shepp

44 minutes ago, Nein2 said:

It is all bout tips.  Nothing more.

I can't even figure out how that would work. AFAIK, standard gratuities are pooled, then paid out. It's not like ATD waiters get paid based on how many people they serve.

15 minutes ago, zry900402 said:

 

Please please let me know if there is any other reasonably priced excursions in other ports that offers chance to see brown bear, cuz I can’t find any. 

Hmmm. Most cruises don't stop at Haines, but when were there we rented a car, easily drove to a little dam where the salmon got backed up, and the bears were right there across the road, chomping away. I assume that's a seasonal thing. Maybe other people have better suggestions?

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Most rental car agencies have offices in the city within 1-2 miles of the port.  You could choose the closest drop location to the port and use an inexpensive taxi or even less expensive Uber to get to the pier.  

Many of the downtown agencies have very restricted hours, though, and are often a lot pricier than the airport locations. Plus, using a downtown agency means you have to get downtown in the first place. Assuming the OP is heading out as soon as they arrive and can handle their luggage, picking the car up at the airport, dropping it back there, and BARTing to the Embarcadero is the most cost-effective route and not at all difficult.

2 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

like I mentioned - we'd never had this problem with Princess before. And we can only cruise during Thanksgiving and spring break, so it's not like I tried booking for less popular times in yesteryears.

Maybe you've been lucky? Maybe more people feel like they can afford cruising now? The way the stock market is going, maybe more cabins will become available soon? 

3 minutes ago, Bollycats said:

Maybe it WAS to verify I was an ATD and they are policing it. 

One can hope.

9 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

 

I was unable to book any interior cabins for 3 people on either Regal or Royal Princesses this Thanksgiving. None have been available for a year! A year!

I've booked an inside on an Antarctica cruise a full 15 months from now. As of today, insides are completely sold out. Takeaway: lower-priced options on desirable cruises go fast.

2 hours ago, zry900402 said:

Island goes to Icy Strait Point for northbound sailings while Coral does not. Not sure why the difference but we liked Island more because we want to visit ISP. We will probably reserve the Coral and check to see if anything opens up on the Island. Will we be able to change ship without penalty if something does come up?

Might one inquire why Icy Straight Point is important to you? I've been on five Alaska cruises, including two that stopped there, and IMO compared to other ports it's just meh. It's a place specially created for cruise tourists; unless you go on the utterly overpriced zipline or take a pricey ship's excursion, there's nothing there, really, except a pleasant walking path and a reconstructed cannery. Anyway, as many of us are only too eager to tell you, the Coral is nicer than the butchered Island, especially if you have an inside and are dependent on the ship's public outdoor viewing spots.

And as far as "unfair": Princess is a business. Businesses aren't fair, especially to those they stand to profit least from.

3 hours ago, Coral said:

Correct -  but it doesn't cover you if something related comes up on vacation. My Mom had a complicated medical condition and I would never chance Princess's insurance. Yes - it would be nice to be able to cancel if she didn't feel up to it but if we needed medical care out of the country, I didn't want to chance if it would be covered or not. Thus, with 3rd party - I knew it would be.

 

Plus medical limits on Princess are so low so if something serious/unrelated came up - I want more coverage.

 

 

Indeed. I'm fortunate to have first-rate medical insurance that covers me fully while abroad, so my circumstance is rather different. One thing that's happened, though, is that that same HMO used to cover medical evacuation but post-Medicare-age no longer does. Should I have an unlikely crisis, I'm not sure what effect the "preexisting" clause would have on evacuation coverage.The real joker in the pack is this lookback stipulation: "or has symptoms causing a person to seek diagnosis, care or treatment." Like I said. my condition is very stable, but if I'd called my symptom management  nurse and asked for advice on, say, dealing with increased pain, would the insurer then be able to refuse payment?

Every time I research travel insurance, I get a headache. Hey, maybe I shouldn't say that in public?

1 hour ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

 

Absolutely.  Two reasons why:  Princess used to offer much lower upsells and then it was worth it.  With the new upsells, many times it isn't.  When you look at the current rates and you see that the balcony cabins are going for LESS than the upsell price, then yes, it's ridiculous.  Not sure if that's the case in this instance, but in many cases it is and people just get excited to hear "upsell" and don't bother doing their due-diligence.  It really pays to check on current prices including Flash Sale Rates.  This is the case with my recent upsell - it was a savings of a whopping $2 to take the upsell rate.  Uh...not worth it!

Princess also used to put their Alfredo in parmesan bowls and offer decent trivia prizes. Oh, for a time machine....

