AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago)

I am contemplating a 14 day Caribbean cruise on the seaside in a Fantastica Balcony.  Can someone tell me exactly what perks I get when matched as a black card?

6 hours ago, APDMOM said:

My View:  End of Day 13 - Chasing another beautiful sunset:

 

APDMom, first, thank you for taking the time and effort to post this most informative review.  DW Pat and I took a 14 day similar itinerary about 18 months ago on the Seaside, and found it lacking in some areas.  I have a feeling, based mostly on your review that some things have changed on board since then.

I realize that your cruise is just coming to an end as I write this message, so understand that you may not respond for a few days, but I would appreciate your input.  Below is my recollection of the negatives on our cruise.  But before I do that, I want to emphasize that there were many positives as well, and I think many of our issues were just "teething pain" on a relatively new ship in a new market.

So here goes:  Dinner choice- main buffet was closed at 3:30 PM.  Only choice after that was the mini buffet (burgers,chicken fingers, etc.), or a pay for meal, except for the main dining room, and snacks before or after dinner were non-existent.     Very little variety on luncheon buffet, same offerings every day.      Early teen kids with little or no supervision, acting unruly, especially blocking entrance to elevators, standing 4 abreast in the lift, so when the doors open, no one could enter, and then they'd push the door close button.  (700 kids on this cruise!!!!)      Dining room directly under bowling alley, resulting in crashing sounds all during dinner. (Can't they close bowling during dinner hours?).     Absolutely no attempt to enforce even minimal dress standards on formal nights.  I could see teens in hoodies, backward baseball caps, and plain white T shirts.  And that was just at the tables around ours.      

On the plus side, the ship was gorgeous, entertainment was superb, and, for the most part, service was good.

Also, was the MDR menu a second week repeat of the first?

Thanks for helping us decide whether we should book on the Seaside again.

Stan

First, let me say that I will not be sailing on this cruise until December.  A month or so ago, I found a cheaper price for our flight from PHX to FCO, so went ahead and changed from our previous reservation on the same flights with Delta.

A couple of weeks ago, I tried again to find a better price, and horror of horrors, found that my flights were no longer available, PHX to ATL to FCO, with a less than 2 hour layover in ATL.  A great itinerary, and also great pricing for business class.

So over to the Delta site, and found that we were now scheduled PHX to ATL to JFK to FCO.  And besides that, our flight out of ATL leaves for JFK 55 minutes before we arrive at ATL.  Now, I know this will never work.

A call to Princess, I was told that they are working on re-routing, and it would be resolved in a day or two.  This was more than a week ago, and the impossible flights were still reported by Delta.

This morning, I was ready to rant and rave at Princess, logged into the Princess site, and went to travel arrangements on my cruise...and, miracle of miracles, we have been assigned a really good itinerary PHX to JFK to FCO, and even though the pricing on EZ Air for this flight is almost $1100 more for the two of us, Princess is honoring the original quote.

So, Thank you for doing the right thing, even though I was losing patience.  This should tell me to relax, especially with 6 months to go.

Stan.

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

You would think that redeeming a gift card for some OBC would be an easy thing to do, but after 20 minutes of being on hold and then being asked for a second time by the same rep for the gift card number and pin, I gave up. The poor girl sounded lost. I’ll just take the card to guest services on board and let them explain that it may take a day or two to apply because everything has to go through the offices on the mainland. Surely there must be an easier way. 🤡

Another reason to use a good travel agent.  I regularly buy Princess gift cards, then use them to pay for my cruises.  The TA takes all of the numbers, and applies them to my outstanding balance...never a problem.

I Have absolutely no problem with Princess knowing where I am on the ship.  They already know how I spend my money on all of the prior cruises I have been on.  They know that I am not a casino or bingo cruiser, that I spend very little money on booze, and photo sales are zero.

And they know all of this without the medallion.  They may not like the lack of "onboard revenue" I provide, but they still let me cruise with them regularly.  So, if they want to know where I am spending time on the ship without spending money, that's fine with me.

Stan

6 hours ago, tillys mom said:

I will just offer this if you really, really prefer taking some money with you.

 

ATMs are easy, but if you want to carry currency with you, Wells Fargo sells almost any country’s. You can keep $300 in an account and there is no banking charge. When you get ready to purchase, deposit the amount in USD to cover the foreign currency you want and then call and buy. You can have it shipped to a local bank or mailed to you. There is a small fee, but I prefer this to finding an ATM and worrying about rates.

