tetleytea

I have no plans to ever purchase a drink package on Princess (the math doesn't compute), but on Norwegian where the drink package is included, they would charge only the tax for alcohol if you were in port stateside, but the staff would freely tell you to wait till they are out to sea.  Then no tax.  The rule of thumb was, if you are out to sea enough to open the casino, then no tax.  I defer to others on what Princess does, but that was Norwegian. 

15 minutes ago, brovol said:

Wife and I have sailed both NCL and Princess too many times to count.  We were on the breakaway, but not the Regal (although we have sailed her sister ship Sky).  Sailing on the Regal in November though. 

 

There is a very relevant distinction between Princess and NCL; and Princess is, as a general rule, a better quality product.  Better service, more refined and adult atmosphere, and less crowded.  We have enjoyed all of our NCL cruises, and will continue sailing with NCL.  NCL has decent value, and lots of cruises in the Caribbean, which is where we typically cruise.  NCL started the casual freestyle approach in the cruise industry, which I love, and O'malleys Irish pub is the best casual restaurant in cruising. But Princess is just a notch up in overall quality. Not to mention, the medallion concept is awesome!  And the internet on Princess is vastly superior to NCL, if that matters to you.

Similar to what I said to Tony, if you had asked me 2 years ago I would agree with you, but IMHO times change.  I think the Breakaway-PLUS ships are more upscale than Princess (which, admittedly, the Norwegian Breakaway is not), and our sailings on NCL since Covid left us with an impression of NCL that is brighter, more youthful, and vibrant (and by that I don't just mean the ship--I mean the cruise directors, the programming, the activities, etc.).  Princess was still good (as long as you didn't need to call the corporate phone line), but just seemed to get in a rut.  It seems Norwegian's been really trying to change their image, and at least for us they were successful.  I would have said Princess Medallion is technologically ahead of Norwegian, except that everywhere I look people are struggling to get Medallion to work.  At one point I saw Princess assigning their dance instructors to helping passengers fix their Medallion app.  It's that rut I was talking about:  Princess deployed Medallion, but over time the IT support has just atrophied.

Funnily, I think we actually like International Cafe (on Princess) better than O-Malleys.  That's our go-to after a long port call, and we saved our stomachs for the ship.  They both can get pretty busy.  I think maybe O'Malleys might be "better", but International is a better fit for us because we can just walk right up, whereas O'Malleys you have to wait.  Funny that our impressions of Princess vs. NCL are mirror-image opposites.

43 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

If you choose Princess then all you need to do is call and ask to be assigned to one of their Cruise Vacation Professionals (aka CVP).  I have a CVP who does all the leg work when booking a cruise, making changes such as refaring, or just asking general questions.  No wait on hold.  If I get her voicemail, she calls back within 30 minutes.  It’s a no brainer and completely free of charge!

Well yeah, of course their sales will be very responsive.

1 minute ago, tonyfall1 said:

Ugh, for some reason I just assumed Princess customer service would be much better than NCL.

I would have done the same.

The agent I worked with from here on CC said that she likes to leave in a little guard-band time, because sometimes there are hiccups in the payment process.   But 30 days seems like an awful lot of guard-band time.

When I sailed the Regal Princess I was in a full suite, and I got good customer service through the concierge desk offered through the concierge lounge (offered only to full suite guests).   But otherwise I found NCL's customer service to be way better (as in, existent).   When I call Princess now I get 5-minute hold times, but if I have any non-rookie problem that is difficult at all, I get referred to Princess' email line.   But when I email Princess (per the phone agent's instruction) five times, I get crickets.  Nada.  And last summer, I was getting 1-hour hold times.    On NCL, I have gotten maybe 10-minute hold times and got decent help.  

If you had asked me two years ago, I would have recommended the Regal over the Breakaway, hands down.  But now I have to go with NCL, and it's not because of the ship--but because of corporate.

Not good.   Newark was famous for the United meltdown.   They still are.  Aon knows full and well the cancellations are legit.  If my cancelled flight was a good 72 hours before, that tells me they're going to try and say I could have booked another flight (even though it's not true).

