Dani24

Our first cruise (back in 2005), we booked a guarantee obstructed oceanview in the very back of the ship. We booked after final payment, and the next day we had our assignment. We were placed in a mid-ship obstructed oceanview. Our new room was definitely better. Better location, less of an obstruction, a less noisy area. We were very pleased. It was a couple categories higher. Our second cruise (2 years later) we booked guarantee obstructed oceanview and got the category we booked. We were happy with our room. Our third cruise was our honeymoon (16 years ago now). We booked an oceanview guarantee. We were placed in a mid-ship Caribe deck balcony. We were stoked! Fourth cruise (14 years ago) we booked a guarantee oceanview and were assigned the category we booked. The last one and our current one we didn't do a guarantee. So we've had a 50% success rate with guarantees. But a 100% success rate with being happy with our rooms. 🙂

I've had a Princess credit card for around 15 years now. We have thrown a lot of purchases on it, and find that every few years we have enough points to pay for a cruise for our family of 3 in at least a balcony (although we've been using it to upgrade to a suite for cheap). There's no fee for the card, and we've had no issues with it. You can use your points for other rewards and travel credits (e.g. airfare, hotels, etc.). But you get the best redemption value if you use it on Princess purchases over $4001, because then you essentially double your points value. Normally you'd get 1% of those 20,000 points, for a $200 credit. But if you had a Princess purchase of over $4001 you could redeem at 2% which means 20,000 points would equal a $400 credit. Hence why we tend to use them for suites. 🙂

You may want to look up Patters for some recent Alaska cruises (which at this point means either last years, or visit the roll calls for some of the upcoming Alaska sailings -- particularly your same ship/itinerary -- and ask if they can share pictures of the Patters). That will help give you a sense of what activities are on board. Most are free, so encourage her to try everything and see what she likes. We did our first Princess cruise at 25, and our first Alaska (on Princess) at 29. So a little older than her, but we still had a blast! Encourage her to bring a camera, or have her phone ready to take pictures. Alaska is awesome for scenic cruising (even outside of Glacier Bay, which is just an amazing day on its own). You may spot whales just off the ship, or bears along the coast, or gorgeous vistas for days. As someone else said, it's perfect for making some epic social media content! The Discovery at Sea educational programs on Princess Alaska cruises are top notch too. On our last Alaska cruise they had some fun additional activities like an escape room, and a multi-day murder mystery thing. Check the Patters for your sailing (or ask people who are sailing before you) what kinds of special activities are onboard. Movies Under the Stars is fun, if you like the movie. But Princess has a decent selection of movies available in the stateroom too. Games/activities like BINGO, trivia, karaoke, gameshows, etc. can be fun to attend or participate in. Musical acts, comedians, and theater shows are worth checking out at least once. There's also dancing at night. The library on board may have board games and books you can check out. They also usually have daily puzzle sheets. My husband and I like to compete with each other to see who can finish each day's puzzle the fastest. We carry it around with us and work on it when we have down time. Bring a book and find a lounger on deck, or a quiet, cozy spot indoors (inside Skywalkers during the day is a great place to watch the scenery and read in the quiet). I saw you mentioned she likes video games. Some ships now have a video arcade in place of the old cigar lounge. It costs money, but perhaps a little gameplay will scratch that itch for her.

You would need to have Elite status to order to a room other than a Suite. However, you can attend tea service in one of the MDRs on most sea days in the mid-afternoon. We've enjoyed that amenity a lot over the years. We usually end up sitting with other people on board and meeting some new people. But we've also enjoyed a quiet table to ourselves, in case you aren't up for socializing.

