Daniel A

That's why I take a limited amount of cash ashore. I don't want to have to deal through a third party I know nothing about in order to get a refund on my AMEXcard because of an issue with the merchant.

Although you would be entering the credit card information into the Princess App, when you enter your CC information into the Shoreside Transactions, you are authorizing Princess to share your credit card info with a different company called "Radiqal Gaming, LLC." I have never heard of this company. I choose with whom I share my personal information, not John Padgett, and I don't have any interest in sharing my information with some other company who may share this information with anyone they choose. No thanks.

Will you be staying at a hotel the night before your cruise? If it is a cruise port hotel, they've probably had requests for Medallions to be shipped to the hotel. Call the front desk or concierge and find out if they'll hold your medallion package until you check in. Worst case scenario would be that you would need to go into the blue lane at the terminal if it doesn't show up when you check into the hotel. (It looks like you were planning to do that in the first place anyway) Just a thought.

Glad to help. This is what these boards are for. I also didn't have to purchase a pre-paid card, I had a rebate visa card from a purchase I made. 🙂

How soon can you apply for the Shareholder OBC? I know they want it at least 15 days before sailing, but what is the beginning of the window period? Thanks

Whatever, the Haven guests will board first. When you arrive at the terminal, you may or may not have a dedicated Haven line for security, but after passing security, you will wait in a Haven (VIP) lounge in the terminal. While waiting in the haven lounge, the concierge and asst concierge will check your passports and boarding documents and you should have an opportunity to book specialty dining and shows. There are usually non-alcoholic beverages and snacks available while you wait. Once the ship is cleared for boarding, the concierge or other Haven dedicated waiter will escort you to a dedicated Haven only elevator and whisks you directly into the Haven lounge area while you wait for you stateroom to be cleared. Coordinate your car drop for whatever works best for you to arrive.

@graphicguy - That's not fair!!!! You are just simply whetting my appetite. 😃

Wow! Keep me in mind if you find a deal like that again!! (Our luggage really enjoys their own bedroom.) 😊

I really like the Haven on Epic. I just wondering if the $4,700 was per passenger or was this a huge deal if it was for the cabin? I am also a fan of the 2BR Villas.

I use an online TA company which discounts my cruises with refundable OBC. When I don't spend it, I get my substantial discount. @RocketMan275 - I have AMEX Gold and they keep trying to get me to take the Platinum. We aren't big air travelers, so access to airport lounges isn't a draw for us. What does it do for cruises? I may have been missing out on a perk as I book all of my cruises on the AMEX card.

@benel204 - After my first cruise in the Haven on Epic R/T Barcelona Western Med, when I returned to work, my coworkers asked me how the cruise was. My reply was "I don't deserve to be treated so well." (That was really my reply.) I now realize that I was wrong... I do deserve to be treated that well and I relish every minute of experiencing it and recalling it. Go for it! (Just remember this: If this is your first cruise, and you do it in the Haven, any future cruises not done there will seem less special.)

First off, I just love the Haven and all of its amenities. That being said, I'm not sure I would ever book an aft Haven suite so I would need to walk the entire length of the ship every time I wanted to experience the Haven's amenities. That can get pretty old pretty quickly. I am willing to pay the extra cost so that I can stay in the Haven proper where all of the amenities are right at hand. As far as being "value conscious" one concept to factor in is whether or not the money you would save by just having a regular aft balcony would mean you could add another week to your cruise or would pay for another cruise later on, then you can have a better equation in determining the value of your cabin. JMHO.

Understood. I also understand that consistency across all ships and embarkation terminals is nonexistent, and it has always been that way. What will work on the Regal Princess, won't necessarily work on Caribbean Princess and the same is true for Seattle or Port Everglades. @schooner_Drinker seems to think that the $25 is being spent on the pre-paid Visa card. The $25 on the card is not being spent unless you spend it. If you don't spend it, then you still keep your $25. I don't know what fee would be charged for purchasing it, as the card I used was a rebate from a product I once bought.

