gottagocit

Well that IS an idea……but not a very good one imo. Lol.

Interesting. Thanks to everyone.

Pretty much or you do have the option of paying more for the flights to get refundable or changeable tickets. Depending on the route sometimes that’s not too much more but other times it is. Also some airlines is still offer this for all their long haul flights but not sure which ones.

Not a fan of staying in a cabin in their far forward but considering C106 on the Emerald for an upcoming voyage after seeing it appears to be an oversized interior. It also appears to be a ‘sideways’ configuration which we’ve had and liked on the larger ships like the Majestic. The deck plan says it’s the same 162 sq ft as all the rest but I think that isn’t accurate. I did a search on the boards and only found a 10 year old post by Thrak stating how noisy it is when the anchor is being lowered/raised. Anyone booked this one? How was it? Is it one of the 182 sq ft cabins described as the top range of sizes for the interiors? Thanks

I believe the one way cost us more than the original booking had cost. Unfortunately no. The time zone didn’t help matters (seemed like it was 15 hr difference) and it was a Sunday to make things worse. Princess 800 number did answer while in the Wellington airport but by that time we already had booked and they said they couldn’t help anyway. In a situation like this you’re basically on your own to make arrangements to get home. Don’t think your travel agent could help given the timing. Ship staff gave us help arranging disembarkation in Wellington on short notice and gave us free in cabin phone usage to try to get help from Princess etc. It took something like 30 hours to get to New Orleans. DW wants to someday return and finish the NZ visit but not sure I do.

I should also include that if you book back to back voyages, such as two 7 day voyages, as a single 14 day booking then the point I’m making is moot. But if you have two different voyage bookings be careful how you book airfare if you want to be better covered in the event of an interruption. This is especially true if you have a large airfare cost such as trips down under or other places that tens to be costly to get to.

Yes we had insurance on both voyages however the first voyage was not interrupted by the family members death. Had we booked departure airfare under one voyage and return under the second the return cost would have been covered on the second voyage insurance. I didn’t complicate the description above by including the fact the first voyage was also interrupted by a typhoon and we ended up disembarking in Cairnes instead of Brisbane and the much smaller expenses related to that were easily covered under the first voyage insurance. The whole trip was most frustrating and of course the loss of my MiL was shocking and painful especially for my DW.

I’m probably too late to help the OP but will add once warning for others who may see this thread and are using easyair. We typically use easy air and have had good experiences for the most part. We like having flexibility without cost up until close to our travel date. We also like having the airfare being covered under the umbrella of our Princess protection which isn’t the case if you buy it elsewhere, Now for my warning. If you book multiple overseas cruises that are not under a single booking like a joined back to back one you should be aware of two things. First the limit of your Princess protection coverage (and therefore you reimbursement limit) includes the cost of the airfare IF booked with easy air for the cruise. Second if you book a round trip airfare under your first voyage but while on the second voyage you have the trip interrupted the cost basis (and reimbursement limit) will not include the return flight cost as it was booked under the frost voyage. Doesn’t seem like a big deal but I can be. While down under in 2019 we booked a Australia voyage out of Brisbane and a second one a few days after the first ended circumnavigating New Zealand. We booked the r/t airfare under the Australia voyage. On the first or second full day onboard the second New Zealand voyage we received word that my DW’s mother passed unexpectedly back in the USA. Weeks later when filing to recover some of the missed voyafe days, hotel charge in Wellington, last minute one way tickets from Wellington to USA (not our home state as she lived 800 Miles from us) and a subsequent trip home we found the limit of what we could recover was the initial cost of the cruise which we purchased on a great sale. In all we had expenses far exceeding the cruise fare but most of it wasn’t covered. Chris

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Is the boarding day drawing still being held where a nice prize is give to one of those who walked to all the parts of the ship and got all the little stamps on the signup card?

Does anyone know what work is being done on the ship during dry dock?

I’m glad to hear the patters are still used and that the “sales” flyers are not. But will miss having the port guides and maps. I suppose the guides and maps are on the app? If so is the app usable offline or will you have to have data use will in ports to use it? Also are you still allowed to bring a bottle or two of wine onboard during embarkation? thanks

We are just below the number of cruises needed to get the loyalty OBC but hate to see it gone. They had just started the new muster procedure on our last voyage because we watched the video in our cabin. As I recall you couldn’t tune in anything else on the tv until you watched it. thanks for all the info. Will keep watching for anything else.

I believe it was Cayman Islands where we did a dolphin experience through a ship excursion but I can’t swear it was there. In any case the company we/they used worked very hard at the end of the water fun to show us the photos they took of everyone and sell them at a extremely high price. Some bought ones they particularly liked but many did not due to the price. I can’t say for certain you’re situation will be the same but I expect it will be.

Any word on how much work is being done to her? General maintenance on things things like carpet etc or something more extensive updates to common areas or dining areas?

PacnGoNow, Thanks for your reply. It’s good to hear onboard activities are getting back to normal and that we don’t seem to have lost too many perks. Interesting you were on the Coral about the same time as us. We got off near Santiago on March 3rd I think and spent a few days there before flying home. This past summer we did an African safari that was our best travel experience ever I think and it reminded us how much we enjoy land based travel so we’ll be doing some of that again going forward as well as mixing in cruising when possible. This time we’re doing a slightly non typical full transient Panama Canal voyage on the Emerald in April that includes Aruba and Bonaire. There wasn’t a roll call for our voyage so I started one this week and will try to check in on it regularly. thanks again, Chris

Hello everyone, We were in Antarctica/South America on the Coral in February and nearly March of 2020 as covid was starting to bring things to a halt. After getting sick onboard I recovered in time to return home just before the shutdowns began. At the time we had 3 future cruise deposits with cruises booked for each but of course they didn’t happen. Now we’ve finally started planning for our first voyage in well over 2 years and have no idea what’s changed with Princess etc and need to catch up. A few things come to mind that I’m wondering about. Can you still trade in your elite cabin bar setup for two “coffee cards” once onboard? I read in one posts here that you must purchase both laundry tokens and detergent in the self serve laundry and that it’s something like $7-8 per load. Is that accurate? When we last cruised the medallion was only on a few ships and people were having real problems getting the app etc to work. Has this been resolved? Any changes to elite perks? Are onboard activities back to normal like production shows? Seating at full capacity there and at dinner? Tenders at capacity? Buffet open? Is Princess honoring the Carnival shareholder OBC benefit? Can’t seem to locate the newest form used to request it, although we know for years some have simply been sending letter with the info included? I’m sure we’ll think of more things but these are some of the first that come to mind. Will try to check the boards regularly once again now that we feel things are getting somewhat back to normal again. Thanks, Chris