NavyVeteran

8 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Mini-suites are misnamed staterooms.  They are considered "extended/expanded" balcony cabins and do resemble Full Suites at all.

 

Welcome to Princess?  Enjoy your cruise.

I think you meant "and don't resemble Full Suites at all."🙂

2 hours ago, Ellipooh said:

I *know* that the delicious specialty coffees and teas in the IC are priced per item if you don’t have a beverage package, but these are included/unlimited with the Plus/Premier packages.
I *think* that the vast majority of the food items in IC are free 24/7 for everyone. 
I’ve *heard* that there are a few priced food items including yummy-looking pieces of cake that do qualify as a Specialty Dessert under the Plus/Premier packages and thus no additional charge. 

The following statements are based on a cruise on the Carribean Princess last year with Premier. I only *know* what happened on my cruise - I *think* it would be the same on other cruises on other ships.

I *know* that your first statement was correct.

I *know* that your second statement was also correct on my cruise.

I *know* that there were few cakes in the IC that are included under Plus (2 per person per day)/Premier(unlimited) but would cost extra without the packages. Note that even though we had Premier, there was no way we would eat more than one of these cakes each per day. The serving was very large - large enough for two people. When I took the cake from the IC to a table, no one complained when I shared it with DW.

3 hours ago, Therese S. said:

  Is the Hubbard glacier small boat a Princess excursion?  Would you find it listed under the day you cruise the Glacier?  We're taking the 22 day Ultimate Alaska cruise June 2025 and Ive been waiting and checking to see if something like this shows up but so far no luck. 

2 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Yes and yes. Here's what it looks like on my app.

Any excursion on a Glacier Scenic Cruising day in Alaska, like any excursion in the middle of the Panama Canal would have to be a ship's excursion. The ship does not dock. The excursion would pick up passengers directly from the ship, and only ship's excursions would be able to do that.

I am booked on September 2024 B2B cruises with Scenic Cruising days at Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park, and Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier; and on the May 2025 Ultimate Alaska cruise with Scenic Cruising days at Glacier Bay National Park, Hubbard Glacier, and College Fjord; and none of the Scenic Cruising days on any of these cruises has any excursions listed. I will keep looking to see if they show up. I wonder if September is too late in the season and May is too early in the season for these excursions.

8 hours ago, JordanF said:

How far in advance of the cruise to Princess Excursions become available?

No fixed answer. It depends. Usually earlier at ports where Princess has a lot of cruises.

Keep looking at your Cruise Personalizer to see when they show up.

5 minutes ago, carohs said:

Wow! Didn't expect such rude comments from someone who doesn't want me to sail with my kids! 

 

I won't pretend that my children are well behaved angels but neither are most adults. The only difference is most adults have years more experience in learning boundaries and a little more impulse control. But we all do something that other people take offense to. No one is 100% perfect and I don't understand why anyone is offended by kids who are still learning and growing. 

 

And you know what, we do sail other mass market lines. It just so happens that for the four of us on the dates we want to sail, Princess has the best value. I won't go on a ship and allow my kids to run amok out of sheer boredom. Hence me asking about kids club and activities. 

 

As for their ages, they will be 11 and 9. They should be able to be in the same group and have sign in/out privileges. They've done well before being on their own on a ship (for limited situations) but I like the idea of giving them just a little more leeway if I can track their location via the medallion. That's a perk I hadn't considered. 

One suggestion. For safety reasons, you may want to require your two kids to stay together anytime they're not with you, in the cabin, or in the kid's club. With your app and their medallions, you can tell where they are and whether or not they're together.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

The bathroom is the big issue with a normal cabin unless you are in a full suite. A mini-suite has a shower in tub which would probably be difficult. A balcony, outside, or inside has a very small shower - it has grab bars but wouldn't have room for a seat even if they would provide one.

Other than the bathroom, a normal cabin would probably be OK. If he could use a cane instead of a rollator inside the cabin, he would be OK. A folded rollator or even a collapsible wheelchair would fit through a normal door if he can walk to the hallway and he has someone else to roll the folded rollator or wheelchair out the door for him.

