Kamloops50

I heard sometime this month (November) . Probably sometime early December .Looking at booking as soon as they come out.

17 hours ago, dvcmember said:

I have a total of 5 cruises booked for 2021 on Princess with Platinum Protection paid and over $500.00 for coverages.   

 

My question is, can I choose to cancel my Princess Platinum coverage prior to my cruises and receive a refund for the amount paid for the policy? 

 

I am seeking an annual policy from one of the country's top travel insurers and would only cost $450.00 for those in the household that has $500,000 in Emergency Transportation and $50,000 in Medical Coverages plus a few more goodies.    I have 4 other voyages on HAL that I need to find coverage for regardless.  I would like to cancel the Princess Protection.  Can I do this.  I am going to check with my Princess PVP but I thought all you travel experts here on the boards.

 

Thanks in advance for all your replies.  

I would ask the company about "Cancel  for Any Reason". Most private companies have poor coverage for that . If you have to cancel a week for the cruise , what do you have to do to get a refund of your cruise expenses.

On 11/5/2020 at 5:18 PM, Desert Cruisers said:

Does anyone know when Alaska 2022 will be released?

I heard sometime this month.

2 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

That's not accurate!  As I mentioned above, eZAir allows flights about 43 days before embarkation and after disembarkation.

 

In the example below, eZAir allows a flight to Fort Lauderdale on January 17, 2021 for a cruise embarking on February 28...that's 42 days in advance.

 

      

It depends on where your flying from. Many international flights only can be 30 days early. 

EzAir can be booked for flights 30 days before the cruise and 30 days after. Flexible airfare can be cancelled or changed up to 45 days before the cruise. Princess will refare your cruise up to final payment . in some cases they will refare or give you OBC if the fare drops after final payment.

On 10/13/2020 at 11:31 AM, STLCRUISIN said:

Hi All, We booked a Princess cruise for next August 2021 roundtrip out of Southampton to be followed up with a Celebrity cruise from Southampton, England to Boston. I checked one-way Business Class airfares (STL-LHR) through both Princess EZair and Flights By Celebrity and Princess has, by far, the lowest fare I've ever seen for a one-way flight... over $900 less than Celebrity. Both are the same....Buy Now, Pay Later and you can cancel at any time up to 45 days and within the 45 days you get a credit.

 

Okay, so has anyone taken advantage of Princess EZair in the past, are their rates generally very good for international flights and how is it dealing with them in the event of any changes/cancellations (can you work directly with the airline). I'm looking to make sure their isn't a catch somewhere that I don't see because the one-way business class fares look too good to be true when comparing to Celebrity and directly with the airlines.

 

Thanks for your help.

no issues with them as long as Flexible fare purchased. You also purchase return fares up to 30 days after the. In other words ,you can book EzAir for after your Celebrity cruise as long as within 30 days after the end of the cruise.

27 minutes ago, patrickmoran said:

I'm looking at Mexico for Jan/Feb 2022.  3 ships will do them (Majestic (7 days out of LA), Ruby (10 day out of SF and favorite ship) and Grand (10 day out of LA)). The major diff that is of most interest to me is the amount of time each ship spends at Cabo San Lucas. The Majestic would be there 11am to 8pm. The Ruby is a full day. The Grand has an overnight in Cabo (12 pm until 6pm the next day). The more time in Cabo, more expensive cruise.  Recommendations? Thanks

The 10 day on the Grand goes up to Loreto  and La Paz  as well. Our choice always is the longest cruise. La Paz and Loreto are great ports to visit. These two ports get only about 8 to 10 larger ships per season. They don't have Diamonds R Us or all the T shirt places the other ports have.

I used mapquest . It adjusts for traffic in its timing. 

On 10/5/2020 at 10:02 AM, Kamloops50 said:

San Diego to Vancouver is 1394 miles (22 hours)

San Diego to Grants Pass is 839 Miles (13 hours)

Vancouver to Watson Lake YT is 1256 miles (24 hours)

This is driving distances in miles.

That's why your map of BC is wrong. If your map is correct Grants Pass from San Diego should be around 20 hours.

Post a link to source of your maps.

18 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

I've looked at several comparisons and they all pretty much look like that. Check this one:

 

 

San Diego to Vancouver is 1394 miles (22 hours)

San Diego to Grants Pass is 839 Miles (13 hours)

Vancouver to Watson Lake YT is 1256 miles (24 hours)

This is driving distances in miles.

