ElmwoodPark

I am cancelling a cruise that I paid in full (I am within the cancellation window). I used Princess gift cards to pay. I have copies of the original gift cards (the electronic ones that I got through AARP). Does anyone know how long it will take before the refund amount shows back on the gift cards? TIA. 

Just want to make a clarification to something that has been posted here. We made our reservation with the Plus package and put in a non-refundable deposit. Upon reading some previous comments, we decided to cancel the Plus package and buy it on board instead. I called our TA and she was able to cancel the Plus package seperately without touching our cruise fare. Others have written in here that the entire cruise would need to be cancelled which was untrue for us.

Thanks for clarifying the difference. Surprising that the Princess reps didn't know this either. 

I am looking to book a balcony cabin on the Emerald Princess. One travel agent I spoke to advised to book on the Caribe deck (deck 10) as it has bigger cabins. When you look at the Princess website deck plans it lists the size of the balcony cabins on the Caribe deck as 271 sq feet. When I look at a balcony on say the Aloha deck as an example it lists is as 231 sq feet. I have called Princess and other travel agents to verify the difference in cabin size but have received different answers. 

Can someone confirm if there are bigger cabins on the Caribe deck? The rate is the same so I would then select this deck for the bigger cabin size.

Thanks. 

14 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

The only advice I have for you is to book a flight into/out of Montreal, stay overnight, and take a train to Quebec.  So much easier than flying and stressing out of Quebec Airport.  My cruises were both repositioning to/from FLL to Quebec (July and October).  Late October and we were a little late for Canada leaves.  Some nice views on the way back down the coast.

 

Did a couple of nice "free" walks in Montreal and Quebec.  Do a Google search.  

We are doing the cruise as a repositioning cruise on June 19th from FLL to Quebec City where we disembark. Why do you recommend to not use the Quebec City airport?

We had a Rhine River cruise booked with Gate 1 for Aug. 29th. When the Covid-19 situation hit in March my husband and I decided we did not want to chance being stuck outside the country. We had a $600 deposit with Gate 1. Gate 1 first moved the final payment date to 30 days out instead of 90. Then in the beginning of May they gave the option to cancel and lose 25% of your deposit. I decided to stick it out and wait for Gate 1 to cancel for a total refund. They did cancel on June 2nd via an email to me and on their website. I submitted on their website for a total refund. I never received any type of confirmation which made me a little concerned, but figured I'd wait it out. Today I got a confirmation from my credit card company that the entire $600 deposit has been credited back to my credit card. After hearing all the cruise refund horror stories, I am very pleased with how Gate 1 handled the situation, and thought I would let others know of my positive experience. 

i purchased airfare using the Celebrity Choice Air 20% sale about one month ago. I don't know if this means it is a regular occurrence, but they have had it recently. It is a good deal as it was the same airfare I was just about to purchase on the American Airlines site but I saved some money. 

Since you asked about the med, we got off the Jewel on Sept. 8th. It was extremely casual, even on formal nights. I don't recall seeing any men in tuxes or women in long gowns. Very few men even in suits. The cruise was over half American so maybe that made a difference in the attire. 

I was surprised how many people were in shorts in the MDR at dinner on the other nights. I thought shorts were not allowed, but that seemed to not be the case. 

We used PK Travel for our Athens tour last week. We did the full day tour. The tour guide was with us all day and came up to the Acropolis with us. We also did the Acropolis museum and she guided us through that. As mentioned above, the only time our guide was not with us was our short free time in Plaka.

We just got back and were there last week. Our ship was there from 1PM-10PM. There were 4 other ships there at the same time and it was crazy busy. We took a tour to a winery and Oia that ended at around 6:15PM. We then went to dinner in Fira and watched the sunset from there. The service was slow and our dinner didn't end until 8PM. The last tender was 9:30PM and we heard of 1.5 hour waits for the cable car. We ended up walking down the donkey steps in the dark which was not fun. 

We talked to people on your tender and they said the wait for the cable cars was about 1 hour. 

2 hours ago, azrose said:

 

FYI:  There is a possibility that our group of 4 may sign up on your PK Travel 1/2 day.  I will know in a couple days if I can get my group to make decisions.....if you need to cancel -- no problem -- I will work on getting answers ... frustrations!!  

