LeeW

Also look at the current cost of cabin classes you might want to bid for. Sometimes it is cheaper to just pay to upgrade than doing a bid. When cruising restarted a very low bid would win. Now it is taking more, assuming the cabin class you are bidding on has any cabins (say from people in those cabins moving up).

There are a ton of loungers everywhere with umbrellas and in the trees if you want more shade. All are free. Snorkeling is free if you bring your own equipment. They will loan you a snorkeling vest for free. Beach beds and cabanas tend to be out in the sun. We cancelled our bed on second cruise of B2B when we found out how many nice lounger locations there are. Cabana prices used to be $250-$400. Since restart they tend to be $1200 and up for 6 people. Now you can go to Atlantis for less per person, or a whole day at a theme park. Get off the ship early, stake out a group of loungers for the day, and buy the water park passes just for those who want them.

No Starbucks, but Cafe Lattitudes should be open 24 hours. Small pastries, cookies, ...

Plus 18% gratuity.

Medallion may or may not open your cabin door when you approach. I had to touch mine to the door panel. In theory you can order items onboard with the medallion app and they can find you to deliver them (drinks or food). Generally didn't work for me. At bars they will often ask for cabin number since many medallions are close to them and they can't tell which one you are. You will use the medallion instead of a card to get on and off the ship. We carry ours on lanyards. The biggest change you will notice is no more fixed dining. It is all Dining My Way and you can make reservations either through the app or on the web-based page:

Putting an excursion into the shopping cart doesn't buy it. So you might not have already paid for it. We NEVER book more than one excursion at a time - for one thing it causes refund problems if you cancel one later. Pick an excursion, go through the complete purchase process, including applying OBC, and then go on to the next one. And CaptainPedantic is correct - sometimes OBC is assigned to one or the other person in the cabin. You can either call to combine these for a purchase or buy excursions with both accounts and pay with a card when you don't have enough in that account.

They had them on first sailing of Sky in 2019. Yumm!

Older ships had a grill up on deck that served regular fries. When Sky first sailed in 2019 this was changed slightly to serve a signature burger and loaded fries. Looks like it still is like that. Still have the best fries at sea. Looking forward to getting the loaded fries again later this year.

Hope it is the polymer version and not paper. Paper expired last September. You can still exchange old bills for new at the Bank of England.

Ship must be docking in Breivika, which is 4 miles north of downtown. City bus 42 runs around $5 for the trip or $11 for day pass.

Weird issue on port transfer in Tromso. Map shows cruise terminal is basically in downtown area and maybe 1/2 mile from the Raddison Blu Hotel. Yet the $20 transfer says it is 4 miles and 20 minute drive. Think you could walk it faster than waiting for the transfer.

If the bottle sells for less than $100 onboard, yes. And I believe this only works in a specialty restaurant, not at a bar.

Strange problem. The photo id is just for a picture to go along with the birth certificate. No reason for them to even look at the date. Even an expired passport works as the photo id.

The downside of these cruises if you are NOT booked with the group is that the casino is so packed you can't get a machine.

Solarium is usually great. Seldom anyone in there. Some nights they may be cleaning and will kick you out of one side. You need to pick a lounger or round chair under a light to read since it can be dark. Or bring a reading light.

My favorite tour on Aruba is 2 person UTV through DePalm Tours, DW not so much. Might be available through ship (although we did it when we stayed on the island). Rock crawling, high speed and lots of sights on the east side of the island. You do need either goggles or good glasses and they will give you a bandana. Downside is Aruba has lots of red soil. Two weeks to get red color out of my hair....

Even if you are sailing to Alaska from Vancouver you go through US immigration in Canada Place before boarding the ship. That is the slowest part of boarding there. Expect a lot of escalators as you process onto the ship.

For partial transits a lot of tours leave from Gatun Lake after the ship locks up and anchors. Then you return to the ship after it locks back down to the Caribbean. Not as many tours are offered for full transit cruises in the Canal since the ship doesn't anchor. Some cruises have an overnight in Panama City before/after the transit and can offer more tours. Have done a few full transits before and like most Princess cruises the excursions were available as much as a year before sailing.

Not that we care about which side of the ship we are on, but large ships like Allure don't fit at the normal pier in Aruba so they back in to the old industrial pier (starboard to shore). Normal city pier is always port to shore. Gate is between the two. We've also noticed that Celebrity spends more time in port than Royal.

And you can use your vouchers for a non-D person. Not restricted.

Rare situation. Sailed on Allure a few years back and Fort Lauderdale port and airport were closed due to hurricane when we were due back. Stayed out 3 days extra with two stops in Cozumel and Costa Maya. Many folks flew home because of work. People without passports were forced to stay onboard. Really rough time. All drink and internet extended free. Around 1000 passengers by the time we got back. More waiters in Mytime dining room than guests so they started to get every other night off. Staff allowed to attend shows with guests.

During the fall it is fairly easy to book a cruise from LA or SF to Vancouver, stay a day or two, and then a different ship south. Not only do you get a lot of cruise credits but suites can be cheap. We did this when we were getting close to Elite. Vancouver is a great place to spend a few days.

Since we don't like the Blu menu and wouldn't use the Persian Garden our answer is zero. And we wouldn't bid up to Concierge either.

DW normally orders steak in main dining room. In Luminae she got filet almost every night. Waiter got these for her instead of the always available steak in main dining. We were on Equinox and the whole dining staff were incredible.

And you have to pick up the luggage as it is unloaded from the bus and take it yourself into the airport and check it in with the airline. Princess does have a program in Port Everglades and Miami that includes getting your boarding passes and sending your luggage directly onto the airplane. Seattle runs a similar program for cruise lines that sail out of there. Never heard of this in San Francisco.