warren buffet

On 4/24/2024 at 9:18 PM, Bemidji Ty said:

Ken, thanks so much for your research.  We will be doing the 14 day Van to Van starting June 5 on the Grand.  This will be our 5th time to Alaska on Princess.  We love it.

 

Cheers.

Hey that is me and.my wife's sailing.both legs also.  Maybe we should meet for a drink 

Just now, Bemidji Ty said:

We'll be sailing with you.  Cheers.

It should be fun. If you would like to meet me and the wife for a drink on the ship, my text is 559 709 3470 or 559 800-4568

thank you. cr8tiv1--yes. its a 7day cruise times two, so it starts and ends in vancouver. princess is selling them both as a 7day or 14 day. so it is a back to back, but one where you don't have to change cabins or leave the ship for 2 hours if you buy the 14 day version

if the large theatre show is different each night I go. So. I'm wondering to know how motivated I should be to book morning excursions for the next day after these shows. thank you everyone for your help.   Also. Did people experience weather under around 57 degrees farenheit in early and mid June? I'm doing the grand princess round trip vancouver. June 5-19. thanks

Any direct links for either skagaway or juneau or kathikan?    the lowest price i see for dog sledding (or being pulled in seated carts on dry land) is from cruisecode.com   I have never heard of them. does anyone have any direct experience with them?  I have tried to google to find excursion companies directly but can't seem to find any direct

2 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

OK I just did a quick google check.  Did you try these:

https://ididaride.com/tours/

https://sleddogtours.com/

 

I didn't explore them too far but I think they are direct booking sites?

those are both seward area. going to ketickan, skagaway and juneau. but thank you lots for the effort

9 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

While there a number of good third party tour providers, whenever possible typically just do our research on any given port and book directly with the tour operator.  In that manner we are dealing directly with them and not relying on a third part to handle the transaction for us - for a fee.

I agree with you. In this case, I want to do a dog sledding excursion where you actually do the 15 or 20 min run on the dog sled. not just the musher talk and some tours do.  I did try to google 3 of these dog sledding companies directly and they did not seem to have a direct website that I could find.  Does anyone know of a direct provider for dog sledding in alaska?

any input welcome. 

On 1/3/2024 at 3:27 PM, Lady_E said:

Hi! Maybe I'll see you on board, Warren. We can discuss stocks and the market! 😄

My cell is 559 709 3470

On 11/30/2023 at 9:19 PM, Lady_E said:

Haven't been yet, but I'm booked on Magnifica in January. Not sure when you're going, but I'll report back. 

optimistic greetings. I appear to be on that same sailing

Just now, tricks79 said:

Question for recent experienced travelers.

We are booked on 'Sun Princess' in March and we received $200 obc from priceline + $235 from princess. So I have a  couple of questions.

1- With 100% certainty, can obc from priceline + princess be used to purchase(not upgrade, just in case there is a difference) 'Princess Plus' package anytime before boarding? (this seems to be no, but want to verify)

If not, can it be used to purchase it during boarding?

 

2- If I have to wait to buy the 'Princess Plus' during boarding to use OBCs, what are the chances that the 'Princess Plus' package will continue to be $60pp/pd during boarding? Any chance they raise price or stop offering this package and you have to settle for purchasing individual packages?

 

Note: called princess 1-800 but could not get a clear answer on above questions, very inexperienced representatives, one of them  indicated that I could not use OBC(priceline or princess) to purchase 'Princess Plus', it could only be used towards individual packages like a drink package.

Hope someone with recent experiences with princess could help me make an informed decision.

Thank you.

the most certain way to guard against a price increase in plus is to add it to your reservation now. in the past princess has honored it if its already on the reservation.  You are still not expected to pay for it until the 90 day payment deadline for the main cruise fare. Your only problem is (if priceline is like they are for the jan 8 carnival paradise cruise I have from them) they only add their credit between 1-3 days before sailing to the ship acct. I know costco adds theirs at least as soon as you make the final payment for the main cruise fare.   Is it a problem to just put the plus on a credit card and use the on board credit for excursions?

