Funkat

On 2/23/2022 at 10:24 AM, Coffeeluvr05 said:

So do you all purchase gift cards or are they given to you as gifts?  Just curious if there is some secret to purchasing Princess gift cards I am unaware of.  

I just saw your question as I was looking for something else.  If you still need an answer to that question, AARP sells Princess (as well as other cruises') gift cards for 10% off.  There is currently a limit of 5 per month with options of $500 gift card for $450 and $100 for $90. It's not that easy to find, but under the REWARDS section. Even if you use a TA, you can still use them to pay off a cruise.

Thanks edinburgher for the other option.  Our original cruise was canceled but we now have another cruise booked (Nov 2023) with this stop included. Your option here sounds interesting & I will definitely give it some more thought.  

On 3/25/2021 at 9:44 AM, marazul said:

Calanches and Cargêse would be my choice.

Thanks for the reply. They both seem to be popular.

I was leaning towards the Calanches. The main reason that I was considering the Gorges tour is because it's shorter & would allow time for us to also see Ajaccio via the little train.  Also, two of the ladies traveling with us booked the Gorges tour because one of them has some issues walking.  

On the optimistic side, we are planning the shore excursions for our September 2021 cruise. 

Our ship (The Enchanted Princess) will call upon Ajaccio on September 5 from 8am-5pm. 

We are trying to decide on an excursion there.  Both the Prunelli Gorges Tour  and  the Best of Calanches & Cargese Tour look interesting. 

I would definitely appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks,

Kathy 

10 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Definitely not the fastest and not with bags. An Uber from the pier will be about 7-8 minutes to the airport and much less expensive and quicker than the water taxi. 

 Thanks for the info.

From what I've read, it seems that the water taxis are the quickest way to get from the cruise terminal to Logan Airport.  There will be 6 of us with luggage in tow.  Does anyone have experience with using the water taxis upon disembarkation?   Thanks.

Kathy

Just missed it.  I was last in checking CC that night. By the time I got online, he $18 price was still showing.  But when I added it to my cart, the charge was $50 + grats ($1770 total for our 15 night 2020 TA).  I would have purchased at the $18 rate, but no way worth it to us at the $50 rate.  Happy for those who managed to snag it.

On 5/29/2019 at 12:56 AM, Danish viking said:

Would it help to copy the text you need into a word document, this way you can take out repeated text from quotes and abd questions from other users you don't need. 

On 5/29/2019 at 8:36 AM, h2so4 said:

 

Since not everything in the post applies to everyone, that is a good solution.  When I first found this thread that’s what I did with the information of specific interest to me and it worked out nicely.  I’ve added to that post by copy-pasting additional information from the growing thread.

On 5/29/2019 at 12:27 PM, Turtles06 said:

 

 

I agree that this is a good way to go; there is so much here that is specific to just the person who asked. 

I agree.  Copying to a WORD document would not only save a bunch of paper, but you could print what is of interest to you and you could also neatly highlight  the important items.  If you print the whole thread, it would be rather cumbersome to carry with you and also time consuming to sort through.

Kathy

1 hour ago, fishywood said:

 

If you monitor your shipboard account with Princess@Sea on your phone the charge would have appeared there virtually simultaneous with their swiping of your cruise card. So should they charge you for your coffee when you still had punches left you could have them remove it before you step away from the counter faster than it takes for your coffee to cool down to sipping temperature.

 

...and it wasn't my intent at all to chastise anyone for obtaining both a specialty-punch coffee and an unlimited-brewed cup at the same time. Just using my observation from earlier this year on Golden Princess to possible rationalize the overcharges that were reported. Honestly if those other passengers I was sitting next to in the Piazza weren't giving the waiter such a hard time as to why there was no totally complimentary coffee or tea at the IC for the members of their party with no coffee card or PBP I would have explained to them how the system could be worked in their favor with just one plan as above. 

Thanks for the tip.  I had the Princess@Sea app and called myself checking it regularly, but if the charges post that quickly I can monitor it more closely on our next cruise in January.

59 minutes ago, planb said:

So we sail in March and have always bought 1 card for getting Mochas and fun coffee drinks from how it reads we will still be able to use one card for the premium coffee BUT will not and have mot doht the fresh brewed or tea's. I am reading this right correct? 

