NavyVeteran

I just booked the Princess transfer from the ship in Vancouver to Seattle airport. The description in the Travel Summary says it's a five-hour bus ride and I should book a flight departing no earlier than 4:00 pm. I'm booked on a 6:07 pm domestic flight from Seattle. I made the change because the time for my flight from Vancouver changed two hours earlier - to early to reliably make the flight from the ship and there were no later nonstop flights available. The total cost of flight and transfer was less than the cost of a flight from Vancouver. Has anyone taken this transfer? How was it? How comfortable was the bus? Does the bus have toilet facilities? What time did the bus leave the ship and what time did it arrive at the Seattle airport?

I've changed my plans completely. I booked the Princess transfer from the ship to SEA and a flight leaving SEA at 6:07 pm. The information on the Princess Travel Summary on TRANSFER VANCOUVER TO SEATTLE AIRPORT says "Passengers making their own arrangements out of Seattle must depart no earlier than 4:00 P.M." so I should be OK with a 6:07 pm domestic flight. The total cost of the flight and transfer is less than the cost of a flight from Vancouver. We do have a five hour bus ride however.

Refunding to the original credit card would not always work well. When an excursion is cancelled onboard, the refund goes on your cruise folio. The credit card payment goes on your cruise folio. You may have multiple sources of refundable OBC that came from different places. They just have a total amount of refundable OBC being refunded - it is not any specific refundable OBC so it's not from any specific credit card payment. Also once you are onboard, the payment belongs to the passenger - not to the payer. If you pay for another passenger's excursion which is then cancelled, the refund goes to the passenger with the cancelled excursion - not to the person who purchased it. This is very clear in Princess's terms. Example: Suppose a passenger has two excursions for $100 each purchased on two different credit cards owned by two different people. Both cancelled onboard for $200 refundable OBC. Then passenger purchases another excursion onboard spending $100 of the OBC. Leaving $100 refundable. Who should get the refund? With Princess's current policy, there is no question - the passenger gets the refund. With the suggestion of the original credit card, which credit card should be refunded? How would they decide? It wouldn't work.

Do all three have the same itinerary? If not, the itinerary differences may be more important than the ship differences. They probably have the same three ports, but they may not have the same glaciers. I would definitely recommend Glacier Bay National Park if you haven't already been there. It's not just the difference in the glaciers. National Park Rangers come onboard and give a commentary while in the Park. They will have a naturalist giving commentary at the other glaciers, but I think the best commentary is the one in the National Park from the Rangers.

I had the same change on my nonstop flight from 1:42 pm to 11:40 am. Unfortunately, all of the later flights have connections. I can book a flight leaving at 1:30 pm but it has a connection, and we don't arrive at our final airport until about midnight. We will be flying on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. I checked the list posted earlier, and there4 will be four ships in Vancouver that day, but they are small ships - Grand Princess (my ship) (1,432 passengers), Zaandam (Holland America) (1,432 passengers), Seven Seas Explorer (746 passengers), and Fridtjog Nansen (Hurtigruten) (530 passengers). My wife has some mobility issues and we will have luggage, so we won't be able to take the train to the airport. For the earlier flight, we would probably need to take a taxi (faster than cruise transfer bus). We could probably not do self disembarkation, but we would be in the earliest assisted disembarkation group. We won't have as many cruise passengers on Wednesday as on a weekend, but we will have early morning weekday rush hour traffic. I know we will need to get to the airport in time to go through US immigration and customs before boarding the flight. Should we just take the later flight and not try to make the earlier one? Any advice on how long it should take to get from the cruise terminal to the airport in a taxi on Wednesday morning?

You need to be very careful if you leave anything on the balcony. Read paragraph 13. COMPLIANCE WITH CARRIER'S ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY in your Passage Contract (which you can find under Additional Forms & Documents after clicking "Luggage Tag & Travel Summary" on your Cruise Personalizer when looking at a cruise. Loss of any item, including personal items, into the ocean is strictly prohibited. Any negligent act of releasing or not preventing any unauthorized item overboard may result in a fine and other penalties. If the wind blows any of your clothing overboard, Princess may consider that a negligent act.

