NavyVeteran

Some things that could affect your decision: What is your general health? What is your age? Princess Vacation Protection (PVP) charges the same amount for people of any age, so it's a better bargain the older you are. Are you Ruby or higher in Captain's Circle? If so, PVP is less expensive. What health insurance do you have that would cover you outside the United States? Medicare provides no coverage. Some Medicare supplement plans provide primary coverage outside the US, and some provide no coverage if Medicare provides no coverage. Some HMOs and Medicare Advantage plans provide emergency coverage outside their coverage area. If you have no medical coverage outside the US, then you may want more coverage than PVP. However, you may not. Medical costs in Mexico are much less expensive than in the United States, so lower coverage limits may be OK. If you need a medical evacuation to the US, the costs from Mexico would be lower than from many other areas of the world. PVP provides better Cancel for Any Reason coverage than most third-party plans, unless you pay a lot - as long as you plan to sail with Princess within the next year if you need to cancel. Do you have pre-existing conditions that may cause you to cancel? Many third-party policies will waive the pre-existing conditions exclusion as long as you purchase the insurance soon after making the initial deposit (look at the policy for the exact deadline). PVP does not waive the pre-existing conditions exclusion. However, a pre-existing condition for PVP is "a condition that first presents, worsens, becomes acute, or has symptoms causing a person to seek diagnosis, care or treatment, or prompts a change in medication, during the 60 days before the Cancellation Fee Waiver Program is purchased." If you have a serious condition that is treated with medication but does not worsen or require a change in medication during the 60 days before you purchase PVP, then it is not treated as a pre-existing condition by PVP. Specific example: I just booked a cruise with Princess, and I just had a medication change. If I were to purchase PVP now, it would not cover that condition. I will wait 60 days after the medication change. As soon as both DW and I have gone 60 days without a diagnosis or medication change, I will call Princess and purchase PVP for this cruise. Note that it is important not to wait for final payment. Even if you select PVP, coverage does not begin until you have paid for it. If you wait until final payment, you may have had a diagnosis or medication change during the preceding 60 days. You aren't risking anything by paying earlier, since the PVP payment is completely refundable until the penalty period begins.

This is a much better deal for Princess than offering a sale. With this method, they can get money for unsold cabins without losing anything. If they offer a sale, then people who have already booked will be asking to reprice - thereby costing them money. With this method, they can sell some cabins for less without repricing any already sold.

You are taking a gamble if you wait. There may not be cabins available, and, if there are, they may or may not go down in price. If you have Future Cruise Credit that is going to expire, make sure you have another cruise you would like to book if you don't get this one. How do you know that there are quite a few cabins available now? You don't know that by looking at cabins available for sale on the Princess website. Princess may have sold guarantees that they haven't assigned to cabins yet. That keeps more cabin choices available to sell. Example: Suppose they have sold 100 guarantees and they have 110 cabins available. If they assign the guarantees now, they only have 10 cabin options for people to choose from, and they may not be the ones people want. They can wait and give people 110 choices. It looks as if they have 110 available, but as soon as they sell 10, everything is sold out. If you want to wait, I recommend you find another cruise you would also like with final payment farther in the future but within the constraints of your goodwill credit and book it now with a refundable deposit. Then if you get this cruise, you can cancel the other one. If you don't get this cruise, you have another option without losing your goodwill credit. (Note: This recommendation is if you are from the US or another country that has fully refundable deposits.)

That's one advantage of visiting St. Maartan / St. Martin. You get to visit two different countries on one port day.

I don't believe St. Maartan (the Dutch half of the island) has any topless beaches. I believe the topless beaches are in St. Martin (the French half of the island).

You need to be very careful if you take your own table. It would be considered a safety hazard if you were to leave the table unattended on the balcony.

I've had a similar problem. It may not be matching DH's name as the second passenger with his Captain's Circle account. Does the birthday and address you listed for the second passenger match the information in his account? When you log on to his account in Cruise Personalizer, does it show this cruise booked as an upcoming cruise. If not, this is the problem. You probably have to call or chat to fix it.

You can speak with someone else. Just hang up and call back. I've done that several times when I got someone who didn't know what they were doing.

I can only speak about one third-party insurance company that I have used several times. I cover the entire nonrefundable cost when I purchase the insurance (within the limited time frame after deposit to get the pre-existing conditions waiver). If and when the nonrefundable cost increases, I notify the insurance company to increase the coverage and pay the addition. In the paid upsell case, I would just need to notify the insurance company of the increased nonrefundable cost and pay the difference then for the increase in coverage.

You can stay on the ship if you want. You will go back out through the same locks you entered. If you want to watch the process, you will have much better views because the ship won't be crowded. You can also go on a Princess excursion. You cannot leave the ship on your own if you are not on a Princess excursion.

If Princess cancels the cruise, they will refund everything you paid, including the insurance. If you cancel the cruise before final payment, Princess will also refund what you paid for insurance. This is one advantage of Princess Vacation Protection over some third-party insurance policies.

I am booked on the Ocean Navigator from Chicago to Toronto on 19 July 2023. AQV booked me in the Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile on 511 North Columbus Drive in Chicago.

