Btimmer

I've started my blog and it can be found at: https://timmer2023alaska.blogspot.com It'll have an entry every day (not necessarily posted every day) and will largely be text oriented. This CC thread will have the bulk of any pictures. 8:45am tomorrow can't come soon enough!

Noordam. My brother is on the NA the following week.

Thanks for checking in. That was quite the experience checking in in Boston. I hope it goes better this year for your Zuiderdam cruise.

In our experience, HAL is great for kids traveling to Alaska. My brother is taking his son and his two younger boys on the same itinerary the week after us. I report back on their experience as well.

The taco bar was on the Westerdam all last fall of 2022 on the Westerdam.

We're headed back to Alaska to repeat (sort of) a southbound cruise we did last year on the Noordam with our granddaughter who absolutely loved the cruise and land tour. The changes this year are we are taking her 10 year old brother (he was quite jealous that she got to go and enjoyed it so much) and we're doing it Northbound out of Vancouver. This year we booked the cruise as a part of a tour by a company based north of Seattle. Our cruise/land tour this year includes some additional stops and we're repeating a couple independent shore excursions we did last year (Whale watching in Juneau & Sled Dog & Musher Camp in Skagway) and, unfortunately, we're missing being able to do the White Pass / Yukon Railway as it's sold out. Also our tour includes a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and a visit to North Pole, Alaska and a Gold Dredge tour. While our tour includes a number of included excursions by the tour company, we're skipping most of them so we can do specific activities that we think our grandson would appreciate more. I'll be posting frequently into this thread, and if you have any questions, I'll certainly try to answer them. I'll also do one of my daily blogs which I'll provide a link to later. What's really interesting is that my brother and his wife are taking part of their family on the same itinerary the following week on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Stay tuned for more. It all starts with a bus ride from the Seattle area to Vancouver next Sunday morning. Last year, our trip ended with a bus ride from Vancouver to Seattle.

On our recent Regal Princess cruise I observed the very slow Starlink speeds and the deck officer I spoke with who was working on the project had no clue as to why the speeds were so slow.

I've organized and led a number of M&G's on HAL ships over the years. I've only had one officer (the CD) attend and he fit right in. I am very careful right up front to emphasize this venue was not to sell or promote excursions. They are, however, an opportunity for all to meet fellow passengers with interests in various ports. I try to have a time where everyone has a chance to introduce themselves and then a chance for questions to be asked. For our upcoming Grand South America, I'm working on getting our M&G set up.

Even with the new rule, we have brought as many as 18 cans of soda onboard in our carryon at port stops during our 5 cruises on HAL since the resumption of operations. We haven't tested it at embarkation. Your results may vary.

I ended up finding a tour departing from the Salaverry Port so all is good.

Thanks. I've got one tentatively lined up for a Salaverry departure.

Nancy, I'll be doing one of my Btimmers Almost Live reports from this cruise. A link will be available closer to the departure date. I've also found another excursion that leaves from the port, so we'll likely cancel the first one and take the second.

We are on the Grand South America on the Zaandam starting 10/7/23 and one of the ports of call is Salaverry which is a short distance from the city of Trujillo. I've been quoted an outrageous sum for a shuttle back and forth between the port and the city from which we have an excursion planned. Does anyone have any current intel about shuttle availability between the port and Trujillo? Thanks for your help!

We virtually almost always book an inside cabin as we're never there. When we are, it's just to sleep and there is no view at night anyway. And way cheaper. On the open ocean, generally there's not much to see. We really like the Crow's Nest for open water cruising. There's tables and chairs and great viewing. I've written pages and pages in my daily blogs. Here's the link to our last cruise from Seattle to Sydney last fall. It'll give you a flavor of the long cruise. https://timmer2022du.blogspot.com or our Hong Kong to Vancouver in 2017 at https://timmer2017asia.blogspot.com

Yes, it was very odd. Download was under 3mpbs and uploads were under 1. 3 YT vloggers were onboard and they told me that it took hours to upload short 5 minute videos. Our daughter has STARLINK at their home, and it's blazing fast.

We've done multiple trans Pacific crossings (both directions) and never found the internet to be a problem for the most part. All of our crossings except one were with inside cabins as is our custom. Regarding Starlink, we just got off of a Princess cruise in the British Isles which had Starlink and it was dreadfully slow. I even asked a deck officer if the Starlink was throttled, and he had no reply.

