Steelers36

Are you sure it wasn't just one of the Drop 'N' Go cruises on offer? There is rarely - if ever - (so allowing that it happens) anything on board you cannot get once home. The thing to do is purchase FCD's ( at least one per person and I would get more if you plan to cruise Princess more) while on board as they serve as deposit on your next booking and you get OBC back, so it is good interest on your investment for giving up some money up-front. Princess is often marketing cruise bookings stating you save 40% off, so another 10% isn't a huge offer. I would always check if what is being offered is something available to any past Princess guest. Other than that, of course PCL is always trying to entice guests to book again while they are having a good time on a cruise.

I guess they'd have to fly to Mexico and cross with the migrants?? 😉

True enough. However, take a typical Caribbean voyage out of FL and the opportunities do rise.

Thanks for the details. So, someone called the ship presumably, or texted. Were you asked if you wanted sun or shade or anything at all about the location? Presumably you were asked for which days, or part-days, or if full voyage? I imagine the ones taken were mostly from guests on a B2B who would have booked at least the day before your check-in, or possibly another Suite guest or two at the lounge site ahead of you. Even if the very first guest to walk the bridge onto the ship, several chairs may already be gone due to B2B guests and nothing to be done about that. IF (very big if) I was in that Suite lounge, I have enough of a picture of Sanctuary layouts in my head that I could at least put in some general location request that would suit. I suppose one could make the early res from the lounge and then request to shuttle over prior to general boarding and be escorted upstairs to be ready to board in time and then could always head to Sanctuary as you did (but soonest) and see if chairs booked were okay or swap for something else available. Bottom line is for me, it is another situation where some other number of chairs are going to be spoken for before I can get to Sanctuary as an Elite boarder. Takes me back to my Platinum days when I never knew if I would have success until I arrived and saw the situation. Thanks again for some insight. PS - Glad I saw your note as I noticed this thread had some new posts. Here is how to tag any CC Poster and ensure they get an email notice someone mentioned them: 1. Type the "@" symbol. 2. Immediately begin to type their CC Handle like this: @St... 3. Don't speed type I would say. As you type letters, a drop down list of match CC Handles appears. 4. As you type more letters, the list shortens. 5. Soon you will see the one you want and next step is important. 6. Click on the desired CC Handle and this happens: @Steelers36 (The handle name is completed for you and is highlighted in BLUE. 7. You can now hit a period or spacebar and continue typing your sentence. Once you post, anyone indicated in blue highlight gets notified that you mentioned them. Hope you had a great cruise.

I'd pay attention to Post #3 and also consider if the unforeseen happens and have to be off-boarded at Canadian port, how will they get home without going through hoops? IMO, never travel outside of one's own country without a passport. Not worth the risk for not a whole lot of dollars when averaged over lifespan of the document and especially if any actual international travel is planned.

It is one way to consume up some OBC. IDK which ports you will be at, but the initial list of vendors was thin, IIRC. By now, there could be more.

I was thinking as a Canadian. IDK, I suppose I would try it, but language seems to say "no". I get it - that I am register in the system, so why not use any old GE machine. Guess I will never know unless we do an overseas trip via a US airport instead of via our home airport of Toronto.

We would want to be in the same DR every night as the staff get to know you. We also want the same table and waiters for the duration. It just is a smoother and nicer experience for us than starting with a new waiter each night. On our last voyages, we were even getting same waiter for breakfast in the DR and that was fun and much better on the service side IMO.

Okay. Hopefully, one day, someone who uses that off-site lounge will post about Sanctuary booking.

Last year, there were a lot of posts - and probably more than one thread - on this new promotion idea. It was a hot topic in last summer's Alaska season as guests found out Princess was charging the local merchants a big fee to participate (in exchange for sending customers their way presumably). My sense of it was that most folks were not impressed and if doing business with the vendor, just paid by normal CC and did not use the Medallion link.

No doubt the porters were informed that the lot was VIP luggage, so they were there to take advantage. Wherever that spot is, perhaps it would be better if the porters weren't there at the time? Hard to picture it, but does sound a bit tacky for the group. Of course, it is the same thing outside the terminal when guest pulls up in the taxi and unloads any bags for the porters. They are expecting something and I don't mind a small amount if they help out (which often is the case). I'd like my bag to get onto the ship in a timely manner, so I am happy to treat them nicely and say a few words.

As I inquired in the other thread, did you look into the Sanctuary booking process, or not your thing?

I don't see this as feasible, nor practical, and as an Elite who wouldn't be booking a Suite unless a Powerball/MegaMillions winner, I am fine with this and actually impressed that Princess is looking to elevate the Suite experience for guests shelling out the big bucks to sail that way.

