EdmPair

I am in Canada so am not versed in the details of the ADA, but working in building hardware to meet our codes I have heard about ADA regulations often. I can recall nothing to say people with special needs should board first or last. However, it is expected a company keep those in walkers and chairs with the rest of the customers. They have been called at other times and places for asking wheelchairs to only enter a building by the loading dock. So you can not isolate the disabled from fellow travellers but some will disembark first or last and it would only be a problem for ADA if this delayed them to the point they could not make a flight or such.

I did not pay attention on my last cruise on Princess but did see it during a tender port and once when the ship was along side. The pursers who assisted shuttled back and forth and those in chairs or needing help were moved with the rest of the crowd. This seemed to work as the staff load was the most spread out in time and would kept those in chairs with their travelling companions.

My 3 cents.

Sorry, didn't mean lies, but lines.

Irony is not dead. And neither is auto-correct. Did you mean cooperation too? LOL.

I travel with iPad as a way to daily back the photos off the camera. If I get wifi, I can send off a few BEST shots to my home addy and/or those of friends and family.

Beyond that I play game to fill time. We fly to get a cruise and you need something in the airports!

Most of my games are the free versions. Any which get too pushy with ads are dumped but for a good free games I know the trade I am making. I have upgraded a few after trying. However, there are also little search apps which find apps free for today only. (It is a bit of a shell game as the same app will be free many given days.) Grab one of these and then in the months ahead of your cruise, find several free games you can play off-line.

If you are the same kind of geek as me -- big IF -- then you may like Blek, 7 Words, Voro, 2048, Red Herring or GearedHD.

I like the theatre idea. I went to a 4D theatre in San Diego at the museum of flight. It was full 3D with the seats moving and various fans and at times bits of mist and smell. Fun and funky.

MUTS would be OK if the picture resolution was closer to what most TVs these days and the sound levels managed a bit. I am sure it could be off for an hour or two here and there.

I would like a flower shop rather than just basically doing mail order to get flowers for the cabin. I envision something the size of a phone booth or a deep wall display case which opens up with somebody there to talk to and build your arrangement.

I wish we could get a small behind the scenes tour without a small fortune. Princess thinks it has to be all kinds of areas of the ship and you get a cocktail party and a bathrobe. KISS.

Parrots and other birds on display. Some life along with the plants around the covered pools.

You asked.

M

I saw one hand-written in San Francisco waiting to load. Given the digits, it was probably scribbled by a native America given a 7 with no cross bar. In many parts of the world, this could easily be confused with a 1 and the baggage handlers on-board are not usually American. I am just suggesting you get them printed if you can OR see how neatly this tag is written before you release it to the porters.

Either way, with your name it will find your cabin and you will have the same fun on the trip.

M

I used to work for AAA. They only book preferred companies. The ones who pay the best commissions. Nothing to do with sexual preference.

Thanks. Your comments have me curious now. In general, do the cruise lines pay

a better or worse commission than say

airlines or

insurance or

hotels??

I am guessing airlines are the least as you have to book one of very few to fly

where you want but insurance the most as some see it as optional and needs more

push. Let me know the general trends -- if you know.

TIA

M

Thanks. I have found agents locally. I am not certain I feel motivated enough to even tell the agent who said they could not.

Been on both. On the Star, the children program space is over the rear starboard section of the HC. If this matters. It might if they keep the crab shack going.

Beyond Skywalkers, they are very much the same. Enjoy your trip.

M

That's because it's not a sea day. If you are going westbound, you lose 24 hours crossing the date line, so that day "doesn't exist". However, going eastbound, you will have the same day twice.

Gosh, never thought of that. If I should ever book such a cruise I would go eastbound. Same day twice bonus.

M

Do ships also do something significant for crossing the International Date Line? I find it fun to see the day listing for Pacific cruises as "Sea Day, Sea Day, Sea Day, Crossing International Date Line, Sea Day, Sea Day". It is as if the crossing of the date line is not a day at sea.

Note to bigenna:

The staff are there to serve us and that can include you. Ask for what you want. When it gets unreasonable, they are to take the issue to the supervisor. However, a specialty coffee is not outrageous at all. So ask. (And face it, Princess will charge you more for that double decaf mocha latte with not too much foam and a dash of cinnamon.)

Stay caffinated,

M

Then I am crazy.

