LeeW

Not exactly. Princess says this but Stockperks won't process anything after July 31 until May.

OP - if you are going to cancel then cancel any cruise planner purchases first. Processing the refund is far faster for this than the processing after you cancel.

Alaska gift shops have tons of blankets for sale (go in September for best prices). Note that these are not super heavy, just two layer fleece that are similar to ones we have gotten on casino giveaways. We do use them a lot, though.

Not sure I have ever seen free escape room on Royal, but think we paid $19 on Navigator before the shutdown. More concerned that they have a 12 year old limit - our 9 year old granddaughter loves escape rooms and has done at least 10 since she was 6. And she solves puzzles the rest of the family can't figure out.

Just watch out for the Bottomline envelope - it looks like junk mail.

And that desk wants to collect $3 for each mini bottle from your minibar if you take them home, even if flying out the same day.

We have used this both at Fairmont Waterfront and Pan Pacific. Note that Fairmont access tunnel doesn't have elevators, so wouldn't work with wheelchair. And entry ramp to the port is steep, so you need to go inside the Pan Pacific to access the port elevator (look for the spa entrance - two elevator banks but the spa entrance markings are better than the port markings and the spa is down in the port area).

Largest group we saw last summer was Juneau, up north by the pier the whale watching tours go out of (we use Alaska Shore Tours). Counted 27 in the trees around the marina. The other great place is the Alaska Eagle Preserve float trip out of Haines. This is a fairly expensive trip from Skagway with high speed ferry to Haines so we usually have to book it through the ship. If ship is running tours you might be able to book direct for less (everyone uses the same ferry).

Yes, but I can cruise 5-6 times a year for the price of 2 cruises in suites, so we just get balconies.

They do check out blankets at the towel station on the pool deck. Fairly small, similar to a lightweight checked Pendleton. We didn't have any in room last two trips Aug/Sept 2023 on Radiance.

The Carolina area north of the airport has a much better beach than Condado (protected by outer reef), and is often far less expensive. More restaurants, Walgreens, grocery. Cab to port is easy and around $22. We prefer Embassy but lots of folks like the bigger beach hotels there.

At D+ level have been invited to backstage maybe 5 times in 17 cruises post restart. Usually at a time we are doing something else. Pretty good if you have worked stage crew. Lately it seems like a lot of these are forums in the theater with entertainment staff, not tours. If you are in a suite, ask the suite concierge if he/she can arrange a bridge tour. They have regular hours in the lounge. You might also wrangle an invite to watch a sailaway from the heliport. We have had a few of these since restart and mostly didn't even have to ask.

Pretty similar to Island or Coral Princess if you have been on the smaller Princess ships. Cabins near the Centrum can be a bit noisy - a lot of the entertainment is done there. And a lot of the entertainment is by crew members, not hired entertainers. Used to be fairly cheap to fly to San Juan, so we have done a bunch of cruises out of there. Great to be able to hit the ABCs in one 7 day cruise and the farther eastern Caribbean islands like Barbados on a second cruise. Typically we stay in the Carolina area north of the airport (Embassy) - nice beach and the normal fast food restaurants we usually go to. Costs $22 to get to the ship from there. If you come in a day or two early the city buses can take you to Old San Juan. Actually the airport hotel is a pretty good place to stay if your flight gets in late. Basic (think IKEA), but very quiet. Decent breakfast. By the way, you start at one cruise a year, then two, ..., and get to 5-6 pretty quickly.

All the towers I have seen have had marbles in the glasses to reduce the volume.

And lately the Windjammer seems to be closing at around 2:30, so we often don't have much choice of a snack after going onshore. Check the hours on a current sailing of the ship you are going on.

In the past I've switched cruises on the app, then back. This reloads the sailing I am trying to check in on.

No, but if you can find a ship sailing over that weekend you can select it on the app and look at the menu. The app usually populates about two weeks before but if this doesn't work try looking at a different ship.

Sounds like it may be time to buy a scooter. I'm seeing a lot of lightweight scooters that disassemble easily for transport. We don't need one yet but will need to research soon.

Seen these several times next to the arcade.

We last did up and back on Radiance in Aug/Sep 2022. Didn't see much of Hubbard on first cruise and rainy on second. We like sailing that time of year due to sales in all the shops and far fewer ships in port. Saw a superpod of Orca on our Juneau stop (Alaska Shore Tours now books Orca Enterprises boats that we have been using for years). You won't see many humpbacks at that time of year. We will be on Radiance again this summer. Radiance has nice heated solarium that is good for viewing. Smaller ship makes it easy to get on and off, although with Seward boarding logistics can be an issue. We used the up and back to take a fjord cruise in Seward. Note that Radiance has minimal entertainment. Lots done by crew members (good singers) in the atrium. This area can be noisy until around 11 at night, so book a cabin away from the atrium. Great crew. It was also fun watching contractors changing windows out in solarium and buffet. They have to wait a year for replacements for a specific window and can only work when the ship is stopped and low winds. They winch the glass out through the window opening.

If you have MyTime dining, in the Cruise Planner go to the bottom of the Dining tab and you will see MyTime reservations there. If you have early or late fixed seating you won't be able to select a time. MyTime starts around 6:45 since they use the dining room for early fixed seating. They will also pull people from the "no reservations" line and send them to other floors if they want to dine now. Water show reservations usually show up around the first week of the month before your cruise. Keep looking, since some folks have reported this happening earlier. Muster now consists of looking at the life jacket film on tv or app, listening to the emergency call, and showing up at the muster station to be checked in. You may not get credit for the film unless you are connected to the ship wifi, but muster station person will handle it. Muster stations may be open when you board or may not open until 1 - depends on ship. Takes about 2 minutes total.

Probably have a tour cancelled every other cruise although we usually find out in the ticket package on the first day. Could have been the vendor got sick. Usually they call the ship excursion folks if this happens. The island folks are still having problems getting workers. Many left during covid and haven't come back. We see a lot of tours where the owner or his wife is driving the vehicle.

You might not see the aurora since it is pretty light out there at night, but with the overnight in Alta you have a good chance. Very foggy when we were up there. Many of your ports don't match the Sky sailing we did, but HIGHLY recommend the Andalsnes Troll Road tour through Norway Excursions. This tour is cheaper than those through the ship and takes you up the zigzag troll road. https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/andalsnes-the-troll-road-and-troll-wall/ Look for the guides in front of the Nordic museum, not across the street by the train station.

Yup. And while the Carnival stock perk web page indicates that you can get the benefit for any cruise through Dec 31, stockperks is only processing cruises through July.

Start looking for someone to take her place and might at least share some of the costs.