On 11/29/2023 at 4:27 PM, joeyancho said:

I have noticed how far down the food on Royal has gone just in the past 18 months.  Which is why, even though we are Diamond Plus on Royal,  our next cruise is on MSC.  Royal has a lot of debt to service,  since the pandemic shutdown and a lot of stockholders that expect  dividends.  That is why they are squeezing at both ends.  Offer less and charge more.  MSC is a privately (family)  owned.  So their financial situation is different.   They do not answer to stockholders.  MSC cruise line is part of MSC holdings, the largest shipping company in the world.  The shipping business did not stop during the pandemic.  They have much deeper pockets that the big three cruise lines.  This is part of the reason why prices are lower on MSC. They are the fastest growing cruise line in the world.   

i also highly suspect it may also contribute that they have designs to eventually gain much more market share and expand to every major US port. that requires trying harder. if there prices were not lower, I would never have booked them considering the really bad reviews from american's for the europe sailings. i hope only due to 8 lanquages being heard on announcements and the crazy system of allowing people to start and end on most ports which understanably causes huge problems to disembark. there is a reason why no other cruise line sells tickets that way

On 8/3/2022 at 10:33 AM, cruiseguyinorl said:

 

That was correct. Wasn't uncommon for Bella Interior to receive a balcony. However, haven't seen any comp upgrades for my clients in many months.

Bret

booked bella cheapest interterior got free upgrade to obstructed oceanview. although, from a chart website it looks like a small obstruction. and we are 1st time msc and only booked thansgiving  for jan15

14 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

I went to my Cruise Manager/ In Room Food and Beverages / Drink Packages/ Cruise the Vineyard Wine Package on my upcoming 5 day January 2024 cruise.  Odd thing is that everything is "grayed out" and I can't order it.  I usually purchase the wine package on board so this process is new to me.  Maybe another CC person can advise.

PS. I just checked all of my upcoming cruises and Cruise the Vineyard Wine Package is there but "grayed out" as well.  Hmmmmmm....

my and the wife are on the jan 8 five day paridise.  is that the one you are on?

Based on the description carnival gives on their website the 3 or 5 bottles of wine on this program are either picked up directly in the main dining room (1 at a time) or and at one of the main bars where they have easy access to wine bottles. It is not clear if it is only the mdr or also the main bars. although, the description says pick up the 5 vouchers at one of the main bars.      in either case, i see now reason why you could not bring your 1 or 2 cans of soda to the MDR and mix it there yourself.      I've bought shots of liquor in the main dining room and bought a can of cola and asked for an extra glass and have done similar mixing on princess and celebrity before.  this will be my first time on carnival in 20 yrs. 

thank you for your response. what i was trying to find out was have you or anyone been on a ship in the last 3-4 months where they offered the basic 5 bottle for 126 plus 18 percent gratuity.  in other words, the same price as carnival has on their pre cruise booking website. 

so. I started to book this on my acct pre cruise. it added a 18 percent "service charge" and had zero in the gratuity section. I called the fun ships phone where people also book things and at first she said no only one 18 percent they wont charge another 18 percent on the ship. then she said they would charge 18 percent now and another 18 percent on the ship as a gratuity (different from service charge). then she backtracted back to the first answer. the desription is silent on the issue unlike the cheers description.       Has anyone bought this in 2023?  did you get charged 126 plus 18 percent gratuity and not an additional service charge.  and was it that price 126 for 5 bottles on the ship?

does anyone allow if the rule is either one 12 pack of cola or the one bottle of wine or both?  i did look at the lanquage in the carnival website and it is very unclear to me

On 11/15/2023 at 11:01 AM, skittl1321 said:

 

If the only goal of the cruise is to drink yourself silly, it seems to make sense to me.  Who knows why the poster has decided this should be a factor, but since the price varies, it seems like it you are an overplanner who wants all the information, this is a good piece to gather.

