NavyVeteran

Princess Vacation Protection pays 100% in cash for cancellation for covered reasons. It pays credit only when you use the Cancel for Any Reason coverage to cancel for a non-covered reason.

Reusing a FCD is no problem. The FCD is available almost immediately to reuse. You do have the following possible problems though: EZAir: If you have flights booked, they could be cancelled. Flights may be sold out or the price may have gone up. Excursions: Prebooked excursions may be cancelled. They may be sold out or the price may have gone up.

I've had excellent experience with claims using Princess Vacation Protection. On a cruise last year, DW and I both got COVID and were in isolation for the last three days of the twelve-day cruise. DW had to spend one night in the ship clinic and had over $3,000 in medical charges onboard. We received a payment for all of our medical charges plus one fourth of the cost of the cruise (3 days isolation out of 12 days). No problems. I didn't even have to provide them with Explanations of Benefits (EoB) from my primary or secondary insurance. Primary insurance was Medicare. They knew that Medicare provided no coverage overseas, so they did not require an EoB from Medicare. Secondary insurance was Tricare for Life. Tricare for Life does provide coverage overseas where Medicare does not. However, US law states that Tricare for Life is secondary to any other valid insurance except for Tricare supplements or Medicaid - explicitly stating it is secondary to travel insurance. I provided a link to a Tricare website explicitly stating that, and they didn't require an EoB from Tricare. The whole process was fairly simple. It did take a couple of phone calls as well as the online submission. One of the things to compare is the coverage limits between Princess Vacation Protection and third party insurance. If you do not have any other medical insurance that covers you outside of the US, then the Princess Vacation Protection limits may not be sufficient. Since Tricare for Life provides coverage outside the US, we only need limits to cover the Tricare copayments, so I believe the Princess Vacation Protection limits are adequate for us. I agree with @Rick&Jeannieabout the benefits of Cancel for Any Reason with Princess Vacation Protection.

If you cancel a Princess cruise with a refundable deposit before final payment, you receive a full refund - including prepaid Princess Vacation Protection. If you have third party insurance, you may not get a refund. Princess Vacation Protection covers air purchased through Princess EZAir. It doesn't cover air purchased elsewhere. The question of cheaper often depends on age. Princess Vacation Protection is not age rated. It costs the same thing for us seniors as for people in their twenties. Most third party insurance is priced based on age. If you are younger, it may be cheaper. If you are older, maybe not.

You may not be able to get a CVP to help. If the cruise is already booked and deposited, they don't get credit for it. I prefer booking online because I want very specific cabins. If I wait to contact a CVP, the cabin may not be available. You used to be able to book online and put it on hold for three days with no deposit. I would do that and contact a CVP to deposit. But now they won't hold without a deposit, and once you deposit online, it's too late to contact a CVP.

If you are a veteran, the military OBC is also $50 more for one 14 day. If you want the same cabin on two 7 days, you need to request no upgrade. If you are upgraded, it may be for one segment only. If you book one 14 day cruise, then any upgrade will be to the same cabin for the entire 14 days. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of the two 7 day cruises is the EZAir flexibility. You book two one way flights instead of a round trip, and you can change one flight without affecting the other. With a single booking, you may find a better or less expensive flight in one direction but your flight in the other direction may be unavailable or more expensive.

A cruise tour is booked as a single booking - not as separate cruise and tour bookings. Even if the price of your cruise goes down, the price of the cruise tour probably won't. Also, you can't cancel the tour and keep the cruise. If you wanted to do that, you would have to cancel the entire cruise tour and book the cruise at the current prices.

The choice of itinerary may be more important than the choice of ship. For first time in Alaska, I recommend Glacier Bay National Park. It's not just the difference in the glaciers - it's the park rangers who will be onboard. One ranger will give commentary from the bridge. Another one will work directly with the kids. You didn't state the ages of your teenagers. There's a lot of difference between a 13-year-old and a 19-year-old. Anyone over 17 cannot participate in the kid's programs. For younger teenagers, I believe the park ranger run program in Glacier Bay National Park may be more interesting than anything at the other glaciers. Another decision is one way vs. round trip. The one-way itineraries often have two days of glacier viewing; the round trips usually have only one. The one-way itineraries may be more convenient to fly to and from but the glacier viewing onboard is usually not as good. If you do the one-way, most people prefer southbound. A pre-cruise ground trip lets you get the more strenuous part over with first and then relax on the ship. Also, I prefer the longer flight before the cruise when I'm exciting about going and the shorter flight going home.

