SunnyNy

Can anyone recently onboard in a Veranda Plus tell me which types and brands are being included these days?

I'm traveling solo on my first Princess cruise in a few months.  On other lines, I usually opt for anytime dining and ask to be seated at a shared table.  I've found it a good way to meet different people.  Also,  I'm not obligated to show up every evening if I don't feel like having dinner there on certain nights.  Do things work this way on Princess, too?  Thanks.

5 hours ago, Roel94 said:

Onward was to have Music4soul. But with Africa we lost  then in the war. They are changing bands and piano players every 4 or so werk. East Pestlok. Ut. A not compare. We all lose out.

Many of us wish you would take 10 seconds to proofread your posts before sending them, if you can spare the time. It would make your thoughts so much clearer.

51 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

A quick google search confirmed my understanding that To qualify for any of these complimentary protections, you must use your Chase Sapphire card to pay for a portion or all of your travel expenses, like your flight, hotel or rental car. Depending on the coverage, your immediate family members may also qualify for reimbursement — even if you're not traveling with them.

 

Here's a link to the card benefits if you can find the language 

Guide to Benefits (chasecdn.com)

I appreciate your response.  My question was poorly phrased.  I did read the Guide to Benefits, but was looking for personal experiences.  For example, if I book a flight and cruise, but only the cruise is paid with Chase Sapphire is the flight also covered, or in my situation, if only partial payment on Chase, should it be a certain percent of the total cost? I may be overthinking this, but seeing words like "may" or "might" in these documents is why I'm wondering if anyone has personally had a benefit paid under these circumstances.

I'm considering applying for this card.  I have made deposits on two separate cruises on my current card.  If I make the final payments on the Chase Sapphire card, will I be covered by their travel benefits?  I've tried calling the Chase benefits no., but was told they can't answer any benefit questions unless I already have the card.  This policy seems ridiculous, just wondering if anyone has any info on this.

11 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Coldplay are perfoming in Dublin that weekend.  The four gigs sold out in minutes.

Hotel accomodation is at a premium.

That accounts for it - the high prices and no cancellation policies.  I was lucky to find something that worked for me.  Thanks for letting me know.

40 minutes ago, marys350 said:

Check out Buswell's Hotel. It's a beautiful hotel, centrally located in Dublin. We booked the hotel on their website for a trip to Ireland in 2020, but unfortunately the trip was cancelled due to Covid shutdowns. Price was reasonable for Dublin. Excellent reviews on Tripadvisor.

https://www.buswells.ie/en/

Thanks a million, marys350.  I just booked this at a fairly reasonable rate with cancellation possible.  I had run across this hotel in my search, but was put off from a couple of recent bad reviews.  However, it just took another look and there are far more positive ones on Tripadvisor, a source I trust more than others.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to hunt around and reply to me.

3 minutes ago, Tak8 said:

I found the Aloft in May for under 240.  It doesn't include breakfast.  It's near St. Patrick's.

Thanks.  I neglected to include my dates - Aug. 28-30.  I'm finding nothing suitable under $300 even without breakfast and many of those are pay in full, non cancellable.  Back to the drawing board!

I'm looking for recommendations for something centrally located, under $300 per night.  Included breakfast preferred, but that seems somewhat uncommon from what I've researched so far.  Thanks

I will. Thank you. 

 Does Journey still have the same old hairdryers, the kind you have to keep pressed the whole time?  If they have upgraded, do the new ones have attachments with them?  I'm traveling with carry on, so any saved space helps.

3 hours ago, RuthC said:

The two fixed dining times are now much earlier than you remember. The early dining is at 5:00 PM, with main starting at 7:30, Far earlier than the former late time of 8:15. 
Showtimes, are earlier, too, with it a bit tighter getting to the late show timely. 

Solo diners can ask for a fixed table of any size; my personal preference is table for 6, but a table for 8 (or even 10) is possible. 
If you choose open seating, you can arrive and ask to join a table that is in the process of being filled with others who want to share a table. You will not join people who are already part-way through their meal. 

Do you recall what time the shows start? And what time Any Time dining opens?

Or must they be purchased before the sail date?  I'd like to use OBC for mine if possible.

16 hours ago, Roel94 said:

We had a brunch but my butler did not follow breakfast card orders to walke. With time change I barely madeit.

i ruin his day telling him he was wrong and not listening to me.and brought me my normsl breakfast not just a latte at 10. Made it about noon and wondered where music was.

 

all we had Cmas eve was carols at 17:15 ..Cmas show tonight  late.even the gingerbread houses not as good as Quests.we have less space but it like something missing.

Badly done.  I hope you'll apologize.

Can the Chef's Table dinners be purchased alone, or must they be included in one of the packages?

1 minute ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Are you kidding?  I would've booked the week the fares opened.

No, I am not kidding - just a simple question.  I only booked this cruise 3 days ago,

On 11/16/2023 at 5:48 AM, cruiseaholic78 said:

Book as soon as you possibly can as prices will definitely not go down, I booked our return flights to Asia in January and they are now double. You could also consider flying into Paris and taking the train as direct flights could be hard to find.

You might br able to choose refundable flights so you can cancel if prices do go down but as you said with the Olympics this is unlikely to happen.

