shepp

7 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

Some insurance policies, including cancel for any reason coverage, do not cover losses from pandemics/epidemics.  So insurance might not cover a decision to not travel due to the Coronavirus.

I was under the strong impression that PVP platinum gives you the right to cancel for any reason whatsoever before the ship actually sails, even getting assigned at the last minute to a cabin you hate. If you say "I'm cancelling because my cat is sick," who's going to check up?

You do, of course, only get credit toward a future cruise and not cash, though.

 I doubt that any travel insurance company would take "I'm afraid I might get sick if I go" as a valid reason for medical reimbursement. Really, unless you have cancel-for-any-reason you're pretty much screwed unless Princess takes pity.

When you book, you agree to a set of terms that give Princess the legal upper hand. Even completely changing an itinerary doesn't mean passengers get an automatic refund. In an unprecedented situation like this, Princess seems to be pretty much foundering around from moment to moment. I find it difficult to believe they'll make passengers eat the cost of a cancelled sailing, though if the passengers have already cancelled the booking...

It may be possible, depending on the maitre d', to make advance reservations for certain hours that same night.

The food is IMO better, and certainly better presented, than in the buffet.

23 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

I am curious why you need access to an ATM as incidental items are charged to the credit card that you register for use with the cruise.

We use cash for additional tips.

I was on the sailing and didn't hear a negative word directed toward Princess or the crew. In fact, when improvements in the off-loaded patient's condition were announced, there was applause all around. There will, of course, be whiners no matter what. "So what if someone's life is at stake? I don't want to rebook my flight! "

The Captain was not overly communicative, but given the weather not even he knew just how things would go. Friends of ours were forced to pay three times normal for an airport hotel, but that's not Princess's fault. Pax were not offered even a token for our inconvenience. But unless the sick passenger boarded against medical advice, the situation was nobody's fault. As we all learned this month, travel, even on a cruise, is not a risk-free experience.

33 minutes ago, Mikey0368 said:

You won't be too surprised to hear that I couldn't give a toss what you think. If we're on the same cruise you can get me a pint. You'll presumably be at the bar long before me.

Sorry, but I don't drink alcohol. I have, over the course of over 300 days on Princess, noted that there are insulting, belligerent passengers who might do well staying off the booze, but that's another story.

8 hours ago, Mikey0368 said:

So how long should those in scum class, like first time cruisers like us, expect to wait in queues?

 

If Princess want us to book with them again, leaving us hanging around while they fawn over people they consider to be superior to us isn't the way to do it.

Aww, poor Mikey. With an attitude like yours, I'm hoping you forego Princess altogether, at least any cruises I'm on.

Happy sailing!

Just disembarked from the Grand. There was a tableside grill in the CC area. There were generally two dinner items not on the menu, a main dish and a pasta, and getting a custom omelette for breakfast was quick and easy. Sometimes there was a special hot dinner dessert. Never had a wait for a table and they often seated just the two of us at a four-top for breakfast. Had a great waiter. Service was attentive to the point of annoying; I was asked twice within a minute how my oatmeal was. It was oatmeal.

Since we have priority boarding from being elite and usually do early traditional at a table for two, the main benefit was flexibility in dining time. And very personalized service. Oh, and two splits of wine.  We actually got a free upgrade from a standard mini. Not sure, even with the improved cabin location, whether CC would have seemed worth the money, but it sure was nice.

I booked a mini guarantee for a Hawaii cruise leaving Monday. Finally on Thursday afternoon we got our assignment, which wasn't an upgrade. Then on Friday morning I got a phone call from Princess. With three days to sailing we had been upgraded to Club Class. Go figure.

By the bye, due to illness I hadn't cruised in a while and my usual routine was screwed up. I was already on a cruise when I realized I'd forgotten to file for a shareholder's credit. As per advice from customers service I sent a pdf of my latest statement to Princess and the OBC miraculously showed up a couple days later. It can be done.

A great experience, and by the end of the evening everyone is very...convivial.

Never heard about a campaign. They never contacted me. Did they you?