That's why your map of BC is wrong. If your map is correct Grants Pass from San Diego should be around 20 hours.

On 10/3/2020 at 12:57 PM, Thrak said:

British Columbia overlaid on California.

 

 

We drove through BC as part of a 7 week camping trip in 2017 going north to Alaska and then again southbound back to California. When we were northbound it was freaking beautiful. When we drove through going south it was hard to see the scenery as the southern part was on fire and the smoke obscured the views - and not only in the southern part.

 

We have cruising friend who live "near" Vancouver - some in Agassiz and others in Abbotsford. You can sometimes meet the nicest people on cruises. 😎 (Hopefully we will be able to cruise with them again if the world ever gets less crazy.)

Your map is wrong. The drive time from LA to Vancouver is 20+ hours . La to Seattle drive time is 17+ hrs. No way is the Mexico border to the Oregon Border is 20 Hrs.

On 10/2/2020 at 3:29 PM, snoozecrooze said:

Ok, so almost two months after I started this thread, we seem to have tentatively resolved the questions that still existed at the time.

 

1) Crown has now been confirmed to move to Los Angeles for the summer of 2021, meaning she will reappear on the West Coast for the first time on a regular basis since 2016. 

• Press info: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23595-princess-confirms-first-west-coast-summer-program.html
• Someone else also posted pictures of the TA spreadsheet, which has more itinerary and pricing info: 

2) To make this happen, Crown is now replaced by Sky, which is now doing a mix of British Isles and Baltic cruises, all from Southampton.

3) Grand replaces Star in Alaska.

4) Regal replaces Grand because of #3.

 

This leaves Star Princess as the ONLY ship that has yet to be filled up with an active schedule following spring 2021. From what I've seen on CC, the speculation is that she will be saying her goodbyes and likely not resume operations for Princess again ---> emphasis on speculation <--- but I think this theory makes a lot of sense so we shouldn't be too surprised if it happens. She's likely gone as we know it and we'd be really very lucky to have some farewell transpacific before she heads to P&O Cruises Australia.

 

I've heard the same rumours about the Star. It's going to move P&O Australia earlier than planned.

6 hours ago, Cruzinnana47 said:

Any guess on when itineraries for Alaska sailings in 2022 may be posted?  Have one booked now for May, 2021, but would like the option of possibly moving deposit over to a 2022 sailing, if things aren't much improved by early 2021 as far as Covid is concerned.  Realize everything is pretty much up in the air right now.

 

TIA.

I've heard late October or early to mid November. They are still trying to finalize cruise changes for 2021. I'm waiting for Alaska or Hawaii from Vancouver in 2022.

11 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I've started doing that sometimes too. In fact I suggested a cruise to nowhere for 3 nights (with a 1 nighter I'd barely unwind before disembarking). So I'm definitely hunting for embarkation ports near my house and found a 5 nighter.

 

I think Princess might facilitate testing like airlines will do at SFO, I'll just test near home. (Before you state that a ship will have 2000-3000 passengers,  think about the daily volume at SFO)

 

Are you near Vancouver (BC is big .... It’s like saying from California)? 

We are a four hour drive from Vancouver or a one hour flight . People don't realize that British Columbia is the size of California , Oregon ,Washington , Idaho and part of Nevada in size. The drive from Los Angeles to Can/US border is same distant as driving to the BC/Yukon border . That is still another 8 hours from alaska.

27 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Ummm... That doesn't leave much in the way of ships unless you are specifically referring to Grand Princess rather than the Grand Class. Grand Class ships are great for Alaska as would be Coral Princess (which, of course, is not a Grand Class ship).

 

I agree with  @leck57 regarding doing a land tour. We've done two Alaska cruise tours (we did the connoisseur tours and highly recommend them) and feel that doing the land portion first and the cruise portion after is the way to go. Take the longest land tour you can manage - it's worth doing.

I’m specifically referring to the Grand Princess . I wasn’t clear enough . The Grand Princess since Skywalker’s has been removed  isn’t great for viewing scenery in Alaska.

On 9/24/2020 at 4:48 AM, Essiesmom said:

I'm betting Star.  She is' scheduled' for wine country cruises from LA until last May 2021.  EM

Not likely  be the Star is leaving the fleet earlier than originally planned in 2021. Golden leaves this fall.

Using ships tours only isn't a deal breaker. We go for the time on the ship not the ports. For us the deal breaker will be having a Covid test . Where we live (British Columbia Canada ) testing isn't done unless you've been exposed or show symptoms.

