Incognito1

No children is a negative for me. Also, we're conscious of where our money is spent - not going to Virgin.

Port cities on the list of the most violent cities in the US: Baltimore (#2), New Orleans (#7), Miami (#12), Charleston (#14), Norfolk (#43) Outside of some large cities, the US is pretty safe.

The linked UK Mail article does have quite a few facts in it. Definitely made it sound like there were some shenanigans going on with the story.

Always a tip off.

Unfortunately, I have to actually sign up all four passengers to get the answer and I'd rather not do that until we're sure to go. $749 for 4 people sounds like a "too good to be true" situation. Can someone who has done this cruise give me an approximation of the taxes/fees that are additional to the fare?

So did we. Just gorgeous and the people were so wonderful. I recommend getting off the ship early; there's a bus tour company right outside the gate that's less than half the ship's price ($50, maybe?). We were there before 9 and were the last passengers to get on. Wish I could remember the name of it, but the guide was Lorraine. Super smart, personable, native to the area and loves it. Her narration was a highlight of the trip. Did a few small stops, Loch Ness and a castle at the end. The ship's bus was near us for much of the trip. We beat it back to the port, so no worries there. There's not a lot to see in the port town. In Edinburgh, book your castle tickets IN ADVANCE at https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/. They limit how many people at a time and if you don't have a prepaid ticket, you may wait in a very long queue. We wanted to walk and see things, but even though we are relatively fit, it was definitely a hike. If you have any sort of mobility issues at all, best to take the ship's tour.

Completely forgot about this. Origami for 10 year olds is NOT an appropriate cruise activity. I write this up every single time, but it's cheap so it's not going to change. They used to have really interesting stuff like painted ceramics, purse-making, bead crafts, scrapbooking, paracord bracelets, etc. Now it's just crappy origami or "cross-stitching a card" from a crewmember who got stuck with it and doesn't know what they're doing. Plus, in my experience, they never have enough time scheduled so they just leave you with the stuff and head off to their next thing.

My own experience is that the art auction is not what it appears to be. They're selling reproductions of overpriced art, and during the bidding the auctioneer kept jumping the bid up with, "...and in the back, thank you" -- except I was in the very back and nobody was bidding it up. Granted, some of the art is lovely, but you see the very same "originals" on different ships. If sitting through an hour is worth a glass of cheap champagne, go for it. The shopping show - "$100 same as cash" when it requires a $600 purchase is NOT the same as cash. It's a coupon. I've noticed that the freebies they hand out have gotten worse and worse, although there is usually one or two that are nice pieces of jewelry. The spa giveaway - The last one was absolutely the worst. Yes, they draw for "prizes." On our last cruise, the winner of the $100 certificate told me that when she tried to redeem it for a $99 service, she was told that it had to be at least $100 (next level was $139) and that it didn't include the tip or extra charges. The destination talks on Princess have mostly been talking up their unsold excursions when they have them. OTOH, RCCL had an enrichment speaker on our Iceland/Scotland cruise who packed the theater every time because he was so interesting, knew his stuff, and was completely honest about the tours, even those not through RCCL

Unethical.

Free parking? How many nights? Did it seem secure?

This is unlikely to happen. That cruise credit (or two if traveling solo!) is a big incentive for cruisers to make the one or two night cruises a "date night."

I think someone screwed up. We did this for the music cruise last November. Booked a single, upgraded to a mini-suite via bid so decided to add a second person. We paid taxes and port charges (I'm thinking we paid double for the bid amount when it was going to be one person; not sure). Nothing more. I'd call and get someone after Christmas to fix it.

"Visiting" the library doesn't necessarily mean reading books. It could be for the computers, a warm place to study, the clubs, or the meeting rooms. If it truly is for reading, then great! That's not my experience where I live.

They didn't work often in our house because my mother would cut the cord if someone was watching when they weren't supposed to be; then we had to wait for dad to get around to fixing it. Occasionally the tv was even off when she did it . And, "You can read 50 pages of this particular book or clean the kitchen." My sister is an excellent housekeeper.

Guess it depends upon your level of comfort with risk. I'd say we save a conservative average of $100 per excursion for the both of us by using private tour operators. For most places, I'll take my chances.

You're assuming that the cabins would fill without the standard option. If their math showed that to be correct, I doubt they'd be offering it. As it is, the standard cruisers pay the same taxes and port fees as the Premier.

Or a third.

At the Holiday Inn in Chicago, the room across from us lit up marijuana. I reported it to security who came up, pounded on the door, and the people wouldn't answer. He said there was nothing he could do if they didn't answer the door. The smell was horrible. At least they changed me rooms as I was working the next morning. Inconsiderate turds. I might let a morning cigarette go on a balcony if it's only a minute or two. I would never let the disgusting smell of weed go for any amount of time.

We're pretty loyal and Princess is definitely our first choice. BUT we rarely drink and we prefer to tip on our own. If the standard fare dropped, we're close enough to status on RCCL that we'd probably move over.

Here's their privacy policy: https://www.stockperks.com/privacy >>"Information submitted as part of using the Services, including personal financial information (income, expenses, assets, and other financial information), and personal information (date of birth, gender). Information gathered by cookies (including both session cookies, which are deleted when a user closes the user’s browser, and persistent cookies, which remain after a browser is closed) in accordance with your cookie preferences. Information gathered by clear gifs and web beacons, including IP address, web browser, device type, pages or sites visited just before or just after using the Services, the pages you view on the Services, your actions on the Services, and the dates and times that you visit, access, or use the Services."<< There are more. Everyone has a different level of comfort with privacy.

I'd rather wait the (typically) two days. Not a fan of being forced to give information to a third-party. Would be okay as an OPTION for those that don't care. Not okay when it's mandatory.

It's because it's a third party.

I'm sure that any cruise line would be happy to have huge groups of chartered cruisers. I don't buy the "privacy" excuse, though, when the groups have it up on a public website. We always check now. We've only ever experienced where it affected the enjoyment of the cruise on Celebrity. YMMV.

Might have been two days before (we did several this year and they all run together in my head). Anyway, they were UK customs guys. Very organized and the process was fast. Best bet would be to call Princess, but we had 8:30 am transportation to Liverpool and made it in plenty of time.

Do a search engine check on your Celebrity dates. We don't sail with them any more because the last couple of times we have, there have been HUGE groups of people that resulted in reduced availability of venues and services for those of us who were not part of those groups. Celebrity won't tell you due to "privacy issues" but if you do a search, you should be able to find out.