dreams_of_travel

That seems quite sketchy. How can they legally NOT refund any of the GC funds? If there is no method of returning the funds to the GCs, fine, and another type of funds should be available for you to use in the future. They cannot just take the GC money, and keep it. That just sounds like some made up stuff right there, and illegal. I am truly concerned, and shocked all at the same time. I currently have no Celebrity cruise/s booked, but if I did, and had considered buying discounted GCs, I would be quite hesitant. I really hope them keeping the GC money without a chance of refund is not correct.

As previously posted in this thread, I submitted SOBC requests for three 2024 cruises. Military OBC is automatic as most in this thread know. Two SOBC posted almost immediately, but one, that is part of a back to back, and a travel agent booked cruise did not post. I was going to resubmit the request for the missing SOBC but had procrastinated, as one does, LOL! Before resubmitting I decided I should check the missing SOBC cruise. Voila! It has posted. Yay! To recap, all three of my 2024 cruises now have both MOBC and SOBC posted. Now I (and everyone is this thread) wait to see how things shake out on/after 29 June. *fingers crossed* that both stick.

Your comment made me laugh. Handy dandy indeed. LOL! I use my cellphone in my own home as well as when I'm on a cruise ship. Much better to use it when not wanting to disturb your cabin mate than lights that seem to switch on at will. My last Princess cruise, on the Crown, the toe kick lights kept going off randomly the first night. I think it was the comforter that somehow would trigger the light. We stuffed a towel in the toe kick space after that. That would have been a smart choice. Give the passenger a choice on when the light comes on. Often I find that the cruise ship/cabin designers have no clue how frequent cruisers use the space/s they design. Not Princess, but another line has beautiful cabins that are not functional for more than one passenger even though it is a two person cabin.

Absolutely! The younger crowd may not be willing to sail as often, and/or spend for extras, especially with a family. To be fair, I don't often spend on extras when I cruise but that doesn't mean I don't ever splurge. I guess that may not be enough for my demographic.

Data Point/Update: As I posted earlier, I sent in my shareholder OBC request for my three 2024 cruises this morning. Two out of the three have posted. No idea why the middle cruise did not get the SOBC. The only thing I can think of is that that one is a Travel Agent booked cruise. I'll resend the missing one in the morning, just in case the three separate emails sent in quick succession somehow confused someone. My MOBC is currently intact across the same three cruises. Now i guess I wait until the 29th of June, and see what happens.

In a Hail Mary attempt, I've sent in my share statement for my 3 cruises in 2024. I'll report back if the SOBC is applied (I already have my MOBC attached), and if the SOBC sticks after the 29th of June. I think this is the farthest out I have requested SOBC. In reply to some of the above comments, I have not gotten official notification about MOBC or SOBC changes either. If I were not a reader of Cruise Critic I'd have been none the wiser to this supposed upcoming change. Their upcoming changes like this or to Loyalty benefits that are "quietly" implemented is not a good PR move for Princess. YMMV

Same re: living in a small town with limited street lights. And using phone for lighting if needed at night. I like things dark to sleep. I cruised on the Crown last November, and I stuffed a towel in the side table toe kick area to stop that light. The closet light is a new to me thing, so I will be figuring that out in July, also on the Crown. I am bringing painters tape to assist with achieving no randomly turning on lights.

Good to know, but ugh! to this change. I was fully counting on being able to have both OBC for my cruises next year, especially since I did not book Princess Plus. 😡 My travel friend doesn't drink, so when booking thought cruise only was best.

Thanks. I'm already a partaker. 😉 10% is better than nothing. I am curious to see if it is one OBC/per type/per cabin especially since I cruise with unrelated/different households friends as opposed to couples. I would fine to just keep military, and allow my friend to keep her shareholder if we both can have our OBC. In the past we have "shared" the shareholder, split it, so we both would have some OBC instead of one having it all. Of course, we didn't have to do that but when they decided there could only be one shareholder OBC per cabin we decided to do that. Come on Princess, send out a proper notification so us planning types can decide if we are staying, going and/or dumping stock. LOL!