In the future, maybe it's possible to get better travel insurance independently, too?   It's not sounding like Aon insurance (offered through some cruise lines) is very good.   Do you know what Aon's reason...pretext...was?

edit:  I checked BBB for Aon.  They are not BBB accredited and have a D- grade.  BBB's reason:  62 consumer complaints against them and they haven't responded to any of them.    Looks like, any time a cruise line or travel agent asks if you want to buy insurance, you need to ask who is underwriting it.  People assume the cruise line does (and it's all reputable and such), but clearly not always.  Rarely?    I didn't know any of this when I booked the cruise and was offered the insurance.  I certainly never would have done business with a D- rating.

For everyone else's benefit, I should also add:

My excursions and lodging were booked independently.   One of the supposed selling points of booking excursions (and to a lesser extent, land tours) through the ship is that they are (supposedly) more secure in the event anything goes wrong.  But for me, nothing could have been more the exact opposite.   I had something go majorly wrong, and I had no problem immediately getting my money back from all the excursion operators and hotels--because I *DIDN'T* book through the ship.  I booked independently.  Didn't even need travel insurance.  Didn't need paperwork.  I simply told them the circumstances beyond my control, and I got even the nonrefundable expenses refunded.  I doubt I would be as fortunate had I gone through the ship.

2 hours ago, Coral said:

My friend got a denial through AON. So they got FCC.

For a flight cancellation?

Quick update here:

I made a complaint to the Federal Department of Transportation about United.  That was successful:  I got a partial refund.  However, United did not want to refund it all--they only refunded one connection, so that they could.go back and tell the DOT they refunded it.   So I disputed the remainder of the transaction.  That, too, was successful.  

The travel insurance claim is still ongoing, and is a paperwork nightmare.  

All our excursions (refundable and non-refundable) refunded, and so did our hotels and Airbnb; and the Airbnb was normally nonrefundable.. The hosts decided to refund it.  

The problem lies 90% squarely on flying the airlines to your cruise.  Booking air through the cruise line might partially help with that.    Apparently, the airlines not treating customers fairly is a known Federal-level problem, with Biden, Pete Buttigieg involved and Congress recently passing a bill about air travel.  I recently flew Southwest and had no problems, but don't expect me to fly United anytime soon.  And definitely not to/from/through Newark.

I have no reason to believe the cruise line or travel insurance are not good for it at this time, but it is slow and painful to process.   The big thing is, just hope your airline does not undergo a meltdown at the time or your cruise.  Or just drive to the port.  This was (and still is) definitely a "vacation" that caused far, far more stress than if I had never booked anything at all. 

If the prices are about the same, here's a test:  call the cruise line's main number, and at the automated prompt select the options for "help with an existing cruise".  If they quickly redirect you to the right department to book a new cruise, then you reached a good customer service department.  If that takes forever, but then you call again and select the "book a new cruise" option, and have absolutely no problem getting through to a human, then you know the kind of treatment you will get once you have paid, should you select that cruise line. 

If you drive to Whistler, there's a better, cheaper mine tour on the Sea-to-sky highway.  The Britannia Mine museum.   The biggest trucks I have ever seen are there. 

NCL just put out a warning for Europe-bound passengers on the impact of airline workers strikes in Italy.  

https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-line-advises-guests-of-strike-impact/106555

In a marketing-driven world of everything-is-wonderful, I appreciate NCL warning about that.  My last attempted (and failed) cruise was a nightmare because of the airline.  

I might be famous now because of my less-than-favorable opinion of NCL gambling.   All I will do now is just nod. 

Well I certainly hope Princess' maps indicate outside sailing now.  That would be really bad if they didn't.  The Discovery Princess is a royal class, so the OP would not be sailing Inside Passage on that sailing--and Inside Passage is one of the best reasons to choose a Vancouver sailing over Seattle.  

I last sailed there in 2022, and our itinerary clearly showed us sailing the Inside Passage.  It was only when we saw open ocean on one side that we were like, "Hey, wait a minute...".   That's when we found out, "Canada won't let us sail the ship inside; it's not our fault."    And Princess just now found that out?   How do you not know how big your ship is before you ever first sail that itinerary?

