DJ Cruisers

Thanks BermudaBound.  I had read about this from home and thought I saw a sign in the terminal as we were rushing thru.  I did see the Motu from our verandah, it looked nice.  Will do it in 2025.

Did anyone on the cruise this year take the water taxi to the Otefaro motu?  We were going to  but decided on something else.  I am putting it on our list to do in 2025.  How did it work out?  Did you sign up for it in the terminal and do you remember the tour company?.  Thought I saw a sign for it.

BermudaBound

We were part of that crazy immigration line too.  Finally got thru it and off the ship just to also wait for the blue luggage.  When they finally opened the door my husband was taking forever trying to find one of our pieces.  Well it was in with the gray luggage!  Wow someone was color blind.

You are lucky you went to the Hyatt and got a room right away.  We went back to the BW Yacht Harbor.  We waited an hour for the shuttle.  Got there noon and were told checkin is 3pm.  Yeah we know but there are no rooms that have been cleaned yet?!  We have the highest status with them but they ignore that.  About 1:45 they finally gave us a room.  They pulled the same thing with us before the cruise.

Anybody that remembers Jasmine who was on the desk before the cruise, well she's gone.  She was quite helpful.  Evidently too helpful.  The fellow on the desk said "she promised people things she wasn't supposed to and she's gone".

We like the location but if you arrive early they make you wait even though rooms are ready.  My husband saw one of the room cleaners bring a list of rooms that were ready but they still didn't start giving any out for maybe 45 minutes later.  Standing room only in the lobby with people from the cruise waiting for a room.  Just annoying.

In Fakarava we did not have priority.  We went down at 7:45 to get in line for tickets.  No one was waiting and we were told we could just walk down right then to the tenders no ticket needed yet.  We literally walked down and right off the ship onto a tender.  Very easy.

At 3:30 they finally announced open tendering.  Hmmm, last tender back is supposed to be 5:30 I believe.

We got our 4th star 2 wks ago but it doesn't help till the next cruise.  As soon as we saw the ship was heading in the bay we went down to BB King's and got a tender ticket Orange #3.  Think that was about 9am.  Our number was call around 10:30.  People were just receiving Orange #27 at that time.  When we returned to the ship at about 1:00 I heard them call Orange #27!  Couldn't believe it!

An ambulance was at the dock area as we were in line to return around 12:30, that delayed things .  A woman getting off the tender we returned on said she was on the tender for 1 hour!

Was prepared for this to be a difficult tender port, it was the last time for us and that was a bit smaller of a ship.

Clocks were moved forward 1/2 hour due to the time in Nuku Hiva.  Guess they like to be different.

We arrived at the tender ticket table at 7:50, they told us to just go down to the tenders, no ticket was needed at that time.

Currently on this cruise too.  Yesterday in Moorea we took the "Highlights of Moorea" tour, the bus went around the entire island.  On previous trips we had stayed on the north side of the island and so this time we wanted to see it all.  Although the scenery was great, the driver/guide was extremely difficult to understand.  His accent was very strong.  Were lucky to catch one word here and there.  Others on the bus felt the same.

Also, if you wanted to see the Juice Factory book a tour that leaves on Saturday.  It is close on Sunday.  We had been there a couple times before so didn't care.

We had lots and lots of OBC so booked a few ship excursions.  Some were better than others.

It has been very hot here both days in Moorea .  Temp is 88 and with the high humidity it is oppressive.  Tough coming back on the tender.  Having been here several times before we were prepared for this.  Just be aware it is hotter than Hawaii.  

Got our bag of laundry back today, it took 3 days.  My husband can really pack it tight.  We got an amazing number of clothes in.  When we boarded the ship there were 2 pieces of paper.  One had the laundry package prices.  It is $25/bag with all you can fit in it.  The other was the form you fill out to put in the laundry bag.  It was more cost effective for us to do it by the bag but it depends on how often you send off laundry.  We got our 4th star a week ago on this cruise.  No charge for the laundry yet but it will probably be coming.

Late this morning they removed all silverware and salt and pepper from the tables.  Once the salt and pepper goes you know there has been an uptick in sickness,  At lunch beverage stations were manned by crew.  Only question is what virus is causing the change, Norovirus, Covid?  Both?  

I still see the same disgusting behavior from some passengers.  The woman who

Tables were cleared of salt and pepper shakes, and silverware late this morning.  At lunch the crew were serving the beverages from the stations.  When the salt and pepper shakers go you know there is an uptick in sickness.  Is Norovirus causing this change or Covid?  Hope they give out some info.

