no1racefan1

We are booked! Actually ended up booking the very first glacier trek of the day on the very first day they are available in 2024. Phew!! I hope the weather cooperates!

@torybruno do you remember if there was a glacier access fee that you paid on top of booking your trip with MICA Guides? I'm getting ready to book our glacier trek--yay!!--and it sounds like on the website there is a $45pp access fee that is charged in person at check in, on top of what is paid online. Fine with me, but wanted to make sure I understand correctly for budgeting purposes 🙂

Haha. When we were in Mazatlan, we decided to have lunch in the town square. There are all sorts of restaurants there--Italian, American, French, etc. I wanted authentic Mexican food in Mexico, so we went to a Mexican restaurant. I now tell people I went to a Mexican Mexican restaurant because it's the only way to distinguish it amongst the other restaurants!

I think ship excursions get a bad rap on CC because there's an overgeneralization that they are overpriced, sitting on a bus, not interacting with locals, etc. etc. You really just need to do your research to determine if an excursion will meet your needs. On our four cruises we have done mostly ship excursions with a couple of DIY ports. This is our ship excursion experience: -Have never booked a tour bus excursion or any excursion that was more than a few people in a group. You should be able to see this in the excursion description. -Excursion companies contracted by cruise lines are still local companies, and all of our tour guides have been local. One of my favorite cruise memories is hanging out with our local tour guide in Hilo--it was a 8-passenger van but there were only 6 of us--three married couples who all booked the excursion that day to celebrate our anniversaries (all strangers, not booked together) and we had the best time. We had extra time so she drove us to see a black sand beach on the way back to the ship. -Comparing prices, most have been within $20 of booking the same independent excursion. It's worth that much to me to have tickets in advance, be told where to meet, get off the ship, and be on our way, without having to make any of those arrangements or worry about changing ship schedules. I make sure to read lots of reviews--a lot of cruise lines offer the same excursions, so if I can't find enough information on the line we're sailing, I'll go read reviews on other lines' websites. Also, some lines (Princess does this) list tour details that includes a timeline of how long traveling, how long at each stop, etc. If you put in the research, you should have a very good idea of what to expect. We have yet to have a ship excursion that was not a highlight of our trip!

It comes down to convenience for us. If it's a long day in port and the ship is right there, we'll run back on ship and grab something to eat if we're hungry, freshen up in our cabin, and then head back out. If it would be a hassle or take too much time, we'll find something to eat in port--preferably not a crowded tourist spot so it doesn't take a lot of time out of our day. We want to be touring, exploring, etc. If it's a tender port, no question we'll eat in port--I'm not interested in riding a tender multiple times a day. Edited to add: we're not world travelers by any means, but we've never been anywhere where I felt unsafe eating somewhere locally. Not usually a consideration for us.

I will almost certainly do nothing and say nothing while on the cruise. I hate spending vacation time standing in line at GS unless absolutely necessary. I will take it into account when I consider future cruise bookings.

I was responding in one of these threads while they were getting combined and let me tell you, that is confusing!! I REALLY started thinking everybody was repeating themselves, LOL 😵

I'm not within final payment but I'll play along 😄 Ours would be $44.98 on a 7-day cruise (assuming three $5 room service orders, and $14.99pp for a visit to Alfredo's). $6.43 per day, or roughly 3% of my total fare. We booked standard fare. These are items I have previously partook, but probably will not pay extra for. Didn't account for the $14.99 ON fee because I don't think we would have used that feature even if it was free. And yes, I'm annoyed (not angry, outraged, or any of the other over the top words I've seen on the boards) about it and have voiced my disappointment to the appropriate parties--but will still go on my cruise, NOT spend the extra $44.98, and have a fantastic time!

I went into the Cruise Personalizer via the website and it gave me the option to choose the same time/dining room for the whole trip, or to make individual reservations for each night.

Love it!! I added a few questions/comments. I have heard that it's a good idea to make reservations for most of the popular sit-down restaurants in Anchorage. I don't usually pick and schedule where we are eating ahead of time, but might have to do so for this trip!

A picture of what? What picture would prove that crew told them both parties must choose prixe fixe or a la carte? I took a few days off from this thread but I'm glad I came back...it's gotten so much more entertaining 🤣

I love this! Thanks for finding us and sharing your experiences 🙂 I'm even more excited to book with MICA guides now!

At the point of booking, she booked a trip to Vancouver.

