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The cost of doing anything has changed so much, just not in the past couple of years, but over time we have had to change vacations (trips/traveling) based on our financial situation. Years ago we would fly somewhere, stay a week, eat out everyday, fly home. Then the cost of airfare, hotel, food went out of wack. We have been cruising every year since 2016, mostly because my husband retired and we could go longer and go as many times as we wanted. Now we have to watch which cruises to go on, how long, how much, etc. Back in the old days (1990's) we flew 2 adults, 4 teenage boys, got two rooms, went to Turtle Bay Hawaii (flight, hotel, food) and the whole thing cost us less than $3,000. Just looked this morning for us to take our kids and grandkids (4 adults, 2 grandkids, 2 rooms) and the cost was $3,000 per person, so $18,000 - not going. If things get out of wack, we will look in a new direction.

We have done most of the cruises to the locations in the world that we had on our bucket list. We no longer want to hassle with flying, so we are now only doing cruises out of LA - our home port area. We have done mexico, california coast 6- 7 times now, so we are doing repeats. We are cruising to get out of the house, no cooking, no cleansing, gambling in the casino. We are not big drinkers, so paying for a packages does not compute. If I buy one or two cases of water $7.00 per case of 12, get wifi for one (we get discount), and buy any coffee, glass a wine as needed, and pay the gratuities before we go. We come out way ahead than buying a package deal. We get offers from the casino for our cabin, and at times get the plus package included, then we are happy. If no plus package, then we go without. Everyone has to make their own decision as to what works for them. We could pay for the plus package, but would rather spend the money in other places - my choice.

our last 7 cruises we took pretty much what is suggested above, never had to use anything (kock on wood) we have a cruise in January, will take the cough drops, and Nyquil. -trim down the list a lot we still take a first aid kit with band aids, wrap, etc. - but it is a small emergency kit

very unusual not to have to pay the taxes or port charges - we have always paid that no matter the cabin category or free play amount. lucky you.

we have a casino cruise for next month and we were sent an email about bidding up for upgrade, which I did put in a bid, have not heard anything yet. Maybe your cruise is too full to have rooms available to upgrade to (?)

I did not receive a Princess postcard, but did get a Celebrity Black Friday postcard yesterday (11-29)

go to Princess website login go to the My Princess under that heading is Home, profile, future cruise credit, and up coming cruises click on future cruise credit there is a heading "on board credit" that will show codes and give dates for when the offers are good for and when they expire, how much casino free play is being offered

We are both on medicare and a supplement. I get the princess vacation protection for the "injury" or "sick" and evacuation only. I could care less about my luggage. Most of our trips are out of LA going up the coast to San Francisco, or to Mexico. Getting back to LA and being treated for an emergency is what I am concerned about. We buy insurance and pay dearly every year for home insurance (have filed one claim in 40 years), car insurance (no claims), earthquake insurance (no claims) and umbrella policy to cover for the max amount. Insurance is something you need, but hopefully will never need to make a claim. Cost of living and traveling.

We have only been on Celebrity and Princess cruises. In the past five years it has been Princess only as Celebrity does not go out of LA yesterday we got a postcard flyer from Royal Caribbean International "Complimentary balcony stateroom for two" it is for the casino royale - which i guess is their casino company they gave us a choice of cruises out of Miami, tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, Galveston, Baltimore and LA the LA is the only we would consider, but it is for a 4 night cruise only. No packages included.

we have in the past, but not since this new bidding system has come into effect. We have a bid in for January 2023 cruise - have not heard anything. If we don't get it, I will go to guest services. we could go from a balcony to a mini suite for $215 total don't think you can do that anymore

I used magnetic hooks on the walls.

I have not looked for an ATM so I can not tell you if there is one. If I need cash, you can go to the casino cage, but you will be charged for the money. You could sign in on a slot machine, charge $500 to your cabin (no charges), then gamble a bit, then go to the cage and cash out.

