milolii

Interesting… glad you got your medallions and off you go.

@azbirdmomand @IndyKid I’ve received items from 4PX USA Express. It is a Chinese shipping company. The items did come directly from China. Can’t remember if Bensenville was a shipping stop. I also don’t remember if it was medallions or Amazon(more likely) I do live in California. Upon googling Bensenville, I discovered it is very close to ORD, in fact that is its “claim to fame”. These are my thoughts. So @azbirdmom ‘s medallions were shipped air freight to ORD from outside the US, probably on the next available flight to the US; then shipped(air or maybe even ground), to a Los Angeles to a USPS distribution center. This is about cost(for Princess) and efficiency(for 4PX express). USPS will make the final delivery. It may not make sense to us, but does for the parties involved. @IndyKid I Would be interested to see the routing on your medallions. This topic is interesting. But it also means I probably order too much stuff online. LOL. .

Aloha, @YehootuGo with Iceland Everywhere. We did three excursions with Siggi. Reykjavik, Akureyri and Grundarfjordur. Very enjoyable days. He is excellent. We paid about a month out, but you could pay that day. He offered a discount for booking all three. Tours filled up in February for our July cruise. At Grundarfjordur, One couple didn’t make it off in time due to the issues with immigration clearance and only one tender working. Siggi refunded them. This was on the Island. Agree, the price Princess gave you of $128.00 was probably a mistake on their part as I think IET charges about that. I didn’t say it was right, however. I thought of him this week as the news of the evacuations on the Reykajnes Peninsula. Someone had asked him about where people would go in the event of evacuations. (The volcano was erupting then, but the situation wasn’t as serious as it is now). He said people would take everyone in, of course. No one would be without a place to stay. He seemed shocked that people would stay in a shelter. Strong Ohana in Iceland. https://www.icelandeverywhere.is/destination/golden-circle-kerid-crater-shore-excursion/

So sorry to read this. We boarded this Cruise In Copenhagen and saw you two quite often, having a great time. Best wishes to you both.

I believe Princess uses a shipping service(s) as an intermediary that sends the medallions to your local post office who completes the final delivery. Location doesn’t matter as much as when a shipment leaves for you area of the country. Hence you might see your order “stuck in California”. Once USPS receives your package, delivery is quick. I know UPS offers this type of service- UPS Sure Post.

There is room for the sofa bed to open, but it butts up against a piece of built in cabinetry when open. You can walk around it by going through the bedroom or hop over. Although the bathroom has two entrances, the second entrance is in the living room instead of the bedroom. So you do have to go into the living room to get to the bathroom from the bedroom. Not the usual Princes set up. It’s an odd shaped cabin, but was very nice. There are three sliding glass doors to the 2 separate balconies. Plus a walk in closet. I think all the oddities are due to the the changes made to the Island years ago. If the configuration is not what you want have it changed.

We were in L722 this summer. It’s the opposite suite. There is a queen bed, (maybe a bit larger)in the bedroom area. The sofa bed folds out and I would say it could sleep one adult comfortably.

Sorry to hear about your medical issues Tips : Copy everything, including your medical note stating you can’t travel and the application for reimbursement. Make a folder on your computer or keep a folder with hard copies. This also includes any emails. Keep a diary of anyone you talk with including name, date, time, company, brief description of call and anything important the representative tells you. If you send anything by mail; send it registered mail with tracking. You won’t get the insurance premium back as you are using the insurance to get reimbursement. Pay attention to deadlines and don’t let them pass. Move quickly. Good luck.

@Upper Bob good luck to you and enjoy your flight and cruise. The Enchanted is wonderful. I agree about the recent pricing. Sometimes direct airline booking is the way to go.

Hi Coral, we fly United Polaris most of the time, including to Europe. We use miles or cash; or a combination of both. United has a great article, “All about Upgrades” The link is below. For Transatlantic flights miles and money are required. You can request the upgrade on the website or app. Then you are placed on the waitlist. If the request doesn’t clear, United refunds your miles and money. I believe this is what the OP is describing. But thinking you may know some of this; on aircraft with United Premium Plus, passengers who purchased those tickets, are processed first using the 8 tier priority list. An upgrade from economy to Polaris may be a bit of a long shot, depending on the destinations, dates and number of Polaris seats. Purchasing premium plus seating seems to be good strategy as that moves you up the list. We decided to try this next year. RT to LHR. We purchased Polaris on the way over for sleeping, but coming back we’re in Premium Plus. I haven’t submitted the request yet, but it is 20,000 miles + $425.00 each. If our request doesn’t clear, we will stay in those seats. The OP may have other thoughts to add. I’d also check to be sure your fare class is eligible for any upgrades. I usually call before I purchase the tickets if I’ m not sure, https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/mileageplus/awards/upgrade.html

Norway in a nutshell schedules April 2024 and forward: Booking engine was wonky yesterday. First dates appeared but only for Bergen RT. Then poof, dates disappeared. Today all is working fine and booked successfully, Oslo to Bergen

