R**T

We saw it in the Island Princess in December 2023.  It was a transatlantic cruise.

Holland America.  June 2024,  Nome.  Kodiak.  Dutch Harbor.  Summer Solstice.

Our ship stopped at Port of Spain today, and on returning to the ship, I put my camera in the port security -- not the ship -- scanner.  My camera is is now totally useless. Be warned.  My camera has been through hundreds of airport and port scanners so I was careless.

1 hour ago, wildfan2k said:

Does anyone who flies in a day early for a Princess cruise ever stay at a hotel near the airport, then shuttle back to the airport the following day to use a Princess transfer to the ship?  Does Princess allow that?

We have done this at Heathrow.

3 hours ago, sewingmolly said:

On our recent cruise, we spent the last day with a non-functioning, overflowing toilet.  Apparently about 200 cabins on the Caribbean Princess were affected.  This was my 11th cruise, but the first time I had experienced such problems.  It was blamed on people flushing inappropriate items, namely masks.    I'm wondering is this a common occurrence?  Have I just been lucky up til now?  My husband is somewhat reluctant to book another cruise after this, so I thought I would try to find out just how common plumbing problems are.  Also are some ships more prone to plumbing issues?

I have lost track of how many times this has happened to us.  Princess ALWAYS blames it on the passengers.  However, how many times have you had a toilet back up in a land-based hotel?

And on the last morning of the cruise, when everyone is waiting to leave, there are always toilet issues.  What a mess!

Icy Strait Point has a dock.

5 hours ago, kiwimum said:

We are booked on San Diego to Japan February 2023 on the Diamond.  No cancellation so far.

We are booked on this cruise as well.  Now watching carefully.

20 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Your in Alaska, which is the USA so your health insurance should cover you. If you were going to a foreign country I would think about insurance but not for travel with the US. 

21 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Your in Alaska, which is the USA so your health insurance should cover you. If you were going to a foreign country I would think about insurance but not for travel with the US. 

If you visit the Medical Center on a Princess ship, you are in a foreign country. 

ALWAYS fly in the day before!

18 hours ago, Eaglecw said:

On the Alaska cruises if you want to watch "MUTS" be sure to bring your arctic fowl weather gear. It get really cold up on deck when the ship is running at 25 knots. I know I won't be out there watching a movie. 

My memory is fuzzy, but there is at least one Alaska city that does not allow MUTS when the ship in port.  Hey, it is their backyard!

On the other hand, when we crossed the northern Pacific in October 2018 -- Coral Princess - we had terrible weather and the open decks were closed, but MUTS played on!

During rough seas the fire doors may shut, but they don't lock.  They are just heavy and hard to open.

16 minutes ago, gardenbunny said:

I prefer to do my own laundry on long trips (have suggested on my surveys to give Elite X number of tokens). 

Love this idea.  I  don't trust Princess not to ruin my clothes.  Last time I cruised Princess the tokens were $3 to wash and to dry.

I read that the Pacific Princess will become Azamara Onward.  Here is the link

https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/azamara-sale-completed-fourth-ship-to-be-named-azamara-onward

On the Island Princess and Coral Princess, the covered pool area -- the Lotus Pool -- is mostly deserted after dinner.  It is a great place to take a glass of wine and watch the sunset.

23 hours ago, GottaLuvCruising said:

We had purchased independent insurance for our March 2020 cruise that was cancelled.  Weeks later it occurred to me to ask for a refund...which they granted!  

Our November 2020 cruise on the Royal Princess was cancelled.  We we requested a refund for the cost of independent insurance.  It was denied by Princess ... after 5 months and many emails.

On 10/27/2020 at 4:51 AM, leck57 said:

 

Thanks. The penny didn't drop that it was an Out of Pocket. However, is there anyone else. Perhaps, based on Cuedon's experience that are just getting to them now.

We requested a refund for out of pocket expenses on July 25.  Still waiting to hear anything.

In April, we cancelled 3 cruises that were supposed to sail in June, July, and August.  We used a total of 6 Future Cruise Deposits to book the 3 cruises.  We cancelled before the final payment.  Two of the FCDs appeared immediately in our Captain Circle accounts.  The other 4 appeared as credits on a June credit card statement.  So it took about 2 months.  I am guessing that the 4 that were refunded had expired.

On 4/30/2020 at 2:04 PM, R**T said:

Our cruise ended on March 17.  Still waiting ...

Update:  We received our check today June 9.

The check came from Bottomline Technologies.

The Island Princes bridge cam shows her bound for Mumbai, so she has left Cape Town.

Our cruise ended on March 17.  Still waiting ...

8 hours ago, memoak said:

Based on past history the best you can hope for is some compensation on a future cruise. A few years ago we were stuck in Southampton for 2 days before sailing on a TA missed 3 ports and got 50% of our base cruise fare off of a future cruise. We thought it was more than generous. Time at sea would have been a dream over being stuck in port

We were on that Crown Princess Transatlantic as well.  I call it my 14 day cruise to "almost" nowhere and I learned to NEVER plan a cruise because you want to go to a specific port.  We used our refund for a very nice cruise to Alaska.

Last fall we crossed the Pacific on the Coral Princess and missed a couple of ports because of the weather.  Then we had to spend two extra days in Yokohama waiting for fuel, but one day of it we were anchored out in the harbor with no tender service.  We were just stuck.  If Princess had been forthcoming about what was going to happen, I think a lot of passengers would have hopped a train and spent an overnight in Tokyo or Osaka.  We received NO compensation.

Yea!  Yellow Fish has added some new posts to the blog! 

43 minutes ago, saint_em said:

 

 

I am aware that Victoria is often missed so am looking at backup options for getting to Vancouver Island from Seattle as well. 

 

Any advice/tips would be appreciated. 

There is a ferry from Seattle to Victoria.  We did it as a day trip, but there were with passengers with luggage.

I was recently prompted to change my Princess password as well.  Thinking about it, I had been using the same password since 2007.  Wow, my bad!  I should have changed it long ago, especially when you consider all the personal information that Princess collects.  They have our email addresses, our dates or birth, passport numbers, credit card numbers and phone numbers.

I don't mind having to change and remember new passwords.  I feel it helps keep my mind active.  For reference, before I retired, my employer required us to attend annual IT security training and change our passwords every 90 days and the passwords had to be longer than 12 characters!

2 hours ago, danak13 said:

Very nice!!! We just had our first aft balcony on the NCL Breakaway in December and we are hooked! 

We sailed in D735 on the Emerald Princess and it spoiled us forever.  The cabin was just the standard balcony cabin but the balcony was huge.  It really got a lot of use.  Looking forward to D735 on the Crown Princess next February!