PAKathy

Have a great time on your cruise.  As others have said the Scandinavia and Baltic cruise is a once in a lifetime experience.  With so many ports of call you get to see the splendor of the countryside and the cities.  I would definitely recommend a guided tour in St. Petersburg.  We used Alla Tours and did their "Comfort Tour".  My husband has some mild mobility issues so we wanted to see a lot without a lot of walking.  Our lunches were delicious.  My sister and BIL did the ship's two day tour,  they were afraid of being left in Russia.  We saw almost as much as they did, at a better pace, and for less money.  The Hermitage, Peterhof Gardens and Church on the Spilt Blood were some of our highlights.  In the evening we saw the Folkloric show on the Regal Princess which was excellent and free.  Others paid for the outside show and said we saw as good a show as they did.

My husband is a retired social studies teacher.  We did the tour to Berlin to see the remains of the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate and the other historic spots.  That was an outstanding tour.  A long train ride to and from Berlin, but totally worth it.

1 hour ago, geoherb said:

My team came in second at trivia this afternoon. All six of us made it. We missed a broad range of answers, from Pele's number to an obscure quote by Oscar Wilde.

 

I went to the first Captain's Circle party. Here are the numbers: 307 Ruby passengers, 409 Platinum passengers, 207 Elite passengers; 3rd most traveled, 712 days; 2nd most traveled, 1,545 days; 1st most traveled, 1,552 days; and 276 days to make the Top 40 event.

That's only 923 passengers, there must be a lot of first timers.  Thanks for your reply about the soda package tumblers.  Hope they are still giving them out on January 3rd.

Thanks for your postings.  We'll be sailing on January 3rd, I'm looking forward to a relaxing voyage.  A question for you if you have the classic soda package.   Did you get a tumbler?  We have the package and have received tumblers or different mugs on previous voyages.  Or, no tumbler because none were available.  Just want to know what to bring for our beverages.  Thanks.

I had a problem refaring my EZAir reservations.  On the Princess website I saw a "flight sale" for my booked cruise.  The prices were beyond excellent.  When I went into my account and tried to refare my air reservations the "flight sale" prices were not available.  I called Princess and was told I could only use the prices shown on my booking, not the prices publicized on the general website.  My TA, who was away when I saw the sale, tried to get somewhere with Princess and was told the same thing.  Somehow this seems discriminatory against cruisers who have booked a cruise and airfare. 

I had already refared my air fares a couple of times for this cruise so was very disappointed that I could not refare again.  I'm wondering if this is a new Princess policy, or just a one time occurrence.  

I too would like to see the new Alaska menus.  We're sailing with our family, nine of us,  and have two members with food sensitivities or preferences.  I would love to be able to share potential menus with them.  We are registered for traditional dining so we can sit together for dinner.  We are going to be on the Royal sailing from Vancouver.  Thanks to anyone who can reply.

20 hours ago, NiaGara-Buff said:

We did a two-day tour with Best Guides and got some extras on top of standard itinerary. What I enjoyed best was visiting a jewelry store which used to be Faberge company premises. It still has a sign with the name of Faberge in gold. Now it's a high-end jewelry store totally unrelated to the Faberge. I got an amber pendant, which wasn't expensive but very good quality.

Did you do a private tour or a group tour?  Was the jewelry store visit suggested by the tour company or by a guest?  Sounds very interesting.

11 hours ago, Lovetotrrravel said:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BgxA9lzzPpaV58Rhh-11N-JrsPu9vya7/view?usp=sharing

Wow!  I'm impressed with your spreadsheet.  Now I have two to look at and study.  My husband cannot do long stretches of walking so we are limited to the easier tours.  We'll find one!

Thanks for all the hard work that everyone is putting into helping each other find the best excursions!!

We've done two cruisetours, both beginning in Fairbanks.  Both times we flew in a day early and rented a car so we could do some exploring on our own.  Both times that was an excellent decision.  The time change, long flights and making sure luggage arrived were deciding factors.  The first time our luggage did not arrive with us, it came in on the midnight flight.  That was long after we were asleep after 3 flights!  The first one was a Princess one.  It was not a connoisseur tour, just a regular one.  We were very pleased with the tour.  This was our first cruise so planned all the excursions through Princess.  

