azbirdmom

I'm sure they will change it.  We had the same thing happen recently on the Enchanted Princess where the port order and Roatan port stop was changed a couple of months ago then two weeks ago the Roatan port stop location was changed again.  The excursion we booked stayed and all of the excursions available for sale finally showed up in the Personalizer until yesterday.  It takes them time to sort it all out so just give it a couple of weeks to resolve.  I'm sure it will.

10 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

The room steward doesn't get every single spec of dust out of the cabin from one cruise to the next. 

 

For example, eat the nuts, perhaps some spill from the package into a bedside drawer. Person with allergy stores clothing in there. 

 

Eats peanuts on bed with throw pillow. Do they get changed from cruise to cruise? No. 

 

 

Sometimes when we've stayed in a suite there is a dish of nuts covered with plastic wrap as a welcome gift.  I would hope that someone with such a severe allergy that a spec on a pillow could be deadly would have to take precautions not only in cruise cabins but also hotel rooms.  Nuts are an easy snack and I would guess that there could be residue in any accommodation used by multiple guests.

Well this new post knocks new ports out of speculation.

Looks like the Polaris lounge has upgraded their menu!  The one in SFO still had the old menu in December.  And I like the onboard menu you had too - haven't seen that one before either.

I'm with you, I don't like the pajamas, well at least the new blue "shiny" version.  The last ones were very soft and I actually wear them around the house when it's cooler here in Arizona.

Lay back, relax and enjoy the flight!

The Retreat pool on the Discovery is quite shallow and you would not need noodles to exercise.  The main pool on Lido deck is usually quite crowded and even if you were allowed to bring noodles onboard it would be difficult to avoid wacking others with them as you exercise.  As someone who does use noodles in my own pool I would have noticed if others were using them in our over 3 dozen Princess cruises.  I've never once seen anyone using them on the ships.

Yes, our upcoming cruise on the Enchanted has been sold out for a while as have been the ones before it.  Not sure if it's the new norm but I have been noticing that some cruises do seem to be showing as sold out well before the sail date.

1 minute ago, leck57 said:

 

Some people are just weird. You should have gone to the M&G as for every grouch there are plenty of nice people. 

Was just about to say the same thing!  Well maybe with slightly different word but the same sentiment.  There's all sorts of people in this world and on Cruise Critic too, some pleasant, others not so much!

29 minutes ago, cheetosrevil said:

Recently back from a 2-week Discovery Princess Hawaiian cruise. Loved joining a roll call for the first time and felt lucky that it was an active one. Come cruise time the same message board camaraderie didn't carry over IMO (I approached someone I recognized from their CC profile picture on embarkation day and feel I was reprimanded by being told essentially that profile and actual names would be done the next day). Anomaly? The usual? Just wondering.

 

And no, I'm not sensitive...just felt like it was an imposition made on my part that I didn't expect.

You mentioned this happened on embarkation day.  Was there a Meet and Greet as well and if the person you were referring to was there did they act the same?  Maybe they were joking or were having a bad day (although the latter would be rare on sailaway day).

It's rare that I meet someone prior to the Meet & Greet but just like any other gathering some are as nice as they were during our pre cruise chats and others a bit distant.  I hope you didn't let it affect your cruise.

Have a good flight and enjoy Sydney, rain or shine!

1 hour ago, Coral said:

The only time I have been provided a boxed lunch from the cruise line was on a Mexican excursion with Celebrity way back when.

Yes, back in the 80's I was cruising on a Carnival ship and had an excursion from Cozumel to Tulum.  They gave us a boxed lunch and when the ferry docked at Playa del Carmen (which was nothing like it is now) a bunch of hungry kids were begging for food.  They knew exactly what was in those boxes and some just asked for the apple etc.  I looked at my traveling companion and knowing that there was so much food on the ship we both handed over our lunch boxes to the kids.  MANY years later we did the same excursion on a Princess ship and I recounted that story to our tour guide.  He said that he may have been the kid we gave our boxes to as that was a common thing for the kids to do when he was growing up.  But that was the last time that I have received a lunch box from a ship.

4 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We were in the exotic bird business for 40+ years and our specialty was White-bellied and Black-headed Caiques.

How fun!  We love our little one.  We call her a small feathered person, she really is a member of the family (flock) although she scolds us when we come home from our cruises.

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

In Auckland we are doing the ho/ho bus.  That should give us a good layout of the city.  We will be back there in 2026 and will plan something different for that visit.

We did the HOHO in December through Princess.  I think it was the only Princess excursion we booked.  They picked up right by the ship but the drop off was a couple of blocks away at a stop on the regular HOHO route (the port isn't a normal stop).  There are two different routes and you can do both if you want, or you can switch to another one at the museum and do part of one and part of another (what we did as we wanted some time to walk around the CBD at the end).