Now that we're home, I'd like to share a few summary review comments about our recent cruise on the Regal Princess with a comparison to Holland America (HAL) ships with which we are very familiar having cruised over 700 nights on them including every ship in that fleet. EMBARKATION in Southampton It was simply the fastest we have ever done. Nobody looked at assigned times. Luggage drop off was smooth. It was 5 minutes to check in and 15 minutes to queue up and then board the ship. The bad news was that rooms weren't ready until 1:30pm. On HAL, they have always been available as soon as we are on the ship. RCCL is like Princess: they haven't been available at early embarkation times. INSIDE STATEROOM The inside stateroom on Regal was very comparable to a HAL stateroom with a couple of differences. There were no USB or 110v plugs bedside like is found on many (but not all) HAL ships. The Princess bathroom was incredibly small including a very small shower. I did like that the clothes closet did not have a door. BUFFET RESTAURANT Regal has a very large buffet with many food choices. BUT it has a major flaw in that the serving utensils are touched by all of the passengers and I never saw them being changed out during our eating times. HAL serves the food in the buffet. Getting one's water or coffee was really slow; HAL is typically very very fast. While there was a Princess crew member at the entry, washing ones hands or using sanitizer wasn't emphasized. SPECIALTY RESTAURANT We enjoyed a nice lunch in the Anchor Grill as we couldn't get a reservation for dinner. It was comparable to the Pinnacle Grill on HAL. MAIN DINING ROOM Regal uses a number of main dining rooms compared to HAL which just has one aft with two floors. We ended up eating every dinner in the ALLEGRO dining room and we just walked in with no reservation at 5pm to 5:45pm. We sat in the same area with many of the same diners and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food variety and quality was excellent and our servers were attentive and very professional. This is the first time we have eaten every dinner in a Main Dining Room in over 500 days of cruising which is a further strong testament. ALFREDO's PIZZA We ate one lunch here and it was excellent and a better pizza than we have found on HAL. EVENING ENTERTAINMENT Regal's entertainment was off the chart good. There was a variety of production shows, Belinda King Productions shows, a Neil Diamond impersonator, a Celene Dion impersonator, a hypnotist, an illusionist, and more. The Princess Live theater hosted evening karaoke, multiple trivia sessions daily, game shows, and enrichment lectures. SHIP LAYOUT Regal is definitely larger than any HAL ship, but we found it easy to get around. The main atrium, the Piazza, was a hub of evening activity. We did find it hard at times to get an elevator. We did miss having an inside place that we could sit down and look forward while cruising during the day. HAL has the CROW'S NEST and it is excellent for scenic cruising. INTERNET Medallionet worked well for us and despite it being a Starlink connection, the speeds were not that great. MEDALLION Once we got the Medallions working (it took me 3 and my wife 2), they were flawless and fun to use for ordering drinks or whatever. TENDERING (Water Taxi) When the Regal used tender tickets, the process worked flawlessly. When they didn't, it was a disaster. They should consistently use tickets once they are called for. DISEMBARKATION We elected to walk off the ship with our luggage. There were no PA announcements of the start or progress of the process. We found it hard to find out where to get off and there was no checking of one's disembarkation card. Inside the terminal they should have separated the walk off passengers from those claiming luggage. This would reduce congestion significantly. CREW We found the crew to be friendly and helpful. Our stateroom attendant was very friendly and attentive. Our servers for dinner were excellent. The Cruise Director was engaging and fun to be around. The Captain gave many nice updates. ITINERARY We chose this cruise because of its itinerary and because it was to be our first Princess cruise. The itinerary was nearly perfect and we only missed one port due to wind. CONCLUSION We were very satisfied with our first Princess Cruise. The evening entertainment is very important to us and it was good to have different entertainment that we typically have on HAL. It was an excellent itinerary. We will likely sail on Princess again, but it will depend upon itinerary. We did purchase a couple future cruise deposits. One thing the HAL excels at are unique and interesting itineraries and what has kept us coming back to HAL. Generally they are much longer than this 12 night cruise.

We just got off the Regal Princess 6/13 having done a UK circumnavigation. I happened to run a speed test and noted the existence of Starlink. But the speeds were IMHO atrocious as previously noted. I tested it multiple times during the cruise and received download speeds of 2.9mbps and 1.0 and less mbps uploads. We had several YT vloggers onboard and they commented to me that it was taking hours to upload their videos. For me, I was able to read and send email and watch YT videos. At a Q&A session with a 3rd Officer, I asked if Princess was throttling the Starlink speed. The officer looked at me quizzically and finally said that they were testing it. I replied that I ran a number of test over a two week period and they always showed Starlink as the source. But he remained silent on further information.

We made it safely back home today, (Saturday, June 17, 2023) on a wonderful Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow. We left our canal boat around 8:15am and were at Heathrow by 9:30 for our 12 noon flight. The security screening there was pretty intense. But the best news is that we got upgraded to premium economy which gave us wider seats ( two windows) and better meals. We arrived 30 minutes early into SeaTac and when we reached the arrivals luggage hall there had to be 3,000 people there standing in a very long serpentine line. Our luggage came off the belt pretty quickly and using Global Entry, we were through the border security in less than 2 minutes and never had to show our passports. My last posting which I'll do in the next few days will be to do a comprehensive comparison with cruising on HAL ships. On balance, the Princess cruise was nice, but there are a few things that Princess really screws up on that really soured our experience. Thanks for all of the engagement and following along on our little adventure. Our next one is a repeat land sea trip to Alaska next month and a very long circumnavigation of South America in the fall. These will both be on HAL.

The chicken tasted the same and we don't have Pepsi Max in Seattle. But given that I was overheated, it tasted wonderful!

Today we watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and did two different HOHO bus loops to see the major sights in the city. Tonight we're watching the Temptations musical. It was blazing hot on the top deck of the buses in 82°f.

Here in London is our new boat for the next 4 days. It's darn cute and eclectic. It's like RVing only on a canal in the heart of London.

We are currently in Midgham waiting to visit with a friend. We took a taxi here even though it was more expensive. Here's our canal view. We're seeing Six, The Temptations, and the Tina Turner story. We're staying in a long boat like in the picture above. I'll continue to document our trip in my blog and will also complete a review comparison about the cruise. Disembarkation this morning was semi-organized chaos. No announcements and a crowded terminal with no separation of walk-off passengers from those seeking luggage, and no checking if your disembarkation color and time was correct. Princess could do better!

We just departed from Le Havre. The breakwater. 5 minutes later we were in dense fog and are projected to be in it all night. Earlier we enjoyed our last dinner in Allegro. This cruise is the first cruise in probably 500 or 600 cruise days that we ate every dinner in a main dining room. That speaks highly of the service and menu and table mates. Prime rib (a bit tough) Sugarless chocolate tapioca pudding

The gala dinner tonight was really nice. I had escargot, deviled eggs, seared tuna, and caramel cheesecake for dessert.