JC13

I registered and used my mariner account number.  I was able to received OBC of $100.00 on my new booking.  I did not have to attach a copy of my AARP card, I just entered the card numbers. 

AARP

One can verify your AARP membership by using the HAL link, just type in AARP in the search area of the HAL website.  You enter your number and verification is provided instantly.  Make certain to include your Mariner number so it is associated with your account.  Once you book, under your Mariner number the OBC is applied  to your booking.  Only good once a year for a cruise.  The same for the educator offer.  

14 hours ago, 5:00_Somewhere said:

That's very surprising to hear. We were in the Sanctuary in the Sky Princess in December, and the tea cart included tea sandwiches, desserts and definitely scones (plain and currant/raisin) along with cream and jelly, just as we've always experienced during tea time in the Sanctuary for years. It's disappointing to hear that may have changed for you on the Royal.

 

p.s. - may I ask an unrelated question: we are doing the Mex Riv on the Star in March, and our itinerary specifies "overnight" in Cabo, but some people here on CC have suggested that the ship may not, in fact, stay anchored in the harbor all night and may set out to sea. If you have an overnight stay in Cabo, I'd be curious whether you stay anchored overnight and, if so, whether tenders run all night long (presumably with reduced frequency). 

 

Thank you, and I hope you have a very nice cruise, despite "scone-gate".  😉

Typically the overnight tenders do not run all night long, but you are notified of the cut off time, resuming the next morning based on the ship's departure time.  We have done the overnight several times in the past. 

Currently on the Royal on a 7day Mexican cruise tendered in Cabo. Yesterday during tea time I was surprised that no scones were served. Today I discovered that scones are served by request only.  Is this a new policy?  My last cruise was on the Royal in March 2019 so this was news to me.

Yippee!

Had our booked cruise re-fared and was able to book under the 3Fs, now less for the cruise, upgraded to a mid-cabin area, free grats, and $$.  Love that!

4 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

What were you expecting from this short sailing to nowhere on an old Carnival ship as an experienced Princess cruiser? To me, and like others have said, you didn't do your research. Your review sounds like one that would be posted by someone who has never cruised in their life. Just sayin' ...............

Actually no, I did do my research, as Elite on Princess I have done 3-4 day cruises out of LA and 1 day out of Seattle and Vancouver on Princess ( and more) plus multiple cruises on the Celebrity Century, which was OLD, and nothing like what was happening on the so called Fun Ship occurred on Princess.  Pricing is about the same on Princess as it is on Carnival, but service levels are way off, elite or not, just sayin'......

Long time Princess cruiser here, but decided to do a 4 day CA to Ensenada cruise, which I am in Ensenada now.  I will sum it up by saying never again!  The plus, easy covered parking in structure, easy checkin based on pre scheduled times , easy boarding  and very friendly boarding staff.  Cabin was nice, inside, with a larger bathroom and shower than Princess.  Good pizza.  Now the down side. Requested king bed setup, got twins and had to wait for staff to make change when they had time   no frig in cabin, in cabin safe was not operational and required staff to come out to change the batteries.  The staff also failed to mention only the first cabin key used on the safe will work during the cruise.  There is no notes/documentation of this.  While the shower is larger  water goes everywhere in the bathroom. No in cabin lighting in closet area, over bed lights not useful for anything but a night light  the tv is the size of a computer monitor at about 18".  Air controls are in the ceiling, walls are not magnetic, and your cabin key is left on the cabin room sign when you first come in.  In cabin dining comes at a fee for certain items. Dining in general is a mess  1.5 hrs wait time for your time dining, lots of overly drunk passengers, the serenity area was dirty  seating areas unclean, lots of uncaring peronnel, eager to tell you policy but not open to "How can I help you?.  On the ship it is difficult to find a quiet area, it clearly is a party ship, but not in a good way.  Cabin next door had yelling and fighting all last night, had to call security.  But live and learn, stay with what you know, even if the product comes from the same corporation.  They clearly have different markets in mind. 

Greetings to all, 

First time on Carnival and first time requesting stockholder OBC.  I have submitted paperwork requesting the credit and now wonder where does one check to see if the credit has been given?  Does Carnival notify you of granted OBC or does it post on your log-in account on the Carnival website?  Any insight would be helpful.

