VibeGuy

It’s not your eyes - the deck plans are misleading and the Compass maps on the app have a big cocktail glass right on the important part. there are stair stacks from the Deck 16 aft elevator lobby, an escalator (aka, the Skywalker) and the two aftmost of the four aft elevators actually go all the way to Skywalkers - unlike most of the Grand/Gem class, Sapphire and Diamond have two port and two starboard aft elevators facing each other, rather than them all facing forward. If you see a photo of the escalator outflow into Skywalkers, you’ll see heavy glass doors slightly forward, to either side. The stairs and elevators are right behind them. For the athletically minded there are also open air stairs from Deck 16 far aft.

It depends. Some ships are in free-run mode, some have complimentary tokens and detergent, others are back to full price. The tokens can be charged to your account with the medallion - there are venders in every launderette.

The amount of surface rust that accumulated while running skeleton crews in relatively warm saltwater environments is mindboggling. Only the most minimal preservation work was done onboard during the shutdown and certainly none of it to softgoods/carpet. Corporate’s priorities were to save cash at all costs and do as little as possible until paying passengers were at least covering the costs of operations. So there’s going to be fairly obvious corrosion in some spots until the next graving. .

To expand, the latest I’ve ever stepped off a Princess ship was 1:30 at LA, and that was 100% on CBP, and 100% unusual. The last passenger was off by 2:00. With side-by-side/tail-to-tail passengers being Known to Guest Services, I am pretty sure they would have been able to Do Something About It. I’m secretly hatching a plot to do a tail-to-tail with a change of terminal (from San Diego to LA), if the stars align. *That* one might be a little risky.

Without Vacation Protection, probably not, but I can’t think of any Princess sailings that got in so late or had CBP issues such that a side-by-side passenger couldn’t be prioritised for disembarkation and transfer, short of major weather disaster.

Yes, if a particular kind of suite is sold out, it doesn’t appear on the list of suite types in the inventory display for the cruise. They display roughly in the price order of Vista, Premium, Penthouse, Owners, and then Family, because the Family price is undefined, and I can’t recall if you can actually trust that there’s inventory for Family. But no, you’re fine, the cabin you’ve booked hasn’t disappeared from the deck plan or from other sailings. Bon voyage!

If you’re arriving independently, I’d propose showing up after 12 noon. Even on the cloggiest days of late, the line to get into the building is almost always gone, or diminished enough that you can easily seek some boarding assistance and access the elevator in a timely manner.

Ruby is probably the ship in the fleet I’m most familiar with (three and a half months onboard in the last year, that much again overall), and I’ve been in both Owners Suites a couple of times each. I’m also familiar with her sisters Emerald and Crown and have been in one or the other of their two Owners Suites. Something is messed up in the cabin description engine. There are only two family suites on Ruby, and they’re D101:105 and D102:106. They haven’t added any in refits, recent or otherwise. The Owners Suites, category S2, are A752 and 753, and they can’t be combined with the adjacent suite because of the beam that runs through the balcony area, nor could they be turned into a family suite - there is physically not enough room to keep the queen in the bedroom and get six more places. This applies to the other two ships as well. Long story short (too late for that), if you’ve got A752 or A753, you’ve got one of the two owners suites. If you have any other cabin number it’s never been an owner’s suite, and if it’s not D100-something, it’s not a family suite either. So which cabin number has mysteriously disappeared since you booked it? I am genuinely flummoxed how they could have screwed this up so badly but anything is possible.

Ruby has definitely brought back sushi and tapas, and everyone is right about Edwin and Abraham.

It’s a great itinerary but it’s definitely the coldest weather of the cruise season and some of the wettest (September is definitely wetter, late August is a +\-). Wildlife is also less active and harder to spot. Here’s an example: this is just outside Skagway at 11 in the morning in late *May*. Being three weeks earlier is really pushing it unless you like grey drizzle.

Let me guess: someone sold you D101 or D102. Due to a quirk of how these suites were added (by essentially opening the partition wall between an owners suite and the adjacent mini suite) they sell them as two linked bookings - D101 gets D105, I think and D102 gets D106. The backend does not seem to enforce this rule very well, but because of the extremely limited number of Family Suites on these ships, they must have someone manually manage the inventory periodically. While the locations of D101 and D102 are extremely desirable, the layout is a little awkward and when they catch up with this, it’s going to be a fortune to add the other minisuite. I hope there are other OSs available for your sailing.

Depends on the ship. Some have old-school top loaders with agitators (Ruby, for sure), others have HE machines (Neptunes on Sapphire and Diamond). I personally bring liquid so I can pre-treat the evidence of my pizza consumption.

Boarding times for 17DEC came available within the last day or so. The ship had refurb work and cabin freshenings several months before the shutdown, but mechanical and surface finishes contractors are reportedly still on the ship for this, the second sailing post-restart. Sitting in warmish saltwater without a full maintenance crew while trying to conserve fuel oil is hard on ships.

50+ Princess sailings, the bags beat me to the room more often than not. I hate being my own Sherpa and generally hand over anything larger than my rucksack/messenger bag. Never an issue, even in the most chaotic ports.

