datone

2 minutes ago, Expat Cruise said:

yes first port in Vietnam and your last port in Vietnam what are they?

On Sapphire Princess entering through Nha Trang on 6 February and exiting through Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My) on 7 February.

On 1/14/2020 at 7:06 PM, rose4747 said:

Cool cruiser, you are so right and i am so over princess Cruises and i have not even stepped foot on their boat yet. Like the above I have now just seen this line 'If you obtain the visa on your own it cannot be an electronic visa (eVisa)' added to my cruise personalizer as well. I took your advice and we all have e-visa's and have no intention of paying out anymore.  

From what I can gather that sentence "if you obtain the visa on your own etc. etc. was added to the cruise personaliser sometime between 2 January and 14 January.   My travel agent printed off my travel summary and important notices and sent it to me and this was dated 2 January.   That sentence was not mentioned in the notice about the Vietnam Visa.   I checked my cruise personaliser on 14 January and it is now there.   So I ring Princess yesterday (afternoon of 15 January in Australia) to find out why they will not accept my e-visa which was granted on 6 January and was told the rules had changed.   When I pressed them for more information on this they were vague about when and who.   I was told I would now have to get one through the ship.   I had waited to apply for my husband's e-visa until mine was granted and then last night (evening of 15 January in Australia) and just a few hours after I spoke to Princess, his was granted.   So it doesn't seem as if the Vietnam Government has changed the rules.   I would hope they are not granting visas which cannot be used.   Cannot really see them doing this.   So is it Princess then who have changed the rules?   If so, I don't know how they can refuse to let you use a current and valid e-visa.   Not sure what to do here because they have our credit card number and will probably just charge us for another one each.  I really don't want to pay US $110 for 2 more visas when we already have ones that are perfectly legal and valid.

I have just looked at my personaliser for my upcoming Princess cruise and whilst the paperwork sent from the travel agent does not say anything if you obtain a visa on your own it cannot be an electronic visa (evisa), this wording has now appeared in my personaliser also.   Since I obtained my e-visa last week, I have no intention of paying and obtaining another through Princess.   Will be interesting to see what happens when I challenge this on board.

Last minute one here - Pacific Explorer 14 nights Sydney to Singapore departing 28 January 2020 from $795 per person.

This is the view from E409 on the Majestic Princess which I believe is a sister ship to Sky Princess.

What is the coupon book - never seen one and been on over 15 Princess cruises - all non-medallion.   Going on Sapphire next month - do they have them?

I hear you Kate 59.   This is the one bugbear I have with Princess.   They never take into account that we cruise overseas in any local promotions.   For instance the 3 for free sale.   Our sale does not include free gratuities as one of the 3 things - all very well if cruising locally but if you are cruising overseas you have to pay the tips.   The latest sale (Oceans of Offers) is a joke.   You are not really getting anything - pay the lower (usual) fare or pay more and get drink package and wifi so in a way you are paying for your own extras anyway.     I'm not a big drinker and have free wifi  being elite so not much use to me.   I am doing my own promotion for my upcoming cruise.    As I booked during the US 3 for free sale and couldn't take advantage of this because I'm Australian I have decided to have my own promotion - it's called give yourself free tips and be on a par with many of your fellow overseas cruisers.   

We have been using Gateway for around 10 years now and never had an issue with them.   Just so you are aware they seem to have 15% - 20% off discount deals running all the time on Shop a Docket.   When one expires a new one takes its place.

You can take your own on board.   I don't drink Coke or Pepsi so take my own diet drinks.

Your best bet might be the more upmarket cruise lines where there is likely to be few children.   The mainstream lines that sail out of Australia to the South Pacific - Carnival, Royal Caribbean, P and O Australia, Norwegian, HAL, Celebrity and Princess will definitely have children.   Schools finish for the summer break from early to mid December so the first week or two should have less children than later in the month.

I was on a Majestic Princess cruise out of Sydney to New Zealand last year during Superbowl and it was shown on MUTS.  Great atmosphere and heaps of people were watching it.

I came across an advert for this jewellery recently and thought it would be great for cruising.   No need to take lots of different necklaces - these have 10 different combinations.  Below is the link in case anyone is interested.

https://marianicola.com/

Isn't it obvious that they couldn't keep to the itinerary due to having to stay the extra time in port and that other ports would have to be missed.   What did you expect RC to do - carry on with the same itinerary and arrive back in Sydney 2 days late?  Then half the passengers would of missed flights home and another shipload of passengers would have had to hang around in Sydney for 2 days waiting - many of them having to book hotels as they were from out of town.   Would RC then take 2 days of their cruise?   Just cannot believe you don't understand all this.   We missed a day out of a cruise a few years ago when a passenger jumped overboard the last night and they had to go back and search for him.   Out of town cruisers had to book hotels and a port was missed as we boarded 24 hours late.    Things happen and quite frankly it's not the end of the world to miss a day or two of a cruise.   You should be thankful you haven't had to go through what the families of the deceased have.

