Daniel A

Sounds like a relaxing time. 👍

You're partially correct, but the choice comes in picking a cruise that permits smoking in the casino versus picking a cruise that has a non-smoking policy in their casino. That's where Caveat Venditor comes into play. If tobaccophobes didn't patronize the ships with smoking casinos, and it significantly hurt the bottom line of those ships, they'd ban smoking in a heartbeat. Disclaimer: I was a smoker many years ago, but I am a non-smoker now, so maybe I can see both sides of the issue.

You raise an interesting point about loyalty. I choose my airline based on where I want to fly and is most convenient and cost effective for me. I do the same with cruising, I sail a lot with Princess as they are convenient points of departure for me from New York, Florida and California and I know I'm comfortable on their ships. I have never sailed on Princess from Europe as I have found the itineraries from other cruise lines to be more attractive. When I sail on another line, I have never felt as if I was being disloyal to Princess, so despite what they call the Captain's Circle program, calling it a 'loyalty program' but that's just semantics meant to make some people feel the same way about 'their' cruise line as they do about their favorite sports team. JMHO.

I am always amused by people who despise smoking yet continue to patronize venues where smoking is permitted, and then complain about the smoke. It reminds me of the people who move in next door to an airport or shooting range and then complain about the noise. The solution is simple - move on to something which suits you better. Caveat Emptor...

I could be wrong, but I always thought the Premium Balcony cabins are usually on the stern or bow. Is this correct? By the way I didn't mean continue a thread drift, I did notice where they are trying to entice you to 'upgrading' to a higher stateroom type "for just pennies a day..." I'm waiting to see where they start doing this for categories within the same stateroom type.

I believe the CDC isn't requiring anything from the cruise industry. Each cruise line is able to make their own health protocols. CDC is now only offering guidance to the industry but no more requirements.

That may not be the case any longer. According to the Plus Beverage Package Terms & Conditions: Package Details and Qualifications Age restrictions apply for purchases of the Plus Beverage Package. The Plus Beverage Package is US $59.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $70.79 per day) for all itineraries except Australia. For all Australian-based vessels, the package is AUD $86.99 per day which includes a service charge. You will be charged the full amount for the complete voyage at the time of purchase. The Plus Beverage Package must be purchased for every day a passenger is sailing. Partial / pro-rated packages or purchase for segments of a guest’s voyage are NOT accepted. The package may be pre-purchased at least four days prior to boarding the vessel. The package is offered on board on embarkation day, and is NOT sold after embarkation day. The package is NOT available for pre-purchase within three days of sailing. The package is NOT available for voyages under four nights. The package is NOT refundable or transferable once purchased on board, and for advance purchased packages, NOT refundable or transferable within three days of sailing. It used to be that everyone in the cabin had to purchase the beverage package, but I didn't see that in the T&C.

If I understand correctly, you can play table games through the app, no matter where you are on the ship. Even in the Sanctuary...

Thanks, @dog I just double checked by doing a mock booking for a cruise leaving September 3, and it only permits a courtesy hold that would expire today. @redroses please disregard my post, they cannot put in a courtesy hold that close to sailing date. Thanks again dog for making that correction. My bad. ☹️

They can put a free courtesy hold on whichever cabin they want to book on Sept 17th. If it turns out they cannot go, then the cabin just frees up with no cost to them. If they can go, they'll be able to make payment in full on the cabin they wanted.

I would encourage you to book any excursions you really want as soon as you can. There are limits to the number of people who can book any given excursion, then they're sold out when they reach the max. On my next cruise, there is an excursion that we really wanted and a year before final payment date, it was sold out and we got 'wait listed.'

Doesn't the refund return to the original form of payment?

Many businesses refund back to the original source of funds. Otherwise, somebody could put $5,000.00 on their onboard account through a credit card, not spend it and demand $5000 cash on the last night of the cruise. Many credit cards charge interest starting from the date a cash advance is taken out, whereas refunded cash from the cruise line wouldn't start accruing interest until end of the billing cycle. Another scenario would be where I used my credit card to cover my young relative's account and they end up asking for the refund to go into their pocket as cash on the last night of the cruise. This doesn't explain why it's taking them so long to either issue a refund check or refund to the original source of payment though.

Does anybody know if HAL is accepting the New York Excelsior Pass as acceptable proof of vaccination status?

I'm willing to wager that OP never sails Princess again since being Elite isn't as important as they thought they were.

I felt bad about the frustration you were experiencing until I got to the part of your initial post where you inferred that persons who are not 'Elite' should get this type of treatment, but not you. That was where you lost me and many others. Your subsequent post (quoted above) cemented my feelings that my sympathy is better directed elsewhere. Your attitude is similar to the person who donates a whopping $5.00 to the local police charity and then expects preferred treatment when they are pulled over for an infraction. We are all the same, no matter how exalted one thinks they are. 😒

Yesterday, I booked a cruise for early 2024. I was cringing at waiting for a Princess rep to answer my call but to my surprise they now have a very functional call back system. I was able to book my cruise with very little difficulty. I know there is another thread about the callback feature, but I wanted to report that given all of the turmoil and tribulations trying to get to Green Lane in the app I was very apprehensive about getting Ocean Ready through the app. Since my cruise is only 500+ days away, I figured that today, I had better start the process in the app. So today, I opened the app, answered a few questions and in about 15 minutes DW & I were Green Lane! The app saved all of our info and all I had to do was review what they already had showing in the app and choose our Medallions and we were done. Very easy peasy. It looks to me that the Medallion Class App has finally come of age. Good work, Princess!

I hope I was able to help you find it. Did you know you were getting it beforehand?

See my prior post at #13 in this thread... I booked directly with Princess, and I am having the booking transferred over to my TA. YMMV.

The same thing happened to us on an NCL cruise out of Seattle. We had a suite which was supposed to have a dedicated check-in line for suite PAX. Nope. There was the sign but nobody working the position. While we patiently waited, more and more people were getting into the main general check-in line. I finally found a supervisor and said we paid extra for this benefit, and we wanted to use it. The supervisor apologized and he personally checked us in. I was still put out by the lack of organization.

Did you find Freeplay on the onboard services page? I hope so.

No, Bob- It wasn't me who had to wait in line with the minions. RIF...

That was our experience before the refurbishment. Since then we roomed together but the Elites were called first.

I booked through Princess and I am transferring to my TA. The $100 Casino promotion credit and my FCD OBC show on that page. I just discovered my Freeplay by accident when I was looking at the Onboard Activity Reservations Tab and the Freeplay showed up at the bottom of that page. It was like reaching into the pocket of a coat I hadn't worn for a while and finding some cash I had left in there! 🤑

My last three times we waited in a lounge with both Platinum and Elite and we had the basic refreshments. They called for the Elites first, followed a very short time later for the remaining PAX in the lounge. It did get to the point of standing room only in the lounge, but one didn't need to stand for long. My most recent experience was in January of this year.