Pizzasteve

I called the other day and very prompt response, unlike tries earlier this summer, so things seem improved dramatically recently, at least for me in one try.

We will be on the TransAtlantic cruise, so will be interesting to see the usage when no ports are on the agenda. Based on recent prices I am assuming our ship wont be full though.

My wife saved the wine shop address, so if you are looking for a good wine shop, I can recommend: * Garrafeira Nacional (Google for locations) My wine writer friend recommended it. Or in Porto, Taylor's 'World of Wine' has a wine shop that has excellent regional selections that have been picked for the best, though a bit pricey. PS, if you are on the Nov 20 Transatlantic, maybe we can meet up to collaborate on picks and share onboard.

Maybe we can pool our resources and fund the ship stewards to stock up. We leave from Lisbon and Portugal is full of quite servicable wines one can buy for 5-10e at the grocery store. For a bit more they get very interesting. We will likely buy our own, but seems like an opportunity for fun. I know an exclellent wine shop in town.

We have a pretty good onboard credit we want to use for a dining package and wondered how to book this in advance. Online all I see are a PDF, and cant seem to add anything to the cart. Thanks for any advice you might have.

Hilariously, I finally found the link which included this gem. " Guests with back, neck, hip, knee or ankle should not select this tour." Thanks for the giggle. Terms actually didnt say anything about cancellations, though it did say unused OBC would expire at end of cruise.

I booked online and I didnt see any T&Cs that you refer to. There was a tour description. Can you offer a link? Thanks. We likely will enjoy the tour, so not a big deal.

Has anyone done the snorkling tour in Burmuda? Its $200US pp, and booked because we had a lot of OBC. Anyone know cancellation refund policy pre arrival? It seems like it is a slightly marked up version of this tour featured on trip advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g147255-d11451731-Bermuda_Hidden_Gems_Summer_Excursion-Bermuda.html

What a helpful post for the OP. I am sure the whole site admires your contribution. Feel free to substitute the word 'request,' if the meaning of the post centered on the amount of compensation to ask for wasnt clear. Picking one word and ignoring entire posts is a pretty immature mind at work. Plenty of helpful discussion to read. Why not add something like an adult instead of trying to attack and tear down others, like children do.

Very interesting comment and got me thinking about a scenario. Say NCL comps cruisers generously for clogged toilets. Could that not perhaps incentivize clogging toilets? Someone might deliberately flush a depends down their toilet, calls maintenence, and start demanding a free or deeply discounted cruise, denying any responsibility (it was the prior passenger, not me, I dont even use those...). One can see immediately why being too generous might create an issue. People can be just greedy enough to do stuff like that. Anyway, just food for thought as $ amounts get thrown around. I stick by my thoughts that a 15-20% refund seems fair, given the story as told by OP. Just my personal opinion.

I think we are in agreement. The offer should relate to their actual situation, not some hypothetical situation. I dont feel that a short period with no working toilet should be a free cruise for all, as it is impossible for shipboard plumbing to be 100% perfect. Riding on a ship always means certain risks, that we should all accept, the most common of which are missed ports due to weather. A good manager will initiate a dialog and get parties somewhere that recognizes 'both' the inconvenience and other key facts like whether the problem was truly negligence, etc. It is a fact that the passenger is still receiving food, lodging, gym, pool, entertainment, transit to ports, etc. All that stuff costs money to deliver and if minor issues become a free cruise fest, those free cruise costs will just get bundled into the fares we will all pay, as a form of revenue insurance. Its like hurricane insurance rates. Everyone wants cheap rates, but there are real rebuilding costs to coastline homes that other less risky homes should not be forced to absorb. Anyway, that is the source of my thoughts on amounts. Again, my full sympathy with the OP. The best outcome would have been a working toilet or move to a room with one, but absent that it is a negotiation based on contract law and customer service 'value to corporate,' sadly. In this case NCL will claim they were not negligent, which gives them several 'outs.' So the best strategy seems to be 'play loyal customer with many future cruises to spend money on', and hope for a sympathetic ear with clout.

Thanks for the added info OP. 4 people, plus a bad odor, no offer to change cabins, to me, ups the ante considerably. Agree with general sentiment that something equal to a full refund for the 3 days of no usable cabin seems equitable, or full refund if in FCC.

Our family has multiple upcoming Regent cruises booked, and if they responded like this with my parents I would be most annoyed (we book our own because I find their flight services poor). I hooe they are reading and respond because cancellations are still possible. By the way, I found an annoying attitude to somewhat ignore cruisers who dont have 'status' by Regent. Prefer Oceana personally. I think the advice to not rely on the cruise line for flight confirmations is good advice. It can be ignored, but it is good advice. Free wifi, so... My guess is that booking a replacement business class flight was big $$$$ at the time, so they willfully forgot. PS. How much time have you given them to respond. Staff are short so I wouldnt panic if it has been less than 2-3 weeks.