We have no idea what the poster paid for the inside. Assuming we're talking about the December 7th sailing, current rate for the cheapest inside is $698 pp, for the cheapest balcony $1198 (and we have no idea which balcony cabin was on offer). So that's a difference of at least 500 bucks, or twice what the upsell offer was. Essentially, it's "pay for an upgrade to an OV and you get a balcony." Is it the greatest upsell offer ever? No. Is it outrageous? Most of us would say no. (Especially since the poster had already expressed an interest in buying an upgrade to OV.)

The first time I sailed a TA on the Royal, I got a comp upgrade from inside to balcony. The second, I was offered an inside-to-balcony for $300, which I jumped on. Would I rather have gotten another freebie? Sure. But then, I still miss the parmesan bowls, too.

1 minute ago, shepp said:

 

Dang. Dupe.

On 10/26/2018 at 4:01 AM, Coral said:

BTW - with your wife's condition, I would definitely look into 3rd party insurance in the future that covers pre-existing condition. Princess's policy with their look back period is awful for people with pre-exisiting conditions. Even a change in medicine can disqualify coverage. I am not sure you would have been covered anyway if you had purchased it a year ago.

That's one nice thing about Princess Vacation Protection: The 100% cancel for any reason dealie. I'm dealing with stage IV cancer, and right now I'm in great shape and very stable, on the same meds I've been on for over a year. But I'm never sure how I'm going to be feeling as cruise time approaches. CFAR gives me protection if I just don't feel up to it. (Also, PVP rates aren't linked to age, which matters to those of us, ahem, getting up in years.)

I'm going on a HAL cruise in two weeks, and took their cruise line insurance for pretty much the same reason, but though their cancel-for-any-reason clause pays off in cash, their premium version only repays 90% of the fare.

13 minutes ago, Renmar said:

The OP was not looking for a FREE upgrade because she/he posted this;  I'm thinking  of maybe spending the upgrade  fee for an oceanview. Cabin is r236. 

And now claims (on another thread) they wanted an inside all along. Sigh. Cruise Critic is mostly people helping people (especially you, with your invaluable website), but there are a number of, oh, time-wasters here, too. No, the upsell offer wasn't the greatest ever, but was "Pay for the cheapest OV, get a balcony instead." I reckon that most of us, had we had the funds, would have taken it. OK, enough of that. I have a HAL Amazon cruise to prepare for. I paid for an OV-to-balcony upsell on that one  from and that was a lot more than $250.

42 minutes ago, voljeep said:

• a free upgrade - is way different from - a paid for upsell

and why does this bother you so much???

To whom are you speaking?

32 minutes ago, Badgeaz said:

If you checked my posts. I said I'd be happy if I got an higher category  inside cabin I never said I was wanting a balcony. Respectfully

Oh, I checked your posts. At least as far back as August 8th you were asking about upgrade offers, and you did mention considering an OV. (Quote: " I'm thinking  of maybe spending the upgrade fee for an oceanview." ) People patiently answered your questions, explained to you the difference between upsells and upgrades, and criticized your TA. As I said, upgrades within inside cabins only matter if you're in a potentially noisy location, might get seasick forward on an upper deck, or want to be closer to midships. Which us to say, most of us regard an inside-to-iniside as no big thing. Your TA pulled through for you. You got a really nice offer for a two-meta-category upgrade (a balcony being a lot more expensive and desirable than an OV) and turned it down flat. Maybe your finances wouldn't allow it. Maybe you were waiting to get something for nothing. Dunno. Have a nice cruise.

2 hours ago, Badgeaz said:

We are gonna  enjoy are inside cabin I've heard you sleep  better because it's so dark.we will be spending  most of our time enjoying the ship and the ports

You chose to turn down a really decent upsell, as is your right. But might one respectfully inquire why you spent so much time on another thread inquiring about/longing for an upgrade and complaining about your TA, and why any of us bothered to respond/sympathize? 

(BTW, Princess has really effective blackout curtains.)

12 hours ago, jagoffee said:

By the way, the OP posted on a different thread.  Their TA offered them an upgrade from their inside cabin to a balcony for $250 a person for the 10 day cruise.

They immediately turned it down.

After all that whingeing? Hmmmm.

11 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

No idea why you felt the need to throw in that gem, but we've had female stewards before and some of them were the bestest.

This.

5 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have to say I loved Kyoto. If I go back, I will definitely spend more time here. 1 day is truly not enough.

We spent three days there (and in Nara). Still not enough.

2 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Were there any specific immigration procedures for Busan?  I'll admit, I had to look it up (LOL) and it's in South Korea.  And were visas needed for any of the countries? 

