omc329

I tried the form. It says my date is invalid. It will only handle up to July. I tried going to the travel account. There are no spots to cancel. I tried calling this morning a minute before they opened and JUST as they opened. I was put into the three hour que. I guess I'll have to try again later, but man, I'm frustrated!!! It used to be they would do a callback if you asked. Not now. Now you have to listen the the recording for hours. Thhpptt!!!

I tried looking for an email for my bigbox ta. All I could find were phone numbers. There is an email for those canceling for cruises prior to May 31, but I don't qualify for that email, thus the phone. I think there is a way to cancel through their site, but I want someone there to state unequivocally that the entire amount will be credited back to the cc.

Thank you. That makes me feel much better. I'll try to call again later in the week and hope the wait times get under 3 hours.

I tried calling my ta, but the lines are backed up for hours. We have a cruise booked in December, but I foolishly decided to pay it off when I received a moveover offer refund on another cruise. I figured the cruise was paid and I wouldn't have to worry about it. It was originally booked with a $20pp refundable deposit. We want to cancel. If I wait the hours to get through the phone lines, will I find that they WILL refund the entire amount to my credit card? We are way before final payment.

Anyone know?

Fortunately, we are approaching retirement and will soon be able to book last minute. If cruises become too impractical to book way out due to nonrefundable fees, we will change our approach. Were we not planning on retirement soon, my other option would be to choose another vacation which could be planned way out as we do now, and not be stuck with fees if life changed a year before the trip.

And yes, airlines do the nonrefundables, but I don't book those over a year out. Life is full of options. Provide what I'm looking for, or I look elsewhere. Simple.

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

So why didn't you send it back for a better piece?

They would have gladly exchanged it in a matter of minutes.

More to the point, should it have been served to begin with?

They've even managed to ruin ice cream. My most recent cruise, the ice 'cream' was more like ice 'milk' with lots of crystallization and no cream about it. My go to desert has always been the cruise ships. This time, I walked out with no desert more often than not.

As for food offerings, one night I had salad, soup and bread, and another night bread and soup, finding nothing else appetizing,(had a large salad earlier in the day). The fettuccine with chicken was my go to, but how many times do I want to eat that on a 14 day cruise? Dh must eat in the dining room for his special diet, and therefore I tag along. I found myself grabbing things elsewhere after supper.

I let princess know in the survey how disappointed I am with the current menus and especially the quality. I had one piece of meat that was 80% fat that I did not eat. And if I want hamburger, there are PLENTY of places around home to get one, thanks!

On a positive note, I didn't gain weight this cruise!

You may request a card if you so desire. We did, and had no issues getting them issued at the desk.  We went to a cc meetup  a couple of weeks ago, and were told they are taking the magnet out of future medallions, but not certain when that will be fully implemented. In the meantime, either ask for cards like we did, or keep it 6-8" away from the chest.

Thanks, that helps a bit. I'm still a bit nervous. Dh spends a LOT of time in the cabin/balcony. The size and location were why I booked that specific cabin, and starboard so we could breath. Heart conditions and smoke don't mix!

I have 6210 on the Reflection booked. This thread now has me concerned. I can't get the same pricing anymore, and there are no other 'good' cabins left to change to in the same category. I can cancel the whole thing, or take my chances. Once or twice for refueling is one thing, negating the balcony as usable isn't worth keeping the cruise.

Should I be concerned???

Just did this 12/4. I waited around two weeks and called my TA. He called princess and came back online and said the good news was that they "found" the cancelled reservation. The bad news was it would be another couple of weeks to refund the credit card. It showed up on the credit card around the 26th or 27th. I don't know if Princess would have automatically 'found' the missing monies at some point, but was glad I called. At least it showed on the credit card before I had to pay the new airline charge on the credit card. 

Enjoyed! 🙂

My husband is on a pacemaker, and I plan on getting the cards for both of us. Yes, 8"  might be correct, but the idea of walking around with a magnet when not needed is senseless. I keep mine around my neck. I give dh a hug without thinking. BAM. Dh keeps his in a wrist band. He pounds his motion activated pacemaker without thinking. BAM.

No thanks. Perhaps it is an overabundance of caution, but I don't care to walk around with magnets. And frankly, I don't want to be tracked either. Princess can keep their medallions.

I'll be requesting cruise cards after we board. I always wear my card around my neck for convenience. I don't usually have pockets or belts. I keep picturing giving dh a hug without thinking about a magnet hanging around my neck. Ugh.

