a deficient.  It's worth noting that when a purchase, your cruise cost " is returned" and a refund is credited to your credit card account, any reward points or cash back you may have earned on the original purchase will be lost as well. So better cancel those cards fast....just sayin'