lx200gps

FWIW, you are not alone in North America. We used to buy the Princess coverage solely for the excellent 100% CFAR coverage, but a few years ago it became unavailable to us here in the province of Quebec, which has long had some bizarre insurance rules and restrictions. The Princess coverage is still available to anyone else in Canada, just not this province.

Lifelong Canadian here. While I understand the desire to get some small amount of cash, it's not absolutely necessary. I literally don't remember the last time I used cash, easily many years ago. Even a $1 purchase is easily done on my credit card, the machine doesn't care what the amount is and it avoids having to receive those annoying big coins as change. Up here we make extensive use of the tap and rarely even have to insert the CC into a reader and enter a PIN though that option will always be there if your card isn't so configured. The only exception I can think of is Costco which only accepts a very limited number of credit cards and we just use our ATM card when we're there. Have a great trip ;o)

Definitely keep us all in the loop if they do make the announcement. We've flown out of YOW a few times when our usual YUL doesn't work, much simpler solution for us love the cheap parking ;o) If flying Porter means not having to endure AC Rouge in the winter months from YUL, we're on it.

Thanks for posting. Google shows that lot just NW of the terminal, about a 12 minute walk just past the big Hampton Inn. We certainly wouldn't bother with a shuttle for that short distance, but that's just us. Farther than the covered garage and about the same distance as to another also open air lot on Kennedy Ave, on the other side of the adjacent drydock. So lots of parking options, just nothing right at the terminal as in many other cruise ports.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Further to the advice above, you need to try and get upstairs to the Sanctuary ASAP, as in as fast as possible, no stops, no delays. Sea day slots sell out very fast, and even us Elite status folks who get to board among the very first are often shut out of getting decent loungers. You can improve your chances by opting for port days if there is a stop you've been to a thousand times e.g, for us, Cozumel), don't care if you are in full sun, or want a $220/day Cabana.

That's one of the many advantages to the Sanctuary, they do a great job of keeping it quiet (at least every time we've ever been there). Anyone in the Cabanas are expected to use the provided headphones if they watch TV

Thanks all, very helpful comments. I was concerned after having read the comment in Post #2 above that "The garage across from the terminal is no longer an option" That is pretty loosely worded as to exactly what "...across from the terminal" means, and I was concerned that it meant the parking lot just down the street from the terminal exit, next to the port police station, was closed. As to the management of the parking garage not wanting cruise passengers taking up space, that's quite possible, but unless they outright ban us, I will prefer to use that covered garage in lieu of an open lot.

I'd love to hear some RECENT experiences with trying to book the Sanctuary on a warm-weather cruise. On our last trip, last February, as Elite status very early boarders, we were literally among the first people on the ship and raced very quickly upstairs to book. Still, maybe a half-dozen folks beat us to it. We were all told that the Sanctuary had been completely booked out, loungers and Cabanas, for our entire week by the hundreds of B2Bers from the previous cruise who were offered the option of pre-booking for our voyage ahead of time. We're on the Discovery this October for a California Coaster, hopefully we'll have better luck booking the Sanctuary this time.

I'm interested in this as well, as we just booked our first ever trip out of Boston on Princess for next July. According to our friend Google, there are numerous parking lots near the Cruise Terminal, the closest being the ABM garage right down the pier next to the Port Police station. It still shows on the ABM website as active so if it is shut down their website should be updated. From what I'm seeing now, I think we will use the covered garage on Drydock Ave a block north of the terminal building, a 5 minute walk away.

In addition to dive charters along the St Lawrence, we've also done day trips out of Kingston and Gananoque. The 1000 Islands is pretty impressive, some lovely sights along the way. A cruise around some of the Great Lakes and up (down?) the St Lawrence, along the "real" Seaway up to Montreal is definitely one we'd love to try

Correct, I'd forgotten about the Welland Canal, thanks for the clarification. Bottom line, as we say, is that after Montreal, and certainly after Quebec City, it's just the St Lawrence river, devoid of any "Seaway" like locks etc.

What are your expectations re the "Seaway"? The Seaway pretty much starts at the mouth of Lake Ontario near Kingston and follows the St Lawrence upriver to the Atlantic. For the first 300 miles or so, the river is narrow and the Seaway traffic uses a series of locks. I've SCUBA'd up and down the St Lawrence in that area and it would be a very interesting sail if you could find such a cruise, tons to see and experience. Here in Montreal for example there are quite a few locks and bridges for the ship traffic to navigate. The river can be surprisingly narrow in places and the Thousand Islands is gorgeous. Pretty much after Quebec City the St Lawrence hugely widens out and is at least 10 miles wide right after QC, opening up to a good 30 miles wide as you approach the Gaspe peninsula. So after leaving Quebec City, while you may technically be in the "Seaway" it won't be as impressive as it is downstream in Ontario and as navybankerteacher says above, it will just be a big wide river, very much open water. If you depart QC at dinner time, by the next morning's sunrise, I would think you will be very much in open ocean at or past the mouth of the St Lawrence.

Any ideas as to exactly how this will work if and when Princess does start shipping up north? I just checked our Oct 2023 sailing on the web version of the App and our original order, placed in February, still shows "Status: Pickup at embarkation" . I would expect that once we see here on CC that Canadian shipping has started, I would have to cancel the existing order and re-order, specifying "Ship to Home Address" The alternative of course will be to leave it as is and endure the horrors of spending an additional 60 seconds picking it up at the counter.