1 hour ago, call_your_mother said:

 

We used a taxi van, which cost way too much!  Take @Yehootu advice . . . Use Uber everyone!

If you're staying near Circular Quay the train is the best deal from the airport.  We learned that the hard way a couple of years ago after catching a taxi during rush hour.  I can't remember the exact amount but thinking it was north of $140 AUD.  Last December we took the train, easy peasy!

14 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

I tried to watch it once but was unsuccessful & only seen a video recording. We’ll be nearing Cabo on the 5th so won’t be watching it from the ship. ☺️

 

It's probably been two months since I've tried to watch so maybe something changed?  I know the videos are out there after the live version.  And I would would much rather be in your shoes on the 5th.  Enjoy your cruise!  😊

39 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

If it’s like too much of her overhyping things, the announcement might not be any “MAJOR news”.
 

Unlike the previous SVP of Sales who didn’t prevent non travel agents from viewing his webinars, she has restricted her webinars to TAs only…why does she block passengers from learning about info that affects us? 🤔

 

Agree, game change to Princess will likely turn out to be something meh to us.

I think you can still watch.  You just can't register. 

15 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

It’s also false advertising.  I booked excursions prior to the sale and paid $10 less on each.  No bueno Princessa.

They were running the same sale for a brief period of time for Caribbean excursions and I did get a deal - well at least initially.  We booked a 7 hour Maya Key excursion in Roatan for $69.95 each.  Before and after the sale the price was $89.95.  Everything was great until they moved us back to Mahogany Bay from Coxen Hole (after it started as MB when we booked). They kept our excursion but it's now 5 hours and the price for everyone is $69.95.  So yay, a sale then dang, lost it.

Looks like a nice itinerary!  We just got back from French Polynesia a month ago and as much as I love Hawaii I would agree that Moorea is a wonderful trade for Kona.  We were also in New Zealand in December, our second visit there.  Highlights for us were both independent tours.  One was the Hop On Hop Off Wine bus in Picton.  And the other was Hobbiton.  Loved them both but everything in New Zealand was pretty spectacular.  Enjoy, I will be following along!

On 3/14/2024 at 9:09 PM, Mary Kelly said:

We just received our invitation for our Regal Princess April 5th TA cruise. 

Did you receive it via email or phone call?

The part about the targeted offer doesn't bothers me, it is what it is and will be for the future as it does seem a good way to reach and entice new customers.  Everyone does it.

It seems you DID have the offer as evidenced by the documents you had and then they took it away.  That's the part that is unacceptable.  While I'm glad that your CVP got it back for you I just don't understand how your CVP could think it was OK to tell you that you're not worthy to get what they had originally offered.  Are they so numb to this kind of stuff that they don't realize that it's not right to do this to anyone let alone a long time customer?

I had a similar experience last year when I booked a casino comp cruise online right after they enabled those bookings on their website.  I had a variety of issues none of which the Philippines staff could solve the biggest of which was that the comped Princess Plus that appeared as I was booking the cruise disappeared once it was booked.  Fortunately I made screen shots all of the way through the booking process (it was all so new, I wanted proof of the details) and I shot it all off to the management group via email.  Within hours I got a call from a wonderful woman who restored Plus to my booking and fixed another casino booking for me.

I know your CVP did the right thing eventually but if you have it in you, it might be worth it to send something in to Princess management about this.  At some point they need to make sure their employees know that it's never OK to claw back a comp after it's been given to a customer - whether it was a mistake on their part as it seems to be on your part or otherwise.  "Eating" the value of it is a small price to pay and better than alienating a long time customer.

2 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

A ghost pianist and color-changing cocktails: Inside Princess Cruises' hidden magic club

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2024/03/26/inside-spellbound-magic-castle-princess-cruises/73027713007/

It kind of reminds me of Warren and Annabelle's with upgraded food and attire.

Pictures were posted on another forum (credit to DSM).  It's open and by invitation only right now.  It seems to require more formal than formal night but other than that it looks fantastic.

Definitely book it.  That's the only way to get close to Hubbard Glacier when you are on a Royal Class ship.  We did it the first year that it was offered and it was a wow.  Lots of places for viewing and we didn't feel crowded at all.  Our friends stayed on the ship which looked like a tiny dot from where we ended up.  That excursion sells out and the price won't come down.

So happy to hear this worked out for you!  Have a fantastic cruise.

10 minutes ago, memoak said:

Poor taste is a very subjective idea. I also think they are concerned about political issues

Who knows what they are concerned about since there isn't a written policy that any of us can access and - again - every report of this thus far has come from a single ship.

But still all of the reports seem to be only coming from the Regal.  I totally understand them wanting to ban tape, paper, or decorations that were in poor taste but magnets cause no damage to the doors nor do they present any sort of hazard.  SMH.