DW has some mobility issues and we do not book a mini-suite on Princess because of the shower in tub. She doesn't need an accessible cabin, but we will book either an outside, a balcony, or a full suite to get the walk-in shower.

2 hours ago, MudderBear said:

To add craziness to crazy, I'm thinking now of doing the Sun Princess from Athens to Barcelona.  We were supposed to do that last year on The Enchanted, but had to cancel.  So, I am now holding two reservations for next year, Alaska and Greece.  I'll keep both for now while I make up my mind which one to do.  If I decide to keep  Alaska, I will then book Hubbards Glacier.  Thank you all for the advice.  Oh, and one last thing.....I ended up booking something totally different for Gibralter (will be going to St. Michaels cave in Gibralter which I am very excited about and then Aix-Proveno in Marsailles which I am really excited about now too.  Soooo glad I booked the two Italy excursions months ago!

You may want to go ahead and book the tour even if you're not sure you will take the cruise. That is one big advantage of Princess excursions over third party ones - they are completely refundable until approximately two days before the port. If you cancel the cruise, you will also receive a refund for the excursion.

6 hours ago, carohs said:

Considering booking a cruise over spring break. Can anyone tell me about the how crowded the ship gets that time of year? What kind of activities are available for the kids on Princess?

You may get better information if you state the age of the kids. Princess has different programs for different age groups, and the kids cannot go to an older or younger group - even if they have a sibling one year older or younger. Information is provided in the On Board FAQ under "Cruising with Family & Kids".

1 minute ago, 2806 said:

What kind of drinks cost over the $15?  

When I have Premier, I often drink a brandy, a single-malt Scotch, or a glass of wine that is over $15. However, they have other alternatives that are under $15 if you have Plus and don't want to pay extra.

14 hours ago, memoak said:

What ship and itinerary has more than 5 formal nights ?

13 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Many of them do. There's usually on average about 2 a week. It was a 21-night cruise in the Mediterranean. 

A true 21-night cruise has 4 formal nights. However, most 21-night cruises in the Mediterranean or the Carribean are also sold as three 7-night cruises. In this case, each 7-night cruise has 2 formal nights, so the combined 21-night cruise has 6 formal nights.

They don't waive the dress code completely for embarkation lunch in the MDR. You need to wear shoes, and I don't think a wet bathing suit would be acceptable.

People also don't expect as much for dinner on the first night, since many people will not have their luggage delivered to their cabins before dinner.

2 hours ago, Eno said:

Sounds good since if we don't go back on Princess, we can get the money back.  We would be booking a 7 day cruise in a mini suite so for each 100.00 that we purchase would receive 50.00 OBC.  Would probably buy 4 or 5 in total.  I book online and in Canadian dollars and lately the deposit, well during a special, works out to be about 400.00 Canadian for the three of us.  Since all three of us will be travelling but only me doing the booking, can I use the FCDs that are in my name and also my husband's name when booking?  The OBC would be in US.  Again I assume I can book online, but the wording in the post above states through your Travel Advisor or CVP.

You can use one FCD for each passenger. Although you can use more than one in your name, you only receive OBC for one for each passenger. If all three of you are going to be sailing with Princess, then you need to purchase FCDs for each of you. Buy enough to cover any cruises you will book until your next cruise (when you can buy more if you need them). 

You should be able to use them to book online. You enter the passenger information for each passenger when you make the booking before you pay the deposit. If everything is working the way it should, the system recognizes each passenger's Captain's Circle account and recognizes that each passenger has a FCD. It then asks you if you want to use the FCDs.

