BabySarge

Definitely getting the VPN before we leave home and "playing" with it to (a) make sure I know how to use it and (b) make sure there are no issues connecting to the bank, etc.   We will be cruising off the east coast later this year and up around the Canadian provinces so will be trying it out from there to sort out any kinks before our much longer and more foreign port cruise next year.  

Everyone's input and assistance has been really appreciated.  Used to be pretty good at all this tech stuff but since I retired and stopped using it (and gotten several years older 😞 in the process) I frequently find myself out of my depth nowadays.

Oh, I have been very confused about what the Medallion app actually does for sure 🤣and am one of the folks who have struggled with it and who personally don't care for it or for dragging my cell phone around with me on the ship, but that's me and each to his/her own. 

As long as having VPN on my laptop will not interfere with my ability to be connected to the ship internet using said VPN then I will be good to go. 

On 6/26/2022 at 7:40 PM, beltsbear said:

Princess has vpn websites blocked but vpn service works if you can activate it without using a website.  For example if you try to navigate to the atlas vpn website, you get a blocked message. 
 

once the vpn is on, the medallion app will think you are off ship and most of it stops working.  On the other hand , YouTube and Twitter are faster with vpn on. 
 

So I turn it on and off depending on what I am doing.  I have used nord and atlas vpn.   They seemed very similar to me. 

On 6/29/2022 at 8:12 PM, kml246 said:

I use NordVPN on my phone and our laptops. On the Princess cruises we take, I use the VPN continuously with the laptops. On the phone, I turn it on and off depending whether I need to use the Medallion app or not. As @beltsbear said, if you have the VPN turned on, then the app thinks you're off the ship, limiting what you can do with the app. It's easy to turn the VPN on or off. 

 

Kevin

Thanks to you both for responding.  If I am understanding what you've said correctly the VPN would work with the ships internet on my laptop say to do my banking (pay bills) but where it does not work is with the Medallion App.  If it is just the Medallion App it doesn't play nice with that's not a problem as I don't play nice with that either.  I really want the VPN for use on my laptop for access to our credit card accounts, bank accounts, household accounts, etc.  Have I gotten it right??

DH and I are seriously considering getting a VPN for use when we travel and as a great deal of our travel is generally via Princess ships I'm wondering after reading some past posts about VPN usage on Princess ships if anyone currently cruising or who has at least very recently cruised anywhere in the world on any Princess ship used a VPN with the Medallion Net Wi-Fi and what your experience was - good, bad, or ugly.  Is there a VPN that worked better or was more compatible than another?  Does it make a difference what brand VPN?  

Can you tell I'm new to this VPN stuff?  If you answered yes, then please have mercy on me and keep the explanations simple (just about kindergarten level will work fine) and the acronyms to a minimum.  I had to look up "smh" the other day to find out it meant "shaking my head".  Thanks in advance for any assistance you're willing to give.

We were on the Emerald Princess in January and February and found no need to use anything other than the medallion, a smile, wave of the hand, and the basic please and thank you when ordering our drinks from the bar staff.  Pretty much every lounge we went into still had at least one or two roving servers asking if anyone wanted anything to drink.  Only place it might be more difficult would be by the pool area but even there with a bit of patience you could still flag someone down. While my DH (79) does have a smartphone and mostly knows how to use it he still prefers, even at home, to use it as a paperweight; he is an absolute whiz with the TV remote however and was able to order room service for himself just using that.  

Bon Voyage.  Happy Sailing.  Wishing you smooth seas and plenty of daily rum rations 😁 to enjoy!!!

"I'm not against people making fashion statements, but beat-the-Joneses is not one of them." 

Trust me, wearing our medals is NOT making a fu%^ing fashion statement or about beat the Joneses.  At least not for me it isn't.  

Wear them, hold your head high, and walk tall.  You earned those!! 

The only reason I don't wear my medals is because I have never been able to figure out how to do so on the specific types of evening gowns/material I wear.   As stated, it's easy for the gentlemen as they wear tuxedos, dinner jackets, or suits with jackets but with a gown or even fancy blouse and long skirt the material is so much thinner and less structured.

