CruzVinnieCruz

The official line is that it's per cabin. In our cabin, it's "per me" since I use my own minutes and then start on hubby's if need be. :D

Its per person not per cabin:

Complimentary Internet Credit#

Each Platinum Princess Cruises Captain’s Circle member will receive a complimentary Internet credit to be used either on the computers in our Internet Cafés or wireless Internet on the passenger’s personal wireless device. The amount of complimentary Internet is determined by the length of the sailing.

VOYAGE DURATION MINUTES

7 days or less 150

8-20 days 250

21+ days 500

Take care,

Vinnie

You won't "miss" your assigned time....it's not like you'll have to work late or anything! But, if you do Anytime dining...you'll show up when you want!

I am thinking the "little one" will dictate the schedule on any particular day.:):)

Take care,

Vinnie

I like how Princess handles it. They have designated locations (usually away from the disembarkation point) and times according to the color of the luggage tags to meet if you are not self disembarking (even then you are assign a location on the ship at a specific time to meet). Then a Princess employee escorts each group to the security area to be scanned off the ship.

If passengers try to congregate near security they are asked to leave the area allowing passengers to smoothly exit the ship.

Take care,

Vinnie

Tell that to the family of the disabled man who was tossed overboard off a cruise ship back in the 80's. It can happen again. There is no requirement for the Navy to escort ships through the area.

It was a whole different world when that incident occurred. Not saying that it could not happen again but I don't believe passengers would ever be that passive again post 9/11.

Airline crews were trained to be passive pre 9/11 when hijacked since most hijackings would usually involve either money or some political agenda. Most ended with the passengers released unharmed.

Does anyone believe in today's world if someone stood up on a airplane with any type of weapon that the passengers would not immediately involve themselves?

I believe the same would happen on a cruise ship to some extent given that ships are much larger and the flight response may kick in first.

Take,

Vinnie

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And, just so you know... we were in the same position so we went ahead an renewed our passports for our December trip.. from the time we sent our old passports in for renewal to the time they arrived in the mail.. a total of 13 days.

 

 

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That was your experience at that time but starting this October through all of 2017 passport renewals will be at an all time high.

Due to WHTI back in 2007 a large influx of first time passports were requested and all of those passports are up for renewal. Adding the first time applications and the renewals passport issues can reach and all time high of over 33 million in this time frame.

At those time there are no plans to higher extra help for processing and the recommendation is to leave plenty of extra time for processing as they are expecting even expediting to take longer than usual.

Take care,

Vinnie

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My wife & I are using our 10-day Halloween cruise to escape from the fray of politics!

Us too!!!

Refreshing just not to see all the political television ads for 10 days..

I can read all about it when we return.

Take care,

Vinnie

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We booked a 10:00 am flight and made into the gate area of the airport early enough that we took the 9:00 am flight.

Take care,

Vinnie

Thanks for explanation CruzVinnieCruz regarding Duty.

SharkieRool- I know it is a foreign flagged ship but my billing on Princess comes from U.S. (Santa Clarita)not Bermuda.

 

Does Princess report their sales on board to U.S. customs with our names etc. For me wouldn't be a problem because we never buy real expensive items on board the ship. However, last cruise I did buy about $300.00 worth of merchandise.Of course that didn't exceed the allowance.

Most cruise lines do not report every purchase only the larger purchases. I do not know what that threshold is though and it may vary.

Take care,

Vinnie

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I don't understand why you have to declare at customs.Not purchased in a foreign country. Please explain.

Thanks

 

When you buy expensive items on the ship duty free it doesn't mean there is not duty due, just that no duty had be paid an therefore would not be reflected in the ships price. Customs will already know the value of the piece purchased and if its not declared you will pay duty and maybe a penalty.

The declaration form that is filled out states to list all items that were purchased then depending on where the item was purchased, ports visited, etc. exemptions and allowances are applied to determine the duty amount owed if any.

The rules are applied to all purchases not just what was bought in a foreign country.

