rodndonna

OK - Just tried the "chat" feature on the website - very pleasantly surprised - very responsive and easy peasy to cancel our booking (we were more than our 60 days past booking so transfer not an option).

Nice to avoid calling our PCC since it seems a waste of their time  🙃

We are looking to cancel our current 2 bookings with HAL so we can rebook through agency (looking for new maximizing reward  points). 

Do I need to contact our PCC for this?

I would rather not, since we are essentially ending our relationship at this point for the foreseeable future. 😏

9 hours ago, armwinder said:

Thank you all for the inputs and advice. I guess $1500.00 premium on a $22000.00 cruise is in line. 

It "sounds" in line to me (although we don't purchase insurance since our trips are much cheaper).

For a $1500 premium on a $22,000 vacation that is a factor of about 1/15 - and it seems reasonable that for seniors, roughly every 15th trip might need to be cancelled.

not sure it's any different than with shuffleboard, ping pong, basketball, hub tub occupancy ...etc.. everybody isn't doing the same things at the same time as everybody else....

We went with the itinerary with St. Crioix and Pointe a Pitre as that gives us 2 "new to us" ports and is the latest sailing (March 29) which we "hope" means less spring break kids/families. 

I like the "14 day, no decision required" and  would be our choice as well, but that option was veto-ed by our dog 🙄

Well - you're a convincing crowd - we're booked March 29 2026 in a Window Suite 😄

3 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I've never heard of a 'Reserve Collection Window Suite'.  Are you sure you aren't looking at the Reserve Collection Mini-suite?  We have a Window Suite booked for January 2026 on the Caribbean Princess and it's listed as a full suite.  I just did a mock booking on the Grand for the same period, January 2026, and get the same results -- either Window Suite or Reserve Collection Mini-suite.  I thought I'd double check just in case Princess was making changes to future bookings.  

Yes - you're right (I was/am confused)

When you say "full suite" I assume that means the additional suite perks that are mentioned in a window suite and that a "mini-suite"  itself is not considered a "suite" with those perks? And then Reserve collection Mini-suire is a level above that - is that correct?

Great thread - we're leaning to Window suite for 2026 from San Juan but as another poster commented, I don't see Window Suite describing any further perks over min-suite for that cruise.

Not sure that matters to us anyway, but will like to get to the bottom of it before we make a decision.

Edit: OK - I think I see it now... there is the WIndow Suite and then there us "Reserve Collection" Window Suite which has the perks (for an additional $97/day)

We are thinking about booking the Grand Princess from San Juan in 2026 and am intrigued by the Window Suite cabins. There seem to be only a few and they price in the same as the lowest mini-suite cabin. 

We are primarily looking at getting a "suite" as it appears to be the lowest cabin category with a sofa in the room which we like. We are not big balconies users especially when on a ship that has nice outdoor areas to sit (like Promenade or aft deck outdoor bar etc). I guess the other reason I am drawn to them is they seem "unique" , at least to me (we've only sailed Discovery on Princess)

Are those "window suite" cabins generally liked by people? Any reason to avoid them and go for a traditional mini-suite?

Happy to see Princess offer cruises from San Juan. Like others we love sailing form San Juan when we can, but options are limited.

We've only been on the Discovery but purchased FCD's and looking to try a smaller/older Princess ship to compare with - so it's a win/win for us 😄

I will add my one and only pre/post Covid cruise cost "number comparison - 

We "were" booked with a flight/cruise package on Marella for mid-late March 2020 and it was $1845  pp in (Canadian$ not that it matters). The pricing for Marella cruises has always been all included (drinks, taxes, gratuities) so no weirdness in pricing sales or inclusions to blur the numbers.

Today - I looked at the same package for March 2025 and it is now  $2175 pp - so about 18% increase for 5 years (amounts to just over 3% per year compounded). Not bad really.

I don't have any HAL (or any other line) pricing to compare, but on Marella CC threads there are the same comments about the increasing costs. 

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

Well, someone must be using them because they have staff manning the phones and they answer very quickly.

 

Perhaps they answer quickly because they have staff but no calls....

 

I am going to ask around of friends and see if anyone uses the Concierge.

I am starting to think it is a feature used by very few cardholders - but maybe the people that do use it, use it regularly.

