beg3yrs

Not only is it not unique to Princess but most major unique construction projects of any sort (roads, one-of-a-kind buildings, new aircraft models, etc) end up behind schedule. That said, everyone will be exceptionally pleased if the Sun Princess goes into service on time.

This is quite true up until the reservation is ticketed. Then the airlines will work with you. If you are sure of keeping your trip, this is a good reason to request early ticketing once your Princess booking is paid in full.

Thanks for justifying what is likely to be my obsessive compulsive checking of my travel itineraries almost daily. Cruise summaries AND airline websites, making sure they all match and haven't changed from what it was the day before. More than once have I seen this kind of problem and was able to get a resolution long before it became a travel emergency.

Just starting to collect Social Security and I just learned there's a requirement to report being out of the country for over 30 days. It seems the purpose is to arrange for payments to be sent elsewhere. But, if it's just a long cruise, say less than five months and all my banking will remain in the USA, is this really required? Will there be repercussions if I don't report this? Asking here because I want to hear actual experiences with this rather than wait hours on the phone to get an official set in stone response from a bored government call center employee.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. We've been on the Emerald several times and our experiences were quite different than yours. Many experiences are subjective so I hope you find Celebrity more to your liking.

I didn't know that myself until I saw a crew member working on one. It really makes sense to go that way. Probably a lot lower cost than trying to "roll your own" developing the hardware as well as the software.

Not just hundreds but possibly thousands. If you look closely, the cabin door displays are in reality Samsung tablets encased in a housing with a medallion sensor (similar to the ones used for Bingo) just below the tablet. Inspecting the tablet you can see the opening for the tablet's camera. While I don't have first hand knowledge, my speculation is that Princess has access to the tablet cameras via the ship's Intranet. Whether the data is used and for what purposes we can't be sure but ... those cabin hallways can be monitored with video too.

Hopefully it's Fincantieri or one of their subcontractors that have written the engine management, navigation, communication, climate control, etc. software and not Princess IT!

Wow, 12:20 to 12:30 is cutting things extremely close, too close IMHO. Trains everywhere are subject to delays for multiple reasons but in Alaska it could be a moose or bear on the tracks just sauntering along. That with DH being in a wheelchair taking a bit longer and Princess check-in possibly being closed up by the time you return from the tour, I personally wouldn't do it. Besides, is it really "wasting a day just to board the princess..."? I suppose we all have different values but to me, getting on board and enjoying the ship isn't a waste. Plenty to do the first day on board - watch the safety video while unpacking and organizing the cabin, visiting the muster station, getting a drink (likely the first thing) and so on. Doing all that after leaving the hotel, getting on a train in the AM and then checking in, I'm done!

Or not within 75 days of boarding. I've completed everything but am 94 days out. No boarding pass tab as expected.

So while we've all got our panties in a bunch about Radiqal Gaming, I've got a dining reservation glitch to share. Booked on the Discovery Princess on April 3rd. Already made MDR dining reservations under the old App. Same time every day in the Ketchikan dining room Decided we want to make a reservation for The Catch on the first sea day. Used the new App and all was going along well. It warned me that making the reservation would cancel my MDR reservation which was OK. Hit the final step where my card would be charged and got some obscure error about not having a room number (I've got one) and it bombed out. Going back into my existing reservations, the first sea day reservation for the MDR was gone but all the others were OK. I saw there was an option to reserve the same time in the same MDR for all days and decided to give it a try. It worked but ... I now had TWO reservations at the same time for all days except for the first sea day! Seems booking SD will catch conflicting reservations but booking the MDR for all days will not. Thank you Princess IT.

Jealous? For this retired person it's not too much time rather not enough budget!

Nineteen days and this thread is still going. Not hard to believe. It would be interesting to know what the longest lived formal night dress code thread has been. Not that I'm willing to do the research ...

DW has celiac (gluten allergy) so we've been through this many times. We also traveled with another couple, one of which could not have salt which I think is similar to your issue with sodium. We follow all of the previous advice, it's good. You calling them may have helped too. We go to one of the MDRs during embarkation. Finding a closed one is often the best. The doors are never locked and if there's staff at the reception area, they're usually handling phones for the dine line. DW lets then know she has celiac and asks to be placed at the same table every night. This way, like @Ombud has said, you get staff that's familiar with your needs. Because it's a medical need, our request has always been honored. Not only that but you'll get to know the head waiter (now the dining room manger I think) throughout the cruise as that's the person who will get your meal order for the next evening. This process also worked very well for our friend who couldn't have salt. Not an issue at all. Buffet may be an issue for you. For DW, one of the buffet staff, usually one of the chefs is happy to give her a tour each time to let her know what she can and can't have. Not sure what that may entail for a sodium restriction.

