shepp

If you can’t come in early and spend the night, then SouthWest is definitely the way to go.

I can remember one delightful Southwest flight that was over 2 1/2 hours late for the 90 minute trip from SFO to LAX. Since then, I've always done my damndest to fly in for a cruise at least a day in advance.

Embarkation day lunch is available at the buffet, the International Cafe (salads and sandwiches), and one of the main dining rooms. But lunch in the main dining room is strictly for those arriving before 1:30 and as a first-timer without priority boarding you may not be on board in time to get there by then. The outdoor grill and pizza place may also be open, dunno. The Italian restaurant, Sabatini's, will not be open then and in any case is not fee-free.

It's truly impossible to know whether the fare will go up or down from one day to the next. On my Japan cruise, the fare plummeted for just a few days, then shot back up again as the ship sold out. If I'd waited a couple of days to reface, I would have lost a four-figure refund. On the other hand, fares on my next Japan fares have gone up since I booked in May under another sale, and when OBCs are all figured in, they're considerably more expensive now under 3-for-Free.

As has been covered in previous threads, 3 For Free may be a great deal...or not. I made three bookings previous to the sale. When my TA and I looked at the bottom line, only one of the three was worth re-faring: I would have lost money by re-faring the others. On two of the cruises, it seemed that the "free upgrade" didn't mean the higher categories cost what the lowest category had, but that the cheaper categories had all had their fares raised to match the most expensive.

What was your experiment that did not work?

 

a) the offer showing but unable to add it to a different type card?

b) the offer showing but unable to add it to the same type card in a different person's name?

c) other?

The now-defunct tab trick:

I have three AmEx cards on my online account. As an experiment, I signed in, scrolled to a "one per cardholder" offer (not the Princess one, but one I'm not going to use), opened a tab, switched to a second card, did the same, and repeated. Went back to tab #1, hit "add to card" and quickly went to tab two. When I almost immediately hit "add to card" I got a message saying that the offer had already been added to one of my cards. Didn't bother trying the third.

As I said before, my husband is an AU on my Premium Gold Rewards card and we each got the offer. He added his, mine was still there, and sometime later I added it, no problem. That's kosher; adding it more than once to cards with the same Social Security number is now apparently impossible. But there are other offers that, for instance, specify one per card, not one per cardholder, and if you get that sort of offer on three cards, you can register three times. Have to check the fine print.

Yet another vote for the Embera Indian excursion. I too felt it was the best of the (admittedly few) Princess excursions we've booked. (That and the Juneau floatplane to Taku Lodge.) It's really not offered?

I find it hard to believe that Princess wouldn't offer any shorexes on Gatun lake. All that lost revenue....

I do feel it's shame that Princess has virtually eliminated Panama City from their full transit itineraries. Great place to spend a day.

ED is still Lee Childers.

:( Oh well.

I hear that cruise has been canceled. Fear of attack by Viking mercenaries.

Fall tends to be warmer in SoCal. We tend to get Santa Ana winds, which are warm, and clear sunny days. Spring tends to be cloudy and cool.

The Pacific isn't the Carribean, though. Even the the air temp is hot, water tends to be in the chilly mid-60s.

I got the offer and am past final payment. I'd like to purchase OBC to try and get the credit. On the Cruise Personalizer there are options to pre-pay gratuities, purchase casino credit, reserve specialty restaurants... What's the difference, can't generic onboard credit be used for all of those expenses? Thanks.

In theory not allowed, viz:

Excludes if not booked at time of reservation: airfare booked through cruise line, excursions, Prepaid food/beverage programs, prepaid gratuities, prepaid wi-fi packages, spa packages, photo & video packages, onboard celebrations, luggage valet services, Travel Insurance, Vacation Protection, motorcoach program, charters, meetings and incentive bookings.

Does the Island Princess have a Sanctuary and would it be a good place to be to go through the Panama Canal?

If you're in the Sanctuary you're all the way aft, so you miss the view from the bow of the ship as it approaches a lock and is hooked onto the mules and the gates open, to me the most exciting sights in a transit. The aft of the sanctuary will provide a view of the closing locks and water flowing in, but it's definitely a rear-view mirror kind of thing. (The Island used to have great aft public viewing platforms but lost them to the Princess bean-counters.)

I generally ping-pong forward to aft and back again. The Sanctuary is comfy, but if you stay there you'll miss at least half the action.

