travkesa

So if you were to go from Fairbanks you'd have the chance to see Denali and the national park there and just see more of Alaska in general. And the interior is different from SouthCentral (where Anchorage is) and then again from Southeast (which is where the cruise will go).

There are two lodges near Denali with the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge which is very close the park entrance of Denali and then the McKinley Wilderness Lodge which is in the middle of nowhere, if you take the train to this one you get off in Talkeetna and take a bus for an hour ride back north again. The one near the park doesn't have a view of the mountain it's more tucked in next to the national park while McKinley has an outstanding view of Denali when she decides to come out.

Basically the difference is you'll see more of Alaska if you start in Fairbanks vs Anchorage. You'll end up going through Anchorage and possibly multiple times between the bus/train, or the airport if there isn't a direct flight to Fairbanks. To connect to the ship in Whittier you must go through Anchorage eventually.

Thanks so much for the review! I'm on the Emerald here in 2 weeks!

6 hours ago, ozzie0075 said:

To cut down on the spread of viruses they should all just do what Holland does. The staff serves at the buffet so you don't have everyone on the cruise touching all the serving spoons and tongs. 

 

Agreed! I didn't mind it on HAL at all, it would make sense for the other ships to do the same.

20 hours ago, chamima said:

For those of you on this sailing - did you receive the late embarkation notice (1:30 because of immigration ) that everyone sailing on future Emerald sailings seems to be getting?

And, if so, what time did embarkation really begin?

Also, was disembarkation delayed as they seem to also indicate?

Thanks!

I have not gotten this notification...yet. We cruise at the end of February. But I'll be continuing to watch for it.

14 hours ago, DojoMojo said:

 

On the holiday sailing, they said there were 345 kids (out of ~3100 passengers).  I’m assuming that number will be lower on your cruise.  In no particular order, our kids enjoyed the following on the sea days:

 

• Sports Deck activities – Deck 19 aft.  They enjoyed the golf, croquet, bocci ball and basketball on several days.  There were generally always other kids there when we went, but it was not too crowded and we didn’t have to wait long to get a turn.  We had a great weather though sometimes it was pretty windy up there (which added to the kids’ enjoyment).

• Camp Discovery – Deck 18, the kids club.  There were organized activities on the sea days (solar system/planet modelling with clay, ping pong and fooseball tournaments and so on) which were a hit.  There were 15-20 kids in camp on most sea days, so at other times that they just hung out and/or played games in smaller groups.

• Crafts – There were a few craft arts-and-crafts activities even outside of camp discovery (check the patter), that were suitable for the entire family.  On our sailing these got full relatively quickly, so you had to show up early.

• Wake-Show Write-ins – This may sound a little silly, but they really enjoyed sending in jokes to the Wake Show (there’s a box in the library, Deck 7 fwd) and having those (and their names!) read out on TV by the cruise director.  They even won a wake show drawing prize one day … it was a Princess coaster.  

• Family Fun-Fair – This happens on one of the sea days in the Piazza – they have a few activities like face painting, and a few games like bean bag toss.  There are small prizes for each game you master.  This can be fun, but it was a little crowded on our sailing.

• Pizzas, Fries, Ice-creams and Screen Time – We tend to limit screen time and food like pizzas and ice-creams on land, but are much more generous about these on cruises.  So the kids had a blast having ice-creams, jellos, pizzas, fries and so on every day.  And watching more movies than they usually get to.  The in-room TV had a selection of family movies, and also interesting documentaries and animal channel/science TV shows.

• Swimming Pool and Open Decks – There were a couple of days towards the end where it was a little colder and the ship rocked a little more, but otherwise the weather was great for pool and deck.  In addition to the pool, they also enjoyed lounging on the deck chairs and reading books they had got along.  There were a couple of kid’s books in the ship library, but I wouldn’t depend on it.

• Interacting with Crew, Santa Visit and Duck hunts – as mentioned in my original post.

• Cooking Show – on the final sea day, the Executive Chef and Maitre d’ put on a cooking/comedy show, followed by a tour of one of the galleys.  This has been a standard on all the Princess cruises we’ve been on, and is usually fun.

• Not Doing Homework – enough said.

 

Couple of other notes:

We went to the "Breakfast with Stanley" activity, but were not impressed with that.  It's just an MDR breakfast (with special bear-shaped pancakes for the kids), and Stanley comes to visit for a few min and poses for photos at each table.  We didn't feel it was worth it.

