36 minutes ago, wallyj said:

I have been sailing with Princess for over 20 years and have become acquainted with many former Captain Circle hosts and Future cruise consultants. They will confirm this information if you ask them directly they are O.N.E. Employees contracted by Princess.

 

The Future cruise packages are available to see on board as posted and there have been previous threads regarding them and the company O.N.E.

It is known most cruise lines contract out the Spa, Casino, Photo and Shops. A few will keep in house, I was told MSC still controls most of these venues instead of contracting out.

 

Are you doubting my information?

Absolutely, I doubt all information until I investigate and see the sources.  I did see the advertisement on the Sapphire in November while passing by the Future Cruise desk. 

You notice, I didn't say you were wrong, but I've learned not all information shared in print is true so I need more information before I make up my mind.

I've had little interaction with Future Cruise consultants as I am a TA.  I know none by name.  In 64 cruises, I've only booked one while onboard with consultant.

I'm glad you have cruised over 20 years, you got me beat.  I only started in 2004.

On 2/9/2024 at 12:23 PM, wallyj said:

Yes, Future cruises and Loyalty on Princess ships are in reality O.N.E. employees. Some previous Princess future cruise agents did decide to become O.N.E. Employees so you may encounter a previously knowledgeable agent/counselor. I believe the changeover was around 1/1/2023. Future cruise is now handled by a contracted third party like the Casino, Spa, Photo, and I think the Shops on Board, and wear Princess badges. I believe Effy, rents the space and they work for Effy, but again will wear a Princess badge.

Could you please supply a source for your information?

On 9/28/2022 at 6:47 AM, travelin.sisters said:

two days in Cabo San Lucas

 

          I don’t know that I have ever had an afternoon port arrival, but it was enjoyable. Sailing mostly out of the port of LA we have been to Cabo many times, but it was interesting to see the landscape as we arrived. Sailing down along the point of Baja I got to see more than I ever had on an excursion.

          I was glad we have a port side balcony as my BIL was sitting out there watching the coast & told us he saw whales. There was a very active group of whales & dolphins or porpoises breaching, spouting & playing quite close to the ship. They were close enough to enjoy without binoculars but unfortunately not close enough for pictures with my cell phone.

          We very slowly made our way to our anchorage & then they started prepping for tendering services & shore excursions. There was the usual confusion of a tender port. Being with a Princess excursion, we had to wait in the Princess Theater until they called our group & then head to the tenders.

Getting on the tenders was probably the roughest I have experienced—maybe Santa Barbara a number of years ago was as bad). Even though our voyage has been extremely calm, getting on the tenders was precarious. There was both the normal up & down of the two vessels but added to that were sudden, unpredictable sideways jerks. After they packed our tender with as many people as could possibly fit including some standing with their luggage, we were finally able to leave from the ship, while we were moving there was some relief from the heat, but soon we had to stop & wait for our turn to dock & disembark our thunder. It was very hot, humid & crowded (I definitely prefer Cabo in January). Off we went to find our guide & follow along to the start of our excursion.

For our tour (Cabo by Land & Sea), there were three different tours that started with the same boat tour followed by different land excursions. Strangely the Shore Excursion staff sent 2 of the groups to the tenders first, then a bunch of other groups & then maybe ½ hour later our group. This meant that the two groups waited for a very long time for us to arrive & the tour to begin & also that by the time we got there, there was no seating left. Finally, one of the tour guides gave up her spot for us. The boat tour was about 45 minutes & we went out to see the arch & various sites, they had a very interesting ecological narration by Jean-Michel Cousteau, which I could only hear when I got up to take photos. We were unable to hear it from our seats which was sad. I really think they squeezed too many tours on the boat for it to be the experience we expected. They served soda, beer & mixed drinks while we cruised & a shot of tequila at the end for those who wanted it.

Next was the land part of the tour. We walked to a very comfortable bus with really good AC, which was a necessity. Our first stop was the glass factory where they make items out of recycled glass. We saw a demonstration where they made a Mexican turtle drinking tequila & then had time to shop. The building was gorgeous with glass walls, floor & ceiling.

Next, we went to a restaurant called Sunset Mona Lisa, where they gave us another beverage (beer, soda or water) on their patio & we were able to enjoy beautiful views looking back toward the port & our ship (there was also a Carnival ship in port). Our driver, Jesus, was very good at getting us up the winding dirt road to the restaurant & back out.

