mina

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Please post back and let everyone know what happened

WOW, Kimberly truly is the best!  I sent the email this morning and now have an email back from her documenting my prepaid reservations and times.  She also called to follow up and apologize for everything, but she got my voice mail.   Thank you Ombud for the suggestion!  

Just now, Ombud said:

My trust isn't as high as others so I strongly suggest that you print or screenshot the Travel Summary showing it is paid. And unless KB can resolve book onboard

It does not show on my travel summary.  That is why I have called three times asking for an email to be sent or my  money refunded so I can rebook on the ship. The rep tells me I should not have reserved it through the personalizer online if I wanted a record of it -- as it does not show in the summary if you do it direct.  So, I trust them not at all - which is the root of my issue right now.  I did send the email this morning to JB as you recommended.  Hopefully, she will respond.  

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

I did not call in. PVP gave it to me because I had a 5.5 month nightmare last year in addition to extremely long wait for refunds ( I was canceled supposedly for a ship itinerary being changed BUT IT WASN'T CHANGED, then the kids were supposed to get FCC + refund & FCC didn't show up. I think if anything could have gone wrong, it did. Thank you, KB for making me 'whole')

TY so that means they entered it in to the system which they told me is the only type that shows up in the Travel Summary.   That is helpful! 

@Ombud may I ask how you booked your specialty dining?   The Customer Relations Rep told me it was my issue that it did not show up on the Travel Summary because I booked it online instead of calling in to book it.  In the future I should always call in to book it, she said that it has never shown in the travel summary, if you book it online.  I am not sure that is true as I always book multiple dinners online pre 2020 and it always showed in the Travel Summary from my memory.     Did you book/pay for yours through the online personalizer or did you call in to book it?   

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

Unfortunately it sounds like you've got an inexperienced Princess Vacation Planner. Ask Kimberly Baldwin at kbaldwin@princesscruises.com to just either (1) reflect it in the app, (2) send you an email confirmation that it exists, or (3) post it in your travel summary.  She's fantastic (you didn't say if you were booked thru a TA -- if so then you have to resolve all issues thru your TA)

I book direct online and am just done dealing with this.  Customer Relations told me that is the problem, my booking direct and then booking the reservations online. Told me I should have called to make the reservations.  

3 hours ago, XBGuy said:

@minaI have read numerous reports here on Cruise Critic in which posters have received satisfaction by reporting problems to the Princess Customer Relations Desk.  Why don't you give them a chance and send a detailed email to custormerrelations@princess.com?  (I think that is the correct address.   I'm going from memory.)

Unfortunately it was this group that told me I should cancel the whole trip in order to get my refund as they can’t do it.  Reps name was Karen and was supposed to call me back in an hour with an alternative, that was Thursday morning…..

Thank you both.   I have called three times and been on the phone for over an hour each time.  I am not wanting to cancel. I originally wanted  a confirmation of my paid bookings and scheduled times.   They will not email me that, just say it should show in the app.  It does not and my travel summary also does not show these reservations.  So, I asked them to refund the charges so I can rebook in the app.  They won’t do that either.   So, at this point I give up.  I will wait till I get on the ship, if they do not have a record, I will pay again and then keep that receipt and dispute the cc charge,  not much else I can do.  Appreciate the input.

23 minutes ago, skynight said:

Question. In the past we have never pre-booked specialty dining. Never had to. Just waited until we boarded and visited the restaurant. For those that know in the past was there a cancellation policy? I'm thinking there was one, same as there was a cancellation policy for tours. If so eliminating a cancellation policy is a change to use it or loose it.  

You have always been able to pay then cancel and get a refund and you still are. These were reservations I paid for, not a free credit.  In my case, the dining does not show up in the medallion app and it also does not show on the personalizer any more.  As such, this is unique to me.  The rep says I have to cancel it in the app.  However, the reason I am trying to cancel it is because it does not show in the app and I no longer have evidence of my scheduled time or payment I made in the personalizer.  They refuse to cancel it for me.   

Just now, skynight said:

Incredible, no way to cancel dining except to cancel the entire cruise. What kind of crazy policy is that? I would keep trying as difficult as it may be.  