Happy sailing

On the issue of the price going down and losing your OBC.  It is something one has to consider.  We did just that prior to final payment we re-fared our cruise since the price had decreased considerably.  We did lose OBC, and gratuities,  however even with the loss we came out $500 ahead, even after deducting the gratuitites, not in OBC but in savings which to us is the same as OBC as we can use our savings just like OBC.  I would say to anyone considering refaring and losing OBC, the savings is your OBC and really not a loss. Think of it as a win win.  

BTW, how did this post go from an OBC pricing issue to a passport problem?

I enjoy my 45 minute drive to the port, parking, then boarding what I already know.  No airport hassles, no mess, no fuss.  Then upon return, taking my wheelie out to the parking lot and driving home with wonderful Princess memories.  

I would make it a point of doing this sooner than later.  A cruise mate will walk one through the process of lounge selection.  Usually one will save a bit by booking the entire cruise, including boarding day.  

I always thought it was great to receive a beverage package, whatever it maybe called, until I started pricing it out in relation to the overall cruise price. For example. Pricing out a cruise with my TA, a cruise out of Barcelona to Rome, July 2019, a balcony cabin is priced out at 3478. If the drink package is desired, the price is then 4198.00. So the free included package costs for 2 is 720.00. That is alot of drinks on a 7 day cruise, at least five $10 drinks per day. Yes I know it includes water, speciality coffee, and other beverages but I would think purchasing those individually, using drink specials, ordering water in advance, and a coffee card that provides free pots of tea and perked coffee would be a better use of money. Nothing is for free, everything comes with a price. I prefer to use any OBC to purchase a coffee card, pay for gratuities, and to use it for drinks at Vines or during dinner. On the other hand if I have the need to constantly have a beverage in hand, then yes a beverage package is the way to go with no second thoughts.

I would love to fill you in but then it would make it more difficult to book. One has to experience it. Book 1/2 day and try it. I did this figuring it was 2 less t-shirts to buy. during the on board $10 sale. In all seriousness, you get a comfy lounge, yes I know you get that around the decks, (along with all the noise), attentive service, tea time, and best of all your lounge is reserved for you and you alone during the time you booked. Twenty bucks and you too can experience it for 1/2 day.

My thoughts, observations, hints, and reflections of recent Med cruise, 6/30/2018 - 7/14/2018.

EZ Flights used for this cruise. The flights were in business class and were great. The return however had a tight connection, of 45 minutes which required running to the connecting terminal to board. Lucky for us the outbound return flight was delayed.

We booked our own hotel in Rome, choosing to stay at the FCO Hilton for two nights prior to the cruise date. This hotel is connected to the airport via moving walkways which take one directly to the hotel which is then a short elevator ride to the main doors of the Hilton. I have read about how far the walk is and many have posted anywhere from 20-30 minutes. I can tell you that at a normal pace, with wheeled luggage, it took under 10 minutes to the front desk. Again the walk has lighting, people use it to get to the parking structures along the way. There are moving walkways, which may appear to not be in operation, but will automatically begin running as you approach. It is not isolated, dark, or scary. The FCO Hilton has a free bus shuttle that takes one to the center of Rome. It begins service from the hotel at 8am. Then returns for the next pickup/drop off at 10am. This goes on all day long until about 11pm. A great deal if one has limited time in Rome and chooses to stay near the airport. As a tip, if you are one of the hundreds using this free service, be aware that all of these people will want seats on the return shuttles, so it is unlikely you will get a seat on the last one or two shuttles of the day. Best to plan for a mid afternoon return to avoid seeking other transport back to the hotel. If one is worried about where to eat, the airport is just minutes away and has a number of wonderful places to dine.

Boarding in Rome was easy, we used Princess transfers, going again from the hotel via the walkway to Terminal 3 to pick up the shuttle. We had the first shuttle out of FCO, about 9:30am, and we arrived at the port around 10:30 am. We were checked in and in the VIP lounge when we were called to board. We literally had about 5 minutes in the lounge area prior to boarding. Our cabin was ready. We were on deck 10 aft balcony of the Crown Princess.

We had booked with a Sip and Sail package so we did not have to lug around water or wine when boarding.