          Our last stop was San Jose del Cabo the early mission town. Our guide Israel shared lots of historical & ecological info during the 30-minute ride. By this time many of us were hot & tired & ready to go back to the ship & tried to convince our guide that we did not need a whole hour there. Our late start already had us running very late, but he insisted that he had to give us all that we paid for. After explaining the layout of the town & where our bus would return for us, he took those who were willing to see the mission church. Then we had time to shop or find a bench in the shade to sit & wait. Just before 6:30 when the but would pick us up, for armed policemen arrived. Fortunately, they were they to ceremonially lower the giant Mexican flag & take it to the municipal building. It was fascinating to watch them lower, roll & carry this flag that took 5 men.

          Finally, we were back in our wonderfully cool bus for the ride back to the pier. Because we were so late returning, we were able to see a beautiful sunset. One disappointing thing was they took us back to the bus parking lot & sent us off to the tender pier in the approaching darkness with only vague directions to go straight, turn left & you will see it. There was also a right turn & I still didn’t see it, but fortunately some of our group either did or remembered better so we all followed along & were shortly back in a tender & on or way to the Sapphire. Getting off the tender was still very rough but easier than boarding.

We hurried to our dining room an hour or more late (we had moved our reservations to 7 because the tour was due to finish at 6:30 & that should have been easy, but it was at least 8 when we got there). The hostess said no you are not too late I have saved your table for you because I knew you would be here. Dinner was delicious, but mostly we wanted a shower & to collapse into bed after a hot, humid but interesting day.

          The second day in Cabo, we decided not to go ashore. Having been here or several previous cruises, there was nothing we really wanted to see & we certainly don’t need more souvenirs. If it had been a walk off docking instead of needing to take a tender, we might have gone out for a bit, but it didn’t seem worth facing the tenders not to mention the heat.

          We ate, I visited a few bars in my quest to find some diet coke that doesn’t taste flat, visited with a few people we met around the ship & enjoyed a nice nap. Oh & I fought, off & on, with getting the internet to download my photos from my phone & post to this LIVE. I wish the internet was as adequate as it was on the Grand or Majestic in January or even as good as it was before Medallion net, but I will keep fighting with it, although photos may not get posted until I get back home…we will see what happens.  

          Some last things from today. The leaking in the hallway & the room across the hall got fixed toady. I told Conrado, our cabin steward, that now I would not be able to tell where our room was from way down the hall without the red bucket. He thought about that for a minute & then laughed & laughed. He also came & replaced the door to our safe so that it now works.

The Princess crew all works so hard. They are doing a lot of training of new staff on this cruise, I definitely see it in the dining room as the managers are all out helping, delivering meals, changing table settings, checking on the staff & then last night as we were among the last few diners, doing lots of practice with the newer staff. I met a guy in the liquor store who didn’t know anything about liquor & had only been with Princess for 30 days but was working hard to learn. The Future Cruise person is also brand new, ours was the first booking she had done (with lots of help from her trainer). To me, it mostly feels easy to be patient with people who are working so hard to learn new jobs & still be friendly (usually in a language that is not their own) & helpful…every cruise I think, no matter what else happens, the Princess staff is superb.

 

       

My posts in this LIVE:

pre-cruise musing—post 1

photos of berth 46—post 2

ready to go—post 23

onboard & ready to report—post 60

embarkation day—post 67

embarkation photos—post 68

embarkation lunch photos—post 70 & 72

exploring the ship—post 80

ship photos—posts 82, 84, 88, 89, 100 & 101

day 2—at sea—post 102

day 2 photos—posts 109, 110, 111 & 112

answers to questions—post 123

Thanks for the updates.

You said you had to look around to find not flat diet Coke.  We are on the next 29 days and would like to know where you found it?

Thanks again.

8 hours ago, vikkiw said:

Thank you for all the great info and pictures of your tip. Would anyone be able to let me know what the cost is for self-service laundry on the Grand? Will be on the April 4 cruise and planning my packing list. 

Thank you in advance!

Someone posted that there were free tokens there because the laundry wasn't converted to medallion yet.  I don't know this for sure.

18 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Medallion Net:  I am only rehashing what has already been described by many @Steelers36.

