AtlantaCruiser72

Standard airport/ship transfers, no but if it is a post cruise excursion with airport drop off yes

Technically Princess already have a ship based in Athens for 2023/24. They have 1 ship that does 7 night sailings in 3 patterns that can be combined into 14 day or 21 day sailings So we have 7 nights Barcelona to Rome, Rome to Athens and Athens to Barcelona. You can book as a 7 day Athens to Barcelona, 14 day Athens to Rome or 21 day Round Trip Athens. The same is possible from Barcelona and Rome. Princess historically have not based ship on 7 day round trip itineraries in Europe, preferring sailing lengths of 10+ days and/or open jaw itineraries that can be booked as longer back to back sailings, especially in the Mediterranean. If Princess do not sell/transfer a ship with arrival of the second Sphere Class I could see them basing a second ship in the Mediterranean on a full season basis, perhaps using Athens as one end of an open jaw itinerary of 10+ days in length.

The gift cards are processed by the cruise line as a payment, not an adjustment to the fare. The agent still makes their commission off the base fare as usual in this situation.

Most likely ships (based on current Winter 2024/2025 deployment announcements) : Sun, Sky, Majestic, Regal, Island. That would be a 5 ship deployment like 2024 and an increase from the 4 ship deployment for 2023 Caribbean has a big "?" around her right now as she does not have any announced deployment beyond summer 2024 Europe. She was not included in the recent Caribbean, Panama Canal, West Coast & Hawaii deployment announcements. Sapphire is most likely going to South America and Aus/NZ/SE Asia previously announced for Winter 2024 to Summer 2025 and she's not going there. So unless they have something else up their sleeves to do a separate announcement for a new homeport, or additional, unannounced, itineraries from say Galveston she may be leaving the fleet

I would expect some time between end of October to early December of this year, as that is about time they have released in past years

Thankfully for most who are vaccinated/boosted Covid has become a relative non-issue, more akin to a moderate chest infection/flu and rarely leads to hospitalization or death. Unfortunately those who remain unvaccinated face fare more sever health effects and higher rates of hospitalization/death, but not to the levels of overwhelming the healthcare system like at the beginning of the pandemic. For those who do require more medical attention/hospitalization the treatments/outcomes are much better than at the outset. Like most virus based illness, it gets easier to manage as time goes by. This is why so many places/companies have been able to relax covid protocols, or eliminate them altogether. Viking is, on paper at least, erring on the side of caution by having a vaccine requirement. Whether or not they enforce it at boarding is another thing, but most non-vaccinated guests will book elsewhere, thus reducing the number of guests/crew who might become severely ill during a voyage.

I'm grumpy that cereal has gone up to nearly $6-7 a box, so I can either a) suck it up and pay the price for my preferred brand/variety or b) shop the sales for alternates or c) do without - you have choices as a consumer. Look at wifi pricing on ANY OTHER LINE - then come back here and complain about Princess' pricing - they are by far and away the least expensive when paying for wifi out of pocket, with or without the Elite discount

I would guess this represents yet another cost cutting move and a rotation between the two casts - old cast staying aboard until you get to the UK and then disembarking, new cast boarded in FLL and doing final dress rehearsals / previews of each revamped show as they move along and will take over fully once in Europe.

@Kitty Ellas Mom production shows do not change that often, so would assume they are still the same. Here's what we had on Caribbean Princess 10nt Panama canal in December 2022: Bravo, Broadway Ballroom & Fantastic Journey. I missed Fantastic Journey, but the first two were very enjoyable. all the other nights were "guest entertainers" - Comedians, Vocalists, Magicians, etc which change by sailing

If doing cruise only, there should be space IF you are flexible with departure date, cabin location and ship. If you want something very specific book now while it is still available. The longer you wait the less desirable the room locations may be, or you may need to adjust date/ship.

So if I get off a train in Civitavecchia any cab can take me direct to my ship, for a small extra fee, am I understanding that correctly?