In Cruise Personalizer, click on "Onboard Services". Go to the bottom of the page under "Reservations & Purchases". Under "Communications", it will list "Wi-Fi Package" and "Plus Beverage Package Including Service Charges" if you booked Plus. It will list them each twice if you have booked double occupancy - once for each passenger. Under "Specialty Dining", it will list "Specialty Restaurant cover charge" - once for each passenger. Note that this listing only includes specialty dining cover charges received through promotions. It does not list the first-night specialty dining for suites. It is also listed in the Travel Summary. I highly recommend you print the Travel Summary and take a hard copy with you. "Specialty Dining Promotion" is listed under "SPECIAL SERVICES" after Excursions and before the invoice.

Slight clarification. The snacks/tapas at Vines are complimentary if ordering wine. They are not available without a wine order. As stated above, the drink packages are good there up to package limits.

I faxed my requests on August 6th for two cruises. I received emails today with new Booking Confirmations for both cruises showing the additional $100 OBC for the 10-day cruise and the additional $250 OBC for the 14-day cruise.

The listings never list more than 20 people, even if there are hundreds of spaces available. The listing stays at 20 until there are only 19 spaces left.

The two cruise itineraries are very different. I have sailed both and enjoyed them both. I have sailed Alaska several times. I will be repeating the Canada/New England this fall. You really need to look at the differences between them and decide which one works better for you. The Canada/New England cruise is very port intensive. The nine days (not including embarkation or disembarkation days) includes eight port days and only one sea day. The main attractions of this cruise are the visits to the ports. Take a look at the description of the ports and the shore excursions on the Princess website. You will discover if you like cruising. However, if you don't enjoy the time on the ship, you won't be on the ship that much. The Alaska cruise has only three ports between Vancouver and Whittier, so the six days (not including embarkation or disembarkation days) includes three port days and three sea days. The main attractions of this cruise are not the ports - they are the scenery in Glacier Bay and College Fjord. You may also look at the descriptions of the ports and shore excursions on the Princess website. Personally, I love sea days, but you don't know yet. The three ports on the Alaska cruise are completely cruise tourism dependent. You will find several large ships docked at a small town, completely overwhelming the size of the town. The ports on the Canada/New England cruise are not near as cruise tourism dependent. You will not find as many large ships there as in the Alaska ports. The season for Canada/New England cruises is much shorter than the season for Alaska cruises, and there aren't as many ships doing that itinerary. If you take the Canada/New England cruise first and enjoy it, it will be much easier to book an Alaska cruise later than vice versa. The Majestic Princess is a newer ship - built in 2017. The Caribbean Princess is a much older ship - built in 2004 and refurbished in 2019. The Majestic Princess is a larger ship - 143,700 tons compared to 112,894 tons for the Caribbean Princess and 3,560 passengers compared to 3,140 passengers on the Caribbean Princess. I can't give you a fair comparison of the two ships. The Caribbean Princess is one of my favorite ships, and I've sailed on her many times. I have not yet sailed on the Majestic Princess. You can take a look at the deck plans for the Caribbean Princess and the Majestic Princess on the Princess website. The Caribbean Princess has a full promenade deck allowing you to walk completely around the ship (although you do have to take stairs up one deck at the bow). The Majestic Princess does not have a full promenade deck. Crooners Bar is my favorite place on the Caribbean Princess, and they don't have it on the Majestic. They also have different specialty dining restaurants.

Most electronic devices, such as phone and camera chargers and CPAP machines, are dual voltage. However, many heating devices, such as curling irons and immersion water heaters, are not. If you plug a 120v device into a 220v outlet, it will fry. You really need to check the specific device.

I haven't cruised on Princess yet since before the pandemic, so I don't know personally. The link I provided was to what is currently posted on the Princess website. I certainly can't guarantee that the Princess website is up to date with what's on the ships.

As stated, they offer assistance for embarkation and disembarkation. They will provide a wheelchair, as well as a pusher, if you need one for embarkation or disembarkation. Or they will help you if you're in your own wheelchair. Note that they do not provide a wheelchair for use on the ship or for leaving the ship at ports during the cruise. If you need one, you have to provide your own. Also, they don't provide pushers at ports other than embarkation or disembarkation. If you need help, you need to have a traveling companion to help you. They will help you get on and off a tender, but only if you can stand and walk the short distance necessary. If you are injured during the cruise so that you need a wheelchair, then they will provide one after you see the medical department onboard. You won't pay for the use of the wheelchair, but you will pay for the visit to the medical department (possibly covered by trip insurance).

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That's fine if they're going to be in the US - not otherwise. It can be difficult to change coins into another currency. A lot of currency exchange places will only change bills. This can be more of a problem when tipping in euros, since the smallest bill is five euros.

I booked first night Crown Grill on two upcoming cruises and did not pay for either one. On one of the cruises, I also had free specialty dinner from a promotion, and I booked two nights without being charged.

Look at the menus for both here.

That's what I thought. We had originally booked this holiday Hawaii cruise in a window suite on the Grand Princess last year before that cruise was cancelled. You can't get more convenient than a window suite and Club Class dining. Breakfast in Sabatini's or Crown Grill will be a much shorter walk. Sabatini's looks really convenient - right off the aft lifts, and the Crown Grill isn't that much forward.