 

1.  Pre-purhase for $10 a day/one device with 50% OBC (refundable/debatable).  Net:  $5/day

 

2.  Purchase on first day for $15 a day/one device with 50% off for Elite/Platinum.  Net:  $7.50 a day.

 

3.  There is also a multiple device plan.

This was exactly the pricing (within a penny) on the Majestic in Oct/Nov.  We pre-purchased for one device and it was $5 a day after half back.  I went to internet manager and asked if I had waited to buy on board the first day and he said $14.98 and would get back half as OBC.  I promptly pre-paid for 1/19/22 on the Grand and am expecting half back in OBC when I board.

31 minutes ago, Gert2011 said:

Where is M&G at 10?

It is actually at 11 at Conservatory.

17 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

Sorry for the lack of updates on my end, trying to post here has been impossible until now.

 

Check-in could have gone smoother, but they finally resolved our credit card issue. I stopped at guest services to ask for any available upgrades, and we went from being in an inside cabin to a mid-ship mini suite. YAY!!!! 

There are just under 1800 pax on board.

Here I am celebrating being on board after nearly 2 years.

 

Last night we ate at the Crown Grill, which was just ok. We’ll give them another chance later in the week.

 

 

The crew has been wonderful, and even with masks on, you can tell they are smiling.

Our meet & greet is at 10am, and I’m hosting a slot pull at 3pm. We tried our luck in the casino  last night, and didn’t do so well, however one woman hit a jackpot for slightly over $12k. She was much calmer than one would expect.

 

Where is M&G at 10?

3 hours ago, SedonaJoel said:

You need to charge a portion of the charge to each of the cards to get coverage on that specific card.

Thank you.  I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, not reserve.  I will check into it.

On 6/7/2020 at 12:33 PM, SedonaJoel said:

 

There are at least two types of insurance discussed:  Trip medical and Trip cancellation/interruption coverage.  We have a policy for trip medical from geoblueinsurance.com - the policy is called "Trekker" and covers all trips taken within one year of the policy issuance.  The cost is the same per year for two people up to age 84.  The cost in the USA is $235/yr total for two people.

 

It provides $50,000 medical, $100,000 emergency evacuation and $2500 for medication (it even covers dental).  We've had the policy for over 5 years and have used it at least 5 times and have been paid in full every time (less a $50 annual deductible).  We've been very happy with the company (it's Blue Cross).

 

We use the Chase Sapphire Reserve card to book all of our travel.  They gave us $20,000 per trip trip cancellation insurance.  Both my wife and I have separate accounts and that gives us a total of $40,000 insurance.  We also have the Chase Ink Preferred card adding $5000 more coverage.  We've used the insurance 4 times - once for an Antarctic cruise that cost $45,000.  

 

Joel

Hi Joel and or Steve.

Do you have to pay the full costs of the trip with you CSR card or just some of it with the card to have the coverage as you said you have a Ink Preferred card adding $5K more coverage so I assume you have to charge some of the trip to both cards?

Merle

I have insured several trips with Steve and as his name says, he is trustworthy.  Always gives a clear answer.  Luckily we have never had to have any claims.

Thank you Steve for providing clear and accurate answers.

Merle

On 12/4/2018 at 7:54 PM, llandaff said:

Thanks!

I'll give it a try. 🙂

 

I did four last year but can't get one to work this year.

Hi All.

I bought insurance through Travel Guard for a trip originally in Sep-Oct 2018 for 27 days for two b to b cruises back in May. Finally was able to purchase flights and we decided we would cancel the 1st of the back to back cruises which shortened our trip to 14 days. I went to their website and modified our trip from 27 to 14 days, keeping the $ amount of insurance the same and they sent an email saying we owed $2.76.

I emailed back trying to get a logical answer why, they didn't have one. So I emailed back asking;

So if you actually start your travel on a later date than you insured for and ended your travel before the date you insured for, you wouldn't be covered?

Their response;

To answer your question, in the event where you would need to file a claim, we will ask for documentation regarding your trip. If there are discrepancies with the information provided compared to the information we have on file for your policy, it could result in issues regarding your claim or even a denial of the claim.

Would you like us to charge the card on file for the $2.76?

I responded back, yes, charge my card for $2.76.

But the question still lingers, Why you wouldn't be covered if you are traveling during the time frame of the original contract?????????????????