23 minutes ago, casofilia said:

I have been an advocate for paying the Gratuities/Daily Service Charge very actively in the past.   The more I sail with Princess the less I am happy with their attitude, those in high places not the ground floor staff who I find excellent.  At some point, it looks like it is getting closer every time I travel, I am going to switch sides and ask for the CHARGE to be removed so I can see to my own gratuities.

The last cruise I booked happened to be during the 3 for free sale - not available to Australians of course.   So I was thinking maybe I am paying less and that's fair then, but I checked the price of my cabin grade with an American friend and I was paying a very similar price (less than $50 difference) but with no OBC or free gratuities.   How is that fair?

24 minutes ago, casofilia said:

I see we are being discriminated against yet AGAIN.

 

 and is only available to residents of 50 United States or D.C., Canada, and Puerto Rico. 

Yes we are - we never get anything like this.   Starting to get sick of it and thinking of jumping ship to another company.  Though I am seriously considering having my own sale on my next cruise - free gratuities? - yes please - just don't pay them!

42 minutes ago, nnps said:

Just a word of caution. had a quick look at the generic Bonine available on Ebay and yes they were that price BUT made a point of noting that the expiry date was March or even January 2020. 

 

I would add that my wife and I have found Avomine (similar to Bonine) very effective but it isn't available in Aus any more.

Yes - I had realised that.  I bought a bottle in late 2018 with expiry March 2020 so when I buy the next lot I will make sure I check the date.  Switched to Bonine when they discontinued Avomine in Australia - never been able to find out the reason why.

I swear by Bonine (meclizine 25mg) as well.   If you want to say money buy prior on Ebay - around  AUS $15 for a bottle of 100 from the US with free postage.   A lot more expensive if you buy on board.

Recently on Sea Princess and there were a couple of tender ports.   We get a card in our stateroom to give to the staff member so we can get our tender tickets in the designated tender waiting area for elites.   When we handed over ours we were given numbered tickets.   A man wanders in and says to the staff member giving out the tickets that he needs 7.   The staff member asks if they are all elites or in a suite and his answer is "no - they are all travelling with me".   Saw 4 blue cards out of the 7 people as they were wearing lanyards - don't know what the rest were.    Short while later they called out a range of ticket numbers and asked the rest of the people to wait.   So we had the situation where genuine elites had to wait for the next tender while a number of people with blue cards went ahead of them.   There's always one who doesn't think the rules apply to them.   

19 hours ago, 1965 said:

3 for free is usually best for us. The free gratuities is my favorite perk of the 3. On our 28 day cruise 2 yrs ago we saved $756 total for DH & myself. That was when grats were $13.50 pp per day for an inside. 

Wish we had the same 3 for free in Australia.   We get the OBC, cabin upgrade and wait for it .... free specialty dining.   Doesn't even come close to free gratuities.     Gratuities are built into our fare price here in Australia - probably because we are not a tipping country.  When we cruise overseas and there is a 3 for free promotion we are not eligible for it being Australians.   Maybe that is why many Australians don't pay them - that way they are on the same playing field as other passengers. 

I just purchased some OBC last week and paid Aus $140 for US $100.   Better than the currency exchange places.   I booked the cruise back in May.

I would consider E409.   Had this one on Majestic Princess (same class ship) and even though it is sold as an obstructed (therefore cheaper) there is no obstruction looking out.   You do look down onto an outside area but this is not a smoking area.   Also has a larger balcony than normal.   Photos below. 

We were in Mt Maunganui earlier this year on Majestic Princess and hired a car.   Went to the Karangahape Gorge and did the windows walk - lovely scenery and highly recommended.   Also managed to have a look at Whangamata and Pauanui.   Even though we weren't leaving until 7 pm - 12 hours in port from memory - there was no way we had time to go any further north.

When we are in a regular inside cabin on Princess we usually opt for twin beds rather than a queen as it seems more spacious this way.   Just wondering if it is the same for the sideways inside cabins on Sapphire Princess.  Are these more spacious with twin beds or a queen?

23 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

Why pay for an OBC that you think in advance you might not use? Why not just pay after the charge? Seems so much easier to me.

I am in Australia and if I pre-purchase OBC through Princess Australia the exchange rate is better.  Doing this I also avoid extra card fees as it is not an overseas transaction.   Tips are taken care of as well in advance.