Four years ago we did a modified connoisseur tour with a private travel agency.  They included most meals at the resorts, lots of train rides (not all buses), luggage service, Tundra Tour in Denali and excellent land portion excursions.  The company is Best Cruises and Tours, www.bestcruises.com,  located in New Jersey.  They run several escorted land portion trips each summer.  The cruise excursions are not included, we planned our own.  The crab legs at the Princess Denali Lodge were the best we have ever had, and were included in our tour menu choices.  The steak at Princess McKinley Lodge was outstanding and also included in our choice of menu.  

This time we are only able, because of family work schedules, to do the cruise portion.  If possible we would have done the whole cruisetour again.  

Have fun planning!  Alaska is amazing and any parts that you can experience will be a delight.

5 hours ago, Lovetotrrravel said:

Hi! To add perspective to this discussion, I'm posting a link to the spreadsheet I made some months ago when we were planning our Sept 2018 Baltic cruise.I put together some of the City Must-See Sights kind of tours offered by top local tour operators. They are all 2-day flat rate public tours. I didn't only include the cost but other factors - what sights are on the itinerary, how many people in a group, meals, evening options, etc. as well.

 

Please note that those are 2018 season rates.

We opted for a tour with Best Guides, and it was a great experience. Anna, our guide, was unbelievanly knowledgeable and professional. Her stories were always interesting and had a personal touch, yet she never overloaded us with information. Anna had us avoid all lines and showed good spots to take pictures. She gave us an excellent walking tour of the city's main streets which was very informal and a lot of fun, and a metro tour we will never forget. Highly recommended!

Where can I find the link to your spreadsheet?  So many tours, so many options!!

SteveinPhilly,

Thanks for the excellent video.  I feel as if I was part of your tour.  I watched a portion of the video and will finish it at another time.  We're in Delaware County, love being 20 minutes to the airport, and the world.

On 1/3/2019 at 8:20 PM, SteveinPhilly said:

Well we are retired and so the 12 days was perfect. If you go to my YT Channel and look at the playlist for the St. Persburg you will see Copenhagen, Tallin, Stockholm and Helsinki videos. In at leasdt two of those were used the HOHO bus which actually picks you up at port. We did not go to Berlin. I would have loved to. Was there in the 1980s. 

 

Hi Steve in Philly!  We're in a Philly suburb and going on the Baltic cruise in June.  I'm actively looking at the tour companies for our SPB excursion.  How do I get to your YT Channel to look at your videos?  Thanks for all the info you posted.

Too bad about our Eagles, maybe next year.

We have done two southbound cruises, after doing a land tour.  In June we are doing the northbound out of Vancouver.  Alaska is beautiful and there is always something new to discover and enjoy.  Check the private excursions offered by many companies.  We've never been disappointed with them.  Whale watch, train trips, journeys to Yukon Territory, sled dog rides, gold panning have all been super fun.  A  shuttle from Whittier to Anchorage will be a first for us.

Enjoy planning!! 

We've done two cruise tours to Alaska, both pre-cruise which I highly recommend.  One tour was a Princess one, and the other was a private travel agency that runs escorted tours.  Both were excellent.  We flew in to Fairbanks a day early each time, rented a car for the day and explored on our own.  Ate dinner at the Turtle Club and the Pump House restaurants.  Both tours were booked in to Princess hotels and used Princess transportation.  Second (private tour) one included more meals at the lodges.  The crab legs at the Denali Princess were outstanding!  The filet mignon at the McKinley Princess was very tasty.  

Make sure you take the long tour into Denali Park!  Ride the domed train!  Go to Talkeetna!  Eat at some local restaurants, try some new foods, talk to people!  Do a ride on a dog sled!  Enjoy Alaska!

We love Alaska so much we are taking our family on a cruise next year.  Unfortunately they cannot take time off from work to do a land tour so it's just the cruise part.  I'm sure we'll have a great time just being together in an amazing state.

We've been on two group cruise tours starting in Fairbanks, one in late August and one in early September.  The weather was cool and clear both trips, except for the rain in Ketchikan.  Temps required dressing in layers all the time, sometimes a fleece jacket and sometimes a heavier jacket.  One of my best buys was the "Alaska" jacket sold at the Fairbanks Princess Lodge, I still wear it all the time.  My husband bought his in Ketchikan and loves it. My advice is to be prepared by having clothes to layer.

Some of the best extras were the "end of season" sales in all the ports.  Discounts on everything!