On his side, I 'could' see him keeping it in a pocket, but he has a rfid wrist band he plans on using, but it won't stop a magnetic effect. With him I see him pounding his pacemaker, (motion activated to pick up pace), and having that magnet on the wrist of the hand he's pounding with. Ugh.

I simply prefer to have the cards and not spend my vacation worrying about magnets. Keep life simple.

Thank you to whomever it was that mentioned citi was no longer providing insurance. I had no idea!!!! 😮 

I need to pay more attention to things. OUCH!

Having done some quick searches, I was relieved to discover that anything paid before the 22nd will still be covered, so I have some calling to do today to pay off some cruises earlier than planned. THpttt. 

Now I have to do some serious calculating for the future. I lose the 3% kickback on my cruises if I stop using the card, but insurance is a killer. I'll be checking out the chase sapphire preferred and running the calculator. I have time thanks to this thread to figure it all out, but a call to pay off balances while we are still insured is in order. 

Good Grief!!! Imagine if I'd found out the hard way!!! 

We have our  first cruise booked with x next year. Since I booked it, I have been reading these boards and catching up on what's what. I'm not impressed. I've purchased the beach balls for the balcony, but bringing a dvd set-up on  board is a little over the top. REALLY!?!

Yes, we are in the camp where sometimes you just want to chill in the quiet of your cabin and watch a movie together. I've never heard of a cruise line that didn't offer free movies in the cabin. $15!?! I can see a first run matinee at the movie theater for only $5 or 6 a person and rent online for $5 bucks, a wide variety of films. Again, FIFTEEN!?!

This might well be our first and only on x. We'll see. Frankly, we're thinking about taking 2021 and skipping the cruises for the year. All the cuts on all the cruise lines are beginning to blow the experience entirely. Balconetts, loss of promenades, loss of furniture, loss of quality foods, lowering entertainment and on and on. It used to feel luxurious to get on a ship.

Ds is working on putting together a land trip to Japan. If he gets it worked out, we will cancel the cruise we had booked there in '21. We'll get more time, and a much better experience for fewer $$$. The only thing I'll lose is the loss of lines all over the ship and the feel of the waves. Nothing to rock me to sleep at night. Oh well.

I use geoblue for medical and my credit card for everything else. Have had to use the medical once in Canada for a broken arm and the credit card covered my sister's cruise when she had to cancel just before due to severe ankle/leg break. (She was on my card for convenience since I did all the booking).

I know the credit card may not be quite as thorough as some agencies, but it covers most situations well, and if we lose the cost of the cruise because it wasn't quite good enough, we'll survive. The medical, now that REALLY matters to us as I've seen on the news, traveler's that get taken unaware and get stuck in places like the Bahamas with no way home and huge medical bills. Given dh's heart condition, the bone breaks we've seen, and the news we've read,  I would not leave the country without the medical insurance.

We got off late on the 5th by choice. I don't see a reason you could not get off as early as you wish on the second day in port. On the 4th the ship was late in. I'm guessing perhaps the tides? It was late in Belfast because of tides. We did not use the shuttles. I can't help much there. When we got off there was a taxi line we went to and waited. It wasn't more than 15 minutes or so for the wait. That was Sunday morning around 10AM. Given the time of the morning, you might need to call in a cab.

Also note that it depends where the ship ports. If it is the only cruise ship, you'll have your choice between shuttle or taxi. If it is the more industrialized portion of the port, taxis are only permitted through with all sorts of clearance procedures. Shuttles in that case might be the preferred option.

I just checked our Regal cruise after reading your post. We booked with the obc and gratuities. If we were to rebook, yes, the price is lower but doesn't even cover the cost of the lost gratuities, say the obc. I'll be watching to see if something better comes along, but for now, it is more sensible for us to keep our given perks even though the fare has come down.

4 hours ago, ASiuta said:

Thank you, omc329.  I was just wondering whether I needed more than that!  Raincoat, a couple of layers of sweaters, etc I have packed, but not a HEAVY coat, etc.  Looking ahead it appears as if we are going to have LOTS of rain everywhere and cold (cool ?) weather.  Hoping that I don't freeze my tushy off and that I at least see some sun!  

Think about bringing a neckscarf and fingerless gloves. The scarf not only keeps your neck warm, but keeps the wind from going down one's neck. If you get the linen type of scarf, it doubles as a shawl in the dining room. The fingerless gloves allow easier camera usage. I'm known to use those gloves even when just wearing a sweater sometimes. They had some cheap ones leftover at Walmart this weekend for 75 cents. I bought another pair just because they come in handy.

