DCThunder

It depends. International flights are often better, but domestic flights not so much, at least in my experience. But the routings on EZAir can sometimes be very wonky. It pays to check both EZAir and the airlines own website before booking through either.

Yes, you will earn the PQPs even if booked through EZAir. You'll get a record locator number at the time you make the EZAir reservation and that will show up in the Mileage Plus account as a booked flight and then as PQPs when you take the flight.

I didn't know it was automatic either as a booking I made on board went to a TA I'm not really using anymore but was when the cruise I was on was booked in early 2023.

It was alluded to upthread, but the Future Cruse Consultants on the ships, no longer work for Princess Cruise Lines. They are employees of a third-party company that has a contract with Princess to sell cruises on-board. I had an interesting discussion with the sales manager late last year and we were talking about the difference between "buying" a cruise and having it "sold" to you. He didn't want his salespeople to simply be "order takers" for people who knew what cruise they wanted to take, but wanted them to "sell" cruises to people by stressing the various benefits of packages and itineraries and that whole advance payment for hotels with a cruise thrown in program they were/are pushing. Also, in my limited experience, anything booked on the ship is automatically transferred wo whatever TA is linked to your account, be that a Princess PVP or a big-box TA.

My experience with upgrading an EZAir reservation with miles was on American. I had to wait until EZAir actually ticketed my flight (between 30-45 days before the flight) and then talked to someone at American to upgrade from PE to Business. Cost was 25K miles and about $400 and the person I spoke to at American couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. I've got no idea how Delta would work, but I'd imagine that the need to have a ticketed flight would still be the case.

It also helps to state in a loud and "in command" voice, "DON"T you KNOW who I AM?" That always gets CS to provide you with the best service possible! 😀

It took about 5 minutes in both Southampton and Civitavecchia as well.

TL;DR, I prefer Uber or taxi to the airport over the ship transfers... Problem with the Princess post-cruise airport transfer is that it takes a long time to get all the passengers loaded and those who get on the bus early often wait 30 minutes or more before the bus departs. Then the unloading at the various FLL terminals can be quite chaotic as the drivers make sure that all the bags get unloaded properly for each passenger and airline. Using the "luggage direct" option of having your bags sent directly to your destination airport helps, and of course "I only travel with a carry-on" people will give smug looks at those wrestling suitcases to be checked.😄

It is also useful to look at what's available from the consolidators and then try to contact/book directly with the tour provider. It cuts out the middleman of Viator, although you often lose the ability to book now and pay later that Viator provides.

Do the current production shows still use a live "ships band" to provide the music? I'd heard that some of the shows were going to pre-recorded music to eliminate the cost of a live band.

I have been putting a recommendation for matinee shows on post cruise surveys for years. I think they would be a great addition, especially for sea days. Even solo shows by the featured singers would be welcome.

With the events of this afternoon, I'd think it will be a loooong time before any cruise ships go to Israel.

Even those cruise lines which include some amount of airfare in the cruise price won't be able to provide actual flight itineraries and connections more than 360 days before departure. If you book directly with the airline and "something goes wrong" you will deal directly with the airline regarding rebookings.

The leg that was supposed to go from Dubai to Rome via the Red Sea/Suez, has been changed to depart from Cape Town and stop in Walvis Bay, Cape Verde, Canaries, etc and then into the Med. Those of us on that leg got an email yesterday with the new itinerary. No additional charge and $300 of OBC as a "courtesy". I guess the leg from Sydney to Dubai, will now end in Cape Town, but I'm not booked on that so don't know.

For flights to Asia in Spring 2026, most airlines won't release their schedules until Spring 2025. EZAir usually has flights available for booking 330 days peior to the RETURN date of the cruise. So you have at least a year before any flight information will be available. This applies to all the 3rd party booking sites as well as the airlines own websites. You can get a general idea of costs and schedules by looking at some of the latest dates that a Kayak or Travelocity or Google Flights will have flights available for, but as for booking,you're still a year out from being able to get specific flights arranged.

Best feature on HAL ships is the Crows Nest.

Am I correct that there is no ability to pre-pay the auto gratuities? If so, can it be done via the website?

Well, sure. There is a limited amount of 10-digit numbers to assign, after all. That's obvious! 😀 But thanks for your observation about HAL, My HAL number is different and there's no impact on bookings. I just found it odd...

I recently booked a cruise on Cunard. First time sailing with them, so will be an interesting experience. As part of the booking, I received a Cunard World Club number. In looking at that number, it is the same as my Princess Captain's Circle number. Does anyone know if this is normal? I know both Princess and Cunard are owned by CCL, but I found it curious that the loyalty numbers would be the same. My HAL Mariners Club number is similar, but different. Unfortunately, my loyalty status on Princess hasn't carried over to Cunard. 😀

I'll second the recommendation for the van tour from Skagway. I took that in September 2022 and it was a great ride up the valley on the opposite side from the railroad. We went all the way to Carcross in the Yukon and could have gone all the way to Whitehorse with more time. The border crossing was very unigue as there's about 10 miles of separation between the Canadian boarder post and the US border post. The railroad may be iconic, but the van trip is the way to go, IMHO.

It looks like nothing is posted yet beyond February 2026. I'm looking for April 2026 sailings for Japan. Any idea when those will be out?

Well, and Norfolk does have the largest naval base in the world...

I don't know anything about American Heritage cruises, but Charleston has been a home port for the Carnival Sunshine doing 4 and 5 day "booze cruises" to the Bahamas and back. American Spirit also does small ship cruises into the Carolina low country out of the Holy City.

My question for those posting in this thread is how far back do you want Princess to turn the clock? 2019 before the pandemic with in-person muster drills and a more rigid dress code? 2013 to before the Royal class ships debuted and your only dining choices were Early and Late? Or do you want to go all the way back to the 1970's and the Original Love Boat with lecherous doctors, perky cruise directors, and hip bartenders? Oh, and Charo, of course! If you're going to go back in time, you have to take the "bad" with what you see as "good" of the olden days.

To the OP, please remember the ancient Arabic proverb: "The dogs bark but the caravan moves on".