DavidsNana

You are one of the lucky still young ones! I just turned 75 and I know exactly what they mean. The SS Lurline was a very classy upscale cruise ship in the early days. Mostly sailing between the mainland and Hawaii.

Yours was more classy than mine. Mine was on the SS Leilani in 1957 sailed from Honolulu after a MAC flight from Midway Island!

I'm wondering how many people know what the "SS Lurline Experience" means. Except for me and those in my advanced age group!! I love that comparison! LOL

Thanks. I never consider inside cabins so I don't look at them. Guess I should open my eyes and look once in awhile! Thanks again for the heads up! Duh

My son and I were on the Caribbean Princess in late Feb/early March in a mini suite and had no toilet problems but the ship was only 1/2 full. I have two balcony cabins (C618 and C 622 they are next to each other, don't ask me where C620 went) reserved on the April 1st sailing and I sure hope that there are no toilet problems then. This will be my 28th Princess cruise and only had an issue once and called GS, plumber came right down and fixed it immediately. These toilet issues are beginning to worry me.

Yes, this is becoming more and more common around the country and moving west so I too have been hearing more about it on the news lately. My grandson had his first attack almost 10 years ago and when he told me about it, I had never heard of it. Had to do a search on the computer and read up. Something we should all be at least aware of and protect ourselves from tick bites if possible.

Yes it was tough for him the first time, very scary. I wasn't with him. At first they thought it was shellfish but nope. Tested negative for everything and then the allergist said let's try something and so he did a blood test as this Alpha Gal is discovered via a blood test. Sure enough that is what it was/is. He was always a meat and potato guy so he still hates it. Some people can get over it if they aren't bitten by any of the ticks in a year and can be retested to check. Some never get over it. He lives in the country in Tennessee, lots of ticks there so unlikely he won't be bitten as he goes hunting with friends. Thank heavens he does like fish, shellfish and poultry. Yes, I too learn lots of new things from these boards and we will definitely meet with the head waiter when we get on. This will be his 4th cruise but the first since this allergy.

Sailing the Caribbean Princess April 2023. Will have to be very careful and explicit when finding out how things are made. My grandson has an allergy to red meat, called AlphaGal for short. He does have to carry Epi pens as if he eats anything containing any red meat product, he goes into anaphylactic shock. Even if his food is cooked on a grill where red meat is cooked it can trigger a reaction. This allergy is triggered by the bite of the Lone Star tic and he did not have it until he was 18 years old. Thanks for mentioning that the French Onion soup is traditionally made with beef stock. I never thought of that and it is also nice to know that they can make it without and it still be tasty. This cruise will be an exercise in vigilance regarding his eating both on the ship and ashore. Thanks again for the info.

Thank you so much for your review and all the beautiful pictures. I enjoyed it very much. Glad that you had a good experience.

Well, I am not a happy camper. I have been patiently waiting for Princess to credit my FCC for this cruise fare and refund my port taxes and insurance back to my credit card. Nope. I had $681.00 in FCC from a previously cancelled cruise that was applied to this cruise and I paid an extra $200.04 on my credit card for this Sept 1st Diamond cruise. Instead of crediting the $200.04 back to my credit card, they have put it into an FCC. The 681.00 FCC which should have been put back into my FCC account as it is valid until 12/31/2023, still says it was applied to my booking number of the cruise they cancelled. I used a PVP for this cruise and I have a letter from him stating the correct terms of my selecting option 2 being the $681.00 to be returned to my FCC account and the $200.04 to be refunded to my credit card. So I just zipped off an email to him to please get this corrected. Hope he can get it done without me having to start emailing the head office. He is pretty responsive so I think he will unless the head office gives him some trouble.

Oh man that is terrible. Some are getting the rebound covid after paxlovid. So hope that your mom has a mild rebound episode. And hopefully your dad will continue to be well. I have a friend who had a very bad bout with covid even though vaxed and boosted but her husband never did get it. Crossing my fingers for you. And my late husband had 2 TIAs in 11 days but recovered within 12 hours with no problems afterward. He lived for another 13 years without any more of them. Yes, life is very unpredictable. Hoping that everything works out and you are able to take your cruise and enjoy all those perks that Princess finally came through with.

@californiagirlSo happy and pleased for you that Princess came through and to the max! Thanks for letting us know. I was booked on the 9/1/22 sailing of the Diamond which as you know was also cancelled. I am one of the ones that never got an email/notification of any kind from Princess about the cancellation but instead found out here on this board and also from a friend who just happened to see it on the local news. I picked option 2 which was to take the FCC and the $100 OBC on a future cruise and have my port taxes and insurance credited back to my credit card. None of it has happened for me yet. The cruise is still listed on my upcoming cruises on the Personalizer. I love sailing with Princess, this Diamond Princess cruise would have been my 28th and I will continue to be patient. However, I'm hoping that I don't have to be patient much longer. I know they are all busy and will wait a little longer before I start sending emails. Again, under the circumstances, I am glad that you got what was due you and more. It restores my faith in Princess. Have a great time on your cruise and good luck on your surgery.

I'm still waiting too and for the refund to my credit card for the taxes. My Sept. 1st cruise is still showing on my account on the website as if it were still sailing. I suppose that it won't drop off until they get to issuing the FCC and the port tax refund.

Glad that you got correct and prompt service. My Sept. 1st cancelled cruise is still showing on my account as one of my "upcoming cruises" and no refund or FCC returned to my account. The fact that yours has already been done gives me hope for maybe next week. Thanks for posting.

@ThrakI had a small price drop on my 1 April 2023 Caribbean Cruise. $130+ each on two balcony cabins. I am holding them with the $1 deposit per person. I emailed my PVP and asked that they be re-fared to reflect the drop. He did it yesterday evening and sent me an email with the new pricing. I know my cabins are a very small amount but still don't see why yours should have to be cancelled and rebooked saying "new bookings only" if mine weren't. Does the itinerary matter?

This also prompted me to check my 2 cabins on the Caribbean Princess for 1 April 2023 and the price came down. Not a lot, only $126.00 on each cabin but heck every little bit helps. I emailed my PVP to re-fare as still lots of cabins in our category.

No apologies necessary. Yes, I just went on the roll call for Sept. 1st and saw that most of them were notified yesterday via email from Princess with options. I still have heard nothing. I booked this cruise through my PVP and so just placed a call to him and left a message. Someone on the roll call posted their email with 3 options. I am very disappointed as this was not only a birthday cruise for myself but the first time traveling solo since my husband passed away 3 years ago. I live in San Diego so at least I do not have to deal with flight cancellations or changes. Oh well, only way to look at it is that it was not meant to be. I have a booking for myself, my grandson and his wife on the April 1 sailing of the Caribbean Princess so I will just take the FCC plus $100 OBC and apply them to that sailing when final payment time rolls around.

@jwattleSee my edited post with new info.

Check YouTube videos and then Diamond Princess 2022 Dry Dock and you will find several videos by Master Marino. She underwent a dry dock in Jan 2022 in Marseille, France. From the videos, she is looking good. I sure hope so as I am on the first sailing out of San Diego for a short 5 day coastal to San Francisco and Ensenada. I will let you know. That said, I am not looking for a perfect experience as I know she will have new crew and I figure this will be a shakedown cruise with passengers. Well, I just got a message from a friend of mine saying that she saw a news story that says that the Diamond Princess is cancelling all sailings between 9/1 and 11/20 due to lack of crew members. Darn. No word from Princess so guess I better start checking.

Yep I'm in the same boat here. Just waiting to hear something. Hopefully, sooner than later. I'm hoping at no later than the 30 day out mark but who knows.