remydiva

Thanks for reply.

Planning our umpteenth cruise and 2nd on Uniworld but I've forgotten how I arranged air travel first time. No where on their site does it give info about them arranging air travel. For those of you who have done so recently, can you share if it was easy, good prices, too many stopovers, etc. Also, travel cancellation insurance...does Uniworld have their own product? TIA

Sure! for Ireland we used “Ireland Chauffeur Travel “ ( not sure if we can post web links here) … together we planned itinerary and style , they booked all accommodation and we had same driver/guide for the full 10 days in a private Mercedes Sprinter van. https://www.irelandchauffeurtravel.com/ for Italy we used Dragonfly Tours. They too helped us plan itinerary based on our interests, time and budget. They booked all accommodation but we used fast trains to get from city to city. They arranged for driver to pick us up at train station and provided us with guides each day, https://www.dragonflytours.net/

I noticed that a couple who sat with us in a group first nite sat at same table for two every nite after . Concerto dining room Regal Princess They likely had table at 530-545 as were already seated when we showed up at 6 pm to be paraded around the dining room to end up seated near kitchen most nites. wonder if tipping in cash helps great tables become more readily available?

Sounds perfect! The never ending art auctions .. ugh! Good riddance!

Agree with others this is an interesting thread! here’s my two cents —/ just home from our 20 th Princess cruise of 4 th TA ( different ports each time) and feel we need a change. As others said, not only has product changed over the years, but so have we as we age. Too many people, too many lines, not enough enrichment opportunities, too many ‘health/ wellness ‘ promos (7-8 every day from acupuncture to teeth whitening) to push sales etc. The demographics in both age and ‘style’ has changed and eroded imho. Princess Elite perks all but disappeared so staying for loyalty alone not the deciding factor. Itinerary, shipboard experience, food and demographics of fellow passengers now more important. We also have 2 RCCL, 3 Viking river cruises, 2 Uniworld river cruises and 4 land tours — two with private chauffeurs which were amazing. So like others here, it’s time for a change and I will look into Oceania as a possible option. I have Orkney Islands on my bucket list and see they have a cruise that includes that so it might be a good test run.

When I got air flight info confirmation , both the Delta and the West Jet booking numbers showed. this info was also included in email confirmation Flight Information This confirmation reflects an updated air schedule due to an airline schedule change. Please contact the airlines directly to reconfirm your flights. Please verify that the spelling of names shown on this notice match the identification presented at the airport check-in (i.e. Passport). Seat selection and special requests can be made directly with the airline or via the Cruise Personalizer at www.princess.comor by calling 1-800-774-6237. Online check-in can only be done on the airline's website.

I think it might also have to do with if you booked ‘flexible’ vs ‘non flexible ’ since you can change the flexible ones right up to being ticketed at no charge.

Really? Guess I don’t know enough of who does or does not have an ‘agenda’. Thought it was just a comment. I just thought this was a safe place to post questions and get info.

I can assure you that after 20+ princess cruises nothing is ever my ‘one and only experience’. I don’t ask for, nor expect, perfection when travelling. Not sure where you got the notion that jsn55 or I would never cruise Princess again. We were just replying to original thread topic of our Dine My Way experiences after restart.

Off Regal which has the closer motion light sensors. Hint! Make sure you close door tight on tall ‘dresser’ in closet as one nite during rougher seas with swells, the door kept opening and closing which triggered the motion light! yes after third time I did get up to secure door!😆

In spite of what info you find online both from cdc, princess and airlines, as Canadians we flew into US FLL 2 weeks ago and were NOT required to show proof of vaccination. I had printed and digital QR codes ready to show when asked. We never were asked. When I checked in for our flights online 24 hrs ahead of flight I did have to click ‘I accept/ I understand’ after reading a long health protocol that I believe listed the need/benefits of vaccination. to be honest it was late at nite and I didn’t save the long doc as I assumed it was giving heads up that I would need to provide proof before entry to US. maybe it was a glitch at border entry or maybe it’s the honor system now?

Short answer.. yes. long answer.. yes. After 20+ Princess cruises and 200 days, we found the ONLY Elite ‘perks’ left that we used was mini bar set up and 10% off ship store purchases including the snacks in Celebration’store’. I did NOT buy Plus package as hubby non drinker but bought wifi pack ‘till end of cruise’ on last three days for 50% off for $22.50 to be able to check in flights and print boarding passes. Free laundry had a 3 day turnaround due to high number of elites on board TA and we only use carryon so don’t have 6 days of clothes! I wash in sink every few days. bottom line rather than reward our loyality, it’s giving me the incentive to look elsewhere at other cruise lines for future cruising.

Can’t get seats until flights are ‘ticketed’ I was told or about 30 days out. however we also were on a code share with delta/ WJ out of Vancouver and therefore you get TWO booking numbers. When I couldn’t book fromDelta site, I was able to book seats from WJ site using WJ booking number ( all letters no numbers like Delta's booking #)

Just off 14 day TA on Regal. Seems Dine My Day is very glitchy; some due to app and some due to staff. When I tried to book specialty dining at Crown the ONLY nite with openings was day 1 embarkation day. The place was near empty. After a few less than satisfactory nites in main DR I tried to book in Crown near end of cruise… wide open for reservations! Again we went went to find the place near empty; yet they tried to seat us in last booth right by the kitchen. I refused. We were moved to one of the MANY empty tables. We must have marks on our back as more often than not in main DR we were paraded thru the room ( were they waiting for a cash tip for better table?) to be sat at a table near the noisy busy kitchen. We asked to share .. had booked to share.. thinking we’d get a variety of table locations. Nope. ps they had a line for NO Reservations further complicating the process. the first week we were never asked to tap our medallion to confirm we even had a reservation or at what time.

Canadians can’t order medallions either so I feel your pain. All I have is my booking confirmation with the word ELITE in teeny tiny font size 8 that I have highlighted. Bring back paper boarding pass as an option !

Oh I hear ya .. just nice to not have to walk all the way left to go wayyyyyyy to back of line esp in FLL if don’t have to. so few elite perks left this was one very small one 🙂

Ooh good idea!

Do you need to sign up at Internet cafe ie when it’s staffed? This is our first cruise without free Elite wifi so I plan only to buy a day here or there.

Previous poster sailed out of FLL last month so maybe you sailed earlier?

Thank you this is exactly what I needed to hear. Yes I always print up everything! But I’ll go and highlight the teeny tiny ELITE!

Yes I recall that as we are flying in, using their transfer so seem to arrive early needing to wait. maybe the so called staggered boarding times that no one abides with will help:)

First cruise post CoVid. Do they still have Elite check in line and pre boarding lounges? We leave from FLL. We need to pick up medallion at check in so won’t have any ‘ID’ to show our ‘loyality’ level like in paper boarding pass days.

sounds yawn like for sure