Sigyn

I did my 21-day check-in at midnight and snagged a 9-9:30 am check in window for our cruise on Dec. 23. But is that any good? I'm not Haven or Platinum so I can't board early and I read that boarding doesn't begin until noon.

My takeaway from all this: What's a mini beer?

lol! I thought of that and decided it was cool if that happened. I decided today that I didn't want to pay those kind of prices, to be honest. with my new, higher-priced bids I realized I was paying as much for an upgrade as I would for an entirely new cruise. I cancelled most of my bids. No matter how much money you have, it's still a limited resource. I'd like new carpet in my house and that's $14,000. I'd rather save for that expenditure and rough it in a family balcony on the Prima. 😂

We have reserved Onda for Christmas Eve, but we didn't opt for a specialty restaurant for Christmas Day.

Totally get that! It would be nice to have haven, but we'll enjoy the cruise regardless.

I asked him and he said as long as there are "baddies" on board - his current teen slang for good-looking girls - he'll be okay.

I know the Prima is now doing fixed menus in the MDR, but is it likely that there will be a special menu on Christmas Day? We are on a cruise from Dec. 23-30.

We don't sail on the Prima until Dec. 23, but I like the idea of a fixed menu with more choices. This way, I don't worry that our specialty dining will mean that we miss a favorite item in the MDR, etc. Plus, it sounds like there are plenty of options in the MDR even with a fixed menu. We've only sailed Carnival in the past, but with fewer items, there were always a few odd ones that didn't appeal, and the basics were VERY basic. I know the food is a better quality on NCL, which is one of the (many) reasons we switched. We are foodies, and we are fine with the fixed menu, supplemented by three nights in the specialty restaurants during our 7-night cruise. I've looked at the menus posted online and they seem quite acceptable.

I did increase my most favored Haven categories, just in case. I put them in the Good category. We'll see!

I've bid into the "good" category on the non-haven suites, but I can't afford that on the Haven. ah, well. we'll still have a good time! 🙂

Do these bids sound good to anyone? Our cruise leaves in 33 days so we're getting close to our holiday cruise, 12/23-12/30, in a family balcony on the Prima, and I'm wondering if there's any chance of getting an upgrade. There are three of us and it shows that EVERY category is currently sold out for three people. I've actually bid QUITE a bit on a Haven or suite upgrade. The minimums were outrageous, but I did it because the rack price offered was even more outrageous (about $16,000 for the three of us) and I know we'd have a wonderful time in a Haven or a suite. I know all of these will be doubled, and I based my bids on what I want the most. I've bid $1,850 on a Haven Aft-Facing Owner's Suite with Master Bedroom & Large Balcony (H4) (minimum was $1,700), $1,850 on a Haven Owner's Suite with Large Balcony (Minimum was $1,500), $1,850 on a Haven 2-Bedroom Family Villa With Large Balcony (Minimum was $1,180), $1,760 on a Haven Aft-Facing Penthouse with Master Bedroom and Large Balcony (Minimum was $1,280), $1,400 on a Haven Penthouse with Balcony (Minimum was $1,120). For non-Haven, I bid $1,255 on a Family Suite with Master Bedroom and Balcony (Minimum was $800), $1,120 on a Forward Facing Suite with Master Bedroom and Large Balcony (Minimum was $815), $1,255 on a Family Suite with Large Balcony (Minimum was $775), and $1,000 on an Aft-Facing Suite with Large Balcony (Minimum was $900). I did NOT bid on a Club Balcony Suite. I would love to experience Haven, but a Suite would be super nice, too. We are currently happy with our family balcony on deck 10, so I don't want to end up in a bad location, so these all sound magnificent and we would be happy with any of them. We paid about $6,000 for our cruise to start, so we'd still be under $10,000 total for our cruise, which would still be a wonderful deal. None of these room types, other than the Haven, were showing up as available when I booked 89 days out, so I don't know what the original prices would have been on the suites, but I'm guessing quite high since it's a holiday cruise and, as I mentioned, even the Haven cheapest Penthouse suite was $16,000 for three of us!

Finally - a nice Black Friday deal if you like low deposits, and who doesn't?! Here's the press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/princess-cruises-black-friday-sale-offers-significant-savings-on-2022-and-2023-cruises-to-destinations-worldwide-301676055.html From Nov. 22 through Nov. 30, guests can choose from 60 sailings under $60 per day (per guest), and 100's more sailings under $100 per day (per guest), taking travelers to Alaska, the California Coast, the Caribbean, Panama Canal and Europe. In addition, guests booking through the sale can take advantage of $1 deposits, meaning those who reserve their sailings to worldwide destinations by Nov. 30 don't have to pay the remaining balance until 90 days before their trip, when deposits typically range between $100 - $800 at the time of booking. Sounds like it's not every cruise, but quite a few are included in this deal.