We are going to Alaska in May 2024 and I had our excursions booked by June. I recommend booking as soon as you know what you want, as there's really no benefit to be gained from waiting. That being said, I have been keeping track of excursions on our cruise so I could see when they start selling out, and I have not yet seen anything sell out--so I'm sure that happens, but possibly not this far in advance. A couple of excursions only have a few spots left though. Also, you'll probably note that there is only one time (early morning) listed for all excursions. I have read from other people that more times are likely to open up as we get closer, because a lot of Alaskan tour companies don't have their 2024 schedules finalized yet. So that's something else to keep an eye on as it gets closer. I went ahead and booked everything and will cancel and rebook if the timing works out better later.

Sounds like she booked a southbound cruise to Vancouver and 'decided' to get off in Juneau instead, without actually making any plans with the ship or talking to anybody ahead of time about whether this would be allowed. Kind of dumb....

I feel drawn to visit a place as a volunteer. When Puerto Rico got hit by that hurricane a few years ago, I desparately wanted to go volunteer wherever I was needed. I didn't get to do that because I couldn't take the time off. My DH and I went up to MT for a couple days camping and to help with Habitat for Humanity after the really bad flooding last year. I do feel the same desire to go to Maui, but not right now, when they are still grieving and haven't even located everyone. But next year, or the year after, I am very interested in going to help, if it's needed/wanted. I also feel a really strong desire to spend my vacation dollars in these places in the future, in hopes that it might help a tiny bit.

To sum up this thread: Princess made changes, some people are frustrated, and some people are trying to convince those people they shouldn't be frustrated. WHYYYYYY are you trying so hard to convince people they are wrong to be upset? I'm disappointed, you're not, we're both going to go on the cruise and enjoy ourselves regardless! The end.

If I book a hotel room that says it includes free breakfast, I'm counting on that as part of my overall trip budgeting. If, at some point after booking, that hotel decides it no longer offers free breakfast, yes, I would be equally disappointed, as that is not what I believed I was getting when I made the reservation. Edit: actually, this would be slightly less annoying than the cruiseline changes, because I don't pay for hotel rooms in advance.

Yeah but it doesn't have to be that extreme. I'm not outraged, I'm annoyed. I think people are justifiably annoyed. I'm already not 'loyal' to Princess or any other line, so I can add this to the list of things I look at when choosing future cruise bookings. As somebody else stated, Princess doesn't need/want/care about my style of cruising anyways. All of us here on CC are in the fortunate position to be able to discretionarily spend on travel and make the best choice for our individual circumstances. My choice is to go on the cruise, have a wonderful time without spending extra money on the items that were previously included, and look elsewhere the next time I'm shopping for a cruise. It's really not so outrageous as you make it sound. P.S. My favorite steakhouse raised the price of their steaks (as EVERYONE has done) and I stopped ordering the steak. It's part of having a budget and sticking to it. Someday I might be in a financial position to not have to worry about a budget and then I won't care if they add $14.99/$14.99/$5.00 whatever.

I think we all know prices have gone up everywhere, which is why it is more important than ever to keep track of where our dollars are going--especially on discretionary spending.

I do as well. I booked my 2024 cruise over a year out. The question was posed how Princess cruisers are going to react to the changes--as opposed to just complaining and/or cheerleading online--and I shared how I, personally, will be interacting with Princess in the future.

Well, less than $2k, technically...but I don't really see it as denying myself anything to not use the glitchy delivery service that doesn't work half the time...

And that's fine, if I know I am going to be charged for pizza when I make my reservation, I can budget appropriately.

This is how I'm handling it, from a sporadic Princess cruiser on a budget: I'm still going on my cruise next year, because I've already booked and paid for excursions, gift cards, etc. and it would be a serious pain in the butt to cancel with Princess. I know it will be a fantastic trip and these things won't ruin it. I'm not getting a package. I didn't get one initially because of cost, and nothing about the change has made me want to spend the money. It's not worth it based on our onboard spending habits. I'm not paying to have the medallion shipped to me. I'll skip room service, Alfredo's, and OceanNow delivery. I paid a specific price when I booked, and don't want to pay for additional items that I didn't originally budget for. I'm annoyed that these were included when I booked and now they aren't, but I am not going to feel pushed into giving Princess more money. I'll miss getting chocolate cake and a glass of milk delivered to my room though 😉 I choose each cruise based on itinerary and price, and I usually compare 3-4 cruise lines each time. In all likelihood, Princess won't make the cut next time I'm cruise shopping, because I'm really jaded with how they handled this. I have no loyalty to any line, so it may be easier for me to say this than for others. I have emailed my feedback to Princess, and received a canned reply, which is what I expected.

OMG... this is all you need to know about how clear this whole situation is 🤣