No visas required, but you might make sure that you have sufficient blank visa pages in your passport. It seemed like the Japanese stamped our passports a ridiculous number of times, thereby taking up valuable passport real estate. In Busan, we grabbed a cab to the hillside Gamcheon Cultural Village (look that up too). It was a pretty fabulous place to wander around, definitely better than visiting still another fish market.

Oh, and if a stop in Russia is on your itinerary, expect lonnnng customs delays in disembarking there. 

12 hours ago, Travlintrish said:

We found it was more economical to spend a week  before the cruise to visit Hiroshima, Kyoto, Hakone and Tokyo by ourselves using their excellent train service - we didn't buy a rail pass as it worked out cheaper to buy our tickets.

One note here. For many people, Kyoto is the headliner attraction in Japan (and justifiably).  When we went, it (Osaka, really) was part of summertime itineraries. I just looked and it no longer is in 2019, and the spring sailings that visit there are sold out. Even so, Kyoto was some distance from the port, and as it happened a medical emergency truncated the day there, to many passengers' disappointment. If you're going all that way to visit Japan an independent trip to Kyoto before or after the cruse is strongly recommended. 

4 hours ago, Badgeaz said:

I'd be happy if princess  gave me a higher category  inside as an upgrade or even a obstructed view inside  if that even exists. I think I saw those obstructed view inside cabins exist. 

You do realize the only difference in inside cabin categories is location, right? Princess could move you three cabins aftwards, to R248, and it would be an "upgrade." And no inside cabin has a view, obstructed or not. That's precisely why they're inside cabins.

Also, and someone will correct me if I'm wrong, unless Princess offers an upgrade, if you move from an inside to an obstructed view at this point it would technically be a cancel and rebook and you would lose part of your fare (unless you have cancel-for-any-reason insurance),  whatever perks were in effect when you booked, and the deposit if non-refundable. 

I've been on 25 Princess cruises, got one great comp upgrade (years ago, when that was more frequent), one meh comp upgrade, and one upsell offer (on the same ship where I'd previously gotten a similar upgrade for free). So 90% of the time I got exactly what I booked. Sounds to me like your TA  doesn't know what they're talking about, and you'll have to deal with them, not directly with Princess. Think of this as a learning experience; you'll be more knowledgeable and better prepared next time.

11 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

It’s more a case of trying something new, but not at every single meal time (as can be the case on some sailings classed as immersive 😉). 

It's my understanding that RCI's "immersive" cruises are aimed squarely at the Chinese market, and the onboard experience reflects that. (Take that as you will.) With the Diamond Princess, my impression is that it's largely marketed to Japanese and Westerners. You'll feel quite at home, though with a pleasantly international twist.

Keep in mind that most shore excursions involve a lot of hiking through heat, sometimes over difficult terrain, and snorkeling might require stepping off from the boat and climbing back up the ladder afterwards. If your kids, especially the younger one, have the physical stamina involved and if they would be interested in viewing birds and iguanas for a week, then by all means.

Just caught your post. We spent three nights in Santa Cruz before the tour and it was well worth it. There's plenty to do there that won't be covered on your cruise.. It's also tourist central, which means plenty of hotels, restaurants, and T-shirt shops.

We're experienced independent travelers and had no hassles. Keep in mind that Baltra flights are pricey and somewhat uncertain due to weather, so if you're not booking the whole shot with Celebrity, give yourself a cushion. Once in the Galapagos the on-the-ground logistics were actually somewhat of a mess. The Batra-Santa Cruz trip and vv is very doable with some planning, though on the tedious side. The real problem was with the cruise line. We were told to meet the Celebrity rep at the Baltra airport, but X really didn't seem to have it together and a bunch of us sat there for what seemed like forever, not being told what was what. Maybe because we didn't pay inflated prices for the Celebrity Ecuador extension, we didn't really count?  Eventually, though, we all made it to the boat and things went smoothly on the cruise. On the return leg, though, there was a scarcity of buses from the port to the airport, meaning long wait times for us all, independent flyers or no. YMMV, of course.

Quito, incidentally, is well worth visiting, Guayaquil less so and really hot.  But a few days on our own in Santa Cruz was wonderful. 

8 hours ago, Husky61 said:

Some people are more cautious than others about flights.  I wold take that flight in a heartbeat, but I am a person who doesn't stress if I miss a flight.

Yep, there's nothing like sitting around LAX for three or four hours wondering whether you'll make standby on the next available flight to end your cruise in the loveliest possible way.