dickinson

Just found that my DH and I have a Goodwill credit of $50 each for our sailing on the Grand Princess next year. Thanks Princess for listening to our complaints about your old/new flyer's promises!

Did you ever get contacted about the email you sent? How did you find out that you now have a Goodwill credit of $50 each? I emailed them the same day you did (yesterday I think) and have not heard back from them. I checked my cruise personalizer and didn't see anything.

I cruised her last Sept and had a wonderful cruise. Many desserts too :)

Maybe that is the "official" line but in reality it could be to add more $$$ to their bottom line by making us pay for what we want to use. I wish they had just set aside a certain amount such as 200 free minutes.

You very well may not have given your password out but I'm very sure that their records have documented that many others did. It was probably shown that people who had unlimited internet service had astronomical amounts of time spent surfing the web which could only be that numerous people were sharing it.

 

As far as the laundry goes I very well expect them to limit it to a dollar value in the near future to curtail any abuse. With all the trivial attempts at saving money (ie soap, lotions, slippers, lip balm, plastic glasses at wine tasting) limited laundry will soon follow.

We have been on two Princess cruises in Window Suites. Both times we had unlimited internet. My dh wakes up very early and spent his time on the internet reading our hometown newspaper and reading all his comics (he reads a LOT of comics). Gave him something to do til I woke up. I too spent time on the internet although less than him. With the amount of minutes we used you would probably think we gave out our password… but we didn't. For all those who never use it there are some who do. I personally don't think that was the reason for losing it. I think it was a bandwidth issue. Unless Princess decides to tell us why we will never know the true reason.

As for laundry…. on both our cruises we never used it. Of course they were only 7 day cruises. I would assume on longer cruises it is necessary unless a person prefers to do it themselves.

Go to the roll call board and click on Princess, then Golden and look for a roll call for your date. If none started then you can start one. Good luck!

Here is the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1905318

I just called Princess customer service. The rep. could see the "unlimited wireless access and use of Internet Cafe" if she entered from the external site. When she accessed from the internal site, she did not see that particular line.

After being put on hold (for an unusually long time), so she could consult with her supervisor, I was told that Princess would honour the free internet, as it was on the webpage the day that I booked the suite.

She told me that I was to go to the Purser's desk on the first day and ask them to access my booking. Princess has placed a note on my booking stating that I am entitled to unlimited internet.

 

I will report back on whether or not this occurs next month when I am on the Grand. Fingers crossed!

When did you book? How long has it been on the website? I booked a few months ago so I think I'm out of luck on this :(

I went to the Princess Facebook page and saw that two people have posted about this. Nowhere on the site have a found Princess responding to ANY of the questions people posted. I only went back as far as the 16th though as there are many posts. Anyone know if they actually respond to people?

I just printed it too however my guess is it is a mistake. Maybe someone took the "old" list of amenities and added "come back new" instead of "escape completely". I would love it if they reinstated it!

I've been on some good roll calls, a great one and at least one dud. I have two upcoming cruises. The 4 day has no roll call yet (I figure most of those cruisers will be booking last minute for a long week end) but the 15 day Hawaii has one but it is very slow. So slow that after I posted that I was joining no one updated to say hello and to welcome me to the roll call :( Someone else posted and asked for suggestions on where to go in LA so I updated and welcomed them and gave suggestions. It has been two weeks and they have not posted any thank you … at least yet anyways. Maybe they just don't go on the internet all that often.

I do however understand about what you said about people posting only one time. Some of those people might be lurkers more than anything and possibly are reading what others post however to have a good roll call you need people "chatting".

We are not in a suite.:( Our anniversary is embarkation day. Will we have a problem getting reservations at CG?:eek:

 

lor74 Have a great cruise! Loving your review! It's been a while since we sailed on CB. Looking forward to all the details and updates. We're sailing in 3 weeks:D

Probably not. After getting on the ship go make a reservation for the time you want. I love the Crown Grill. Happy Anniversary!

lor74- I hope you have a wonderful cruise. I was with you in September although I don't remember if we met. I was in a window suite f311. Loved it. You mentioned making a reservation at the Crown Grill for Wed. With the suite you get a free night on embarkation. Did you make a reservation at CG or Sabatini's for that?

Have a wonderful cruise!

I was about to go with another company but saw this one on insuremytrip. It is better coverage and less expensive than Global Alert. I use travel insurance in case of medical issues while traveling. Never needed to use it before though but want to be covered. In my 60's so starting to get expensive. Don't want to be penny wise and pound foolish!

Anyone use them before and have claims? How were they? Thanks.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek:

That is terrible! I'm going through tripinsurancestore.com and going with Global Alert. I looked at the link and called them too. My receipt from my TA just shows a $200 deposit without specifying that it was a future cruise credit. Presumably that would have been good with Travelguard if I used them. I really think that it is lousy of these companies not to honor it. One is not booking a specific cruise with specific dates when purchasing them but only an interest in possibly cruising again. With Princess it is refundable if not used within two years. No way should that be considered a deposit by any company.

I would have been up the creek (if I had needed to use it) if I purchased my cruise through Costco and then used Travelguard!