You may keep the wheelchair in your cabin. It may be crowded, but you should be able to handle a collapsible one. You may not store it outside your cabin. You may not be able to use it through the door of the cabin. You - or someone with you - may need to carry it into the hall before you sit on it. As long as you are mobile inside the cabin, you should not need an accessible cabin. If you have any tender ports, you may take a light collapsible wheelchair on the tender - as long as it is light enough for one person to lift and you can go up and down a few steps without the chair.

If you purchase it onboard, you do not pay part with OBC and part with your card when you buy it. The entire cost is charged to your onboard folio. OBC is subtracted from the balance on your folio, and the remainder (if any) is charged to your card at the end of the cruise. Note that nonrefundable OBC is charged first before refundable OBC, so you could get a refund if you have any refundable OBC left. Onboard, anything you purchase is charged to your onboard folio (with the exception of Future Cruise Deposits). Nothing (other than Future Cruise Deposits) is charged directly to a credit card until your folio is resolved at the end of the cruise. If the two passengers in a cabin use the same credit card, then all OBC for both passengers is used before charging the difference to a credit card. If you use different credit cards, then each passengers folio is settled separately and one does not use leftover OBC from the other.

Vines has better glasses that they don't want you to take out. If you want to leave, just ask them for a to-go glass and they will pour your wine into a normal glass like the other bars use. If you are just picking up a glass to take to dinner, tell them when you order and they will give you one of the other glasses. Note: My response is based on experience on other ships - not on the Sun.

A sold out ship does not necessarily mean that all of the cabins are sold. Each muster station has a maximum number of people it can handle. If a lot of cabins have three or four passengers, they may be sold out even with empty cabins. In this case, they can still accept bids for upgrades because this would increase revenue without increasing the total number of passengers.

Anyone can reach the limit on embarkation day. The real test is to reach the limit on disembarkation day between 6 am and when you leave the ship.😉

No, you cannot order a glass of tap water with OceanNow. It is not on the menu. A free glass of tap water is available at any bar. You can also ask any roving server for a glass of water at no charge.

Some people like to tip up front "to guarantee good service". I've always found that not necessary. I find I get excellent service, particularly at a bar where the bartender gets to know me. You have already tipped 18% when you purchased your package, so you don't have any obligation to tip more. I don't carry around cash either, so I don't tip each time. I usually spend most of the cruise at the same bar once I find one I like. In that case, I will leave a cash tip on the last night of the cruise.

You need to swap out the entire mini-bar (non-alcohol as well as alcohol) to get the bottle of wine. The mini-bar should include 20 bottles (including water and soft drinks as well as beer and liquor).

It's not complicated to get a refund for an excursion booked with OBC. The OBC is immediately available as soon as you cancel. What is complicated is if you book with a combination of OBC and credit card. Then they refund the OBC (immediately) instead of the credit card. Not a problem if you are going to book another excursion or if you don't mind waiting for the cruise to get your credit card payment back. You can only use OBC that shows on your Cruise Personalizer to book in advance. Some OBC doesn't show until you're onboard. Also booking with Shareholder OBC is now a problem, since Princess no longer posts it way in advance. When booking online, the OBC for the two passengers in a cabin are not combined. They charge a credit card for one passenger even if the other one has remaining OBC. Onboard, it is combined if you use the same credit card. You can use one passenger's OBC to book a cabin mate's excursion in advance by calling Princess but not online.

Don't rely on the bartender always volunteering the information about the price - you may need to ask. Instead of exploring every bar, you may be better off finding one that has most of what you want. Then tell the bartender that you are looking for the best options that are within the package. He may have some specific recommendations. I've found that a bartender who knows me can give better service than one who doesn't.

It should be listed in the summary for the land portion - not the cruise portion. It normally had (B), (L), and/or (D) at the end of the listing for each day. Please relook at your summary and see if these are listed.

On a British Isles cruise a few years ago, Club Class had one table for eight. It was used by my family group of four couples traveling together. Since we were the only group of eight in Club Class, no one else used that table. it was great for us. We could show up anytime and go to our table, and we didn't have to coordinate to all arrive at the same time. I will try to arrange the same on an Alaska cruise this fall when we will have a family group of ten in Reserve Dining.

