azbirdmom

We are new to Oceania and have our first cruise booked for next February as cruise only as we used miles for our air for that cruise. We are now thinking of booking another cruise and possibly taking the air from O. It sounds like you have no ability to book your own flights on their website, you need to contact O to do that. And in scouring the website I see that there is a fee for booking "custom air" (sounds similar to Viking). If you want Premium Economy or Business flights, do they just quote this to you based on the itinerary? One of the posts mentioned a $200 upcharge for Premium Economy so I was curious if the cost can vary quite a bit or if it is always a deal compared to what you'd pay if going direct to the airlines (which is the way Princess EZAir used to be, now not so much, at least from PHX).

Sounds like your experience in Belfast was somewhat similar to our's on the June 25th cruise. Except that we planned to do the HOHO but figured out that the main attraction was the Titanic museum. So we took the Princess shuttle to the center of town and walked to the Titanic museum. Lots of signage to direct the way and they give you a decent map as well. And we were glad we had rain gear too as the weather was nasty during our visit too (as it was for many of our port stops). We didn't have tickets in advance and got there around 11. We were able to buy tickets for 12:30 so it sounds like we lucked out. Great advice to tell folks to either buy the tickets as a combo with the HOHO or get them in advance. Well worth it! ETA: We saw St. Georges Market while we were on the Princess shuttle. We planned to hit that on the way back to the shuttle after the Titanic musuem. While we were waiting for our timeslot I pulled up info about it on my phone. We were there on a Friday so it was open. But sadly it closed at 2 so no way would we make it. Glad I checked before we walked that way, especially with the miserable weather.

Thanks for the quick reply! And I meant that we cruised with him twice LAST year and then this year. I still have Covid brain from the "souvenir" that I brought home from our June 25th Regal cruise.

🤐

Oh no! I loved his noon talks. We cruised with him twice last year and then last month. Did he say what he would be doing and if he would still be with Princess?

On our cruise last month I also found that the fettuccine Alfredo was subpar. In my case the noodles were cooked but the dish was bland. I learned that asking for 2 - 3 scoops of parmesan solved it and it tasted pretty good after that. I don't think they are putting much cheese in it in the kitchen and that's something that I've experienced on the Regal in the past too.

Agree that the Coral is a great choice for Alaska. The "secret" aft and forward decks and the wrap around Promenade deck make it a great choice for glacier and Alaska scenery viewing. The aft and Promenade decks are covered too in case it's raining. We spent a lot of time on the aft Caribe deck while cruising Antarctica and it was a great place to see the wonders of Antarctica as well as be somewhat protected from the elements. Glad Princess is bringing the ship back to the USA.

Here's the info on the webinar. If you're on FB you can join from Carmen's page at 11 Pacific time next Thursday. I'm more curious about what they are doing to Plus and Premier???

On our cruise at the end of June we did not need to get tender tickets. We were told to go directly to the tender. That was at 7:45 and we were at the dock well in advance of our independent 9 AM tour. We attributed it to the fact that there were hardly any tours offered so most folks probably waited until later to go ashore.

Glad you made it. Did you land in time to do your war museum tour? Have a fantastic cruise and enjoy Guernsey. What a beautiful little island. It's a shame that Princess won't be stopping there next year.

I've searched this board as well as the Australia New Zealand cruiser threads to no avail. We will be cruising to New Zealand in December and while looking at various tours in Picton I found a wine HOHO https://hoponhopoffwinetours.com/maps/marlborough-cruise-ship/ / . I checked Trip Advisor and the reviews are mixed but there aren't many reviews out there. So I thought I'd come here to ask. It looks like a nice mix of stops, much better than any of the excursions offered by Princess. We have been to Picton with Princess before and wine tasting in the morning with 50 other people just doesn't appeal to us. Hoping someone here has actually done the HOHO and can provide input. Thanks in advance!

Some airlines like United will give you access to domestic lounges when you are connecting to an international flight and are booked in in Business for the international leg. Ditto if you have Mileage Plus Gold status or above and are traveling in any class internationally. MP Gold translates to Star Alliance Gold which will enable you to use SA member lounges as well.

We had a 4 hour delay last month on the way to Heathrow. And that's why it's wise to go in early. Hope they fix your plane quickly and you will be able to do all that you had planned to do. Safe travels, will be following along!

So glad that you are feeling better and are able to continue with your explorations! Where you went from Invergordon is the area we would go if we do this itinerary again. So much to see, it's all beautiful! Oh and since you missed the Hairy Coos (Highland Cows) here's one for you. We saw them near the boarding area for the Loch Ness boat tours. We didn't take the boat but our guide stopped so that we could feed the three females there.

We have a small non-surge protected power strip and extension cord for our CPAPs (both DH and I use them). We plug the CPAP cords into the extension cord (under the bed) then plug the extension cord into the power strip on the desk. We then use the painter's tape (a necessity to shut off those X&$! motion detector lights) to tape the cord to the carpet so we don't trip over it. When we haven't had painter's tape our steward has always been able to find tape to do the job. This system works well for us. I know that others bring a European plug adapter and use the outlet under the bed but getting to that outlet is a pain for us.

