gottagocit

We were also on the Coral around that time but it appears maybe just getting off as you were boarding. We disembarked near Santiago (San Jose I believe) on March 3rd if I recall the date correctly. During the 4 days in Antarctica on our voyage I was sick with heavy chest congestion and coughing terribly. Had fever for about 2 days. As you said it was very early in the covid saga and no one knew what it was. The ships doctor checked me out and gave me a couple meds and suggested I stay in our cabin which I did. My wife never got sick (at least had no symptoms) nor did anyone else in our group. Luckily we had a balcony cabin and I was able to experience the awe of Antarctica from there. By the time we got to Santiago I was fine and we enjoyed 3 days there before flying home. Within a few days of getting home everything shut down of course. I followed the Coral online for some time thinking about those guest and crew still on her and wondered how everyone was doing especially when Fort Lauderdale closed its port to her later. I’m glad that’s largely behind us now and hope we never have to deal with anything like it again.

Are you saying they recognize Princess elite status in bookings with a Virgin? If that’s true I think I need to look into their loyalty program. What level does “Elite” equate to when booking with them?

okay thanks.

I feel for you and your family for dealing with something so serious (for your brother) while traveling away from home. It’s a good thing you were able to get him to a hospital when you did. Do you know whether the ships crew took any precautions against spreading the virus after they contracted it? Could I ask whether they know if either of them had contracted Covid prior to this incident?

If you both are using an iPhone you can simply text each other as you would at home and the phone will send/receive an iMessage when connected to the ships WiFi system. You’ll get the same notification sound and message box you do at home. It’s far better than the ships app messaging and cost nothing extra assuming you each are paying for WiFi onboard. You can also connect to anyone at home this way assuming they too are using an iPhone. I will say I think you have to toggle on a setting under setup to use iMessages but I suspect anyone with iPhones have already done that. You will need to keep your phone in airplane mode with WiFi turned on and have it connected to the ships WiFi of course for it to work.

I think my original post/thread has run it course and we’ve veered off into the grass a bit. I think I’ll should let it drop down the long list of retired subjects.

Yeah I realize that. Until the last few years I was also a huge fan of the sport also but not primarily follow college football more than any others. I wasn’t going to go there in an obvious manner but you’ve tricked it out of me…I was more referring to them supporting the Rams than anything. Lol.

Someone please tell me this isn’t so… 🤬

And I read somewhere they’re not even given all the new beanies to the folks who pre-purchased the packages at the lower cost! At least I think that’s what I read. This all just makes me want to forget cruising. It just never ends. The pencil pushers are ruining this company.

I suppose it is and getting better all the time with more things costing more $’s unless you pay for the packages. However if you only drink occasionally it’s not at all. We don’t cruise to drink but do occasionally will have a glass of wine or a beer and can honestly take or leave it when it comes to those at least when traveling.

It’s probably just a matter of time…

That’s good at least.

Thanks. We’ve been working hard on pair of land trips this fall and just jumped into a bucket list item for next summer that’s taking a lot of time training and getting in better shape and one that we may need our heads examined for trying it. Lol. Haven’t had time to check the boards in a while. BTW, I’m still pissed about the coffee card!!

So the next axe to drop will be higher cost for the packages since they’re worth so much now… Nah…I take that back. Time to slice off a few benefits from the elite or platinum loyalty levels and sell them as a special new level that comes with a surcharge.

Lol. You’re probably right!

Well that is what caught me so off guard as we have 3 voyages booked and have seen nothing on this until checking in on this board today for the first time in some time.

Thanks to you all for helping me catch up. It’s dang frustrating to see these price increases continue to come one after the another after the another. Just let it be for a while, Carival/Princess! The financial outlook for you is being sold to investors as having turned the corner and finally over covid. Don’t screw it up and drive it back into the dirt by getting greedy!

Eating at Alfredo’s is no complimentary? is this correct? What about the burger/sandwich shop on Lido? International cafe? AND If you don’t pay for the overpriced plus or premier packages and decide to order anything to eat or drink using the medallion app we’ll have to pay $14.99 for the privilege of using the app to order something? Is this correct? Am I reading all the references to these changes accurately? We last cruised in April of this year and none of these were in effect. WTH? I’ve been away from the Princess board for a few weeks and come back to stumble on this. Sorry if this has been beaten to death already but I tried to read back thru several pages of threads to understand what I think I reading. What else will now cost us more onboard and what Captains Circle benefits did we loose since recently? It seems every time we turn around we’re getting hit with a new cost if we want to continue to cruise with Princess! Just wow!

Did you perhaps order a future cruise deposit while onboard? Those are $100 each and are charged directly to your cc and not your onboard account.

No. You may (probably can’t but I’ll say “may”) can apply the FCD if you wish to get rid of it but you will not get the OBC benefit for doing so. That is only available for new bookings.

Oh sorry. I missed that and it doesn’t come up when searching voyages that stop in the two primary ports of call. That’s odd. Thanks.

Anyone notice Israel is not on any of the 2025 itineraries?

Are you mostly concerned about coverage of the trip interruption/cancellation or health/medical evacuation coverage? As already said the cancel for any reason is a huge plus of the Princess coverage which btw includes flight cost booked thru Princess Easy Air. Yes many feel their medical limits are low should you have a serious health challenge while away so many do buy additional or even alternative plans. We’ve used Geo Blue for many years (never had a claim with them) but they only cover you will traveling outside the USA. Their annual coverage plans offer reasonable coverage and reasonable rate depending on your age and essentially unlimited travel over 12 months. It’s a branch of blue cross blue shield insurance. There are several companies offering similar plans. More than likely your current medical insurance will offer limited (or no) coverage while out of the country but it’s worth verifying just in case. On a side note I will add that most if not all auto insurance companies in the USA will not cover you if you rent an auto outside the USA. Just something to be aware of.

I recently answered this question for someone in our roll call and thought I would copy the long reply below. Maybe it’ll help explain if/when you can can take advantage of a price drop. “A few things have to align to allow it. First, if you want to keep the same cabin there must be a cabin available in that same category. That allows you to see the new available rate and if there’s not one available they will consider your category “sold out” and you can’t re-fare. Second the available published fare for your category must be lower than the cost you booked at. Third your original booking must have been made with a refundable deposit and not part of a sale promo that includes “non-refundable” deposits (rare these days but can happen). Fourth you’ll need to consider the loss of any onboard cruise credit you got under your original booking as the new rate may not come with such OBC and you’ll loose it when re-faring. Fifth you can’t have passed your final payment date with your upcoming voyage. And yes you simply call whoever you booked through (Princess direct or travel agent) and ask for the new lower fare. They essentially cancel your existing reservation and rebook you at the new lower rate. Some newer Princess agents have told people they can’t do that but the next one you contact that has more experience will do it with no problem. One last thing is if there are no cabins available in your current category you CAN still do essentially the same re-fare by booking a new higher category assuming it’s advertised price is lower or low enough for you to want it. This is what we did yesterday. We moved from a category IB interior to an IA since an IA popped up available for less than we had re-fared last time. We moved to a better location and still saved $260 total for both of us. Since our first booking this voyage we’ve reduced our total fare with taxes and insurance by $1,600. I had posted here a time or two previously when we caught a lower fare to alert others but you may have missed it.”

No worries. Lol. Can understand. Lol