The exchange rates used by the ATM networks are wholesale rates, much better than any you will get buying foreign currencies from a bank in the U.S.

Stan

On 4/25/2019 at 8:23 AM, jdeanski said:

MedallionNet is great, almost like wifi at home. Wifi calling over MedallionNet works very well too.

I noticed your comment about WiFi calling.  My phone service uses WiFi as a default, unless it is not available, then uses cellular.  According to your experience, do you think I could make phone calls using Medallion Net onboard?

Stan

I agree with several of the recent posters...the executive chef is certainly more important than the ship when comparing food quality.  Several years ago, we sailed on the Star Princess, had the best food ever on a cruise ship.  Only wish I knew who the executive chef was on this cruise, I'd follow him around the world.

That being said, Princess food is generally good, I have never lost weight on a Princess cruise.  We tried the Seaside on MSC a couple of years ago.  MDR food was just OK, buffet food for Breakfast and Lunch was boring.  There was no buffet available at dinnertime when we were onboard, but I think they have changed that now.

I fully expect to enjoy most of the food on our Coral cruise next week.  After about 13 or 14 days, the volume of food I eat will be reduced.  Can only go for 2 or 3 apps for a short time.

Stan

1 minute ago, Lindaru said:

Thank you, Stan.  As accommodating as they sound, I may just want to sell my house and move on to a Princess Cruise ship!

 

I cannot wait for May to get here!

 

Ha!  I am already booked on 3 Princess cruises this year, will be spending 49 days with Princess this year.  If I could figure out how to spend more time, I would!  DW Pat and I have been on board Princess ships for more than a year in total, so you know we like it a lot.

Stan

Lindaru, have no fear.  Princess will bend over backwads to make sure you are accommodated.  Please talk to your table captain (ask your waiter to bring him to your table) on the first day, and explain your situation.  He will make sure everything is prepared for you.  I don't personally know if this is possible, but they may even be able to show you tomorrow's menu, have you choose your meal, and blend it for you.  Might be worth a try.

We travel often with our daughter and son-in-law, who are both gluten free, and they bring them the next day's menu every night, have them choose what they want to eat, and have it all prepared gluten free.  Princess is really excellent at helping you enjoy your cruise to the fullest.

Welcome both to Cruise Critic, and Princess.  Hopefully this will be a long-term relationship.  Have a memorable first cruise.

Stan

After a cruise at San Pedro, where do you wait for the Uber car?

15 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We're noobs. It was 2011 and Sea Princess looked absolutely huge. When we boarded and saw the atrium I think I was just in total awe. You only get one "first ship" and one "first cruise". I doubt anybody ever forgets that first time.

Thrak, you are exactly right!  there is only one first cruise ours was the 25,000 ton Fairwind.  We thought it was huge.

Just want to add my two cents, even though I have never sailed HAL.  In my humble opinion, food quality (taste) is dependent more on the executive chef than on the particular cruise line.  Many moons ago, we sailed on the Vistafjord for a 14 day cruise.  After one week we decided the food was poor, then decided to avoid the fish, and move more to a meat based offering.  What a difference...who would have thought they could not cook fish properly on a Norwegian shp.

We have found the food on RCI to be bland.  So bland to the point of being tasteless.  Celebrity and Princess are much superior to this, and about on a par.

On river cruises, Viking has really good food, but not as much choice as the ocean-going ships.

BTW, the best cruise ship food we have ever tasted was on a Star Princess cruise several years ago.  Wish I could tell you who the chef was!  He and his staff were spectacular.

But, all being said, I have never gone hungry on a cruise ship.

Stan

21 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

You’re welcome Stan & glad that it worked for you...I’d feel more comfortable seeing it listed in my Cruise Personalizer or at the least having something in writing from them just in case there was a problem onboard.

 

I used my printer’s fax function to submit my request & it was quickly issued.  Having read a couple of recent posts stating the 90 day before sailing limit had been reinstated I was happy to see in our CP that ours was issued 474 days in advance. 😊

Astro Flyer, Yes, I too would prefer to see it in my Personalizer, but...when I made a couple of excursion reservations, the credit balance shown there included the $250 shareholder OBC, still not showing in Personalizer, however.  All good here!

Stan

In the past, some of my kids gifted some Princess gift cards to me as a Christmas present, and I called my travel agent and had them applied to my outstanding cruise balance.  Can these cards be used this way?  Sure would buy some at the grocery store, get cash back and gas points!

Stan

20 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

When is your cruise?