You can request a shared table in reserve dining. The problem is that it's likely that there will be no one else requesting a shared table at the same time, since there are not many people in reserve dining. As stated before, they generally have a row of two tops that are close to each other. The people in the adjacent tables may or may not want to talk with others. Also they will be served at a different schedule with you. Ask the hostess when you enter and they will try to accommodate you. Also mention your preferences to the head waiter. They will probably seat people who want to share at the row of adjacent two tops. If others also ask for a shared table, they may put you together. Since it is a small group in reserve dining, they will quickly learn the preferences of all ot the diners in that section.

I just checked my booking for an August 2025 cruise roundtrip Southampton (booked direct with Princess). Clicked on "Flights" and got the message that "Flights are not yet available for your voyage." On the bottom of the page was a place to book Pre-cruise and Post-cruise transfers for myself and/or DW. The options for Pre-Cuise are: NO TRANSFER TRANSFER: LHR/LGW AIRPORT TO SHIP - $64.00 COACH: VICTORIA *COACH* STATION TO SHIP - $64.00 The options for Post-Cruise are: NO TRANSFER TRANSFER: SHIP TO LHR/LGW AIRPORT - $64.00 COACH: SHIP TO VICTORIA *COACH* STATION - $64.00 Note that you don't distinguish between LHR and LGW when booking a transfer. If you don't book air through Princess, you enter your flight information under "Provide Independent Air Information".

I checked two cruises for which I am booked with Plus - one in September this year and one in March 2026. In both cases, when I clicked "Upgrade Now", it said "You've purchased Princess Plus, great choice" with a list of Plus benefits and no option to upgrade to Premier. When I click "Upgrade Now" on cruises with Premier booked, it correctly shows the Premier benefits. I remember fairly recently (I'm not sure exactly when), it allowed me the option to upgrade from Plus to Premier online. The more complete description of what I have in Plus or Premier is an improvement. However, I can't see any reason for Princess to remove the option to upgrade from Plus to Premier online.

I said that I didn't expect anyone to check, but you should know the printed policy - even if you don't plan to follow it. Sometimes I receive an email confirmation, and sometimes I don't. The main confirmation is in the Princess Travel Summary in the section on SPECIAL SERVICES. The following three items were listed under SERVICE with QUANTITY 1, PRICE $0.00, TOTAL $0.00, and PASSENGER my name: Distilled Water (1 Gallon) * Extension Cord Requested Medical Equip-CPAP/BIPAP Not Suppl*

This is a menu showing what is available to order on OceanNow. It may not show some single malts that are only available at a few bars. I usually check several different bars on the first day onboard to see what they have. I then taste any single malts that I'm not familiar with to see which one I like best. I generally start with the most expensive one under $20 or under $15 depending on which package I have on that cruise and then work my way down. Quite often, the one I decide on as my favorite is not the most expensive. I know this technique requires trying several of them to make a decision. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.🙂

You put your stateroom number and last name on the laundry bag. If you don't have the same last name, make sure DH's last name is on the bag (if your last names are different). They won't charge you. DH will get the Elite mini-bar. Even after you are Elite, you will still get only one mini-bar per stateroom. Normally a non-Elite traveling in the same stateroom can board with the Elite. They don't normally have separate Elite gatherings. The afternoon happy hour is for Elite, Platinum, and Suites, so you can go to. Dependent on the number of people in various categories on the ship, they sometimes have different Captain's Circle receptions for Elite and Platinum and sometimes the same one; if they have different ones, you should be able to go with DH. You will not be able to go to the free wine tasing without paying. You may go with DH, but you will have to pay. You will not receive the 10% off for shore excursions or onboard shops. At onboard shops, just make sure everything is charged to DH's account instead of to yours.

They've normally given me 1 gallon for my CPAP, which would be 16 cups, so you should have more than enough. Technically, the request for distilled water under Dietary Restrictions says "Distilled water (for CPAP machine use ONLY)". The note under Medical Requests General Information says "Distilled water is only provided for use with your c-pap machine, onboard free of charge in gallon units, provided you submit a request in advance of sailing." So, technically, they will not provide free distilled water for mixing medication. However, I doubt that the cabin steward or anyone else will verify that you have a CPAP machine and refuse you the water if you don't.