CTGirl

Did you dine in the aft dining room on deck 6. We sat to the left as you come in the two tops. My back was to the walkway but I believe it was your son I would hear when he came in. He sounded exactly like my adult autistic nephew. When I finally saw the person he even had the same gait as my nephew. We are going to be on the Regal in November for a family cruise. It will be the first time my nephew will be on Princesses. My brother normally cruises RC and my nephew loves it. I am very encouraged by your comments. Thank you so much. 

48 minutes ago, Fletch1 said:

 

Hi Shelly. Lovely to hear from you. It's been such a looooong time! Hope you and Lance are doing well.

I put great weight on your comments. Perhaps let's converse via email. You should still have my email address?

 

 

 

 

I believe I do.  I will have to search for it.  You can email me at rhyman1951 at gmail dot com.

On 4/15/2023 at 10:10 PM, Fletch1 said:

Greetings,

 

I read recently on another forum that the condition of the Grand Princess has deteriorated, to the point where ceilings in public areas are leaking and there are buckets underneath to catch the leaks. Also, the standard of entertainment has dropped as well. Can anybody who has sailed on her recently provide their opinions?

 

Reason I ask is we are booked on the Grand next year sailing out of Melbourne and I am now considering switching to the Majestic Princess sailing out of Sydney. 

 

Thanks in advance.

Hi Fletch. We are on the Grand right now and we are in one of the affected cabins. My advice is to stay away from the Grand. She is definitely showing her age. We spend a lot of time in Explorers. The chais are horrible, they are so bad you can’t really sit gracefully, you sort of fall into them. I am short and I am can just barely see the table in front of me. That is just a small example. The power outage of course is the big issue. We are making do in our smaller cabin but I will not cruise on this ship again. 

Princess updated the app for IPhones two days ago.  That made the difference for me.  If you have an IPhone check to see if your App is up to date.

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

But it does say only for cruises that sail by July 31, 2023.

Yes, thank you. I did see that. I was not specific enough in my comment. I was concentrating more on the confusing time periods before the start of a cruise upon which one should send in a request.

Still, the July 31 date is far more than 90 days out. My cruise is In March. I met the guidelines but Princess seems to have changed them without letting anyone know. 

13 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That is just weird. We just got our SHBs added on May 3rd to our Jan/Feb 2024 Antarctica bookings. And FWIW my DW called the Princess phone number on the attached Carnival Corporation SHB link (US Annual Report) a few months ago and someone answered relatively quickly. But as with many other things nowadays, it all depends on what time in the morning you call and who you talk with.

 

2021 US Annual Report (carnivalcorp.com)

 

I've also included the latest Princess SHB form in case some folks don't have the latest. BTW no where does it say you can't submit your request earlier than 90 days out.

 

Princess Shareholder Request Form Final.pdf 158.01 kB · 1 download

 

It is weird.  I have both documents you posted, and I read them carefully.  I could not find a restriction on how early you can send in the request. But I did find that the request had to be sent in no later than 2 weeks under the restrictions list on the request form, three weeks prior to cruise departure date in the first paragraph of the Annual Report and 4 weeks prior to your sail date in the third paragraph of the Annual Report.

Like you I always send in my request as soon as I book.  In the past my request was granted within the hour.  I think those days are gone.

I had been trying for two months to get the SHB for my cruise next March.  I must have sent in five or six faxes and emails.  I never got any replies and the OBC was not added to my account.  About three weeks ago I was able to talk to one woman who told me that the SHB could not be applied until 90 days out.  I told her that was not true and explained the whole history of why the SHB could be applied at any time.  She did not believe me, and she was not very nice.  I asked her to ask her supervisor.  The supervisor said the same thing.  I was not happy.  So, I sent in a few more requests and still didn't hear anything.  So last week I called again.  I was on hold for 2 hours before someone picked.  She had to search a bit before she found my request and then she told me that unfortunately Princess was not adding the SHB to accounts more than 90 days out, but she took pity on me and now I finally have it in my account.  I am very disappointed in how Princess is handling this situation.  If they want to revert back to the 90-day rule make it public so that people know what to do and when to do.

On 5/26/2022 at 6:39 PM, HSBC said:

I'll take Princess transfer from Brooklyn cruise port to New York Laguardia (LGA) airport.  Fly to Toronto by Air Canada.

Is 1:00 p.m. flight enough time?

I don't know whether LGA airport is an busy airport or not.

Thanks!

I am debating using a Princess transfer as well to LGA from Brooklyn. May I ask how much it costs in US dollars.

33 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Ok. I now personally know all about unreliable internet access between SF and Victoria.  Yeah. Shouldn't be a problem but it is. 