Iceland: Look at Iceland Everywhere Tours. IET. We did three tours with them this summer. Reykjavik, Akueryri, and Grundarfjordur. Excellent. Siggi offered refund is ship didn’t make the port. Also Arctic Shore Excursions. They do have a penalty, but I think is closer to 20%. It’s the deposit. I do remember reading on the Princess Forums there was a big storm around Iceland the end of May, 2023. Many ports were missed. Once the Sky got to Norway, things went well. I would check your roll call for the cruise for possible private tours. I also would check a roll call from this year with a similar cruise. https://www.icelandeverywhere.is https://arcticshorex.com

Enjoy, your trip sounds amazing. We were due to fly to Australia tomorrow for a three week land trip of Australia/New Zealand, now postponed to March. United SFO to SYD. Interested in hearing about Air New Zealand. Hope you get that upgrade. Did you look at the couch seats? Following your adventures.

Thanks for the topic, as I am considering this as well. We are looking at this. We have a similar situation, 10 days pre cruise. We have an additional flight, plus a luggage transfer with Norway in a Nutshell. After deducting the fees for those trips, Luggage Forward becomes very reasonable. Not lugging that extra piece of luggage around is just a plus. @Sn0cruiser and @SargassoPirate Thanks for relating your experiences.

I had an excursion canceled due to a missed port. The funds went to my onboard account. I think it was about $300.00. I used it all. I had the printouts of the ecards I used for payment. I took all of them with me and then destroyed them after the cruise. Before the cruise, I also had a few GCs refunded due to a price drop. Those funds were credited in 48 hours. I think I was told 7 days for the refunds. I had about 25 of them, but got lucky while checking the balances and was able to determine which had credits and how much, fairly quickly. Then those were the cards I used for the SEs. This was in February.

I am following this thread. I would be interested in what folks decide to do. I haven’t been to Tromso, but am researching for a trip next December. Land trip. Thanks @TheOldBear for the site mentioned above. Here is one I found. https://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/northern-norway/tromso/

We used Iceland Everywhere as well. We made all 3 ports. However, the policy was a full refund if your ship did not dock/tender; and you could pay the day of your excursion. . Some people did. We did miss a fourth port, Seydisfjordur; booked with Arctic Shore Excursions, which refunded all but the deposit. Their policy was also clear. Viator has a 24 hour cancellation policy on all tours/shore excursions I have seem, except a few which aren’t refundable, (for example, access tickets to the summit of the Eiffel Tower). This a small company and slots fill very fast. Excursions for our July cruise filled by the end of January. Ziggy, the owner drove to Akureyri to take us around. He also had a trip the following day from another ship, before meeting us in Reykjavik two days later. All of us were from the roll call. One of his employees met us in Grundarfjordur, also from Reykjavik. All very professional and wonderful trips. We plan to use the company for a hunt for the Northern Lights Tour next year.

Thanks

Does anybody have a guess on when NorwayinaNutshell will release May 2024 foreword schedules. No information on the website or other social media pages. TIA

My insurance agent confirmed that “You will be able to get the money you paid for the cards back”. tripinsurancestore.com. This applies to a claim for a covered reason, not CFAR. Again, I check with my insurance before buying the cards. @cruzsnoozestates if you cancel or have a price reduction, refunds go back to the card. Also if you buy a shore excursion and the port is canceled, refunds are credited to your OB account, This happened to us as well, but we used those funds. So it’s a big of a calculation.

I asked my agent about this last year. I stated if I had to cancel for a covered reason, I didn’t want gift cards as a form of payment. She replied that isn’t a problem, but I can’t remember how she put it. She did say any reimbursement amount would be for what you paid for the cards, and therefore you can only insure that amount. I imagine a CFAR policy would/could be different. I will email her again as I am getting ready to purchase cards next month. Will report back. It is certainly worth communicating with your agent, before purchasing. This is tripinsurancestore.com.

We are on the 8 day- Sky May 24, 2024 cruise. Geiranger remains on the itinerary. I had read about the April cancellation on another site. This was about a month ago. I would maybe ask your question on this forum. There is an active poster who seems to have a lot of knowledge. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/ I agree to go as soon as you can. I’m on a roll call for the May cruise that already has about 120 members, mostly UK citizens. I believe there is also an August 7 day on the Sky.

Yep, saw that about a month ago. I was comparing the prices/availability, and I remembered something the onboard consultant said regarding the location in the booking engine. I had gone to see him as I was unable to find them when I logged onto my device from my cabin. This was for the Sky Princess.

The onboard currency for Australian cruises is the AUD, not USD. Posters have also reported that OBC such as the stockholder’s OBC was transferred 1:1. So quite a bit of a loss of about 35% or more. (as of today). I think there maybe some exceptions regarding transpacific crossing and dates, but will let others comment on that piece.

Thank you for the review. We are on a similar cruise next year.