skents

On 12/18/2023 at 2:21 PM, Thrak said:

On The Bayou has a story. See it on Coral Princess.

This is the best show I have ever seen on any Princess ship.

We used https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/ last July. They met us inside the airport- very easy.  We booked the tour of Stonehenge on the way to Southampton. 

After the cruise, we used them to get to our hotel in London. 

We were a traveling party of four.

9 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Thanks to both of you for sharing your experiences about tips when booking Australia cruises from the US. In just over a year we’ll be sailing around Australia roundtrip Brisbane & have this thread bookmarked for any additional information.
 

With Princess already reducing the value of complimentary OBCs by a third due to giving the same amount in AUD, our $750 AUD is worth only $500 USD. And onboard AUD prices are equal to USD prices so our buying power is reduced by a third. We sail a second cruise from Auckland to LA which has USD OBC & onboard pricing…and we only have one long flight to Brisbane & a drive home at the end. 😊

cruisevac4 & skents…did you book a standard fare or with Plus or Premier?

 

We booked standard fare and after buying internet,  a few drinks, and a couple of casual dining we saved a lot. 

On 7/16/2023 at 5:31 PM, skents said:

I had this issue come up in Feb 2023 when I rebooked  our upcoming Australian cruises that were originally booked in March 2022.  I had originally booked the plus package and one of the sale packages came out in February with the details of the sale showing tips were included, which is the same language the original post included, whether I took the plus package or not.  I rebooked without the plus package. 

 

After everything was updated in my online account, it showed I still had to pay tips. I had my travel agent send the link of the details from the Princess website to his Princess contact.

 

About two days later, he was notified that my tips would be covered. 

 

My online account shows my tips have been paid.  I printed the travel summary for each of the three cruises showing tips are covered in case something comes up later.

I finished my b2b2b from Sydney a couple of weeks ago. Crew Appreciation never showed up on my onboard account. 

I just got off the Majestic and had one of the corner forward facing balconies. You can use it anytime you want to.

Whether you want to will be a different question. If the ship is heading into the wind, you can barely stand up. If the ship has a tail wind,  it will be very calm.

At night, the forward balconies are great for looking at the stars.

Just now, Rick&Jeannie said:

But if you booked Plus or Premier...they'll give you as many bottles of water as you like, right?

That is correct.  I don't get the packages, so I didn't think about that. 

Currently on the Majestic out of Sydney.   No pre-cruise water package and no onboard water package. You can bring water onboard. 

Currently on the Majestic. We got these a couple of weeks ago. 

Thanks for your great review. We are scheduled for April 2025.  We are doing the Jordan pre-cruise and Israel post-cruise tours.  Right now the Israel tour is listed as pending. 

Check your account on the Princess website.  It updates when your cruise ends. It will look like this:

I just completed this land tour, December 30 - January 5.  The actual sites, tours, and hotels were very good. 

The logistics were terrible. (Sorry, but this may get long.)

I am copying an email I received from Princess on December 10th listing the literary and hotels.

My wife tried to get a couple of questions about the tour answered by the Bob Wood group before we left home.  Her emails were never answered.

We arrived a day early,  booked through Princess with transportation to the hotel.  We are at the airport for an hour - transport never showed up.  I called the number given by Princess in my travel summary and it went to voice mail, I left a message and no one ever called back. We ended up taking an Uber to the hotel. (I addressed this with the Princess Service Desk once I got on board and the transfer charges were credited to my account.)

We had our meeting with the tour guide on December 30th at about 4 p.m. and he told us the schedule had changed and the tour would run backwards. Instead of leaving Sydney for Cairns - where we had plans for New Year's Eve - on December 31st,  we would spend New Year's Eve in Sydney with no plans and we had to meet in the lobby at 6:30 a.m. on January 1st to catch our flight to Uluru. While it sounds good to be in Sydney for New Year's Eve, the  short notice and tight schedule did not make for much of a celebration. 

We adapted and had a good trip. The tours at Uluru and Cairns were well done and very nice.  The hotels were fine.

