SCX22

Just note...MSC's loyalty match is valid for one time use only. Also MSC's loyalty accumulation expires after 36 months; any points earned will for forfeited after 36 months of no activity and your loyalty number will expire. So if do the status match and don't cruise with MSC for 3 years, not only do you forfeit the points but also the ability to do status match again.

I see this coming as well. I know last year with the 50% off cruises that was offered with onboard bookings made through the Future Cruise Desk, Princess didn't make much money off the cruises I went one. We basically got the cruise fares as buy one, get one free, and the port charges for 2 people. The question remains, how will Princess implement this, if and when the time comes, without ruffling the feathers of the existing membership? Even with this temporary loyalty acceleration program, look at the uproar. Part of me wants to believe that this loyalty acceleration program will help mix up the crowd PE parties. Aside from the the one upping aspect that turns me off, the crowd is just sad--overwhelmingly senior that thinks they've actually accomplished something by getting invited.

The food is usually easy to prepare stuff like crudites, cheese/cold cuts/crackers, olives, dried fruits, and nuts. The hot item is usually meatballs or something fried like egg rolls or potsticker dumplings. There's also so sort of parfait or mousse. On some days there will be sushi. Sorry, but cruise ship sushi is revolting; the rice is never the right texture--either undercooked and still hard or overcooked and mushy. It's a nice gesture, but really nothing special. Would rather grab something at the International Cafe or at the buffet if I felt peckish during the PES Lounge hours. There's usually someone from Loyalty or GS (sometimes both) schmoozing with the attendees. Later in the cruise, their presence dwindles. Live band is sometimes playing.

EZAir books the air on your behalf. Any transactions that you initiate to manipulate the reservation, such as upgrades, are between you Delta. EZAir will only get involved if Delta decides to cancel or adjust your flight schedule due to flight schedule adjustments, and EZAir's only responsibility is to rebook you on a different flight in the original cabin that you were booked in, not the upgraded cabin. As a word of caution... if Delta does change your schedule/cancel your flights and you have to change flights, the any upgrades will not necessarily carry over to the new flights. These are based on availability. It will be up to you to chase after any refunds for anything that Delta is unable to fulfill due to flight schedule adjustments. EZAir will not help as they were not privy to these ancillary transactions.

That's why in the eyes of economists, the DMV is the tax agency for motorists. It taxes at a diminishing tax rate because the value of a car diminishes as it ages. Having said that, once the tax rate is calculated, a percentage of the tax is earmarked for various departments and projects. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv-research-reports/department-of-motor-vehicles-dmv-performance-reports/where-did-your-2018-fees-go/

Given Princess' IT track record, I have a hunch the Princess website will be glitchy for the next few days (weeks) as they transition the website to reflect the new inclusive pricing.

They have to pretend, right?

In Australia (and New Zealand), businesses can legally recoup the CC by adding it to the consumer's total. It adds 1.5% to 2.5% to the total. Cash total is always cheaper in Australia (and NZ). Princess has a disclosure on cruises that use AUD as onboard currency that folio's settled with a credit card will incur a 1.5% fee.

I would take offense to that if I didn't own property (which a lot don't in CA), for example, and my payroll/sales taxes were used to fund the CC fees of paying property taxes with a CC. Or as someone who didn't own a car, but my personal taxes were subsidizing the CC fees of those who owned a car and using a CC to register their car. I think you're missing the point. If the DMW (or any other government agency) is using part of the registration fee to cover CC fees, then the the DMV is not allocating enough to what the taxes are covering. The DMV doesn't operate for profit, in the sense of the corporation. They are basically tax collectors for the State of California, so every cent is (supposed to be) earmarked. Another, example would be if the DMV were to add the 3% CC fee into everyone's registration. The accounting wouldn't balance because those paying by cash/check/money order would be paying the CC fee, but the DMV wouldn't be paying the CC to a CC bank because a CC wasn't used. How would the surplus be accounted for? The accounting wouldn't balance. They aren't a for-profit where the surplus can be considered a profit.

San Francisco, not sure about other cities in California, passed a mandate that restaurants had to provide health benefits to their employees. To offset the cost of this, many businesses added an extra surcharge (note the terminology, not a tip because it can't be removed from the bill) to offset the costs. Here's an article how the debate over restaurant surcharges and the new California junk fee ban could affect restaurant workers. https://sfstandard.com/2024/06/24/service-fee-restaurants-san-francisco/

That's a little different. The DMV is government agency and their budgets come from tax dollars. If you don't pay for the CC fee, that will boil down to the tax payer. Same with paying property taxes with a credit card.

This happens but not as frequently as during the restart; at that time, the cleaning crew were visible and wiping everything down every few hours including elevator buttons. We tend to like to close the bars and I can attest that the major cleaning of the public areas happens when the while most of the passenger are fast asleep in their cabins asleep. It usually starts in the Vista Lounge after the last event for the night and they slowly work their way throughout the ship. I agree about wiping down tables. We carry a small container of disinfecting wipes to wipe down the tables at the buffet before sitting down.

