NavyVeteran

I have run into the same problem. When cancelling an excursion, they refund the OBC portion first. Princess does not actually charge the OBC precruise. In the past (pre-pandemic), the prepaid excursions (whether paid by credit card or OBC) were all listed as charges on my onboard folio and the credit card excursion payments were all listed as refundable OBC on my folio. So I would get any refund due in the refundable OBC check after the cruise. I haven't cruised with Princess yet since the pandemic, so I don't have any recent knowledge if anything has changed.

When you mentioned the itinerary in your first post, you listed the ports but not the glaciers. All glaciers are not created equal. Several people have mentioned Glacier Bay National Park as the best glaciers to see. In addition to the glaciers themselves, Glacier Bay has National Park rangers who come onboard and give narration. They usually have a ranger working directly with the kids. Check which glaciers each of your possible cruises visit, because that does make a difference - with Glacier Bay generally considered the best choice.

Not completely true. American Queen Voyages uses US flagged ships for their Mississippi River cruises, since these are domestic US cruises. However, they use foreign flagged ships for their Alaska cruises and their Great Lakes cruises, and these cruises have the same PVSA restrictions.

You may want to consider booking the cruise on the Crown Princess out of Los Angeles instead. The smaller ship has one more port and no water shuttle ports. Most excursions are still available: Kauai (Nawiliwili): One excursion to Waimea Canyon is still available. Most of the others are sold out. Hilo: Most excursions are still available. Honolulu: Pearl Harbor excursions are sold out. Most of the others are still available. Kahului: Only three excursions are listed. Atlantis Submarine Adventure is still available. The other two are sold out. Ensenada: All excursions are still available. A few have limited availability, but most have extensive availability.

Princess has two Hawaii cruises embarking on December 22, 2022 - one from Los Angeles on the Crown Princess and one from San Francisco on the Royal Princess. The following information is from the Princess website. The Crown Princess cruise from Los Angeles stops at Kauai (Nawiliwili), Hilo, Honolulu, and Kahului with no mention of water shuttles. The Royal Princess cruise from San Francisco stops at Honolulu (overnight), Maui (Lahaina), and Kona with water shuttles required in Maui (Lahaina) and Kona. The Crown Princess is a smaller ship than the Royal Princess, so it can dock in some places that the Royal cannot. Based on your question, I believe you are on the Royal Princess out of San Francisco. I suggest you join the roll call for your cruise. That would be the best place to exchange information with people sailing on your specific cruise. Each of the two Hawaii cruises on December 22nd has its own roll call - Crown Princess from Los Angeles and Royal Princess from San Francisco.

There will absolutely be no problem with four of you showing up any time and asking for a table for four. No reservations needed in Club Class. Pre-pandemic, we had four couples traveling together in suites. They had a table for eight set up in Club Class specifically for us (since there were no other parties of eight in Club Class that cruise). Whenever we showed up, that table was available for us. Since they have several tables for four, you may not always be at the same table, but they will have a table for you. You will also have no problem eating together at a table for four in the specialty suite breakfast. On our cruise, they pushed some tables together in Sabatini's to provide a table for eight, and it was available for us every morning (even if we didn't always arrive at the same time). They will have several tables for four available for you.

I said they would probably have some vodka. I didn't say it would be a good vodka.😉 With enough spices in a bloody Mary, I'm not sure that it would make much difference. Unfortunately, they probably didn't have any gluten-free vodka.

Not completely correct. You may book excursions for one passenger using another passengers OBC in advance. You cannot do it online. You have to call Princess. The telephone agent can do it, although some of them don't know they can.

Although you cannot transfer OBC to another person, you can transfer charges from another person. For example, you can use your OBC to book an excursion for another person, to book specialty dining for another person, to buy a drink for another person, or to purchase something from one of the shops for another person. If you are in the same cabin using the same credit card, you don't have to bother. The two folios are merged on the final day.

The package is available from embarkation to disembarkation. The limit of 15 alcoholic beverages from 6 am to 6 pm applies every day. For embarkation, you may have 15 alcoholic beverages between when you go aboard and 6 am the next morning. For disembarkation, you may have 15 alcoholic beverages between 6 am and when you leave the ship (I haven't personally been able to reach the limit on disembarkation day, but it would be interesting to try.😉)

Texas requires that the ship sell only alcohol purchased from Texas distributors while in Texas waters. Since these are more expensive for Princess to purchase, they only purchase a limited amount, and they are only available in some bars. They should certainly have some vodka for bloody Mary.