Then we were told on January 4th, that we had to have our luggage out on January 5th by 3:15 a.m. and meet in the hotel lobby at 4 a.m. to get to the airport for our 6 a.m. flight to Sydney.  (So we had to get up at 2 a.m.)

There was no direct flight , so we had to make a connection through Brisbane.  Everything worked out with the flights and we made it to Sydney on time.  As someone who always flies in a day early - our original tour schedule had us back in Sydney the 4th - this was unacceptable. 

So with the unresponsiveness of the Bob Wood Tour Group, the no notice reschedule of the tour and the completely ridiculous timing of the last flight to Sydney, l don't know that I would do this tour again.

Currently on the Majestic. First free tokens from the desk staff were no problem.   Second time I had to argue a little to get free tokens.  It depends on who is working the desk.

One plus I have not seen listed:

A nice quite spot on deck, in the shade, on a sea day, with a good book.

Embassy Suites on 17th Street. Close to the port. A shopping center right behind the hotel for last minute shopping. And if you don't want the hotel buffet, a great restaurant beside Publix,  Joe's Cafe, for breakfast.

With the hotel shuttle or Uber, you will be at the ship in 10 minutes. 

We always book mini-suites because of the size. We like the larger bathroom, the full size sofa, and the curtains that split cabin into two rooms.

Factors that we consider when looking at Reserve Class are the cabin location and per day costs.  If the forward corner cabins are available, we always book them. The per day cost will very depending on when you book.  We are booked on a 51 day South America cruise that cost $10 per day for Reserve Class. I have seen the per day cost as high as $70 per day  

I used the Australian ETA app about a month ago.  Be patient with the photo.  I had to take about 30 photos to get it to work.  I kept getting a message indicating face quality was inadequate. 🤬 

I was on the Regal in July.  I asked and was told no free tokens. Only free if you send it in. I commented about this on the after cruise survey. It seems this would be easier and cheaper for the cruise line.

We used International Friends in July transferring from Heathrow to Southampton with the Stonehenge stop on the way.  After the cruise we used them to transfer from Southampton to our hotel in London.

There were four of us and the price comparison worked well for us.  The service was outstanding and I highly recommend  them.

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We have done the tour to Stonehenge with International Friends.  Good tour, no issues (this was pre-pandemic...)

On 7/15/2023 at 10:08 PM, Mary loves to travel said:

thanks for bringing this back around!     Where it really comes into play is if one might or might not buy one of the packages:    if one is normally borderline break-even on a package, knowing the Crew Appreciation won't be charged can be quite a deciding factor when evaluating the package.

I realize that people who tend to have 3-4 or more alcohol drinks will get benefit from the package either way, but for those of us who are lighter drinkers, this is important to know.

 

 

I had this issue come up in Feb 2023 when I rebooked  our upcoming Australian cruises that were originally booked in March 2022.  I had originally booked the plus package and one of the sale packages came out in February with the details of the sale showing tips were included, which is the same language the original post included, whether I took the plus package or not.  I rebooked without the plus package. 

After everything was updated in my online account, it showed I still had to pay tips. I had my travel agent send the link of the details from the Princess website to his Princess contact.

About two days later, he was notified that my tips would be covered. 

My online account shows my tips have been paid.  I printed the travel summary for each of the three cruises showing tips are covered in case something comes up later.

Enjoying your posts. We are boarding the Regal next week on the 7th.  How has the weather been so far?  Our medallions arrived today and it is time for me to start packing.

We book club class for the cabin location - the food is a perk.  We like the forward corner cabins (M 107 / M108) on the Royal Class ships.

One problem I see with boarding in the middle of the night - your cabin will still be occupied by the passengers who will be leaving the next morning. 

The apple rhubarb pie almost makes it worth the price. 

We always book mini-suites.  The ones with the curtains between the bed and sofa are really nice when my wife sleeps more than I do. I can read, watch TV, or go on the balcony without disturbing her.