A passport card does nothing more than a DL and birth certificate. It doesn’t grant boarding an aircraft from a WHTI country. It doesn’t work for cruises that call in Panama, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Costa Rica or Colombia to name four off the top of my head. The passport card *was* a handy thing for boarding a plane in the US if your state DIDNT issue REAL ID (all states and territories now do so). It’s handy if you’re a US National who routinely crosses land borders with Canada or Mexico and cannot pass a Global Entry, SENTRI or NEXUS background check. It is extremely handy if you do business with organizations that restrict access to certain work areas to US nationals under any number of federal laws. For cruise passengers, there isn’t a single itinerary sailed by HAL where it functions better than a raised-seal state-issued birth certificate and a valid Drivers License or State ID. Not one. OP says he’s getting a passport. Terrific. If it doesn’t show up in time, nothing will prevent him from boarding in Seattle or enjoying Victoria if he boards with his BC and DL. Now, as for the flight: I think anything before 11:30 currently has an unacceptable risk of going haywire. I think 12:20 is more than reasonable and fits in HAL’s published guidance as well. I would note that Seattle in cruise season is really lovely, and the Port offers complimentary checked luggage transport to the airport for those with later flights so they can enjoy the city unburdened by checked luggage. Pair this with the nightmare that is how cruise bus transfers get dropped off at SeaTac and I’ll propose the best way to disembark is to send you checked luggage with Port Valet and either get an Uber or use public transit from the Port to something of tourist interest, and then take light rail to the airport before your flight. You’ll enjoy some time in our fair city and won’t be left with the distinct impression that you’ve been herded like cattle at the airport.

Yes. You can use the computers in the Internet Cafe at no extra charge beyond your WiFi plan.

I used to worry one of us would get sick overseas and we wouldn’t be able to access a doctor or afford the treatment. Everything from dengue to COVID to elective reconstructive surgery has proven that fear wrong. Now I worry more that we’ll get sick at home and won’t be able to access a doctor or afford the treatment. I know we can’t be the only ones who schedule dental/medical appointments in ports we’re not crazy about but end up in frequently by virtue of the itineraries we sail. I’ve got one coming up in Puerto Vallarta in three weeks.

No, it is not required. It’s a closed-loop cruise calling only in the US and Canada, both WHTI signatories. HAL guidance: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/faq/know-before-you-go.html

There is not. The Piazza has never had the full redo that added Vines/Alfredo’s and the IC to the sister ships.

Yes, beverage delivery to staterooms is covered with the Plus/Premium package and the standalone beverage plan.

Chedraui slightly to the south is ok; I think Walmart tends to have a more limited selection. In the post above mine, you’ll see a Farmacias Guadalajara at the upper right corner of the map - they are kind of the Rite Aid of Mexico and have more depth of selection. They also have suspiciously delicious fresh baked cookies in many locations. Go figure. For products that should be kept refrigerated, Costco isn’t too far by Uber and is highly trustworthy. The major classes of Rx that you need a receta for are going to be antibiotics, benzodiazepines like Valium or Xanax and opioids from codeine on up. Everything else is pretty much ask and you shall receive - even general anesthetics and chemotherapy drugs. So unless you’re looking for those three classes, you’re fine just asking for the generic name and strength you want, no Dr visit required. (If you do need very expensive specialized injectables, you may need a “farmacia alta especialidad”, and I don’t know one to recommend in PV)

But with complex fantasias like these, you really need a side plate to get the divvying up correct. Volumes could be written about how to properly divide a multiple-component dessert with asymmetric shapes. For example, an Oreo garnish has to be equally divided between sharing participants or something of equal value to the party losing out on the Oreo half has to be contributed. Then again, splitting a bag of seven donuts with my DH once got us o the radio with the NYT’s Ethicist columnist, so maybe we oversolve.

Perfect world: Sail north from Vancouver, spend 4-7 nights exploring the rest of Alaska that isn’t Southeast, sail back south to Vancouver. With three ships running the Vancouver 7NT linehauls, this is possible. Spend some time in Vancouver and environs on either end. If three weeks isn’t in the cards, cut out the southbound sailing. You lose the Inside Passage in daylight, but you’ll see a lot of trees, hills and water on the rest of the trip. Two weeks, with half on a cruise and half split between Alaska and Vancouver seems about right. If two weeks is pushing it, I’m going to say Vancouver over Alaska for the extra days, because the Lower Mainland is spectacular - arts, culture, food, shopping, outdoor activities, sightseeing - it’s uh-may-zing. Alaska is beautiful, but the weather can be dicier in summer and it’s A Lot Of Natural Wonder and the rest is nothing like the vibrance of Vancouver. Others will roast me, but I live someplace with trees and wildlife, but without the best Chinese food in the world. yes, including China and Hong Kong. Fight me.

It’s never been removed. Because it was never added. Sapphire and Diamond were the among last Grand/Gem-class ships built without the IC. After the debut of Emerald/Ruby/Crown, all but Diamond had it added at their next major refit.

DH and I are not motor coach people. We still find amazing stuff to do during port calls. I’ve often said our perfect shorex would be “We have a Toyota HiLux fueled and waiting at the pier for you; there’s a cooler of water and Diet Coke with USD50 in small local bills in that ziploc bag. Leave the keys on the dash when you come back to the pier.” Not everybody who cruises needs nor wants new places spoon-fed to them.