dreaminofcruisin

We had heard too many times of ships coming in late to Sydney when we went, so we decided to add another pleasant day in Sydney. We got a hotel near the pier and dropped our luggage. We got on the bus from there to Bondi Beach and did the 3.7 mile cliff walk to Coogee, stopping for lunch near a beach part way there. When we got to Coogee, we caught the bus back to the pier. The next morning we had an easy train ride to the airport and an acceptable flight time that wasn't a rush.

I agree that if it wasn't you that selected the flight online, you should be blaming your TA/CVP or whatever. If you do it online yourself, a BIG Box comes up when you do the EZ Air booking asking you if your name matches your passport EXACTLY. Did you see that?

I know this all has historically been true in Vines. However, the Vines experience has been so downgraded on my last 2 cruises, I wonder if they even have the 'special' wine glasses any more? On our last cruise (August), no one ever mentioned us not taking the glasses to the dining room and the servers were the same servers as at the International Cafe, so not even sure they were serving wine in the special glasses? I wasn't thinking about the glasses at the time, so didn't take note. I was more concerned about the lack of white wine choices..... Anyone have really recent experience that can confirm these glasses are still special?

If these are signs posted onboard,that is concerning. In both cases, they indicate that they are included with Plus and Premier. That is only true if you have purchased the packages under the most recent price increases....to my knowledge. There are going to be some annoyed people if they bought them pre-price increase, buy them and get charged for them. Princess really ought to just grandfather the old priced plans into the new benefits. Otherwise....just another mess by Princess....

However, it does seem really odd that the Zero Alcohol Package and the Classic Soda Package now DO include cans: (Click on the terms and conditions for them) https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/beverages/ If Plus/Premier DON'T include cans, which the terms stil indicate, Princess has once again created a confusing mess.... 🤷‍♀️

On one of our cruises, DH really hated having to loudly say our room number. He took a piece of paper, wrote the room number on it and every time a server asked for it, he whipped it out of his pocket and showed it to them. Caused less repeats when they mis-heard what he said also.... 😊

Someone suggested in another thread that The Underground and Neon Grove on Deck 7 and Firefly Park on Deck 6 next to Guest Services are Teen and Kids Areas.

We have in the past carried the desk chair onto the balcony and used that. It may be that we also carried the inside table out and a lighter weight person sat on that......It was pretty cosy for 4, but we managed. 🙄 However, I would pick the Caribe deck if given the choice. We have also been refused an extra balcony chair in the past...but it was likely a balcony and not a mini-suite. (Our experience was on the Ruby....but same layout...)

Not exactly sure what an eticket is, but on some airlines, you will see the EZ air tickets on your Frequent Flyer app. For instance, I usually fly Delta and I have 3 cruises booked: August, October and February 2024. All of them showed up on my Delta app within minutes of booking. If I cancel, they will disappear..... If they cancel the flight, I will need to rebook thru EZ Air on Princess.

This is a new one on me. Princess has ADDED a port -- Brussels/Bruges (Zeebrugge) to the end of our Midnight Sun cruise in August "in order to enhance the guest experience". This replaces the last sea day and the only other change that is a part of this is leaving Skjolden an hour early. We had an earlier itinerary change last December that replaced Gravdal, Norway (Lofeton Islands) with Andalsnes --- just a guess this was due to some of these Norway cities starting to restrict cruise ships. This moved some dates/ times around, but no other ports skipped. Since I've never been to Belgium, this is a postive for me. However, I can't help thinking another shoe is going to drop....and later they will announce a skipped port that I want to go to. Regardless, I am sure we will have a good time...but just wondering what's coming? Any thoughts? Anyone ever seen this?

Don't forget....you also get a really cool RED center of your Medallion. 😁

Very odd. When we were on the Ruby last fall, it happened that our cruise was at 50% capacity- actually nice for us! However, I didn't notice until we were headed to dinner the 1st night that ALL of my dining reservations had changed! Due to the low capacity, they decided to close one of the dining rooms---of course, the one where I had made all my reservations. In their infinite wisdom, Princess decided that Time was more important to me than having a private table for DH and me (WRONG!). So, I had to scramble to make all new reservations. I wonder if they are getting complaints when they make these random changes and sending an email is their solution. It would have been helpful for me, but you are correct that if one didn't have WiFi they wouldn't get the info.

