NavyVeteran

You can apply more than one FCD to a booking. However, you only receive the OBC for one FCD per passenger. The additional FCDs are applied to the cost of the booking, but no additional OBC. If you cancel a cruise with a FCD applied to a refundable deposit before the expiration date of the FCD, the FCD is not refunded back to your credit card. It is redeposited in your Captain's Circle FCD bank for use on another cruise. It can then be applied to other bookings. It is refunded upon cancellation only if it is past its expiration date. Note that many FCDs currently applied to cruises are past their expiration dates, since the expiration date for a FCD is "Book by" date - not a "Sail by" date. I have cancelled a cruise with a Princess telephone agent and immediately applied the FCD to another cruise.

Are you cruising solo or as a couple? If you are cruising as a couple, you will each need to purchase a FCD in order to get the maximum OBC. In order to reserve two cruises, you would need to purchase two FCDs - or two each if you are a couple. They can be used for any cruise booked by the deadline a year after puchase, but the cruise itself can be a year or two later than that as long as it is booked before the deadline. Most - but not necessarily all - Princess cruises have options to book with refundable deposits. If you are booking online, it clearly states either refundable or nonrefundable deposit - but you do need to look. If you are booking with a travel agent, make sure that the agent knows you are interested only in refundable deposits. If you book a refundable deposit cruise with a FCD and then cancel the cruise before the penalty period, the FCD is returned to your Captain's Circle account if it has not yet expired. If it has expired, then it is refunded. I believe you can call Princess and request an earlier refund before the FCD expiration date, but I have no experience doing so. Someone else should be able to confirm if they have done this. Your profile doesn't say where you live. My comments above are relevant to the United States and Canada. Refundable deposits are not as available in many other countries.

I've always been able to charge DW's excursions to my OBC pre-cruise. It can't be done online, but a Princess telephone rep can do it. When I've charged excursions to my credit card after running out of OBC pre-cruise, they didn't actually charge the excursions to my credit card. The excursions were charged on my onboard folio, and the credit card payments were listed as refundable OBC on my onboard folio. Therefore the excursions would be charged first to nonrefundable OBC if any and the credit card payments would be refundable OBC that I would get back if not spent.

I have never heard of this happening on Princess. If Princess is overbooked, some passengers receive move-over offers shortly before the cruise, but these offers are voluntary. Princess will usually make the offer attractive enough that someone will accept it.

I hope OP's experience isn't the norm. I had a completely different experience. DW and I got COVID three days before the end of our cruise on the Caribbean Princess from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale last year. DW was sick and stayed in the medical center overnight. I had no symptoms. We were both isolated in our cabin until the end of the cruise. We received our medical records the day before disembarkation. On disembarkation morning, we waited in our cabin for a late departure. We had a very good breakfast delivered by room service that morning. When it was time to leave, two people came to escort us off. We had requested wheelchair assistance for DW, so one of them had a wheelchair. There was a slight delay when I noticed the wheelchair was broken and they had to go get a replacement chair. They then took us off the ship through a private passageway bypassing lines and other passengers. We were planning to take a taxi to the airport. There was a long line of people waiting for taxis. We bypassed that line, and one of our escorts flagged down a taxi for us. We then took a taxi to the airport and boarded as normal. Disembarkation day was the fifth day since the first symptoms. We both wore N95 masks the entire trip to try to avoid infecting others. Unlike the treatment OP received, I thought the treatment we received was very reasonable and helpful. I don't think the problem is that Princess has unacceptable disembarkation policies for people in isolation - I think the problem is that Princess does not have - or does not follow - consistent disembarkation policies. Different ships handle it differently. And they are also dependent on the port's policies and personnel, and different ports handle things differently. My experience was very acceptable - OP's was not.

We never book a mini-suite on Princess. If we don't book a full suite, we book a balcony or outside cabin (marked no upgrade) - never a mini-suite. DW has mobility issues, and a shower in tub is not an option. She doesn't need an accessible cabin, but the only mini-suite we could possibly book would be an accessible one. The large shower in the full suite is definitely a big improvement over the small showers in the standard cabins.