Island Princess is one of the ships that has only recently (within the last two months or so) come back into service after being in floating storage since May 2020 +/- and I am sure there are some kinks with the ship and crew that need to be worked out before everyone finds their groove again.  Is she a ship with all the new bells and whistles - no; do I miss the International Cafe and Vines which she does not have - absolutely; but she's still a nice, little ship that can go to some fantastic ports and itineraries that other, larger ships cannot.  Travel, cruising, touring, life, etc are what you make them and after the last 2.5 years I'm going to make the most of every opportunity I can get to travel, cruise, tour, etc. and food is soooooo subjective I won't even comment on it. 

DH and I have done a total of 88 days onboard the Island Princess since 2015 with the most recent being 58 days around South America in 2020 just before the shutdown.  Is she my "favorite" ship to sail?  No, unless you ask me that question when I am sailing on her then of course she is 🙂  Does she have her flaws - absolutely, but are they things I can ignore because I am on a cruise and getting to go to fantastic places, meet wonderful and interesting people, eat food I don't have to cook or clean up from?  You bet they are.  No two people are always going to like the same things.  Maybe our standard are lower than others but I can honestly say that we have never had a bad or subpar meal on Princess.  Now, is the beef stroganoff as good as I make or the clams with linguini as good as my sister in law Joan makes it - hell no, but I certainly have never gone hungry or not been able to find something to eat on any cruise I have ever been on.

Worth the read.

They dropped us at a hotel and left: What happened when I tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of my cruise (msn.com)

My secret packing tip is to use dry cleaning bags.  I fold our clothes rather than roll them and I save my dry-cleaning bags to layer between the clothes when I pack them.  Sort of like making a sandwich - first I put a dry-cleaning bag inside the case, then a layer of folded clothes, then a dry-cleaning bag, another layer of clothes, and so on.  I stuff the socks, knickers, and other small, assorted things along with the shoes around the sides.  If we are taking tuxes/suits/gowns I will leave them in the dry-cleaning bags and layer them in that way.  I also avail myself of the irons and ironing boards if needed.  Make sure to check the bottom of the irons first and do a few test swipes on the board before you use them on your clothing though as they are used by many and not always cared for.

Your best bet may be to not cruise if you have these types of concerns regarding the room stewards.

If my memory is working this morning, and there is no guarantee on that, each little box of detergent from the machine in the laundromat is $1.25 and you have to use a token to get it and that token is not the same as the $3.00 token you need for each load of laundry and each load in the dryer.

4 minutes ago, voljeep said:

what is a courtesy wait time before removing clothes ( not your own ) from a non-attended washer or dryer ? 5-10 minutes max??? - or as soon as the buzzer goes off if noone is there?

I would have to say that it really depends on how busy the laundromat is to be honest.  In the pre-COVID days when the ships were sailing full and you could have two or three people waiting for one machine to free up I would think that waiting 15 - 20 minutes would be more than reasonable before removing someone's clothes from a washer and setting them aside.  If the laundromat isn't super busy you might want to wait a bit more but I wouldn't feel bad about not waiting longer than 15 - 20 minutes to take someone's things out if they had not returned and the machine was needed.  Probably same time frame for the dryer, maybe a little bit shorter actually say 10 minutes, with the only difference being once I removed the items from the dryer I would fold them and not leave them in a heap, but that's just me.

The reason the Purex all in one sheets were discontinued is that there were tons of complaints from consumers about the product leaving grease type stains on the clothing after using.  Which is why I stopped using them myself although I did think the idea was brilliant.  Now I just take my own laundry pods and dryer sheets in double zip locked baggies.  

Laundromat Courtesies:

1.  Empty the lint filter in the dryer after your clothes are done.

2.  Don't put your things in the washer or dryer and then leave for an hour or more to lay by the pool, play bingo, or go to the movie.  

It's been a few years (2019) since we were in Alaska but if memory serves me correctly we had virtually no coverage/no signal with Verizon when we were there.  

After 26 years in the Army and way too many years of having to get up at zero dark thirty the number one item I don't leave home without is my 20 oz insulated coffee mug and that includes when I go on a Princess cruise.  In our 30+ cruises I have never had a problem getting it filled at the International Cafe or Le Patisserie on the smaller ships.  On our most recent cruise in Jan/Feb of this year aboard Emerald Princess, which was still observing fairly strict COVID protocols they, at least for brewed coffee, still filled my mug and added the "fixin's" per my instructions.  

