lx200gps

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Although we are regular AC flyers we had never heard of or seen these new sizers. As a suggestion, if you want more and better info on this, you might want to consider posting questions over on the Canadian Cruisers sub-forum where you will probably find more, and more recent, Air Canada customers who have experienced these sizers. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2510-canadian-cruisers/

Very interesting. We last flew out of YUL in June and never saw such a thing, nor were we asked to verify our bag's compliance. We will be more careful next time and be sure to bring our smaller carry-ons. Thanks for the correction. Do you know if EVERYONE is required to put ALL their their carry-ons through this, or is only used when the AC rep thinks the bags may be oversized?

Montrealer here, and I've been flying worldwide out of YUL for over half a century ;o( By "automatic sizer", I guess you are referring to the steel frames at the check-in counters and gates that only very occasionally you are asked to manually insert your carry-on into? We have multiple carry-on bags, and I just measured my biggest and fattest one. It's 22.5" x 14.5" x 11" empty, and I can assure you that I have made it fit into Air Canada's steel frames (though IIRC it was usually flying AC out of other airports like Fort Lauderdale returning home where I had to use the sizer frame) Obviously if your new bag is a hard-shell case and not soft, it could be problematic, but it's always been my experience that those soft carry-ons can usually be "persuaded" to fit. You also mention you are flying AC Rouge in Business Class. It's generally been my experience that when flying up front, the rules for things like this can tend to be a bit more relaxed as the check-in staff are not as concerned about overhead bin space as they are for cattle class Thinking outside the box, if you are flying (home?) into Dulles, can you head over to the airport sometime before your trip and try the new bag into one of AC's sizer frames there?

It's not just Princess. Our last cruise, back in June, was on X. In the weeks preceding our sailing I kept an eye on pricing for our exact cabin type. We had booked our cabin for about $CAD4K. When I researched the pricing I found numbers, for our specific, sailing ranging up as high as $CAD9200, well more than twice what we paid. Dynamic pricing at its best, but I'm nor sure I could justify almost 10grand for a balcony cabin for two.

Hopefully, if the requirement even does return to prove testing for shorter cruises like ours, the requirement would be as simple as taking a photo of the test indicator. That we can live with ;o)

That's very interesting. I found an article from 3 days ago where a senior Carnival official, discussing the recent increase in COVID cases, is quoted as saying: "Testing is not required for either vaccinated or unvaccinated guests," he added. "However, we encourage all guests five years and older to take a pre-cruise covid-19 test within three days of their cruise." https://www.thestreet.com/travel/carnival-cruise-line-makes-big-statement-on-return-of-covid-rules Perhaps the fact that it is a 30 day sailing has something to do with the requirement for testing? I'm following this closely as we board the Discovery Princess in a few weeks at SP, and finding a testing center around here is very difficult.

Excellent, thanks guys. Sounds like it will a lot easier than at Port Everglades. I also remember that the physical layout at SP (we'll be at Berth 93 this trip) is a lot more open and easier to navigate than the confined area at PE Terminal 2, so I expect that at our 7:30-8AM it shouldn't be too tough to find our specific Uber.

Agree completely. While we also prefer the close proximity of the 17th St strip to Port Everglades, hotel pricing in that area fluctuates wildly depending on the time of year (the OP didn't mention when they are sailing) We tend to find that Dania Beach and Plantation hotels aren't as expensive as on 17th in high season, and at the very peak travel times, hotel pricing in Plantation can be significantly lower than 17th St, and even lower than Dania Beach.

Exactly how easy is it to find one's Uber ride at San Pedro? We'll be disembarking off the Discovery Princess in mid-October, but we've tended to find, at least at Port Everglades, that there are always a huge number of people all crammed into a small area all trying to find their rides, and I always wonder how easy the pickup process is coming off a cruise ship. Although we usually Uber TO the ship from our hotel, we tend to take taxis back to the airport despite the higher cost as we find them easier to find. On a side note, the last few times we've done an early self-walkoff from a ship at San Pedro, say around 7:30AM (admittedly pre-pandemic), there have been no taxis anywhere in sight, but we were lucky enough for flag down a now defunct Supershuttle ride back to LAX.

Methinks you're not a TD customer ;o) 2FA with them is absolutely by cellphone/SMS, no Email. Even accessing the system at home, I will will occasionally get a pop-up demanding a verification by text or phone to my cell, necessitating long trudge to find the phone elsewhere in the house. .At least Aeroplan allows 2FA verification by email, but not the Green Machine

Same here. We dine at Bistro at least twice on each sailing where the ship has one. Post-pandemic, food and service there have always been better than Sabatini's, and far superior to the CG. Not keen on the exposed location (sure do miss Crooners), and the food may be too exotic for some, but for us, it's always been fantastic. The fact that it also seems to be less crowded is a big plus as well.