Hmmmm....after all these years to change it from 2 years to 1 year seems very odd. I wonder if this is just the first step before they go away all together? 🤷‍♀️ Maybe Princess doesn't like giving away all the OBC?

Mention them in the post-cruise survey. It seems that is what gets them promotions and raises and things.... We had one bar server who worked really hard to get us to do that and told us how important it was to him.

The short version is that you can swap out the mini bar still, just not for coffee "cards". Here's the long version:

BUT....you don't have to feel obligated to do so since you have already paid tips which are from $14.50/day/person to $16.50/day/person depending on the type for cabin you have. They are called "Crew Appreciation" or "Gratuities" and either included with Plus or Premium packages or listed separately on your folio when you cruise. We ask very little of our stewards so I often don't tip extra. If I have needed them for extra things or for whatever reason found that they did more than expected, I might tip them extra. There's lots of opinions on CC....so you will get various responses.

From Port Everglades, we usually take a cab to the airport. However, we are thinking of using the transfer next winter for our family group. Why? We have 2 kids along and the last year when we went we carried car seats and used Uber XL, but found it such a hassle to have to attach the car seats and all the luggage barely fit into 2 Ubers! Our plan is to use a hotel with a shuttle to the airport, an arranged shuttle to the cruise port and the Princess transfer from the cruise port to the airport. We don't have any excursions planned at the ports that require transportation needing car seats, so it should be just one less thing to deal with. It will likely cost us a bit more, but the less hassle factor should make it worthwhile for us. I also think that often cruisers who don't travel much and maybe especially those from smaller towns that never deal with cabs just find it more convenient to let Princess handle the transportation for them. It reducess their anxiety and makes their trip just that much more pleasant. We have used Princess transfers in the past, but usually only when a long distance from port to airport or in a really busy city where we were concerned getting a taxi/uber might be more difficult than usual. I think the bottom line is....different strokes for different folks. Everyone has their own reasons for their transportation choices.

Better tell them when you make a reservation. They no longer bring a bill. At least that was our experience in August on the Emerald.

When's the cruise? If you haven't made final payment yet, the cost of the transfer will be included in your final payment. You should be able to see that in your online account.

Yes. They should refund the port charges. It should be a REFUNDABLE credit. However, my experience is that if you don't use it and you don't go get the cash refund before you get off the ship, you'll never see that check......

Thanks for the informative post. This is also what I thought. Yes, Carnival ships (at least the Horizon) has the 'car wash' type of hand sink. Unfortunately, they are hidden in a corner and no one suggests to people to use them. The week we were on, the only ones that used them were our group, especially my 5 year old grandson who thought they were 'cool'. Too bad the Ruby doesn't have the sinks installed outside the buffet....it really should...

Thanks for the ideas. I tried Microsoft Edge (originally used Google)...same thing. As far as the excursions not being available yet....I guess Princess was just kidding when they sent me the email last fall that said "Excursions now available". I know. I know. Don't expect them to have a system that actually does logical things..... 🤷‍♀️ I guess I'll give it a few weeks....though based on the very funky error message, I still think it's a bug and they're thinking I am missing some kind of information somewhere. I did go look at demographic stuff, but it all looks pretty normal to me.

Wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I have a cruise booked for February 2024. We have a group of people so decided we want a Cabana at Amber Cove. I know it's early, but I've never done this before and since there are a limited number of Cabanas, I figured I should book it early. When I click on my name, click Add to Cart, it comes back with "Guests with a errors" and my name. I called Princess last week and the same thing happened to the representative on the phone. She decided it was because I'm not within 180 days of the trip. 🙄 I told her that I am sure I have booked other excursions earlier than that. She agreed that she had seen that too, but thought that was the issue. Just a side note....I did try and pick any other random excursion and same thing. I also tried picking my husband instead. Same thing. Today I logged in and tried booking an excursion on another cruise that is more than 180 days out. It worked great. It is in 2023 though, if that matters. By the way, I did pick "Shore Excursions" from the phone menu, so apparently this was the 'expert' on shore excursions. 😜 I guess I'll have to call back and hope I get someone else, but just thought I would throw it out to everyone and see if anyone has any other ideas or has seen this? TIA

Yup. This is what ours for August states also.

I just emailed mine on Sunday night and it was on my account by the end of the day on Monday!