Carnevale

Many thanks PacnGoNow! That’s exactly what I needed to know about the way excursions work now that there’s the App. if anyone can answer my questions about specialty dining I’d really appreciate it.

For our cruise in October we will be using the Medallion App for the first time and have several questions about how it works: RE EXCURSIONS: - Is there a place in the App where we can see the excursions we have booked (booked online)? We've looked and see them online but not in the App. If they are in the App, where are they? If they aren't, do they leave tickets for the excursions in our stateroom so we have something to show when we board an excursion bus? - Is there a place in the App where we can see and book other excursions? RE SPECIALTY DINING: As a perk, we have one specialty dinner which gives rise to several questions: - Do we get to pick between Sabatini's and the Crown Grill or is that already decided for us as part of the perk? - Same question re date and time - is that already decided for us or do we get to pick and make our reservation in advance though the app? - If we get to pick, how do I make the booking on the App in a way that ensures the cost of the meal is assigned to the perk and not our account? - The people we are travelling with have the same perk and we'd like to do the specialty dinner together. How to we make a reservation via the App for all of us such that we get to share a table but the cost of the meal is billed to each party's perk (i.e., if one of us books for all, wouldn't the cost all go to that person's account?)? Sorry to have so many questions. I'm not finding the App as user friendly as I had hoped so am grateful to have this CC community to turn to for help. Thank you!

Oops….so sorry Steelers36! I know that’s your handle but ended up with a typo nonetheless.

The info on the website really is in need of improvement both for presentation as well as to ensure the content is all correctly aligned with country requirements. Further to what Steelers35 mentioned about the EU Healthy Gateways protocol for cruise ships, it appears that, in line with the info from the Greek gov’t that I previously posted on this thread, these guidelines do not call for testing of passengers going into Greece. If others are interested, you can find the EU protocols online: https://www.healthygateways.eu/Portals/0/plcdocs/EUHG_Operational_guidelines_CoV_April2022.pdf?ver=2022-04-06-152525-527#page26. Section 8.1 talks about “Screening at Embarkation” and, as far as I can see, does not require testing for anyone who does not have COVID symptoms. It’s a very long document so I have to admit I haven’t read all of it, but the sections I’ve looked at say nothing about needing to test to enter Greece. The mystery of why Princess is requiring testing for those stopping in Greece continues…

Many thanks Steelers36. I will give all of that a try. Th more who raise this the better!

I want to alert Ms Swartz Re the error on the Princess website regarding testing requirements for Greece. My hope is that they will correct this immediately or at least in time for the start of the Sept 6th new requirements. The problem is that I don’t seem to have a correct email address for her. Via a search on CC I saw that someone recently said it is jaswartz@hagroup.com. That bounced back. I tried janswartz@hagrouo.com with no success. Does anymore have a n address that works? thanks!

Like Steelers36 I have tried to see what the govt of Greece requires and cannot find anything that aligns with what Princess requires. For those interested in this, have a look at https://travel.gov.gr/#/ where it’s clear testing is not required by Greece. To quote this site: ”Furthermore, as of Sunday 01.05.2022, all travellers arriving in Greece, regardless of their country of origin, are no longer required to display a valid certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19, or evidence of a negative test result from SARS-CoV-2 infection (PCR or Rapid Antigen test).” I can’t understand what Princess is doing! Why do they require testing when Greece doesn’t? What am I missing?

Thx for posting this link and what you learned via your chat Steelers36. You have often provided very helpful information that is really appreciated.

Many thanks Steelers36! I had indeed mixed the two together and am relieved to find out I had misunderstood what happens for those testing positive.

What I don’t understand is how testing can still be required for our Oct 1 sailing out of Civitavecchia. The Princess policy that gives FCC to those who can’t board due to a positive test ends on Sept 30. Seems odd that on Oct 1 they can require testing and turn people who are positive away and give them nothing. Or I guess they can but it seems the makings of a PR nightmare.

When it opens, what departure time is good for those staying on independently in the disembarkation city? I don’t want to have to be up earlier than necessary but I don’t want a long wait in a crowded public area either so I am unsure what to pick when the time comes. Also wondering if departure times open at 59 days. Thx!

Could also be credit card info. We were stuck in blue as I had put us both on one CC figuring that covered it. Once I entered the same CC info into my DH app we were both green.

Flight tracking on the AA app is a great step forward especially right now with so many stories of delayed bags. For airlines that don’t do this we have found that using Apple air tags works very well. On a trip to Italy on Air Canada in May we were able to see where our bags were every time we changed planes.

Esprit, thx for all that you contributed to this amazing blog. I really appreciated your first hand account of the dancing you did during the first week. I am hoping there were more opportunities during the second week. Was this the case? Was there ever dancing outside when The musicians played there? Thx again! Glad you are home safely.

I am REALLY going to miss reading this thread every day. It was fantastic!

Your plan is very doable and is exactly what we are doing this fall. The train options into the Amalfi Coast from Naples are limited (e.g., we plan to stay in Amalfi which we can’t reach by train). So we are keeping our luggage with us, flying into Naples, and using Naples Drivers and Guides car service. Through out the booking process they have been excellent so we are very hopeful about the car service they will provide. We have also booked them to take us from Amalfi to Rome. We are glad to be avoiding the challenges of changing trains and getting our luggage on and off of them and/or paying to store it in a place where we don’t know how clean it will be (bed bug worries). We know that Italy has great trains and we did 3 weeks in Northern Italy in May on the train but given that we want to go to the Amalfi Coast we are taking a local recommendation to heart and using a car service.

Any info on what the policy is for cruises sailing from Oct 1? Would be good to see this extended.

Many thanks for the update…really appreciate your post on this and hope you will post again regarding week 2. It’s very disappointing to hear that there’s so little dancing. What kind of music does Xcite play? How loud is? I ask about volume as on HAL the rare times there was dancing happened with music that was so loud we were not comfortable staying in the venue (so we no longer sail on HAL as without dancing a cruise isn’t as enjoyable as we’d like). I hope you get more time on the floor!

We were in Italy in May and found that having our Visa on Apple Pay worked very well….often better than the tap feature although I have no idea why (when tap wasn’t responding we would try Apple Pay and it worked every time).

Ken, I am wondering about things related to COVID: - are many wearing masks onboard? Does Princess require them in any areas of the ship? - has any information been given about the number of cases on your sailing? - do you know where the isolation cabins are? Thx again for this terrific blog. I look forward to it every day!

We’d really appreciate it if you would post about your opportunities to dance onboard Regal next week. As much as we are looking forward to our cruise in October, we are a little concerned that we won’t get a lot of dance time. Hearing from fellow dancers will be very helpful. Have a great cruise!

Many thanks - exactly what I needed to know.

When will we be able to select a boarding group via the app? Our cruise starts Oct 1 out of Civitavecchia and right now all the boarding group options are at zero and we can’t make a selection. We are in the green lane now so the rest of what we can do at this point has been done.

Loving your blog Ken! You are passing along such useful info - many thanks. We love ballroom dancing and will be on Regal in October. From the Patters you have posted it seems that the dancing is usually from 7 - 8pm in the Vista Lounge. That will be a challenge given the time that the people we are cruising with want to eat. Have you seen any ballroom style dancing elsewhere? I see there is often music in the Piazza. Does anyone ever dance when the musicians are there?

Many thanks for doing this live from thread. We are doing the Rome to Barcelona legs in October on Regal so are following with great interest.