Our first cruise with Princess was booked through an offer from the local casino. It was for a free cabin and some casino free play. We play the slots and we play on a budget. At the end of every cruise, we receive a letter that gives us a free play for the next cruise, or free cabin and free play - You must book within 45 days and take your cruise within 7 months. We have yet used these offers, because after we get home, we get emails that give us better offers or flyers mailed to us We have been on 12 cruises - all casino offers and we have three booked for 2023 Some offers have many cruises to chose from, others are very limited. Some are casino VIP and others are tournament play (black jack tournament or slot tournament). Last year we signed up for the black jack tournament and both my husband and I each received $600 free play and the end of the tournament (I have never played black jack before)

we had a mini suite that was two decks below the sky walk. We went up to the sky walk and no one can see in your cabin through the darken sliding doors. You can be seen if you are on the balcony, but so what. I would go out and sit and read my book and it was not a problem having people walking above me.

As with anything you are going to buy - shop around. Go directly to the airline website and do a mock booking - go to a travel site and do a booking and then do the EZair and see who has the best prices. If pricing is close, I will book with EZair as I am covered with the princess vacation protection plan. Once I am booked, I continue to check on my cruise booking and my flights. I go to the airline site to check my flight booking, not princess. You need to be responsible for your booking, hotel, flights - changes can occur and they can be fixed if you catch it early.

We have two 21" bags - we divide up our clothes, each putting some in each bag just in case one is lost. I then pack an 18" bag that contains the laptop computer, medication, and other necessary items and this bag is not checked in. We have been on 7 cruises in the past 10 months and each time I try to eliminate clothing that I won't use. We only go to the dining room 3 times during a 7 night cruise, so why pack 3 tops so no one will remember what I wore - who cares Because of covid I was packing a lot of medication "just in case" - no more of that. Getting my flu shot and 3 booster today, so we will be ready for our January cruise.

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I won't purchase the princess plus package, because we are not alcohol drinkers I was always trying to justify the price. My brother had a time share in Cabo for years and it finally ended. He is now going to Cabo and staying with friends. The Resort offers a food/beverage all you can eat and the cost is $210 a day per person. Yes $210 who can eat and drink that much to justify that ??

cabin is free, but everyone has to pay the port fees and taxes. On our cruise it is $125 each or $250. We pay a $200 non refundable deposit each (which is given back to us once we get on board as OBC)- so to book a balcony cabin, with princess plus pakcage and casino free play of $1,000 - we pay $650 upfront. Once on board we have $1,000 casino freeplay, and $400 OBC. Not totally free, but one hell of a deal - I didn't say the cruise was free, said our cabin was free.

we had 4 options club mini $280pp minimum bid mini suite $150pp minimum bid premium deluxe balcony $55pp min bid - which I put in an offer of $75pp deluxe balcony $30pp min bid we are on a casino offer cruise - free balcony, so we paid nothing for our cabin in the past when ships were sailing 50% full, we went to guest services and paid $150 to $225 to go from balcony to mini suite. Now that things are getting back to full capacity the price has gone up

Suggestion on reporting your upgrade If you would let us know how much you paid for your upgrade. We currently have an upgrade regular Balcony to a Premium Deluxe Balcony our bid is $75 pp or $150 total. The cost to upgrade to mini suite was more than what we wanted to get a bathtub, so we decided to try the Premium. our cruise is not until Jan 7th so I don't expect to have an answer or response until end of Dec.\ when I called princess to see what it would cost to upgrade Balcony to mini I was quoted $750 total

How long is your cruise - can you stand to be in your cabin or are you do you want something bigger. personally, the $390 pp for a mini is very high - I would not pay that - just me I currently have a regular balcony and I bid $150 total for a Premium Deluxe Balcony, which gives us a "couch"- more like a loveseat, but we don't like sitting on the bed all the time when reading. If our bid is not accepted, we will live with what we have - it's only 7 days

Either the Majestic in March or the Discovery in April. Can't remember which

We were not happy with the service or the meal. But, it was just after the cruises started up and our ship was 50% occupancy and the service help was lackin. We had to wait 15 minutes to order, we waited 45 minutes to get our hamburger, which was not cooked to our order. I did not like the hamburger and we cancelled our dessert and left. For the price I will not go back

We have booked EZair 3 times. 1. monitor your flights on the airline website daily, weekly, etc and make sure that your email is attached to your reservation, so that you will receive emails if your flights are changed. The flights are changed by the airline computer, not EZair. 2. If you get a notice, and it is not acceptable - call the airline directly and get them to change it. When I booked our flights to NYC I picked our flights to go through Dallas - did not want to go through Chicago. Later down the road I received an email that our flights were changed and I did not like the change. I went on American Airline website, found other flights I liked better, called American and we were switched - no problem.