sawtooth

Do these prices include tips? They seem more expensive than I remember from US based cruises.

OP,

Any recommendations on wineries to visit in the Barossa Valley. We will visit there in the spring before joining the Diamond for a SE Asia cruise.

We are also visiting Sydney and Perth but we have been there before on a prior trip. Will you get to Margaret River wine area, very nice. You will love the Great Barrier Reef, but look out for the irukandji jellyfish. We had to wear a full wetsuit when in the water.

Not bad and fits with the others but I personally think for a Chinese-centric ship that "Imperial Princess" would have been a little better.

Imperial Princess!

I like it!

Wonderful report. Thanks for taking us along.

I saw many pictures of terrible flooding in Nice and Cannes so I am not surprised to hear that the part stop was cancelled.

Deborah

On our upcoming cruises we have a lot of OBC, upwards of $700 per cruise from various promotions and our TA, so we will be using some of that for specialty dining and, hopefully, a chef's table night.

We usually go on formal nights. We don't frequent HC. On a 14 day cruise on the Royal, for instance, we would eat at Crown Grill, Sabatini's, Alfredos (no surcharge} and the Crab Shack at least once if not twice. We don't mind the extra charge, it's a nice change of pace

Just looked at a couple of cruises we are on to check prices and yes, the casino rate is gone. I thought it was going to last through the end of the year.

I hear Princess is starting a new sale October 6 so maybe that has something to do with it.

Well, we did enjoy Alfredos on the Royal and their pizza at Sabatinis on the Island.

We next sail the Diamond, so I guess we are out of luck.

But.....maybe they will have the new restaurant.

One can hope.

I know the Diamond does not have an Alfredo's restaurant on board, but I'm wondering if they serve Alfredo's pizza at lunch in Sabatinis?

Anyone know?

I too, really enjoy your travel escapades. You always have great insights, advice and ideas. I will use many of them on our next cruise of 26 days. I know that is childs play for you and G but will be our longest cruise to date.

Smooth sailing!

I've apparently received a casino rate and didn't even know about it.

Just searching one day and priced a booking we already had and WOW saw a really good rate. My TA didn't even know about it.

Rebooked with better, lower rate.

Never received notice, email, nothing that alerted me to it.

Go figure.

Have you submitted the Sharehoder OBC request?

We are not sailing until March 2016 so I have not submitted the form yet. Just don't want any surprises.

I called Princess to ask about the OBC for stock ownership.

I was told that my cruise had a casino rate (never saw an offer and did"t know about it), however, asked and was told that we would still be eligible for the OBC because of our stock holding.

What I read above is that this is not true?????

We also received some OBC from using FCC.

Sure would like to have the definitive answer to this question.

Anyone have experience with this?

Who to call to get the last word and right answer?

We sailed the Star to Alaska from Vancouver and then did the land tour.

First, if you can, sail from Vancouver. That way you get the real Glacier Bay experience, and it is exceptional.

Also, they have many lodges in Alaska. We visited Kenai, Denali, Fairbanks and Anchorage with Princess. It was a very good experience.

On the Star from Santiago to Rio we had a port side cabin. It was lovely viewing glaciers. However, unless pulling into ports, you are quite a distance from land so it's not as if you are in a small speed boat cruising close into shore.

Wonderful cruise, and any cabin on the ship would make me happy.

Gosh we have friends that are on the Ruby, Our neighbors with their 3 adult children and their spouses and 5 grandchildren. Such a tragedy for the family that is going through this medical emergency.

I agree, definitely get the FCD. We got 2 each on a whim last November thinking that we could get a refund if we didn't use them.

Well, it allowed us to book 2 cruises, one from Fremantle and then connecting in Singapore to another for only $100 deposit for each cruise. This gives you flexibility without a large cash outlay for the deposit

Our first cruise was in a Dolphin mini and we had done no research.

We had no problem with it being uncovered. Never felt uncomfortable.

People don't hang around and stare at you from their decks and we never did anything on the deck that we would be ashamed of.

However, there is no covering and so it can get plenty of sun at different times of the day. If that bothers you then seek another cabin.

Looks like you are really enjoying your trip. We loved our Alaska cruise.

Did you plan all ship tours or try to book any on your own?

We have had a mini on the Dolphin deck on all our cruises (6) and the open balcony never bothered us. It's not like people hang over their decks to gawk at you and we have nothing to hide anyway. There is always part of the day when the deck is in the shade.

We do enjoy the space.

Mina,

You can also request the extra credit while on board. We did at the Captain's Circle desk and it was credited right then.

We did the partial on the Island Princess and loved it.

We did do the excursion on a smaller boat through the rest of the locks and to Panama City and the Pacific Ocean.

I highly recommend it. It's interesting and fascinationg, although It can be a long day and get pretty hot.

The first cruise we ever took was on the Star around South America in 2012. We are now going on our sixth cruise with Princess, while not on the Star, we liked it well enough to keep cruising.

The Star is a lovely ship with all the amenities and it may have even been updated since we sailed on her.

Enjoy!

We were in L108 and had no noise issues whatsoever

Our first cruise was in a mini suite and we have never gone to anything else. For us, the inside would be too confining and with no place to sit for both people except the bed, we'd be fighting all the time. Also would feel claustrophobic to me.

I hope you are comfortable and enjoy. Certainly the ability to take more cruises is appealing, but I'd opt for comfort too.