EMS8

Well, we have canceled this cruise and sadly are ending our relationship with what was once a great travel agency. I re-booked the cruise this afternoon and saved $1510. Too bad this agency couldn't have done this for me, eight months ago they would have!

Hank,

I truly appreciate the information you provide here at Cruise Critic. I may not always agree with you, but I do like that you nearly always shoot straight and too the point, trying to help people.

I'm afraid I don't have the patience to do all of the comparison shopping that you do. I was perfectly happy with my TA until her untimely death. I also received excellent service and felt I always got a fair price, obc and frequently our gratuities paid for. Had I comparison shopped, maybe I could have found better prices.

I'm not certain what my DW and I will do now when it comes to booking cruise travel.

Hank and Tony,

I wish I was sailing with both of you soon because I'm going to be needing a new TA real quick. How about coming with us on Royal Princess March 20, 2018 sailing?

Mike

Geo, I don't know. I hope someone here with more knowledge about this can help me.

Thin, I know I could but it is a somewhat formal process, I believe.

Coral, I'm not the only one with problems. You can go to the Celebrity board and view the thread "transferring a reservation from a TA" and see some of the same complaints I have.

Thanks to all of you for the quick replies and straightforward information. To clarify, we are 76 days out from final payment due, 155 days out from sailing.

To provide some more info: We have been with this TA for over 14 years. The problem began when the owner died (this agency is in Arkansas and Sky is in the name) and her spouse and others took over the agency. We NEVER had a complaint about this agency in the previous 14+ years. This issue of a price drop would have been taken care of by Lori, I wouldn't have even had to ask! This ISN'T the same agency it was eight months ago and I doubt we will continue to use them.

We are not in "love" with the stateroom (it's a D4 aft premium balcony) we would like to keep it but others are available.

When we booked, this wasn't a non-refundable deposit situation.

The only thing we will lose is our Princess paid gratuities. This was the promotion when we booked.

We did use a current FCD, and still have another we can use with a new booking.

Hank, I have let the agency know. All I'm getting is excuses and unfulfilled promises to call me back. I started this process to get a price reduction on September 29th. I am ready to cancel and rebook on Princess website myself!

Has anyone cancelled a booked cruise and rebooked the same cruise at a drastically lower price? We currently have a cruise booked on Royal Princess and are more than 150 days out from final payment. The price for our stateroom has dropped more than $1500.00.

I had been trying to get our TA to see if we could take advantage of a price drop of $990.00 several weeks ago and keep getting the run around (the agency is in a state of chaos) and can't get a confirmed answer. I was told more than two weeks ago we could get a price drop of $970. I'm wondering if it would be easier to cancel the cruise and rebook at the much lower price. We also used a FCC, can we get that recredited to our account? Any info would help. This is only our third cruise with Princess in the last two years.

I normally book through this agency also. I have 4 cruises booked with them for Dec. 2017 and March 2019. I have yet to receive my paid invoice for my December cruise but I do know that my credit card was billed by Celebrity and my reservation is in Celebrity's system. I have another cruise that needs to be paid by Dec of this year and it bothers me that I can't get to speak with anyone. This used to be a great agency. I am sure Lori is rolling over in her grave. I too would like to know how you made out with your problem as I would love to switch also.

 

Pat,

I'm having the same problems with this agency also. I've been a customer for over 14 years and have never, ever had a problem previously. I agree too, Lori has to be rolling over in her grave seeing what is happening to her company. I can't get them to respond to emails or phone messages and I'm about ready to take my current reservations to the cruise line.

I just had a look and the premium beverage package has disappeared from my cruise personalizer . Has this happened to anyone else.

 

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Yes, it has also disappeared from our cruise personalizer. It was there last week.

No. Won't purchase it, especially with the price increase. Not a value anymore.

We have D410 on an upcoming Regal cruise. It's a Deluxe Balcony at the opposite end of the hump from D424...the balcony should be a mirror image of yours. We chose the cabin specifically for the oversized balcony and the location.

