SiliconCruiser

The medallions are easily coded to replace existing ones. I've had them replaced (first time was because I lost it on a port call, and then a Guest Services employee came running out onto the dock to meet me with a new one 😲,) but at other times they just re-coded another one at the guest services desk when they stopped working (battery probably died.)

We have generally spent an extra day or two in Ft. Lauderdale and explored on our own or on locally booked tours (not debark excursions.) As for staffing shortages mentioned by a Princess employee, that is a very imaginative retort (or figment of his/her imagination,) since excursions are only contracted by Princess (unless it is someplace like Princess Cay.) You'll be well rewarded by doing your own homework rather than relying on Princess' offerings. It will probably save you enough to pay for your hotel rooms.

It came to my attention years ago that Princess charges different fares based upon where the booking is made from, and the nationality of the passengers. In Asia where cruises are much more expensive from some countries, you can expect a national of one of those countries to pay more than an American for the same cruise with the same level of accommodations.

Gee! All we got was a Meta Upgrade, after they cancelled one of the legs of a 4 consecutive cruise.

We usually get them delivered about 3-4 weeks before the cruise. Maybe you're too close to Santa Clarita? 🤣 It would appear that they come from a Singaporean company, but that being said, they could very well just be shipped directly from China where the medallions are manufactured.

Go to Amazon or other online resources and look for Apple Air Tag accessories. An Air Tag is the same size as the medallion, and the Air Tag items cost about half as much, and there is a much wider variety of items.

Apple airtag holders will hold a medallion easily (they're about the same size.) There is a lot more variety in the types of holders available. When compared to Princess medallion holders, they're about half the price, maybe a little less.

There are plenty of third party excursion operators. I know that as a first time cruiser, you'll be scared away by some second time cruisers that will tell you that you are only safe with a Princess excursion. Realistically, many of the excursion operators also contract with cruise lines. In any case, for most, their livelihood can be entirely dependent on cruise-line traffic, they know their business and have the proverbial bee-line to ship schedules (probably better than you do, and probably better than Princess phone agents.) That is why many of them have a "guarantee" of getting you back to the ship on time or paying to fly you to the next port and if necessary, putting you up in a hotel (with meals). That guarantee would far exceed the cost of the excursion. Wanna know why they can offer that guarantee? Probably because they have never been called upon to honor it! These operators will schedule their excursions around variations to the ship schedules and will cancel (and refund) if they cannot fulfill their end of the services (something you may not get from Princess these days if they cancel your excursion.)

They probably did a copy & paste of the excursions from the Ruby. Honolulu has an excellent public transportation system called "Da Bus" by locals. Additionally there is Roberts Transportation that is most likely the largest excursion operator in the islands and also contracts to do public transportation for many of the municipalities in Hawaii. Roberts is probably also probably the major contractor for Princess excursions. You can contact them to book directly for excursions, no need to be worried since they are used to working with all of the cruise lines and will usually use one vehicle for passengers from any particular ship (they know when they need to get you back and not delay anyone.) They also possess the Aloha spirit and treat their direct customers better than the cruise lines will treat their passengers.

The receivers on ships depend upon satellite communications, so the closer the ship is to the equator, the greater your chance for decent reception. People should not expect the Giga-bit bandwidth they might get at home, so if they don't plan on Zoom meetings or streaming video content, they're less likely to be disappointed. But it is still faster than modems, and at times might be close to highly throttled (slowed) DSL speeds. I measured .3 mbps the time that bothered to check the speed.

Android and T-Mobile, but most of the major providers support wi-fi calling and a lot more depends on the phone itself.

I've never been asked to pour out the contents of an opened water bottle at any embarkation port. But I suppose you can get a Cruise Metro security guard that is over zealous or works at another job at one of the airports. It's also been my experience that Princess security is even more lax, with passengers returning with six packs of beer, or bottles of liquor, in their backpacks. On our last Alaskan cruisein July, I didn't even see a table for shore purchased alcohol, when returning to the ship..

I had no problems using Wi-Fi for phone calls, though most of the people I know tend to text rather than call (mostly old folks too!) My wife called a couple of times to find out where I was, and then there was a call concerning the extended warranty on my car ...

I think the fish portions were frozen, maybe the chips as well.

This is only applicable if you are a native born U.S. citizen, not for a naturalized citizen. Another option would be a Real-ID driver license in lieu of other documents for travel into Canada or Mexico.

I'm interested in this topic as well. Actually I'm also questioning my judgement in using a Princess Transfer from Canada Place to SEA.

Yup. If you're leaving from Pier 27, Elite/Platinum board right after ADA passengers. But sometimes the part-time staffing on the pier don't really know and they'll put Platinum and Elite in with the rest of the crowd, and sometimes they'll also send ADA passengers to the back of the line as well. Don't know if these part-timers are actually Princess employees or employees of the contractors of the pier, Cruise Metro. Regardless, most are seniors who should really know better, but they like to misinform people as if they knew what they are talking about. There were some in the parking lot that were telling people that people dropping off and picking up ADA passengers were not allowed to use the ADA spots in the parking lot. (This is where the scumbag "ADA" suit-happy lawyers, need to meet with Cruise-Metro.)

A 12-pack of cans.

Having spent more than my share of times in pubs for lunch (and maybe a little earlier ...) the concept of a pub lunch on Princess is more of a novelty rather than authentic. Nevertheless it is a reminder of days gone by. But then, I've never encountered anyone from the UK (from the serving staff) to complain to about the quality of the Pub Lunch, and I didn't think it appropriate to address this issue to the Captain. ...😂

Would you happen to know if they use syrup or ground on the Crown class ships? Was on the Ruby recently and the coffee seemed to taste better than usual; not great, just better than on the smaller ships.

In Cabo they used both locally operated tenders (small boats) as well as the lifeboat tenders operated by Princess. My wife uses a motorized chair and it was accommodated on the Princess tenders without problem (without folding.) The only time we encountered a problem was in Cabo, where the operator of the local tender just refused to let the wheelchair on saying that it was too heavy for them to lift. So this 70+ year old guy folded it up and lifted it onto the boat. When these two 20-somethings tried to help offload the chair at the ship, I just told them that they should step back because "I didn't want them to hurt themselves." 😉

Wow, gotta find two more cheap cruises ...

That seems to be the practice on all of the ships that we've been on, but we were trained otherwise on our very first Princess Cruise. By the time we went on our second cruise, I had learned that there are a lot of Princess crew that have been trained to lie (especially Guest Services.) We were always directed to the aft elevators too. Now I just head directly to mid-ship elevators unless they are using those for boarding (then head to the aft.)

There is that much in the mini bar setup?!

On Lobster night, our waiter suggested that we order the lobster with two lobster tails! I guess we must've treated him well. But then, I forgot to order extra escargot ... 🤥