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Would it really cost more ? 
you wouldn’t  need a landline , you can port your land line to the new cellphone 

I just got my sons IPhone 12 for free as he was upgrading to a 15 pro max😁

It nice to have a phone and Data when shopping , you can take a picture and text to your partner to make sure you buy the correct item at the store 🤣

I like getting notifications of use of credit cards , someone at the door and also water sensor in case there a leak in the house 

my partner and i have/ had our own business so need separate line ,

also with having FIND my Phone , my partner could could check my location, I would work by myself, a lot working on roofs so I could be found if something happened

i think I drop my land line about 10 years ago when I no long need a fax number 

We dropped the landline some time ago as well but still have a Voip "home" number (which helps to avoid that second cell phone and have a number we can give to places we don't really want to hear from 😄).

I totally understand how folks (pretty much EVERYBODY except us) doesn't understand how we still get along with just 1 cell phone - but I am pretty stubborn. It's like how people lived in the dark ages ... sometimes we just have to wait until someone gets home to ask "how did it go?"

We're young retirees (not yet 60) and both worked in tech ... so it is odd that we're still going strong with just 1 cell phone !

Edit; With regard to the shopping and texting for confirmation - as the wife and one who is the primary grocery shopper ... that's one of my biggest pet peeves in a grocery store ..someone (typically male) being unable to make that executive decision "if there are no diced tomatoes, do I get crushed or whole tomatoes???"  😄

14 hours ago, tarrenel said:

We will be going on a cruise next year in June, heading from Florida to Montreal. Is there any chance to see whales while cruising up the east coast? If so where about should we be expecting to see them (and don't say in the water 🙂 ). Thank you

We did Can/NE cruise last year in June and happened to see whales in the St Lawrence while walking the promenade. It's more like "you might....but" 

16 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Apple Pay does not require the phone to be connected to the internet. A Near Field Communication (NFC) chip in your phone is used to communicate with the credit card terminal at the point of sale. So if you wanted to, you could pick up a used phone (iPhone 6 or newer) for very little, connect to your home wifi to set up Apple Pay, and don't bother getting a cellular package. You could probably be up and running for less than the cost of a single year's subscription for a second card.

 

BTW, I don't have cellular service for my Apple Watch, which I use for Apple Pay all the time as it's quicker and easier than pulling out my iPhone. The watch has the same NFC chip, and I can use it even if I left my phone in the car.

That's a good point, I actually do have an older dumber phone which I use aty the home on our Wifi (connected to a couple of apps we use for music and such). 

That being said - it's still hard for me to forgo having my own card to save $199 at this point in my life. 

27 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Yeah, we asked about fee waivers for the Privilege card and no go... they want the $599

 

Because of Apple pay however we share the Privilege in each of our apple pay accounts.  You can tap up to $250 with Apple Pay, so we did not get the spousal card.  We are rarely not together if the purchase is above a tap limit, so sharing is not an issue and we each have our Infinite cards anyway.  We just want the max Aeroplan points from the Privilege card.

That would work except we're still a "one" phone couple ... 🙂. I guess one phone and a spousal card is still cheaper than 2 phones and no spousal card anyway 🤔

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We went through this process and that is why we now have 3 TD Infinite Visa cards and 1 TD Infinite Privilege card.  4 cards total.

 

The first year bonus Aeroplan points, other benefits and the Companion Ticket from the Privilege card make it all worth while.

 

We also have banking plans that for the 3 TD Infinite cards, the annual fee of $139.00 is waived for all 3 cards.  Sweet.

We have the TD Infinite as well with fees waved (probably same account - lol) - but am going to close those as we won't be using them and use the Aeroplan exclusively now. They just "upgraded" our Aeroplan Infinite card, so it disappeared ....

We asked if they could wave the spousal card fee for the Priveledge ($199), since we had the annual fees waved on the Infiinte with the account - no luck 😏

22 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I may have mis-spoken.  They might help you to book flights.

 

I had questions around my airport benefits with the card such as free checked baggage, etc.  This they told me I had to call Aeroplan.  

 

But, if they are a Concierge for the card, and this is a legit benefit of the card, they should be able to address my questions.

 

But, now I know one thing they cannot do.

