beg3yrs

You're probably right ... who at Princess would be any good at constitutional law anyway?

That's where I worry, if you're correct that the series is your first two (or one J&J) doses, yes, we're good to go. However, if a series is the sum total of all your doses (which in mathematics it is), I need another. It kind of makes sense that if they authorities are worried that the efficacy of the original shots is too low after 9 months, why wouldn't the efficacy of boosters older than 9 months be OK?

Part 1: I've encountered that before. Typically they need to physically see your passport for some reason. It's never been a problem other than taking a couple of extra minutes to sort out all the details. Most times it's when we've been on a code share and the other airline's system doesn't integrate as well as it should with the one you're ticketed on. Part 2: I've never seen a bid list for flight changes. The opportunity to change flights for no charge ahead of time due to bad weather is not unusual.

But then you look at Greece's language and it's changed. I believe "no more than 270 days (9 months) from the date of disembarkation since receiving the last dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine" means 270 days from your last shot of any kind. I.e. if your booster is over 9 months old, you aren't fully vaccinated in Greece's definition.

One of our upcoming cruises will make a couple of calls in Greece. The language has changed and now says the last shot in your vaccine series must have been received less than 270 days from disembarkation. The key phrase here is "last shot in your vaccine series" which to me tells me that our last booster, which was received in January of this year, will be too old. Off to Walgreen's for yet another jab ...

You can specify dietary restrictions in the Personalizer on the web. Go to your specific cruise then click on the Check In icon. The next page will have something like this: Click on the Dietary Requests link and from there it's pretty simple to make the advance notification. DW is allergic to gluten so we're familiar with this drill. There are several things you can do once on board. 1) If you're an MDR junkie (we are), meet with the headwaiter in advance to be sure the information on your restriction has reached them. He or she will give you instructions as to how to proceed in the MDR. Personally we like to have the same servers for the full cruise so they get to know our restriction. Once that's established the headwaiter will know to see you each evening with the next day's meals so you can preselect what you'd like. They will also have recommendations for you as to what would be good with your restriction. 2) In the buffet you can ask any of the staff on the line if you could talk with the "Chef du partee" (I'm not sure of that spelling) and he or she will walk you through the line letting you know what's ok and what isn't. 3) For the specialty restaurants, just tell them when you make your reservation about the restriction. They'll note it and your server should then be aware.

Forgive me if I've mentioned this before. DW loves the mushy peas and once asked for "extra peas". Seems something got lost in translation and/or accent problems, she got "extra pieces" of fish but didn't realize it until she complained that she didn't get "extra peas" when the server pointed to the extra fish. Everyone including the server had a good laugh. Oh yeah, Shrimp and Chips is a real thing!

I've had this message before. It usually clears up in a day or two. If it doesn't I'd do exactly what you plan to do, only I'd do it on Sunday when the phone lines for AA tend to be less jammed.

There's the difference. You were disembarking in Barbados and that's feasible. Disembarking in the USA, ships are required to get to a zero passenger count before new passengers are allowed to board. This is even true for passengers who are staying on for the next cruise although they are not required to pack up their cabins...

You are not wrong! It hasn't always been this way but with the restart after the Covid shutdown, it's definitely bad. Many of us long time Princess cruises are hoping things get better soon. Side note: After going through things like what you are, I always make an electronic copy of the Travel Summary. You can save it to a PDF file with headers (that embeds the date and time on every page of the file). My file name includes the date as well. That way if something get goofed up you have definitive evidence of what you should have. I typically save a new summary every couple of weeks.

How are we to know if we're on one of the "other special itineraries"? I don't really trust that we'd be contacted by an Ocean Navigator. Princess' track record isn't very good for something like this.

We were one of the last groups to visit Copper River Lodge this year. We were there the day the staff was told of the closing. Wondered why they didn't see disappointed but found out there's not much for them to do on their day off and ... their jobs were moving to other Princess Lodges so they weren't out of work. Anyway I saw the Copper River Lodge is again offered in 2023 so I have no reason to think it won't be offered in 2024.

Following this ...

I know that PacnGoNow already answered this but from the answer it could still have been a paper form you download and fill out. It isn't paper, it's an App you need to load onto your smart phone and then answer its questions. Once complete you'll have a QRR code as well as an alphanumeric code you can display to whoever requests it.

IIRC, totality also crosses through the United States. One of the major cities it crosses is Dallas. If the cruise is too expensive, there are less expensive alternatives. Yes, I understand the ship has the option to reposition for clearer skies but ...

Hey thanks for the info. Travel router makes perfect sense. Hadn't thought of that. So, what's the procedure for changing the ship's tv input to HDMI 1? It's certainly not on the remote, at least I couldn't find it and, when on the Royal in June, not a button to be found accessible on the TV itself. Also, physically getting to those HDMI ports is tough. Any tricks there? Inquiring minds want to know!