So by having all passengers arrive within 5 days of their cruise, instead of spreading out cruise passenger arrivals, the Carnival brands using the same consolidator is manipulating the market forcing the airfares to spike because of supply and demand. There are fewer discounted seats if a period is set as 5 days before the cruise rather than anytime before the cruise. If, for example, airlines only want to release only 5 discount seats per day, there would only be 25 discounted seats if the period is defined as 5 days, but the number of discounted seats would increase if arrival was permitted at anytime (at 10 days before the cruise, there would be 50, etc.).

Not all mini-suites have covered balconies on Royal Class ships. On the Royal and Regal, yes they do. Starting with the Majestic and continuing with the Sky, Enchanted and Discovery, mini-suites were added to the forward and aft sections of Deck 8. Said mini-suites DO NOT have covered balconies.

An example of why I don't follow the logic. If you look at the prices for identical itineraries (exact same dates and exact same flights), booking directly with BA is cheaper ($1323.70) than booking through EZAir ($3105.80 / 2 = $1552.90). In this case, I would book direct with British Airways; no discount for EZAir. You're basically paying for the protections by booking through EZAir. In this case, following your logic, the airline is undercutting themselves.

As with anything, read the fine print carefully and perform critical analysis, which you've already done. Times have changed. If you go to McDonalds's the Dollar Menu is now buy one, get one for a $1.

This disregards the fare bucket concept. Not everyone that books EZAir is getting a steep discount. Many aren't privy to checking airfares religiously. Once the fares in a particular bucket are sold out, the fares aren't available anymore nor are the fares in cheap buckets released at the same time. In my experience, the sweet spot for booking the lowest international economy airfare through EZAir during non-summer months is between the 60 to 70 day before the flight mark. The fact that the airlines open up these fare buckets to EZAir at this time shows that there is still seat inventory available. Empty seats don't make the airline money. For example, I booked SFO to SYD and YVR to SFO on United for $648 through EZAir, 55 days before my transpacific cruise this past April. The exact same flights were $1105 through EZAir when I booked the cruise at the 80 day mark, but I reserved the air anyways to ensure seats. I was really thankful for the ability to refare without penalty though EZAir and I ended up with a fat refund. I doubt we'll ever know the true reason for the change unless corporate spills the beans.

"BOGO" as an acronym just means, buy one, get one.... It's doesn't necessarily mean get one free. It could mean buy one, get one 25%, 50% off, etc. This term is used widely in Asia.

I'm a DIYer and really like the area around Termini. It makes it easy to take the Leonardo Express, the fastest way to the city center from the airport; we walk to our hotels in the vicinity from there. The BW Royal Santina is a fine hotel, very modern for Rome standards. I do prefer the location of the sister property BW Universo on the other side of the train station because it's closer to the action if you want to walk to the sights. What I dislike about staying in the historical center (Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Parthenon) is that there are always so many people. You're also stuck taking a car there and because of the narrow streets, could take ages. The Monti area around Termini quiets down in the evening. It's easy to hop on the Metro to get to some other part of town since there are two Metro lines that pass through Termini. Don't like any hotels north of Villa Borghese because they are far from the action.

This is how airlines turn a profit. They divided the seats into fare buckets. When one fare bucket sells out, they will no longer sell seats at that price. They also stagger the release of fare buckets so they can have sales. If a passenger books last minute, they pay more, which is why airlines love business travelers because they usually always book last minute. Not following the logic. The number of cruise passengers is finite, and having said that, not all use EZAir. As a simple example: If on a sailing, 10 passengers opt for EZAir to London, 2 passengers fly a week before the cruise, and 8 fly the day before the cruise, the total seats allocated to EZAir is still 10.

I've never been more loyal to Princess than last year. All of my cruises last year were on Princess because of this promotion. This year, I'm back to being an equal opportunist with cruise lines. Wishful thinking, but I rather have discounts on the packages over loyalty acceleration; it's of much more benefit to me!

Sorry the discussion got caught up in something else. You shouldn't have a problem adding a package once on board. I tested this on of the bookings I made an onboard booking under the fare you mentioned. My Cruise Personalizer told me to contact Princess or TA to add packages to my booking. (Was hoping that I could get a discount on the package as was discussed above, but no dice.) Once I got on board, the packages were showing for purchase on the App and the crew hounded us to buy them.

Sometimes the low airfare EZAir quotes sways me to book Princess. Happened on a TA. X quoted $1000 for SFO to LHR and FLL to SFO, cruises had similar itineraries. Princess quoted $529 R/T. I booked the Princess cruise. If the air component is going to be the same for X and Princess for similar cruises, then I'm going with X. Yes, the cruise fare was more, but I've always thought X is worth it. As has been stated by others EZAir makes a bigger difference on international flights. Also makes a difference if your home airport is a major airport with a robust flight schedule. One of out friends lives in the boonies of the Midwest (no offense meant), has to make a zillion connections to get to the final destination, and can only fly on the 4 major US airlines on at least one of the connections because those are the only airlines that fly to their home airport. When there's slim pickings, then expect flights to cost more.

See reply #270. It'll be fun dealing with Princess if you're not credited according to the offer.

I was told that that this was a mistake by Princess' IT and Princess finally caught on. I was able to book Plus fare from the get go for the cruises I booked early on under this promotion. The correction happened sometime in June/July. Knowing Princess' IT, I wouldn't be surprised if some cruises slipped through the cracks.