It has been a while since we have posted anything about this trip, but we have been doing a lot of planning none the less. We have made our final payment, and now are just monitoring the flights in case there is a reduction in airfare pricing. We have until 45 days before our departure date of August 28 to make changes to our airfare without penalty. A reduction in airfare most likely won’t happen since fuel prices have been climbing. However, the airfare prices have been fairly flat and staying at the cost we originally paid even with higher fuel prices, so who knows what might happen.
We had thought that more balcony cabins might become available as the final payment date approached, and we were looking to possibly try and get a cabin closer to the front of the ship, which is our preferable location. However, we did not see a large increase in cabin availability from potential cancellations right before final payment, so we are still in our original cabin toward the stern of the ship. It will be a new experience for us being that far toward the back of the ship.
We have been monitoring the overall cabin availability for this cruise, and for the longer segments, the ship periodically shows as being sold out. We are on the 22 day segment leaving out of Germany. Some people are on a 25 day segment leaving out of Copenhagen, Denmark, three days before we get on, and still others are on just the 11 day Baltic cruise leaving from Copenhagen before us and returning to Copenhagen after we get on in Germany. The final segment is just the 14 day Transatlantic segment, leaving out of Copenhagen, same as the departure date for those only doing the 11 day segment. These multi-segment cruises mean that the cruise line has to dedicate certain cabins to each portion of the overall 25 day cruise, which is the longest segment. There are still quite a lot of cabins available for the final 14 day crossing to New York, so, obviously, it is the least popular, but also the cheapest. It will be interesting to see how much less crowded it might be for that portion of our trip. We have typically been doing the 14 day segments on our last several Transatlantic Cruises, the less popular portion, but also the cheapest and best deal.
One of the more disappointing things that has happened for this cruise is that Princess unexpectedly changed the port times for three of the ports, Greenock, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland and Cobh, Ireland. There has been some chatter about the reason for the changes on Cruise Critic, but nothing definitive has been reported by Princess. Scuttlebutt was that there was some issues with the tides, and/or water depth, either for Greenock, Dublin, or both. The change for Dublin was the most dramatic, we originally were scheduled to be in port from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and the new schedule is for 5:00 AM to 3:45 PM, really 5 AM!! Maybe the only places open might be the bars from the previous night at that early time.
The change to Greenock was also substantial, but not as drastic. The original itinerary had us arriving in Greenock at 9:00 AM, and leaving at 10:00 PM, same as for Dublin. However, the new port times are we arrive at 8:00 AM and leave at 6:00 PM. While this is a typical port stay duration, it took away some of the comfort of knowing we could plan to arrive at the ship later in the day, leaving more cushion for any unexpected shore excursion travel delays. Most of the sights are at least a couple of hours away by train, so we don’t have as much time available for making that longer journey, and being at the sights for very long before we have to start the return back to the ship. We never plan on being back late at night, but there is less stress when you travel on your own and there is that extra time, just in case.
The additional hour for Cobh, Ireland helps us to get an earlier start, and knowing this is our last port of call before we sail across the Atlantic, it is comforting to know we have the 10:00 PM departure schedule flexibility for our travels that day.
We have also signed up for a tour in St. Petersburg, Russia, through a company called Best Guides. They are one of the several recommended tour companies for St. Petersburg. One of the reasons we chose them was that the tour group sizes are smaller, only 12 persons on the tour. The tour we will be doing with them is called the “Best of the Best” tour. Here is a link to the Best of the Best Tour Itinerary. Most of the tour groups visit the same museums and sights, sometimes in a little different order. The tour is two full days since we stay overnight in St. Petersburg.
We have booked a hotel in Warnemunde, Germany, which is the city that the cruise port was in for our Embarkation at the start of the cruise. Another change Princess made to this trip was to move the embarkation port to Rostock, Germany, which is a town right near to Warnemunde. Rostock is actually a larger town, but the port is more industrial, and is not very accessible by foot. The Warnemunde Port was only a few blocks walk from our hotel. We decided to keep our reservation in Warnemunde, versus moving to a hotel in Rostock, since the hotel we are staying in is actually a closer ride to the Rostock Port than actually staying in Rostock would be.
Since we arrive a couple of days before the cruise, we will actually be going to Rostock to tour some of the sights there, probably on the day we board the cruise since we do not depart until 9:00 PM. Our plan is to drop off our luggage, check in, and then head back out to see some of the sights in Rostock.
We have put plans together for most of the ports of call, other than those mentioned above. Several of the towns we visit on this cruise are close to the port, just a short walk into the town, so they do not require a lot of planning or access to local transportation.
On a really good note, we looked into transferring our reservation from Princess to Costco Travel, and found out that it was an easy thing to do prior to final payment. I submitted a letter to Princess, requesting a transfer to Costco Travel. We received about $750 on Onboard Credit From Costco as a perk. In addition, we received a 3% rebate for charging the entire trip to our Costco Visa Card. Not too bad, you have to save where you can. The only downside is that now we have to work through Costco Travel to initiate any changes, but with us now being past final payment, there is not much to change. Another downside is that Costco Travel does not keep up with any upgrade offers from Princess, which we normally receive directly via email when booking directly through Princess. However, for this cruise, since it is sold out, I doubt there will be any upgrade or upsell offers for a different cabin class.
We will provide more detail on the individual ports in the next planning update.