We have cruised on the Crown a number of times and she did not disappoint. Beautiful new carpets had been placed in all the common area hallways weeks prior. I know many critics note the aging metal, chipping paint, carpets, and her condition, but frankly I was on holiday and those things are not critical in cruising, it’s all about the venues, ports, and service.

In those areas the Crown did not disappoint. We were in a different port almost everyday. I missed sea days, but at the same time the itinerary provided views into cities I would never have visited. We did book 3 excursions. The Athens Acropolis, Salerno, and the Pompeii tour. All were well managed. The Acropolis does require extensive walking and climbing. The slope of many of the stairways makes this very dangerous for those not using typical walking shoes, like sandals, flip-flops, wedges, heels, etc. This tour, for me was exhausting. It was very hot, crowded, almost impossible to move from sight to sight, and even more difficult to exit the sight due to the number of visitors trying to leave at the same time. One factor impacting the Acropolis are the number of people with selfie sticks just stopping and popping in front of walkers to take pictures. It became a battle of the selfie sticks and ones own safety. One highlight was the buffet lunch provided after the tour. The lunch was traditional Greek food. Every item I tried was delicious. One could eat as much or as little as they wanted, and wine was included with the lunch.

On our tour at the Acropolis a gentleman slipped and fell, breaking his leg in the course of the fall. We saw an ambulance leaving the Acropolis about an hour after the initial fall. We heard later that his wife and luggage were moved from the ship.

In a nutshell, our cruise was wonderful, our cabin attendant was very attentive to our needs, the room service people were spot on, and all our servers and wait staff throughout the ship were amazing.

General observations:

Not certain what was happening with how we look when we travel. It seems we have just given up and no longer care. Lots of torn t-shirts, with inappropriate social sayings, torn shorts, daisy duke type shorts exposing more skin than needed. Pretty sloppy wear, but interesting enough most had huge bags/luggage brought on board, which leads me to thinking how t-shirts and cut off shorts could take up so much luggage space? There were Kids running around unsupervised in the cabin hallways and on decks in general. Lots of kids under 16 in the hot tubs, babies with diapers in the pools, young teens in the hot tubs doing what they shouldn’t be doing (they were doing this in front of the Sky Lounge during the Elite happy hour.) Lots of unattended lounge chairs with towels left for hours. MUTS movies being repeated during a 14 day cruise. It was also disappointing to see room service trays out in the cabin hallways. Not certain why cruisers can’t leave them in their cabin or call for pickup rather than placing them in the hallway. The trays are not even in front of the door, but they were physically in the hallway.

Many rude cruisers being unkind to staff.

On the Sip and Sail. I can honestly tell you that we tried our best to drink and then drink some more in order to capitalize on our package. It was difficult and we failed. We would have a morning select coffee, bottled water, a morning bloody mary or mimosa, an afternoon cocktail, and a glass of wine in Vines. If attending the Elite event we would have a cocktail there, and a glass of wine at dinner. At most we would have 4 or 5 drinks. Drinks we never finished. Our conclusion was to avoid the package on future cruises and just drink what we want when we want it and we will come out ahead of a package. For us it was not worth it, nor is it worth the price difference to obtain a package. For example on one of our recent future bookings the price difference between having a package and not having a package is close to $700 per person. We would never drink $1400 worth of beverages, even water, juice, or coffee. (Our big box store travel agency now gives an option of booking with a sip and sail package at an increased price or a lower price without the package)

I hope this was helpful, we have already booked a Nov. 2018 Cabo Cruise, a 2019 Summer Med cruise along with a cruise on the Sky in December of 2019. We just might sneak in an Asian cruise on the Diamond and a Mexico cruise for Dec. 2018. All without a sip and sail package. Thank you for reading and keep on cruising.

For our 6/30 sailing we were boarding by 11am. Didn't even have time to have a cup of coffee from the Elite VIP area.

Had room service breakfast for most of our recent 14 cruise. Always delivered within the window. One morning it was late, had to call the service desk only to find out we forgot to change our clocks. We were early, they were on time. I also found it easy to order breakfast on line rather than using the door hangers.

