can786

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Wow, you're only getting US$0.65 of value for the OBC your US TA and Princess are giving you? If that is the case, there is no way I would give them any Princess Gift Cards purchased with US $$$ through AARP.

While I have bought several gift cards to use toward final payment, I have no intention of using the gift cards for OBC unless I can confirm that they use the actual exchange rate.  While I'm not happy about the 1:1 exchange rate on the OBC that I already have, I did not pay out of pocket for it so I am not going to make a big deal about it.

Our next cruise is Australia/New Zealand on the Majestic Princess and all onboard charges are in Australian dollars.  The OBC I have from a booking promo, TA promo and FCC have all been applied at a 1:1 US dollar to Australian dollar rate.  While I find it annoying that they do not convert US dollars to Australian dollars and give me the higher amount, I'm not too concerned since I didn't actually pay out of pocket for any of these OBCs.  Does anyone know whether they would do the same if I were to use a gift card and apply it for OBC, or would they use the actual exchange rate and give me a higher amount in Australian dollars?  It wouldn't be worth it if they apply the OBC at a 1:1 ratio.

On 5/30/2023 at 11:17 AM, WeCruise23 said:

can786, don't know if you were able to get the AARP gift cards purchased, but in case you didn't, I had that problem when I first signed up for rewards. I had to log out of the AARP site, close my browser, reopen it and log back in, then the Redeem link under Rewards worked properly and showed the gift cards when I searched for Princess.

I could not get it to work on my laptop yesterday (it would not let me get past the home page for the AARP Rewards), but I could find them on my Ipad.  I didn't buy them at the time because I wanted to confirm with my TA that she can apply them to my final payment.  Today I was able to get the Rewards page to work on my laptop and have ordered 3 gift certificates.  Since final payment isn't due until December I am spacing out my gift card purchases.

One other question though - our next cruise is Australia/New Zealand on the Majestic Princess and all onboard charges are in Australian dollars.  The OBC I have from a booking promo, TA promo and FCC have all been applied at a 1:1 US dollar to Australian dollar rate.  Does anyone know whether they would do the same with a gift card, or would they use the actual exchange rate and give me a higher amount in Australian dollars?

23 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Try this.

 

AARP Rewards: Explore Ways to Reward Yourself

 

Despite the fact that I have joined AARP Rewards and am signed in, I cannot get past the initial page

I have searched the AARP website and cannot find where to buy the gift cards.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I recently booked the Majestic Princess sailing on March 1, 2024 and got the same message from Princess.  I just checked the Australian government's website and this is what is says:

From this date, you do not need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test to meet Australia's travel requirements. Some countries, airlines and vessel operators may require a pre-departure test result at check-in before you can board your flight or ship. Check the entry requirements of the country you are travelling or transiting through, and your airline or vessel operator’s requirements. 

Are you required to book with their "non-discounted" travel agency ?

 

If that's the case then it's not such a great deal.

You can book your cruise however you like - either direct with Princess or through any travel agent you want to use. You simply need to use the card to pay for the cruise to get the 2% reward on the cost of the cruise. I have used the same TA (one that discounts) for over 12 years now and have had the Princess credit card since they came out with it. I have saved a lot of money on cruises with it.

Thanks for the answers about the different amounts of OBC for varying lengths of cruises. In our case, on a 15 day cruise the $250 OBC works out to $16.66 per person/day. It seems that keeping the package will be a much better value for us since a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, a pre-dinner drink and a couple of soft drinks a day will easily go over that.

We were in an aft PH suite on the baja deck a few years ago and that balcony was also completely covered and huge. I don't remember the cabin number but it was next to the Owner's suite. It completely spoiled my husband and now he will not sail in anything but an aft suite with a large covered balcony.

What is the onboard credit in lieu of the sip and sail? Does it vary depending on the length of the cruise? We will be on a 15 day cruise with the sip and sail promo.

The sofabed is not a full size sleeper, it is more of a twin size. And not all full suites have the drop down bed above. I believe it is only the Vista Suites that have them. If you have your heart set on a full suite you might want to think about booking that and an inside nearby to get around the capacity controls. If your children are small enough you may be able to still sleep two on the fold out couch and one on the drop down bed. This might be less expensive than a family suite.

I have been on a number of cruises where LeHavre is the final port before disembarkaton in Southampton and there have always been people disembarking in LeHavre because they have post cruise plans in France. On one of these cruises we found out the day before our planned port call in LeHavre that it was being cancelled due to a dock worker's strike. Those planning to disembark there had to scramble to make alternative plans from Southampton. On another cruise, the dock workers waited until we were docked before going on strike and not letting anyone out of the port area. They went as far as throwing incendiary devices at the tour busses (filled with passengers) lined up to get out of the port. It was a bit scary. After 4 hours and a lot of negotiations they finally let people out of the port.

As others have said, clear it with Princess and I would also recommend having plan B in place in case of missing the port.