Vallarta Adventures also books its dolphin activities online, where you can - unsurprisingly - pay a lot less than you would to Princess for doing exactly the same thing. Unfortunately, their exclusivity clause means that if they know you're on Princess, they won't take your money. I guess you could lie to them and say you're staying at a hotel. Better yet, book through Princess and try PCL's price match guarantee. 

I always wanted to do the dolphin swim but my animal-rights husband nixed the idea. Oh well, he has compensatory virtues.

The new Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards are out and, rather surprisingly, in the large ship (2500 to 4000 pax) category Princess is number 2, behind Disney but comfortably ahead of perennial favorite Celebrity (at #6). In the medium ship category PCL lags behind bunch of luxury lines and Disney but still outranks Azamara, RCI, HAL and X.

Yeah, it's just a popularity contest and CN Traveler appeals to a niche market, but it's still nice to see. After all, in Cruise Critic polls Princess often trails Carnival and NCL and Celebrity gets all the glory. Looks like the Royal class is a hit. I do wonder why X didn't score well: gone down in quality? Or maybe the folks in Santa Clarita bought votes? (Just kidding.)

Anyway, congrats to you all for being such discerning travelers.

1 hour ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Shepp-we’re taking about different parties.  For the nightly cocktail parties, you don’t show your invitation because you don’t get one.  You get a card listing every night’s special.  That’s what I was talking about.

 

Youre talking about the repeaters’ party.  That comes with an invitation that you turn in at the door.  🙂

Point taken. The OP referred to "the Captain's Circle cocktail party," which I took to be different from "the Platinum/Elite Lounge." On the other hand, I've never/next to never had my card checked for entry to the lounge.

4 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

Mediocre hors d’oeuvres is a stretch, poison pills would be more accurate. As for the drinks, I order what I like. As for the schpiel by the Host and Cap’n, I am not in need of the total number of members aboard, and rarely does the Cap’n provide any new information. And we never can win that precious bottle of “Champagne “.   😜

 

Actually, I did win the champers once; it was, as I recall, at least better than the swill they give as a trivia prize. I've been on several cruises where a friend was one of the three Most Traveled, and it's fun to see them recognized. But even they get blasé after multiple awards. 

And the last Captain's Circle party was where we found out that there would be a replacement for the Grand home-ported in San Francisco, which I guess was worth the trip to the Vista Lounge.

Not encouraging, but I figured.

6 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Also, whenever I've gone to the Plat/Elite cocktail party, they have checked your card as you entered and if you weren't at either one of those levels, you were turned away.  Guess it's another thing that varies.

They've never checked my cruise card, but they always take each individual's invitation at the door. (I don't know how that works for most married couples, as my husband and I have different surnames and each get an invite.) I don't even know if "He's my husband" would get someone without an invite through, though I can't realistically imagine it wouldn't. Still,  I can't imagine anyone would be so desperate for a free drink and mediocre hors d'oeuvres that they'd try and sleaze in.

Past pax: On previous cruises up the Amazon, was the wi-fi at least acceptable most of the way? Worth getting the cruise-long package, or just a waste of money?

48 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Another suggestion would be to rent a car where you can see & go wherever you want & return the car at the airport. You could time things right & enjoy a nice meal at Fisherman’s Warf. 

 

I also live in the city & with my suggestion you have your luggage in you car & you can spend as much time as you wish in different places. Remember to leave NOTHING in view in your car. 

 

Thing is, that kind of rental wouldn't come cheap.  A Budget rental from the Embarcadero office returned to SFO would be around two hundred bucks for the day, and that doesn't include gas or the cost and considerable hassle of finding parking. For that kind of money they could Uber everywhere, grab a taxi to the airport, and still have cash left over. (And not have to deal with driving around the City at rush hour.) If they wanted to spend time in Golden Gate Park and drive to the Bridge, even to Sausalito, a rental might make good sense. But if they want to see Chinatown, the Wharf, the Cable Car, and other tourist hotspots, less so. 

I just checked the Pier 39 Welcome Center and it unfortunately closes at 7. They'd have to pick up checked luggage by then.

