CruzerDeb

53 minutes ago, smwg said:

I just want to make sure you  know that if you use a gift card and later cancel your cruise, the money will be refunded to the gift card you used.  So don't throw away those "used" gift cards until well after the cruise is over and you know you will not be getting any refunds.  Learned that the hard way. 😉

Thanks for this great info!

13 hours ago, JAT0303 said:

 

Yes, I used gift cards for EZAir for a cruise in Australia in Jan/Feb.  I booked through a travel agent and she applied the cards and didn't have any problems.

Great news! Thank you!

Thanks for your review!

47 minutes ago, sunshower9 said:

There's a 2nd person working the deli today. And the first lady seems to have a much more pleasant attitude. I even saw her smile lol.

No one likes to be so overworked. Glad she has help today!

4 minutes ago, FLAlaska said:

Yes you can, just take this into account, If you need to cancel for any reason, refunds will be in gift cards as well. 

Cool! Much better savings if I can pay for EZAir as well! I’m fine with the refund being to the gift cards as they have no expiration date and I’ll be cruising again. Thanks!

Yep - another AARP GC question. I see that Princess policy states that the GCs can’t be used for EZAir and excursions. Has anyone found this not to be the case? $5,000 of my existing amount due is for EZAir flights; sure would like that discount, but obviously don’t want to buy cards I can’t use. Thanks for answering yet ANOTHER ?? - I did try to search for the answer. 

On our cruise in February, we had a 10pm departure from Aruba. We did a beach excursion, returned to the ship to shower, and then had dinner reservations at a beachside Italian restaurant (Azzurro Ristorante) in Palm Beach - a great place to see the sunset! We took a cab there and back. 

13 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Just went to AARP and logged in under dh who has purchased 5 this month.  It says you can purchase 5/month.  Maybe some other company you can buy 20 but not Princess.

Sorry! Just double-checked. You can buy 25 per month for Carnival, but only 5/mo for Princess. Didn’t mean to lead you on! 

4 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Do a search to find the other threads about gift cards.  In short, yes you can.  the limit is purchasing 5 per month so if cruise payment is expensive you have to buy over a few months.

Yeah, the AARP gift card thread is extremely long. Thanks for the quick response! I was just on the AARP site, and they’ve increased the limit to 20 per month. But … another question, if I may. Are the Carnival and Princess gift cards always available?

Welcome! The Medallion app has been replaced by the newer Princess app - try that. Seems that, along with the new app, you can now only make dinner reservations once your cruise is paid in full. At least that’s how it was for me last time I checked. 

4 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

I do buy entire cruises with gift cards every time so the answer is yes! Only caveat is you are married to the gift cards and if you have to cancel the cruise you are only getting back your refund as gift cards. You can only use so many cards per transaction but you can go back and add more if you max out . I am not sure how many cards can be applied in one transaction, but it's a few at least. 

Fantastic! Thanks!

Can I pay my entire cruise fare with gift cards? Is there a limit as to how much?

Is there a limit to how much of your cruise balance can be paid with gift cards? Like can I pay off an entire cruise using them?

39 minutes ago, lesnpatty said:

We are leaving for this cruise tour on May 11th.Ring of Kerry Cruise tour.  I will let you know what we think, we are really excited. 

I hope it’s as amazing as it sounds! Have a wonderful time! 

1 hour ago, loge23 said:

Hi there Deb. We haven't been on this particular cruisetour - which looks great, btw - but we went on a Spain one last year that was Madrid-Valencia-Barcelona. It was fantastic!

The hotels were all excellent, the tour guide (an independent hired by Princess for this tour) was excellent, and the planning was perfect. We even had our own coach and same bus driver throughout the four days. There were three dinners included and each was wonderful. By the end of the tour when they dropped us off at the ship in Barcelona, we were a bit sad to say goodbye to the guide and driver! We appreciated no very early calls. We have another booked coming up in July in Canada - this one a post-cruise tour. 

Ireland is tough to get around independently - very narrow roads and "other side" driving. I think, and hope, that you will be quite happy with your choice.

Happy Cruising!

Happy to hear of your positive experience. Thanks!

On 3/15/2024 at 10:44 AM, CanadianBurger said:

Traditional Turkish rugmaking. The amount of work one of these takes is astounding. 
 

 

Loved seeing the rug-making. I bought a 5x7 rug there in 2022.

13 minutes ago, rmajor said:

How we did this , is pre-order a four pack of beers in our room pre cruise, then ask for a bucket and ice, we put our starter beers in said bucket, then replenished it all day as we drank them.  Even at night when I was not drinking anymore, id grab beers to start tomorrows bucket and start all over, i kept the bucket with me all week .. happy husband who also LOVES a bucket of cold ones 🙂

Good plan! I have my starter beers pre-ordered. 😎

I’m interested in booking this itinerary for next year. Any info (pros/cons) from those who have been in a similar cruisetour would be appreciated. I’m excited about the 4 days pre-cruise in Ireland, visiting Limerick, Killarney, and Cork. Okay, honestly, I’m excited about the entire itinerary. Just need to get my hubby excited about it, which is generally a challenge. 

32 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

 

That's what we did the last time on HMC. That was November 2022. 

I’ll have beers waiting for me in my room when I board and I’ve still got the cooler! 😜😎 Ready for HMC in June!

Thanks for this great review! 

3 hours ago, pe4all said:

This sandwich is one of my favorite things on any ship!

Sign me up! I’ll be getting this on my next cruise in June!

10 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

When we were at Princess Cay last May, I remember an announcement made before the tenders were available stating no beverages being allowed off ship. Maybe Carnival didn’t want you walking off ship with an obvious cocktail in hand. Previous HMC and PC exits I don’t remember that announcement made.

For my first cruise to HMC in 2013 (only 2nd cruise ever, so still a newbie), Carnival sold a soft-sided cooler with 4 bottles of Bud Light and an opener, which I purchased. I had my room steward fill it with ice and walked off the ship with it. I actually did that the next time I cruised also. Don’t see the problem, really. I bought the beer from them and then drank it on their island. Guess I’d get in trouble for that now. 

3 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Didn't mean that to come off as ugly as it sounded, sorry. After I re-read that I realized it was too harsh sounding. I just meant to say "this is how it's going to be as long as Carnival goes to Half Moon Cay"

Thanks

Just now, mz-s said:

 

That is never going to change so you might as well stop asking or looking for a different answer.

Alrighty then. I consider myself chastised. 

11 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

No to both. Buckets are not included in Cheers. You can order up to 15 beers a day obviously, and they'll give you an ice bucket if you ask, but you can only order a single alcoholic drink at a time, and at least 5 minutes between drink orders.

 

You can ask them to not open your drinks but they are supposed to open them to discourage hoarding.

Ugh. Thanks! I believed this to be the case. Do you know if they’ve changed their policy for Half Moon Cay - can we use the pkg there? The last time I was there, I couldn’t.