And you might want to bring plastic for the camera unless it is waterproof! If using a phone, there are cases that will keep it dry and allow picts at the same time. I kept 2 cameras, a small waterproof that went everywhere, and a midsized Canon that I  shoved in a plastic bag in my pack whenever I had weather concerns.

Another tip if you haven't already figured it out, since you are going out of Dublin. I'm guessing you are spending time there. Dublin Castle tours and the Gaol are best prepurchased. You can't always get tickets the day of. We missed the Gaol, as when we were taking a taxi there the driver said that on a weekend they would likely be sold out. We ended up at the emigration museum instead. We DID have tour tickets for Dublin Castle and that was great! Malahide Castle was well worth the train or bus ride over, but is IS a LONG walk from either the bus or train. My sis wasn't happy, but ds and I thought it well worth the walk. YMMV. We also used one of the Yellow Umbrella tours. It was great as well. They are free and you simply pay your considered value of the tour at the end. We learned a LOT of Irish history.

Have a great trip!

I also do not see the value with NCL. Free drinks cost more than we would spend outright, (dh doesn't drink and I have to pay his 20% as well), we already get free specialty dining and internet because we are plat with NCL, (we don't need unlimited internet on a vacation), and find far more value in the given obc than in all those other perks. For a 14 day Caribbean with Princess we have $250 from the promo, $250 for stockholder, and $250 for military AND another $310 from our box TA. That'll buy me a lot of 5 for free!! AND the base price is cheaper.

The trick with all lines is to add up the costs, (including extra fees, extra for purchasing ship tours with or without $50 discounts vs buying on shore, tips, values of normal spending habits for drinks vs offer, etc and so forth), and then add or subtract to the base fare. Also keep in mind the cruise lines constantly change offers as well, and your mileage may vary depending our your cruising needs.

I did find that Celebrity can sometimes be near the Princess mark, depending on the cruise. NCL doesn't  come close anymore, not since the Del Rio takeover.

Value varies depending on what your are looking for. Me, I miss the old NCL. I looked at them recently, and the only way to avoid paying for all that "FREE", was to purchase a guarantee. I'd rather go elsewhere and choose my cabins.

8 hours ago, ASiuta said:

What was the date of your cruise?  I am assuming that your port of embarkation was Dublin and that you are speaking from personal experience.  Please advise.  We have private tours booked in both Southhampton and Cobh and would like to know if we need to notify the guides now that we will be late getting off the ship.  If you could give me an idea as to just how late you got off, it would be appreciated.  And sounds like it is VERY cold there!  Just how many layers did you wear??  Still in packing mode so have time to add!  Thank you!

We were on the May 4th out of Dublin this year.

When we were in Dublin, dh purchased a vodaphone sim card for an unlocked phone. I first found out about those on cc. It was GREAT!!! We were able to call our tour companies when we knew we would be running late. And although you have a heads up in Southampton and Cobh, where we did not, there are still the tidal issues and in tender ports it is always a gamble. Not only that, but the internet on the card was usable at all the ports and often even after or before the port when we were close enough to land. If you have a data package with the ship, you can email the tour companies from the ship once the ship notifies you of any delays. Of course, when you find out at 9PM the night before.....THptttt!!!

Again, we were the first full routing out of Dublin this year. I don't know if things will get better with the immigration. Based on how things ran for us, I would 'guess' you will lose nearly an hour or so out of both Southampton and Cobh, (we were always early to the lineups). Perhaps with better organisation it will proceed more quickly?? And again, the tides had them late in both Dublin the day it arrived, and in Belfast. I don't know how late it arrived in Dublin on the 4th, but Belfast was well over an hour late. Because of the lateness of the arrival, the tour company had to change the itinerary for our tour. In Edinburgh, tenders were SLOW. We took the ship's shuttle to the city, so it didn't effect us. Unless you have elite status or something, plan for extra time getting off the ship there unless you booked through the ship.

As for cold, it depends on where you are from. I like cold. That said, I have a vinyl rain coat I purchased that comes in a zip pouch. I kept that in my pack as on overlayer whenever I needed that little extra as well as for showers. I wore a sweater or light long sleeve shirt for underneath. Understand though, it was early May AND I live in an area that gets those polar vortexes. Spring is just about anything over freezing, when snow melts and bulbs begin to break surface. Your mileage may vary.