 

My next voyage is Southampton to NY. Is MedallionNet worth it? Are there terminals with free wifi at various ports (Bergen, Belfast, Cobh, Azores .... not concerned about Boston)? 

 

I'm trying to figure out if it's worth even $5 a day

What ship are you on now?  I am asking because I am wondering if the poor internet is a fleet wide issue. Prior to the pandemic we had cruised on several Medallion Net cruises and the internet was wonderful, super amazing even, especially when comparing it to non Medallion Net internet. I just did my first post restart cruise the end of March and the internet was horrible. And I hate to tell you this but I was on the Enchanted. I am planning on getting the package for the two cruises I am doing prior to the TA as I did not book with Princess Plus. I booked the TA with Princess Plus.  If you want to hold off purchasing your internet until after August 16, you can email me (to remind me) then and I will let you know how it is behaving. 

8 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Island Princess, November 2022, moved from Aft Emerald Deck which will be the isolation unit. We were booked in the last portside BE cabin for a wake view and easy access to the public aft deck. Not sure why they would  waste a public deck by putting it in the isolation ward where no one can use it. 
 

This is a B2B but unfortunately different rooms....first leg is a true upgrade to an M1 so I'm not complaining, the other is a BB on Baja midship starboard. I may just call to switch the BB to something on the port side since the second leg is a transatlantic. 

Hi Ginny. Saw your post and wondering if you could please email me at rhyman1951 at gmail dot com. Thanks. 

I always try to book Emerald deck minis but only on starboard side. I never hear any noise from below except for one time.   I have also never smelled the smoke except for that same time. We were on the Ruby for a NY cruise. We were in the first mini on starboard as you get off the elevator.  People congregated on deck 7. They smoked and they drank and they made a lot of noise. I have never experienced that before or after. I do prefer being further aft. I find it quieter and no smoke. I have been in these minis on both the Royal and grand class ships. 

I must amend my previous post. I did not see your post with the picture of the shore excursion letter. It is very, very helpful. Thank you for posting it. 

3 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Thanks for your question . We would have preferred your itinerary to ours if we were given the choice . We did visit Grand Turk on New Years Day on the Nieuw Amsterdam this year and will share photos of what we did if you would like . 

  Yes we were allowed off of the ship and did private tours of everywhere except Eleuthera ( Princess Cay ) . We had booked a private tour there but when we spoke to our tour provider on the day that we left Port Everglades we were told that  they were not allowed to meet us on our port day when we were there . It's on a day to day basis that people are allowed to leave the bubble of Princess Cay and tour the rest of the island .

Thanks for your response. I don’t have any tours planned for most of the ports. I just wanted to go off on my own. I only booked one Princess tour in Barbados, but I don’t really want to do it.  I booked it because it says on the Princess website that you can’t get off the ship there unless you have a Princess tour.  It may also say you can go with a government approved operator, but don’t quote me on that. I would like to cancel my tour and just go off by myself in Barbados. It seems to me from your reply that that is doable. Did you find that he case?

Thanks for your offer to post pictures of Grand Turk. We have been there many times, so it is not necessary. I will say though that the water around Grand Turk is the most beautiful color of water that I have ever seen.  I look forward to seeing that. 

Thank you so much for sharing all your pictures.  I am following closely as I am on the Enchanted March 20th.  I believe my itinerary is the same as yours except we are scheduled to go to Grand Turk instead of Princess Cays.  We go to Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, Grand Turk and St. Thomas.  Would you mind telling me if people were allowed off the ship in these ports if they did not have a Princess shore excursion.  I realize that things could change from your cruise to mine, but I would still love to hear of your experience.  Thank you in advance.

10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Just want to re-affirm a couple of things that I have on good authority from CR (nothing has changed from my many posts on the topic).

 

1. Supposedly, phone reps cannot adjust the price to 50% when pre-ordering, so not sure how one case I read about happened.  I guess it was some sort of override (perhaps I will call some day and see if it works for me).

 

You might be referring to a post I made a few days ago.  I had trouble with my cc on the app when trying to purchase internet for an upcoming 10 day cruise. I called Princess to see what they could do.  The woman I spoke to was able to purchase the internet for me at a cost of $100 (rounding).  She then told me I would receive the 50% discount once on board the ship.  I knew that was what was supposed to happen and that was the end of it. 

About an hour later I had to call Princess for something else.  During my conversation I mentioned that I had just purchased the internet for $100.  This woman said that I should have been charged $50.  She said that when the new perk came out there was no way for their system to know who was Elite and Platinum so they devised the system of the up-front payment with the reimbursement on the ship.  She then told me that there is now a code that an agent such as herself can enter at the time of purchase to give the discount right away.  She then cancelled my previous internet purchase and sold me a new one using the code.  I was charged $50.  She told me this code was very new and not all the agents even knew about it as yet.  It was not an override.  To me it was one of those right time right person situations.

