ronandannette

Not viable in any way. Drive 9 hours to Vancouver to board, disembark in Seattle, find ground transport back to Vancouver to pick the car up to drive 9 hour home again? For a 3 day cruise? Would you? And the idea of renting a car in Seattle for drop-off back in Calgary was a complete non-starter.

We just got off yesterday and were in a standard balcony right directly under the Horizon Cafe (buffet). M628. I can honestly say it was NOT noisy in the least - we were in the cabin at various times of day, and of course all night and early morning. Not until debarkation did we hear any sound from above and even then, it was only a few scrapes and thuds; nothing that would have kept us from sleeping.

Alaska only flies the Calgary route a few times a week and because they're an economical option, seats are scarce now that the cruise season out of Seattle has started. We asked about a few more creative routing options but nothing came together. 😕 I wish I'd had this advice before - we would have passed on this short cruise. We only booked it at all to use up the very last of our Covid-credits, which resulted from canceled Princess bookings in 2020/21 and were set to expire at the end of the month. As for Border Security, when we finally got off the ship it was bizarre - they barely glanced at our Passports and just waived us through. Not even any customs declaration. I really don't know what to make of it.

Don't dismiss the "horror stories" you weren't a part of. You were one of the very few lucky ones. By 8:00 am they had closed the gangway and were announcing a delay of at least 2 hours. Not much for an explanation other than a shortage of Customs staff and the terminal being over-crowded due to the coincident disembarkation of the Eurodam. We waited as instructed; they allowed people back into the staterooms and the lines (unbelievably long) didn't start moving until after 10:00 am. We made a plea to an officer who directed us out a side way and still missed the cut-off for our international flight back to Calgary, which took off at 12:35 pm. Very upsetting. We were booked on Alaska Air and the next available flight they could offer was 6 days hence. We ended up stranded overnight in Seattle and having to pay over $1,000 Canadian for two next-day fares home Air Canada which we caught this morning at 6:00 am. Because Alaska offered to re-book us, my flight insurance (which I booked through them with the purchase) will not reimburse the new tickets or refund the unused ones. All in all, this little snag quadrupled the price of what we happily booked as a quick, cheap getaway and sapped the joy from it.

Whether or not you get a copy delivered (hit and miss like many other things), the Compass is available for pick-up at Guest Services. Don't let the empty racks fool you - just ask for a copy and it will be happily provided. IMO eliminating the delivery of the printed copy is a step too far. The app is a very pesky way to have to find the daily schedule.

Makes sense - too bad they don't plan for contingencies. It wouldn't be practical on all sailings but on the Navigator run they could easily board somebody to do something at Catalina or Ensenada. Were the shows running? We disembarked on the 20th - the same day you got on, right? Other than the shows, everything was open, fully operational and in top-notch shape, with the exception of the movie screen which appears to be damaged. I hope you had better weather than we did - it was May Gray and unseasonably cold and the interior venues were downright chilly.

Well, apparently you can't tell them that there definitely will be, either. Like I said, we were extremely disappointed. I doubt the skaters had Covid; they did a 30 minute throw-away skills showcase on the first evening. I thought that was just a teaser of better things to come, but nope.

😒Don't get too excited about the ice show, or the entertainment in general. We sailed May 16 - 20 and not only was there no iSkate, there was also no Showgirls in the theater and little else either. Mediocre comic two nights (same show), a Tenor one night (really quite good) and one night it was actually dark. I've never seen such a thing in a dozen RCCL cruises. There was no explanation of why it was like this and we were very disappointed.

Interesting - and a huge pain in the butt! Do you know who will be reviewing the ArriveCan QR code? The cruiseline or will they have a customs check-point at the port? When you fly, it's up to the airline to verify the QR prior to boarding you but you also show it when you go through Canada Customs upon arrival.

😒Not to mention that perhaps a better deal can be had by simply calling and asking the current price of the upgrade you want. We had a virtual balcony inside cabin booked for our recent Navigator sailing (May 16 - 20). After final payment the Royal Up emails started arriving but the prices were, IMO, ridiculous. For a lark I called in and asked about purchasing an upgrade and ended up taking a spacious balcony in an amazing location on Deck 11 for a total of $69/USD for both of us. That's about 1/3 the starting bid, per person, that Royal Up wanted.

There's actually no such time restriction. I flew home from LAX today after sailing on the Navigator and did the ArriveCan app while standing in line to have my vax pass inspected and get my luggage tags. And if Victoria is just a port stop, not debarkation, do you even need to do it? Will everyone on the ship need to download ArriveCan and fill it out just to visit?

I’m not sure if the pools were warm - we didn’t swim. The hot tubs were lovely and water slides weren’t icy even though the weather this week has been pretty unpleasant. Also disappointing and inexplicable is that there was no Showgirls or iSkate. Nothing at all for production shows (the theatre was actually dark one night) and the only performance in Studio B was a throw-away 30 minute skills showcase. Very unworthy entertainment line-up for what was otherwise a very impressive cruise.

We are on her now, currently anchored at Catalina. This sailing (May 16 - 20) has 1605 passengers and apparently less than 200 children. I must say the atmosphere lacks a certain buzz (early traditional dining is a ghost town) but the instant access to absolutely everything is very nice. 😀 The ship looks fantastic, all venues are open and the staff is having no trouble keeping up and service in all areas is uniformly excellent.

Can anyone tell me what night is formal, or if they even do that anymore? First and second nights are at sea, third and fourth are in port. So excited this ship is now on the West Coast and so excited to be cruising RCCL again after Covid! This same 4-day itinerary out of LA on our beloved old Monarch was what started it all for DH and me. 😍