• Coffee packages cannot be sold or otherwise transferred to any individual. Pre-purchased specialty coffees may be shared, but complimentary brewed coffee, teas and hot chocolate continue to be limited to the purchaser.
•  

I can't speak for what would happen using table service because I always went to the counter to get our coffees.  But I was never questioned when ordering a fresh brewed and a specialty while using my card.  The only problem that I had was them charging my onboard account instead of using a "punch" the last couple of days.  

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

JS, how were you able to catch a charge to your on board account easier with the old card system?  Under either system I would think you have to check your account for any items charged in error.

With the old system you could see how many punches remaining before you handed them the coffee card and see how many times they punched it. I never had to hand them my cruise card, only the coffee card so there was no chance of an additional charge.

I always ordered the coffees to go, as I brought DH's coffee to him in the cabin each morning since he sleeps in later than I do.  So, they had no idea which of us was consuming the specialty or fresh brewed.  Guest Services never even questioned if sharing was involved.  It was a clear case of being incorrectly charged. At least with the old card system, you could catch an overcharge immediately.  JS

When we purchased the coffee card on our Royal TA in Sept., the "punches" were loaded onto my cruise card.  It was a 15 day cruise so buying the card made perfect sense it provided me with my specialty coffee & DH with his fresh brewed every morning. It was nice not having to keep up with another card, but I was skeptical of being charged incorrectly.  Even though the number of mornings was the same as the number of punches, each morning I had the barista confirm how many remaining "punches" I had left.  And, as it turned out, it was a good thing that I kept up with my "remaining punches". I was charged for my last 2 specialties.  It took 2 trips to Guest Services and then 6 weeks to finally see these charges refunded to my credit card.  It's really not the amount of the $$$, but just the idea that I was overcharged twice with their new system. 

Thanks Leigh!  

Our Sun Princess cruise in January visits Isle of Pines, Mystery Island, Dravuni Island, Suva, Savusavu, Lautoka and Lifou. In researching the islands, I am so looking forward to visiting these beautiful beaches. However regarding Fiji, I'm somewhat concerned to read about the Kava ceremony and the expectation that visitors present a gift to the village chief. I've also seen mention that women should not have shoulders or legs exposed and that shorts are not appropriate for men either.

I, in no way, want to disrespect anyone by not adhering to their customs so I would like to know beforehand what is actually expected of visitors from cruise ships. We really have no desire to participate in a Kava ceremony or buying a gift for the chief. Is this really expected of everyone? Also, we are visiting the islands because of their beautiful beaches and had planned on wearing swimsuits with appropriate coverups. Do we need to bring more clothes to change into when leaving the beaches if all we plan to do is a little shopping?

That's good news... I've read it's on select ships again as a test. Will be on Royal in December... hope for BOGO +$1

We will be on the Royal in January, Please report back if the BOGO+$1 was offered on your December sailing.

So if I'm reading correctly. If I pre order liquor and pay the exorbidant price I'm only allowed to drink it in my cabin?? I can't walk up to a bar and order a coke and then top it off with a splash of rum that I've already paid them for?

We always mixed our drinks in our cabin with our room service & mini bar liquor and Cokes that we carried on board. Nothing was ever said to us regarding us bringing our drinks anywhere on the ship, including the shows.

Please come back after your cruise and post what you found.

So sorry that I'm late in getting back to this thread.

We found the Sun to be somewhat "dated" but overall pretty well maintained. We were on deck 9, Caribe, and there were a few days that we noticed a horrible sewer smell in parts of the hall. Other than that, no complaints on condition of the ship. Our suite, C747, was nice but could have used some updating.

Size wise, only problem there was the lack of shops. Not much to look at, but then I saved $$$$ by not finding anything that I wanted to purchase. lol

Rating the staff, the service was impeccable!

As for the food, we were not impressed at all. In fact, it was the worst food that we've ever experienced on a cruise. We had Club Class dining in the Regency and still didn't have any meal there that was really good. After a few miserable breakfasts, we started eating breakfast at the International Cafe (usually a muffin or a breakfast sandwich). We ate one meal at the Horizon Court and decided then that we didn't want to eat there again. The steaks we had at Sterling Steakhouse were good, but nothing extraordinary. Other than those steaks, the hamburgers from the Terrace Grill were the best food that we were served. Upside to our disappointment in the food was that we gained no weight on this 13 day cruise!