12 hours ago, memoak said:

The treatment would not be free. I tipped and fell breaking 3 ribs. The next day had X-rays paid on my folio and got reimbursed. Travel insurance does not cover medical at least mine doesn’t   I was back at lunch same day broken ribs do not mean staying in cabin and even if it did it is not an interruption. I have been quarantined for Covid twice and you get room service for food and booze but you don’t get reimbursement you are still on a cruise

I have Princess Vacation Protection, Medicare, and Tricare for Life. DW and I both got COVID. She stayed overnight in ship's infirmary and had over $3,000 in onboard medical expenses. I had no symptoms and had a little over $100 medical expenses. Princess Vacation Protection covered all of the medical expenses without requiring me to submit to Medicare or Tricare first. They knew Medicare did not provide coverage outside the US, so they did not require a denial. Since, according to US law, Tricare for Life is secondary to any other medical insurance - even secondary travel insurance, they did not require a denial from them either.

We were both in isolation in our cabin for three days of the 12-day cruise (1/4 of the cruise). Princess Vacation Protection reimbursed 1/4 of the cruise fare and port fees, even though we were still getting food and beverages delivered to our room.

1 hour ago, CPs4591 said:

oh wow, thanks!  This is incredibly helpful, especially the part about the bottles of wine!  Yes we can easily do (and per your advice) by the glass.  Didn’t know we could get at a bar and carry in, that makes sense!  And thanks for the other tips.  I think I will just grab something from the buffet before we head back to the cabin at night and stash for mornings.  

Ask to look at the wine menu in the MDR. It may have something you like. Glasses of wine in the MDR (and anywhere else on the ship) are part of the Premier package. Even if they have one you like in the MDR, you may still want to carry one in so you don't have to wait for them to serve you.

On the ship, you can buy a drink at any bar or dining room and carry it almost anywhere on the ship. The only restriction is you are not supposed to take a glass container onto the pool deck. If you have a glass when you enter the pool deck, go directly to the nearest bar and ask them to pour it into a plastic one.

21 minutes ago, CPs4591 said:

Thanks to all of you so far.  I have been doing a lot of reading.  Still have some questions:

 

1.  I eat gluten free but I am NOT celiac.  So minor cross contamination isn’t a major worry for me.  But I can’t eat like bread or pasta, etc. without major gastrointestinal distress.  But a tiny amount isn’t a big deal.  Yet I don’t need to be forced into 100% GF meals like poor celiacs because I have found sometimes they are full of other things that cause me issues.  I think I read someone say she was similar and they brought her special breads at dinner which is great.  But I guess this means all the ship pizza is out?  And any sandwiches are too?  So no chance of a grab and go sandwich?  
 

2.  I also have medication need to take first thing in the morning.  Immediately after I wake up, whenever that happens to be.  It MUST be taken with food.  At home I usually eat a small banana and maybe a tablespoon or two of non dairy yogurt.  Should I grab these at the buffet or something the night before?  I’m often up early (4-6) while my spouse sleeps late.  So don’t want to get room service that early.  I like to go off, find a coffee and go around the ship by myself. At least that’s what I did on Windstar last year, as I said we haven’t been on a big ship in 20 years.  
 

3.  I know it seems stupid but can I bring something on board like rice cakes?  Then I would have those for me all the time.

 

4.  So on another note, we drink wine.  We also have the Premier thing.  How does that work in the dining room if we bought a bottle?  Does it come out of the premier package?  Do we need to drink the full bottle every time we order?  Can we take it back to the room if we don’t finish it?  Or will they keep it in the dining room for us?  
 

thank you, will probably have lots more questions.  You have all been incredibly helpful and patient! 

1. No problem in the MDR. Tell the head waiter (or dining room manager or whatever he's called these days). You will order your meals from him (not your waiter) a day in advance. They can modify dishes to make them gluten free. Explain to him exactly what your restriction is and is not. I recommend eating in the same dining room every evening (not necessarily at the same table or with the same waiter), because then the head waiter will know your restrictions. Buffet or International Cafe are not so easy. You will need to ask.

2. Probably easiest to grab from the buffet and put it in the frig in your room. You can also check what's available at that time at the International Cafe. Since I've never been up that early, I have no idea.

3. You will probably have no problem, but you probably don't need to. The problem generally is taking food across international borders or taking it off the ship.

