VibeGuy

Once again, a bug with B2B sailings, this time related to Ocean Medallion order. The documents flow is correct and the booking numbers/dates are correct. Go into the Medallion order flow, the date of the first sailing is shown. Make the appropriate selections, go to choose a shipping method. Ship to home is greyed out and marked “not available”. Call support. They ask me to finalize the order and they’ll cancel it and we can try again. We do so. Same issue. We cancel again. On examination during the third try, we realize there’s a bug: the voyage displayed at the start of the Medallion order process is (correctly) the first date, but is (incorrectly) displaying the second booking number. Using the web interface, I can log in, but it forces the Link Booking flow immediately after, which reports that the booking number has already been claimed. A ticket has been opened. We’re sufficiently far out from departure that a week won’t matter, and the booking briefly blinked into Green Lane between the (malformed) order and its cancellation. B2B sailings are not a corner case. They represent clients who like the product well enough to order seconds before they’ve even got the first helping. This is our third set of B2Bs since the restart where something has required a support ticket prior to departure. It’s one thing to have endless trouble supporting the endless permutations and combinations of device hardware and OS and app versions, but this is still underlying data quality issues in the back end, which mystifies me.

Yes. If you’re just in it for the OBC, it pays to buy whichever one is cheapest - they represent the exact same asset.

If there is a particular cabin available for both sailings that isn’t showing in the 14NT availability, it is possible to get inventory management to turn it into a 14NT Cabin - I’d suggest using a travel agent or Princess PVP.

Yes, you can use OBC for spirits purchases.

This topic is covered to death. But searching is hard. 1) Yes. Leave the bags in your old cabin. Leave everything on hangers hanging and your steward will move them to the closet in the new cabin 2) The ship must be zeroed at every turnaround. If you don’t exit of your own volition, you’ll be gathered in a lounge to go off after all the disembarking passengers, the ship will be zeroed out for passengers, and you will return to the ship. 3) No. 4) Also no. 5) Yes. Your onboard spending account will roll over along with any leftover OBC. Your casino account will not. You need to cash it out on the last night of each sold segment.

No charge on Emerald, Ruby, Crown, Diamond, Sapphire (steam and sauna in lotus spa locker room), Island and Coral (dry sauna only, also in the lotus spa locker room) or Grand (both, but accessed from the open deck forward of the Lotus Spa Pool)

Yes, you can do this - and I have, in Vancouver. When you return to the ship, proceed directly to the cruise level (aka, one floor below ground level) and keep to the left of the main security line. There should be signage for transit passengers and crew - you’re a transit passenger at this point. If there’s any discussion, ask one of the Port employees. In *general*, they use the X-ray scanner to the far left and it dumps you out behind the US CBP desks, and then you proceed to the ship.

30 billion in debt for a company that spins out 3 billion a year in profit in a good year. Of course the markets are killing them. Their last debt offer priced at 10% interest. I would absolutely not own CCL or CUK if I didn’t sail frequently enough that the loss on the equity was immaterial. The OBC + a tax loss is fine. The tax loss alone? Not fine.

The magic words you need are “trip deviation”. The chat or first-line CSRs you talk to may not always be familiar with the process, but if they say no, ask to be escalated. It’s a real thing.

You may get an email from Princess with the following Subjects: ”To say thanks for cruising with us...” “Thanks again for sailing with us” “Welcome Home Deposit Offer” all of these have led to FCD with OBC offers valid for N days after returning from a sailing where we did not purchase an FCD. We have got these at both my and my DH’s email addresses for the six post-restart sailings.

Some Princess ships are alternating nights between Crown Grill and Sabatini’s being open. Some are picking one and sticking to it. Others, everything is normal.

Out of curiosity, HaveDog, do you know what variety your cherry trees are? I’m hearing killer things about this year’s Champagne Corals and Black Republicans.