Taking the above into consideration you might also look at booking your hotels sooner rather than later.

Happy planning Rosalyn 

Thanks, Rosalyn.  I now have refundable airfare (which didn't add too much to the cost)j and hotel.  I'll keep an eye on airfare but I'll be surprised it it goes down.

2 hours ago, terry&mike said:

When we visited Bordeaux last year, I found it much cheaper to arrange our international air to/from Paris. I then used discount airlines for the leg from Bordeaux to Paris. 

I did research the fares to Paris and found they were not that much less. Considering the extra cost of a Paris-Bordeaux flight or train,  it wasn't worth it to me.

I'm looking into flights to Bordeaux, returning from Amsterdam in 7 months and am finding some eye watering prices compared to the international flights I've booked in the past year.  I think Bordeaux may be inflating things, since it's not one of the more major airports.   Any thoughts on whether I'm too early?  The Paris Olympics are in late July, so waiting may not be a good idea, either.

An Update:  I phoned AZ yesterday for information on a Quest cruise in June.  The rep (who was yawning repeatedly) quoted a price that was about $2,000 over what I had seen online and kept referring to the ship as Onward.  I had to verify that we were looking at the same cruise,  and when I challenged her on the extra $2,000, she insisted that was for port fees and taxes!

I ended that call, called right back, and got a pleasant and knowledgeable rep who was able to put something on hold for me and answer any questions I had - just like the good old days!

 We spoke briefly about Azamara Air.  She apologized for having limited information on exactly how one would book through them.  Since she was otherwise so knowledgeable, I took this as a sign that the AZ air program is not yet up to speed.

7 hours ago, Dynacruiser said:

We have taken three cruises in the past year, and loved each one of them.   We encountered problems dealing with Azamara earlier, but everything improved in the past 3 months or so.  Our Travel Agent dealt with Azamara directly and saved us the headaches.

 

We go with a large company as a TA, I wish we could discuss names here as there must be many TAs to choose from and not all of them may be as good.  For us, the main advantage of having a good TA is cost.  We get the same price and OBC offers as in the Azamara website but then we get a nice refund of a few hundred USD when we come back from the cruise, in the form of a gift card to be used at a place where we shop all the time anyway.  The next advantage is that the TA does a lot of the heavy work, such as interacting with Azamara.  And if something ever goes bad, they are great advocates (we have had problems with some land-based tour operators).

If the TA offers you the same price as Azamara, or offers you a bottle of wine and a basket of cheese, you may want to keep looking at other TAs.

 

Our TA site allows us to see what rooms are available.

 

Using OBC for excursions used to be tricky, but we have been able to do that recently without a problem.   It's a bit more complicated because we usually book excursions during a previous cruise so we get a discount for future excursions, but that hasn't been as straight forward lately.  Still, everything has been resolved to our satisfaction.

 

Finally, we NEVER use a cruise's air program.  We usually book with points, or upgrade with points, or prefer to use our airline to maintain status.  We also like to select our own flights based on connections and time and day of arrival etc.  I realize that it may be less expensive to get the air from the cruise company, and if the cruise is cancelled or port changes, I may be stuck with an airline ticket (then again, my airline makes it easy to cancel and use the money to buy another flight).  This is just a personal decision, I know a lot of folks here like to use Azamara flights.

 

 

All good advice, Dynacruiser.  I think I can guess which TA you use and others have recommended them, but of course it's all down to which particular agent you are using.  Regarding utilizing cruise air programs, I've done it successfully in the past with Choice Air but I agree it can be risky business and I don't think I'll use the new Azamara Air with no data on it's success. Always best to work directly with airlines, lower priced options notwithstanding.

I haven't booked with Azamara in the past year, having read about the website and customer service issues, but I'm considering a cruise for next June and am hoping those things have improved.  This cruise comes with some OBC which I'd like to use to book shore excursions prior to departure.  Is that still possible?  Also, has anyone booked air with Azamara Air, which replaced Choice Air?

 I miss the opportunity to see which cabins are available online, but I can get past that and from what I read here, the onboard experience is still excellent.  

10 minutes ago, markeb said:

How long are you in Brussels and what do you plan on doing?

 

My last trip to Brussels is now well pre-pandemic. Just looked up a couple of places that appear to be closed at least for now. Across the Grand Place and about 10-12 minutes walking (lots of cobblestones in Brussels, so dragging a rolling bag can be fun) is the Marriott Grand Place. I've stayed there several times and it's a very nice hotel, close to but not in the Grand Place. There are a number of hotels close to the train station but I have never stayed in them. The Warwick has a nice location, but so does the Novatel. It's probably going to be hard to get first hand recommendations on this board; I don't really think of Brussels as a cruise destination.

I'll be arriving by train post-cruise from Rotterdam and staying 3 nights. I'm planning to go to Brugge by train one of those days, then taking the train directly to the airport on the last day.  And thank you for remininding me of the cobblestones. Always a treat!

5 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

I've stayed at the Novotel Brussels off Grand Place and believe that will meet all your needs at a decent price.

Thank you, this will be on my "short list".

Can someone suggest a nice hotel, within a 10 minute or so walk from the train station?  The Warwick was suggested in an earlier post, but I'd like to check out a couple of other options.  Thanks!