Galveston itineraries suffer considerably due to how far north and west it is located relative to the bulk of the Caribbean Islands. A 10 day Eastern Caribbean might be able to get 3 ports in the Vicinity of St Thomas / St Maarten if you are lucky as there would need to be at least 3 sea days each way. Cruise lines are usually looking to add more ports, not less. Anything other than Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman or Jamaica usually means longer than 7 nts, which historically Galveston has not been able to support a full season of longer sailings due to market demographics. It is primarily a drive market which is predominantly 4-7 day consumers.

Ruby was sailing from Galveston last Fall through this Spring. Starting this Fall through Spring 2024, then again Fall 2024 through Spring 2025 it will be the Regal.

Those combination (back to back) Alaska cruises have very little cabin inventory allocated for the 14 day booking option and many rooms are sold as guarantees from the get go. The lions share (90%+) of cabin inventory is allocated for the 7day segments as they are really geared towards customers booking cruise tours.

Fantastic menu, with a nice assortment of flavors and preparations. I plan on dining there at least twice based on the above!

I requested one on Caribbean in December in the app, was not in room after boarding. Asked cabin steward and he acted brand new like he never heard of such a thing. Asked at reception they acted dumb as well. So I showered and made due with the fixed head and let cabin steward deal with the very wet bathroom that resulted from my contortions.

I think most Princess loyalists would agree that the best use of those 6 weeks would be to undo the “Frankenship” hack job they did on her and restore her to her original fit-out. The likelihood of that is almost nil so….. the best we can hope for is a complete overhaul of all existing spaces to bring her up to design spec with the newer ships in the fleet and replace the sad tired decor with something more fresh and modern

I do like the new longer 12 day partial canal itinerary, rather than the current 10 day and applaud Coal coming back to NA for a full season of complete transits through the historic locks! Good move on both!

Doubtful - if she were to leave the Princess fleet it would be an intra Carnival Corp transfer with P&O AU the most likely brand to be a new home. Grand more likely to meet the scrapper before Caribbean, neither of which is likely soon

So Caribbean Princess was not included in the recent Caribbean, West Coast or Panama Canal announcements, nor was she included in the previous Aus/NZ announcement ..... sooo where is she going???? South America, SE Asia, or maybe stay in NYC/BOS year round and do long Caribbean sailings?????? She seems ill suited to any of those options given other ships in the fleet. Could this mean a possible transfer to P&O Australia to sail alongside sisters Star and Golden????? "Curiouser and curiouser said Alice!"

I started the other thread linked above. When I went to order/checkout it showed a shipping charge. I have Plus, so it “should” be free/waived. Upon advice of others I confirmed the order. This was several days ago and as of tonight there is no charge on my credit card. My app shows me in green lane, and I received a medallion order confirmation email. My summation - the app is a piece of crap, and the development team (which IS a third party provider) can’t get it to display a simple discount which it actually applies on the back end. Poor showing all around.

Look at a map….. notice how close Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel are??? The fuel savings by not detouring further east to Jamaica and Grand Cayman may be a big factor for Princess in a market where commanding a fare premium will be difficult no matter what they do. If they felt there was a market for consistent 8+ day sailings from Galveston that’s what they would offer. Evidently the itinerary planners and revenue folks feel differently.

I ran into the same issue the other day and started a thread on the subject (see below). Turns out this is yet ANOTHER fail by the Medallion app IT team, as it shows a charge for shipping, but when you check-out it does not actually charge the linked CC. Very poor exectution of this new "perk".

I’m cruising from Rome in November, which in my experience is less than organized on a good day. Anything I can do to make the check in process smoother I will do. Last time I cruised from there we stood in a near 3hr line, after boarding had supposedly started, outside waiting to check in. Inside they had two or three positions open with nearly 40 people moving about behind the counter chaotically ignoring passengers

So y’all piqued my interest and I submitted the order. No charge appeared on the linked card, yet. So it seems the honor the free shipping, but man they couldn’t make it less obvious. Now watch I’ll check my cc account 2 days from now and there will be a $10 charge - LOL