iceleven

Sorry to have to bring up a 6 month thread but this one seemed most similar to my concerns.

Is there a list showing what the Princess Platinum covers "for any reason" that will allow for reimbursement of funds instead of cruise credit?

We are possibly going to need to cancel our cruise in February '18 due to an out of state job relocation which will also require us to sell our home. We prefer to be able to use the cancelled cruise $$$ in a refund instead of cruise credit.

Anyone have any info or experience with this that they would be able to share?

Lady Arwen:

 

Thanks for the good report on the WS. I, too, am looking forward to the breakfasts in Sabatini's. Breakfast is my favorite cruise meal if I am honest with myself.

 

Pooh

Actually the Suite breakfast on The Grand is now being served in the Crown Grill, not Sabatini's but same great service and food choices.

Some of my best friends are Pastafarians! Don't knock it until you've tried it.

I did not find them as being worn out. Just very stiff, small and not something comforting to the skin unless they are towels with a built in loofah function:)

I told the steward that they stocked our bath towels with bath mats by accident. He replaced them with the same thing. I though that maybe someone at corporate accidentally order half a million bath mats rather than bath towels

Exactly my thoughts. We were in a suite last week and had nice, THICK towels but felt like a giant loofa when trying to dry myself. I even joked to myself saying that they could at least help get rid of any rough winter skin.

I read through this thread and I think I missed something. Did no one question why this person was upset that there was a limit of 40 drinks a day at some time?

Discovered this whilst on the Diamond Princess a couple of weeks ago that the Unlimited Drinks Package was never unlimited but limited to 40 drinks per day and was changed whilst we were aboard with the staff getting a new briefing that they told us about.

The Package is no longer called Unlimited is still US$68.99 per day per person but you are now limited to 15 drinks per day, and that will include tea, coffee and soft drinks, even bottles of water. Completely ridiculous and Princes should be ashamed of themselves.

Did you watch the one where the Lady is saying... 'Okay... Now I am looking for fish!!!'

Hahahaha!!!!

 

We did recently have a very nice OV on Deck Six. Loved it!!!

 

 

PS: Since there does not seem to be a lot of info or comments... I am going to assume that the exterior lighting is not a big issue... Hoping to book an 'unobstructed' Obsructed OV for a future cruise!

Yes! That was the one that SOLD ME on the idea of a cabin on 5 or 6. Who wouldn't want that experience??? :D

When the seas are rough and everyone is stuck in their cabins with nothing but a tv or a book, we could have a Jacques Cousteau under the sea adventure.

Just saw some video of very very rough seas, from lower OV cabins....

: O

 

I think we might go with that cabin on Deck 8!!!

I saw some similar videos and that reason alone made me WANT to book a window cabin on the 5th deck. Why would anyone want to avoid such an exciting event as to have the sea all the way up to your window? I was giggling with delight when I watched the videos. So I've now booked window cabins on two different cruises. One was a 15 day Hawaii cruise across the Pacific Ocean. What a disappointment. Never once did we hit any heavy seas--no waves higher than our window. The motion is negligible down there, too. The lower you are on a ship, less motion to notice.

Window cabins on the 5th and 6th decks (depending on ships) are now my favorite. I love the quick accessibility to everything and never having to wait for an elevator after returning to the ship. Still have my fingers cross we'll get a stormy day where I can sit and watch the sealife from my window. ;p

You can order cheese and crackers to your suite but you might need to order them 24 hours ahead of time. They will do it for you.

Are the daily "specials" ever posted on the outside menu? Is there any way to know what special item will be served on that day?

This last spring we took a two week cruise to Hawaii. I wasn't aware of anyone doing any excessive hacking/coughing, I was always washing my hands and avoiding touching railings and even took the stairs to avoid the elevators.

On our last port day I was beginning to feel very tired but otherwise, OK. The very next day I began coughing but no respiratory or nasal symptoms; just a very hard, mostly dry, cough. I decided to stay in my cabin for the remainder of the cruise. Missed everything that was going on in the ship, never went to the dining room. My dear husband would bring me soup and a sandwich for mid-day/dinner and that was all I was up for.

The coughing continued and progressed to the point I was certain to be disturbing our neighboring cabin mates, but I had no control over it. It was exhausting and I pretty much slept 18 hours out of each day. Still no rhinovirus symptoms, just coughing and exhaustion.

I do know that I did do the right thing by staying in my cabin. I was actually grateful that I had 6 sea days remaining to do absolutely nothing. Other than asking for clean towels, we allowed our steward to not tidy up the room as I didn't want to take the chance he would get sick if he were to come inside. At least my conscious feels clear and hopefully I didn't pass it on to anyone one the ship.

After 15 days together, in a standard sized cabin, we disembarked and I continued with the cough for another 2 weeks. The interesting thing is that my husband never got sick. I have no idea what it was that I had. I have no idea if I was contagious or if I picked it up from someone on one of the islands or on the ship. Once home, a chest x-ray showed nothing.

Anywhere but Silicon valley. Long drive, horrible traffic to see what? a bunch of buildings and arrogant liberals. There is so much beauty in the city and the Peninsula. the previous suggestions were but a few of the good ones.

What would an "arrogant liberal" even look like. :eek:

I'm surprised the Princess reps at the embarkation port didn't stop the OP before getting on the ship with expired passports. They will generally remind you that your passport is about to expire even if you still have 3-4 months left. Was it because they were only going to Mexico and it doesn't apply as it would to other foreign ports?