My son does a three-week summer camp where no electronic are allowed - just surfing, swimming, sailing, etc., and he LOVES it. He said it's actually a relief to not have to think about looking at his phone. He makes new friends every summer. Of course, they keep in touch throughout the year with their phones, but that's okay.

I went ahead and upgraded ahead of time since it included excursions to get the excursion credit so that I could book excursions at the discounted rate, too.

oh yeah, that's the GOOD glacier.

I love this. My husband is a premium alcoholic. He didn't get particularly excited about the cruise we have next month until I showed him the bar menus. Now he's eagerly counting down the days.

I didn't think it was when I booked it, but then a lot of people who have reviewed it have said that. I think they mean for little kids. There isn't an abundance of things to entertain kids under, say, 12 years old.

I'm looking ahead at Christmas 2023 cruises and I'm wondering if our son, who will be 16 for holiday cruises next year, would enjoy the Celebrity Beyond. Is there enough for a teenager to do on a Celebrity ship such as the Beyond? We are doing our first-ever holiday cruise this year on an NCL ship, the Prima, which is a brand new ship and it targets an older audience than your typical family-oriented ship, in that it doesn't have an abundance of water slides, games, etc. The Prima has a go-kart track, mini golf, darts, VR and AR experiences, etc. The reason I'm considering Celebrity for next year's holiday cruise is because my husband and I will be on Celebrity next summer to visit Alaska, and I've heard so many amazing things already about Celebrity that I know we are going to simply fall in love with the cruise line. And second, Celebrity has an amazing itinerary for a holiday cruise, heading to the ABC islands, Panama, etc., for an 11-day cruise that would just be unforgettable. HAL has a variation of that itinerary but I don't want to sail on HAL. And while Royal has it, too, I don't like the times Royal is in port and my friends all say that we'd enjoy Celebrity so much more than Royal. My big concern is whether our teenager would enjoy Celebrity. He likes to swim and, as a mostly only child (his step siblings don't live with us), he's used to doing a lot on his own. We'll be in port most days, and he likes to run and work out, play video games on his phone, nap, etc. It's not as if he has to be entertained 24/7. He is also used to going to high-end restaurants with us, and knows how to be sociable and handle himself around adults. He's very polite and well mannered.

gotcha. 🙂

I saw this on Carnival's site. So it seems to be a cruise-by-cruise rule. Carnival owns Princess, but obviously each brand makes independent decisions: The Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) prohibits the transportation of passengers between two different U.S. ports on any vessel other than a U.S.-flag vessel that meets all requirements for U.S. coastwise transportation. U.S. ports include U.S. states and U.S. island territories and possessions, with the exception of American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is also exempt from the PVSA until such time as U.S.-flag vessels service that route. Foreign-flag vessels like Carnival’s vessels may transport passengers between U.S. ports without violating the PVSA if the vessel stops at a distant foreign port and the passenger traveled with the vessel to that distant foreign port. Guests who miss the ship in the homeport are not allowed to embark the ship in any port of call. Any guest who unexpectedly disembarks the ship at a U.S. port of call, i.e., Alaska, Key West, Hawaii and Catalina, due to an emergency, which results in a violation of the PVSA, will be responsible for the resulting fine ($812 USD per person - subject to change).

Princess clearly practices good customer service. They didn't charge them the fine. They had told them to come along to the port, even though they were running very late. Then the port officials wouldn't let them get on the ship. Princess was okay with it, but the port authorities would not allow it. Luckily they live in Los Angeles, so it wasn't a huge deal. Things happen.

This is the cruise: https://www.icruise.com/itineraries/28-night-hawaii-tahiti-and-samoa-cruise_crown-princess_11-9-2022.html It will be going to Tahiti, but had not yet reached that foreign port. It went to Los Angeles, which they missed, then Hilo, and they boarded in Hilo.

We're doing an Alaskan cruise next July. I see that there is a Move Up tab for our cruise. It allows me to put in our name and reservation number, but then it spins and doesn't load. Do you have to wait until you've paid your cruise in full before you can submit a Move Up offer? I'm not sure if I even want one, since I've booked a cabin we'll enjoy - an Aqua Class Veranda - but I did want to look and see the options. When are Move Up offers given? A week or two before the actual cruise? Or the day before, like other cruise lines?

I had friends who missed their port in Los Angeles for a Princess cruise and flew to meet the ship at the next port, in Hawaii, and were allowed to board just this week. It did not visit a foreign port. No fines were given. The Princess ship flies a foreign flag. Their experience is what spurred me to start this thread in the first place, since they arrived at the Los Angeles port and could not board the ship, although it was still there for another 90 minutes.

Why is that? It's still another US port. And why the fine?