We used the kid's club on Princess during our 2019 Alaska cruise. My daughter was 7 at the time, and at the top of the younger kid's age group. Her only other cruise prior was on Disney, so I was hesitant about how it would compare. I was also a little nervous about her being one of the oldest kids and potentially being surrounded by a bunch of really little kids that she couldn't befriend as well. In the end, we were very pleased with Princess! My daughter had a blast in there. She even seemed to enjoy it more than the Disney kid's club (which was far too screen-heavy for our family's tastes). She made a few friends, including one that we spent a little time with on an excursion (that both of our families had happened to book) and at a family activity in the Piazza. Like the poster above, our daughter came back with all kinds of crafts and a stuffy (which she still has 5 years later). She didn't spend a huge amount of time in the kids club (we like spending time with her, so it was maybe a couple of hours on sea days). And this picture is from our first full day onboard. I didn't get a picture of everything she had done/collected by the end of the cruise, but it was a lot even though I didn't feel like she spent a ton of time there! 😄 We're looking forward to our next cruise, where she'll be in the tween's room (though again at the top of the age range!)

We booked a full suite and calculated that Premier made the most sense for us (based on the things we knew we'd likely want to spend extra on regardless of a package). Your calculation will vary. That said, I looked over the suite perks, Platinum perks (the level we are), and the Plus/Premier perks. There's not a lot of overlap. You get a free minibar set up in a suite, but you may or may not find that adequate (we don't tend to care for the minibar selection). The speciality dinner on the first night is a nice suite perk, but a 16 day cruise you may want to do specialty dining on other nights of the cruise. You can order off of the MDR menu to your room in a suite, but I believe you may have to pay a $5 fee for calling in your order (someone who has cruised in a suite more recently can correct me). That fee would be waived with the Plus/Premier. Something a full suite would get you, that might be really handy on a 16 day cruise, is free laundry (send it out and it's typically back to you the next day). You also get a special suite-only breakfast daily in one of the specialty restaurants -- a perk that I personally love! There are some other little perks too, but none of them overlap with the Plus/Premier. I think you could be perfectly happy either way you go. But I recommend doing a price comparison between the two options to see which makes more sense for what you'd actually want/enjoy.

Are you asking about the regular dinner in the MDR, or reserving a specialty restaurant (like Sabatini's or Crown Grill)? If the MDR then you will be able to make your preference in the app. Be aware that they just changed the options available and are clearing prior choices in the app for all cruises after 9/14/24 (unless you are on the Sun Princess). In that case you can go on the app starting on June 17 to indicate your preference. I will have to leave it to someone else to explain the process for reservations in the MDR if you choose the "reservation" option. For specialty restaurants, you can make reservations on the app, however they only release so many reservations through the app. If you can't get a reservation in advance, you can do so once you board the ship. I recommend calling or going to the venue on the first day.

Do they still offer the "You Made a Difference" cards on the ship? We have used those while sailing to submit praise for crew members, and then also add their info to the survey. But that way if something goes wrong with the survey, I know they received recognition on the ship.

I love Riesling (I'll take it dry or sweet). While I typically gravitate towards Rieslings from Germany, I have seen the Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling on some of the Princess menus. I live near San Francisco and wine country, and this is a common offering at high-end restaurants. It's a solid wine, though it won't blow you away.

I've been on 5 Princess cruises, all on different ships, over the last 20 years. I've also done one Disney cruise. People tend to rave about Disney cruises, but in my experience we much preferred Princess for their food, service, and value. Not that Disney was bad -- just we felt we get a much better experience on Princess overall. Even our daughter loved the activities on Princess for kids on our last cruise. We have sailed ships that were brand new, and ships that were very old. When we went on our last cruise on the Grand I saw a lot of complaints from people about the condition of the ship, to the point that I was becoming concerned that we were going to have a bad time. After 10 days on that ship I did see some signs of wear (some couches that looking a tiny bit "lived in", and one day we noticed a small leak near the photo area that was quickly rectified. Otherwise the ship looked fantastic for her age and I saw crew constantly working on her upkeep (as I have on ALL of our Princess sailings). In no way did we feel like the ship was unsuitable, or detracted from our stellar experience. We'd sail her again without question. What I have learned: In general, people are more likely to come back and complain about something than praise it, and are more likely to repeat their complaints over and over and over (making it feel like there are more complaints than praises). People who are apt to be nitpicky and complain about things in regular life are just as likely (if not more so, because they feel entitled because they "paid for" it) to complain and be nitpicky on their vacation. They'll find things to criticize that others would never care about. Some people just like to be the victim, or have entitlement issues, or like the attention when they complain, or can never be satisfied with anything. I can't speak for how you tend to approach things, but personally I have no qualms about sailing on any Princess ship. I expect that older ships will have some challenges, but I also expect that Princess will be on top of it as they always have been in my experience. I hope you have a wonderful cruise, whatever you decide is best for you!

