rocklinmom

I am looking at summer 2024 cruise options and noticed that depending on the itinerary some deposits are nonrefundable. I have cruised Princess for over 20 years and deposits have always been refundable. Is this a new thing since I cruised last year? For example, I am comparing summer 2024 cruises in Alaska, Norway, and the Med and the Med deposit says nonrefundable. But for Norway and Alaska the deposits are refundable. It doesn't matter if I select Standard or Plus.

Yes!! Trying to book a cruise and it won't let me log in. Pages take forever to load. This is really frustrating.

So you are not able to dock in Le Havre today (Thursday) due to French port workers striking again? Has there been any mention of any Le Havre passengers who need to disembark or embark? And also any word of possible delayed return to Southampton tomorrow? Thank you for any info 🙂 Hope you feel better soon, sorry you are feeling under the weather. I hope my family members on your cruise don't come back sick.

Hooray you are on the same cruise as my sister and mother, so I am following along with you 🙂 Hoping embarkation went smoothly today, as it is night there now and I am in California. Bon voyage and thank you for doing this!

Reading this because my sister and mother are on the cruise after you on April 14th...hoping you docked on time in Southampton today. Any updates about the French strike situation for next week on the 19th and 20th? Wondering if they will have any itinerary changes and if they will make it back to Southampton on time for their flight home next Friday the 21st. They didn't get an international data plan so I can't check with them directly. Any info appreciated! EDITED TO ADD: I just found someone who is posting live from their April 14th cruise, so will follow that as well 🙂

Dinner menu is posted outside the dining rooms in the mornings and (if a sea day) lunch menus are posted outside the buffet in the mornings as well.

Their statements are way more confusing than they used to be. I did see our refunds in the "Referred to Corporate Finance" sections after trying to decipher them.

Yes! We just got off the Royal on the Hawaiian cruise and there were no more printed port guides or shorex description packets. I went to the Shorex desk and asked for paper copies of our port guides and they were able to give them to me. I always like having one ashore to find our way around. Our medallion app didn't work for the whole cruise so we couldn't get them that way. And the only way to find out about shore excursions (to add one, make changes, or remind myself what we had booked and what we would be doing, etc.) was to go the the shorex desk and try to work their countertop iPad things - which didn't work either.

When they move people to a different and bigger cabin, are they paying an upgrade fee? Like if they move from a balcony cabin to a minisuite? I didn't realize they let people move around once onboard unless an illness situation or maintenance issue.

We stayed at that Sofitel a few years ago and it was fabulous! You will enjoy it. It is a lot of walking within T5 but definitely convenient for flying on BA. We took a taxi from T5 to T3 (to catch our Princess transfer) and it was easy, just ask the Sofitel desk to get a cab. Way easier than trying to figure out the train/tube connection between terminals.

Pretty sure you can't sleep on your balcony LOL

If you book a Princess transfer to LHR you would probably be put on their first bus based on that early flight time. They probably won't let you book though with that tight of a window to get there. You would be actually disembarking at around 7am so you could wait at the doors to walk off first, and try to grab the first taxi at Southampton and ask him to haul A$# to LHR (with a big tip).

My understanding is that any Elite member gets the ten percent discount OBC. So if your cabin mate is also Elite they would also get it.

Thank you! I know one of the MDR's is always open for lunch on embarkation day, do you happen to recall which one it was on Royal and what time it ended? I think around 1pm?

One more question if you don't mind...did they do Hawaiian themed activities on the ship on sea days? And if so what were they?

Thank you! Will be strange to pack shorts and T-shirts in December. And good to know plenty of taxi's at the Honolulu port, we need one to get to our helicopter flight.

Thank you for posting this! We are headed to Hawaii on the Royal in 2 weeks. Was it warm there? And were the taxi's available at the Honolulu port (Pier 2)?

Thank you for posting the menus and food pics!!

We swap ours for bottled waters. I have to drink a lot every day and we take them with us on excursions. I don't know if your Plus package includes bottled waters?

Wow thanks for the heads up on these increases! I was thinking of doing another cruise next summer and these would definitely affect us if I don't book by the 13th.

Always good to get insurance, you never know what could happen. Anything from falling and breaking an arm to an ear infection to kidney stone, etc. We always book the Princess insurance and thankfully haven't had to use it so far. The Platinum coverage is great and basically makes the amounts covered larger, and as Elite (or in your case Platinum) we get it for the price of Standard coverage which is nice. When you book it the system should recognize your status and automatically charge you only the Standard price.

I would highly recommend NOT flying in the day of your cruise. Too many things could be delayed, flights, connections, baggage, transportation strikes in the UK, etc. That could definitely add unnecessary stress. It's really easy to book your own hotel on their website (and can cancel up to a day or two prior) and the Princess transfer to Southampton is easy to book on your Personalizer and then just take a cab to the meeting place (and they handle your bags for you). Can wake up in London and head to your cruise. But do whatever works for you.

B305 and B541 are both BB balconies that show with a red dot on the Royal deck plan. The red dot means quad cabin which is twin beds (can't be done as queen) with bunk beds above the beds that come down from the ceiling.

Oh I'm glad to hear this! My daughter has to register for spring college classes and pay her tuition during our upcoming cruise, so if our Wifi package doesn't work well enough we will pay for her use the Internet cafe. I think they charged by the half hour of use or something like that.

We have sailed out of Southampton twice. I booked Marriott hotels in London but I see they are showing $500 prices for September 2023. An idea for you is the Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo which shows only $258 a night, either a queen or 2 twin room. If you have a third person it's only $10 more for a sofa bed option. Hampton's include free breakfast and are a good value. This one is located only five minutes walk from Waterloo train station, so you could take the train down to Southampton. Or you could take a taxi to Victoria Station, where Princess usually does their cruise transfer pickups, and use the Princess cruise transfer.