The only reason I have been booking more with Princess is for the military and shareholder OBC. I am disappointed they have decided to go this route. I am hoping to get my shareholder OBC attached to my 2024 cruises soon, and hope that that sticks when the new notice date rolls up.

The trails out to Nugget Falls are all smooth, and mostly paved. It is a fairly level hike with a few graded inclines/declines, but not steep at all. I would suggest contacting the Park services to inquire, doing a general search to see if anyone else had reviewed that in the past. I do recall that the Blue Bus requested those needing assistance sit in the front of the bus seats, though I don't know (did not see) where they would place the walker. Does the walker fold up?

In the past, with a canceled cruise, they send the funds back to the gift card/s. It is annoying to have to go back to check they refunded to the correct card. I had an issue when both my friend and I used gift cards to pay for a cruise. Now I keep track of card numbers used to pay for what part of which cruise. Princess did eventually get things sorted after I pressed for someone to dig deeper.

I kind of disagree. Anyone who wants to buy these AARP gift cards should be fully aware of the steps when buying/using. This includes checking the balances before they send them off to their travel agent. And troubleshooting if there is an error. FWIW I had an issue with buying a Princess gift card from Princess' site a couple years ago. I followed the info found on the website to correct that issue. Problems can even happen when you go to the grocery store and buy gift cards. If people don't understand how any of this works, then they shouldn't participate. /end of my probably unpopular comment

This still makes no sense to me. How do they distinguish between an actual Princess gift card, and a Princess gift card bought from AARP? I am not arguing with you, but the logic (in my brain) is not following a clear line of "if this, then that" progression.

That's fair. It does depend on the cruise line, port timings, and their excursions. The one I took ages ago allowed for about 1.5hrs, which by the time we figured out about the falls, after the visitor center, and the closer viewing trails, it was too late. Perhaps cruise lines have changed their approach, and now allows much longer.

The falls are about 1.5 miles roundtrip from the visitor center. A few hiking sites recommend at least 45mins for the hike depending on your pace. I did it on a very fast, about an hour, (do not recommend) walk last year due to my own scheduling fubar. LOL! To fully enjoy the center, and the hike reading the signage, and taking pics maybe you could do it in 2 hrs? Not many people seem to leave the visitor center area, so the hiking trail to the falls is rarely busy, in my experience. Of course that depends on the cruise ship schedule of tours and going before or after the big rush.

Yes, exactly the same.

That is not quite correct. I used the blue bus at the port May 2022, and they drop off/pick up from a parking lot/loop about two blocks/500-800ft from the visitor center. It's a flat walk from the lot to the base of the visitor center. Also ship excursions don't always allow you to spend as much time at the park to be able to hike to the falls. I've done both and will never take the ship offering again due to the time constraint. YMMV

I have two gift cards, one purchased from AARP, and one purchased directly from Princess. Both start with the same numbers. I don't know how a travel agent would be able to tell the difference. It's not like the lead numbers are different like an amex vs. a visa card would be. And now I see your followup comment @Ken the cruiser. I think the above mentioned agent is just being difficult. YMMV

Whelp, that's sad news. 😞 I was waiting for payday to buy this month's allotment. Hope they come back at some point.

I would like to know the specifics of this. I have sailed with a friend who also own stock, and it has always been one shareholder benefit per room. I wonder what key words, or other info is needed to result in both shareholders getting OBC.

I was going to comment about the logistics, too. You are correct, you really can't do both in one day.

Yeah, Delta is the outlier at FLL. Showed up early after a cruise, wanting to enjoy the lounge, only to be told couldn't check in early. We went back and forth with customer service, etc, and it all boils down to lack of space to store baggage. It seems that things haven't changed in the 5-10yrs since this happened to us. With all the cruise traffic, you'd think they would do something about that baggage storage issue. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thanks for the info. I've been looking on various sites to see how the sizing is. Many brands do not go up to the size I would need, tall torso, and curvy girl size. I am not sure they will have many meeting those sizing needs. But when I decide on a tour, I will email them to ask about it.

I've got a cruise booked for late Oct - Nov, and have been reading about Stinger Season. I am quite bummed about that, and wonder if there is anyway to still snorkel. Or maybe I should just settle for a glass bottom boat excursion, and plan for another time at the GBR.