We had a similar problem last year. Medallions were stuck in Carson, California since around December 14, 2022. Others have told me that's a US Customs processing facility. Anyway, they finally starting moving in the mail system around the 28th of December. We flew out of Tucson for Buenos Aires on December 30 around 11AM and our medallions arrived at our home at 1 PM the same day. Needless to say when we returned home in February we had two extra personally customized refrigerator magnets in a box. The embarkation staff in BA expected us to have medallions so there weren't any prepared in advance for pickup at the dock. This is where things get really crazy. Old-style cruise cards had to be prepared so we could board the ship. This took about 15 minutes. We were then instructed to go to guest services and exchange the cruise cards for medallions. Can you imagine the length of the line at GS on embarkation day? That took about 45 minutes. We vowed from then on we'd just pick up medallions at the port regardless of getting free shipping. That extra step takes only a minute and it's one (well really two) less thing to remember to pack.

We all know how terrible it is to miss a meal while cruising. Oh the horror! Not only that but IIRC, the actual meet-up time for excursions is at least 20 minutes before the official start time.

Not really sure as it was simple enough to print the first page which has the gift card image and PIN plus some of the fine print. The other pages with more fine print I didn't print as to me it was an even bigger waste of paper. They didn't ask for the extra pages so I figure it was all good.

Using the new app right now. Looks clean and crisp. Can only access one of my four bookings ... well that's crap!

First of all, these are not AARP gift cards, they are Princess gift cards purchased through AARP at a discount. This may seem like a minor distinction but it's important if you have problems with them as that will help determine who needs to be called. Next, I'd be careful about expecting to use cards stored in your Apple Wallet at the guest services desk. Last time I used gift cards on board I was required to supply printouts of the original gift card document and provide them to guest services. The would not accept anything else, not even the detailed spreadsheet I had with numbers and PINs. I had to use a computer at the Internet cafe to access my email (thank goodness I had saved the original emails from AARP in the cloud) and print the cards at the cafe. I was grateful there was no charge for printing the cards. Now I just carry a stack of paper with the GCs already printed. I call them my $500 coupons.

There are multiple examples of Princess allowing passengers to disembark early. Le Havre in Europe and Victoria in Canada are two common examples. Not sure why they are balking at Lisbon. That said, if you do get permission to disembark early, be forewarned that no port is guaranteed and Lisbon could be skipped for various reasons (weather, dockworker strikes, mechanical problems, civil unrest, etc) so you should have a Plan B and probably a Plan C in case this occurs.

I don't blame you at all. However I've done just that, especially if I already have some on board credit (OBC) from a promotion, a travel agent gift, military service credit or shareholder's credit. Knowing you're new to Princess, I think you might not be aware of the last two sources of OBC. If you're active duty, retired or honorably discharged from the US or Canadian military, Princess will give you I believe $250 of OBC as thanks. That OBC can be used for excursions or whatever. If you own at least 100 shares of Carnival Cruise Corporation stock (symbol CCL), you can get shareholder's credit with the amount depending on the length of your cruise. Search this forum for much more detailed information on these credits.

Amazing list! Love the humor in there too. Regarding foreign currency from previous trips, we've been "bitten" three times by attempting to use banknotes that were, unknown to us, taken out of circulation. The United Kingdom, Norway and most recently Argentina did that to us. Every time the vendors refused to take the old notes saying they were no longer in circulation but we could exchange them at a bank for newer currency. That's exactly what we want to do while touring, visit a bank! Funny thing though, the 50,000 Argentinian peso note we had was worth more as a collectible than it would have been after all the devaluations.

When we turn off the water we also turn off the water heater.

There's usually a small tray of goodies in the by the window. Nothing like the selection of the IC though. Morning pastries but definitely not soups in the afternoon, maybe tiny sandwiches.

IIRC when we were on the IP in 2022, we got our morning specialty coffees at the Good Spirits Bar. BTW, in 2022 we were on the IP for almost a month. Yes she's a little quirky in her layout but we definitely enjoyed the ship. And, we just booked that 54-day trip to the South Pacific.