14 hours ago, portcbob said:

Hi. 

Wife and I are starting to research a Alaska northbound cruise probably from Vancouver in 2022.

May we please have some advice which princess ship is the best.

Don't recommend the Grand or Royal Class ships. The rest will be fine. Currently don't know which will be in Alaska , so really can't give advice as to which ship.

On 9/3/2020 at 12:20 AM, Cruise Wonderland said:

To summarize the information which is already CONFIRMED:

MAJESTIC: leave Taiwan and move to Alaska, replacing Regal
REGAL: leave Alaska and move to UK, replacing Grand
GRAND: leave UK and move to Alaska, replacing Star
STAR: leave Alaska and move to...??

 

Possible ship(s) that will also be involved, but not yet confirmed:

CROWN

 

The Diamond is replacing the Sapphire for South America for 2021 and 2022. This means there will be two transpacific cruises on the Diamond in 2021 and 2022 .

The Grand has replaced the Star in Alaska for 2021. The last Star cruise is a coastal to Vancouver in May . All cruise after this one on the Star have been cancelled.

On 8/13/2020 at 8:39 PM, teecee60 said:

 

 

 

 

If you are completely new to cruising, have no experience with the travel industry or the internet, need/want someone else to do it all for you, and don't mind paying more/saving less... then go with the "Vacation Planner."

 

In 34 cruises... I have NEVER heard of ANYONE who books directly with Princess, (or other lines) who got as good a deal as I got from an online TA. I have had several Princess reps tell me that they could not come anywhere CLOSE to the deal (including "last minute" and "flash sales") that I was booking online.   

 

Many people still think that T/As (online or otherwise) can't offer lower prices than the cruise lines... this is COMPLETELY false.  In addition to lower prices, they offer all of the perks/bennies offered by the cruise lines, and quite often, even more/bigger perks.

 

Anyone can believe what they want, but booking direct is GUARANTEED to cost you more.   

I disagree . Most TA's can't refare a cruise after final payment. On one cruise my PVP refared my cruise four times . The last two after final payment . I asked a TA friend , she said that once final payment is made . Princess will not allow them to refare .

Extra perks depends on the TA willing to pay for out of their commission. Where I live (Canada) the local TA's usually don't give any extra perks or lower price , only if they have a block of cabins on hold.

On 8/10/2020 at 5:19 PM, Paula_MacFan said:

I had a PVP call me not long ago asking if I wanted to book another cruise since our September one had been cancelled.  I initially thought 'this will be a great thing' but a few minutes into the conversation it was obvious they were either new or just didn't know much about Princess.  I asked about using my FCD and they didn't even understand the OBC amounts that come with the FCD.  I gave up and decided to keep doing my own thing.  Hopefully others have had better experiences.  

Maybe it was a scam.

2 hours ago, jondfk said:

 

Not on Royal.  Trust me, and be prepared to elbow your way in, in the nicest possible way of course.

We were on the Royal last October. They had a sign directing CC to the other entrance.

34 minutes ago, jondfk said:

I'll add that the arrival experience into Concerto was amongst the worst CC experiences we've ever had.

 

Why?  Other parts of Concerto are used, on some sailings for fixed seating dining and for anytime guests who request a specific time in advance.  This creates confusion as the MDR guests mix into the line waiting for the CC host creating substantial delays.

 

We learned after two or three nights to enter via the (closed) exit door to the left.  The CC host would immediately recognize us and usher us through the line.  We got stink eye from the guests in the queue every single night, fortunately, I have a thick hide.  Princess could solve the problem easily by simply having both doors open and directing MDR guests to the left, and CC guests to the right.

 

More positively, the CC space on Royal is much better configured than on Grand class ships.  Lots of intimate spaces and nice views.  Staff and service on Royal were our best CC experience - after we managed to actually get into the dining room.

Club Class has a separate entrance from the normal dining room.

9 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Any ship that is currently under construction (steel has been cut) will be completed and delivered.  Future ships may be canceled or delayed, unknown at this time.  The statement about the financing (10% deposit, 90% upon delivery) is correct, I've been there when the check with all the zero's is turned over to the yard.  There are, however, cancellation clauses, and the penalty depends on how far along the construction is.

Thanks. I've seen Youtube videos where on delivery day they say that the balance of the contract price is transferred to the shipyard. When the Queen Mary was being planned. Cunard was looking for a company that had the financial ability to finance the ship.