Any ideas you very smart people?

An extra $2.76 isn't a big deal, but we have often bought a cruise quite a few months before the cruise and we have added a couple days before the cruise and after since we didn't have air fare purchased yet and didn't know the exact days of the length of our trip. I've never modified a trip before after we got it finalized even though the exact leaving time and coming home time wasn't correct but within the insured time frame.

BUT, I've never had a claim in 42 cruises and this is the first cruise that we have canceled and I hope to never have a claim.

We disembarked from the Reflection last month on a Friday, October 20, and had made arrangements for a private driver to pick us up at the ship at 7:00 am. We took our luggage of the ship with us. We were at the airport before 8:00 am, and had no problems making a 11:15 am flight on Delta back to the states. Once we arrived at the airport, it took us about 45 minutes to check in, go through the security and passport controls, and walk to the gate.

Thanks so much for you feedback of your recent trip. That helps lots.

Could you tell me who you used for private transfer please?

Thank you for the well wishes. We are traveling in November so it should be "low" season. We are also leaving Saturday morning so hopefully the traffic will be a breeze, especially that early in the morning. We are planning to do carry ons only so that may save time by skipping ticket counter (our recent trip to Greece, the line was lllooonnnggg but since we only did carry ons, we went through everything in literally 15 minutes). Does FCO have mobile boarding passes? We tried the mobile boarding pass in Athens only to have them sit us in a corner near the gate until an American airlines employee arrived to print us off a paper boarding pass.

 

Yes, we maybe chancing it but I do feel like we will make it easily assuming we can get to the airport around 8 AM.

How did your transportation work out. We have a 11:15 flight from FCO back to the states in Oct 2018 and am trying to figure out how this is going to work out. Our flights were purchased through Choice Air so I figured 11:15 is very doable.

We have already decided to hire a private service that can pick us up at the ship and do self disembarkation as soon as we can get off the ship.

Thanks in advance.

Because many of the travel insurance policies REQUIRE you to insure the entire amount of your travel to be eligible for pre-existing coverage.

If during the claims process it is determined that not all costs were covered, the policy is void.

 

Insurance companies have been at this for over 100 years. They know the tricks.

Thanks for the response.

I usually purchase through Travel Guard with the Costco plan. My policy says:

Pre-Existing Medical Condition Exclusion Waiver.

The Company will waive the pre-existing medical condition exclusion if the following conditions are met:

1. This plan is purchased within 21 days of Initial Trip Payment;

2. The amount of coverage purchased equals all prepaid, nonrefundable payments or deposits applicable to the trip at the time of purchase and the costs of any subsequent arrangements added to the same trip are insured within 21 days of the date of payment or deposit for any subsequent trip arrangements;

3. All insured's are medically able to travel when this plan cost is paid;

4. The Trip Cost does not exceed $100000 per person (only applicable to trip cancellation/interruption)

Received an email yesterday from Princess advertising their Gift cards. If you buy a $500 or more give card, you get a free $25 gift card that expires 2/28/18. I bought one, wife bought one and then I called our TA and had the four e-gift cards applied to our balance for a cruise final payment is due 12/31/17.

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-gifts-celebrations/overview/gift-cards/?cid=brand_email_info_internal_giftcard_other_pf7ms124_171121_holiday

TA told me to hold on to my gift cards until after the cruise and that got me to thinking that the $500 gift cards would be refundable if we canceled the cruise.

So my question is, why wouldn't it be a good idea to buy gift cards for a cruise and then insure the non-refundable part of the cruise at like $500 to get the pre-existing medical coverage?

Of course, insure within the time limit period required by insurance.

What am I missing on this idea?

• Will GeoBlue Trekker cover me inside the U.S.?
  
  • No. The GeoBlue Trekker plans are designed to cover outside the United States only.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Thanks

Hi.

I wasn't aware that it was ONLY for travel abroad. I just pulled this from their website.

GeoBlue Travels with You

It’s a worldwide, all-access pass to an exclusive level of care. Use your mobile device to quickly and conveniently connect to quality care across the globe for anything from emergency needs, to filling a simple prescription, to translating your symptoms, to finding the right doctor at home or abroad.

I use Travel Guard for insurance because they partner with Costco. The insurance is a premium plan' date=' usually at a very good price. When requesting a quote, though,Travel Guard requires filling in the destination.

