NavyVeteran

I don't like long queues, but I don't mind the pagers in the midship dining rooms. Sitting in Vines while waiting for a pager to go off is not all bad.

That's exactly the problem with the aft MDR. DW has mobility issues and the midship MDRs are a lot more convenient. However, we like traditional dining when we're not in a suite, so we may be stuck there.

Why would you need to switch medallions? That could cause a lot of problems. All you have to do is go to Guest Services and request that all four of you be programmed to have access to both cabins.

You have one potential issue to consider. If the cruise is cancelled for any reason, then the EZAir flights are also cancelled. If you still want to go to do the land tour, you would have to book new flights.

With EZAir, can cancel or change flight with no penalty until 45 days prior. With EZAir, don't pay for flight until 90 days prior. With EZAir on pre-cruise flight, get transportation to next port if miss cruise. Delay and cancellation on return flight was airline's problem. EZAir did not add any additional hassles.

How old were your teens? According to Cruising with Family & Kids FAQ, the minimum age for the teens to be booked in a separate cabin is 16. @ccqueenanne said her teens were both 15 years old - one year to young.

Each excursion you can book has departure and arrival times listed in the description on Cruise Personalizer. One exception would be if you booked a tour ending at the airport that would also take you back to the ship. You need to make sure to verify with the excursion desk onboard that the excursion will return you to the ship. They will probably take the people to the airport first before returning to the ship. The port is very close to the airport, so your arrival time back at the ship shouldn't be much later than the end time listed. I would not expect you to get an exact answer until you are onboard and talking with the Shore Excursions desk there.

Immigration doesn't care how you booked the cruise. People in the middle of a 14-day cruise and people ending one 7-day cruise and starting another one are treated exactly the same.

It is not EZAir's fault when an airpline cancels a flight. For a flight to the ship, they guarantee they will get you to the next port. This is something extra from EZAir, because the airline will only try to eventually get you to the original flight destination. On the flight home, it is the airline's responsibility to get you to your final destination - EZAir has nothing to do with it. You are in exactly the same position as someone who purchased the ticket directly from the airline. Reimbursement for hotel, meals, and other costs depends on the airline policy and the reason for cancellation. Trip interruption insurance should pay the additional costs if the airline does not.

Although it would be more convenient to always go to the same dining room, it is not necessary. You should be ordering dinner (and lunch on sea days) from the head waiter (dining room manager) the evening before. This information is put into the system and your pre-order will show at any main dining room. It is more convenient (but not necessary) to always go to the same dining room, so you are always dealing with the same head waiter. It is not necessary to always deal with the same waiters, since waiters do not handle orders for people with dietary restrictions.

I don't have personal experience, but your questions are answered in Cruising with Family & Kids FAQ. The FAQ specifically answers your questions in the following sections: 1) "How do I register my child for the youth program?" 2) "Can adults visit the youth centers?" 3) "Seeking a Babysitter?"

I hope Princess can make the new policy work - one dining room for those of you who like making reservations with DMW, one dining room for those who like traditional dining, and one dining room for those who want to walk in without advance reservations. Princess appears to have heard the complaints from people who miss traditional dining and the complaints from people who don't want to make reservations. If it works, then everyone should be happy. We'll see.

It is not enough to have a chef tell you what's safe in the buffet. Nothing that has been sitting out in the buffet is safe even if it was safe when it came out of the kitchen. Passengers move serving utensils from one dish to another causing cross contamination. If you are sensitive enough to something that cross contamination is an issue, then ask the chef to serve you a plate directly from the kitchen - don't take anything from the buffet yourself. My SIL had wonderful GF pastries for breakfast every morning. Each morning, they brought her a tray of several different GF pastries to choose from. However, this was the suite breakfast in Sabatini's - I wouldn't expect the same service elsewhere.

You could possibly get by with the Plus package. It includes one-device wifi which is all you would use. Even if you wanted more, you could use one of your sisters, since they will have four each. The wifi is one part of the Plus or Premier that you are allowed to share. For pictures, your sisters will get digital copies of every picture that they are in, and they can share those digital copies with you. So you would get copies of all of the group pictures. The only pictures you wouldn't get would be solo pictures of you.