Sorry to disagree

The only adult only pool on the Star and all the Grand class and Super Grand class is the aft pool on the Horizon Terrace, mid indoor pool and the outside fwd pool are for all passengers, including children

Indeed. The indoor pool admits kids, and if there are a bunch playing (and if there's a ping-pong game going, then that too) can make it less a peaceful retreat than an echo-y mess.

24 days (Pacific Coastal), 198 days (South Pacific), 325 days (Japan), 336 days (Japan), 495 days (Antarctica), with a HAL cruise (Amazon) stuck in 41 days from now. Busy.

Thanks, best answer. Wondering if kids would get to see movies or just adults. I am looking forward to it, hope the weather is good enough to see at least one. Do the movies play on the TV's as well if we feel like laying in bed and watching one night.

Not to be a wet blanket, but I'm no fan of MUTS. Many screens have ridiculous numbers of dead pixels, sound levels are often too low, too many interruptions by noisy passengers and ambient sounds. The best MUTS experience I had was a few years back; during the climax of a pretty stupid fantasy film the ship was visited by a torrential rainstorm. We ducked under cover and enjoyed the multi-sensory experience.

If it's a film I really want to see, I'd rather watch it in the Princess Theater. And even if it's not...I started watching Wonder Woman at MUTS, gave up because the sound was bad and the resolution lousy, and had a much better time watching it back home on HBO. (And daytime MUTS is even worse, and intrusive if you want to use the pool without being subjected to a romcom. Though singing along with Mamma Mia! was fun.)

Oh, and one other First World Problem - the popcorn is usually second rate.

I'd go for the Royal simply because it's a spiffier ship. Some of its drawbacks - the lack of a real promenade deck, the relative paucity of pools considering the number of pax, the inward-facing design - would be more of a negative on tropical cruises, but for the Pacific Coastals they wouldn't be a big factor. No covered pool, though.

The 3-for-Free might be a great deal or might not. Some people are reporting major savings. I'd already booked three cruises that are now covered by 3FF. I actually would have made out worse had I rebooked two of those cruises under the present sale. The third I did rebook, but only netted savings of a couple hundred bucks.

Book now with a discount TA who won't charge a change or cancellation fee should things change.

(Especially if you have Future Cruise Deposits or if tying up the deposit for that long isn't a big deal for you.) You'll get the best cabin selection, and 3FF has refundable deposits. As far as fare changes go, one thing is certain: the prices will go up, or go down, or stay about the same.

I hate the phrase, "I don't flaunt my lifestyle." It reminds me of Renato trying to teach Albin to "walk butch."

When my husband and I are on a cruise, we hold hands, slow dance together, even compete in the marriage game...in other words, do what lots of straight couples do. Are we "flaunting?" And if we are, are those straight people flaunting their lifestyle, too? Come to think of it, just what is a "gay lifestyle?"

BTW, the only outright homophobia I ever experienced on a cruise was on HAL, but that was over a decade ago. Times have changed.

Your discount may be fine. It is hard to compare discount rates reported unless folks are specific. You calculated on total invoice. Had you calculated based on your bottom line net (after deducting the extra OBC), your discount percent would be even higher. Whatever an agency discount is, it will be calculated on the commissionable fare only. So you need to know what the non-commissionable portion is and it may or my not be shown on the agency invoice. My agent discounts Princess 15% from commissionable fare, so the percent amount off the total fare is less than that. Higher category cabins will result in larger discounts because the fares are higher (the non-comm portion remains constant).

Actually, I included the TA's OBC in my figuring. Her overall discount usually is closer to 8%...still better than Princess' fares.

Interesting post. I never figured out the "commissionable" thingy though the TA tried to explain at least once. We aren't big spenders, so others' claims to bigger discounts may be due to their booking suites while we settle for obstructed OVs. In any case, I'm happy with what we pay and the service we get.

As is often the case with "what should I do?" questions like yours, it would be really helpful to know what your interests are. You like zip lining, scuba, shopping, looking at wildlife, lying on a beach drinking foo-foo drinks? Any budget parameters? Always take ship's excursions or more into exploring on your own? (Cartagena, for instance, is easy enough to explore on your own with a decent map, some tourist info, taxi fare, and sun protection. Been there three times, went on a pay-as-you-like tour once, once did a great Princess trip to a mud volcano that apparently is no longer offered. But mostly husband and I just struck out on our own, which suited us better than being shepherded through the old town in a group of 40 pax and paying for the privilege. YMMV.)

