Cruising

[sengsational]

... that MSC does not refund port charges for missed ports, even though they don't have to pay them (and collected them from passengers as an add-on to the published fare).

You didn't miss much. We missed Maui due to a rescue at sea (we were the closest vessel) and we each got like $2.14 in Port fees....not enough for even a beer.

 

[gayl]

You didn't miss much. We missed Maui due to a rescue at sea (we were the closest vessel) and we each got like $2.14 in Port fees....not enough for even a beer.

Missed ports twice on Princess. Mediterranean due to rescue & Toyama due to typhoon (unscheduled over night in Busan, South Korea). Credited $100 each time as they didn't pay port charges? $36 credit last cruise (6/18) but no reason forthcoming

 

[deserat]

I've been on two Holland America cruises and one Royal Caribbean. Best ones were Holland America - the one to Alaska from Seattle and the eastern Mediterranean. RC was fine - it was in the Caribbean - problem with that cruise is all the islands looked the same. I love the eastern Med - it started in Venice and hopped around Greece and Turkey. Gorgeous and each port was different.

Haven't used any others - am looking at round-the-world or re-positioning cruises. Want to get to tip of South America someday. There are also cruises on 'working' ships that carry freight - another possible interesting trip.

 

[MisterBill]

Missed ports twice on Princess. Mediterranean due to rescue & Toyama due to typhoon (unscheduled over night in Busan, South Korea). Credited $100 each time as they didn't pay port charges? $36 credit last cruise (6/18) but no reason forthcoming

Wow, $100 is very generous! The port charges would have been much less than that, but I think $2.16 mentioned by the other poster is lower than it should be.

Still, even if it is only $2.16, it's money that the cruise line collected from you that they were going to pass onto the port that you did not get to visit, and which the cruise line did not have to pay. It's not like Oceania, where the port charges are bundled into the fare.

 

[redshift]

I've been on two Holland America cruises and one Royal Caribbean. Best ones were Holland America - the one to Alaska from Seattle and the eastern Mediterranean. RC was fine - it was in the Caribbean - problem with that cruise is all the islands looked the same. I love the eastern Med - it started in Venice and hopped around Greece and Turkey. Gorgeous and each port was different.

Haven't used any others - am looking at round-the-world or re-positioning cruises. Want to get to tip of South America someday. There are also cruises on 'working' ships that carry freight - another possible interesting trip.

This is a great humourous piece re: freighter cruising; it was linked on a previous thread I believe...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/03/a-tale-of-a-tub/amp

 

[gayl]

Princess responded that I was not due an onboard credit for their non-assistance horrible flight to LHR (they booked flight which was rescheduled at the airport from a 2 p.m. nonstop SFO to Heathrow flight to a later 1 a.m. nonstop flight. Would have put me in to Southampton a day after the ship sailed. Their in transit assistance was useless, told me to rebook flight myself)

That said, credits are popping up in my next 2 cruises but I think it's due to my Personal Princess Cruise Planner not customer service.

2 scheduled:
November 28, 2018: 10 day Malaysia / Indonesia
March 14, 2019: 16 day Santiago to LA (early into Santiago, haven't been in SA since 1974)

 

[sengsational]

It's annoying they can arbitrarily change your flight to a red-eye, arriving many hours later. Horrific that Princess didn't handle that better.

Once I booked directly with United, and they switched me to a red-eye without offering any restitution. I can't believe they can get away with that; when I was shopping, I saw the red-eye, but I decided it was worth more money get a "nice" flight. Then they substituted the crappy flight and wouldn't give me any money back.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Princess would have to pay me to cruise with them again. Luckily I have never had a airline do some of the terrible stuff like changing my flight, etc that others report.

 

[Dogman]

I have cruised on Princess three times out of 30 plus cruises. Each time I swore I would never cruise them again. This time will be the end.

 

[gayl]

Princess would have to pay me to cruise with them again. Luckily I have never had a airline do some of the terrible stuff like changing my flight, etc that others report.

That was my first 1st & only issue with Princess. I'm only paying $390 for a nonstop RT to Singapore, $35 on board credits, + tips covered. $600 to Santiago + $175 on board credit. I will only book cruises thru her!!

 

[Nemo2]

I have cruised on Princess three times out of 30 plus cruises. Each time I swore I would never cruise them again. This time will be the end.

Never have, (although, from pics, the Pacific Princess looks kinda nice).......zero interest in Caribbean cruises, which might, or not, be a factor.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We took their Alaska cruise from San Francisco because we would save plane fare. We could take the mega bus there for $14. I am sure I probably posted earlier on this thread about the cruise from hell. Everything that could be wrong was wrong.

 

[Souschef]

We have sailed Princess a number of times and not had any problems. I am not a Princess cheerleader. Unfortunately, our other 2 favorites, Oceania and Regent have priced themselves out of our pocketbook.
As far as flights, I would never let the cruise line book a flight for me. First, you can probably book it cheaper yourself, and you also have more control, especially if you are a frequent flyer.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We usually cruise RC and have had no issues at all. Never tried any of the others. We have a cruise coming in February. We will go to New Orleans a few days early to enjoy the sights.