PS: My dh said to tell you he froze his tushy off. *L*

8 hours ago, ASiuta said:

We are on the June 9th sailing out of Dublin.  I am reading with intent how this is all "going down"!  We have private tours booked in each city except going to Normandy with a Princess tour.  I am very interested in knowing more about the "immigration face to face" and collection and re-distribution of passports".  Any information you can share about this shall be appreciated.  Thank you!  PS - is the ship really in as much disrepair as some of the recent reviews now lead us to believe???  Just curious as to your take on this.

It is the out of  Dublin that will cause the issues. Some of it may have been because we were the first and they simply didn't seem to know what they were doing. Southampton folks are being handled differently than the Dublin folks.

The two ports I would be concerned that you may get off the ship late because of immigration are Southampton, (oddly, NOT Belfast or Scotland), and then again in Cobh. We were notified for Southampton that we were to meet at 6:45AM. LOTS of folks complained about that timing, and it was later moved to 7:15AM, (?). But then we had to sit around for 45-60 minutes or so until immigration boarded and got around to us. By then they had established that the Princess tours were getting messed up because of the delays, (They were in a different holding area than us), and they changed the way they were processing us, simply taking our passports as we walked out. Again, this was ONLY they Dubliners. The LeHavre folks were kept in the theater and Southamptoners had none of this nonsense.

The Cobh immigration was done much the same way, but only for the Dubliners again. And again, we had a late start, ending up well behind the tour groups making our day much less than we had planned both because of additional wait times at Blarney and the late start of the day.

I would advise anyone NEVER to book out of Dublin IF the main port is Southampton. If you have already booked out of Dublin, plan for the issues, (unless they kindly decide they are causing too many hassles the way they are handling it all!). It would be much easier if they would just keep the passports for processing instead of taking them, giving them back, taking them and giving them back. I wouldn't be surprised after all the issues and delays if something else is worked out. I would be curious to know if it gets better.

As for the ship, we had no issues with the ship's maintenance. Frankly, we were so tired and worn out from all the long days, I don't think we would've noticed much.

One note, they had a great group come on in Dublin the first of the 2 days when we embarked and they did one show only around 4PM. It was great! The one they got in Edinburgh, not so much. I walked out on that one. Watch for early shows like that where they come on board just long enough for a short show. Unfortunately, with the long port days, you often miss those kinds of shows. 

Immigration issues for those who embarked in Dublin were bad. I'm not aware of there being problems for those out of Southampton, but can't swear by it. The tide issues were just that and not much to be done about them.

One further note on Queensferry. My info is second hand, but someone on the ferry back to the ship said that she heard some folks waited 2 hours to catch a tender that morning. We purchased tickets through the ship so were not affected, and the info is second hand so take it for what you will.

We did the May 4th out of Dublin.

Shuttles in Dublin were $8 each way, $16 round trip per person on the first two days of our arrival. (overnight) When we returned to Dublin to disembark, Celebrity had the other dock. Taxis were not allowed into the dock we had been assigned on return except by calling ahead, circling, checking in and a nightmare of hoops. I "assume" because of that?, the shuttles were free for those going into Dublin that day unlike the embarkation days.

Also, because we embarked from Dublin, there was a nightmare of immigration issues. They couldn't even decide what was what. They took our passports the day we embarked. They returned them a few days later. Then we were told at Southampton we had to appear with them for immigration before leaving the ship for tours. After waiting around for an hour or so, it was determined it was holding things up too much and immigration "allowed" us to hand in our passports and go, but only for the Dublin folks. The LeHavre folks had to stick around. Also note, ship's excursions were handled from a different point than independents, but I understand they had much the same issues.

We had to go through immigration yet again when we reentered Ireland in Cobh. I did not receive notification of this one until I returned to my room around 9PM the night before. The notice was dropped in the cabin while we were at supper. This time we were told we would get our passports back as we entered the lounge, and then we would present them to immigration. They lost my sister's, nieces and son's passports as well as at least one other passenger's passport. They did find them after around an hour of searching. UGH!!! Some of the folks had their passports restamped, others were told another stamp wasn't needed as we already had them from the airport and they were still good. I was told he still had to meet me in person. I said "Nice to meet you, have a nice day!" Thpttt!

Because of the immigration we got off the ship late, BEHIND all the ship's tours, making our private tour of 12 late, arriving to Blarney and long lines we should've been through by the time we arrived.

Other port issues. Initially they were late arriving in Dublin. Embarkation there was another nightmare. Belfast, because of tides, was around an hour or so late. St Peter's they made tender, but seas picked up and getting all the passengers back on board was a major feat that had us leaving late. They made up the time though, so no impact other than the struggle to get everyone back on board.

Other ports were as shown.