We have begun to investigate things to do in the various Ports of Call. In addition, we have reserved two round trip flights on Delta to Los Angeles through the combination of frequent flier miles and purchases. We also obtained a Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express card, which provided some of the additional miles we needed for the tickets, and also gives us the ability to take one checked bag for free.
We have moved our cabin one time, getting us away from the main corridor and stairway, and moving us closer to the middle of the ship. It is still the same cabin classification,a Balcony in Class BC, and on the same deck of the ship as before, just a better location.
We periodically check the Princess website to see if any additional cabins open up that might be even better. We would eventually like to be able to upgrade to a BB category cabin on the Carib Deck, since these have the larger Balcony. However, we do not want to be too close to the bow, so we will patiently wait and check periodically for a cabin to open up. With the addition of two additional cruises for the same itinerary in October, 2012, and March, 2013, is a good possibility of cancellations. In addition, as the time approaches to the date that cancellations can be made without losing any deposit, cabins may open up. If not, we are satisfied with our current location and cabin.
We have applied for and been issued a Princess Visa Card, which we are considering for use to make the first and final payment when that date arrives in August. You receive double points when you use the card for Princess purchases, which can then be turned into shipboard credit. We hope to do this and receive about $250 of shipboard credit for this cruise. Anything to help out on the expenses.
We have reserved rental cars in each of the Hawaiian Island stops. For these ports, our plan it to go out on our own to view the sites. We have been investigating which rental car companies provide shuttle service to the rental car locations, mostly which seem to be located at airports located nearby to the cruise pier or tender pier. There seems to be some debate on the services provided, the condition of the cars, and the time it takes to obtain the car at the rental desks. More research is required to try and determine the best rental company, comparing price to overall satisfaction, and the ease of getting to the car location.
We have also ordered and received guidebooks on each of the Hawaiian Islands we are stopping at. In doing research, the definitive guidebooks for Hawaii seem to be the “Ultimate” series of guidebooks, specifically written for the Hawaiian Islands. We also plan on taking our GPS to help with navigation at these Hawaiian ports since they are part of the USA Maps on the GPS.
We have signed up for an excursion in Bora Bora with two different companies. Both are lagoon tours of the island. The preferred tour operator, Patrick’s, is fully booked, and we are on a waiting list for one of his boats. He is in the process of updating to add another larger boat in mid May, and we will hopefully be added on for that tour. As a back-up, we are also reserved on a tour called Nono’s. It is not as well reviewed as Patrick’s, but it is still liked by many past participants. We were somewhat surprised at how quickly some of the tours are already filling up, seems that this is the price to pay for having a larger cruise ship at these islands for this particular cruise. Normally Princess uses a much smaller cruise ship for touring the Tahitian Islands.
Princess has not yet released any of the ship’s excursions, so people are already working on their own excursions so they are not left out of some of the better private tours. Princess does not release excursions until 120 days prior to the cruise, which is still about 60 days out as of this posting. We will eventually be adding links to the various tour operator sights we plan to use.