Ken the cruiser

I'm sure the manufacturors are already gearing up and will be all hands on deck when it's time start filling those vials. We're figuring when it's finally made available to the public, as we're both retired military, we'll just go to the nearby base and get the vaccine. If they don't have it and our nearby pharmacy does, we'll get it there.

We’re just curious once a vaccine is available in mass quantities to the public if it will be a mandatory requirement to have proof you have received it before being allowed to board the ship. Hope so.

It was a 14 day northern Europe cruise in a mini-suite on the Island.

Possibly. I'm just going by what I wrote down awhile back when we asked what their various perks were for each of the cruise lines we had interest in sailing with. As far as our X PCC goes, yes, we have always been wowed by Piotr over the years.

Actually, the $4,078 figure is the Princess price. The only discount we get from our current TA is the $340 listed as a separate line item. We have never booked a cruise through a TA where the base cruise fare offered by the TA was different than the advertised cruise line fare. Heck, how could you refare a cruise when the cruise line drops the price if the TA is marketing it at a different price?

For purposes of this discussion, would somebody please explain to me what type of discounted rate we are getting from our TA based on the amount of the commissionable Princess cruise fare? The below was copied from one of our TA's invoices: Amount Details Total Grand Total Cruise Rate 2,039.00 x 2 4,078.00 (Advertised Princess cruise fare) Air Fare 527.92 x 2 1,055.84 Transfer 39.00 x 2 78.00 Insurance 163.12 x 2 326.24 Tax/Fees 260.13 x 2 520.26 (TA) Discount (170.00) x 2 (340.00) (TA Discount to manage our booking) --------- -------------------- ---------------------- Total 2,859.17 5,718.34 ** BTW our TA adverises a 10% discount on their website for most of their listed cruises, sometimes in the form of a cruise fare credit and sometimes in OBC depending on the cruise line. The reason the above TA Discount doesn't appear to be 10% of the Princess Cruise Rate is because the discount is based on the commissionable portion of the advertised rate rather than the entire amount.

From my understanding RCCL brands only allow TAs with whom they have contracts with to offer OBC as a discount rather than a cruise fare credit or rebate, but I could be wrong.

Good point and we probably would, but X is the only cruise line where we actually use their PCC to manage our bookings. The service he has provided us over the years has been worth more than any OBC, refundable or nonrefundable, a TA could give us. He's just that good. Now, if he ever leaves X, we'll probably revisit that decision, especially if we can find a TA that gives refundable OBC.

On your web browser, enter "find a cruise line travel agent". In the results you should see a 2020 article written by Cruise Critic. Read that article, especially towards the end where they give you some examples of how to actually find a travel agent. Then, once you start searching and find some TAs that catch your eye, give them a call and see what they have to say. For us we went through quite a few before we found the one that worked best for us. And that's the key, finding one that works best for you. BUT, when you start making those calls, may I suggest you have a specific cruise and cabin category in mind, rather than just asking general questions, so they can offer specifics on what they can do for you. Hope this helps.

Our TA, which does post their discounts on their web site, gives us the following with respects to each of the following cruise lines: HAL - 10% off the cruise fare which is applied as a credit on their invoice Princess - 10% off the cruise fare which is applied as a credit on their invoice Disney - 10% off the cruise fare which is applied as a credit on their invoice Celebrity - 10% nonrefundable OBC RCCL - 8% nonrefundable OBC Oceania - 11% rebate check + OBC Silversea - 10% rebate check BUT in all cases the original cruise line price listed on their confirmation was the same as that listed on the TA's invoice. With regards to HAL, Princess and Disney, there was simply a line item on their invoice noting the discount.

No problem. When we contacted Princess, my DW went to the Princess Home Page and selected the Contact Us option. Then under Online Support Request, she selected Post Cruise Questions/Comments and then followed the instructions. In about 3 weeks, as they process them in the order received, she received a call from a very nice lady from Princess that checked on the status of our request and in about a week, we received the check from Bottom Line. Hope this helps.

Sure, it's 877-443-6944 option 8. BTW we finally got our check from Bottom Line last Thursday.

Orv, which R class ships have fully covered A category balconies? We’ve only booked those on deck 7 on the Sirena and Nautica and I wasn’t aware there were any on the O class ships. If there are some, that would definitely be another plus for booking an A category aft-facing cabins.

We have our future cruises booked through May 2022 and will continue to book our cruises as soon as any new ones are released that strike out fancy. We see no downside to booking early, especially if you can cancel at any time for a full refund of your deposit prior to the final payment due date.

One nice thing about a side balcony is that they're completely covered, which is nice on a rainy day or when the sun is directly overhead or on your side of the ship, whereas the aft-facing cabins are not covered.