msualum

20 hours ago, Pam in CA said:

Princess offers EZ Check to FLL. Pre-Covid, it was offered to MIA as well. I recently saw a sign-up form and it appeared to be just for FLL. 
 

I’ll be booking my air for my return home to LA next week (when miles redemption opens) for next October and there are far more flight options from MIA than FLL. 
 

So, my question is whether EZ Check, when disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale, is available for flights out of Miami. I’d love to visit friends in the Ft. Lauderdale area during the day but don’t want to drag my luggage around after a 16-day plus pre-cruise stay around. 
 

Thanks! 

We flew from Fort Lauderdale two weeks ago and Princess did not have the EZ Air option.  We have used it on previous cruises,  Guest Services said it’s not available.  Too bad, since it’s a much easier way to return home.
 

According to the updated disembarkation information we received, the first groups meet at 8:30 am, those are the walk offs.  Last group is scheduled to meet at 10:35.  Those are the transfers to Fort Lauderdale airport.  
 

Luggage is being picked up outside our cabins for those not doing walk off.

how long it will take for the bags to be delivered to the terminal is unknown.  Also, all crew members also have to go through immigration, as well as all passengers and in-transit passengers.  
 

the captain did make an announcement about 6:00 that he has increased the speed and hopes to dock by 8:30, or earlier.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed.  
 

We’re on the ship.  Captain announced we’ll arrive at 8:30 because of winds and our late departure from the Azores.  Everyone with flights before noon have been advised to contact their travel agent or Princess EZ air.  
I’m surprised he didn’t know this earlier.  No additional information yet about disembarkation times or changes.  

We went on our first Viking ocean cruise in March and thought it was very nice. It was a 14 day transatlantic with only two port days.  We have at least 10 cruises on Princess, but not since the restart.  We have two upcoming cruises on Princess, one 12 day in September and a land tour/15 day in October, almost side by side, but one day in between.  I’m curious to see how Princess is now.  So far we’ve had a lot of issues with our booking, somehow they got linked and we’ve been unable to make dining reservations.  Many phone calls to our travel agent, to Princess, live chats, nothing has worked.

The Viking cruise sailed with 615 passengers, so very easy to have access to the venues.  I found the food very good, specialty restaurants are no charge, beer, wine and soda are included with lunch and dinner.  We also had a mini bar in our stateroom.  The decor around the ship was beautiful, crew members were the best we’ve experienced.  Entertainment was good, movies were shown in the theater during the afternoon.  We tried the afternoon tea, which was nice, but not our thing.  Enough to do, but also time to just relax.

we took the Viking air, and since we couldn’t get to the port the day of the cruise, they paid for a hotel, with transfer to the ship, which I was impressed with.  We had reserved a room because we knew there was no possibility we could fly in the day of the cruise, so we were able to cancel our reservation and save a few dollars.
 

Viking did a good job on the included excursions in getting everyone off the ship and on the buses.  I remember sitting in the theater on Princess waiting for excursions to get out the door for over an hour later than posted.
 

we also took a California coastal tour on Oceania last September.  It was the worst cruise experience of the 20 cruises we’ve taken.  From trying to embark, to waiting for a transfer to the airport at disembarkation for well over an hour, I was totally unimpressed with the food, the crew, the ship, the whole experience was terrible.

once we’ve taken our upcoming Princess cruises, we’ll decide whether we want to stay with Princess.  We do have a Panama Canal cruise on Viking booked for March, so we’ll see how that one is.  
 

if you watch the Viking website or get their emails, every once in a while you can find a real bargain.  Our cruise was about the same price as a Princess cruise would have been, but with all inclusions except gratuities. As I said, we were very satisfied with our experience.  
Maureen 

I booked our flights on EZ Air to London in September for $400 less for each of us than I could get through the airlines.  I’ve found EZ Air is consistently less expensive for us, since  we live in a very rural state with not many flights available.  
 

We did the land tour/cruise in Spain before Covid.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, the organization was great, meals were very good, hotels were nice.  I don’t know what cities are on the itinerary, but I would recommend that you seriously consider it.  Well worth the price and time in my opinion.

maureen

23 hours ago, jonthomas said:

If only this, I would agree with you but when orange juice is powder not real, so many of the food choices are not up to what we are used to, so little of quality to do all day, while we have experienced the opposite on Oceania, it's a no Brainer.

We’re on this ship and have found just the opposite.  The food has been above what we expected from reading previous comments, we’re found that we can be as busy or not as we want because there are plenty of activities.  Our first and only cruise on Oceania was in September and it was the most disappointing cruise we’ve taken, given the hype and comments we read on cruise critic.  The service and crew members were not nearly as good as we’ve had on this cruise.  Of course this is our first ocean cruise with Viking, but we have two more booked.  I’m sorry you aren’t enjoying your experience.  It almost seems like we are on different ships.  We’re very low maintenance so it doesn’t take much to make us happy.

in regards to your further comments about the pool, I feel the wind has been blowing since we left Fort Lauderdale.  Trying to walk outside has been a challenge and deck 2 has been closed off several days.  Am not sure where your cabin is, but we’ve been rocking every night, some worse than others.  Hope the next days go better.
 

We’re also on this cruise.  One dog went on the same excursion we did, in the front seat of the bus with his owner, another was in a woman’s bag in the buffet and she was feeding it under the table.  I’ve seen five different dogs to date, none wearing vests or appearing to be service dogs.  I did write a comment to guest services but haven’t had a response.  
 