The fellow cruisers were of mixed ages, some very young children with their parents, a honeymoon couple, young couples,  middle agers and of course older folks.  We had a great time on both trips.

In June we are taking our family on a one week northbound cruise, they can't take off more time from work for a cruise tour.  We are arranging excursions and planning lots of fun things to do.

Enjoy your trip!  Alaska is awesome!

Thanks everyone for your responses.  I keep hoping some more people will sign up so we can coordinate some excursions before sailing.  I too have found the new format a bit confusing and hard to use.  Hopefully CC notices.

We are on two Princess roll calls for next year, Regal Princess Baltic, June 1 and Royal Princess northbound Alaska, June 22.  So far there have been very few others joining the roll calls.  This seems unusual to me.  Previously there were lots of CC cruisers on each roll call.  Does anyone have any ideas why there are so few people joining?

Sign on to the roll call for your cruise if you haven't done it already. There you can arrange a small group tour for Harv & Marv. Contact them after October to set up your date. They have boats for up to 18 people that are open tours and private tours. Price is about $145+ per person, well worth it! We had a private tour for our party of 6. Enjoy planning your trip! https://www.harvandmarvs-alaska-whale-watching.com/

Have a great cruise. We're going with our family next June, sailing on the Royal northbound. We've been to Alaska twice doing the cruise tour going south. This time we are limited by dates that the rest of the family is available. We've sailed on the Royal and love her, I'm sure we'll have a super time.

Planning is half of the fun of a cruise. I've found that the EZAir prices are better than the airline prices, and are flexible. I've researched Vancouver hotels and booked one that is near Canada Place and reasonably priced.

Our excursions are going to be varied. One for sure is a whale watch with Harv & Marv Tours in Juneau. They run small boat tours so everyone gets a good chance of being by the rail to see the whales and seals. Keep researching for train and bus tours out of Skagway up to the Yukon Territory and the gold country. Anchorage is an interesting city with several places to see and enjoy.

Have a safe trip, and enjoy every minute.

We were on the Regal Princess last September when we sailed from Ireland to Manhattan. Our friends had a forward facing mini-suite cabin on deck 11. We missed the ports of Boston and Newport, RI because of Hurricane Jose. The Captain sailed us all the way south to North Carolina to avoid the storm. Seas were rough a couple of days but our friends never had any problems facing forward.

Thanks CruiserBruce. I tried to find out how to start a roll call. It was a bit confusing. Hope this works.

Starting a new roll call for our cruise. Hope to find other passengers who can share info and experiences. We're sailing with our sons, daughters-by-love and grandchildren. Looking forward to a wonderful trip.

We're going on our third Alaska cruise next June. This time with our whole family (9 of us) including the grandchildren. We are limited by their time schedule so have chosen to do a northbound one week cruise from Vancouver. We've done two southbound cruisetours and loved them. Important part of this cruise is just being together as a family and exposing the grands to the wonders of cruising and of course the beauty and vastness of Alaska.

Southbound. We've done it twice, first time on the recommendations of several friends. We flew in to Fairbanks a day early each time, rented a car for the day and toured Fairbanks. Visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North, it is awesome. Also ate at the Turtle Club; delicious food and local favorite. We asked for local suggestions and found everyone to be very friendly. Walmart had some of the best prices for souvenirs. The first time we did a Princess cruisetour, the second time we did one from Best Cruises and Tours out of New Jersey. Both were excellent. Princess hotel in Denali is located very centrally to the park and stores. Princess McKinley Lodge has a great view of the mountain (when she decided to appear). Make sure you get a cruisetour that included the scenic train rides and tour into Denali.

Have fun and enjoy planning!

One sandwich that was good at MDR lunch was the Muffuletta Sandwich. They used the correct bread and a really good olive relish. I suggest trying it. :)

We're always looking for good suggestions for lunch in the MDR. Reubens are so tricky to make well I think we'll pass on them until we get home. The Muffuletta Sandwich sounds good though. We don't get them here in PA. We do love to get a good Cuban sandwich when we are in Florida. The best ones have been on the waterfront in Miami.

Here's to sailing and new adventures.

Wow!! We are sailing next month on the Regal and cannot wait thanks to your great pictures and information. Now my mouth is watering for the fancy food. We are going to be part of the new Club Class, that should be interesting.

Thanks again!!