JimmyVWine

Back in 2017, we tendered at a very similar spot. We took the ferry out to Delos as part of a private tour. The ride out was much smoother than yours. Here are a couple of photos that show the calm waters in the background. And we saw some animals, both ancient and current too! Loved Delos.

I think they look at the check-in time. If you check in at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, but passed your test at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, and the rule was 48 hours, do you think that they would not accept the test? I suppose it is possible, but the goal of the cruise line is to get you on the ship, not keep you off of it, especially if you passed the test.

Can you elaborate on what the discrepancy is? I think most people would read "48 hours" and "2 days" to be interchangeable.

It is a little confusing, but the way it works is that you have to register for AARP Rewards in order to see and purchase the gift cards. But registering for “Rewards” is not the same thing as, and does not require joining AARP as a full-fledged, paying member. You can register for Rewards and purchase AARP discounted gift cards without spending a dime on AARP membership. Yes, there will be plenty of pop-ups and encouragements to join AARP. But you absolutely don’t have to do that.

My next cruise is booked in a Caribe Deck bump out extended balcony Mini-Suite on Regal. Visible from the Skyview Bar, theoretically. Couldn’t care less.

But this is exactly why they do it. When others research a cruise and see that it is 90% booked, they will bite at a non-sale fare, fearful that they will lose out if they don’t put down a deposit. Fear is the most effective motivator. When the people who reserved $1 cabins throw those cabins back, they will resell them.

I remember when I first joined these boards and researched whether I really wanted a Dolphin Deck Mini-Suite on our first Princess cruise. All signs pointed to the fact that this was the best choice for our family. But there was so much gnashing of teeth over the open balconies that could be viewed from above. “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” As I glanced up at the many hundred balconies above us, I never once saw anyone wasting their time looking down on us. And even if they had, they would have seen two happy parents enjoying a glass of wine with their wide-eyed daughter enraptured by the endless sea. Their jealousy is not my concern.

Waiting (un)patiently for this!

As Johnny Carson used to say: “ I did not know that.”

Here is a video (possibly outdated) from Princess that explains it. Someone can chime in and advise if this is outdated. My last Medallion App Cruise was in December of 2019.

Open the App and scroll down to the "Travel Companions" and add whomever you would like based on booking numbers. When you are on the ship, you can click on the Ocean Compass portion of the app and there you will find "Locate friends, venues and more." This opens a deck plan that will show the location of your Travel Companions.

I always thought that the term "Crew Incentive" was horribly insulting. Changing from "Incentive" to "Appreciation" flips the script in a good way. "Incentive" makes it sound like the ONLY reason the crew is providing good/great service is because you are dangling $15 a day in front of their collective noses as if to get them to perform a circus trick, whereas "Appreciation" is payment on the back end as a way of saying "thank you" for a job well done. Putting it out front and center that you are only getting good/great service because of the $15 incentive is insulting to all the hard working crew members who provide terrific service because they take pride in their work. How the powers that be did not see this at the outset is rather astounding.

Well, you actually DID pay the gratuities. It was just baked into your fare instead of an additional payment that you had to make later. With most Princess "sales", there is a bit of a shell game of what you get and what you have to pay later. But in the end, it usually comes out very close to the same price. For example, if they throw in the Plus Beverage Package for "free" in a sale that starts today, odds are that the base fare will be higher than it was yesterday by almost the exact amount of the cost of the Plus Package if added separately.

Try the "chat" function on the Princess website if you don't get a response. The website provides links to specific companies whose tests Princess accepts. I don't think this is one of those links. But what I don't know is if the companies they link you to are the ONLY companies they will accept. I kind of doubt it, and many competitor companies will probably be honored as well. But my guess means nothing.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. No other cruise line opted to flatter Princess.

Sure it is. If you read what I said, it was that: "Two tables for two that are next to one another are really a table for four separated by about 10 inches. And three such tables in a row can be really troublesome if you are seated at the one in middle." The picture I showed was of two tables for two, next to one another. The table in the background is a single table for two. I never said that ALL tables for two are configured as two or more together.

The newest builds did away with the bar and the gap between the walk and the deck, and that gap is really where the views to the balconies come from. The new configuration looks like this and provides very little view of the balconies below.

Gives new meaning to the term "nickel and diming the passengers." More like "Ten and Twentying".

Out of curiosity, (not that anyone knows Princess' reasoning), but why wouldn't they market and sell that repositioning cruise? Or at least legs of the cruise. Sounds like it would have been a pretty cool itinerary.

It is neither!!

For what it's worth, this is very much an overblown concern. People who have spent good money on a cruise do not hang out on the Skywalk and gawk down at other peoples' balconies. 99% of the people who take that walk do so in a way that keeps them moving, and has them looking down at the water, not the cabins. They rarely stop midway and stare. But in answer to your question, all of the balconies that are bumped out beneath the Skywalk are partially visible. This is what a person would see from the lookout:

Ahhh. I get it now. I should have figured that out on my own.

But no one said that Princess shirked its responsibility. Of course Princess is ultimately responsible for making things right. But being responsible for making something right is not the same thing as being blameworthy for making something wrong. There is a big difference between: Princess throws luggage into the water and; Princess didn't do enough for us once the luggage was thrown into the water. The discussion on the Disney forum did not make that distinction. Edit to add...too much thread drift here, so no further comment will be made on this. The OP's subject matter is too important to be lost in a discussion of wet luggage.

Respectfully, since this issue appears to be health-driven, your best and only solution is to discuss your concerns with Princess and try to get this ironed out before boarding. No one here can make or bend rules that might have to be bent or broken to accommodate a medical condition, and it isn't fair that you would have to discuss a private medical condition in this forum.

And I was just pointing out that some of that dissatisfaction is misdirected.