Calling the situation on the Cruise level at Canada Place a “zoo” is offensive to adorable animals and hard-working zookeepers. The problem is entirely on CBP and Port Management - there isn’t enough space to keep security flowing when CBP gets backed up, and *most of the time*, the CBP backup is not for US nationals - I’ve seen plenty of days where some lines are empty but the queue for foreign nationals has bogged down and blocked access. If you have NEXUS or Global Entry, bring the card. There *should* be priority security access to the left of the nightmare queue, and this *should* drop you in to the NEXUS/GE lanes to the far left of the Wall of CBP. If there’s no priority security queue, as soon as you get out of the X-ray area, ask staff for the NEXUS/GE line, which usually starts just as you enter the CBP area, to the left. It is historically not well signed or evident, and staff may have it cordoned off to open on request.

Sapphire by a mile. The covered pool, the wider promenade, the near-perfect aft terracing. you give up crown grill for the atmosphere-free Sterling Steakhouse, but the four midship MDRs border on *intimate*, rather than “fancy mess hall”.

I wouldn’t hesitate. YVR has international arrivals down to a science.

They actually did remove a portion of the grapes from the package and returned the rest to me, in the package, for snack purposes. *whistles innocently*. (FWIW, I don’t routinely ask people to peel me grapes. I was insistent that merely halved would be fine. But this dish was as fantastic as the last time I had it on Sitmar. I almost cried.) After asking an actual CFR-fluent food nerd, I don’t think the VSP as a whole requires a sanitising agent on fruits and vegetables, even those served raw. 7.3.3.2.4 of the latest Ops Manual says you must rinse produce in potable water. 7.3.3.2.5 says you *may* use a registered sanitising agent, but I don’t see reference to a requirement and the whole thing is pretty much lifted from the FDA Model Food Code, just making it applicable to vessels that wouldn’t usually be subject to state-level regulations that reference the code. Personally, I’d like to see them use a ClO2 rinse on any fruit or vegetable that isn’t peeled or cooked before consumption, but I’d rather see that happen in environments that affect more people than the cruise ship fleet. It’s also entirely possible that individual lines have a HACCP plan that requires the use of a sanitiser, which would be beyond the VSP requirements.

Security is not employed by Princess. I suspect if this had been escalated to an administrative officer they answer would have been “of course”.

I would absolutely not trust chat’s answer on this. A goodly percentage of them have never so much as seen a Princess ship, and they’ve given bad answers on whether you have to pay in the MDR, documentation requirements and COVID testing. Here are my green grapes, procured in Manzanillo, with the permission of the Executive Chef, taken in by the storekeeper, and transformed the next night into the Sole Veronique you see before you. A chat from a shoreside customer service agent won’t be considered as an “official” answer from Princess when it really comes down to it. The rules that apply to shipboard operation get enforced at the ship level and do not concern the precruise sales org one whit. As an example, ask the same chat service if I could bring an oxygen concentrator onboard, or sail if I’m on peritoneal dialysis. They’ll get those wrong, too.

I have specifically brought on fresh fruit at both embarkation and ports of call as recently as late March. (I like white grapefruit juice in my cocktails and fresh white grapefruit is superior to bottled). In January, it was with the blessing of the executive chef and the storekeeper (white grapes for Sole Veronique).

Pretty well-enforced unless a particular bar is having a problem with their fountain system.

I’ve never had to wait more than one cycle for a machine. I’m willing to move up or down a deck if needed.

As for the duty free: it’s *sold* free of duty and import taxes. It doesn’t mean that it enters your country of residence (or even the next country you visit) duty-free unless it’s inside your personal allowance.

I had my nasty stripe promptly after getting off Ruby in March. It’s my DH who nearly died. Not from COVID, but for causing the cancellation. We have really enjoyed the undersold cruises so much and love Alaska.

Thanks for doing this thread! We had to cancel on twelve hours notice due to a pesky stripe on a pesky test cartridge, but it was nice to see what we missed - especially since many of the photos posted were taken one cabin away from ours!

The way is there. The backend allows staff to make table-specific reservations. It’s up to onboard decision makers whether they *will*, but the technical availability is there.