Thinking of buying an iPad Air. Does that fit into the safe?

Previously we have brought our laptop and hid it although occasionally while recharging during the day left it on the counter. We would feel more secure if the iPad Air fits into the safe.

nana541, I am sure you are right and will no longer book with Costco. I was told I would be called this evening with information on my cruise but have heard nothing. The incentive for me to book with Costco as well as many other people was being able to get insurance at reasonable costs at final payment. Now that is gone I am not interested in booking a cruise and having to pay inflated insurance costs over a year ahead of final payment. I feel Costco let down their loyal customers.

Because of all this it spurred me to book elsewhere (I started looking at cruises April 30 but didn't call them til May 2 when I found out about the insurance situation). It actually turned out well for me as I found another TA whom I used about 12 years ago. I saved $175 more than I would have if you use the new rules about insurance. Insurance, on the other hand, is going to cost me a lot AND I will have to pay for it by this Saturday to be covered for pre-existing conditions. If it had been under the old guidelines I would have booked with Costco because the insurance would have saved me money and given me flexibility as my cruise isn't til February.

I will check with them next time in case things have changed by then.

Last year Princess reclassified the cabins and the great upgrades we used to get in the past by booking guarantees are now a thing of the past. S, now when you book a guarantee, the odds of getting what you paid for are very high.

Thanks! I understand. No way to upgrade within category anymore so if one is lucky and gets an upgrade it is to a different category.

Just curious, what do you mean with the "cabin reconfiguration" you now have a 90% chance of getting what you paid for?

Never having been on either ship but having two upcoming cruises on both …. why does the Grand not let you use it?

Great thread! We just booked an inside guarantee for a 4 day Calif Coastal in Feb. Can't wait to find out what we get! (we will be fine with an inside though. Never had one and the whole idea is to see what other cabins are like).

I saw that the cruise policy was back up on the site. I booked my cruise through a different TA this past week end. I called TravelGuard to confirm I could still book this policy but they said it is only back up online for those people who booked before May 1. Boo Hoo. Now I have to spend more on travel insurance than before. I used a different agency as I got a better deal on the cruise so I guess that will make up for the extra I have to pay on cruise insurance. Cruise insurance is expensive as one gets older. This old policy didn't ask for age so was much less expensive.

"will upgrade fairy stop by if we pick our cabin?"

 

We always pick our cabin and she stopped by once only to drink most of my Bombay Sapphire and then left without saying a word.:rolleyes:

 

Mike:)

:D:D

We'll be ok even if we get a bad cabin. It is only 4 days so how bad could it be? :eek::eek: It is sort of an adventure. After that cruise we will be in a Window Suite going to Hawaii. Ahhhhhhh.

Thanks all!

We have cruised Princess 2x and both times in Window Suites. Before that when we cruised Carnival it was years ago and were on ships that had lots of outside cabins so we were in those. Princess cabins are small (so I hear as Window Suites are not!) and probably future cruises will not be in Window Suites so we figured a short cruise would give us a chance to sample a different category type. We didn't just pick a balcony because this is not a cruise we would have picked because we wanted to go on a cruise. We mostly wanted to get to Platinum before the Hawaii cruise, sample another cabin type without too much time invested being in it and going to San Diego for the day. We will be in CA for the Hawaii cruise so we are just going a little earlier for this one.

Just booked a short 4 day cruise for next year (California Coastal) before our Hawaii cruise. Just did an inside guarantee. TA said we had a better chance of being upgraded this way than if we picked a cabin. i hadn't heard that before. Is this true? I thought if you didn't mark it "no upgrade" then they could upgrade you if they so desired.

We've done Princess from the west coast to Hawaii several times and love it. For us, the answer would be - Yes, why are you even asking the question!?!

 

But.....it works for us because we love-love-love sea days; we have both been to Hawaii before on land tours and seen quite a lot of the islands, so we like doing more off the beaten path things in each island now and we don't mind it if we miss a port due to weather, we've been there already; rough seas don't bother us and we expect some chop heading west the first two days and east the last two days; Princess has Hawaiian themed activities on board which we find fun and interesting; Princess ships are like second homes for us.

 

BUT..if we had never been to Hawaii before we would fly over and spend two weeks there island hopping (we would not take the seven day cruise around the islands - terrible reviews, not our cruise line of choice), we would find out if we tolerated semi-rough seas well, we would find out if we liked sea days.

 

Don't question for a second your choice to sail Princess, just make sure that Herself is comfortable asea......wishing you a terrific first cruise together!:)

How bad are semi-rough seas?

I have had a Window Suite 2x but never in the Caribbean (Alaska and also New England/Canada). You will NOT feel claustrophobic unless you feel claustrophobic in a nice hotel room. It is much bigger and especially wider than a regular cabin. Look for pictures as there have been threads before with pictures. They are beautiful and have lots of storage. Try not to book cabin F301 as it is a little smaller than the others. We loved the Window Suite and the perks. As an FYI - we have never been in a balcony cabin before so for us there was nothing to miss. When we wanted to go outside we just went upstairs.