If you definitely want a specific excursion, book now. It might sell out. The price may go up. If, by any chance, the price goes down in a sale, you can always cancel and rebook if there is still room available.

Princess mini-suites are not suitable for some people with even minor mobility issues. The shower in tub is a deal-breaker. We have never booked an accessible cabin, but DW cannot use the tub in a mini-suite. We always book oceanview, balcony, or full suites - never mini-suites.

Just because a cruise is sold out doesn't mean that bids won't be accepted. I don't have the links but some people have reported accepted bids on sold out cruises. A sold out cruise does not mean that all of the cabins are sold. They are limited to a certain number of passengers in each muster station. If a lot of cabins have three or four passengers (which could happen with current promos), they could sell out while still having empty cabins. In this case, they certainly would want to accept bids to move people to higher categories and leave lower category cabins empty instead.

What makes you think crew have to work past their daily work schedule. The posted closing time is the time they close the doors to new diners - it is not the time they schedule the crew to take off. See the previous post by @TRLD for details of the scheduling.

I disagree completely. Princess publishes hours that the MDR is open. These are the hours when you can arrive and be seated - not the hours when they chase you out. If Princess did not want you to arrive during that last half hour, then they should publish a closing time a half hour earlier. Anyone who arrives during the posted open hours should have the same service. It should not be the passenger's responsibility to know how much earlier than the posted time to arrive.

That's why there's not one answer for all of us. Each person needs to look at the details of coverage of their other insurance and at the details of coverage of Princess Vacation Protection and any other insurance they are considering. The right answer for me is not necessarily the right answer for you. No one policy is best for everyone.

I have Medicare and Tricare for Life. Since Tricare provides coverage outside the US, I believe the Princes insurance provides adequate coverage. If you don't have any other insurance coverage outside the US, then your case may be different. I look carefully at the 60-day lookback period. As soon as DW and I both have 60 days with no changes in diagnosis or medications, we purchase and pay for the insurance immediately - we don't wait until final payment. There is no risk since the insurance is completely refundable until final payment. We don't wait until final payment because we may have a change within 60 pays prior to then. We still get the FCC refund even if the cancellation is because of a pre-existing condition, so we're not that worried. Princess Vacation Protection is more of a bargain the older you are, since it is not age rated like most other travel insurance.

With the new policy, you don't need to make reservations. If you don't choose traditional fixed dining and you don't make reservations, there will be one MDR available for walk-in only. This should provide better service to those without reservations than the current system.

I did not think Princess offered a standalone transfer from the airport to the hotel. If you purchase a pre-cruise hotel through Princess, then the transfer from the airport to the hotel and the transfer from the hotel to the ship are included in the price quoted for the hotel. That is why Princess hotels charge one price for one night and a lower per-night price for additional nights. Do you actually have a separate Princess transfer from the airport to a hotel that you booked independently?

It doesn't take effect until voyages departing September 14, 2024. However, it could happen in the middle of a cruise. If you booked a 14-day cruise that is also available as two 7-day cruises with the second leg starting September 14 or later, then it probably would be in effect for the second half of your cruise - even if you booked it as a single cruise. I doubt Princess would treat people on the second half of a 14-day cruise differently than people on the same ship at the same time on a 7-day cruise starting September 14 or later.

Booking an interior room across the hall is a great idea. However, there are a few problems you will need to handle. Look at the Princess FAQ on Cruising with Family & Kids. Under "Preparing for Your Cruise", it lists minimum ages. The minimum age for them to book them in their own cabin would be 16, so you would have to book one parent and one teen in each cabin. This isn't a big problem, since you can have your medallions programmed at Guest Services to open both cabins, and they don't care where you sleep - just where you're booked. If you want to purchase Plus or Premier for the two adults but not for the two teens, you could have a problem, since the two people in each cabin (one parent and one teen) would have to have the same package. If you book all four in one cabin, then only the first two have to have the package. Even though they won't be drinking any alcohol, you may want to consider the Plus fare for the teens if they will be using Internet and drinking sodas and mocktails as well as paying the gratuities. There are several threads covering the costs and benefits of Plus.