ontheweb

I'll second the recommendation for the Scottish Military Tattoo. Also, no predicting weather. We did a British Isles cruise in August 2014 and on our day in London pre-cruise we had the remnants of a hurricane.

I hope to see a report from your trip, and hopefully a very positive one. 😊

Only spending a day in London pre-Prima cruise, but have the same questions. BTW, which sailing are you on? We are on the one leaving 8/6.

Ours go into the recycling bin. It's no big deal.

Different here. I have logged in, but the snail mail (like 3 or 4 at least a week it seems) are addressed to DW. And they started well before we booked a 2023 Prima cruise in 2021. The last we sailed on NCL was in fact in 2012.

I actually started a topic on this in Ask a Cruise Question. I posted the following link: A 5,000-mile wide blob of seaweed is headed for Florida, threatening tourism | CNN

And assuming you read the 2 posts prior to yours, you see approval can be had pre-cruise and it is one of the services that a TA can perform for you (at no cost to you). That is a much better way to go than talking to the staff at check in. It sounds like your Princess vacation planner either did not know how to do it or did not want to bother with the extra work involved.

The Board of Directors sets general policy while the executive management runs the ompany day to day. If what they do does not align with the Board's policy, it is time to get rid of them (as someone else has already posted). I spent 5 years as an elected (unpaid) School Board member so I know the distinction between general policy and day to day decisions.

Yes, corporate boards always have a "rational reason" for what they do. So if you are the on the board of directors for a train company you work to get as few safety regulations as possible. I mean what could possibly go wrong. It's not like you will have a derailment with a massive toxic spill. 😢 Or if you are on the board of directors for a bank you try to get regulations rolled back and give massive bonuses. It's not like your bank is going to fail. 😢 Or if you are on the board of Southwest Airlines, you do not invest in the most modern technology and instead just give it all back in dividends. It's not like on a holiday weekend your outdated technology will fail and basically all your passengers will be stranded without flights and who knows where their luggage is. 😢 I'm sure there are more examples, but those should suffice that just because a corporate board makes recommendations does not make them automatically right.

And then there are those that do not sell out. We did a Western Mediterranean cruise on the Epic in 2012 for our 35th anniversary. There were 2 shore excursions we really wanted. One of them was to Arles (where Van Gogh did most of his paintings) from the port of Marseilles. We paid for it in advance as we really wanted it with DW being an art teacher and Van Gogh being a favorite artist for both of us. And then on the day of the excursion, we were told it was cancelled due to not enough passengers having signed up for it. (6000 passengers and you can't get enough to sign up for it really sucked) And paying in advance for something they no longer provided also sucked.

It would be nice if they could show how many slots are still available for an excursion to give one an idea of how well it is filling. I believe Princess does this, or at least used to pre-Covid.

Exactly how I felt! 😊

This is about as funny a post as I have ever read. Somehow putting out a quality product seems to be a problem for you. Why would making your repeat customers happy cause you to lose your new customers?

If you cannot keep your customers, you will not in the long run keep your ships afloat (pun intended). Read the board for Princess and Holland America, both part of the Carnival Corporation, and see how many after finishing their cruise say they are now done with that cruise line and will either try someone else or do a land vacation. I cannot believe anyone would dispute that keeping customers happy is the most important part of the tourist industry.

Yes, I get those claiming to be from a well know internet security company. I always check afterwards that my internet security from a different company is still activated.

OK, here's my rational reason. I do not like the way they are going about their business. We took our first cruise in 2002 for our 25th anniversary, a Western Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona. The entire travel industry including cruises were hurting as an aftermath of the horrific events of 9/11. All of us who had bought cruise line transfers were given a free tour of Barcelona prior to embarkation instead of just being forced to wait. 10 years later for our 35th anniversary we did a very similar cruise itinerary from Barcelona. This time without the cruise lines hurting, we were just forced to wait with very few amenities. My point is that when things are not going as well as you wish they were, the best way to recapture and keep customers is by making the product better, not worse. And yes, I know basically all cruise lines are doing these cutbacks and price increases, but Carnival claims to be a leader in the industry, not a follower. The best way to improve your business is to improve it, not degrade it. JMHO.

I understand many if not all cruise lines are doing the same, but that does not make it better. We had our first cruise in 2002, and the cruise industry, in fact the entire travel industry, was still trying to recover from the aftermath of the events of 9/11. The cruise was from Barcelona. And all of us who bought cruise line transfers were taken on a free tour of Barcelona instead of just made to wait for embarkation. Ten years later we did a similar itinerary from Barcelona. Cruises were now doing well, and instead of a free tour, we were made to wait for embarkation with no real amenities. My point is when things are not going well, that is the time to go our of your way to make it a more worthwhile experience for your passengers.

I did not say I voted against all their recommendations. I said I voted against re-electing all of them. Just a clarification.

No problem, I just wondered what you meant by your post. Hey, we all make mistakes, we're human.

And that is the problem. Due to their financial situation after the Covid shutdown all the cruise lines are in bad shape and are making these cuts in services and additions to price. But the travel industry is competitive with other choices. Make too many cuts and price increases and potential passengers will take their dollars somewhere else.

I don't understand. Unless the cruise was so long that it went from 1/25 to 3/1 or later, why would this matter? Are they now going to say your credit card must have at least 6 months until expiration (like some countries do with passports)?

I think @Ombudposted something similar recently, and I replied that they would still win. And then he replied that it felt good. Now I totally understand. 😊

Just the poopy seed bagel would be enough for you to fail a drug test. 😢

A 5,000-mile wide blob of seaweed is headed for Florida, threatening tourism | CNN Not only Florida, but Caribbean Islands will be affected by this.

I don't know if I would have used the word unfortunate. That makes it sound like they did not have the choice to buy travel insurance. It was unfortunate they missed the connection to the plane. It was reckless that they did not have insurance. I wonder if they had been advised to buy insurance, but said no.