BJS

So true. In fact, just put your name, as it appears on your passport, IF you have one and use it as identification. That way, as the saying goes, 'You'll have NO worries, mate':D

 

Mac

Very true then you'll have no worries.

.. but we have been told by airlines, cruise lines, travel companies that just the first and last name need to match passport or ID. Often depends on who is issuing the ticket if they include your middle name. It would help should there be another passenger with the same first and last name.

Have never been bothered by motion on any cruise ship but felt a great deal of motion on the Tahitian Princess (former Renaissance Cruises R-four, Tahitian Princess, Ocean Princess and now MS Sirena for Oceana Cruise line) especially in the dining room which was in the aft.

Many people love this class ship but for us the itinerary would have to be very special to sail on her sister the Pacific Princess. Ship is much too small for our liking and lacking many of the things we like about Princess.

Post #102 of this thread, states what it really says.....this week.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2585125&page=6

Different ships say different things:D

How true varies from week to week and ship to ship.

Thanks for posting. That's exactly what I needed to know and the link didn't work for me.

When you get the "Patter" on the ship it most likely will not say the same for Formal attire. On our cruises in the past few years it has been stated as a more casual dress.

Also for Smart Casual it has said jeans (no holes).

See, this is the thing. My last cruise was booked 45 days prior and we were given an oceanview GTY, and got extraordinarily lucky with cabin choice. The issue with my aunt (and her boyfriend) is that they live halfway around the world, run a business, and take care of my great aunt so if she gets sick, they're not coming. However, if they tell us they won't know until two weeks prior, or two months prior, and historically speaking it would become a huge challenge, then my mother and I are planning on bailing on her to go to Europe. We just aren't sure how much time to give her to let her decide.

If I'm understanding correctly the Alaska cruise for you and your mother is just for your aunt. Go to Europe unless Alaska is a place you want to cruise more than Europe.

If your aunt can book now and you want to travel with her to Alaska give her a week or two to decide. I hope she is the one paying and takes out insurance to cancel for any reason.

Margerie Glacier

 

full size link, one photo displays click on it for full size image.

http://www.fastpictureframing.com/ak/big-1st-glacier-margerie-2c.jpg

 

Taken from my balcony, it is about a 12 shot pano using a telephoto lens.

 

framer

Nice picture

Ours is a single from our balcony showing it calving

Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate it! NOW, I've complicated things by throwing the Mediterranean into the mix! :o:confused:

The Mediterranean would win out for us.:D

JF, thanks for your reply, but I believe in the context above, the 'upgraded amenities' refers to Bath amenities, simply because it's in the same sentence. Perhaps I'm wrong.

It appears that there are no upgraded bath amenities ..There was a thread last year where people reported despite the wording for a mini-suite they received nothing different than the balcony rooms received. Some said the towels were upgraded and others said they were of the quality they use at home in the garage.

Years ago you received little bottles of conditoner, shampoo and lotion rather than paper packets but that all changed when the bottles of shower gel and shampoo/condition were placed in the rooms. Possibly someone need to change the description of Mini-Suites.

..if Elite in any cabin you get a little bag containing shower cap, emery board, mitt, eye gel mask, lip balm and linen mist. In addition we received hair condition and multiple tubes of lotion as we used them. No shampoo.

I want to thank everyone for their helpful advise! Not sure how to join roll call for this cruise but will look around and see. Thanks for the info on formal nights, we will give it a try, just didn't want to see people in tux and evening gowns while we were much more casual. Still looking for advice for Cherbourg, is there an "old town" section? We love wooden buildings and history.

There are 2 ways to find your Roll Call

This is the 1 I like the best..Under blue banner you will see Cruise Critic>Boards - click on Boards - you will see lots of options (including Ports of Call where might find info on Cherbourg) then Click on Roll Call then Princess then the ship you are sailing on then the date of sailing.

The other way is in the blue banner click on Find Your Roll Call

Hope you find your answers.:)

We were first group after self walk offs on the Island Princess in December and off the ship by 7:45. Have never been off in San Pedro so fast!