Certainly, nobody is required to keep a tally, even if they're a la carte.:) If you know that you aren't likely to spend as much as the package costs, or you feel your financial circumstances allow you to indulge past the package price but the cost difference is immaterial to you, then there's no need to calculate and compare. For others, it's helpful to do those calculations to see if a la carte or a package gives better value, or better meets their needs. I think whatever floats your boat (or, ship) and helps you have the best time is the way to go!

We last enjoyed this amenity in 2019, when it was Club Class dining (since renamed Reserve). It was a really awesome perk, and we're excited to enjoy it again on our next cruise. Reserve dining is limited to Suite passengers and those with Reserve Collection Mini Suites (note that not all mini suites are Reserve). They are able to dine in a dedicated section of one of the dining rooms for dinner. There's usually a separate entrance just for the Reserve seating. You can walk up any time without reservations. On our 10 day Alaska sailing we never waited more than a couple of minutes for a table (usually we were seated immediately). We had the same waiters every night, so we got the benefit of getting to know our wait staff (and them getting to know us and our preferences), while also being able to dine when we wanted without a reservation. There was always at least one special menu item (sometimes two) each night, just for the Club Class guests. Sometimes these were even prepared directly by the Head Waiter. On our sailing, we were able to dine in the Club Class section for lunch in the MDR as well. I don't know if that's still the case, or if it's offered on all ships. But there was sometimes a special menu item for lunch. You don't have to eat in Reserve every night, or at all. We certainly enjoyed specialty restaurants and such on other nights. If you make or have friends onboard who are not Reserve dining guests, and you wish to dine with them, you cannot eat with them in the Reserve section, but you can eat in the regular MDR, or meet them for one of the Specialty restaurants. If you happen to be a Suite passenger, definitely don't miss the special suite breakfast (usually in one of the specialty restaurants). This was one of our favorite things! They would make us almost anything we wanted, provided they had the ingredients (but also had a different menu from the MDR breakfast). It was uncrowded, and the service was stellar.

We've only enjoyed a suite once so far, with Club Class (now Reserve). We really loved the experience. We had the same staff every night, and their service was impeccable and very personalized. But we also enjoyed showing up whenever we wanted and they pretty much always had our table waiting (I think once or twice on a 10 night cruise they sat us at a different table, but we still had our same wait staff). They were super sweet with my daughter as well. One night, one of the waiters presented her with some really cool origami animals he had made! Another did magic tricks for her. The head waiter, Giovanni, made some fantastic special dishes, and was so kind and accommodating. He had a sweet nickname for our daughter, and treated her like a princess. We still talk about them 5 years later -- they really went above and beyond. We gave them all nice extra cash tips and submitted comment cards for all of them because they truly earned it.

Ugh, that sounds obnoxious. I don't recall there being any tie to any spending related venues on the ship for what Princess did. If I recall right I think there was a place you went to each day to get your next packet. Pretty sure it was in the Piazza, since I recall cracking open our next packet by the International Cafe, and seeing several others doing the same. They did have a charm bracelet giveaway on that cruise, where you had to show up at certain stores or demonstrations at certain times to collect the charms. I ran around to collect them for my daughter, but it was a tad annoying fighting crowds in the jewelry store or whatever for the next charm.

You guys are cracking me up! 😂 The High Seas Heist was a bit like a murder mystery. You got a packet of evidence/clues, and then more were revealed over the next several days. You'd have to try to figure out who did it, and then submit your answers at the end. They had everyone gather in one of the lounges for a final presentation (with crew acting out several of the characters) and reveal. There were prizes for getting it right. It was super popular, so I'm sad it might not be a regular thing they offer. Though, as I think about it I guess it would be hard to prevent people from sharing the clues/answers with others after their sailing.