I edited the response, as I realized the offer was not a refund. My thinking is that bathrooms are not all that far and we have often stayed in hotels with shared facilities to save a bit or where that was the norm for B&B type rooms, like on rural hikes. If one is enjoying the full facilities of a ship, eating, drinking, entertainment, one is mostly out of the room anyway. Anyway, certainly if one has demonstratable bladder or other medical issues, then they should demand an immediate room change to one with a working toilet. My guess is that the OP didnt want the inconvenience of a room change vs waiting for the fix, which to me signals a pricing on the 'level of inconvenience.' Just trying to put myself in the shoes of 'both sides.' FCC is not acceptable to me, though, unless it is to OP.

Agree the amount seems ok, but FCC is not a very reasonable offer to me. I would demand a refund equal to that amount, as you may never cruise again. You had to walk to a 'shared toilet' what, maybe 2 times a day for 6 trips pp? If there was a horrible smell, or showers and sink also not working or noises that prevented sleep, maybe more. Did they offer to swap rooms and you refused? Wondering what other dialog occured or if you said to them when you reported it that you would manage. Seems you could have demanded a room change or something. If you are diabled, I would think differently though. My wife thinks 3-6 days worth of cash credit, so I guess it is subjective. That said, I think the 12% should be cash, not future credit.

Its what we are doing, my comments above notwithstanding. Like the car buying supply chain issues, I dont see the mass market brands improving services to top tier much until 2024.

I wasnt making appologies for Princess. As noted in my prior post, staffing a service right now is extremely difficult and any cruisers expecting perfection per times when diseases and staff shortages were not issues might be better off spending elsewhere. We have cruised on other lines recently and been very happy, so I do not mean to add a current Princess perspective other than a friend did one recently and had a good time (though did have issues with her flight and a poor Princess response to her need to get to her ship at its next port). It was clear that staffing help lines and other nice extras was not up to par. That said, she dealt with it and enjoyed what was offered. I feel bad for her and the people who have been dissappointed with Princess, but also have seen a lot of entitlement mentality on cruises, especially when folks are paying $50-$100 per day for housing, gym, 3+full meals, maid services, free shows, transit to and from vacation sites, etc. Not to mention inflation of key input costs like fuel, food, labor. Cruises can be great values, but in the current times some of what people expect per dollar is going to be less than they had in the past and complaining is unlikely to alter that sad truth. Listing recent complaints wont change that either, and obviously many cruisers have been satisfied as well. Only a real look at a statistically valid sample of post cruise ratings would tell a full picture. So in summary, the complaints do have some merit, but we can learn from them what to expect. I doubt the situation will change much within a year or so. I wish everyone well, including dissapointed cruisers and the cruise line employees.

Well, from my perspective, the whole travel world is in a shambles right now with similar problems. Our neighbor just returned from a non cruise trip and their bags took 10 days to arrive home. Another friend took 2 days to get from Boston to SF, by air. Wait times approaching 4 hours to pass security in London. These are just stories from friends. Us cruise passengers are rightfully spoiled and a bit entitled, too, to be honest. I read the thread about some service issues with a medical issue onboard, then remembered a conversation with a Cambodian, who explained they have no doctors at all, ever. Their MDs per capita is 1 in 16,000. Yet we have doctors saving lives on a ship with under 2000 people. We are very lucky to get the services we enjoy and perhaps some understanding of the difficulty of an almost bankrupt company doing their best to keep thousands employed and thousands more entertained and fed. Perhaps some empathy for the company and its employees is a good thought to ponder. I certainly would not want the CEOs responsibilities today, having advised CEOs in the past I understand it is indeed a hot seat, with many worries.

Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary patience. From what I can tell, the OP wanted passionately to go to the hospital to 'help', but in these times that was simply not possible. Here in the US, my MIL was hospitalized for an urgent condition and we could not visit at all, only pick her up when discharged and to get her a phone charger was quite an ordeal involving a nurse leaving her station to go outside and meet us. If they are having a surge of Covid, medical staff just may not have any capacity to facilitate family interactions without risking care shortages to those who really need them. The ship staff should not have promised her she would be able to go with the aunt, as it is never usual to allow family in an ambulance, etc., that I know. Im not making excuses for Princess, as the billing situation seemed poorly handled. That said, their staff tend to try to tell passengers what they want to hear, rather than sometimes being frank. Likely they should have said to her, you will not be able to see her until doctors release her, so give the medical team her documents she will need now and dont assume you can do anything else. I tend to discount ship staff provided information about on shore stuff. They often dont know and have been at sea for weeks or more. Then focus on getting yourself situated and waiting for further contact with hospital staff. Anyway, financial things can be resolved. Curious that the ship didnt just charge the aunt's card. They would have an in-hand CC authorization and the cruise contract would seem to allow this to have occured. Pretty clear Aunt is responsible for the medical, which one may note is likely a sub-contractor to Princess and may not even be the same company behind the bills. I havent dug into how those services occur, but a friend did provide shipboard care under contract once. Best wishes to all.