Princess' Internet uses US-based IP addresses so needing a VPN shouldn't be necessary. IIRC the websites you visit will think you're in Santa Clarita. Hey folks, my Fire Sticks all plug into my TV's HDMI port. IIRC, nobody has been able to use the HDMI ports on the ship's TVs since the Medallions have been put into service. I would think this makes a Fire Stick on board ship a non-starter unless you've brought your own TV ...

What I personally find the most amazing about this is someone at Princess was working on the weekend! 🤣 Good for them!

Yeah, the focus over the summer is certainly Alaska and western Canada. Even I don't think about Quebec until Halloween costumes show up in the stores. Oh wait! They've been there for some time, I just didn't notice or care...

Canada / New England cruises go through October... don't forget the east coast folks!

Yes, Princess will send you an email. The two times we've cruised with Medallions they came FedEx from Singapore. Others get them from US locations. Don't know what the criteria is for where they come from. Anyway, yes, you will know when they're coming!

From Post #202: "We just heard that at least 12 received a positive test, but more groups are embarking today, we now no of at least 3 couples in our group of which one of the partners tested positive, so at least 3 couples stay behind." - This post doesn't reference the size of the groups so there's no basis for determining 1/3 to 1/2 positive here! From Post #205: "We are now on board the cruise train, turns out only 17 out of the original 33 in our group made it!!! " - Now this post has some good info, 16 didn't make it out of 33, that's almost half, assuming everyone actually tested positive which with couples isn't always the case. From Post #217: "We learned from another group that is travelling the same route, but through a tour-company, that they went from 94 to around 70, so also quite a few positive cases that were denied to cruise. " Pretty much hearsay here but 24 out of 90 is less than one third. Page 4 of "Bad Experience": There was no mention of numbers, just a lot of people complaining. From the "Why so many positive" post, page 2: "One earlier 2022 HAL cruise tour with the land first only 17 out of 33 in group were allowed to board the ship because of + c-19 tests. Not all were positive but had at least one person traveling together +. " And that was your own post referencing post #202! Can't count that twice! From Post #54: "yes we know of a handful of people that tested positive at the Mt McKinley lodge but just by third hand information. " Again, it's admittedly hearsay with no information on which you can make a percentage call. So even if we allow the two posts which had some usable numbers, combined with my actual experience (1 of 38) we're at 16 plus 24 plus 1 (41) testing positive out of a sample of 33 plus 94 plus 38 (165) provides us a generous 1/4 as I didn't reduce the couples numbers which would make it much lower. Finally, cherry-picking data is fraught with peril as that introduces bias in an attempt to prove a point. These posts are likely written because the originators were upset at the numbers they saw. How many posts were not written by those who didn't have problems on their tours? I don't know an exact number but it's probably greater than zero! So in conclusion, tossing around numbers based on gut feel can be very wrong. Usually my gut feel is due to something I ate rather than good objective numbers!

I don't know where you got those numbers. Would you please post your sources? Our cruisetour in late May had 38 people. One person was diagnosed with Covid at the end of the land portion and therefore that person and their partner could not board the ship. I know that's a single tour sample but it sure is a lot less than 1/3 to 1/2 of the people.

We also did a 17 day land first connoisseur tour in late May this year. It was amazing. We're already planning to book the complementary tour they offer, Heart of the Rockies, in May/June of 2024 when they are released for booking. Next time we'll try to book a Grand class ship as they go inside of Vancouver Island rather on the ocean side. Much more scenic. Also, it just seemed that the seven day ship portion wasn't enough so we'll add a return B2B on the same ship and cabin.

The 30 day ticketing isn't consistent. Our flights from Tucson to Heathrow on Delta/Virgin Atlantic were just ticketed at 60 days out. I would expect though that the 45 day limit for no charge changes would still be valid. Agree 100% that domestic savings are marginal and there are reports the airline websites can sometimes beat EZAir. However, you've got to purchase airline website purchased tickets right away and if Princess cancels the cruise, you'll have to deal with the airlines to get funds returned. If Princess cancels, they will offer you future cruise credit but you always have the option to get your money returned in cash. Internationally we've found booking with EZAir as soon as flights become available (330 days before the date your cruise completes) usually gives you the best prices. Sometimes they'll fluctuate for a month or so, it pays to keep checking often for the first month or so and rebook if it makes sense. Back in the dark ages when I was still in school, a professor who specialized in auction theory pointed out that prices early on are the lowest when supply is high and as things (like seats on a flight) start selling, prices climb. This is true (in general) for cruise prices, airline tickets and hotel rooms among others. You still need to watch as shocks to the system can disrupt things. If the airline cancels your itinerary (EZAir doesn't cancel itineraries, the airlines do), EZAir will protect your fare and get you rebooked. I suspect this is something in the contracts between EZAir and the airlines. Also, if you have enough available holiday time before or after the cruise, check for a few days before or after the cruise to see if there are better airfare deals. Often there are and the savings can be more than the extra cost of a hotel stay. It's really nice to arrive a few days early, especially if you are crossing a lot of time zones. I'd rather get over jet lag in a hotel than on a cruise ship. Plus the well known fact that arriving early is good insurance against travel interruptions and not missing the ship's departure.