azbirdmom

We flew into Heathrow 3 weeks ago on United. We connected via EWR which for United has been a problem hub for a while now. Our flight arrived in LHR almost 4 hours late primarily due to our inbound flight sitting on the tarmac for almost 3 hours. The weather wasn’t a factor. Thank heavens that we arrived two days before the cruise. Delays can happen on any airline but United has some unique issues right now given the issues the Pilots union are working through with the company. I’m a 1MM flyer with them and belong to a couple of groups where folks with many more miles than me have been sharing all sorts of stories about last minute delays, cancellations and misrouted baggage. If you are able to change your flight to come in earlier I would strongly suggest that you do so. Otherwise I will wish you good luck!

Her webinar also includes the topic "How we're making embarkation even easier". It's pretty darn good now. Hope whatever changes they make won't screw it up!

We weren't on the Royal but were on the Regal last week. Two sea days, Poker tournaments were held on both days. Sign-ups started at 9, an hour before the tournaments started, and they did fill up both times. There have been Poker tournaments on our last couple of cruises too, keep an eye on the Patter for times and make sure to sign up at the Cashier an hour (or sometimes two) before the tournament start.

It is the same one. I found out about them from the ports of call boards here on Cruise Critic. You can't book the airport transfer through their website, they need to give you a quote for it.

Seems like a case of the folks who create the schedules not actually having sailed on the ships and thinking through which ships they are putting where. Majestic actually would be good to make the South America run with the covered pool and viewing areas.

Have you considered staying the Southampton the one night prior to your cruise? That's what we did. We stayed at the Moxy which is a Marriot property. We didn't use points there but our friends did and they said it was a bargain compared to what they used in London. We spent two nights in Southampton. Hubby and I used Aqua Cars which was 109 GBP from Heathrow to the Moxy, had to write to them for pricing and prepaid it. They were awesome. Our flight was delayed almost 4 hours and the driver waited. So nice to have a "man with a sign" greet you and whisk you away when you are exhausted after a long flight.

The Princess shuttle was $19.95 USD (not Euros) to the city center last Thursday. We had a tour and didn't take it but they were selling tickets on shore at the port.

We disembarked the ship the day you embarked. We had a standing reservation for 6:30 at Concerto dining room for our party of 4. The first night was such a mess (waited a half hour to be seated and didn't get our private table - took 3 hours to finish dinner at our shared table for 8!). So after that we just ignored the reservation and went down to the Symphony dining room on deck 5. Edna took good care of us. Rarely were there lines down there of course with the port intensive nature of the cruise I think a lot of people opted for the buffet. Looks like the good weather has returned. We expected it to be a little warmer and drier on our cruise but the cool temperatures and rain (sometimes torrential such as when we were in Edinburgh) returned. We packed a variety of clothes but I had to send our warmer stuff off to the laundry a lot more than I expected and most of the short sleeved stuff didn't get worn. So for those planning future trips make sure that you plan for all options because you may be lucky and get the warm dry weather or 50's and rain!

Just disembarked the Regal on Friday after a lovely 12 day British Isles cruise. I did not see any tables outside rooms and it was business as usual on the ship but as the cruise went on there was a lot more sneezing and coughing all around us. This was our 7th cruise since the restart and we had managed to stay healthy - until now. Somewhere over the Atlantic while flying home I started feeling some symptoms. By yesterday morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck and tested positive for the first time ever. Ditto my hubby although his symptoms didn't start until we got home. I went to Urgent Care and got antiviral meds. Am now hearing that a lot of folks on the ship got Covid. We take every precaution - hand washing, socially distancing, I was even sanitizing my hands again after going through the buffet. The one thing we did not do was wear a mask at any point but I don't know if it would have made a difference. I was trusting that my 6 vaccines would keep me safe. I was reading that the new variant XBB comes on quickly and that it may evade vaccines and even the protection that past Covid illness may provide. Be careful out there, Covid is still with us and I can now say from personal experience that it's not something you want to mess with.

Really? We didn’t encounter any of that.

So true! We did Normandy with Overlord tours yesterday and it was fantastic. Felt safe everywhere and it was a wonderful mix of D-day historic sites and then visits to the charming towns of Honfleur and Bayeux.