OK - that is a little more promising. 🙂

The one thing I potentially see using then for is something like "we missed our cruise - what are our options now? .."  Hoping to never need it but it is inevitable we will some day as we often fly in day of for cruises (living on the edge!)

It kinda makes sense to me that they can't really speak to the "other" benefits of the card of which they are just one of the benefits.

Maybe not useful since you have the card already, but for others I can relay our experience getting the card and figuring out what would we get with it, in particular the "welcome bonus aspects"  which were iffy coming from existing cards (were we really "new"?). We made an appointment with TD and they took the time to go through our options regarding our existing 2 cards (cancel or upgrade)  in terms of what would provide the most benefits. It took quite a while and they had to spend quite a bit of time with Aeroplan to figure it all out. The process was more than half an hour ... maybe even an hour.....

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

I just called the TD Privilege Concierge yesterday for "help with travel bookings" as it states they do...

 

They could not help me because I had a question about booking air and my Aeroplan benefits.

 

To me the Concierge program is for help with booking hotels, and in some cases exclusive restaurants.  They can offer better rates at some hotels.  Tickets and tours as well.

 

Here is the site for Visa Infinite Privilege Concierge:  https://www.visainfinite.ca/privilege/en/concierge.html

 

It doesn't surprise me - but kinda of a bummer when you read what they state they can help with - I would have thought flights would be the number one thing they can help with according to their website. What's the point of being an Airline travel card concierge if you can't help with booking flights? (And it specifcally mentions flights).

I had envisioned it perhaps being a useful resource for flight re-bookings and change arrangements rather than dealing with AIr Canada directly - but maybe not.

VACATION PLANNING

From pick-up to drop off, let our IATA-travel certified Concierge representatives help plan your next vacation.  Whether it’s a flight, accommodations, attractions to see and everything in between, let the Concierge team design a trip that’s perfect for you.

32 minutes ago, maggiev said:

Thanks for the input. 
I looked at Fairmount on my own & there are rooms so I was hoping Holland could find a room for us.

 

I have no experience with this .. but having recently (just yesterday) upgraded our credit cards and stumbled upon the "Credit Card Concierge" little known or used feature .. apparently this is something they may be able to help with.

If you check your credit card features and you have that feature give them a try. 

Not really a cruise question, but a question for Canadian credit card holders - have you ever used your Credit Card concierge service (if you have one)?

From a thread on here a couple of days ago we had an epiphany and have now switched from our TD Travel Visa Infinite and TD Visa Aeroplan Infinite to just have a TD Visa Aeroplan Priviledge card (primarily for the access to the Maple Leaf lounge!).

When I peruse the benefits I am intrigued with the idea of the credit card "Concierge". Apparently, we already had one .. which I was unaware of and never used.

I am just wondering if anyone has ever used the services of a Canadian credit card concierge and if so what their experience was (the description is pretty wide - booking flights, hotels, cruises, sports tickets, dining etc ....)

8 hours ago, roupa said:

Our New England seafood “boil” would surely include lobster!!  Not so much salmon from Alaska or farm raised from elsewhere. But am sure passengers enjoy the HAL version..Personally, I won’t get in line.

Why not Atlantic Salmon? Being from Atlantic Canada, that is our default when I hear "Salmon".

That being said, I personally don't think of Salmon (or any fish - except maybe Mackerel) when it comes to boiling, but there are people who like boiled Salmon.

16 minutes ago, shipshapegirl said:

I got off Ms Volendam a week ago on a 13 day cruise and String Trio performed in the Explorer's Lounge twice daily.  They haven't completely gotten rid of the classical musical.  I am not a classical musical fan, however, they sounded beautiful.

Good to hear,

We are not "big" Classical fans .. but we enjoy it on cruises since it is not something we get to experience much (live classical perfomance) 

Thanks for posting.

He is one of the better (probably the best) of the cruise Youubers. Always informative and well-balanced views.

Thanks for the info.

We currently have the TD Visa Infinite Travel (primarily used card for Expedia poits) and the TD Infinite Aeroplan  (rarely used)... but maybe swap them both for Priviledge. Our fees are currently waved on the first card ... so see what they will offer us to swap them over (maybe wave the 2nd card fee or something?)