Except for special cases, such as flights, closing time is two days prior to the excursion. If you get sick on board and see the ship's doctor, they will refund excursions after the closing time if the doctor says you shouldn't go. You will have to pay for the medical visit, but it could be covered by insurance.

On my most recent booking, it did not default to FCDs. It gave me the option to pay the deposit or to pay in full. It also provided places for me to check if I wanted to use mine and if I wanted to use DW's. After I checked both boxes, I still had the two options to pay the deposit or to pay in full, but the option to pay the deposit said it would be $0.

A Future Cruise Deposit (FCD) is a specific kind of Future Cruise Credit (FCC). It is purchased and can be used as a deposit. Other types of FCCs cannot be used as deposits. You can use either one or both to book a cruise. If you use both, then you have paid your full deposit and you both receive Onboard Credit (OBC). This is the normal way to do it. If you use only one, then you would have to make an additional credit card for the other person. I believe it would be only $100 even if the normal deposit were more, but I'm not sure since I haven't done this myself. In this case, only one of you would get the OBC.

I don't have experience with your specific group. DW always goes to the knitting group on board. On one cruise, they didn't have it scheduled. She asked at Guest Services, and it was scheduled within two days. I believe it would probably be the same for any other group. If you ask at Guest Services, you may want to request a specific location - or at least not to schedule you at a bar that is open during your meeting.

If you don't see them scheduled when you board, ask at Guest Services. If they don't already have them scheduled, they will schedule them if you ask.

One minor correction: You won't be telling your waiter the night before. The head waiter (or dining room manager - I forget what they're called today) will bring him the next night's menu (and the next day's noon menu if it's a sea day) and will take his order. The waiters are not trained to deal with the allergies. They should be able to modify some items on the regular menu to satisfy his restrictions. For Sabatini's or Crown Grill, I recommend you talk with the head waiter the day before. He will tell you what they can modify the meet his restrictions. I have no experience with Alfredo's, but I recommend you talk with the head waiter there the day before also.

I've also been upgraded at no cost in the past. I don't think they do it as often anymore because they would rather sell the upgrade on a bid; however, it could happen. They continue to sell lower cost cabins even if they sell out, as long as they have other cabins available. If they sell more lower cost cabins than they have and they don't have enough bidders for upgrades, then they will upgrade someone. They're better off selling another inside cabin and giving someone a free upgrade than sailing with an empty cabin.

If you book the same cabin for both segments, you may want to specifiy no upgrade, since upgrades would be handled separately for each segment. You cannot do this online. A TA or a Princess representative can do it.

It will be no problem getting the system programmed so that a medallion will open other doors. A person assigned to the room needs to go to Guest Services with the person who will be authorized, and they will add the additional room. They don't care where you sleep. It's even easier than before, because you don't need another card or medallion - they just program the system to give you access to multiple rooms. However, this does not change your room assignment on their records - you just have access to the other room. If the rooms have different muster station assignments, it doesn't change your muster station - you need to go to the one for the room you were assigned. If someone asks your room number for a food, beverage, or shopping charge, you need to give them the one you were originally assigned to. Your onboard charges will all go to the folio for the room to which you were assigned - not a problem if one credit card is paying for all of the rooms.

There is nothing unfair about it. The package does appear to be a better value for a short cruise. That may or may not have been a good business decision by Princess, but fairness has nothing to do with it. However, Princess has clearly defined the inclusions, and you have the option to purchase the product or not. If you think the package is not a good deal for your specific situation, then you don't have to buy it. If I think it is a good deal for me, then I will buy it.