 

We also like big aft balconies, and the ones on Baja and Dolphin are half covered. For our upcoming cruise We decided since there's the potential for weather/rough seas (Atlantic in October), mid-ship was best.

Cindy,

If the brochure pictures are at least somewhat accurate, D410 should be at least 65 sq ft.

Thank you! Just personal preference, I would like to be angled forward, if we don't get blown away!

And, yes, like these standard balconies, these Princess Bathrooms are beyond TINY! And, that shower....

 

Hey, can you remember if the bed in that room was on the left wall, also facing 'forward'?

It seems like the bed was on the right side as you come into the stateroom.

Hey, EMS8, That cabin seems ideal! (if we decide to pay a little more for that location)

Was wind an issue on that balcony?

Did it seem relatively private, from the Promenade, compared to the Emerald Deck balconies, where it would seen like people always out there, walking by, etc...

The wind was no issue at all and privacy no issue either. However, we don't usually sit out on our balcony in the buff! We were in the Caribbean and spent a lot of time on that balcony. The only things I didn't like about that stateroom was the small bathroom (when you can sit on the toilet and put your hand FLAT on the door, that is a small bathroom) and the lack of a couch. We came to Princess from Celebrity and all balcony staterooms on Celebrity ships have a couch. Otherwise, it was a great stateroom choice and location for our first Princess cruise.

Even the "hump" balconies on the Royal are tiny. I was shocked, thinking it would be more like a Caribe balcony on the grand class ships. Three of us could barely fit. Privacy wasn't an issue, though, at least on the Caribe deck.

I wouldn't exactly call 65 square feet a tiny balcony.

Unless you book one of the standard balconies on the "hump." We were in D424 on Royal and the balcony was more than 65 square feet. We could have had 4 to 6 persons on the balcony with plenty of room.

I have to second Taku fishery in Juneau. They are located right where most of the ships dock and they will ship their products to your home or any other address. We have been buying salmon and halibut from them for over 10 years.

You should be arriving in Seward around noon to 1 pm.

We were on the 1/9/17 sailing and we docked in Havensight.

We liked the downtown Marriott. It was easy walking distance to Glacier Brew House and Humpy's, and a couple of blocks to great coffee. You would need a taxi to the airport.

Not Your Fathers Rootbeer is still, hands down, the best of all the alcoholic root beers. And still pretty pricey.

We were on a Celebrity cruise tour but it will be the same as your RCCL cruise tour. We did a 5 night cruise tour in July 2015.

It seems like we left Denali sometime between 7 and 8 am

I think we arrived in ANC around 11:00 am

Our stop was about 2 to 3 hours

We basically were dropped off downtown and then came back to the same location to board the bus for departure to Girdwood/Alyeska.

Hope this info helps. Have a fantastic cruise tour and cruise.

And I can confirm that all beverage packages are available for the ocean medallion cruises. We are on Royal Princess in March 2018 and now all beverage packages are available for pre-purchase.

mdgary,

Yes, on the medallion cruise. We'll be on Royal Princess in March of next year.

Has anyone noticed that AIBP does not show up now in the cruise personalizer beverage choices? I wonder why it seems to have been removed.

You can't get good Cuban cigars in either place. First run Cuban cigars go to Europe and Asia, second run go to Canada, third run goes to Mexico and Caribbean. You still pay high prices for last run cigars. Why pay high prices for bad cigars?

We feel the same way. My DW and I have been loyal Celebrity cruisers for nearly 20 years. We took our first Princess cruise in March of this year on Royal Princess and liked it so much, we are going back in January. The nicest ship we've ever sailed on, certainly better coffee in the MDR than on any Celebrity cruise we've ever taken. Food in the MDR was better than Celebrity since the days of Michel Roux. Food on Celebrity has gone drastically down hill IMHO since Mr Roux left.