Poulsbo Cruisers

We had D730 on the Regal three years ago. Great cabin with a large partially covered balcony.

Why are you staying by the airport? The train station is much closer to the cruise terminal. You’re more than doubling the distance to the cruise port by going to the airport.

This entire conversation puzzles me because I just don’t understand why tipping wasn’t included in the OP’s initial planning for the cruise. When we decide to book a cruise, we don’t just consider what the cruise fare is. We consider port charges, vacation protection, air fare, excursions, on board charges (including tips), etc. Only after considering all of these expenses, would we make a final decision as to whether we can afford a particular cruise or instead look at something less expensive. It wouldn’t even cross our mind to say we can only afford this if we cut the tips by a few dollars a day.

And then to complain that you booked a particular cabin at a particular fare, but are now upset because fares have come down is another puzzle. The fare and cabin were acceptable when the cruise was booked.

I don’t believe this is just a tipping issue. It sounds more like buyers remorse.

Buy the luggage tags from Amazon. They lock on, impossible to rip. Not very expensive and well worth it! No more staples and packing tape. Takes two minutes to attach. You are spending money for the cruise. Spring for theses. Can be used over and over.

This will be our 7th cruise using the same luggage tags. Well worth the few dollars they cost.

Thank you for doing this. We are on this cruise in three weeks. Looking forward to your review.

We had D728 on our Regal cruise in the Baltic three years ago. We really enjoyed that cabin. What a great place to watch the sea on the sea days. You won’t be disappointed with an aft facing cabin.

We used to do only excursions through the cruise line. Now that we are older and wiser, we do primarily private tours. We find that private tours are usually smaller groups, they cost substantially less and we see more. We have found no problem getting off the ship when we need to be off nor any concerns with getting back on time. But, if you are someone who tends to worry about these things, then go with the ship tour.

We didn’t accept an upsell deal last year from a mini to a suite for our 21 day Mediterranean cruise and then three days prior to the cruise we were upgraded to a suite for free.

I took the best of st Petersburg 2 day tour thru the ship. Be aware that Russian immigration is a lengthy process and ships tours are given first priority for immigration. Guests not on a tour had to go to the concerto dining room when ready to go and get a ticket for immigration. It is the same as tendering

This just isn’t true. It’s what the cruise lines would like you to believe. We used SBP tours and got through immigration very quickly. The SBP ticket served as the visa. We had a small group of 16 in a 20 passenger van. Princess uses 40 passenger buses. We had an excellent tour guide. We saw more in the two days than we would have with Princess at less than 60% of the cost of the Princess tour.

We love EZ Air. There’s just no way to beat their business class fares to Europe. And, yes, our flight times have changed on occasion, but this has nothing to do with EZ Air and everything to do with the airlines.

Everything has to go through Princess until such time as the airfare has been paid and ticketed.

We booked our flights direct with Alitalia for our cruise out of Rome this August. The flights (business class non refundable) are non stop from Toronto to Rome. Price was $3157CDNper passenger, Princess EZ Air is currently offering the same flights for $6309 per passenger. Always check flight prices online, I used Expedia for final booking. Had an Alitalia representative reserve our seats.

That seems really high. We used EZ Air last year round trip to Barcelona from Seattle. Business class was $2350 pp US. This July we are using EZ Air for our cruise out of London. Business class is $2415 pp. To top it off these were flexible fares that could be changed or canceled up to 45 days in advance.

This problem with the ships’ webcams started last September. I’m shocked that it hasn’t yet been fixed.

We are booked on a 12 night BI cruise this coming July on the Royal. We are in an obstructed deluxe balcony for $2299 pp. The price was higher when we booked last year, but we keep watching and have been refared twice. Just keep watching the prices. I’m sure they will come down.

If EZ-Air is showing a flight with an airline that has a basic economy fare then just pick a different airline. Usually, you would get a couple of options under the flexible airfare. You don’t say where you are flying from/to. Maybe there are limited options if it is a small city/airport.

On our 21-day Mediterranean cruise this past September, we had booked the lowest category mini suite (MF) as a guarantee knowing that there weren’t many cabins in the category. We were just hoping for a better category mini suite. Three days prior to the cruise we received an upgrade to a full suite (S5). It was the only time we have received an upgrade like that from a guarantee, but one we will always remember.

9 cruises, 97 cruise days for an average of 10.8 days per cruise.

1 cruise booked for 12 days, which will raise our average to 10.9 days. We should reach elite on our 14th cruise since we primarily do cruises longer than 10 days.

Have you compared the prices to a private tour company? If a private company offers the same tour for less take it. If it’s an exact match (unlikely), Princess will match it.

213 Days.

Interesting to hear about Voice of the Ocean. We received an email from Princess one week ago today regarding the delay in rolling out Ocean Medallion on the Royal next year. That same email included upcoming entertainment options and one of those specifically talked about Voice of the Ocean.

We were three days out from our recent September cruise and two hours from leaving for the airport when we finally received our cabin assignment. We had already printed our luggage tags and boarding passes without the cabin number. All of a sudden the cabin showed up. It was well worth the wait and anxiety as we were upgraded from a mini suite to a full suite.

When we cruised this past September, we had originally booked under the 3 for free. When the anniversary sale came along, we rebooked because we saved a bunch of money. We were hoping the same thing would happen this time for next year’s British Isles cruise. But, alas, it’s not to be. We would have to pay $150 more pp and lose the free gratuities. The increased OBC would not make up the difference. Just goes to show that every cruise is different and that it pays to be constantly checking.

We are on the July 24th Royal sailing. I sent an email to my Princess cruise consultant yesterday regarding the credit. We have already received the $100 pp OBC and a new booking confirmation showing the revised OBC.

Received the email for the July 24, 2018 sailing on Royal. I’ll call and see about the OBC. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

After our recent stay in a suite, I noticed some things promised didn’t really come through. The website shows umbrellas in the cabin. We never found them. Our turn down service was no different than any other cabin I’ve been in. The best perk was the free laundry service.