Morning! I just e-mailed my TA that we will be cancelling our cruise. Mother in law is in the hospital. She was diagnosed with dementia and my husband (her son) is applying for conservatorship. Also, my sister in law is in Intensive Care Unit. Not sure what the future will bring with her. Our cruise is scheduled for January 29th. Does anyone know if we will get a cruise credit or a refund?

You should get a refund. The best and most accurate way to know for sure is to call Princess Insurance.

So sorry to hear this news and will hope things improve.

We have had it done both ways. Most of the time the stateroom folio and credits have been transferred to the second cruise but once, despite receiving the form letter on the first cruise saying it would, it was closed out at the end of the first cruise. Once this was done we were told there was no way to correct it. We did not have any OBC to transfer on that cruise.

Thank you for the advice about the balcony! We have 3 inside rooms booked and I've only ever cruised with a balcony (or small obstructed balcony.) Already I'm missing not having one but hearing that you spend most of the time outside on the upper decks or promenade makes me feel better! Now I just have to get over the fear of being completely closed in without being able to look out to see where we are :'):'):'):')

I am going to give a different thought based on our experience.

We had been to Glacier Bay on a previous cruise (in a suite with huge balcony) plus to Alaska by RV twice so decided because of the cost to try an inside room on the Golden to Alaska. For us it was the worst mistake ever.:') Not only did we feel like we were in a closet despite having the TV on WebCam the upper decks were so crowded at the rails in Glacier Bay that we could not take pictures plus it was raining. With a balcony we could have taken pictures with the slider open and stayed out of the rain. Our pictures from lower decks are the better ones. The ship turns while in the bay so you will get a view of the entire bay plus it will depend on the ice in the bay how far the ship will enter thus how close you will be to any calving.You will always have the option to visit the outside decks no matter what type of room you have. Maybe you could get a balcony near the 2 inside rooms?

Have a great cruise no matter what you choose.

We are taking the April 15 2018 17 day trip leaving from Ft Lauderdale. We are going to be in A30, a balcony room close to elevator. My questions are: why don't they list excursions for Cherbourg as we will be there 8:30 am till 6:30 pm? Does anyone have suggestions on what to do there? In Rotterdam we want to see the windmills but take a canal trip also as well as see some tulips, is there another tour available- not through Princess since they don't offer this all on one tour, that would allow us to do this? Also in Oslo we would like to see the Viking Museum AND the farm village. Is it possible to do this? We don't know how easy it is to book an excursion from the docking sites or how available they are. Last year we did a land and sea from Princess to Alaska so tours were only what Princess offered.

We also don't bring "fancy" clothes for "dress night" (not enough room in suitcase) so if anyone wants to join us those nights for eating somewhere else on ship or wants to join us on our independent sightseeing please let us know. Thanks and look forward to the cruise. Tyler & Phil ages 70 and very active!

Have you joined the roll call for this cruise? That is the place where people meet each other on CC, share information that pertains to that cruise, and often plan to do independent shore excursions together.

Have a great cruise...loved the tulips and also the canals but canals can be done anytime of the year.

It can get "bumpy" the first day or two out of San Pablo...all depends on Mother Nature.

However, when you board you may well find that the times are not what you were guaranteed. On our last 6 cruises we were confirmed for 6pm dining, and it was changed to 5:30 or 5:45 every time. Passenger Services said it was up to the maitre d', the Generoso said it was up to Corporate, and the Captain's Circle hostesss said she'd check it out and let us know. She never did, and no one has ever given us a straight answer.

How true...also there may only be one early traditional dining and those signed up for 5:30 and 6:00 may find it is actually 5:15..ran into this last cruise (not on the Golden).

Which on board credits are refundable???

We have a large OBC balance from the Island Princess in December.... it was a combination of refund from canceled shore excursion, hotel bill Princess paid for 1 day delay in sailing, and $ Princess gave for other expenses due to the delay.

With the new system where you can check your balance daily on your phone they break it down into refundable and non-refundable balance.

Promo OBC usually specifies non-refundable and also FCC, loyalty and share holder OBC is not refundable.