 

We got the unlimited photo package ($299 onboard and $249 pre-cruise).  It may be a little pricey but we felt it was worth it for us as it was a long cruise, and they had some formal or informal backgrounds setup almost every evening - and it was great to have photos as a family.  They had photographers roaming around the ship for special events (and the canal transit as I noted previously) - any photos from that was also included.  We ended up with a thick stack of photos from the cruise.

 

Hope you all have a great time!
 

Thank you for all the great info! I appreciate it!

Thank you for the review! We'll be on this sailing just in the other direction at the end of February. 🙂

I know y'all were on over Christmas, but how many families were on board for this sail? We'll have our kids with us too. What things did yours enjoy most when onboard for sea days?

I'm so sorry about your flooded stateroom! That sounds miserable.

Again thanks for all this great info!

2 hours ago, Go-Bucks! said:

Years ago I got tired of dressing up and spending 1.5-2 hrs eating dinner so I eat the vast majority of my meals in the buffet. If someone asks me to join them in the MDR then I will, but that's it.

 

I'm currently on the Regal and their buffet is huge and good. I'm not a foodie but I have liked about 80% of the foods I've tried. There is lots of seating and the buffet is open 5am-11pm!

This is how I feel. I don't want to spend 2 hours sitting down for dinner, so buffet it is. My friend and I only went to the MDR 2 nights on our first cruise (first for both of us)...the first night and formal night. The first night decided it for the rest of the cruise. Instead of sitting there for two hours we made use of the spa (not a Princess cruise) and ate at the buffet...we had the spa to ourselves pretty much every time by going then. We would also go check out the menu of the MDR daily and if there was something we really wanted we ordered it via room service (HAL). It was a great work around for us.

I will say though that I really enjoyed eating in the MDR for breakfast the one day we did that near the end of our cruise and we wished we had done that more.

On 10/9/2019 at 4:22 PM, cb at sea said:

Just call...it's not that hard!  Just make sure you have the deck plans in front of you so you KNOW what you're paying for!  

Did you not read the OP? They said they are deaf so yes, it would be hard for them.

OP: I would email a TA and have them help with booking a larger room. I have the same issue booking a cruise as we are a family of 6. For our upcoming cruise we booked 2 rooms. I did it with an online TA because they had a better deal than the cruise line.

I did find that HAL and maybe Princess would let you book 2 rooms in one booking so that would be a way to book as well if you decided to not go for 1 room. Everytime I've looked it's been cheaper to get 2 rooms versus one of the suites that sleep more people.

On 10/25/2019 at 3:03 PM, cheeseclan said:

A question:  we met someone on our Caribbean Princess Cruise last week that left from NYC.  They had 1 or 2 : 12 packs of soda.  They were told no They could not bring on at the terminal so they had to dump it.  Is this something new??

Following for the answer to this question 🙂

3 hours ago, KatiebelleCruiser said:

Hi, I'm a mother of three teenagers and have gone on 2 very successful cruises with them and about to go on a third this December.

 

What has work for us is

1) let the kids help plan the excursions so they are invested

2) let the kids hang with their friends during the day but always have breakfast and dinner together

3) ask your steward for multiple Patters so they each know what is going on for the day.

4) make sure they wear a lanyard with the card attached. On our first cruise 2 of our children lost their cards.

5) bring a USB charger with multiple ports - so there are no arguments over who gets to charge their device.

6) make sure they download their devices with music and movies before the trip as sometimes they need a little time to chill away from everything.

7) bring a couple of packs of cards - we have had hilarious times playing all sorts of games and it’s a great way to catch up as you talk as you are playing.

😎 get the kids to wash their own underwear when they are in the shower. We use Sard soap. 

9) get the kids involved in competitions. Ours have had great fun on treasure hunts, table tennis, soccer games etc. and they meet like minded sporty kids as well. 

10) make sure they always use the stairs to burn off energy

11) be patient with them when they are doing their blog, post, snap or tick tock! It’s their way of communicating with their friends and it can actually be a lot of fun for us oldies  - especially when you pop your head in in the background and embarrass them! 

 

And the the best thing of all - for me - is not having to cook for my swarm of locusts that devour everything in sight. I am pretty sure my 6 footers eat the cost of their fare. 