Take care,

Vinnie

My only advice about Phillip Stein is that you should browse the internet for prices and selection before you spend your money onboard. The watches are heavily discounted on multiple websites (i.e. Overstock, ebay, etc). In many cases you can find what you want for less money....and have some recourse if there is later a problem.

 

Hank

If you do decide to buy online just be careful. First there are a lot of fakes out there and if the dealer you are buying from is not a Phillip Stein authorized dealer the warranty is null and void.

Take care,

Vinnie

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Yes they do....

My DW loves Phillip Stein watches.

Just make sure that if you purchase one on the ship it is declared upon returning. Princess will provide a list of large purchases to customs.

Take care,

Vinnie

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The DW cannot work without a valid passport since she is a flight attendant and her company just granted an exception for the remaining of this year and all of 2017 requiring it but anyone that maybe affected will have to fly domestic. They always expedite the renewals but that is expected to start taking a lot longer than the norm.

In 2007 over 18 million passports were issued because of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) so beginning this October through 2017 they are expecting to issue a record number of passports. The number is expected to be well over 30 million including first time passport issues.

Anyone with a renewal in this time frame may want to leave plenty of extra time for processing.

Take care,

Vinnie

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We have made flights as early as 9:00 am but we had nothing to lose since we were flying standby to begin with.

As a ticketed passenger I would do the 11:00 am departure.

Take care,

Vinnie

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Some of you folks are worried about terrorists and monitoring ship communications? Give me a break! :eek:

 

 

 

I think many of you fly to meet the ship at port. Aviation is an open environment when it comes to this. You can listen to communications, track flights, etc. go to liveatc.net and choose JFK tower to listen to.

 

 

 

Here are the numerous frequencies you can listen to just at JFK:

 

 

 

http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=KJFK

 

 

 

Trust me, they won't be doing away with this either- get used to it.

 

 

 

If you're worried about this with ships, you had best not fly!

We live in Pennsylvania and our son is an air traffic controller in Sacramento (NORCAL) and we listen to him control SFO approaches all the time. Never giving it a thought that it is anything but enjoyable to us.

My DW is a flight attendant and we see no problem with it at all.

It can become a bigger problem when everything in life becomes a secret in the name of security.

Take care,

Vinnie

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If you know which ship(s) are going to be in port but aren't sure which (if any) will tender, just go to the cruise lines' website and look up that cruise. The itinerary should tell you if it is a tender port.

I have been on cruises were it was not a tender port and the ship tendered because it looked liked the fleet was in and all the dock space was in use.

It has only happened twice to us so far.

Take care,

Vinnie

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Yes, it should be good for at least 6 months. Why risk being left behind

 

 

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They won't get left behind because the the passport does not need to be valid for six months to go to Mexico.

Mexico does not require a visa for stays under 180 days.

This is a closed loop cruise that can be taken with a birth certificate and a government issued Id. Obviously the OP has a birth certificate that was used to obtain the passport if they are worried just take that then the passport becomes the government id with a birth certificate to fulfill the requirements to cruise but it's not necessary.

Take care,

Vinnie

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Ok, I am viewing this from a European point of view, but I can't understand what the timing Issue is.

 

 

 

My perception is that US citizens are nowadays much more widely travelled and the days, albeit not that long ago, when only one in ten US citizen had a passport are now long gone.

 

 

 

OK being such a large country, you have probably not got to the stage the rest of the developed world has where something like nine out of ten people have a passport, but I would have expected that, once someone has the travel bug and got their first passport, they will automatically renew their passport, even if they have not got a trip planned, simply because they realise that having a passport ready to hand is useful and the whole thing just becomes a timing issue.

 

 

 

For us, this timing issue doesn't exist as we can apply for our passport to be renewed up to nine months before it is due to expire and, provided the returned passport has not been damaged or the old passport has been lost, our new passport will be issued with an expiry date which is ten years after the expiry date of the returned passport, meaning there is no penalty for renewing early.

 

 

 

Are you saying you don't have a similar arrangement for early renewal in the USA?

