trvlwrld

Sometimes yes, sometimes no…depends on the local authorities, not Princess policy.   Packaged food is much more likely to be ok, but it’s always a toss up…good luck!

Totally agree with sailing over the holidays is a disaster…won’t do it again…between the strollers and walkers it was not an easy stroll from one end of the ship to the other…great for generational families, but for couples or singles not so much

Enjoy-you will have a great time with your family!

Don’t worry, it will always ask you before it rebooks any flights you are looking at

Last October we printed our final bill after going to the theater on the last night. It showed a non-refundable credit of $101.  Stopped at guest services for confirmation of the bill and was told to “use it or lose it”…After DH and I discussed and refigured our “creative accounting”  bill, we decided that we shouldn’t have any non-refundable credit and would not randomly “spend” the $101 OBC before disembarking.  When we got home and received our final email bill, it showed we owed $12 and they had already charged my credit card.  Called Princess and was told that we must have charged something on disembark morning (shops are closed)… long story short - I gave up since it was only $12, but glad I didn’t go on a final shopping spree to use up my “use it or lose it” $101…otherwise my final bill would have been $113!

Dispute the charges with your credit card company…that got immediate attention from Princess and they fixed our problem within 30 days

If you wait and buy it on board you pay half price with no on-board credit issued…or you can use any on-board credit to pay for it  at half price (at least that was what happened to us last October)

I definitely wouldn’t worry about it.  Princess still lets those with walkers and wheelchairs go on strenuous excursions that are clearly labeled no walkers or wheelchairs.  Last fall we were on one of those excursions and had to miss our last 2 hour stop (a gorgeous waterfall and mini-hike) because there were 2 passengers that had wheelchairs which caused us to be running over a hour behind the other 2 busses on the same excursion.  And no, the excursion desk wouldn’t even give us a partial refund.

Done this more than once and it was different instructions each time…maybe who Princess hires to be the local tour operator.

Your luggage will go with you and stay at your first hotel on the land tour.  You will need a small carry-on or duffle for your overnight stay at Machu Pichu.  You will be responsible for handling this small one on you overnight.  Note that you will be boarding a crowded train with your stuff, so pack light…take rain gear!  Everything is very casual (think camping) on your overnight…even for dinner.  Get ready for an amazing overland!!!

When did gratuities become part of a salary, instead of an “extra” compensation based upon a service that has been rendered?

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Correct.  However, once you are ticketed you can no longer get a fare reduction on your flights.  I learned this when we wanted to choose our Air Canada seats so we needed to be ticketed.  Everything was paid in full before final payment date.  Problem was our flight was reduced by $500.00 soon thereafter.  Nothing could be done for us.  Our CVP tried on our behalf, but it was a firm no go. 
 

 

Good to know!

If you are using EZAir and have fully paid for your cruise, go to your flights page and there is a place to request early ticketing.  When you request this, it will take a couple of days to propagate, but then you should be able to pick your seats.

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

My understanding (from another thread on excursion refunds) is that PCL will first "refund" to OBC is any OBC was used to pay for ANY excursion - up to the amount of OBC used - and only then issue a refund to credit card for any excess.

They have indicated that even though I paid over $1100 on my CC, they will apply the OBC last (when refunding) and so will only refund as OBC.  My other choice is now to cancel all excursions ( some are sold out) and start over again.  This policy is so frustrating…I guess they chose to save money by substituting lunch for shopping and save $$$ to put back in their coffers!

The cruise is in June.  They will not refund my money, will only give me OBC instead of a refund to my credit card

Princess just changed my $200 pp excursion to Brussels by removing lunch and substituting 2 hours of shopping but kept the price at $200.  I would book a private tour but it is a 2 hour drive back to the port and I don’t want to have to worry about getting back in time (yes-I have seen them leave late comers running down the dock).  When I called to cancel,  their answer was to give me $400 OBC even though I have paid over $1100 total on my credit card toward excursions for this cruise.  I know their refund policy, but when they change the excursion, it seems like the rules shouldn’t be applied in only their favor!  I’m certainly going to think twice about booking anymore excursions with them!

You can wear as much or as little as you feel comfortable.  There is a lot of upselling and that takes the enjoyment out of it, so I choose to schedule one right after I get home…great way to extend my vacation!

I feel your pain…went through the same thing when we hit 150 days in the middle of a B2B several years ago and the Circle host insisted it had to be 15 cruises in addition to the 150 days…I was so frustrated I finally just gave up and waited for Elite benefits on our next cruise.  

We always attach our Princess luggage tags before leaving home.  A gate attendant clued us in a couple of years back…if the airlines see a cruise tag or tour group tag attached, they will do their best to make sure your bag arrives with you because they don’t want to be responsible for trying to get it to you when you are a moving target on your vacation.

The last time we were there it was complete chaos…they changed the pick up gate 3 times and everyone was pushing and shoving.  It was so crowded, no one was able to move, much less move with luggage!  One of our bags was taken off the coach and was left on the pavement.  Thank goodness we were watching out the window and were able to retrieve it before the bus drove off.  Glad others have had good luck with Victoria Station, but after our experience with the over crowding, we now take a cab back to Heathrow to catch the transfer from there.

It’s usually QE2/38-9 unless there are 2 Carnival line ships in port 

Well, I knew from past experience to wait until they worked out all the bugs, but I was impatient and downloaded the new app.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  Only the next cruise shows up, the other 2 have disappeared (help chat is helpless, Princess can’t find them either), ALL of my dining reservations are gone, only half of the excursions show up, and the only thing that transferred over is my credit card information…including the fact that Princess automatically transferred the credit card to shoreside purchases—and that is definitely NOT something I wanted or signed up for!!!  What a colossal mess—you would think that Princess would be embarrassed with their IT team.  Obviously not!

Speaking of newer ships…was on Enchanted in November and loved the lighter interior colors in the cabins…are Sky and Discovery the same color palate?

Teacher for 35 years…any time you are absent other than a holiday break or summer vacation, or sick days, you are deducted from your salary prorated at 1.5 times your daily rate of pay…so hardly no one takes unpaid days off!!!!

Everyone’s perspective is based on what personal preferences they have.  We don’t frequent any bar area or use the app, we also don’t like to cruise over holidays to avoid families, kids, under 30 crowd, or anywhere in the Caribbean.  I am looking forward to our Norway cruise on the Sky!  This review was very negative, but upon rereading it, found the complaints would not sync with our particular cruise or cruising style.  I know Princess wants to attract a younger demo, but thankfully they don’t have all their ducks lined up in a row to achieve that end!

It’s interesting that we paid our cruise fare in USD but our OBC was converted to AUD, even though it was FCC $$ earned from previous USD cruises😳