Ken the cruiser

8 hours ago, kentuckycruiser said:

As it turned out the PCC made an error with our original booking. After 5 hours the accounting dept determined she made a mistake and so our proper refund was $350 and $365 for CO. They also gave us $100 pp OBC. 

And one of our rooms was an inside so no upgrade. 

I apologize, but I'm trying to do the math. My understanding is that CO costs $25 per person per day for cruises up to 13 days. I'm guessing it was a 7-day cruise based on the $350 refund for one of the 2-person cabins. But I'm not understanding how the $365 refund for the other 2-person cabin was compiled?

Here's the Carnival Corporation link that explains the new process.

Shareholder Benefit | Carnival Corporation & plc

We were just there (see Live From thread in my signature area). If you’re looking to see wildlife, I’d also suggest checking out the excursions that Princess offers in Haines, which includes a ferry ride to and from Skagway. We went on 2 of them,as we were on a B3B, and had an awesome time. 

3 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Is this thread "Why do you like Celebrity?" 😄

Good point. Back to why Princess is so awesome! 😁

14 minutes ago, doghog said:

That's correct but that configuration change on those ships (S & M) didn't affect the Sky Lounge. 

Thanks for keeping me straight. I have to admit Celebrity has some great late night production shows in the Sky Lounge. 😁

6 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Well the Suite Concierge Lounge is kind of a special place to hang out on a Royal class ship.  We've made some wonderful friends during happy hours in there, in fact we sailed again with a couple we had met on the Enchanted in late April on the same ship.  While it no doubt doesn't have the pizazz of Celebrity Edge-class ships, sailing in a suite on Princess has nowhere near the price tag of Celebrity either.  And as an avid reader of your live from's I know you enjoy both!  🙂 

Thanks for the kind words. I was more thinking of how Celebrity is redesigning their bow spaces to accommodate their Suite guests, eliminating the option for non-suite guests to access bow views, like the Reflection Lounge used to offer on their S-class ships.

 

 
As far as booking suites on Celebrity, we no longer have a desire to do that. The Luminae evening meals give us heartburn, we have no need for a butler, and being the antisocial people we are, we never hang out in the Concierge Lounge! 😂

And now that we made Elite with Princess, we will probably only book Reserve Class mini suites on any of our future Princess cruises, with all the extra Elite loyalty perks we now get. Well, except for our upcoming Norway/Baltic B2B we’ll be going on next month, which we will be in one of those Vista Suites on the Sky Princess! 😂

12 minutes ago, F355c5 said:

The princess advertises a great suite package ,but failed to deliver to me.

 

I’ve got to agree. If you were expecting the Suite Experience like you might get and of course pay the additional cost for on a Celebrity cruise, that was never going to happen. Sorry. No Luminae, no butler, and no “special” place just to hang out like there is for the suite folks on a Celelbrity Edge-class ship. Totally, two different experiences.
 

But as you possibly noticed from the various folks commenting on this thread, Princess does offer some unique advantages, especially on their longer cruises, that Celebrity simply falls way short on. But if you basically enjoy 7-day cruises and like to be wowed by an onboard unique suite experience, I definitely recommend sticking with Celebrity as they do that well.

We’ve been twice to the Galapagos, once on the Xpedition back in 2015 on its Southern Loop itinerary, and then again this past December on the Flora on the Inner Loop. We were wowed by both itineraries. Now, as far as ships go, the Flora is simply awesome whereas the Xpedition is a much older ship, but with of course much more reasonable fares. For more details on our experience on the Flora, check out my Live From thread in my signature area.
 

When checking out the various cabin categories on the Flora, I highly recommend checking out their cheapest category, a Sky Suite with an external balcony. You won’t be disappointed. However, if you chose one of their Infinite Balcony cabin categories, remember there are flying insects in the Galapagos at certain stops and can be quite annoying if you leave the IV window open while anchored and they decide to take up residence in your cabin. Just something to consider. 😁

1 hour ago, F355c5 said:

As along time royal Carribean and celebrity cruise line passenger.

i went on enchanted princess 7 day cruise, and was bored and can’t figure out why people like princess?

sorry never again for princess cruise 

 

First, if it matters, we’re retired and in our early 70s and only book cabins (Reserve Collection mini-suites and higher) that allow us to dine in the Reserve Collection dining room. We also enjoy going on unique 3-5 week itineraries that catch our eye. It’s also amazing how the PCL demographic changes on a longer 12+ day cruise when compared to their shorter 5-7 day cruises, which we usually try to avoid now. The one exception was our recent 22-day Alaska B3B on the Grand Princess.
 

