PescadoAmarillo

Hi @miagirl! I love your avatar pic. It’s just perfect! We were on the Ruby for extended cruises when contractors installed this system in late 2019. We watched them over several days make their way down the corridor on Riviera Deck, working on a few cabins at a time, so we knew what was coming, but nothing could have prepared us for our lights taking on a life of their own. The worst was the one in the hallway. I’d be going into the safe and the light would shut off, and it was dark in our inside cabin and I was on crutches at the time. Luckily, the guys were still working down the hall, and I implored them to at least give me 60 seconds to do what I needed in the safe and they did. Since then…we cover the sensors with duct tape until the final morning of the cruise.

DH cruised 154 nights on Princess in 2022. I embarked on a 15 night cruise and left after 5 nights.

And if it does, you can probably get it, unless it is for new bookings only. Again, pre-paying final payment does not affect these things.

Remember the “with what speed do you want to dine?” question? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I think because that cruise is also available as a logical booking which is 27 nights.

No, just that one, plus any international fee.

If the cruise begins or ends in the US, all charges are in USD. If you are on B2B cruises with one sailing out of Australia and one out of the US (or Canada, I assume), Princess converts your onboard statement from one currency to another (in a way that is so convoluted that me, an accountant, and a friend, a high school math teacher could calculate that the end result was correct though we couldn’t see how they got there). When I last cruised out of Australia, there was an Australian surcharge for credit card usage, separate from any international charge on your credit card.

When my hard contact fell down the bathroom drain, and I had to go down to the basement to get a pipe wrench (blind, without contacts), try to open the drain pipe, was unable to turn it and had to call him on the ship whereby he told me to try turning it the other direction (which worked). And then again when I sliced my hand and had to drive myself to urgent care for stitches, keeping it wrapped in a towel and pressed against the steering wheel on the way. Aside from that…. 😆

When you add them one at a time, you must make reservations one at a time.

My husband just returned from 71 nights on the Ruby. I make all his app reservations for him. It took him three cruises to get a TD equivalent. On two of the cruises, the dining reservations in the app disappeared.

People might want the flexibility of ATD, but they dislike what they have now, which is a long wait in line regardless of reservations in DMW. People who seems happiest are those who manage to turn DMW into anTD experience. This has always taken us at least one cruise (in a series of B2B cruises), giving us the opportunity to meet with the Restaurant Manager and letting him know we want stability in our dining situation. But not everyone has the opportunity to do multiple cruises in a row, and they shouldn’t have to face standing in a line every night to have dinner. And then there’s the app…I’ve lost count of have many times reservations I’ve made for DMW disappear, requiring me to make reservations again with more limited (land later) times required. That the situation hasn’t been fixed in 18 months tells me it’s not going to be fixed anytime soon. And if it does, it will be rolled out as a great new feature.

Thank you for that information. Do you recall how much the transfer to Hobby was? Or were you going to IAH and were on a bus that stopped at Hobby first? DH asked at the ShoreEx desk, but on the cruise prior to this one, and they said they didn’t offer a transfer to Hobby. He is itching to return to the Ruby (too much snow on the ground here), and would use the Princess transfer is burn some OBC is it is offered. Thanks!

Just a suggestion…we know the cutoff date for the card we use to pay for Princess cruises. We pay for cruises in the weeks before final payment, after that final payment date. That gives us, on average, a 15 day cushion. Making final payment does not affect the refundability of a cruise. With rare exceptions, the cruise can be cancelled without penalty until final payment date even if it’s been paid in full.

I would personally not be comfortable traveling outside the country without a passport regardless of legal loopholes. If anything happens to the ship (ie a shipwreck in Nice, France, but it could easily happen in the Caribbean), the cruise ends and you’re finding your way home from a country where a passport is required to enter the US. Ditto visiting a China without a visa. You may have a flight out of the country within the required timeframe to go without one, but then Shanghai gets fogged in, the port gets closed and you miss your original flight and can’t get another one booked within that timeframe. These things happen. They’re not advertised but they’re as much a part of the travel experience as the social media pics. It’s prudent to be prepared.

Just a guess, of course, but I suspect those might be the very seats that will be reserved. They are obviously the most popular seats, with people arriving an hour ahead of time for production shows.

This is exactly how it works, or how it can work, if you (or your TA, with your permission) authorizes it on the booking.

He certainly enjoyed meeting you and your family also! Safe travels!

We are well aware. When it got really bad on Monday I actually found him a seat on the only flight with availability before next week (on Saturday) in case his flight today got cancelled. Also found him a hotel near Hobby. He just took off and will arrive home three hours ahead of schedule. We got very, very lucky. But here’s the thing. We understand that just because it didn’t happen to us doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

For those flying Southwest through Hobby, the check in area was empty this morning. No one is there, because people either can’t get there (cancelled flights) or have cancelled on their own wanting to avoid the whole situation. DH got re-ticketed on an earlier flight with 30 available seats. Crazy.

Thanks for your updates this morning! I was a little concerned when you said disembarkation for those with checked luggage hadn’t started yet, but G was in an early group and his shuttle was right on time. For information for those who DO want a shuttle to Hobby, Princess doesn’t run a shuttle there, only to IAH. Based on the advice of someone here on CC, I booked Galveston Express for DH (409.762.4397, $30 for seniors). I booked it online, but had to phone them when DH extended for one more cruise. With just two days notice, they willingly moved his reservation to another day, free of charge. Then this morning they were exactly where they said they’d be, right on time. Highly recommend. Now he just has to deal with Southwest and the copious amount of snow we got here at home overnight. 🤞🏼🤞🏼

That, and the status of the military OBC were my first questions too.

From a PVP. I have no additional information (ie whether military OBC is still in place, or how to book this).

I found this pic online at https://www.beyondships3.com/costa-maya-cruise-port.html

DH has T-Mobile and WiFi calling turned on. However, his T-Mobile calls to me generally drop or have too much latency to be efficient. He’s had much better luck using WhatsApp for calls. Texting has been fine. He’s also been able to stream Netflix at times at night, though I’m not certain that’s been possible on this Christmas cruise with more guests onboard.

He told me! Hope you’re enjoying the activities they added for the surprise sea day. I told him to try a Grinchtini based on your pic. Merry Christmas!