+1 for sure, great location next to the Renaissance and canal-front.

Great idea, I've started to look into that as well. I can find a one-way Delta flight YUL to LAX through JFK :o( for the day before our cruise, fully refundable at an exorbitant price, but it seems worthwhile. I'm not sure I trust Air Transat or Westjet for this, and Flair is off-limits

My worry (having YUL-LAX flights in mid-October) is that while these regulations make AC responsible for taking care of us, that doesn't mean that they will be able to get us to where we need to be WHEN we need to be there, as in meeting a cruise ship for example. AC may be on the hook for compensating us if a strike causes these disruptions, but AFAIk they fly probably tens of thousands of people every day. Finding a timely new flight on another carrier for all of us is pretty much impossible. I'll need to check our various other insurance coverages to see whether a labor action is cause for re-imbursement of an expensive cruise fare.

Yup, same here. Excursions Reservations page loads but when I click on the individual port to see the excursions, nothing happens.

Quite correct. Our hotel of choice on 17th is the Renaissance for that very reason and depending on the room, the views of the port can be quite good. Keep in mind though, that the construction of the new Convention Center right across the street may slightly hinder the view depending on crane placement. The Hilton Marina is probably slightly better due to its sight lines, as was Pier 66, though I'm not sure of its status, and whether it has re-opened

Yup, it's dead easy alright, as long as the car rental office is open. Not only is the Enterprise office very conveniently in the Crowne Plaza, but the CP itself is a 15 minute walk to the ship though the hotel probably still have their shuttle on embarkation morning. I guess you may not want to walk if you have three little ones to contend with ;o)

Interesting development if Princess is actually stationing sommeliers in the restaurants. We never saw any when we were on the Sky last Feb. Did it actually improve the availability of the wine service, i.e. if you bought by the glass, did he/she refill easily and quickly? That's one thing we loved about X on our recent sailing, the sommeliers were everywhere and were quick with the refills. From the way you describe things, the new "sommelier" on Princess is just a waiter dedicated specifically to wine (beverage?) service. Also, it would be nice to hear from other recent sailings on other Princess ships, are sommeliers being rolled out fleet-wide or is it just a pilot project on the Sky? We'll definitely be watching out for them on the Discovery next month.

That's an understatement ;o) In the weeks before our recent trip on the Equinox, I was checking the pricing for an equivalent balcony cabin for our sailing. We had originally paid a little over $4K when we booked a year earlier, but just prior to sailing the going rate for an identical cabin on our sailing went as high as $9K and seemed average about $6K. It sure paid to book ahead in our case.

On a related note, if one pre-books SD restaurant reservations, has their credit card charged immediately, then goes to Guest Services once on board to have the charges reversed (so as to use OBC), exactly how are the charges reversed? Are they credited back onto the original credit card, or are they "reversed" by the issuance of more OBC? IIRC I've seen mention that it is the latter, and as we have TONS of OBC for our upcoming trips, I'd rather pre-pay on my CC them have the charges credited back to that CC, I don't need any more OBC.

You're very welcome, have a GREAT trip.

According to Google Maps, once you have arrived outside T6 onto the "sidewalk" where the cars are dropping off and picking up, it looks like it's about 300 meters to the right, on the arrivals/lower level, basically the next terminal over

It's mentioned in the LAX web site, hopefully this screen shot comes out:

Terminal 6 (Air Canada?) is about a 15 minute walk to the LAX-It lot, or a short shuttle ride. Note that there is supposed to be a taxi stand just down the terminal, somewhere near Terminal 7, eliminating the need to go to the LAX-It lot for a taxi. If Ubering, you would need to go to the LAX-It lot unless you opt for the very $$$ Uber Blacks, who are allowed to collect at the terminals. We are arriving at LAX for our October trip and will be taking a taxi from Terminal 7 to our hotel in Torrance the day before the sailing. I figure hailing a taxi from the terminal will be easier than trying to get an Uber or taxi from the busy LAX-It lot.

That was my thinking as well, but I assume that the wines offered in each dining venue are physically located in the venue. If I was in Sabatini's and ordered something from the vast MDR menu, wouldn't it have to be trucked in from a distant location in one of the MDRs? The wait for wine service in the restaurants is slow enough without a waiter having to walk 2000 yards to get us our glasses from a completely different location.