Can you give me a reason why this one would be different for you? Also, if I put a hold on a booking, would that give me some "protection" to getting the cabin I want?

 

I am playing a bit of a game of chicken with myself. We already have air booked - spending a week in Las Vegas then three days in Long Beach. We need to be back in Vancouver to fly home on April 27th. I usually book well in advance and get as many perks as I can, but for three days I'm okay will no perks. The main reason I want to complete this cruise is that it will move me up to Platinum which will be nice for our Hawaii cruise that is already booked for April of 2019.

The hold on a cabin expires in a few days without payment of deposit.

Sounds like any 3 day cruise before April 2019 will work for you and if this one is sold out of balcony after final payment you will be OK with it....wait and see what happens and then next time you will know what to do if this comes up again.

Woke up this morning and there are two new 43" televisions outside every stateroom on Dolphin deck.

 

Not sure how they're going to fit 43" TV's in the current cubby but I'm sure I'll find out this afternoon when we return from Princess Cays.

We were on the Island Princess in Dec after dry dock and they had just put the new 43" TVs in. They had removed the shelf over the refrigerator and mounted the TV to the wall on brackets at an angle. The TV now covers about half of the drape on that side of the slider. Nice picture for those that like to watch from bed.

It is almost impossible to watch from a chair because the screen is so large and up high. ...Even though we do not cruise to watch TV for us on cruises over 10 days we will not book a balcony, just a mini-suite, on the ships that have the TV mounted that way just for that reason.

No new system to watch movies when you want and the guide they had to tell you when a movie was going to start did not work 3/4 of the time. No printed schedule any more.

Not on the Grand but recently on the Island and no problems going to Mexico.

Read the entire warnings and you will find like many places use caution in what you are doing. It has always been that way..crime is crime no matter where you are.

There are certain areas in certain states in Mexico that it is advised not to travel to but did not see that would be a problem for a person on a Princess cruise.

Rest assured Princess would cancel a port should there be a threat to their passengers.

Enjoy you cruise.:D

We are looking at the April 24, 2018 LA to Vancouver 3 day cruise and want to stay in a balcony cabin. Checking on the Princess Website, there appears to be a large number of cabins available. Would you take the chance and hold off on booking until after 90 days before sailing, or book now? I'm hoping for a reduction in price. Is it possible that there are enough guarantee cabins booked that these open cabins would disappear?

Best to book now and watch for price drops if you want a certain cabin. Unless it is a new booking only you can get the reduction but if new bookings only would have to cancel and re-book assuming this is before final payment. Prices may not drop anymore after final payment than before if the ship is not booking well.

No,

For dinner collared shirts and Docker type pants are fine. You will see others in jeans - no holes and good condition.

Formal nights many wear slacks, ties and dress shirts and some have jackets. Others do not even wear a tie. Others wear suites and there is an occasional tux.

Breakfast and lunch shirts with no collars and shorts are accepted.

When it was cruises- 15 cruises- 149 days

PLEASE HELP! We are booked on 34 day b2b2b2b2b2b2. DH had neck cancer, but after almost 2 years was said to be cured. Finally JOY in our lives again. Then, we are having biopsies 2nd time around this Tues and won't have results until the Tuesday before we leave. How does insurance work. I am soooo tired and stressed. Please help me. Will insurance pay/

Sorry to hear this.

If you purchased Princess insurance and he had no change in his condition and no medication changes for 60 days prior to purchasing the insurance and you have to cancel they should pay. This is assuming they had not recommended the biopsies during that time.

So you do not stress you may give them a call.

I need help . I cant decide between the Scandinavia cruise on sapphire or the Norway fjords on the same ship. Its either the citys of copenagen and oslo or the views of Norway and its small towns and fjords. someone convince me of one over the other

Both great cruises but a lot will depend on what you want to see. Large cities vs scenery and smaller towns.

Research as to what tours are available and what you will be seeing might help you to decide.

Maybe a b2b to see both.if that can be done with these cruises.

Norway and fjords would be our first choice. We have been on both and keep in mind it is just our thoughts based on that it would be a repeat visit.