Why would they have a problem flying back to the United States with a valid passport???

Take care,

Vinnie

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But, currently, Mexico isn't one of those countries. There is no minimum validity period on US passports when visiting Mexico.

Most countries especially those in the Caribbean, Mexico, Columbia, Dominica Republic etc. do not require visas for a tourist visit if the stay is under anywhere from 30 to 90 days. The general rule is if a visa is not required then the 6 month rule on the passport is waived. All that is required is the passport to be valid for the duration of the stay.

In this case it only needs to be valid upon entry back to the USA

Take care,

Vinnie

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Another option to visit Pearl Harbor is to rent a car. We rented a Mustang convertible which was reasonable priced and bought a program for the iPhone called Gypsy Guide for Oahu. This program was like having a tour guide in the car with you. We visited Pearl Harbor then took the full island tour using it.

It connected via Bluetooth right through the cars radio speakers. It gave all the directions and along the way pointed out places to see and just like a tour guide explained what you were seeing. At one point it directed us to pull over right after the guide rails to park, cross the road, and there would be a high degree of likelihood of seeing a sea turtle on a beach across the road. Sure enough a turtle was sunning itself on the beach.

Then it told us about a fresh fruit stand were we could be fruit that had already been cut and placed into plastic baggies for sale it was wonderful.

If there was longer gaps in driving between sites a narrator gave the history of the island to while we were driving. These are only a few of the suggestions the program made.

I could not recommend this way to tour the island enough.

Take care,

Vinnie

I would also encourage everyone that may work for a larger corporation to check their benefits. I was buying travel insurance until one day while reading the companies benefits web page I discovered that travel insurance was already provided not only for business trips but it included vacations. It also covered my wife and any dependents living in the house traveling with me.

I was completely unaware of it and the coverage is pretty good.

Take care,

Vinnie

I have sat next to FTTF guests in both lounges, no big deal to me. The point here is CCL is willing to bend the rules for a price, the fact a first time Carnival cruiser who pays for the upgrade gets the benefit while CCL loyalists of another brand are relegated to the line that snakes out the terminal is not right. I hope you agree..

I agree but the CCL loyalists of another brand have the option of paying for that same upgrade on Carnival.

As for sitting next to FTTF guests in both lounges does not mean they were supposed to be there and it is not Carnivals policy.

I have sit next to passengers on occasions in first class on an airplane up to the point the flight attendant asks for their ticket tells them they are in the wrong seat. The point is some people will try to bend the rules on their own.

Take care,

Vinnie

oh yeah FTTF great example. We all go to the same lounge for boarding and disembarkation. No issues there.

This is not my understanding as FTTF does not have access to the boarding lounge. Also I believe the same is true for disembarkation that there are separate areas for VIFP and FTTF.

VIFP Diamond and Platinum members and guests traveling in deluxe suite accommodations are the only guests to have access to the Priority Check-In Lounge at embarkation. FTTF guests will not have this benefit so embarkation will not be impacted in the Priority Check-In Lounge.

Similar to airlines boarding first class and then elite frequent flyers, etc., we will start with VIFP Diamond and Platinum members, followed by guests traveling in deluxe suite accommodations and then FTTF guests.

Take care,

Vinnie

In a few more years we will be able to start taking more last minute cruises. We do it now and been able to snap up some pretty good deals from the thirty day out mark.

We have an added advantage in that the DW works for a major airline. We look to see what the bookings for flights are then try to match a cruise that will fit.

Take care,

Vinnie

45 mph winds.. That pilot is going to have some answering to do trying to get that docked in those winds.

The captain is in control of the ship.

The pilot gives advice to the captain on how to maneuver the ship within the harbor.

Apparently some advice is better than others!!!

Take care,

Vinnie

First let me say I would never keep another persons property under any circumstance.

But if I did my luck would have the drug stiffing dog at the port would sit down in front of the darn thing and I would be explaining it wasn't my suitcase. Which would be the truth but they have heard that story many times.

It's called karma.

Take care,

Vinnie