DW and I got a prescription and Paxlovid before our cruise last year. Our primary care physician also gave us specific instructions on dosage (I took full dosage and DW took reduced dosage) and on which medications to stop taking while on Paxlovid. When DW had symptoms, we self tested her. When she showed positive, I self tested. We then reported to medical where they tested both of us. Ship's doctor was very happy that we had Paxlovid and specific instructions on what to take and what not to take. He reviewed them and concurred with primary care physician. We were in isolation for the last three days of our cruise. Yes, the ship will have some Paxlovid. But there is no way they would have enough if there is a large outbreak.

If you purchase the premier package pre-cruise, then you already paid for it and OBC isn't involved. However, if you wait and purchase an upgrade to premier onboard, then it is charged to your onboard folio and OBC can be used to pay for it.

I have seen the option online a few times, but not often.

You have to wait until you're onboard. I used the old app on my last cruise, so the location may have changed in the new one.

You never pay for excursions onboard before receiving tickets. Excursions are charged to your onboard folio and charged to your credit card at the end of the cruise, after deducting any OBC. Prepayment is only for excursions booked before sailing. Note that you can only receive a refund if you cancel before the cancellation deadline - normally two days before the excursion. You may clear after the deadline for cancellation, since some people don't cancel until right before the deadline.

Who is the "They" who won't allow it? I've used my OBC to book an excursion for DW pre-cruise. You cannot do it online - you have to call Princess. Their telephone agents can charge both excursions to the same account. Some agents don't know how to do so, and I've had to explain it to them. Just tell them to charge both excursions to the same account.

That only works for the smaller ships. The larger ones use tenders at South Queensferry and therefore usually go to the Tattoo from Greenock.

You don't have to go to the photo area. You can download the pictures to your app anytime throughout the cruise. You can order the prints through the app also - but only 3 from each person. I believe you normally need to go to the photo area to pick up your prints after ordering them. I called them and they delivered mine to my cabin without my going there. But that was probably because I was quarantined with COVID at the time.

Princess has Tattoo excursions on one 2024 itinerary and one 2025 itinerary. The following cruises include the Tattoo: Regal Princess - Embarks 7 August 2024 - Tattoo excursions from Greenock on August 12 Regal Princess - Embarks 13 August 2025 - No Tattoo excursions listed yet, but ship stays in Greenock from 8 am August 19 to 2 am August 20

The question is not whether or not that specific shore excursion was purchased using a credit card. Were any excursions purchased with OBC? If you spend $100 OBC for Excursion 1, then spend $100 credit card for Excursion 2, and then cancel Excursion 2, you won't get a credit card refund because you have spent a total of $100 by credit card and you still have a $100 excursion balance.

On a 7-night cruise, you can theoretically drink 120 alcoholic beverages using the package - 15 each day for 8 days from 6 am to 6 am. The count resets at 6 am each day, including disembarkation morning. But you may have a problem drinking 15 drinks on disembarkation day between 6 am and leaving the ship.😉

I've often seen collapsible wheelchairs on Princess tenders. The crew will help you on and off the tender, but they will not carry you. If the person who can walk minimally can walk up and down a couple of steps with assistance, they may be able to go ashore. How well they can get around on shore is a different question. It will certainly help if they have a companion to push the wheelchair. The person who cannot walk at all is probably not able to use a tender.

I downloaded all my pictures to the app on my phone several times during the cruise to make sure I got them. One picture was missing because my face was hidden - I stopped by the photo area and they found the picture and added it to my list. I also got a free USB drive on the last day of the cruise. Reminder: Several people mentioned the three printouts. That's three per person if you have two people with Premier in the cabin. You can order the printouts on your app. However, I could only order three on my app. I had to order the other three on DW's phone using her app.

If you are looking at a Princess cruise in August, there is a simple way to see if it is during the Tattoo. If the itinerary says that the ship will overnight in either Greenock or South Queensferry departing 2:00 am the next morning, then they are planning on offering excursions to the Tattoo in Edinburgh. Most Princess ships offer the tattoo from Greenock instead of South Queensferry, since South Queensferry is often a tender port. If the ship leaves both Greenock and South Queensferry in the afternoon, then you're not going to the Tattoo.

This is one place where Princess is actually very clear. They clearly state under the map that it may not be accurate and that you should look at the listing instead.

If you cancel far enough before the cruise, it will be refunded - with the following exception. If you paid entirely by credit card, it will be refunded to your credit card. If you paid entirely by onboard credit, it will go back to your onboard credit. If you paid by a combination of onboard credit and credit card, they will refund first to onboard credit. They will refund to credit card only if your total credit card charges are more than your total remaining excursion bookings, and then they will only refund the difference to your credit card.

I've been getting military OBC for years with no problem. I just booked a cruise in March 2026, and it wasn't there. I then checked my Captain's Circle account for Onboard Credits. Military Benefits was shown there with Earned "06/19/12" and Expires "Sail By 12/31/25". This is the first time I've seen an expiration date that wasn't far in the future.