Cruise Raider

There are waivers for PVSA violations in the event of something that is outside of the cruiseline’s control and for the safety of their ship, crew and passengers. That storm was pretty remarkable for the west coast. Even up here in SF, we had a lake forming in our backyard and we are well outside of the flood zone. In the decades that we’ve lived here, I pave never seen that much rain fall before. Don’t get me wrong, we were happy about it.

You will most likely still need a jacket, at least a good wind breaker, up on deck for sail away but I hope your weather is sunny and warm. That wind and possibly the fog will get you every time, though. Someone just posted on FB about being so disappointed and unprepared that it was only 66° in San Francisco and everyone was freezing. Well, 66° in the sunshine December is a warm winter’s day here. But again, that damp wind will get you every time.

Only on my credit card as far as I can tell.

Glad to hear you made it onboard! be sure to try the Catch by Rudi .. so yummmmm! and for dessert one night, see if they will make you a baccarat martini .. I’m sure you will thank me for that later. No sugar on the rim and less purée .. shaken well!

Sept and Oct are usually the best months, if not on the very warm side in San Francisco. Hawaii will probably be hot but you know, weather changes. But, on average, it should be really nice weather.

I think before the medallion and now with the medallion, the extra charges are due to human error.

I have over charges occasionally now but had many more with the sea pass cards back in the day.

Same .. glad it wasn’t just me, too. Thank you for your post

I was just going to ask the same question on here. I took a B2B cruise on the Majestic back in September, too but two other cruises since then and just received my onboard folio again. I know my CVP is working on an issue for me on a future cruise so thought it might have something to do with that, but it shouldn’t be.

Not really asking that but as one of my all time favorite quotes, it doesn’t really seem to have been him that said it. I use it often when family from Florida come to visit and ask me if it is always this cold in the summer.

Actually, it’s been attributed to Twain but did he actually ever say that?

Guilty as charged .. I respond and don’t always look at the title of the thread. I will try to be more careful in the future, as you are correct. It just got hijacked.

Yes, you most likely will encounter some cold weather. It sounds like you will be coming in to SF shortly as you are beginning to pack. We live just a few miles east of SF and it is in the 30°s here in the morning and colder tomorrow morning. If you want to be out on deck while sailing under the Golden Gate, it will be downright freezing. But even over in Hawaii in December, you could have some weather that could be kind of on the cool side. But, a light sweater should suffice. It’s usually quite pleasant there on the islands.

We also eat smaller amounts of food but usually end up get the premier package. They were telling us that since all our dining was included, we could order as we wished. This was on both the Majestic and the Discovery. That was nice because we hate wasting food and they are reluctant to let us take our leftovers back to our room. I was told on the Ruby that we couldn’t split one casual meal when inquiring about the Salty Dog Gastropub. We had the old plus package that didn’t include dining so, I was merely asking about it for others on this forum. We did end up going and splitting an a la carte plate as we can’t finish that much food. That’s actually a lot cheaper than it was previously when everyone eating anything was charged $18. We weren’t that hungry but we’re meeting a couple of friends there so split one of the $6 plates. Just perfect!

It was sitting in pending for a few days and only bothered with it when it became a final charge. I tried to submit it online .. never heard a thing back. Then, I spent over an hour on the phone with someone over crew chat and that was no help. As she got further into the problem, she disconnected. Now, I’ve turned it over to my CVP, who has in turn turned it over to their IT dept. I have several cruises booked with the premier package. I only made a reservation for one reservation sailing on the date of the charge. But, that’s not on the cruise I was working on. So, really not sure what could be happening here.

Spot on! If some prefer to compare prices, they can always buy their own wine and pay for the corkage.

I have made several specialty dining reservations with the premier package and have not been charged, even on the same reservation don’t know why this was charged and they can’t even find where I was charged but there was a charge on my credit card for $78. The screen clearly shows that I had a dining credit. My CVP had to send it to their IT team.

CVPs generally will direct you to submitting your complaint on the After Cruise issues on the website. I’ve had luck with using that method. Anything before the cruise can either be handled by your CVP or Crew Chat. I was charged for using my premier package recently on the Discovery to get two coffees on the disembarkation morning. I still have no answer if it is allowed or not but I did get my money back via a check through Bottomline Technologies. They could not refund the amount charged for taxes in LA. I was also charged for corkage on the last night of the cruise for a bottle of wine that we purchased onboard and took it with us to the restaurant. I also asked for that money to be returned and again, it worked. I am a bit concerned about the extra charges I see showing up on my folio lately but not until I am off the ship. I am working on getting a specialty dining charge reversed for a future sailing. I am working with my CVP for that but they can’t find where it was charged. It is on my credit card statement, though.

That doesn’t only apply to new cruisers. We have over 60 cruises with Princess alone and think the premier package is well worth it for how we wish to cruise, especially on ships that have a few casual dining spots. It actually saves us money when we get the wines we like, eat where and when we like, get photos, are able to try our luck with Princess prizes, etc. The addition of casual dining really tipped the scales for us in deciding between plus and premier.

fingers crossed for you … I am sure something that doesn’t easily spoil would be ok unless they just have a hardline rule against bringing anything onboard that is not factory sealed.

We did fly into Long Beach. We ordered an Uber XL as we had three passengers with luggage. It was under $50 plus tip. I recall seeing the Uber X was about $10 less. Depending on the day we’ve gone, we’ve paid as much as $70 for an Uber from the Long Beach airport to the pier in San Pedro. But, it usually is closer to the $40 mark for the Uber X. We only travel with carry on luggage so, that that has plenty of room. We never booked a taxi from there but a friend that is also a travel agent has used Ride Yellow. They had a flat rate of around $40 and no waiting for them to show up as the taxis are already there.

There is nowhere for guests to heat up food onboard. We once asked the food and beverage director if we could bring a meal for several of our favorite crew members and we were told no. Once explained, it made sense to us. It not only has to do with the lack of strict controls outside of their kitchens, but also has to do with transporting the food. They don’t know how long it’s been out of proper temperature controls. They don’t want their passengers or crew getting food poisoning and blaming it on the cruise line. While many will get away with it, I’m just now starting to see security in some ports having you dump it before breathing / reboarding. Items such as bread, chocolate, etc are probably ok, things like soup, meats, etc that are subject to proper temperature controls would be iffy.

She just came out of dry dock and took on passengers on October 22nd. My neighbors were on that cruise and didn’t complain about any problems.

Now, this is interesting and if you asked me this a year ago, I would have said there was no problem bring food onto the ship from port. I’ve actually done it several times. But, just so you are aware, it’s generally not an issue but there have been a couple of ports recently where anybody bringing non-sealed food onboard had to dump it. These ports were both on the west coast. They may be getting touchier about it but for the most part, it has been allowed. You might just want to ask security when you get off the ship just to save yourself from spending money on something only to have to throw it away on the way back.

Ugh .. nothing can ruin a pleasant time on your balcony like cigarette smoke. A $250 fine per incident should be a good solution. Other than that, I’m sure happy you are having a great time on the Sapphire.