If you do decide to call Princess make sure you tell them that there is a code and if the person you talk to doesn't know about it have that person ask his/her supervisor.  Good luck.  Hope it works.

2 hours ago, jwattle said:

St. Lucia and Barbados are currently ship excursions only; this may change by the time your cruise sails.

1 hour ago, CruiseVA said:

This will depend on your cruise, what happens now doesn't really matter.

 

Thanks

20 hours ago, QuilterGirl said:

We received literature stating that Dominica (which, we discovered, they pronounce as doh-min-NEE-kah in that country) and Grenada require Princess or port/governmental-authorized tours; no roaming on one's own by foot (although it may be that certain taxis are authorized). 

I am on the Enchanted on March 20th. Among other ports we go to St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts. I am wondering if passengers are allowed off the ship and can roam freely if they do not have a Princess shore excursion at those 3 ports. 

57 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

We used to get 25% off the onboard package pricing.  Now we get 50% off the cost either pre-cruise or onboard.  The internet is all unlimited now.  

 

PRE-CRUISE

Single Device           = $10/day

Four Devices            = $20/day

 

ON-BOARD

Single Device           = $15/day

Four Device              = $25/day

 

ON-BOARD - Single day purchase = $20/day

 

You can see the internet pricing for your voyage in the MC App.  However, if you order today, it charges you full price and you get the 50% as refundable OBC.  Eventually, Princess will update the App to recognize your Circle level and charge you only the 50% net price.  If you order on-board, you are billed only the net cost to on-board account. 

 

They are supposed to be offering the pre-cruise price, less 50%, off on Day 1 to eligible members because the App doesn't offer the discounted price.  If you call Princess pre-cruise to order, I believe they are still charging you full price in advance with the OBC coming on-board.

I tried to purchase internet on the app two days ago but had a problem. I called Princess and was charged the full price. I didn’t have a problem with that as I knew I would get half back once on the ship. But then I had to call Princess again about an hour later. During my conversation I mentioned that I had just paid full price for he internet. The woman I was talking to said that Princess now has the ability to recognize loyalty levels. She said it was brand new and all she had to do was apply the right code. She refunded me my first payment and recharged me at half the price. 

Have a wonderful cruise.

5 hours ago, Esjung1 said:

I purchased mine as well today but paid $69.93 using a princess gift card.  On another note, I've never purchased the WIFI package before, does this include sending text messages to people that aren't on the ship?  IE. If we need to stay connected with loved ones at home (or work)  can we text as part of the WIFI package?  I believe phone calls are charged at whatever your wireless carrier charges but I'm not clear on what the WIFI packages includes.  Any insight would be appreciated so I don't rack up a huge phone bill! 

Steelers36 is correct in that texts are sent via the cellular network.  However, if you have an Apple device such as a phone or an IPad you can text somebody who also has an Apple device using wifi.  I don't know if this is possible using other brands such as a Samsung phone to another Samsung phone or tablet.  I only know Apple.

As for phone calls - if your carrier and your phone allow you to make wi-fi calls you can do so without a charge as long as you are on wi-fi.  You can check in your phones settings to see if the phone allows you to make wi-fi calls.  Check with your carrier to see if they allow you to make wi-fi calls.  And as a final note - It is always a good idea to turn your cellular services off when on the ship. 

What do you use to get a clean cut when you cut it out of the paper, including the whole? Thanks!

1 hour ago, Shaver John said:

How many days did it take to be invited to the top 40 Most Traveled Guest? Please let me know if you do not mind.

I think the cut off was something like 490. It was a very nice lunch. 

12 hours ago, jrblach said:

Jan 16 – at sea. 32F. Most traveled passengers lunch

We were there too.  Which officer was at your table?  We were with the Entertainment Director and his wife.  We had a lively discussion.

6 hours ago, erber said:

Tv is not on demand . Coral is not updated with on demand tv yet.

Thanks and darn.  My last several cruises have been with on demand tv.  I got spoiled.  Oh well small price to pay to see Antarctica.  Enjoy your cruise.

6 hours ago, erber said:

Internet is slower and so far we have tv reception. I was in  the process of trying to upload photos of maps and other information sent to our staterooms regarding the Antarctic part of our cruise. All uploads failed. So at least for now I cannot post photos. I'll try later. If I can'tger anything to upload,  I'll try to catch up after we are further north again. 

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your vacation to post all of this. We get on when you get off so I am reading every word. You mentioned the TV. Is it the on demand type or is it the older type where you an just go up and down on the different channels?  Thanks in advance.