For us we enjoy going to their production shows, game shows, and comedy shows as well as the professional lectures offered on most sea days. The key for us to maximize our onboard experience is to plot out our next day’s adventures on the Patter we receive the previous evening in the cabin. 

We also enjoy cruising with Celebrity, NCL, and HAL IF they offer a unique itinerary that catches our eye. For example, HAL offers a pretty cool 28-day Alaska cruise while NCL cruises to Longyearbyen, to name a few unique ones. In the case of PCL, they offer Solar Eclipse, Northern Lights, and South America cruises that include 4 days cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula, along with a 4-week Tahiti/Hawaii cruise RT out of LA, to name a few. Unfortunately, Celebrity is pretty weak in this area, except for their transoceanic ones. See signature area below.
 

But we’re also pretty much done with cruises to the Caribbean, which we did quite extensively for 70+ days with Celebrity the first year after cruising first started back up.

I realize this is an old thread, but it asks the question we’re interested in hearing the answer to. We have recently booked 3 cabins on the Marina deck under the SkyWalk for a family cruise. We’re very much aware of the floor windows on the SkyWalk on the Regal. However, we’re curious if they are present on the Sky Princess SkyWalk as well?
 

Looking at this recent picture we found, it doesn’t appear to be the case. But, it would be nice to hear from someone that actually has been on it.
 

14 minutes ago, Crusin Karen said:

Where are Alaska 2025 cruises? All I see is up to June 2025. Looking for September. TIA

I just did a search on my iPad, and there are 39 Alaska itineraries listed in Sep 2025.

I’m confused? When there is a better deal on one of our bookings prior to final payment for the category we’re booked in, we just have our TA refare our booking, if it makes economical sense to do so. We have never had to cancel and rebook a cruise if it was before final payment. Now if there was an increase in price regarding our cabin category, those additional promotional perks better far out weigh the increase in the cabin cost. But TBH that has never happened to us. 

Here's a lesson I learned a few weeks ago when we were lucky enough to be on our Alaska B3B when the Northern Lights were in full form on May 10th. The iPhone SE photo on the left was the original one that I took, as my SE model does not offer a delay shutter function. The enhanced photo on the right was the result of when I clicked on the "Magic Wand" while in Edit mode. 

Just thought I'd pass this little tidbit along, just in case @Georgia_Peaches you are able to see the Nothern Lights around 11 pm tonight if the clouds go away. 

Aurora Dashboard (Experimental) | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

4 minutes ago, 4x4bob said:

April this year was on the Discovery Princess for 7 days.  The Princess App malfunctioned when I attempted to operate.  Such as stating that while I was in our cabin it could not provide input because I was not on the ship.  Attempted to get help at the passenger service desk.  They sent me too the  Medallion desk and that was a no go, so just locked my phone in the safe and we relied on the Wife's phone/App.

 

Now today we just signed up for a September 2024 cruise to Alaska on the Discovery Princess once again.  

 

I unloaded the Princess App and then reinstalled it using the Confirmation Number to gain access.

 

On the top of the screen it states Discovery Princess, 11 days until embarkation instead of 112 days.  So, should I grab my suitcase and head for the pier or seek help.  Using option 2, seeking help.  For the record I unloaded the App 2 times and on reload it still gives me 11 days.

 

My Wife's phone/App does state 112 days until embarkation after she signed in using the confirmation number that I did.. 

 

Any ideas? 

Bob

I would explain your issue on the PCL website's Online Chat to see if they can help resolve your issue.

Economy seat prices may be a great deal if booked through EzAir. But when we compare refundable Delta Comfort+ seat prices, especially on overseas flights, they are usually around $800+ per person cheaper than EzAir if we book them directly with Delta.

I could be wrong but it's my understanding to reap the full benefits of the FCD, the purchase date of the FCD has to also be before the booking date the cruise you want to transfer it to.