We were the guilty ones in Copenhagen.   The bike lanes are for bikes.  When I saw the lanes, I knew they were lanes for something when I was walking, but I didn't pay much attention.

9 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Yeah, Princess' new ships are too big to cruise the IP.  If I remember the story correctly, Princess planned those itineraries but were denied by the Canadian pilots.  

I just find it hard to believe that Princess never had the chance to inform customers (or even potential customers) that they got denied by Canada.   Something like that, you'll get plenty of advance notice.    It's not like you board the ship and then, afterward, at the last minute you just now find out the ship is too big to sail the Inside.

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

 

When I traveled with a disabled parent - there were a number of things I needed to plan in advance and their needs were always above my preferences.

Well at least y'all's parents went.   I kept telling my parents they need to travel while they still have quality years left, and they didn't.  And now their quality years are over.

12 minutes ago, Coral said:

I actually like and prefer aft staterooms.

What about the fore?   Is the wind and cold really that bad?    The prices are so much cheaper, and I figure the views would be the same or even slightly better than aft.   Some people I know can't take the cold that well, but I've held conversations outside before in shorts and a T-shirt when it's snow flurries.

6 minutes ago, Coral said:

A friend recently returned from NCL Spirit and they attended an event where they asked why Northbound did not do inside passage but Southbound did. Someone from the bridge (Captain level individual) answered that there is a specific time period where they have to complete the transit during inside passage (I think they said 7.5 hours) and if they couldn't do that, to sail outside. So it maybe a call on weather conditions or other factors at the time the passage is going to be made. Purely guessing. 

The Spirit is an entirely different ballgame.   They just cancelled their Valdez port stop after several customers already booked that ship precisely because of Valdez.  To which NCL replied, "It's in the contract, we are allowed to change it....".   Their itinerary is all switched up because of the late Valdez cancellation--not the weather.   Although it would not surprise me if they say it's the "weather".  

On 7/14/2023 at 8:42 AM, quack2 said:

Avoid NCL in/out of Vancouver.  Notwithstanding their cruise map that shows otherwise, NCL avoids the east side of Vancouver Island.

Princess did that, too.   Their cruise map very clearly showed them sailing inside, and they didn't.

Note that I posted earlier my take, which is to choose between HAL and NCL (which is effectively also choosing between a Seattle roundtrip vs. a Vancouver one-way), and that got quietly deleted.  Apparently, because it was not favorable toward Princess. 

Anyway, as I said before, I suggest sticking with Encore. 

Of course you can dispute it--after all, the merchant did not provide the service.  In fact, we would have been better off had we never incurred the charge.   The question is, can we win the dispute?   That remains to be seen.   But we have a whole reddit board disputing the charges from United, so I'm feeling good.

Disputing the charge if the travel insurance denies us, I'm not so sure.  I think we would have to pursue different recourse there.  But I'm feeling good that the travel insurance is going to make good on it.  Either way, I plan on letting CruiseCritic know what happens, since that is the Princess travel insurance.

I see Florida as enviable in that you can just drive to the ship.  No baggage limits, no...a lot of things.  By going to Alaska, you are foregoing all that, the reason being that you already sailed the Caribbean aplenty.   If you like the ship more than the ports, Florida offers transatlantic sailings.  Or Panama Canal.  You only have to fly one way back, and if your flight is delayed--oh darn.  Have to stay in Lisbon another day. 

Sure.   My last cruise would have put me in the double-digits the number of times I've been to Alaska, so let my feet do the talking.   But--keep an eye on the airline situation (which you don't have to do, when the sailings are out of Florida), and maybe not now.   Southwest, American, and United are dealing with potential pilots' and flight attendants' union strikes.  United is just terrible right now (see my other thread).   I haven't seen any issue with flying Delta and Alaskan Airlines yet, and I see no reason to worry about making it at least to Seattle.    This summer's peak travel season might not be a good time.  This late August/September might be good (and the cruises are cheaper), but then you deal with shorter days and colder weather.   But on the flip side:   more sales at all the shops, and more bear sightings.  And salmon (in August).