We are on the ship too but it’s been so busy that I haven’t been out to Cruise Critic. Like others we found that we should have packed heavier clothes as it’s been much colder and definitely much rainier than we expected, especially in Edinburgh yesterday. But it’s been a fabulous cruise and we have loved everything we have seen. We’ve done a mix of Princess excursions, private tours, and exploring on our own. Fun but exhausting itinerary.

What I gather is that in the time between the system error and when they issued the credit the exchange rate changed. Or maybe they just use a less favorable exchange rate when they issue credits???

UPDATE I've been checking my credit card statement online. Today I saw that all 4 charges went from pending to actual. There was also a big credit from Princess. The sort of bad news: the amounts in the app were in AUD because this is an Australian cruise. Since I am in the USA my credit card was charged in USD. Apparently the conversion rate changed as the net of all of this is a remaining charge of $4.97. Will eat that, my time is worth more than what it would take on the phone attempting to get this removed.

I can do everything I want online. But getting the Princess "wishbook" in the mail was always a special day. I still refer back to the last one printed which was for the 2022/23 season. Hope they reconsider and decide to print these again. Won't hold my breath though.

Why does this surprise you? Are you able to get the exact time and restaurant that you want at the last minute? I ask because I've found that sometimes I can but other times I have to pick a different restaurant or go with a time that wouldn't be my first pick. It really depends on the cruise. So don't blast me for trying to reserve this early, as they say it's not my first rodeo.

So reading through the last couple of pages I decided to check to see if the credit for first night suite dining in a specialty restaurant was in DMY for our December cruise. Surprised to see that there was a credit there so I made a reservation for embarkation night for my DH and I. Then I got an error message. And then I heard the pings of multiple new emails. And they were all from my bank notifying me of online charges made - 4 of them!! I went into the app and cancelled the 4 reservations in the app at the same time on the same day for my husband and I. Now to see if the pending charges fall off or if I need to monitor my bank account for a refund. Arggghhhhh!!!!

Well if our experience is any indication you should be getting the notification email today or tomorrow!

Yes, our's started in Carson CA which is pretty much where our last dozen or so shipped from. We are in Arizona and in the past others have mentioned that their Medallions have come from other locations.

We received our Medallions for our June 25th cruise last week. They arrived via USPS on June 12th in plenty of time. There was a tracking number in the Ocean Notifications email that we received on June 8th. When is your cruise?

If it's tour / transfers to the airport that you are asking about you leave your carry-ons on the bus. We have always been told that everything is secure and we haven't had a problem yet doing this.

Yes you can. We did it back in 2019 when we booked a land package before our comped / free cruise. We booked train and lodging through Pursuit and the train segments were in Adventure and Gold Star. Adventure were seats that were unsold in the cars used by the cruise lines and we traveled one segment in the Holland America car. Gold Star is the top class available through the railroad. Here is another company that sells rail, I have no doubt there are others https://www.alaskatrain.com/information/rates.html

You said that they were offered a flight that would arrive in Heathrow at noon. Surprisingly that is the latest published time that flights can arrive prior to sailing from Southampton for our cruise next Sunday. Hope this doesn't trip them up. I hope they had contacted Princess before the cruise to let them know the situation and officially cancel.

We were on an Ultimate VIP cruise last year. When you get to your stateroom there should be an envelope with the schedule of special events along with badges for you and your roommate. Wearing those in the casino should enable you to get free drinks while gambling in the casino. I'm guessing that since you were offered a free inside that you didn't get a free Princess Plus package but that you can be added for the usual cost if you wish. You can also upgrade the room for (usually) a significantly reduced fee. The biggest different between the regular and Ultimate VIP cruises is that everyone participating gets a gift. There will be an event at a specified time where you will pick an envelope that includes your gift choices. I got the lowest one last year (the "Y" gifts) and selected $500 in free play (there were two other options). The highest value gifts included a choice of $1500 in free play, a Macbook Pro, etc. There will also be gifts left in your room throughout the cruise. Pictures of some of the gifts below. I'm assuming that you got free play as part of your offer. I would check your Travel Summary PDF that you can get on the Princess website to ensure it shows something like this: If you don't see "VIP" definitely call casino reservations, otherwise it is possible that you won't be able to participate in the event. These casino bookings are very glitchy and it's not unusual that they need to be "escalated" in order to ensure that guests get everything that was promised.

Don’t lose hope. They were fully booked as were the Princess excursions. Both opened up more spots after a while. Keep checking!