The poster was asking about the parking garage at the Weehawken ferry terminal across the Hudson from the MCT

Hi yourself ;o) There are actually two parking garages at the Weehawken ferry terminal. The one we used is in the same building as the Residence Inn, Envue and the restaurant I mentioned. It's basically one huge building. The parking garage is completely indoors and multi-level. We parked near an elevator and took the elevator down to the hotel lobby. For IIRC $2/day LESS, there is an overflow garage one block north in case the main garage at the hotel is full. You can go to Google Street View and see the overall layout of the hotel/garage building, where the entrances are etc. And you will also see how ridiculously close the hotel is to the ferry terminal building. You raise a valid point about weather if walking up the Hudson from the ferry terminal to Pier 88. It's an easy 15 minute walk on flat ground and free from worrying about cars (though you might have to dodge crazy cyclists ;o) It didn't rain the days we walked it, to and from the ferry terminal, but I had planned for it just in case. We always bring small travel umbrellas on any cruise, and I simply brought along two large bags to cover our suitcases just in case. Bottom line is that parking at the MCT is a little less than TWICE what it cost to park in Weehawken, and the savings are even better when one factors in the US/Canadian exchange

Not sure of this is interesting to you, but Princess just opened up Boston sailings for Canada/New England for July 2024 on the Emerald, and we are considering them seriously. I priced pretty much every cruise line for around the same time, Canada/New England, and HAL and Celebrity were far more expensive. NCL was also more expensive, though not as bad as HAL or X. Princess would be a better fit for the OP than NCL, pretty much on par experience-wise as HAL.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Last summer we sailed out of the MCT after having driven down from Montreal. We chose to stay at the Residence Inn, which is a sister brand to the Envue and co-located in the same building in Weehawken. Excellent location, great hotels, very new and modern, with an excellent restaurant in the lobby for dinner overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Also very convenient for forays into Manhattan. We didn't bother to drive over to the MCT on cruise morning, enduring Manhattan traffic and pay the eye-watering parking rate. If you are planning to drive into Manhattan on a Monday morning, that would be even worse due to the rush hour traffic. We used the ferry system, as the hotel is a few steps away from the big Weehawken ferry terminal. We parked our car in the hotel/ferry parking garage for half the cost of the MCT parking and took the ferry across the Hudson. The NY Ferries are very easy to use with moderate amounts of luggage, very accessible. Once across the river, it's a 13 minute walk up the Hudson Greenway pedestrian-only path to the ship. We had also looked at the Sheraton, but chose the Residence inn for its better location; the ferry terminal at the Sheraton is smaller with less frequent service

The most popular hotel zone near Port Everglades is the 17th Street strip, very near the Eisenhower Blvd entrance. Popular hotel choices include the Hyatt Place, Hilton Marina, Renaissance and the Embassy Suites, though apparently it has fallen into disrepair in recent years. Hotel prices in Fort Lauderdale fluctuate greatly depending on the time of year. If 17th St, is too expensive, Dania Beach, just south of the airport is another option, a bit cheaper when 17th St hotels are at peak pricing. Cheaper still, with relatively little fluctuation in pricing, so a good bet in high season, is Plantation, though it's farther away. And yes, the Florida Departures sub-forum has MANY discussion threads on PE hotels. Welcome to Cruise Critic

Very good point, thanks, I hadn't looked at it that way. We definitely don't need more OBC than we already have, so perhaps it is better to just wait until we board. Given all the policy changes and price hikes in recent months, I'm just a bit concerned that P could very well charge us even more for the upgrade once we board, over what they've already quoted us. Note to self: get a printout of the upgrade quote right away ;o)

We're in the same boat, pardon the pun, tons of OBC and wanting to upgrade from Plus to Premier for our October trip. Is there any benefit at all to upgrading now, via the web site or app, vs waiting until we board? Could the upgrade cost go UP between now and boarding time for instance? It's my understanding that if we did upgrade now and pay the cost as shown on the Princess Upgrade site, we could stop at Guest Services upon boarding and have the credit card charge reversed and apply the OBC instead.

It must have been a VERY short-term problem, as mine is also now working

Same here, no login. It worked fine this AM

In our case, we are only 69 days from our next sailing, so well past final payment. It asked for payment by CC or Paypal (!) but didn't seem to offer any alternative like upgrading now but paying on board with OBC

If you already have the Plus package, then you can get the upgrade price right off the Princess web site. Go into your booking on the Personalizer and click on the "Onboard Services" tab. At the top of the page there is a blue banner ("Drinks, Wifi and More - It Pays to Plus etc) click on the "Upgrade Now" button then click on "Get Upgrade Price" and you should be presented with the price. Works for us, we are looking at upgrading on one of our upcoming trips this October.

IIRC there are a few items that can be purchased pre-cruise using OBC, rather than waiting until boarding. Any chance someone has been able to use some of their OBC to buy the Plus-Premier upgrade ahead of time? I'm not overly concerned about doing the upgrade after boarding (after all, it's not like Princess will sell out of upgrades ;o) but it would be nice to be able to take care of it before sailing.