Steelers36

THIS is the way it should work!

I don't think the post necessarily indicates that the new changes have begun.

While I agree with "why pay", this feature is called Ocean Now. Ocean Ready is the registration and check-in process for a booked voyage.

Technically, the Medallion being read just unlocks the door. It still must be opened manually.

The final bill is emailed to you. You can also check account status anytime while on board at kiosks or using the App.

Anyone can access these for a publicly traded company. Just go to the corporate homepage of any company and look for shareholder link or financial reporting link, etc. No need to be posting documents here. ETA: As per above, I might have mentioned SEC source as well for USA.

It is hard to envisage things when it comes to Princess. At this point all I can do is observe the price difference between an actual ship menu and the draft menus previously shared. I hope we get more info from more ships after August 12.

Now that doesn't make sense to me and not fair - especially if guest was unhappy with the TA and no way was going to book with them again. Perhaps it was a commitment they made in this situation to agents to earn their loyalty in terms of recommending PCL to their clients.

My wanna-be-lawyer brain wants to say that the PVSA is always applicable to foreign flagged ships calling in the USA, but each individual voyage involved may or may not have a restriction associated or require meeting some provision in the Act. Start USA/End Canada or Start Canada/End USA does not require the ship to meet any provisions in the Act (in terms of foreign ports - be they distant or near). 😉

You have to keep the pattern up. All PCL employees are @PrincessCruises.com. And everyone I have seen to date are all <Initial><LastName> before the @ symbol. IDK what they do when they have both John Doe and Jane Doe working there. I have advised @Thrak to correct his list before, but it seems he is pasting in an old version. Also, Padgett's email at HA Group is missing his initial "J". But I would use Princess Cruises and not attempt to email him at HAG.

For others and future reference, you could have advised the on board agent that you did not want the booking to go to that particular agent. I had no misgiving about TA not getting a commission. It's just that it is likely less than they might normally get and the price is down 50% and there is always a portion of cruise fare that is not commissionable, so there wouldn't be much in it for them to give me a discount of any value - if at all. I deal with a couple of agents that give a very generous cash discount off the cruise fare and they are working mostly online and volume, so it isn't a full service situation (I don't need that). I try to be mindful of that and fair with them, and I wouldn't see it fair to expect a similar discount rate on such a deal. Now if I was booking a Suite, might be a different story - LOL.

Oh my - that is a lot to deal with. Sorry to read that and hope things get somewhat better for you.

Point - guests are not "assigned" DMW - rather, the guest elects to use DMW and book a reservation. Or be a walk-up. Do you recall if DMW showed you all three DR's (you did not mention the ship involved) in advance of the voyage, or were only two of the three offered in DMW to book? It seems that one DR is being held back a lot of the time and would be there for walk-ups or on board booking. I am surprised you were unable to get anything earlier. How far in advance of your voyage did you start trying to book in DMW? It is sad to say, but I do think not every ship's DR Mgmt is as adept at meeting guest requests as others are. I gather you did not try being a walk-up for dinner?

Agreed and I noted that it was contrary to the draft menus that were posted after the announcements. I am wondering if the Royal Class Alfredo's/Gigi's is going to be $12 price point, while the smaller ship locations with this menu will be $8.50. I think we need to hear from a member who is on a Royal Class ship with Alfredo's and one with Gigi's and see what the situation is.

I know that, but a voyage with such a ship is legal if it only arrives or departs from US - like a one-way - and the other end is outside US. Correct?

With respect, on Princess it is DineMyWay and has never been "My Time" dining. DMW can be used to book entire voyage or single days. In neither case does it block you into the same table and waiters. You should inquire of DR Hosts or DR Mgr of your wishes and they should be able to set you up. Do this ASAP on Day 1.

Okay. That's fine. New booking on hold and you have three days to work it out. Before you have Princess cancel your booking, check the expiry of your FCD (I am guessing this is what you meant). It has to still be active or the cancelation of the booking will also cancel the FCD and auto-refund it. If it is expired, have the PCL agent get the date extended to current and then do the cancel and FCD will be preserved.

Because the voyage ends in a different country than start in USA. Can also do the reverse - start foreign and end in USA.

If the schedules permit, you could get off in VAN and travel to SEA and catch the next ship from there (different ship;different day). No violations.

Nothing in Canada is a distant port. It is a near port. So, that is okay as either point of origin or final destination. You could do the LA closed-loop, fly to SEA and do another closed-loop from there. Or you could cruise LA-LA + LA-VAN. Then drive to SEA from VAN and either stop cruising and visit or do a SEA-SEA loop first. Or you could just LA-VAN, go by land again to SEA and do a SEA-SEA loop. Or you can take another cruise line out of VAN and no one knows you are getting around the Act.

See above in italics.

I am thinking I wouldn't be getting much more of a discount from TA with this 50% situation as they would be making pretty much nothing. I'd probably just do it myself and not bother them.

Same here!! 👍

This (prev poster) !! . If you aren't using an agent and booking directly, just book the darn cruise when you spot one you want and worry about the phone call later. You can put it on courtesy hold if you don't want to apply deposit right away. There is no need to get a phone agent to place a reservation.

AUD has fallen to USD in recent days and PCL only sets their rates every so often, so right now, it's a good deal. When PCL set the cost at $53 AUD, the exchange to USD was likely much closer to $39.