Azrose,

I am wanting to sign up for the full day tour, not the 1/2 day tour. There are already a few people signed up for the 1/2 day tour., so if your group does this, you will probably make a complete group. There is so much to see that I don't want to just have a half day tour, and the full day tour is only about $10 more. 

I'll sign up for the full day tour, and hope that some more participants sign up. 

I would like to do a full day tour of Athens that is a shared tour to save on expenses. I am not having luck with either our roll call or other shared sites. I have looked at PK Travel and there is no one signed up for our date and they need a minimum of 8. We will be in Athens on Sept. 5th so time is running short. 

Is there a good possibility of just being able to pick up a full day shared tour when we get off the ship in Piraeus or is this something that would need to be prearranged?

Thanks for any suggestions. 

We are using sharedshuttle.it and for a shared shuttle, it is 60 Euros to FCO. I checked their website and they do go to CIA. They don't have a shared shuttle to CIA though but their private shuttle is 130 Euros. 

They also go to Rome Hotels which is what we are using them for. 

Also check out NCC Airport. They have a shared service and it is 100 Euros for two.

Both of these companies appear to receive good reviews.

Thank you so much for the information. This is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for providing thi review. We are on the Jewel for the 9/1 sailing. Can you provide some more details:

- What tour company/driver did you book for your tour in Olympia? What winery did you go to?

- What was the restaurant that you went to in Athens? What tour company/driver did you use for your tour of Athens?

- How long did it take you to walk down the stairs in Santorini to the ship?

Thanks for any additional tips you can provide.

Also try mydaytrip.com as they offer a couple of options for tours with their transfers:

https://mydaytrip.com/

We had a connecting room a few years ago. It was horrible, and I would avoid at all costs. The couple next door were extremely loud from the time of boarding and we could hear everything they said including swearing. They tried to open the connecting door. We asked them nicely over the balcony if they could keep the noise down and basically they told it was their vacation to do what they wanted.

We went down to guest services as this was the first day of the cruise and I could not image dealing with this for 7 days. Luckily there was an open cabin although it was an obstructed view. It was a shame that the noisy neighbors forced us into an obstructed view, but at least I didn't have to deal with obnoxious conversations. 

We are on Jewel OTS in September. The BOGO package was showing up until two days ago. I just called Royal Caribbean and the rep told me that she thought this had been a limited time offer that was no longer available. That would make sense as so many people are no longer seeing it. 

33 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That would work.

When you call Royal Caribbean they will allow one in the cabin to get the alcohol package, but the other must get the refreshment package, not the soda package. The refreshment package includes more beverages (most everything except alcoholic drinks). The soda package is less expensive.

We cruise on Celebrity in July and participated in the luggage valet service. The airline fee for the baggage was charged to the Celebrity on board account.

I have an American Airlines credit card which provides me with no baggage fees for one bag. I am flying home on American. Has anyone experienced this situation and if so, are you still charged by the cruise line? I will be travelling on Royal Caribbean.

I understand that if you hike up Mt Roberts, and spend $10+ at the restaurant/gift shop, that you can ride the tram down for free. Is that just for one person? Also, how difficult is the hike up to the restaurant/gift shop and how long would it take? I would like to go up to the top, but don't want to spend the amount of money that they are charging for the tram.

I was going to book the transportation and tickets to go to Butchart Gardens through CVS tours. I then noticed that Big Bus Victoria also offered the transportation and entrance tickets for a lot less money. Anyone use Big Bus or know the difference to justify such a large price difference?

I would love to use this service, but have a question regarding the bag fees. I will be flying American home with a flight at 3PM. American normally has a $25 checked bag fee, but I have their credit card so I receive the first checked bag free.

Does anyone know if I will be charged the $25 checked bag fee as I am not checking my bag at the airport and inserting my AA credit credit card when checking my bag?

That's the new one they were building as part of the Marriott Complex(Airport)???

Marriott, Courtyard, Residence Inn ??

It is the Town Place Suites Miami Airport

Just scored brand new Townplace Suites by Marriott for $89 on Priceline Express Deals. Free shuttle, free breakfast, refundable. This is for April. We get in late, so it's only for sleeping really. Didn't care to be near the port or "stuff to see".

I just did this same deal on Priceline for 1/27-1/28. According to the terms of an Express deal though this is not refundable.

• Rooms purchased through Priceline Express Deals cannot be cancelled, changed or transferred and refunds are not allowed.