Agreed, but until they do fix it some people would prefer the workaround. Trust me, they know something is wrong and they are either ignoring the problem, prioritizing the work or want to keep making you put an authorization in for their shoreside purchases since PCL is now getting a cut of your shoreside purchases made through the medallion. I don't plan to use the medallion off the ship so they're not making any money from me on that. No one is forcing you to follow my suggestion. If you don't plan to do it, then don't. If you're content to rely on free advice to either do the workaround or don't do the workaround, one should do whatever gives them more comfort. After all, isn't that what cruising is all about?

I did. My post started by saying "If you are concerned about only showing 6 of 7 and whether or not it will put you in blue lane at the terminal," The whole purpose of that post was to offer a suggestion if it would give someone peace of mind and not have to rely completely on two posts on Cruise Critic. It is really a small price to pay for the comfort level for some cruisers.

I just checked, and the app is showing both of us are still completely checked in. If you are concerned about only showing 6 of 7 and whether or not it will put you in blue lane at the terminal, you may want to consider going out and purchasing a small dollar amount Visa pre-paid card. If you were to list a $25 pre-paid Visa card for the Shoreside Transactions account, you should end up showing 7 of 7 and all green checkmarks and you are only exposing yourself to $25 which you can either spend onshore or spend it on groceries after your cruise. It worked for me. Keep in mind that free advice is often worth what you paid for it...😄

Instead of standing at the edge of the pool, thinking it would be too cold, I decided to just jump in, so I downloaded the new app. I got exactly what I didn't want to happen. The new app took me out of green lane and was now requiring that I enter a card number for the offshore account. As much as I tried to bypass that scam, I was still showing as being incomplete on my check in, where my wife was all checked in because she didn't have any credit card on file and was listed under mine. I finally got back to all green when I put in the numbers for a $40 gift card I had hanging around.

Were you able to just walk onboard? I liked the PES lounge on previous sailings, especially when I showed up early to Port Everglades.

🙄 Thanks for the reminder!! I just printed up our luggage tags... 🤷‍♂️

So whatever device you have the app on would need to have access to a printer? I always printed from my PC as well, I thought the luggage tags weren't even available in the old app.

Do you still need to print the luggage tags from the web page?

Thanks for the response, but I still question the need for it if it has the potential to screw up our boarding. I've been reading that if you don't give permission to share your CC info with the gaming app, then you're taken out of "Green Lane" unless you give that permission. I'm not convinced that I'll have any need for the app once I'm onboard. I can made my reservations a while back, so I don't need it for that.

I have a two-week cruise sailing last week of February and first week of March. I have been green lane since a year ago. I don't plan to botch it up by downloading an experimental app this close to sailing. Since you indicate it's not by choice, what happens if I just don't even bother getting or using the new app? We're green lane, medallions are ordered, and shipping billed, why would I need the new app in the first place? I will not give permission to the 3rd party gaming vendor, so I won't miss that feature or the nonsense which seems to follow that denial of permission. Normally I'm game to try out something new, but the last time Princess came out with an app, I spent many frustrating hours trying to get it to work the way they said it would. That tends to take the fun out of cruising. I think I spent more time trying to get the d**m app to work than I spent being onboard the ship.

I had my Amex card listed in the old app. I ordered my medallions before Princess instituted the medallion shipping fee, so I was not charged that fee. Amex changed my card number due to some fraudulent charges from other sources. When I went into the app to change my onboard Amex CC to the new number, the app cleared all of my purchases and I had to reorder the medallions and same accessories but now they are charging me the shipping fee even though the only thing that changed was the last four digits on my card. It's not worth my time to fight over the $10 charge, but if you change or withdraw payment methods, check your account carefully. If Princess gives my CC number to a company I didn't authorize, then it will be worth my time to make an issue of it.

If that's the case, can you revoke permissions to use the card for shoreside purchases, or do I need to get a new CC number for my card? I do not want vendors in foreign nations having ready access to my account. That should be a fairly elementary premise for shoreside access to my card.