They do not want to give me a refund so I can rebook it.  So, the rep was being snarky, that if I distrust princess so much……kinda thing.     The only way for a customer to cancel prepaid dining now is thru the app, and since mine does not show in the app but only in their mainframe, they are saying they can’t cancel and refund it.  Pretty lame excuse to me.  I asked.. so you are willing to lose my next five cruises I have booked over a refund of 186 dollars? and she said, well if that’s what you want to do and don’t trust us, then Go for it.  On Monday I am calling again and writing an email to the customer relations director.  

45 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

It's not the only way. Dispute the purchase on your credit card.

Princess will say they will honor the purchase as they are saying to me, I will lose and still be on the ship with no evidence I paid and reserved.  If they can’t give me evidence I paid and reserved, I very much doubt when I get on the ship they will have been communicated with.

Checking in to see if anyone who prepurchased specialty dining for Alaska through the personalizer see it in the medallion app yet.   I have not been able to resolve my 186 dollar  prepurchase yet with princess and they refuse to refund me and say it’s in our system and the ship will know  even though the purchases and dining times do not show on my trip summary or in the medallion and I have no proof.  All I want them to do is refund me and let me rebook through the app.  They won’t.  The rep also said if I can’t be patient and just trust them I can just cancel the cruise as that is the only way to get the dining fee refunded since it does not show on either app, I can not cancel just that.  Horrible interactions with their customer relations group, so disappointed.  

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Sigh... I was afraid of that. I wonder how I'm supposed to retry the scan. I can't find any way to do that. Thanks for confirmation that the scan should show up.

It shows in the Personal Info  and Documents section - Travel Documents.  When you open Travel Documents it is a picture of your passport next to your name.  

21 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Question for those who have successfully scanned passports:

 

Is there someplace that you can actually see the scanned passport?  I don't think mine scanned - at least I never got any confirmation that it did and I can't see a scan of it anywhere - but it did go on after that and ask me to manually enter all of the information and I now have a green check mark. I tried to go back to the scanning part but it gives me a twirly and eventually says it's unable to retrieve the information at this time and to try again later.

 

If you have successfully scanned your passport can you actually see a copy of the scan within the app?

Yes, our passport pictures show in the medallion app. 

Am on the Sept 5 to Alaska from Seattle.    Arrive times just opened today.  There are three groups -- Early {11 30 to 12 15}, Mid  {12 30 to 2 15} and Late {2 30 to 3 15}.  Ship sales at 4 pm.  You select your preference and it assigns you to a sub group within that  time range.  We are early  group A -- 11 30 to 11 45.  

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

If you are interested in being near the Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill, Capitoline museums, etc. (basically most of 'ancient' Rome), then the Lancelot is in a better location. Plenty of vistas around this area for early morning walks --- while you can't get into the Forum, for example, you can overlook it in many places. For my money, the best shots of the Forum and Colosseum (if you are into photos) are with the late afternoon sun...  best enjoyed from a rooftop bar nearby.  One nearby restaurant I can recommend is il Bocconcino -- ate there in Nov 2019 on recommendation of a friend and it was excellent.

 

The other two (fairly close to each other) are not in a bad area and probably have just as much choice for restaurants nearby. I'd avoid heading in the direction of Termini either for walks (not scenic) or restaurants (while there are a few good old trattoria, for the most part they are tourist-geared and not too inspiring....)

 

If you are near the ancient sites, I hope you also plan to check out the nearby Basilica of San Clemente as well as the Baths of Caracalla. And Domus Aurea (reservations required in advance).

 

If you stay in the other area, your walks will be much more around the typical 18th century buildings, wider streets, etc. for walking with some more narrow medieval and smaller streets behind the main boulevards.

 

 

Thank you Cruisemom!  I think we will stick with the Lancelot and will use your restaurant suggestion!   We did the San Clemente Basilica last trip and it was AMAZING.  I really want to do Domus Aurea.   It looks like those tickets only open up a few months in advance - so will watch it on the Coop.it site or whatever it is called!  We plan to do a tour to Via Appia that includes the Baths and the Aqueduct park that is a bit away from where we are -- but we may just do those on our own as well -- there seems to be a Big Bus that does a route out that way if you buy the three day pass.   Also we are going to be there the first sunday of the month which I believe is the free pass day -- so we plan on going out of the area on that day as we will not be able to get any behind the scenes tours that day.  Thinking about heading out to Tivoli on Sunday.  

