wallyj

Yes, back then, Vietnam issued cruise ship Visa’s , the process as of August 2023 is now the eVisa online application and Celebrity now wants the passenger to obtain.

@PurplsmurfCA, in this context is ‘Crew Appreciation’ aka Daily Gratuities.

I have been in the Sapphire, Emerald and Majestic since June of this year and all 1st timers had White medallions with Blue Seawitch. I asked Hotel director on Sapphire and was told this is the new policy. Supposedly, eventually all officers will also have White Medallions, but the ‘I love this’ script will also be present. As previously posted, White has previously been used for Inauguration year ship sailings. My family all received White Medallions on Discovery last year with the color of the Seawitch matching their loyalty tier.

I emailed my request to shareholders for my 11/25/2023 sailing I just booked. Emailed at 4pm Pacific time, checked my booking 2 hours later and it was posted already. It appears that department processes requests at all hours, as earlier this week, sent in requests for bookings I have next year at 10pm one evening, by midnight benefit was posted and even got a email confirmation for one of the bookings to review that had EZAir for only one of the passengers, which is correct as other passenger is doing independently, so kudo’s to that agent for sending a reminder to review that booking. I know Princess has employees around the world working, as I previously had an enroute delay with my flight being canceled when I arrived at the airport, when I called at 11pm, the agent was in Australia. Currently, shareholders benefit processing is very quick, only a few hours and possibly shorter. You normally will not get confirmation the benefit has posted, just check your cruise Personalizer under ‘Payments’ tab and scroll down to check.

You may be confusing The SaltyDogGrill where the burgers, hot dogs, and other foods usually on the lido/pool deck which is still included in all cruise fares with The SaltyDogGastroPub, which is the sit down Casual Dining venue located on a few ships and has always had a fee to use, but now has a prix fixed $14.99 menu and ala carte pricing. On Royal class ships, the only one that does not have complimentary Pizza usually at Slice is the Majestic Princess, but the Majestic has the Noodle bar instead which is complimentary on the pool deck.

International travel can have many challenges, especially when you can get conflicting information. One post seems to say Celebrity will handle obtaining the visa for Vietnam and the most current post implies Celebrity has informed guests traveling next month(Nov), unless you are from one of the exempt Countries, you, the passenger SHOULD/NEED TO obtain the visa on your own and they seem to encourage you to use the ‘new’ eVisa. I have been sailing for many years and have traveled to Vietnam via cruise ship a couple of times. The last time was Feb 2020 on the Sapphire Princess. At that time, you could obtain the Vietnam visa on your own or have Princess issue and they would charge your on board account I believe about $50 USD for this service. From our roll call and previous Princess ones visiting Vietnam, links and instructions were provided to obtain the visa on your own thru the official Vietnam portal at half the cost. I was a little upset at the time as I read other cruise lines(Celebrity was one) at the time supposedly were about to obtain for their passengers an inexpensive ‘cruise ship’ visa for Vietnam for about $5/person. Princess apparently did not have this contract/ability. I am providing this history for informational purpose to show how rules change and evolve. There was no eVisa for Vietnam at the time(2020) and it appears this just became available August 2023. It appears Celebrity no longer will obtain visa on arrival/cruise ship visa and now requires passengers to use the eVisa application. I feel they should have supplied the information for your itinerary if you needed to apply for single or multi entry since fees are different. It was only a few years ago, US citizens could travel to New Zealand visa free, now an ETA is required along with a fee to cover environmental maintenance from tourism, as an example. It is important to know current and updated travel mandates for your individual passport you will be using.

Not true, especially PV. Been there many times with Princess and local time can/will be 1 hour ahead of ships time. The Captain decides if time changes occur on ship.

I believe Princess has switched to first timers having White, which originally signified inaugural sailings for that ship. This has been my experience, since June 2023 on my recent sailings.

FYI, the Majestic converted Bistro to The Catch last May. I was booked on the recent YVR to LA Oct 3-8. I had Premier Pkg, so 2 complimentary SD. The APP never had option to book The Catch, only Crown Grill or Harmony. Fortunately the sailing was not full and I was able to book The Catch once on board for the dates and times of my choosing. The venue was never very busy, but it was a short 5 day sailing and only 2000 passengers. So even if The Catch is on the ship, reservations may not be available thru the APP. You might be able to call.

Hey @Warrenf186, did you have a typo or using some other calculation, as the next Discovery sailings are the 14th, 21st or the 28th, thus being 6, 13 or 20 days away respectively. My guess is you are on the 28th sailing so there is still a lot of time for your medallion to be mailed, delivery is another story.

My first thought is you selected ‘in transit’ instead of regular multi visit? Since the costs is not really a huge amount, you might want to reapply for regular ETA. Not sure since you have what sounds like a ‘in transit’ ETA, if it will cause issues?