Colo Cruiser, we sail on 3-17 on the Coral Princess, 19 day Panama Canal.

Stan

20 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

800-872-6779 x-30317

Thanks, Astro Flyer.  I called, got an answer after 2 busy signals.  For some reason, my shareholder OBC shows on their record as a manual adjustment, so is not included on my Personalizer, but the proper amount was confirmed, so I feel confident that everyothing is OK.

Stan

I know this # has been provided in the past, but my search efforts have failed numerous times.  I have used zerofax to send the required documents (I no longer have access to a fax machine) 3 times, and my personalizer does not show the credit.  Can someone please provide the special # to call and get the credit posted?

2 minutes ago, actnwrks said:

Happy New Year!

We are booking our air through Ezair for our Mediterranean cruise, but since we have never flown internationally before I am getting confused.  It looks like there is a United flight that is operated by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, for one price, an Air Canada flight with the 2^nd leg operated by Air Canada Rouge for another price, and an Air Canada/ Lufthansa flight with the Lufthansa portion being operated by CANADA ROUGE FOR AIR CANADA, for yet another price.  There was also an United/Lufthansa flight listed.  All these flights look the same to me.   We are leaving LAX on 10/18/209 to Venice, if that helps, and leaving Barcelona on 11/6/2019 back to LAX. I called United, and they confused me even more, so I am asking the experts, all of you on CC that have done this before.  Thank you for your help!

 

Welcome to the world of code-sharing.  If each of these flights depart and arrive at the same time, they are the same flight, just sold by different airlines.  Just so you know, Rouge is Air Canada's discount airline, and offers little in the way of amenities.  So a flight operated by Air Canada Rouge will be no frills.

Stan

I believe it is 330 days from the ending date of your cruise.

Princess regularly provides space in one of the dining rooms, or specialty dining room during the late mornings through mid afternoon periods for card players.  Have been on many Transatlantic cruises, and always found that Princess makes accomodations for us.  Enjoy!

Stan

I have tried searching on this forum, found lots of options for transit in the other direction (FLL to POM), but not this way.  We will be flying to MIami, not FLL, in order to get non-stop flights out of Phoenix, for a Princess Cruise going from FLL to Quebec City.  There will be 2 of us, and we will be staying overnight at one of the Marriott properties near MIA, so looking for transport the following morning.  A shared shuttle is fine for us, hoping to save a few bucks.

Thanks for your help.

Stan

That is not true. AA does allow seat assignments for what they call First Class as well as Business Class by simply going to the AA web site and pulling up your booked (not ticketed) flights using the airline Locater Code which does show in your EZ Air reservation. On the EZ-Air reservation that airline "Locator Code" is called "Confirmation" on each specific flight. Why do we know this? Because we recently did it with AA (First Class) flights from Vancouver to PHL....months before being ticketed. And if anyone cares, AA First Class on Domestic flights is anything but "First Class." In fact, its not even decent Business Class...but AA continues to use the "First Class" term.

 

We ran into a similar situation on some EZ Air flights on Air Canada. Although we booked Business Class, the EZ Air site would not let us book seats prior to ticketing. We tried doing it on Air Canada's site only to have that screened locked out with a notice that the flights had "been booked by a third party." So we simply telephoned Air Canada and ask if we could choose seat assignments and it was no problem.

 

So this gets back to the original question of why have your flights ticketed prior to the 45 day period? For Business and First Class we can only think of one reason which is to lock-in the price. Some argue that the EZ Air price is not guaranteed until actually ticketed. While this is true we have yet to find anyone who verified that their actual price increased after booking and prior to ticketing. But there are sure plenty of cases where one can get a substantial price reduction by checking the options right up until that 45 day period.

 

Hank

What you say may very well be true when flying out of Canada to the US, but AA would not allow our First Class seat assignments on our flight from EWR to PHX until it was paid and ticketed. Could not get it done through EZ Air or AA (both phone and on-line).

Thanks, everyone. I'll plan on a 3 day return, and hope I won't have to go "Commando".

Stan

I've read that some people ask to be ticketed their EZ Air at final payment. If you can change your air, and possibly get a cheaper fare, what's the advantage to doing that? I have final payment due next week. TIA

There are probably several reasons for ticketing early. In our case, we got great first class rates, and American Airlines will not allow seat reservations until ticketed. There were only 2 "Good" seats left on our return leg, and we wanted to lock those in, so paid, and requested ticketing early.

In our case, the fares were absolutely gangbusters, and had little or no hope of them being reduced, so wnet ahead.

Stan