 

 

I love all of these ideas! I'm bringing my 4 on their first cruise in February. I am also looking forward to not cooking or cleaning!

 

Thank you! We don’t mind taking a taxi or a bus anywhere so that’s not an issue. And yes, I’d heard that it could be difficult getting a day pass in March so I was hoping there would be good public beaches available as well. [emoji4] Thanks again!


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We are a family of 6 (4 kids ages 8-15 at time of cruise) and while I (Mom) would love to walk the old town and the Malecon, the rest of my family wants to head to the beach (and maybe we'll have time for both). What are the best beaches in PV? We're willing to go a bit north or south out of PV if needed (but would like to not have to pay the fee for a boat ride unless it non-Gringo prices) but we are only in port from 8am-5pm (Princess Emerald in March). If you have one you recommend that's a bit further please tell me the best transportation for getting there and time frame it usually takes to get there. Thanks so much! (And yes, I did search this forum and didn't really find anything or if so, it was from years ago. :))

As anyone used Super Shuttle or Go Shuttle (I think this is the name) from the airport to hotel? It's over $10 cheaper but wanted a review if possible. :)

So what would y'all say is the best time to arrive at the NOLA Julia Street port? I'm signed up for 11:30/12 but have a feeling this may be a very busy time...but also know I will have to check out of my hotel before then. Do you know if any hotels will hold luggage if I choose to wait until a later time (like 1/1:30)? (If it helps I'm at the Hampton Inn Convention Center Location.)

The Nieuw Amsterdam was my first and so far only cruise and my friend and I loved it. We are two moms in our mid 30's (it was a glorious kid free week as kids stayed home with our husbands) and loved the small ships atmosphere and how relaxing it was.

We actually hated eating in the MDR (we were on the late dining time)...our waiter was ridiculously slow and so we'd end up taking 2 hours + to eat and then would end up missing the start of shows happening. We ended up only eating in the MDR twice, the first night and then the lobster/steak Gala night, otherwise we'd eat on the Lido deck or order room service from the MDR menu (we'd go down every morning and look at the menu for the evening :)). We had far faster service with room service personally, plus we thought the selection on the Lido was great. Plus we utilized our Spa passes during dinner since we didn't enjoy eating in the MDR...the thermal suite and hydro pool were quite empty during meals. :)

Offshore, we only took IDs (and room cards), HAL will let you know if a passport is necessary and on our Eastern Caribbean cruise it never was.

Grand Turks is very easy to walk right off and be on the beach quickly. We did a snorkel/see the stingrays tour there in the morning and then hung at the beach the rest of the day. And Half Moon Cay was great for just hanging out on the beach.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!!

Background: we usually avoid the Main Dining Room. We find it too crowded, too noisy, and somewhat pretentious. (Just like all cruise lines.)

I wear cargo pants and polo shirts at night on HAL. No need to bring a sports coat or a tie.

As others have noted, HAL will deliver through room service any thing on the dining room menu.

The 'special menu items' for Gala Night were also available on the buffet.

HAL is more relaxed on board than you might think based upon this forum.

This is what my friend and I did...we ate in the MDR only one Gala night and one other night besides that, and nothing particularly formal was needed. Service was far too slow for us and we found we could order anything off the MDR menu to our room between certain hours (I don't remember the exact times), plus we enjoyed trying out all the different foods available on the Lido deck.

You can easily get as many official, certified copies of your birth certificate as you want. Use VitalChek or get them from directly from the original issuing government agency. Birth certificates are easily replaceable with less paperwork than replacing a passport.

This is true unless you were born overseas (but an American citizen). Getting my passport took 3 weeks, getting my birth certificate, 3 months.

I had this question as well so thanks OP for asking. :)

Can you tell me what off peak times typically were? Thanks!

Does anyone know if they do tours earlier then 10am? Our ship is in port from 8am-3pm. I have an email into him, but wanted to know if anyone knew. :) Thanks!

After reading more on Maho to Phillipsburg, we may not be able to help as our ship leaves port at 3pm and it sounds like the drive can take a while. I'm sorry!

Any identifiers on the plane since it isn't a major airline? Thanks!

I may be able to help. My friend and I will be on St Maarten that day, but we haven't solidified any plans yet. We do want to go to Maho, so if we go around that time we could try and get a video. :)