Still seeing the same disgusting behavior at Lido.  A woman licking her fingers and then picking up the tongs at Lido.  The man who jammed his whole hand into the walnut jar at breakfast instead of using a spoon, etc.

We are trying really hard not to get sick on this cruise.  Having had Covid on the last two cruises in Sept. and Dec. was not fun.  We've never had Norovirus on the 75+ cruises we have taken but that is easier to avoid at least for us.

Thanks for your responses.  The 2 excursions I booked early last summer noted on the email confirmation from HAL a 10% fee would be charged if cancelled on board. It's a 5 wk cruise and the excursions are both long after boarding the ship so I have plenty of time to cancel but I feel a 10% cancellation fee before the deadline is a bit much since both are even sold out now with a waitlist. 

The excursion I booked a couple days ago was entirely different wording re cancellation.

Maybe the 10% cancellation fee onboard isn't applicable anymore.

Has anyone been charged a cancellation fee for an excursion if cancelled on board before the deadline?   I reserved several last year for an upcoming cruise and on the email confirmation they sent it stated there would be a 10% fee if cancelled on board before the deadline.  I just reserved another excursion yesterday and the verbage is different.  It states money will be refunded if cancelled before the deadline minus any cancellation fees.  On the HAL website I didn't see any mention of a fee as long as you cancel before the deadline.  These are all just bus type day excursions.

I did that on the Nieuw Amsterdam last year too.  It was 50% off at Happy Hour.  Hoping they have a good Happy Hour special on the Koningsdam.

Thank you for your response Crew News!  That would be perfect.

We get 25% off purchases from the bar in the cabin as 3*.  Since I drink mostly diet coke can I have the bar stocked with just that or is it a standard setup that the ship chooses?

If I have an FCC from Covid isolation on my last cruise and it is good for a year, do I have to sail within the year or just book within a year?

Thanks for the responses.  I did get my medical report showing the days I was isolated.

Has anyone very recently been given future cruise credit for covid isolation?  I just disembarked a Mediterranean cruise and spent 5 days in isolation after getting covid.  The medical office told me I would get FCC as a result.  The Guest Services desk also told me I would get FCC.  I am now home and after contacting Customer Services at Princess got nowhere with them.  If anyone has suggestions, thanks in advance.

Do you call room service to have the elite bar setup swapped out or does the room attendant do it?  Thanks for the info.  Seem to recall for awhile they were saying the room attendant did it.

We used to be able to buy the cancel for any reason insurance with Princess but that changed when Covid hit under Cuomo.  Could no longer buy it in NY.  Funny how every other state is OK with it but NY changed the rules.

Ooop's!!  No offense meant.  I'll wander over to where I should have been.

Thanks for your answer.  I had heard it went up.

Just read this too on Yahoo Finance.  Wonder if it will be combinable with Shareholder's and Military?  Imagine it's for new bookings.

Does anyone know what the current per person price for the taxi tours offered outside the cruise terminal in Gibraltar are?  Thank you.

13 hours ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

I finally had to give up.

As I noted earlier and I know you went through this, DH didn't have enough OBC to cover an excursion we wanted to book. I had more than enough to cover us both and in fact will have to work to spend it all once onboard. 

I called twice trying to get a different person, but both told me 'each person's OBC belongs to them'.

I then sent my PVP an email asking if she could do it. She NEVER responded after almost 3 weeks---really annoying. She seems really good at responding if you want to book a cruise...otherwise .... NADA. Then I tried Chat. I was on for almost 3 hours when it looked like they were trying to connect me and dropped me instead. 🤷‍♀️

 

I gave up and paid the difference for DH. It wasn't that much, but it was pretty annoying.

 

Just thought I would post my experience and am curious if that's what others are seeing as well, or if I just was unlucky getting the ones who didn't know how to do it.

 

I know your frustration!  It definitely can be done, we did it twice in the last few months.  I think it is a matter of getting a person who knows how to do it.  The first person I talked with was clueless and we got nowhere.   The next two times  we got people who knew how to do it.  My husband called those two times (I had lost patience).  He told them he wanted to book an excursion for both of us  and use his OBC. It was done.  You cannot do it yourself on line (as far as I know).  It will only use the OBC for the person who has it and put it on a credit card for the other person who doesn't have any OBC.

How were the cable car lines at Santorini?  We will be the first ship in port with another arriving an hour after.  We plan on getting off as soon as we can and are elite.  Hoping the line won't be too long going up.  Coming back based on our last two cruises the line was at least 1 hour long.

Also did you tender at Mykonos or dock.  Arriving at noon in Mykonos seems like tendering would be  slow with everyone wanting to get off at once.

Thanks for your info.