If you book under Princess Plus or Princess Premier, only the first two passengers purchase the Plus or Premier beverage package. It does not matter whether or not one of them is underage - an underade passenger would receive the non-alcohol package. The other two passengers do not automatically receive a beverage package - you will need to purchase it separately if you want it. It is important which passengers are listed first and second on the booking and which ones are listed third and fourth. If one of the two youths is listed first or second, that youth would receive the Plus or Premier (without the alcohol) and the adult listed third or fourth would not.

The link in my email was specific to my specific booking. I did not sign in with my booking number or anything else. I just checked the link, and it had our names and booking information.

That is correct. The link in my email was very long. When I clicked on it, it opened a page specific to me and to that specific cruise.

I just received a "Bid to upgrade your stateroom!" email on my 14-day Canada and New England repositioning cruise on the Caribbean Princess embarking on 20 October 2022. The Cruise Personalizer shows this cruise as "Currently Not Available". I am currently in a Window Suite. Lots of suite categories are available for bid. Minimum bids available are $2,680 per person for a Grand Suite, $1,930 per person for an Owner's Suite, $1,250 per person for a Penthouse Suite (Aft Facing), $1,180 per person for a Penthouse Suite, $880 per person for a Premium Suite, or $730 per person for a Vista Suite. I'm not interested in any of these at these minimum bids. I don't need a balcony on a Canada and New England cruise, and my current midship location on the Fiesta deck is perfect for DW with mobility issues.

When I have the option, I price it both ways and then make a decision. Shareholder and military OBC are better for a single 14-day cruise ($500 total) instead of two 7-day cruises ($400 total). Sometimes the fares are better one way and sometimes the other way. Also, some cabins are only available for the 14-day cruise, and some are only available for the 7-day cruises.

I recommend booking one way to the cruise for the first cruise and one way home from the second cruise instead of booking a round trip 7 days late for the first cruise. Usually, you don't save anything by booking a round trip. This gives you additional flexibility to change flights if prices or schedules are available later. If you book a round trip on EZAir, then you can't change flights in one direction without booking both directions, and the other direction may not be available or may have increased fare. It also gives you more protection in case there is a late arrival on the second cruise causing you to miss your flight. If you booked Princess EZAir home from that cruise, then it's their problem to get you home. If you booked a return flight 7 days after your first cruise, then you would have no protection against a late arrival for the second cruise.

They did not make the change because some people were guzzling insane amounts. They made the change because some people were sharing the package by buying drinks for other passengers. Princess was one of the few lines that did not require everyone in the cabin to purchase the package. I suspect the average number of drinks per person increased with the limit. Before the limit, people would drink what they wanted without counting. Now people count and drink 15 to get their money's worth.🙂 Like usual, some people abused the system and the rest of us have to pay for it.🙁

I am booked on a Canada / New England repositioning cruise from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale on the Caribbean Princess in October this year. "New York City (manhattan Or Brooklyn), New York" is listed as a port of call (not embarkation or disembarkation) for this cruise on Sunday, October 30th.

I usually book the new cruise online first before cancelling the old one. Place the new cruise ON HOLD without paying a deposit. Then I call Princess. I cancel the cruise and apply the FCDs to the new cruise in the same phone call. Look at the expiration date on your FCDs. If it is past the Book By date for the FCDs, then they will not be redeposited - they will be refunded, and you can't use them on a new cruise. In the past, I have sometimes been able to have them extended to apply to a new ON HOLD cruise - but not always.

In this case, you could not book all 25 cabins. As soon as you book 15 of them, the other 10 would no longer be available.

It matters if you're trying to get to Elite. After that, it doesn't matter anymore. It used to matter for Loyalty OBC, but that is gone. All other benefits past Elite are based only on number of days with no bonus for suites or solo.

How do you know there were plenty of rooms available immediately prior to the cruise becoming unavailable? You can't tell by looking at available cabins online, since you don't know how many guarantees they've sold.

Texting will work from an iPhone to another iPhone, since iPhone uses iMessage to send texts, and iMessage uses data - not text. I don't know about texts between an iPhone and an Android or between two Androids.

You probably would not be able to fly back to the US, but you should be able to come back by land. Ensenada is close enough to the US border that it should be doable if necsessary.