 

[braumeister]

We have taken three ocean cruises and two river cruises. Of the five, we let the cruise line handle air travel only once (for a Galapagos cruise), and it was fine. Otherwise, we have always done our own air reservations. We greatly value the flexibility of DIY travel, which is why we are unlikely to ever be found on a guided tour anywhere. I can't stand being herded on and off buses and moved around in a group like a flock of sheep.

 

[Moemg]

I hear people remark that when they are older they will do guided tours . They are brutal . A did a few when I was in my late 40's . I am 71 and would no way consider it . All day touring without a break , a different hotel almost every night , dinner at 8 ,breakfast at 7 , luggage outside your room by 6:30 and then rinse and repeat .We like to do independent travel with day tours at our destination with plenty of time to just watch the world go by .

 

[Souschef]

I can't stand being herded on and off buses and moved around in a group like a flock of sheep.

+1
I once sat down and figured that if there were 40 people on the bus, and each one takes an average of 30 seconds to get on or off, you waste 20 minutes each way!
That also does not count the idiot that holds up everyone by talking to a friend at the front of the bus after they board.;.

 

[Bestwifeever]

+1
I once sat down and figured that if there were 40 people on the bus, and each one takes an average of 30 seconds to get on or off, you waste 20 minutes each way!
That also does not count the idiot that holds up everyone by talking to a friend at the front of the bus after they board.;.

We just took a group bus tour this spring with some family in their 80s (and yes, being on a tour did make the travelling much easier for them). It was fine. I'd say it took less than five minutes to empty the bus. You know everyone else doesn't remain seated while the first one gets off in 30 seconds, and then the second one gets off, and then the third one gets off, right? It's actually a continuous line.

Not my preferred way to travel, but whether people were with tours or on their own, every single attraction was jam-packed anyway.

 

[braumeister]

I recognize that I'm an outlier, but for me there is only one real advantage to cruising: your hotel room moves with you.

That is offset IMHO by a major disadvantage: you only get as many hours in a city as the cruise line wants you to have.

Other than those two considerations, everything is a wash for me.

 

[FUEGO]

Oh man, all these recent negative comments about Princess have me a little scared We just booked a last minute 10 night cruise leaving in about a month from Ft Lauderdale on the Caribbean Princess. Only $650/person plus tips.

And it's just me and the lovely wife. Our pretext for gifting this vacation to ourselves is that we are celebrating 20 years since we first started dating. At least that's what we told our poor, forlorn kids who will be staying at home because they have school!

 

[sengsational]

Most of my Princess cruising was pre-Carnival, and a bunch of it as early as Sitmar, which transferred the loyalty points (so I get free wifi, free laundry, etc). I've never had anything happen to me on Princess that was any worse than any of the other mass cruise lines; I've had great, good and not-so-good experiences on the half-dozen lines I've used.

Carnival Corp owns AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Fathom, P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia,Cunard, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Seabourn. They don't all operate at the same price point, but the ones that do, I'd expect the same basic results...none too much worse than the next.

 

[FUEGO]

Carnival Corp owns AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Fathom, P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia,Cunard, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Seabourn. They don't all operate at the same price point, but the ones that do, I'd expect the same basic results...none too much worse than the next.

I've been on Carnival many times and Costa once and I was very happy with all ~5-6 cruises. I don't really expect less of Princess, and I understand bad stuff can happen on any cruise line (or at least people perceive bad stuff to happen).

 

[ohyes]

In my 62 years on Earth, I have only been on five cruises: 2 Carnival, 2 NCL and 1 RCCL.

Months ago DH and I booked a cruise on RCCL for January 2019 for Eastern Caribbean. Originally, it was a 10 day cruise to Panama that got cancelled.
The OBC deal offered by RCCL meant we "had" to book another one to save money.

When I asked our adult offspring for Christmas 2018 ideas, they mentioned a cruise.....sounded like a great idea to me. We now have a Carnival Dream cruise booked three weeks after we return from the RCCL cruise. We vowed, back in 2010, to never again cruise on Carnival but Dream looks nice.

While we are always ready to get off the ship/get home at the end of a cruise, we enjoy much about cruising.

 

[gayl]

I am doing 'guided tours' in 2 ports each cruise but not with the ship. Each is limited to undrr 7 + driver. Usually my crew is the 7 this time it includes others but still maxed at less than a herd

 

[Souschef]

In my 62 years on Earth, I have only been on five cruises: 2 Carnival, 2 NCL and 1 RCCL.

While we are always ready to get off the ship/get home at the end of a cruise, we enjoy much about cruising.

In my 80 years on earth, I have been on 46 cruises, none of them being the Florida 7 day booze cruises

I understand completely about getting off the ship.. One of our last cruises was a 32 day cruise from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles. It was a thoroughly enjoyable cruise, and we did a lot of private tours,but we were really happy to be on dry land after that.
The best part was we did not have to fly home