 

Also, I live a few miles from the Canadian border. When I drive to a certain area, I have to put my phone into airplane mode, because it seems that the closest tower is in Canada, even though I am driving in the US. If I don't watch I could end up having international and roaming charges if I were to receive a call.

It sometimes works both ways. We are U.S. citizens but at one time we also had a home in BC. We used our US cell phone in BC to contact people back home with no roaming charges. Apparently the service we were using had a stronger signal than the local one everyone else in our area of BC were using. When calling locally, we just used our local land line. Saved us a lot of money.

Husband and I will walk the promenade deck when the weather permits and when we are not in port but it never has been something that I found all that enjoyable. Joggers running around you, the wind often is more aggressive than my own legs can muster, and at every 1/2 turn of the ship we usually encounter a series of people enjoying their cigarettes, where they are entirely allowed, but not exactly much like sea air.

To me, walking around the promenade deck is more like walking around a school track field. The same view...the same view...the same view. One can sit on their balcony, or sit on the promenade deck and see...the same view. it's not going to change wherever you are out at sea.

We're more accustomed to the Grand Class ships as that is pretty much all we have available here on the west coast but a two week B2B last November on the Royal made us loyal to the Royal class ships. We didn't miss the promenade deck as we were in different ports most of the time and got more than enough exercise on shore. I am hopeful that Princess will give us one over here on the west coast once the two new builds come over from Europe.

We also booked Spring 2019 cruises (also Fall 2017/Summer 2018) with 3 for Free. But promotions such as Great Escape & Sun Drenched haven't been good for our cruises.

 

Recently the 3 for Free has easily provided our best net cost which is valid in all types of cabins.

I was under the impression that 3 for Free were only applicable to balcony cabins and above? You say that is not always the case?

I don't think that asking for compensation is unreasonable and a bottle of wine certainly wouldn't do it.

This was a ship-wide occurrence?

I once was in a suite where there was a foul "sewer" type of smell in the bathroom. My husband told me that it was possible that the drain for the tub (separate shower) might have gone dry. This is something that happened once in the tub of our guest bathroom. Here's a reason - drains trap water, creating a seal or barrier that will keep sewer gas out of your home. If one of these drains is rarely used, such as in a guest bathroom, the water creating the protective seal will eventually evaporate. This is a formula for trouble that can allow stinky sewer gas to seep in.

When I ran water into the suite's tub, then let it drain, it never happened again. Not saying that this was the cause but sometimes people don't use the tub in their suites and still only use the shower.

They probably didn't have tickets. Several of those ships came back 2 or 3 days early and so the people probably weren't scheduled to fly out until Sat or Sun.

Wow, the empathy on these boards is underwhelming!

 

Hopefully, none of you will have to experience any of this but then...

 

You just never know!

Really? Where on this thread has anyone's post disappointed you?

They probably didn't have tickets. Several of those ships came back 2 or 3 days early and so the people probably weren't scheduled to fly out until Sat or Sun.

Oh, I wasn't aware that these people were on ships that came back EARLY. That makes sense now. I was thinking they had come back, as scheduled, and yet for some reason couldn't use their own tickets two days before the airport was scheduled to be closed. I'd certainly prefer to stay on the ship, as well. They are built to handle rough weather and can sail out and around most of the worst part of the storms.

Why couldn't these people get out of Miami, yesterday? (Thursday?) Didn't they already have flights scheduled and their tickets paid for? Planes were still going out of FLL and MIA today. Just curious.

Is there a $150 p/p credit for any length of cruise or does it depend on the length of the cruise how much credit is applied?

On a 15 day transit, how many times is it shown? I'm assuming there will be two seatings on a specified night but more than just the one night?

I've rented a car 2x on Kauai through Hawaii Discount car rental. Both times with Dollar. Each time the shuttle picked us both up. Once was near end of Oct and the other was in February. Get off ship early to beat the crowds and have more time sightseeing.

I agree. We booked through the same agency (no money required until you show up at the car rental). The shuttle will take you both to the nearby airport and also drop you off at the pier once you have returned your car where you picked it up at the airport.

You might come across more crowds at the car rental because of the holiday and more travelers coming in from flights so take that into consideration.

Driving up to Waimea Canyon is very do-able in the time-frame you are there on the island and I would highly recommend it. It's our favorite island.

As sknight says, it looks like this is menu-dependent. We have a January cruise on the Grand. Old menu, $25 price. On our April cruise on Crown, it's $29 and the new menu. Just be glad it's not Share with a $39 price tag. Jim

Anybody had experience with flying into and out of Long Beach Airport? I'm thinking about doing that rather than LAX. SWA does it with only a change in Oakland and BAGS FLY FREE (lol). However, on disembarkation, the last flight of the day is 11:25 a.m. Any problems getting that flight?

 

Any information will be appreciated.

I love Long Beach airport. It's small and nothing like the craziness that LAX often has. Flying directly there from SFO is a breeze.

Look at how many sea days are in each cruise. Look at how many days you are actually at the destination. I do not mind sea days but when there are more sea days than port days I look else where. We are doing a Hawaii trip for 11 days all on land. A cruise is 10 days at sea and only 5 days in port.

OP is not thinking of cruising to Hawaii but taking a land vacation.

I would recommend the Alaska cruise as there is so much more to see and experience.