 

Would they even tell you if they called? It's dynamic pricing, so they would probably just say it varies by sailing. 

the agent at royal carribean i talked to was willing to put me on hold and find out. but the price was crazy. like 87 dollars a day per person after the mandated tax and gratuity. for an older ship on jan 13 2024

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

If the cost of a cruise is $1000 more, I'm not picking it because the drink package is $2 per day less.

the differences are a lot lot much wide than that. one person said a sailing was 47.99 for the drink package as opposed to very close to 90 day for the large ships. per person per day everyday. 

Just now, smokeybandit said:

I think it's a poor idea to base which cruise to book on the projected cost of a drink package.

do you pay zero attention to the cost of the base cruise fare? by that logic you would just pick a date and a port and give RCL a blank check to take any amount from your accounts as they would like. People who comparison shop do you a huge favor and lower the price for everyone. in the proportion that such people exist in any given customer base. 

Just now, Sherri914 said:

This is a very generic observation, but may be of some help.  

 

The bigger ships (Oasis class in particular) are very popular for Caribbean cruises.  Those ships usually sail full.  When ships sail full on a very popular itinerary (Caribbean for example), it usually means there is high demand for the Deluxe beverage package.   When the Deluxe package is selling well, the price is higher.  Supply and demand.   I know it's very frustrating.  

 

My upcoming sailing in January 2024 on Symphony (Southern Caribbean) shows $105/pp/pd as the onboard price for the Deluxe package.  Currently its offered for BOGO50, bringing it down to $77.00/pp/pd.  

 

I've seen smaller ships offering their pp/pd undiscounted rate (onboard pricing) at a fraction of that -- somewhere in the $80/pp/pd range.   

 

Bottom line for me -- the only really "good" pricing I've seen on the Deluxe packages are on less popular itineraries and on smaller classes of ships.   It didn't used to be that way -- but it has been for many years now.    

thank you. the next poster on the anthem, verifies what you believe. although, I did in fact call (to the early other poster who was complaining about me). enchantment jan 13 was 85 and reliance on jan 15 was 80. and those are both pretty old ships. lpretty expensive.  So. it would seem it it pretty inconsistent. S

It makes it overly complicated to have the prices dynamic per sailing, rather than the set price method. thank you to all for feedback. If you would like to respond for other months or destinations that could be helpful as well. thanks to all

23 hours ago, drega99 said:

Actually, I know 100 percent that big companies get discounted group rates with additional onboard credits - Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean etc. This is due to the volume of sales they provide to the cruise companies. 

how do you know the agency is not purchasing the on board credit with some of their commission?  it could be that the cruise lines give an agency the option to buy onboard credits at say a 50 percent discount for their customers. i  think it's not legal an anti trust violation to give lower prices to only a few agencies unless the agencies actually purchase the cruise upfront before selling it. which is a huge huge risk for the agency because we know prices go up and down unpredicably. 

On 5/27/2023 at 5:53 PM, drega99 said:

Many travel companies, including the one doing this 3 day sale in June also have group rates that are definitely lower than Princess direct and also have onboard credits as well as the lower cost.

i have never seen anyone show any actual evidence that a cruise line gives a lower price (thru a so called group rate) to 1 or a few agencies than others. that would probably be illegal. I think it is virtually always the agency giving back some of their commision. cruise line have before done things like priority boarding to a certain large agency. but not cash.   i booked a carnival cruise with an advertised free gratuities sale. once i booked, if showed on my receipt carnival was not giving free gratuitites. my receipt showed the agency paid for my gratuties thru an american express card card. the last 4 credit card numbers of the large agency even showed on my receipt.       and . the details of the sale posted on this thread looks like exactly the same as princess offered approx jan of this year. it's not the best of the yr. maybe equal to.