dockman

I have been to glacier bay multiple times and still overall prefer Hubbard Glacier as being the most spectacular. You opinion may vary.

Thanks for all the replies. I think my strategy for my next cruise is the gloves as well as a bottle of sanitizer. I do eat most of my meals in the buffet by choice. Maybe seems weird or overprotective to some but it is my vacation and if that will reduce my risk of catching something and spending my vacation in my room coughing for a week or so then so be it. Good luck to all fellow cruisers in avoiding any and all illness on your cruises.

yep for sure and like you i go out of my way to try and avoid any and all contact with obviously sick people as best as i can....getting sick is never fun but seems especially awful when you are on what you had hoped would be a fun vacation and then get the crud...

A holland server wears the gloves and only he touches the tongs with a gloved hand...very different from dozens of people touching the tongs with their bare hands.

Well of course there are many who do not eat in the buffet but there are also a ton of people who do eat at least one or more meals or snacks in the buffet every single day. How many people for example use the tongs to pick up a chocolate chip cookie and then use that same hand to shove the cookie, germs and all, right into their mouth? For a variety of reasons I prefer to eat in the buffet and rarely eat in the dining rooms. Seems the best realisitic defense is to wear a glove going through the line as well as use a bottle of hand sanitizer before you eat. As said washing your hands after going through the line is great but realistically if even half the people did that there would be lines at the wash station and nearby toilets. Personally I wish princess would go with the Holland buffet model and not allow people to self serve with tongs. Or what if princess had packets of wet wipes sitting on all the tables next to the silverware/napkins. I suspect that alone would reduce a lot of germ spread? I realize they do have the sanitizer dispensers around but frankly the amount of sanitizer that comes out per squirt seems miniscule and i have found many of them to often be empty.

Recently off a 14 day Sapphire alaska cruise. The first few days was great but about day 5 I felt the dreaded scratchy throat and spent the next 7 days mostly in my cabin with a bad cough and cold in spite of my efforts to not get sick. I was certainly not alone as it seemed every day there were more and more people coughing and sneezing and obviously sick. The first few days in the Lido buffet a crew member was strongly encouraging people to wash their hands when they enter the buffet line but as the days went by there was less and less of this. I rarely if ever saw anyone wash their hands after going through the buffet line. All it really takes is a few sick people go through the line and pick up the tongs with some good ole cold virus on their hands that then gets spread to all the tongs and likely to all the hands that touch them. I saw one guy who was obvioulsy sick coughing into his hand as he went down the line. When you look at the sheer numbers of people who go through those lines it is hard to imagine that several people do not spread their germs this way. Washing before and AFTER going through the line might offer more protection as you would want to get any bugs you pick up off the tongs off of your hands before you start eating or touching you eyes or mouth etc. But frankly i do not think washing after going though the line will happen as it would create a big line of people trying to wash before and after using tongs. So the question is how to best protect yourself from getting a bug off the buffet line. Interesting that people will push elevator buttons etc with their elbows or knuckles to avoid bugs or wear masks but seem oblivious to the buffet bugs? I suppose other options would be to carry your own sanitizer bottle and clean that way? But is that as good a hot water and soap? Or some have suggested wearing a disposal rubber/plastic glove while using the tongs? Or maybe use a napkin to pick up the tongs ? I have noticed on Holland where the servers wear gloves and serve you rather than every passenger dealing with tongs i seem to rarely get sick. Is it time for Princess to copy the Holland procedure? As we all know getting sick certainly can ruin most any vacation. And of course we don't live in a bubble so you may well pick up a bug elsewhere but to me it does seem that it might be time for Princess to take a hard look at how the buffet is handled. Anyone have any other ideas as to how to protect yourself?

i walked it every day several laps...depends on the wind but most days if you walk by fairly quickly it is not great but doesn't linger too long though there were a few days when it was not great...the cig smoke did seem to dissipate lot quicker but there was one guy who must have searched long and hard to find the most disgusting smelling cigars ever and it was sure his go to place.

There is a smoking area on the prom deck starboard aft with a couple of benches where smokers come and go....not a big deal except for the cigar suckers as that smoke just flat out stinks and seems to linger on the back end much more than cigarette smoke.

I absolutely detest going to any presentation by enrichment speakers or CD where they read a prepared text to me off of often poorly done power point presentations. If I want to read it then just put in online and save us the trouble of going to the theatre. I have seen way too many presentations done by experts who no doubt know their subject top to bottom but they have zero personality or presentation skills. Does anyone vet these people before handing them a microphone?

Buy an overpriced bottle of Evian...Stand in front of a mirror and see what the label says to you. Ship water is perfectly fine for the vast majority of passengers.