There really is so much to see that it's hard to go wrong with your choices. I'm already thinking about what we would do when we go back 🙂 .

It does have a chat feature where you can message anyone in your traveling party. However there is no notification so you just need to periodically go into the app to see if there are any chats. DH and I learned that the hard way. What we do with each other and with friends is to use FB Messenger. That will at least provide notification so you'll get the message so much quicker.

So sorry that you are feeling ill. But I will thank you for being proactive and considerate in calling for a test. There were so many people on the cruise before your's who were going about their business while visibly ill as our cruise went on. We felt our first symptoms on the plane over the Atlantic on the way home and the following morning both of us tested positive for the first time. This came on quickly - one minute fine and the next we were really sick. I'm hoping it stays a cold for your sake although I'm sure you are still quite miserable. Feel better soon!

After the restart I would agree with the fact that the food quality and taste had declined. But on our recent cruise on the Regal (disembarked a week ago) we were quite pleased with the food. Pretty sure the supply chain and budgetary issues after a year + of no sailing heavily impacted their ability to deliver what we've come to expect. Glad the food and other stuff onboard has gotten back to normal.

We just got off the cruise last Friday so I will throw my two pence in while the OP is enjoying their cruise! Our itinerary included Liverpool, there are a couple of different slight variations in ports. But for most of what we did independently the Princess excursions didn't come close to providing what we saw. In Guernsey we booked a lovely tour through Amanda at Tours of Guernsey. We got to see the Little Chapel, the German Underground Hospital, German Occupation Museum and many other sites. I absolutely loved the beauty of Guernsey and hearing about the little known WW2 history was fascinating. In Liverpool we did a true DIY as we are Beatles fans. We booked the Magical Mystery tour through the Cavern Club and selected the 11 AM tour time well in advance. We got off the ship early to walk over to Albert dock and visited the Beatles Story first, a wonderful audio and visual experience through Beatles history. The check in for the Magical Mystery tour was right next door and it was fantastic seeing Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, the boyhood homes of the Fab Four as well as many other sites. The tour ticket included entry to the Cavern Club which could be a museum. We sipped a pint while enjoying great music and then walked back to the ship. In Dublin we did the green HOHO bus booked through Do Dublin at the port. Just get off the ship and walk towards the train (signs everywhere). Just before the train station there will be booths for both the red and green HOHO buses where you can buy your ticket. Our ticket included round trip train transportation on DART into the city and back. We hopped off at Dublin Castle, Guinness Storehouse, and Jameson but there is so much to see. In Belfast we took the Princess shuttle ($15.95 PP) to city hall and then walked back to the Titanic Belfast experience. Fascinating place! We had to wait an hour before we could get in because tickets are timed and probably would have gotten them in advance had we known. We had actually planned to take the HOHO there but later figured we only wanted to hop off at the Titanic museum. In Inverness we booked a private tour with Nigel at Invergordon Shore Excursions. This is the tour we took: http://www.shorexcursions.co.uk/loch-ness-tour.htm . It actually included so much more as it was just our group of 4 and our driver / tour guide Allan was amenable to spending more or less time where we wanted. Just a fantastic day. And in Le Havre we booked the tour to Omaha Beach, American Cemetery, Bayeux, and Honfleur with Overlord Tours. Worthwhile to see all of this. Our Princess excursions were just OK. We did a small group tour to Blarney Castle and Kinsale in Cobh, to Glasgow Castle, Kelvingrove Gallery with free time in Glasgow, and a city tour with free time and a visit to Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh. You can get to the castle on your own by city bus but they do sell out so if you're planning to DIY just do so well in advance.

It's maddening that the casino offers continue to be a mess. It was improving then things took a huge downturn last fall when they outsourced to ONE and their crew in the Philippines who were ill trained and not empowered to resolve even the smallest issues on casino bookings. For my last two bookings (one made last fall and recently completed, one made the day they silently enabled casino bookings on their website in February) I ended up having to contact senior management to get resolution since calling casino reservations kept leading to dead ends. During my last call about one of the cruises I was told that they had a new way of booking these so that you would no longer see the casino balance due thus eliminating the risk of the booking inadvertently cancelling. Apparently that didn't last long. By the way I no longer use EZAir for a variety of reasons but on casino bookings it adds an element of risk. You must pay for air immediately after booking which can affect the protection on the reservation. I did have one cancel almost two years ago after I booked air. Before they outsourced casino reservations they used to tell you to contact them if you book air. They are no longer doing that and folks have reported that their reservations have stayed intact after booking air on the website. But these bookings are so glitchy that I wouldn't risk it.

Yep, the little gold bag has been gone for a while and they finally took it off the list of perks. https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/cc/captains-circle-loyalty-benefits.pdf Happy that we still have free laundry, that's probably the perk we use the most.

It usually is but wasn't for that cruise. Maybe because boarding started so early so there wasn't much of a wait?

No problems boarding in Southampton on June 25th. Tapped Medallion, passports checked, brief wait in PES pre-boarding area and then called to board. Probably the easiest experience boarding yet.

They don't. What they do have in some locations is access to a private car that can take you wherever you want within appropriate time limitations of course.