azbirdmom

Have you visited the happy hour in the Suite Concierge Lounge? In the past they have been amenable to securing our preference of wines or hard liquors for us as long as they have them on the ship.

Did you already go? And if so did you get any indication that it was being discontinued? Friends who are traveling with us on the April 27th Enchanted cruise were told that the lounge was a pilot and is no more. We are waiting to hear word from our CVP and yes, we are all in full suites. Just curious if you've heard or if you wouldn't mind asking the Suite Concierge about it.

Haven't heard back from our CVP yet which is curious. However, our friends did ask about it through their TA and apparently were able to talk to someone in the Princess office in Fort Lauderdale. They were told that the Go lounge was a pilot test and is no more. Sounds bizarre as there have been recent reports of people being invited to it?

I had trouble uploading an iPhone photo to Cruise Critic. I'm wondering if CC has trouble with HEIC format? In may case I ended up taking a screenshot and posting that.

If you are already in the S3 suite just keep watching. If one of the other cabins with the larger deck opens up you can just call to get them to move you to it. We've stayed in both the larger and narrower aft suites and both will be wonderful. Yes you will get all of the suite perks listed. It doesn't matter how you got in one, you're in a suite so you'll get the first night specialty dining comped, as well as suite breakfast, nightly happy hours in the Suite Concierge lounge etc. Don't worry about getting a reservation for the first night, visit the suite concierge after you board and they will take care of it for you. Most of the suite perks are listed here: https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/staterooms/suites Regarding shore excursions the phone reps will be of little help so it's something you'll need to research on your own. Joining the roll call for your cruise may be helpful. There's separate sections of Cruise Critic for the ports where you can ask questions. Generally it tends to be more cost effective to DIY but there are some where it might make sense to go with Princess. It really depends on the port and of course your preferences.

Yes, we took advantage of one and it was a great deal. Our's included one or two cruises up to a stated number of days in an upgraded cabin with protection for port fees, Princess insurance, and EZAir. Most importantly the cruise fare we paid was turned into refundable OBC and the amount unused at the end of the replacement cruise was refunded to us in the form of a check. If you are flexible and interested in the offer don't delay. They send out a lot of offers and first to respond will get it.

I was guessing around 5 based on the time they arrived and when they typically start boarding after arrival time. Glad you went over early and stemmed the off ship shopping spree although I would probably be right there with your wife. 🙂 Hope you had a nice dinner onboard, a great sailaway from Sydney Harbor, and that you'll have a fantastic cruise.

Maybe you should head over to the ship early to suppress the urge for any more last minute shopping?

There surely isn't. We've done three from there and there is nothing else like it. I could watch that webcam all day, and I think I have today LOL.

And the Majestic says "Sorry I'm late - honey I'm home!"

Majestic is getting close! It's been fun following along. I did hear that the Solstice will be missing Lifou which is a loss (at least to me) but hopefully the Majestic will be able to make up time so that you won't miss any.

The tugs are moving quickly! They just showed up a couple of minutes ago

Saw this snippet of the revised disembarkation instructions elsewhere. Should be chaos with luggage pickup so soon before disembarkation!

Looks like you're in a terrific position to see them leave 🙂

We had a delayed embarkation due to a "deep clean" required in December. They said no earlier than 2 PM but they were boarding folks at noon (we couldn't get into our rooms until 4). Obviously your situation is a LOT different than our's but if the ship does get in earlier than expected you may be able to board a little bit earlier. No doubt it will be crazy though since folks need to be out of their hotels, and those arriving by plane this morning probably don't have anywhere to go. The ferries seem to be running and the skies are clearing so hopefully that is a good sign. I know they have "windows" where they can leave Sydney Harbour to provide the least amount of disruption to ferry operations. Yep, happened to us on an earlier trip when we missed that window and had to wait for rush hour to be over before we could leave! Hope you can stay at your hotel a bit longer...

Oh no! Does not sound like a good ending to a lovely trip for those who expected to be disembarking this morning. Hope the weather improves soon.

I thought they were sending emails now? We are 18 days out and haven't heard anything yet about the Go lounge so I was thinking of reaching out to our CVP.

Actually I think it's pretty bad that folks showed up at the port for their cruise only to be told that the cruise was cancelled. I can't even imagine being in their shoes.

Completely makes sense to use it in your situation.

It's becoming a common occurrence with that group. SMH.

This was announced yesterday, not sure when they go on sale

Just love seeing "wild" Cockies and Lories. We saw these two characters in December at a sidewalk restaurant while we were walking along Circular Quay very close to the Opera House.

I wonder if you can actually watch your luggage be put on the train at MCO or if you hand it in at some other point. If the latter it seems like one more risk. I can think of a LOT of things that would be game changing, this sure isn't.

That first paragraph is something new. It definitely wasn't a requirement in December. So now there are two apps required for NZ travel???

Note it can change. We were on the Regal last year and we left out of the Mayflower terminal and returned to the Ocean terminal. If you use the "find" feature on that link and type in Regal you'll see that they are scheduled to be at 3 different terminals according to the date.