18 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

FWIW, here is Carnival Corp.'s official statement on the subject, intended to cover all of its brands:

 

Carnival Corp. & plc "has decided to take a uniform approach for its brands doing business in North America, so pricing is consistent no matter where guests are shopping," a spokesperson said. "Our total advertised price will now include all government-mandated taxes, fees and port expenses that we previously itemized separately for consumer awareness. While this is a California state law, we are making this change nationwide to ensure our advertised pricing is consistent no matter where guests shop for our cruises. Consumers and travel advisors will see the new advertised pricing starting on July 1."

 

The company already notified travel advisor partners on April 17 about its plans to comply so they would have time to consider steps they need to take.

 

"Fortunately, despite how our prices will now be advertised, the total price guests pay today for our cruises has not changed — guests still get the same great value and affordable prices we’ve always provided," Carnival said in a statement.

 

Thanks for posting this Carnival statement. Starting July 1, I'll have to adjust the way I do my daily "cruise fare comparisons" to determine if one of our bookings has either gone down or up in price. Without this knowledge, I would have just "assumed" that all of the Princess and HAL "cruise fare" prices associated with our bookings had simply just gone up in price. Thanks! 

You're going to have an awesome time! We just got back from cruising up there on the Grand for 22-days. If I might suggest, here is a Celebrity excursion you may want to consider if you like wildlife, and it's not sold out yet.

Destination Highlight Bering Sea Crab Fishermens Tour | Ketchikan, Alaska | Shore Excursion | Celebrity Cruises

For more details about this excursion on the Aleutian Ballad, here's the post from my Live From thread with photos.

25 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Southampton ...

We have an upcoming cruise this summer roundtrip out of Southampton. We have booked the PCL transfer both ways between the airport and the ship for $64 per person each way. Here’s what’s in our Travel Summary regarding the transfer from Southampton to the LHR airport. Since our booking is handled by our TA, she had to reserve the slots with PCL for us.

Here's another question you might also want to ask. How many chairs and/or sofas are in a (1) regular Balcony, (2) Deluxe Balcony, (3) Premium Balcony, and (4) Premium Deluxe Balcony? We only book mini-suites or higher but have heard there is only a desk chair in a regular Balcony cabin.

4 minutes ago, Glofen said:

Ken, I am booked on the Princess Sapphire South American Cruise for January 2025.  Do you have a recommendation as to whether the starboard or port side is better for this particular cruise?  It starts and ends in Buenos Aires and goes to Antartica.

If memory serves, the starboard side seemed to have more viewing options that the port side. For example, Glacier Alley will be on the starboard side when heading from Ushuaia to Puerto Arenas. Also, when cruising through the Antarctica Peninsula channels, the ship always seemed closer to land on the starboard side.

For those that were hoping to book a cabin on the Sky Princess for the 14-day Aug 12, 2026 Solar Eclipse cruise, I’m hoping you were able to reserve it at a reasonable price when Princess “quietly” first opened their summer and fall 2026 European itineraries for booking a week early for those that had cruised with Princess before.
 

The only way we found out about it was through a thread on the Princess forum. Heck, our TA wasn’t even allowed to book them early for us. We had to actually log onto our Princess account to book them. It was really weird.
 

Then, by the official opening day of May 23, the prices had jumped over $1500 pp for a mini-suite, with all higher suites being sold out by noon on May 17. Now what few mini suites are left are over $2500+ pp more than what they were originally going for.

Since Celebrity probably won’t release their Europe 2026 cruises until November or so, it will be interesting to see when HAL and NCL will release their solar eclipse cruises.

We finally made it home safe and sound. Thanks again everyone for following along! 

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

Keep in mind that even on that cruise there is no guarantee. Last year we had few opportunities due to weather. Only a couple of glimpses at the Northern ports, then finally at the last port finally got a clear night with a decent show.

Understand! We were just cruising on the Grand for 3 weeks in Alaska and were lucky enough to see them one of those days when the NL potential was at a 10!
 

We also saw them in Aug 2022 cruising between Iceland and Greenland. I guess my point is that they can be addicting if you’ve been lucky enough to have seen them before.

In any case it’s still a pretty cool cruise and we’re taking the TA back to the US afterwards, so all is good. But we’ll still be hoping for clear skies while we’re above the Arctic Circle! 😁

OTOH we booked the Solar Eclipse cruise in Aug 2026 and the prices are continuing to rise daily with an MB mini suite going for over $500 pp without Plus!