Because you pay a chunky premium for ship's tours, and we're pretty independent travelers not big on groups, we rarely take Princess shore excursions. And when we have, we've had some real winners and some big losers. But one Princess tour I will recommend, assuming it's offered on your itinerary, is taking the Embera Indian excursion from Gatun Lake. I've usually found those "let's go look at the natives" jaunts depressing, but that one was outstanding. And if you want a referral to an agency that does zip-line trips in Limon for a lot less than Princess charges....

Gee I wonder how mankind survived for millennia without bottled water.

A cruise is hardly eco-neutral in any case, but the boom in bottled water is an environmental disaster. Petro-chemicals are used to manufacture bottles (the vast majority of which aren't recycled), fossil fuels used to transport bottled water.....

While some municipal water supplies aren't great for drinking, tests have shown contaminants in many well-known brands of bottled water. I'd trust ship's water at least as much. And, has been noted, many companies just use repurposed (free) tap water and charge you plenty for the privilege of drinking it. It's bad enough to be on a ship belching pollutants into the atmosphere without adding to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

And as far as taste? Try this link:

You can also buy a water package before you leave on Princess's web site. It is 12 bottles for under $7.

And they also have plenty of running water onboard, and hey, it's free. Seven bucks will buy you a decent refillable water bottle that can be used on all subsequent cruises, and won't contribute to the bottled water eco-disaster. Sermon over.

I had Princess do a "comparison booking" and it is less expensive for me to book direct even after the TA assured me that I was getting the lowest possible price with 3FF after her discount and obc. I finally decided to look into it instead of taking her word for it, and I'm about $100 better off booking direct. I find working with her awkward and she's not particularly friendly, when I ask a question I get a stock answer "you're already getting the best price." This way I don't have to deal with email responses that make me feel like a pest, and I'm also assured of getting upsell or move over offers right away.

I'm always amazed by stories of shady TAs in these days of easy cross-checking on the internet. A few days ago I used my TA to change a prior Antarctica booking to 3-for-free. Just checked my fare (different cabin, same category, hasn't changed since) on the Princess site against my TA's charges. Total for Princess.com $7078, total on my TA's invoice $6530 with $85 group OBC thrown in for good measure. I know some folks say they get 10% or more off, but savings of 8.8% is plenty good enough for me. My TA never acts like I'm pestering, returns phone messages quickly, is friendly and responsive, no booking and cancellation fees, and has gotten in touch promptly re: upsells and move-overs. As has been said, I'm holding on to her!

I'm totally not seeing what the OP saw. There's an enormous number of available balcony cabins on Emerald deck.

Tin the past we have always been given the lowest price of interiors during the 3FF......however this time princess has ALL interior cabins at the same price except for these select few in mid ship......***....looks like they also did it with balconies and mini-suites as well.......our overall pp price went up $4pp to get about $300 in perks so in the end worth it to us...but seems a bit shady on princess part to not honor the lowest price of interiors for all interiors

The "free upgrade" means that, by definition, all inside cabins will cost the same. (And, AFAIK, it's always been that way.) In your case, sounds like you wanted a cheaper location and now won't save on the fare by booking that rather than a mid-ship. Princess won't honor a fare from before the sale started. After the sale, will the price of lower inside categories - without the current bonuses - go back down or not? No one knows.

It's up to you to decide whether the grats and OBC make booking during 3-for-free worthwhile.

The deployments are set, do not expect any additions. Princess decided to have both Island and Coral in South America most of the season. And to use the new locks almost exclusively for the Winter 2019-20 Panama Canal cruises.

With a lot more ships able to make it through the new locks than the old, I'm thinking that Princess decided to sidestep that increased competition and send the Island/Coral to S.A. instead. There are new Antarctica routings on the Coral, and since I jumped at one (and have already done a few Canal sailings), I, unlike the OP, am quite happy with the changes.

Can't please everyone, I guess.

Sigh. I already had two Japan cruises booked with nice OBCs included. When I checked with my TA, the fare has increased so much that I'd actually lose money by rebooking free-for-three. There was also a fare increase on my 2020 Antartica cruise, but by rebooking and burning off the higher fare with the free gratuities I netted a big $100 OBC per person. A lot of math for not much. Oh well.