1 hour ago, pris993 said:

if you are that hooked on booking, boy have the cruise lines got you... we never book any of it... and  have a great cruise... don't need to sign up for anything or stand in line..

I will say that if you've never done the Chef's Table, you're missing out.

2 minutes ago, zry900402 said:

We are not the type of people who like to walk around in town and shop for souvenirs or handicraft. In fact, my husband hates all forms of shopping with a passion, so how nice or not nice the port itself is irrelevant for us. Instead, we love nature, forest and animals. I think it's against the rule to post name of the operator, but we did find a local operator in Hoonah (same place as ISP) that offers wilderness tour and brown bear search for 100 dollars. The tour is very well reviewed on tripadvisor. They also have a whale watching tour. I can't find any other wilderness or bear search tour for that price in the entire state of Alaska. Even a car rental in certain ports is more expensive than that. So I would say that it's possible that you just didn't do enough search before the cruise? I know in most popular ports, you can just wait until you get there and there are just a ton of operators at the dock waiting to take people on tours, but for the smaller ports, it simply require more pre-planning. 

I stand corrected.

The only thing I wonder about is whether the local provider has an exclusivity deal with Princess, or whether it's possible to book when you're arriving on Princess. On my upcoming Amazon cruise, I booked a tour with an operator who'll book HAL pax but passengers on most other lines have to book the very same tour through the ship. (For, I assume, more money.) Both times I was at ISP I booked ship's tours, so didn't do research on independent options.

5 hours ago, XBGuy said:

OP, in my view Icy Strait Point is the absolute best Alaska port stop.

Now, here is what I really like about the Icy Strait Point stop.  All the businesses are locally owned.  There are no Diamonds International outlets, there are no Walmarts.  Every dollar I spent there supported the local economy.  None of it was funneled back to some corporate entity.

I'd beg to differ here. I totally support the port making money for the tribe. But at most ports, you can shop around and use locally owned operations for a variety of excursions and activities. At ISP, there's a virtual monopoly. Pretty much you book through excursions through the ship or not at all. So in fact maybe 20% of the dollars you spent on your excursion actually went straight into the corporate coffers in Santa Clarita.

And if you don't want to spring for a Princess excursion, there's little you can do in port. Second time I was there, I did the ridiculously expensive zip line as a special treat, then felt ripped off.

No one is forced to shop at Diamonds International, anywhere. But at ISP, your options are limited.

1 hour ago, 1emerald1 said:

Those who are Platinum and Elite passengers are rewarded for their loyalty and one of the perks is priority boarding.  If your socialist theory were enacted the benefits of early boarding would be eliminated.  I suggest you cruise more and then you can line up and be the first onboard and race around making your reservations.

That plan has, of course, precisely nothing to do with socialism. Not even in SoCal.

4 hours ago, skynight said:

Pier to Golden Gate Bridge

Vista Point Stop

Drive through Houseboat Community to Downtown Sausalito

Free time in Sausalito

Sausalito to San Francisco Ferry Building

Free time at Ferry Building

Ferry Building to SFO Airport

Is this the tour? It's 4 1/2 hours. Probably begins around 9:30/10am. Actual details will be provided on your tour ticket. You will clear immigration/customs, and pick up your bus at the pier. Your luggage will be loaded on the bus and you will visit the sites mentioned. When you get to the airport you will be dropped off at the terminal and retrieve your luggage from the bus. 

That would still leave the OP with many hours to kill at SFO. And Sausalito is nice enough, but not what people think of when they imagine San Francisco. (OK, you do see the Bridge, but that route puts you on the bus through boring neighborhoods for a large proportion of the time.) A better plan might be to store their luggage at the nearby (Uber-able) Pier 39 welcome center (not sure about the hours), then either grab a HOHO bus to show them around or get a Muni bus pass for the day. Grab a taxi to a museum or two. Or they could just hang around the tourist stuff at the Wharf. Then pick up the bags and a take a SuperShuttle, rideshare, or BART to SFO. It does require some coordination and a bit of effort, but that's what I'd do if I had a day to kill and had never been here before.