I think this is pretty clear: Entering the United States All NEXUS members can enjoy the benefits of Global Entry at no additional cost through using the Global Entry kiosks for entry at participating airports. When using the Global Entry kiosks in Canada Preclearance locations you can use your passport, U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident card or NEXUS card. You cannot use your NEXUS card at Global Entry kiosks outside of Canadian Preclearance locations. At all other ports, you will need to use your passport or U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident card. If you are traveling with persons into Canada or the United States that are not NEXUS members, you must use the regular lanes. https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/nexus/card

You can certainly dress up on either line. Or not. Princess documents that they expect it (but don't require it in fact). X documents that it would be nice, but that smart casual is perfectly fine. Princess is the more "formal" on paper and perhaps in reality, but neither line requires it.

If we book with a TA, everything to do with payments must go through the TA, so I agree with above posts on the matter, but there is no iffy-ness about it. It doesn't make sense Princess would take a GC from a guest to pay down on balance owing. OTOH, if you can purchase the OBC offered in Cruise Personalizer and pay with GC or CC, then that doesn't require the TA to be involved.

The issue is that if you do not set the field type in the Excel spreadsheet cell or column, the default is "General" and a number pasted in is going to be treated as a numeric value and not a set of characters. Make the column which will hold the GC numbers and the GC PINs as type Text and then paste carefully and check the result before moving on and you should be okay. Try Googling for help on this aspect and I bet there is a step-by-step out there if you are not sure about Excel features.

Ouch!

How fast can you get to a bar? Just avoid the other guests rushing off to the Sanctuary. (There may be some exceptions like Galveston, TX, as noted above).

Agree. How does the post and the title work together? They don't.

Only if ship is facing the way you want it to. I do understand they rotate the ship for a time.

I would say, based on other trip reports and my viewing of photos, that you are going to want to be in various areas around the ship that day and not confined to a single point of view from a balcony. The Sanctuary will generally (most ships) have views forward with a 180 degree span - if you move about. How much time will you end up using the lounger. They usually provide extra food items as part of the upcharge. If it was us, I wouldn't do it when we go to Alaska because I don't see the value.

All well and good if you self-book, but many of us use a TA in order to pay less for the cruise and all payments must go through the TA. Mine had not troubles last time processing multiple GC's, including when there was a balance left from paying off B2B #1 that was then applied to B2B #2.

Did you partake? I am curious to know how this is being carried out because the Sanctuary process has been a manual one from voyage-to-voyage, with a paper map of lounger locations and then various highlighter colors used to designate full voyage, full-day, half-day, etc, along with a note of the guest's cabin number. At point of opening the lounge, several loungers will already be booked from B2B'ers on the prior voyage. Also, once general boarding has started, guests will arrive at the Sanctuary within minutes, looking to book loungers. I am wondering how the off-site location advises Sanctuary mgr/lead what loungers have been booked by Suite guests by the time general boarding begins. Did they block off some set number of loungers for the off-site? If so, when do they release them? This lounge only seems useful for guests who arrive prior to general boarding (in terms of Sanctuary and other things that can only be booked on board). Seems like Suite guests there would get a jump on on-board SD reservations as well. I suppose a Suite guest arriving at the port at say 12pm would have an enhanced experience arriving at the off-site facility due to the luggage handling from that point and a priority escort service onto the ship. Even though the masses have streamed on board, no need to dally about the terminal check-in process. I suppose the ideal timing for Suite guest at the off-site is from opening of off-site up until the waiting masses have cleared the terminal and guests are just flowing through check-in and onto the ship.

Interesting. I have been wondering about this for some time as folks have discussed and debated advance reservations. IDK how many Suite bookers also go for Sanctuary, but when both B2B'ers (naturally) and Suite guests have a jump on everyone, it's going to be really tough for the Caribbean cruises to get a decent lounger. That said, when I see the 4-and-5-figure prices charged for a Suite, I cannot exactly begrudge them an additional perk or two. Absent this perk, an Elite like me who may have booked an Inside cabin, can board ahead and with the Suites and beat them to the Sanctuary. OTOH, this off-site lounge would only be useful to those Suite guests who arrive prior to general boarding. When boarding opens, those of us in the early group will be on board and at the Sanctuary in minutes, so a Suite guest arriving at this off-site location is going to be impacted (unless they have blocked off a lot of loungers - and for how long?). Also, how will the Sanctuary on-board communicate with the off-site spot and vice-versa to keep the paper map up-to-date? I wouldn't be surprised if some things have not been totally thought out.