They must be gambling you will gamble and drink enough to make this pay. (And spend on all the other on-board purchases.)

I think it was a bit obvious that I posted this thread just to be certain others do book using a TA and will take this fact to them -- without any names. The organization did march in our Pride Parade so it is not like it is some philosophical point for them. They just need to see the demand and the head office agree. If nobody books the Gay cruises, it is easy for head office to think there is no demand when what they did was deflect the booking one person or couple at a time.

Later,

M

I would like to edit my posts at any time. Of course, the system needs to add a line saying date and time this post was last changed.

I must commend the operators on the better search feature. If looking for improvements, it could use a time filter to cut off posts over X years old.

However, I have to say I am happy with the Board functions.

Thanks,

M

I say it is fair game to talk of price. However, I hear 'naked' numbers tossed out for the price of a cruise without context of what that includes. Even the cruise lines play this game a bit. The cruise will have a price.*

*port fees and taxes extra

** fuel surcharge may apply

*** price valid if paid in full by _________

Details matter. Once a ship has a NON-refundable deposit, it has the money to spend and plan with. Those clients will seldom bail. Their are 100s of factors of timing on payment, cabin choice, and included extra which come into play to say the 'price' of a cruise. Sometimes an OBC is non-refundable and only good for one thing like shorex or such. Frankly, if you strip these all away, many a cruise would sound like a good deal. However, for my budget I need the full price.

So no, I am fine with giving and hearing prices but I need to know what exactly that includes when said. And to echo others, they need to be said here as once on the ship, it is too late.

My 3 cents Canadian,

M

If you can't post a new thread, how did this get on here?

Well, this thread I posted from the main computer. It is in the next room but

sunshine and my pet birds.

A different thread, I typed about 3 paragraphs here and found I could not start a

new thread. I saved it to an email to myself so I did not have to type it all again.

Then went to the other room to post from the web access.

M

Thanks. I was guessing some TAs did as RSVP does toss that on web pages.

Anybody else??

For newbies, Princess always has one sale or another. We laugh at the flyers and emails which show up at least once a week. The question is not if Princess has a sale but if it is good enough to make booking worth while. For those of us who book off holidays at work and fly to a port, few of the sales are practical to jump at.

I run TapaTalk on my new ipad and it recently updated and now I can reply to posts but it sometimes does word wrap and sometimes not. And it turns out, I can not post a new thread at all.

Does it work for you fine? Is there something better??

Our local auto association (Think AAA in States.) has booked cruises for us before and is fine with us as a Gay couple. We are in Canada after all. I was thinking of the RSVP cruise in Feb and sent the info by email to get this started including the page RSVP has on reservations which says "Contact your travel agent". She checked and got back to me and can not. The agency views RSVP as another travel agent while I was thinking of RSVP as more a tour company. Anyway, if I go, it will booked directly by me. I was hoping to get one insurance package for the whole trip.

But for reference, does your TA book RSVP or Atlantis for you? The agent said they could ask head office to reconsider but this would require time but may help others in the future. From a quick look, they see ONE cruise and probably expect little demand.

And now for your thoughts,

M

We booked last year with this type of offer for Alaska. Before the final payment was due, the TA rechecked the price and found a price drop swamped the credits from the 3 for free. Giving up the 'credits' was a no brainer. I would rather have flexibility and save money.

I know it is possible the price drop may not happen, but keep your head up.

I am sure many of you have been through Miraflores Locks but I have not. This is a time lapse and a Princess Ship appears in the middle of the clip.

http://www.flixxy.com/panama-canal-timelapse.htm

Still on the bucket list.

We also pack suits as late as possible and unpack as soon as possible. Once the suit is hanging again in the cabin, it will relax. Also, turn the shower on HOT and then take the suit in there to steam it a bit and more wrinkles will come out. However, if you insist on a sharp crease on the front of pants, these too will soften up.

I am puzzled by a few. I just now reread it and I think it communicated the problem. I guess some tolerate bad advertising better then me. And some must think speaking "Orange 4" loud enough to be heard of the soundtrack is acceptable. Somebody was sitting in the sound booth at the back.

I suppose Princess wants us to book their transfers as the price is enough they could be making money. Having walked from the Embarcadero transit station to the ship, I now know we had the time to walk the same way back and take the $9 BART to the airport. Perhaps next time I will.