Just back from a 14 day cruise in Europe and had a difficult time getting an Uber ride. Two cars cancelled on us, this process took over an hour as Uber drivers must wait in the designated area outside LAX. My vote is to go with Princess transfers, price difference is almost none plus you will know exactly what you are getting. SuperShuttle Executive Car also cancelled on us, they were unable to find a car for us, even though we reserved the service over 2 weeks prior. They charged us, then wanted us to wait for a supervisor to show up at the Bradley Terminal to issue a voucher for a taxi. However, the catch was an ETA for the supervisor was unknown. It took several calls to finally obtain a refund for the charges. Go with what is known, Princess, they will get you there, and if delayed the ship is held until you get there. Yes I know, the port is near by, but an accident or mechanical problem can cause one to be delayed.

We were on the 14 day Med Crown cruise and had no problem any night having multiple main courses in the dining rooms, Often time the waiter brought us the extra main after having trouble making a choice. Lobster also we enjoyed two lobsters, again brought on by the waiter.

Well, well, the S & S did not come up on a cruise I wanted to rebook, however I was able to rebook at a savings of over $800.00, While I did lose some OBC, which if I kept the original cruise price I was basically paying myself my own OBC so this was an easy decision. I received a lower price, dining for 2, OBC, and a great midship balcony cabin. My FCC moved right over, covered the new deposit, and now I am a more than delighted cruiser! Just have to keep in mind that a lower price for me is much better than increased OBC since often so many times we end up paying for our own OBC.

Times change and things that were are no longer. We have always had the breakfast on the balcony and it is beautifully set up and has always been delicious. The staff is easy to work with if changes in the menu are planned. My favorite is the decorative fruit platter that reminds me of an exotic flower. It is a nice way to spend a morning while on a cruise day, or even in port. We have had this during our time in Mazatlan since we have been there so often and have no plans to leave the ship.

Good for your friend! She can now have her laundry done then complain how long it took to get it back, how long she had to wait for a tender, and how she had to ask twice to exchange her bar setup for a coffee card. I believe you are doing it the right way, spending money and enjoying yourself on a cruise.

Did a 14 day Alaska cruise on the Diamond in an interior room directly next to the elevators. There were no noise issues with the elevators or stairs. It was also easy moving deck to deck since the elevators were just around the corner. As a side note, I have never had an issue cruising in rooms next to the so called "white" areas, stairs, elevators, or directly next to the fire doors. Many cruisers complain about the service carts making excessive noise when crossing the door threshold. But then again, when my head hits the pillow after a long day of cruise activities, I am in snooze heaven!

Greetings, yes, the selection of arrival and departure dates can be manipulated by adjusting the departure and return dates. I have done that in order to arrive early, for some sight seeing and the same for returns. This may also require one to opt out of the transfers, especially on the return if one is not returning to the airport when arriving at the final destination. It saves a little on the transfers, money that can then be applied to whatever means of return transportation is used.

On another note, I keep seeing notes about EZAir saving a little on the airfare I maybe missing something as our savings were over 7K per person for business class, which for us is a whole lot! I found EZAir business fares to be just a bit over the price of a coach seat Premium economy was almost identical to the cost of a business class seat on the individual airlines website. This was my first time using EZAir and I am sold on their services.

The beauty part of all this discussion is we all have choices and we all make our own decisions. If something is not to our liking or how it is done, we can modify our choices. I always look forward to something new, but that is my decision on how I view things. I like the new Salty Dog menu, some will complain about paying for an Ernesto Burger, so get the free offered burger, but in my mind I pay 6.00 to 8.00 for a beer, now I can try something new and get a tag along burger to go with my beverage. I too remember what was or how it was and how much I loved the Helms Bakery truck rolling up the street, but guess what, things change. I look forward to all the new changes on my next Crown Princess cruise in only 81 days.

Thank you for your post! I am using EZ Air and after reading your post I checked directly on Delta's website only to find Delta had changed our return business flight to a different carrier in economy, at the same fare. I contacted Princess and they contacted Delta to find that Delta had changed the outbound due to their schedule changes. Princess was able to find us business class out bound from Barcelona at an addition $100.00pp more, while not happy it still is less expensive than booking directly with the airline. The lowest I could find was $8,000.00pp. Which is 6K more than EzAir. Plus I have not paid in full, so it's nice to be able to hold a reservation with only a deposit, and get air fare to Europe. Booking directly with an airline I would have had to pay in full upfront and still be at their mercy if the airline changes my flights. At least for now I can continue to monitor fares up until final payment day.