Hi @Cruise Raider, not sure if this was already shared, but the Future cruise agents shared the 50% off on board booking promo is scheduled to end/expire on Oct 31 and they were pretty certain it would not be extended. It was good while it lasted as I was able to book a few. The Majestic and crew are one of my favorites in the Princess fleet.

Hi @Cruise Raider, are we on the same ship as last night show was ‘Encore’, glad you were able to book at least one of the 50% off promos? The list was about 5 pages and now down to only 2. I managed to find 3 more to book that were on the list. Are you still planning on leaving ship on Saturday? Surprised this ship says you have to wait till after 2pm to leave with your luggage when the Emerald let those leaving early leave with their luggage in the morning with first immigration inspection when we came back to LA early because of the Hurricane this last August. Also, happy to see Majestic now serves Sushi at The Catch on sea days and part of Casual Dining.

Of course not, you can use a tablet/IPad, etc. to get the ETA/EVisa. I was able to do on my IPad. Or pay 3rd party services at a much higher cost. If you personally do not have smart device, see if any friends/acquaintances have.

I believe when you are going westbound, when you cross the date line you will ‘lose’ that day. So say you are on Monday before dateline, when you go to bed, the next day will be Wednesday, you will lose Tuesday, so you do not get an extra night. You do get the extra day if you were sailing FROM Sydney to HNL, you repeat the same day when you cross the dateline, so same scenario, go to bed Monday night cross date line, wake up to Monday again.

I believe one of the ‘perks’ of the Chef’s table experience was you were given a copy of the Princess Cook book which I assume has some of the dessert recipes. Last year I was told the book is being updated with no indication of the release date. I believe the cook book is no longer given till the new one is released. You might try and see if anyone is reselling the cook books on other platforms.

For my past cruises in June and July of 2023, I had Premier but was picking up medallions at port, so the accessory(blue clip)was in the bag with the medallion and lanyard. I added Premier to my August Emerald sailing on board and the website says it is to be delivered to your cabin. On day 3, when I still had not received the ‘clip’, I went to guest services and they had it there as it is ‘exclusive’ (color) to premier pkg and not available at Ocean front for purchase.

It was reported the UK had a promo of Plus at 50% off and the poster is from UK or as many have been able to book an On BOARD 50% off special, Plus was also being discounted at 50% off.

You should be able to make MDR or Specialty Dining reservations in the Dine my Way section on the APP. With only 2 weeks before sailing, availability at this point may be very limited and you might have to wait till you board to make requests.

The OP has added they just came into a windfall and have now just decided to see about the possibility of upgrading to Business, which unfortunately for them, they are way past the penalty date to have Ezair assist. They may have possibility to upgrade directly with operating airline Qantas, but subject to fare class rules they purchased thru Ezair. They are looking at the RETURN flight after a long cruise , so in this case, their no fees change date was 45 days prior to START date of cruise which is earlier than their flight date.

Passenger is beyond penalty date, so would incur fees/penalties for trying to change even just to upgrade to business if they want EZAir to help.

Hi @Sweet Jie, welcome to cruise critic as this appears to be your first post? You might not have been aware, but EZAir specifically reminds passengers using their services, you have 45 days from your flight OR start date of your cruise to make changes to flexible air bookings, so you if wanted to upgrade to business, you needed to enquire if it was available 45 days prior to Oct 8th! Also business is not always available thru EZAir on every flight as it depends on their contracts with each airline. In this case, YOU did not follow protocols to have EZAir help you in this case, you needed to contact them more than 45 days from Oct 8. Now that you have a ticketed flight, it is up to the airline, if you can upgrade. Some fares with EZAir are in a fare class that are non eligible for upgrades, so that may also be a factor.

Prior to the introduction of Casual Dining, on the Island Princess, they used to do an Alfredo’s pop up in Sabatini’s on a sea day lunch which was complimentary. My understanding is the Island will no longer do Alfredo’s in Sabatini’s, so for this ship, you have NO casual dining options. When you board, ask if they are doing a pop up Alfredo’s, but the rumor is it has been discontinued. YMMV.

Thermal Pool? Do you mean the Lotus Spa Pool on the same level as the Spa and changing rooms? Yes, the Lotus Spa pool is complimentary for all passengers and considered Adults only but not always enforced.

Sorry, with the last dry dock, the Steam and Saunas that were in the changing rooms on the Emerald were removed and accessible treatment rooms for the Spa took up this space. It has not been revealed if Princess plans to do this same remodel on its sister Grand class ships being, Sapphire, Diamond, Crown, Caribbean and Ruby that have the Sauna and Steam rooms in the changing rooms. Yes, they are complimentary to use with lockers you set your own code to lock.