I'm not sure what to list for destination on a repositioning cruise.[/quote']

I also have insured through Travel Gaurd with the Costco extra coverage for 21 cruises. I called and asked which country to use and was told any country that we visit. That was about 3 years ago. Since then I always put in all the countries one at a time looking at quotes and then choose the cheapest.

On a 28 day South Pacific cruise it was as much as $200 difference in the insurance cost choosing the cheapest country.

We just got back from a 15 day TA and it was over $100 difference.

Thanks for the info. Can you tell us the name of the party band?

Interior are back again today. 14 interiors to choose from in the very front of the ship for $199 early this morning, still 9 rooms to choose from now. $688 for a 15 day cruise plus tips.

Too bad we can't share with someone who didn't get the code. Sorry.

Thrilled for you. We have cruised with you before.

Enjoy.

Ursula

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hi Ursula, are you going on this cruise?

i am so jealous of you who got the email!

is this one of the 'share the savings' deals? if so, anyone want to share?

Would gladly share cndgrl but you had to get the email plus they are long sold out of this deal. Before I was able to get through to my TA, I signed into Princess to see what cabins were available and it showed me the discounted prices on interior and balcony by just my login, not having to enter any code. Oceanview was like $1200 per person.

I had to give the code to my TA and when she entered it she could see the casino offer prices but then she had to call princess to confirm and by that time all the available rooms to pick from were gone so got the guarantee.

We had just dropped our daughter off at airport and wife went in to help her so I went and parked and checked my email. There it was. I had to read it 3 times before I could believe it. Email arrived at 10:48 Mountain time. Wife came out about 5 minutes later, I showed her and we didn’t even leave the parking lot and called our TA.

We had quite a hold time getting our TA so I surfed Princess’s site for rooms while wife surfed for flights. We almost always book interior cabins and our favorite is Deck 14, rear. That is where I first looked and there were 8 cabins to choose from. I clicked on balconies back there and there were approximately 12-15 I would say. We decided for $400 more we would do a balcony. (Actually only $350 more when we used our future cruise credits and the extra $50 you get for booking Balconies over interior)

By the time the TA answered and got ahold of Princess, the balcony cabins in the eligible categories were sold down to guarantee. We got a BE guarantee. Hope it is at the rear.

Cheapest flights my wife could see were $1358 from Boise to LHR one way only. So we had the TA check Princess EZ air and about fell out of the car when they quoted $500.98 each round trip from Boise. Heck, no flights are cheap out of Boise. We jumped all over that, first time using Princess air reservations.

We bought Princess transfers from LHR to Southampton. Total price for 15 day cruise in a balcony, port fees/taxes, transfers, airfare $2206 from Boise. Cheapest cruise we have ever been on. With $525 OBC, we can pay the gratuities and have money left over.

I just counted rooms. There are 115 interior cabins to choose from, 29 Ocean view, 90 balcony rooms you can book left, 48 minis left and 3 full suites.

I've got a good friend who has over 80-90 cruises on Princess. I asked him about this and his reply was "Wish it was true!!! That would add up a lot for me, but I've never heard of such a thing.Please let me know if you find out otherwise." so I'm asking you if you've ever received such an OBC, or do you have a reference for your statement or is this just something you've been told by someone?

 

 

Tom

It is true. We have 32 Princess cruises. Last cruise I got $50 and the 11 cruises before that I got $25. Shows up on your Stateroom account as "Gift Credit". Used to show as Loyalty credit if I remember correctly. Some times we get a notification card in the room at the start and sometimes no. They use to have it on a web site that I have saved but they have taken that down. I do have a copy of what the site said that I printed on 8/29/15.

The copy says, "Onboard credit per household after completion of 20 cruise credits: $25 for 20-30 cruise credits, $50 for 31-40 cruise credits, $75 for 41-50 cruise credits, $100 for 51+ cruise credits." So it comes after your 20th for 11 cruises and increases after your 31st and every 10 cruises after that up to 51.

As for the color of the carpet being different, We have been on two ships where they were replacing hall carpet and they had a new pattern that was the same on both sides. I believe the last ship that we saw that on was the Island and I think it was deck 10 but that was a year ago. I can't remember the other ship we saw that on. The Ruby still had different colors in January on all decks.