I booked a cruise last month under the "sip and Sail" promotion. We were planning to sail with three other couples and didn't have the date carved in stone yet (one couple was waffling on the entire thing). Since I didn't want to lose out on the sip and sail promo I went ahead and called my TA to book it but made sure to ask before booking whether the deposit was refundable in case we needed to change dates. She told me that it was refundable for that promotion and said that typically it is promotions that offer free gratuities that have non refundable deposits. I don't know how accurate that info is, but she does a lot of Princess bookings.

I don't know how important it is to you to go into the park at Denali but I thought you should know about the Denali tours offered into the park. The Natural History tour lasts 3-4 hours and goes only to mile 17 or so of the park road. The Tundra Wilderness Tour lasts about 8 hours and goes to mile 50 something (I think). If you want to see the wildlife in the park, chances are slim that you will see anything on the Natural History tour as the wildlife is generally deeper into the park. The last time I was there we did the Tundra Wilderness tour and saw caribou, Dall's sheep, brown bears, and wolves as well as small game.

The reason I am pointing this out is to make sure you have time for the longer tour if you only allow one night in Denali if the wildlife viewing is important to you.

Has anyone had any problems with sending the form and documentation by snail mail? I used to fax it but with our recent move to California we no longer have a land line so I can no longer fax from home. I asked my husband if he has fax at work and he said they no longer have it since they just email everything. So it is either snail mail or I take it somewhere and pay a couple of bucks to have it faxed.

They may have lost an hour of their work day, but for some of them, like cabin stewards, they don't lose any tasks that have to be done. If you have 18 cabins to make up, you still have 18 cabins -- just now, you have one less hour. Or else one less hour for your afternoon down time.

 

Losing an hour's time in the middle of a precious sea day is so wrong, I'm really in awe that people are actually in favor of this.

Your point is valid, but the crew seemed to prefer that over losing an hour of sleep each night. And for the passengers, losing an hour of a sea day isn't that big of a deal when you have 6 sea days in a row as we did on the transatlantic. If I were on a cruise where there was only one time change I would prefer it to be at night, but for a 5 hour time difference over the course of 8 sea days (and one port day between those sea days) I really liked the daytime time changes.

I was also on the Emerald TA where the time change occurred at noon. At first I thought it was rather strange, but it actually worked very well. I didn't feel any cumulative effect as the cruise went on at all. We still woke at the same time each day. It also makes much more sense for the crew and staff. Instead of losing an hour of sleep (which they definitely deserve, considering how hard they work) they lost an hour of their workday.

We where on the emerald across the Atlantic too, did miss the shampoo bottles, the in shower dispensers felt a bit cheap to me. We did a b2b so where on the 10 day Caribbean before hand, strange thing was on the transatlantic we received an elite bathroom amenities but not on the 1st leg, we did switch cabins but why that happened I don't know.

I was also on the Emerald TA and I did not get the elite bathroom amenities but quite honestly there isn't anything in those that I really use or miss so I didn't bother asking for them. I'm sure if I had asked my cabin steward would have supplied them. As far as the soap goes, I asked for an extra bar and stuck two bars together for the shower. They stayed stuck together and that worked well for me. I can see the practicality of the smaller bars since it generates much less waste from used bars being discarded at the end of the cruise.

I just disembarked from the Emerald's transatlantic crossing yesterday and we had a promotion featuring the free specialty dinner, as did all of our tablemates at our table in the traditional dining room.

We were given a reservation in the Crown Grill, which is what I was hoping for as I had not tried that in the past. It was fantastic, and we both felt it was worth paying the $25 cover charge to eat there again in the future (and I am a cheapskate who does not believe in paying extra for food onboard when I am happy with the dining room food).

One of our tablemates got the day mixed up on his reservation and realized that they had missed their assigned day and time. He was able to speak to the maitre'd and was given a new reservation so they were able to take advantage of the promotion.

And BTW, I was given the $50 OBC for this promotion right away on my stateroom folio, so if we had not used the reservation I would have had the $50 applied to my general onboard charges.

I believe the Early Booking Discount for past passengers expired yesterday for many cruises. When it expired on my upcoming TA the price went up by $100. But according to Princess, if you got the EBD when you booked you still retain it even if you find any price drops.

While the aft Vista suites are wonderful, if you don't want to spend the extra $$$ for a full suite you might want to look at an Emerald deck minisuite. There are not very many of them, and they often sell out quickly because they have fully covered balconies. They are above a lounge but others have reported noise problems only with the last two cabins on the port (even numbered) side.

I ordered flowers from Princess for my upcoming transatlantic on the Emerald Princess and was charged just the cost of the arrangement without any taxes.

To clarify even further, for the last several years Princess has had one ship based in Southampton that they market heavily to Brits and Europeans. That ship will have a drinking age of 18 while all other Princess ships in Europe (that are not as heavily marketed to the Brits and Europeans) have the regular Princess drinking age of 21.

You could also consult with a pharmacist as well if that is easier than speaking to the doctor.

All balconies on this class are cut from the hull unlike those of the Grand class ships. I believe the balconies on the Caribe deck have a smaller opening than those on other decks.