4. The Premier package gives you a discount of 25% off any bottle of wine. You don't need to drink the full bottle - they will save it for you and bring it out at the next meal even if it's in a different dining room. However you are losing a lot of the benefit of the Premier package if you are buying bottles of wine. The package includes up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day up to $20 each if you buy by the glass, and you only pay the difference plus 18% of the difference if a glass costs more than $20. Unless you can't find an acceptable wine by the glass available, there is no reason to purchase a bottle. Depending on the ship, you may find a better selection at Vines than in the MDR. I will often order a double pour in Vines before dinner and take it with me into the MDR.

52 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Queen! 

 

How do you make it a Love Boat with separate beds?

But the real Love Boat did have separate beds. DW and I sailed on the original Pacific Princess in 2002 (her last year sailing with Princess). Our cabin had two twin beds that could not be moved.☹️ The cabin was a little smaller than the ones in the TV show.😉

14 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Well…I am not a minor anymore. I’m now 18 years old, according to the App!  😂

That corrected itself in about a week.  🥴

6 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

it’s a good thing that was corrected before you boarded the ship and would be denied ordering alcohol. 😂

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Lol!  I think they could tell I wasn’t a minor. 🤪

You're still out of luck. On most Princess cruises, an 18-year-old cannot order alcohol.☹️

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

For Bellingham, I would say 2:00 PM to be on the very safe side and for SeaTac, I would probably say 6:00 PM .. only because that is a very busy airport.  
 

On our last cruise do Vancouver with a flight out of Bellingham, we left Canada Place at 9:30 AM on the bus and made it to Bellingham around 11:30 AM.  There was no real traffic and just a slight back up at the border.  So a flight around 2 PM wasn’t a stretch by any means.  
Now, with that being said, the passengers that are going all the way down to SeaTac are always quite perturbed that they have to stop in Bellingham but it’s on the schedule so if some needs to be dropped off there, they will do so.  I don’t really think it is that far out of the way but it probably adds 15 minutes onto the ride for those going further.  
 

The busses are comfortable and equipped with clean bathrooms.  The drivers are courteous, as well.  It’s door to door service and we’ve used them several times with absolutely no complaints.  
For full disclosure, my sister lives in Bellingham so I visit with her to go to lunch and a nice visit and book a 6 PM flight to fly home, but, even if I wasn’t to stop there for a visit, I far prefer it over SeaTac just because it is so easy and there is absolutely no stress.  
Full disclosure, you do have to carry whatever luggage you have onto the plane via the tarmac.  I pack light so that doesn’t really bother me. 
 

I doubt the Princess transfers stop at Bellingham. In any case, Alaska and American have a lot of nonstop flights from Seattle - not from Bellingham.

5 hours ago, that said:

What would be earliest recommended flight departures?

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

For Bellingham, I would say 2:00 PM to be on the very safe side and for SeaTac, I would probably say 6:00 PM .. only because that is a very busy airport.

My Princess Travel Summary says "Passengers making their own air arrangements out of Seattle must depart no earlier than 4:00 P.M." After booking the Princess transfer, EZAir allowed me to select flights after 4:00 pm. I have a 6:07 pm flight so I should be OK.

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.

28 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We missed a port in January on the Regal and we got our refund for the missed excursion within 2 weeks after arriving home.  

 

Edit to say I just realized you are in Australia so your refund time may be different.  I also wish they would refund to the original payment source (credit card) instead of mailing a paper check.  It seems so old school. 

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?

15 hours ago, Muffinz said:

just a question - do they allow you to dry your clothes outside on the balcony?

e.g. if you hand wash your socks / underpants can you use pegs / clips to hang them from the balcolny chairs?

 

We did this on Celebrity Solstice and it worked well, but do Princess frown upon things like this?

14 hours ago, leck57 said:

One great thing about Princess is that have self service laundries, so we use those. Occasionally we do dry clothes on the balcony and use the chairs. Those retractable lines in the bathroom are useless in my opinion as it takes forever to get things dry in there. 

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.