memoak

They have always had full suite benefits

Suites perks are much more than elite benefits. You automatically get Reserve dining, free specialty dining embarkation night, you will get double the mini bars, your laundry will get priority over elite. Those are are great benefits it really comes down to location (in the corridor next to the casino and lack of balcony. Your call really

Well when leaving the train station in Vancouver we had to show a passport and were asked questions about how long we had been in Canada Then when the train got to the US border US customs agents came to get declarations and asked more questions

I am not sure about Canadians doing it right. It took us well over 30 minutes to get through customs in Vancouver when arriving or going via train. You have to show up by 5:30 am for a 7:15 train from Vancouver and Portland. My favorite customs was earlier this year in SF from Mexico cruise. Facial recognition just walked right through no need to show passport at all

If you went from US port to Canadian port you would have to go through Canadian customs at some point. On Alaskan cruises from Vancouver you go through US customs in Vancouver. Is this something similar ?

We had booked but changed it for a b2b Boston-Quebec-Boston in 2025. That gives us 2 + days using the ship as a hotel in Quebec

The one issue with the Coral is that there are not any aft suites which we love. That being said we do love the size of the ship and use it for certain itineraries like Panama Canal through the old locks

The issue with these ship is that there really aren’t any other venues for casual dining unless they want to do pop up lunches as Alfredo’s in Sabatini’s which I have seen on the Coral or pop ups in the buffet area

Another stage for Alaskan cruises is that the passengers are “the newly wed and the nearly dead”

On the last 5 cruises there was not any reason for a reservation since you could have shot a cannon through the Gastropub and not hit anyone until the last night of each cruise

Although they know when the passengers need to be back does not mean things can’t happen. I was on a ships excursion once that was well over an hour late due and the ship did wait. I believe that the ship would not have waited if it was an independent excursion

On Grand class ships I have never seen the Gastropub open for lunch at all only dinner and they do not take reservations

The IC also never seems to have salsa to go with their breakfast burritos

Be aware they pack people on that excursion like sardines

Northbound ships generally port in Whittier around 1am and the leave southbound at 8:00 pm to Ancona people coming off of land tours