Hi all.  Would like some thoughts on staying at hotel Lancelot behind the colosseum.  This will be our second trip to Rome.  We stayed at piazza Navona area the first time and loved it, but do not want to repeat it as it won’t be the same given how fabulous it was the first time.  We want to really check out the colosseum area, forum, etc.   I have a reservation for a balcony room there for next May for six nights.  On our last day we will go to Ostia Anticia and spend the final night at the airport for an early morning flight.  We will also have group tours most days for the ancient sites.   I was also looking at Rome Times Hotel or the IQ hotel, but can not tell if it is a better area..   We are early morning walkers and want to be in a less crowded area where it will be fine to go for a walk at around 4 am and see the sights without crowds and also to have nice dinners near the hotel when done with our tours each evening.  Thoughts?  

7 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I'm with you!  When we show up at the dock I will have in hand as many records as possible - especially for my DH who got his injections through an AstraZeneca clinical trial.  I don't want to be left on the dock watching our cruise sail into the sunset.

Us too.  My card shows my shots were in sept and oct 2020 since we are in the Pfizer trial.  I have a filled out signed  letter explaining this with the same info that is on the cdc card on the research institute letterhead.  That is stored and presented if questioned when I show my card.

We will be sailing on majestic with family.  Is there room on the traditional size balconies to do the ultimate balcony dinner for four?  What if we have two side by side cabins?  Can they remove the divider?  Thank you.

7 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Have these charges hit your credit card?  If so, then I think the only thing you can do is get on the phone with Princess.  Sorry.  If you get no satisfaction, then I guess you should call your credit card company and dispute the charges.

Yep they did and one was PayPal.  So yes I will be on the phone with them again.  What a mess.

Okay. Again with the frustration.  We prebooked and paid three specialty dining through the website.   The app does not show them, the website does not show them and the travel summary does not show them..  when I try to redo the reservations on the app, it wants me to pay again.  that is too much $$ to lose.  I am so disgusted with this. Another call to only wait on hold for an hour to be told nothing they can do.  This time I am going to just demand they refund me the dining fees and I will book onboard.  

1 minute ago, BrandiGreg said:

As long as each voyage of the b2b is 7 days or less. it should meet the guidelines.  And what about the 900 or so crew staying on board for a b2b? If they are allowed, why are passengers banned? Makes no sense to me.  

Totally agree with you.  The restriction is listed on page 32 of the conditional sailing order. It just says cruises must be limited to 7 days or less.   Even in reading it all the way through, all 40 pages,  it is hard to understand.  Add on top of it that they just publish addendums to the original document, no wonder it is confusing.  For now, I can not find any addendum related to the 7 day cruise length restriction.   Really hope they issue one.  

49 minutes ago, kamelia said:

Thank you for your kind answer to my question.  I was hopeful, but also trying not to read more into it than what was intended.

I hear you.  I keep reading everything I can find and am reading tea leaves each morning.  I sure hope they decide to allow B2Bs for the Alaska cruises.  I so want to do one.  

2 hours ago, kamelia said:

In reading the most recent (as of 26 May 2021) CDC COVID-19 Operations Manual

 

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid19-operations-manual-cso.html

 

if you scroll down to the section titled "Testing of Embarking and Disembarking Passengers for Restricted Voyages," the CDC addresses testing requirements for Back-to-Back Sailing, with a footnote to the definition "Back-to-back sailing refers to passengers who stay on board for two or more voyages."  Would the CDC provide testing requirements for back-to-back passengers if they were still prohibiting back-to-back voyages?

This manual is simply an operating manual.   I have read all of it.  It does not address when B2Bs will start.   It simply describes testing requirements associated with B2Bs (when they are allowed).    The CDC has authorized B2Bs as of Nov 1.   So having the testing requirements in the manual should be expected.  It does not mean they have changed the guidance allowing B2Bs at any time.   So, anything before Nov 1 is still not allowed.  If they change the Conditional Sailing Order Nov 1 date, that is what counts.  Hopefully they do.  

Thank you.  I will check out 13 coins.  

Hi all, yes,  I know everyone recommends staying downtown the night before the cruise.  However, We are meeting a friend for dinner and it is much easier for her to meet us near the airport as opposed to downtown based on where she lives.  So we are staying at the Hampton on 28th ave.  Are there  any acceptable restaurants near this hotel? I see one named sharps roast house. Thoughts?  Alternatively, we can stay at tru  by Hilton near the mall in Tukwila.   However, I believe Tukwila is rated the highest crime city in the USA,  so, I changed our reservation to the Hampton.  Thoughts?