Would like to believe the individual was not being "unethical", sounds like he was more likely just "inept" than anything else.  Have had good PVP's and bad PVP's as in responsive and non-responsive over the years with Princess but never had one apply FCD's when just holding a cabin/booking for me.  As others have said I would be willing to bet this individual is probably new or newer and as with so many of the people working for Princess now just not trained very well or experienced enough yet.  It really is sad when the customer knows more than the agent.

The two links below should provide the answers you are looking for regarding Medicare and foreign travel.   Also look at the Medicare & You 2022 Handbook (PDF download from https://www.medicare.gov) specifically pages 7, 52, and 76.  Basically, the answer is no.

Travel Medical Coverage (medicare.gov)

Medicare & You: Traveling Abroad - YouTube

As to United Health Care, Plan N, I have no access to their plans so can't provide a definitive answer but would very much doubt it which is why most of us end up taking out separate, private travel insurance and/or the Princess offered insurance.

I do have a background and experience in this as I was a HR Benefits Specialist for a good number of years for the US Gov't prior to my retirement just so you know I'm not talking out the side of my mouth.

Been using the ships wi-fi to pay bills thru my bank for years now from all over whilst sailing around South America, thru the Suez Canal, from India, Australia, Japan, etc and knock wood have never had an issue other than one created by myself such as not putting the decimal point in the correct place when paying $100 to the electric company and the payment request went thru as $10,000.   Didn't realize it until I looked at the bank account to make sure everything processed and then had a huge HOLY SH*T moment right in the middle of the Wheelhouse Bar that made a bunch of people turn around and look at me.  Got it all sorted out in the end, but the bank still hit me with a $35 charge for overdraft even after I tried explaining what had happened which in and of itself wasn't easy to do with trying to do it all via e-mail and message/chat with the bank because of course we did not have $10,000 plus in our bank account to cover that.  Can just imagine what the electric co-op would have thought if that payment had actually gone thru...🤣

Moral of the story, we too will be paying our bills while on the 2023 WC via the ships w-fi but I will be dang careful of where I put my decimal points!!

2 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Why do I feel like Princess is losing its way?

IMHO not losing, but most definitely lost!  

Not excusing the fact that you have not received a response from Princess to the letter you sent them "a few weeks ago", however, I just want to ask how do you know the letter even reached Princess?  Did you send it certified mail, return receipt requested and have proof it did in fact reach its destination or did you just send it regular mail? 

I only ask because on Thursday, April 21, 2022, I received a Christmas card in my mailbox that was postmarked 11/12/2021 and had been sent regular mail.  The envelope was not damaged, dirty, torn, etc. and the address was 100% correct.  Mail delay is a real thing so it may simply be you haven't received a response because the letter hasn't reached its destination yet.

@PescadoAmarillo so sorry to read of your pneumonia diagnosis but at least now you know it isn't Covid and you have a definitive diagnosis so you can receive the proper, and hopefully, best antibiotics/medications to treat it.  Wishing you all the best and hoping you are on the road to a full recovery quickly. 

Thanks all.   Think I'll just upgrade to a new Paperwhite and continue doing what I've been doing which is downloading lots and lots of books prior to sailing and then utilizing free wi-fi in ports, when possible, to download more if needed.  I don't know exactly what "tethering" to my phone means so am going to look into that and see if it would be a viable option but might need to find a neighbor's grandchild to help me out 🙂

Happy sailing everyone - stay safe.

Thanks all who have responded so far.  I am a voracious and extremely fast reader, often reading two to three books a day especially when cruising with lots of sea days and rarely buy or pay more than 1.99 per book if I do buy one (I use Book Bub and get a daily e-mail with books in the various genres I read).  My Kindle is always loaded with lots and lots of books (currently sitting with 600+ in the unread section and I will have those finished before the end of the year if I don't add anymore).  

As I said, I'm going to get a new device and the Oasis is more expensive but does have a different type of wi-fi connection and I wonder if it works better for connecting that the Kindle?

In the past when I have attempted to connect my Kindle, which has what they call the "Experimental Browser" all other devices have been disconnected from the net/wi-fi but it just doesn't work.  I can always get the books using my laptop and the Kindle app and then do the sync step when I get to a port with free wi-fi that I can connect my Kindle to, just was hoping to eliminate a step and having to waste time in port doing that.  Just as I didn't want to have to buy "another" device like the iPad or the Kindle Fire.