I would like to know Viking’s policy on this.  I would rather not see animals on a cruise ship.

Yes we are.  Just hope the weather cooperates and our flights are on time on the 20th.  We are looking forward to our first Viking ocean cruise.  We enjoyed the river cruises we did before Covid.  

On 1/25/2023 at 1:46 PM, chatdad said:

Oh I spoke a day too early.  Now I fall into the 'how can Viking Air be so inept side'.  Checked our return flight last night with Delta, all well.  Got the dreaded 'you flights have changed email' this morning (would be the third schedule) and Viking had gone ahead and ticketed the flights.  So of course being inquisitive wanted to know why my great flight got changed.  Called Viking and lo and behold, the agent who booked me didn't know he couldn't reserve a flight that leaves before noon (from Barcelona).  One would think they'd train on that type of stuff.  But wait the kicker is, the flight they rebooked me on last night also leaves before noon and the agent this morning said, 'No, No' that can't stay.  Have to change'.  So once again a new booking on yet another airline and more segments.  What a fiasco.  Oh well I hope this stays pat (they confirmed it was ticketed today) as I'm still trying to recoup the nearly $200 I spent on KLM grabbing good seat assignments on the original flights now cancelled.  Gee, I need a vacation.  LOL. 

We booked air through Viking because it was “free” and if we booked our own the connections were awful and the prices very expensive (we live in Montana, requiring a flight to Denver, Salt Lake or Seattle before we can get anywhere else).  Viking had an impossible job trying to get us to Fort Lauderdale the day of embarkation, so they booked us to arrive a day before and included a hotel.  Coming back from Barcelona we couldn’t get a flight after noon, so the agent told us she had to get special permission to get us on a flight at 11:45 am.  The kicker is we fly to Munich, then Denver, then home.  Should be interesting to see how it goes.  I was impressed with their willingness to get us the best itinerary they could.

We were on the Swiss land tour a couple of years ago and it was terrific.  There were 50 of us, two very nice motor coaches, so no crowding.  The hotels were in areas where we felt safe walking, included tours were excellent, our guide was the best.  Lots of meals were included.  The weather was perfect.  We enjoyed it so much we are booked for the Spain land tour in October of next year.  Go for it!

We’ve run into this sort of thing before; it is because your cruisetour is not sold as a cruise+tour with each part sold independently. You booked a package deal at a single price. If the cruise-only price goes down, you cannot get a similar price reduction in your package either. Wish I had better info for you, but that’s the way it is.:(

We got an email from our TA. By hook or crook or sheer

tenacity she was finally successful. We got the $1000 obc added to our cruise. She said Princess also sent apologies. It’s just too bad she had to spend two days on this when she has many other clients trying to book cruises. Bottom line -we’re happy.:D

Even though our cruise was listed under the Landmark sale and our TA contacted Princess, she was unable to get the obc added. She tried several different departments and supervisors but got nowhere. I even sent her a screenshot of the information from the website. Their reply is that we are on a land tour/cruise and this sale doesn’t apply to land tours. She’s bumping it up again today, but I’m not optimistic. I think Princess needs to hire IT employees who know what they are doing. I’m very disappointed with Princess. We have done several cruises with them and have a 30 day booked in February so we have lots of experience with them, some good and some not so good. Congratulations to those of you who were successful in getting this amenity.

Thanks for the heads up. We faxed ours this afternoon for cruises in early 2019 and late 2019 and both cruises show the credit. Took maybe an hour max.

I have also had problems for several days with my iPad. I can't get into my cruise, check air prices, log into cruise personalizer. I called Princess last week. He acknowledged they were having problems with the website. I tried to explain I can access on our dell computer but not iPad. He said wait a couple days. I also cleared cookies, browser, rebooted, checked for updates. Nothing has worked. It's very frustrating. Am not sure what to do next.

We took a viking river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest in April. the hotels, transfers, wine or soda at lunch and dinner are included, as well as a tour in each port. Entertainment is very limited, tours are early in the day, dining choices are limited, you find a table that is available, so you may be eating with different people each day. We found the service erratic..not up to princess standards. We also thought the tours were too intense. We didn't have time to absorb what we were seeing because too much was included and we were always on the move. Our cruise was the first for the cruise director, so that may have been part of the problem.

My biggest disappointment was that there was a sister ship traveling the same itinerary and docking at the same ports. We had a balcony cabin and the first morning we opened the curtains to see the view and it was a cabin of another ship we were looking into. That was the case for the entire trip. So all tours had twice the numbers and were extremely crowded. When lunch was included with the tour, four bus loads of people had to wait until the first group had eaten and departed. The tours were very informative and the guides spoke English very well, but as I said previously, way too intense.

I think Princess and Viking are very different experiences. Viking is much quieter and has a more mature clientele, cabins are much smaller. I guess it depends on what you want or prefer.

Good, but you can not request the Stockholder OBC until after final payment is made, about 75 days from your cruise date. Be sure to look at the Carnival Corporation web site under Investor Relations/Shareholder Benefits and follow those instructions exactly. Here is the site: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-irhome

Not True in our case. While my husband was talking to a Princess representative about a problem we were having, he mentioned that we had stock. The rep said to fax it right away. Our final payment isn't due until July 22. The OBC was in our account a couple of hours later. Painless and quick!!