Looks like the old double the price and then give a small discount and say see how nice we are to give you such a big discount. I guess I am lucky that i did all the main alaska excursions years ago....a few excursions now can cost more than the price of the basic cruise fare. Of course as long as passengers are willing to pay these prices no doubt the cruise lines will continue to push prices to see what the ceiling may be. And for many an alaska maybe is once in lifetime trip so passengers hold their nose at the prices and just do it. I am quite happy having done alaska cruise many times to get off and do a few hours hike/walk around the ports which fortunately is still free. There are some good trails in skagway, juneau and ketchikan and a few other ports that can be found via online search. Not everyone's cup of tea but i enjoy walking along a salmon stream or through a forest type area.

Yes obviously have to be fit enough to handle a carry on..i am no spring chicken and sometimes i even check the carry on rather than haul it around airports too much or foolling with overstuffed overhead bins on board ...i also do a lot of asia travel where almost everyone is willing to help old people as it is part of their culture...i get called papa and get helped a lot by all sorts of young asians which is appreciated...the roller carry on bags these days are pretty easy to handle and way way better than a dozen or so years ago.. anyway yes travel light does not work for everyone but in my experience it does seem to me that a lot of people do complicate their travel by taking too much stuff on most trips. I have done around the world trips with less luggage than some take on a 7 day caribbean cruise....having been a long ago hippie round the world backpacker where you had to carry it all yourself taught me some valuable lessons in traveling light... (and many many other things)

Rule one for me over dozens of cruises all over the world is travel light. If you don't have massive luggage to deal with then the skytrain and short walks are good options and getting on and off ship and airport/plane options are expanded.. Do you really really need to bring a different outfit for every day and 10 pairs of shoes? No thanks. Keep it simple and use the laundry service is some very very good advice for most. Think layers of clothing instead of one giant coat etc. I travel with a rolling carryon and a small computer bag....not one time have i ever thought gee i wish i had brought more stuff to deal with. Travel size toiletres are fine and no worries over airport security rules. I do not care if i wear the same outfits over and over as i do not go on cruises to impress people with my wardrobe. I do have free laundry which helps but even if have to pay for laundry it beats hauling big suitcases around. Take a look at the size and amount of luggage that many passengers will bring on even a 7 day cruise...how much is hauled around and never even worn or used once? My guess is a lot and have to say a lot of the over luggage bunch looks pretty darn miserable trying to move all their stuff around.

I have been fortunate to be on cruises that had some really good enrichment speakers that would do several presentations over a week or so....word would quickly get out as the best ones and it was then standing room only. I have also had some enrichment speakers who had lots of fancy degrees from Harvard or wherever that were more boring than watching paint dry...they certainly knew their subject but some would stand and read a prepared text and had the charisma of a bucket of mud. There are so very many subjects that would likely interest a lot of cruisers especially on longer cruises with sea days.. Seems there used to be lot more good ones on various cruises who would educate you to the history of places on the itineraries and make it much more interesting for all the passengers who cared to attend. It does seem to me that holland america generally had better speakers than Princess over the years.

But if guest entertainers cabins are given to a priest what about the non religious that don't care about priests or religion but prefer more entertainers? I personally prefer to have an extra enrichment speaker than a priest. Impossible to please everyone for sure.

Crystal is a wonderful experience if you can justify the cost. It is a very different world than a typical mass market cruise. The clientele and level of staff training and overall quality of food and most everything is obviously different. Like trying to compare four seasons with a holiday Inn.... If $$ were no concern I would be on Crystal right now....staying at four seasons pre and post cruise.

yep i did the quarantine deck in british isles on emerald few years back...sat on balcony port aftter port ....felt ok and ate way too much food for 4 days

Do they still isolate covid positive folks in separate areas?

with the cruise lines all pushing the drink packages more than ever i would suspect that very few of the drink package bunch would even bother to bring booze in checked luggage ....maybe a few special bottles that they are willing to pay corkage......but geez if you have the package it seems that just maybe u would be allowed to bring a couple of your own special wines without extra charge? bean counter heaven...get pax to buy expensive drink package and then they bring their own booze to drink rather than the included package drinks??

Well i guess the "good news" is 10 more years on this passport and I hope to be around to renew it again ....i just did not want to be a semi nervous wreck with a cruise all booked and paid along with flights etc and then be sitting and hoping passport would arrive in time....so overall i guess the $60 was worth it to avoid all that...also renewed my global entry pass online...they said 3 to 4 months...i got it in 3 weeks...no extra fees, in fact credit card paid the $100 renewal completely with zero hassles.

....so u got yours non expedited in ONE week? seems i wasted $60 on expeditied version which took two weeks...interesting

i sure miss those wide teak prom decks with full size chairs to sit and enjoy the scenery....IMO darn shame that so many of the new ships either have no real prom deck or so narrow that no room for real chairs...

i do not not know but IP has 1100 rooms so 1700 dbl occupancy pax would be 850 rooms still leaving 250 empty rooms...could be lot of singles but also could be some trips and quads..something doesn't add up

Passenger above says only 1700 pax onboard so strange that op was not just moved to another room?

so for someone onboard,,,is everything working normally now for those boarding jun 14? and is it coming and going from brooklyn? thanks for a live update..