All I'm doing is repeating what the PVP told me. She told me she has either to book it or to deposit it to have it assigned to her, and she said she couldn't work the booking if it wasn't assigned to her. It appears that different PVPs are giving different answers to the same question. Inconsistent answers from Princess. What a surprise🙂

PVP says she can't help me with the booking unless she either books it or takes the deposit. I used to book online for a three-day hold without deposit then call the PVP to deposit. As long as they deposit, they get credit. However, Princess is no longer allowing booking holds without deposit. Therefore I just book it myself. I am very particular about cabin choices. If the cabin I want is available, then I book it. If I wait a day, it probably won't be available.

Princess Vacation Protection pays 100% in cash for cancellation for covered reasons. It pays credit only when you use the Cancel for Any Reason coverage to cancel for a non-covered reason.

Reusing a FCD is no problem. The FCD is available almost immediately to reuse. You do have the following possible problems though: EZAir: If you have flights booked, they could be cancelled. Flights may be sold out or the price may have gone up. Excursions: Prebooked excursions may be cancelled. They may be sold out or the price may have gone up.

I've had excellent experience with claims using Princess Vacation Protection. On a cruise last year, DW and I both got COVID and were in isolation for the last three days of the twelve-day cruise. DW had to spend one night in the ship clinic and had over $3,000 in medical charges onboard. We received a payment for all of our medical charges plus one fourth of the cost of the cruise (3 days isolation out of 12 days). No problems. I didn't even have to provide them with Explanations of Benefits (EoB) from my primary or secondary insurance. Primary insurance was Medicare. They knew that Medicare provided no coverage overseas, so they did not require an EoB from Medicare. Secondary insurance was Tricare for Life. Tricare for Life does provide coverage overseas where Medicare does not. However, US law states that Tricare for Life is secondary to any other valid insurance except for Tricare supplements or Medicaid - explicitly stating it is secondary to travel insurance. I provided a link to a Tricare website explicitly stating that, and they didn't require an EoB from Tricare. The whole process was fairly simple. It did take a couple of phone calls as well as the online submission. One of the things to compare is the coverage limits between Princess Vacation Protection and third party insurance. If you do not have any other medical insurance that covers you outside of the US, then the Princess Vacation Protection limits may not be sufficient. Since Tricare for Life provides coverage outside the US, we only need limits to cover the Tricare copayments, so I believe the Princess Vacation Protection limits are adequate for us. I agree with @Rick&Jeannieabout the benefits of Cancel for Any Reason with Princess Vacation Protection.

If you cancel a Princess cruise with a refundable deposit before final payment, you receive a full refund - including prepaid Princess Vacation Protection. If you have third party insurance, you may not get a refund. Princess Vacation Protection covers air purchased through Princess EZAir. It doesn't cover air purchased elsewhere. The question of cheaper often depends on age. Princess Vacation Protection is not age rated. It costs the same thing for us seniors as for people in their twenties. Most third party insurance is priced based on age. If you are younger, it may be cheaper. If you are older, maybe not.

You may not be able to get a CVP to help. If the cruise is already booked and deposited, they don't get credit for it. I prefer booking online because I want very specific cabins. If I wait to contact a CVP, the cabin may not be available. You used to be able to book online and put it on hold for three days with no deposit. I would do that and contact a CVP to deposit. But now they won't hold without a deposit, and once you deposit online, it's too late to contact a CVP.

If you are a veteran, the military OBC is also $50 more for one 14 day. If you want the same cabin on two 7 days, you need to request no upgrade. If you are upgraded, it may be for one segment only. If you book one 14 day cruise, then any upgrade will be to the same cabin for the entire 14 days. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of the two 7 day cruises is the EZAir flexibility. You book two one way flights instead of a round trip, and you can change one flight without affecting the other. With a single booking, you may find a better or less expensive flight in one direction but your flight in the other direction may be unavailable or more expensive.

A cruise tour is booked as a single booking - not as separate cruise and tour bookings. Even if the price of your cruise goes down, the price of the cruise tour probably won't. Also, you can't cancel the tour and keep the cruise. If you wanted to do that, you would have to cancel the entire cruise tour and book the cruise at the current prices.