Very sorry for the poor experience and best wishes for the health of your family member. While probably little consolation, it is my understanding that Italian ports and the relations among stakeholders are incredibly stressful right now. Several threads about Venice banning ships, last minute changes required for thousands of people, etc. My guess is that people are being asked to do more work with less resources and few established systems designed for the scale of work being required by many sick people. So a system that used to manage a few odd cases is now handling hundreds of complex arrangements, with maybe 1 or 2 staff. Please try to focus on what is not lost and keep your sanity. Money and bags can be replaced. Your aunt may have her best chance to recover, partly thanks to your suffering. Italian doctors offer good medical care. Best wishes PS If you read about airports, the whole travel industry is in a bit of chaos, largely because of covid carelessness and rising cases taking key staff down and peak travel rates. Great patience may be needed. A friend just took 2 days for a simple Boston to SF flight to happen. Might expect delays seeking customer care due to case loads

Agreed. I personally wish they would just do a rapid antigen test docside, using the free test kits. It takes only a few minutes, and pull asside for retesting any positives. The need for reports and paperwork is what causes so much hassle. I could envision a quick swab, and then a brief wait, then board. No testing at all is causing me to rethink a booked Regent Cruise. But I think they dont want the lost revenue and would rather sail with Covid onboard

It will be our first Azamara cruise and we will definitely be comparing included drinks against our cruises last year on Celebrity, Regent, Oceana, all with included drinks. We dont need premium priced beverages, as a good wine should be easily available at an acceptable cost to the line. But if we get a large producer's 'dumped junk' wines with very few options for finding well made, economical wine, it will impact our future bookings. Hope they do read this thread, as it is easy to ask a wine person to advise them. I can recommend several, having wine critic, MS, and MW friends. We retired at 53 and have many cruises ahead, so this last few years we have sort of shopped around to find our preferred cruise brand. We recently cruised on HA, Viking Ocean, and Princess as well. Viking Ocean was a good example of limited selection but good quality basic wines available included, as was Celebrity (more selection, many sub par, but enough choice that always something decent in the basic package). Regent had very nice wines, but of course a different price point and their basic is a more premium level. We brought our own to Oceana, for 25 dollar per bottle corkage, which we loved as an option.

Agreed. There are some pretty small deposit options out there, where a price can be locked in with fairly low risk. We are doing our 3rd TA within about 1.5 years after a great Barcelona to Miami experience. In November Azamara is going from Lisbon to Miami and the prices were exceptionally good. Flights from Barcelona are really inexpensive, so if the Barcelona departure doesnt work, check it out.

Happy pride weekend folks. Happily a straight couple and a friend in Dorthy. Dont be shy about suggesting couples get togethers with us 'traditional couple types.'

FYI, for regular hiking guide books, moderate is a fairly strenuous hike. Remember, it is a hike, not a walk. One assumes a base line of fitness and experience for a hike. Moderate is usually an 'average' hike, meaning no scrambling and climbing or ropes needed. We are always a bit suprised when even easy rated hikes are pretty hard for many. Hard usually means ropes and scrambling on hands a knees may be needed. If it is described as a 'walk', then a different standard usually applies. We hike regularly with 70+ aged hikers who manage maybe 9 miles and 1500 to 2000 feet of gain at 3.0 MPH. So age and fitness dont have to be at odds, but regular work is needed to do it. If those numbers dont mean anything, you probably arent a hiker. That said, many people on cruise ships want shore excursions in nature, but probably arent regular hikers. So we often assume stuff is watered down, which makes us sad. It is excrutiating to wait for hours to go a few miles, just because some hills are in the way. If you need a cane or walker, maybe a hike is the wrong activity. This is the way with exercise though. I am a fan of self guided hikes, with some options to do more or less as suits the patron. If you want to see the Inca Trail, understand it is meant as a challenge, even to the original native Incans. Some training is really a requirement. I saw on the trail poor porters having to carry heavy, inactive people who thought they were ok to climb mountains for 3 days at 5000 to 10000 ft. altitudes. That said, wont be much hiking on our up and coming transatlantic on Azamara, except beforehand in Lisbon. My lovely wife will be going up the stairs and down elevators a dozen times or more each day, as the best option.