Although we weren't very impressed with the Sun and really prefer a somewhat larger ship, we find ourselves booked on her again in January 2019. So, she must have not been too bad. lol

I once saw the Princess Staff who services the laundry rooms and asked them what their policy was on this. They said that they do not require you to stay with your laundry but they also said if the laundry is done and the owner of the laundry is not there to just place the laundry on one of the shelves nearby. Then they proceeded to discuss how dirty some passengers leave the inside of the machines. We like to take laundry wipes and clean the inside of machine prior to using them. It only takes 10 seconds.

Thanks for the info. The wipes are a good idea. I'm not thrilled with using public laundry facilities.

We had a suite on the Sun a couple of months ago. We would have spent over $400 for the 2 of us on laundry if we had paid for the laundry we sent out (and that doesn't include underwear, as I hand washed it). They charged it to our account and then credited it back as a "suite perk" so that amount is not a guess.

We are sailing again in September on the Royal Princess for 15 days in a Deluxe Balcony. So, YES, I will spend a couple of hours on a sea day dealing with doing laundry. I can think of many ways that I would prefer to spend that money. Besides the $$$$, doing the laundry myself will save the abuse from the Princess laundry on our clothes.

When you go to do laundry, take your cell phone with you. Set the timer on the phone to let you know when you need to be back to remover your clothes from the machine as soon as it stops. No one wants to wait to use a machine that has finished but not been emptied because the owner is too inconsiderate of others to be there when it finishes.

So, I'm assuming there's no rule that you have to stay with your clothes? That would be great news. I have no problem keeping track of the time to be back when my load finishes, but I hate to sit and wait. I plan to pack lighter and wash a couple of times on our Sept cruise. Although we'll be gone 19 days (14 days cruising & another 5 days pre-cruise), I have a goal to pack less & less each trip. Somehow I know that I'll never get down to only a carry-on like some, but I'm striving to leave the ranks of the "overpackers".

Welcome aboard. The roll call seams to be in a weird place but you can find it here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2497799&page=18

 

Hoping for good weather in St John's. We made into port four years ago on the Ruby, but the Royal had to pass by the following day due to rough seas. The channel in to port is beautiful but narrow.

 

Tim

Thanks Tim! I'm also hoping that we are able to make St John's. DH & I made a motorcycle trip up to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI in the Fall of 2016 but did not spend the time to take the ferry to Newfoundland.

We are booked on the Royal this year. The big draw for us is St John's, DW was born there.

We are now booked on her too. Now to confirm our excursions. :):):)

We've done a number of WB TAs and have visited all these ports except Aarhus and Belfast (scheduled, but ship didn't make it there). Either way you can't lose IMHO. But there are some things to consider: the second one departs from Copenhagen, which is expensive (and may involve 2 flights, depending on where you live) to fly to and expensive to stay in while Southampton, closer and less expensive on both counts. Also, longer flight(s) to Copenhagen. One mitigating factor is closeness of airport to port: about 30 min in Copenhagen, several hours from Heathrow to Southampton (course you may decide to spend a day or two in London, which many do). Personally, I love Copenhagen and we always spend a few days there; Southampton is ok, but mostly a way station for us.

Most of these ports are easy (and worthwhile) to do on your own. I think I've walked around nearly all of them and we've done cruise critic member-arranged private tours in some.

Thanks for the reply.

We actually booked the Royal today. I sat down and looked at possible excursions at each port on both cruises. Bottom line, the Royal (embarking in Southampton) won out. It seemed more suited to our interests, especially when I discovered that we could take a fast train to Paris (2hr6m) from London. So we added an extra day to the 2 full days that we had allotted to see London so that we could also see Paris. Our flight gets into London on Sept 6 (early morning) and we don't sail out until late evening Sept 10, so I'm hoping we will have enough time to take in most of what we want to see. We plan to stay in London those 4 nights and wait until the morning of embarkation to head towards Southampton.

As much as I enjoy having a few pre-cruise days in London, the Regal Princess sailing from Copenhagen has far better ports overall. Though the potential for some rough seas sailing from Glasgow to Dublin to Cobh and then south through the Irish Sea. The more northerly arc on the TA section of the Royal cruise (Belfast to Newfoundland) actually may have better weather than the Cobh-to-Halifax on Regal. But what's a TA without some rocking and rolling?

Thanks. I was leaning towards this cruise, but they both looked pretty good. Were looking to book something for next spring, but these caught our eye. We'll just be sure to pack the patches. lol