caribill

Legal department 100% correct. Boarding in San Francisco and leaving the ship in Seattle is a PVSA violation as they are different USA ports. To be legal you would need to either board the ship in Seattle or in a foreign country. It does not matter if you tried this with a single booking or multiple bookings. What counts is where you first set foot on the ship and where you last leave it. What would be legal in your b2b2b2b if ship schedules permit: Switching to a different ship on turnaround day (or any following day) in a Canadian port. For example, if instead of starting in San Francisco, start in Los Angeles on a different ship (Princess or any other cruise line). Then for the final segment of Vancouver to Seattle, switch ships. Of course, this only works if, as I mentioned, the various ship schedules line up.

Unfortunately, what is in red is something CCL would never know and thus be able to tell anyone. Of course, they will also not tell anyone what they do know: how many onboard cases and how many in quarantine.

From what I have read, this is also how Princess treats its new customers.

I have not seen anything from Princess about this, but Carnival says that books have increased since the test requirements have been relaxed: August 16, 2022 12:05 PM EDT CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE SAYS BOOKING ACTIVITY NEARLY DOUBLES 2019 COMPARISON AFTER COVID PROTOCOLS SIMPLIFIED MIAMI, Aug. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After announcing last Friday that it was revising pre-cruise vaccination and testing requirements that will allow more guests to sail, Carnival Cruise Line said today that its booking activity for Monday, Aug. 15 was nearly double the level for the equivalent day in 2019.

On your b2b2b2b, what matters is the starting port for the first b and the ending port for the last b. Those two cannot be different USA ports unless sometimes in the entire cruise the ship went to a distant foreign port such as Aruba if this was on the east coast. (No port in Canada or Mexico is a distant foreign port.) Since you would end in Seattle, the first embarkation port would have to either be Seattle or in a foreign country to avoid violating PVSA.

As a headline on a recent CDC change of requirements says: The CDC's new stance on Covid: "Good Luck!"

Where is the entrance to Club Class dining on the Ruby. I assume it is the in the Da Vinci dining room on deck 6. Thanks

Has anyone asked Princess why the cruises in question are listed as unavailable?

To me the important factors are that this would be your first cruise and that the Alaska one would be solo and the cruise from NYC would be with a group of people you know. I would choose going with the group of people you know, especially if some of them have cruised before. They will help you feel comfortable with cruising and make your first cruise more enjoyable since you are not sure if you will like cruising or not (I predict you will). If some have cruised before, they can give you a good tour of the ship (even if their first time on that ship) and explain the many options you have on board for dining, entertainment and other activities.

Thanks very much for a thorough, honest and interesting report. Like many others, you have found the crew to be outstanding. As far as the Internet, Princess has no excuse for poor access due to passenger count. Their marketing of the Internet says: "MedallionNet®The Best Wi-Fi at Sea • Wi-Fi Wherever You Are Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease." There is no asterisk with an explanation saying "unless passengers actually try to use it."

Princess formal evenings do not have a dining room theme other than "formal."

MedallionNet is promoted as being fast even if a high number of passengers are actively using it at the same time (assuming within the appropriate satellites' coverage zone). And on some ships, per CC posts, that is true or was so in the past. Not a ringing endorsement. I can imagine the Princess advertising campaign now: "Cruise Princess. At least the cruise will not be terrible."

Since it is up to someone in the Cruise Director line of command to put out the Patter, it looks like whoever is responsible for the Patter did not learn of the dining room now being open. But I am not surprised that the CD staff does not know what is going on in other areas. On one cruise I met an experienced CD who did not know that there was a dining room open for lunch on embarkation days even though the Patter he was responsible for correctly listed it as being open.

When you check in and show your test results, they can tell if the test was more than 72 hours earlier.

Yes, but watch out if boarding time is delayed.

Even if booked as a single cruise, you should get the mini-bar setup each segment.

But you are on the ship for only fifteen 24 hour periods. You board around 11 AM the first day and are off the ship before 11 AM the last day.

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"All travellers 5 years of age or older must have a COVID-19 test to board a cruise ship in Canada or to board a cruise ship that will dock in Canada at any point on the cruise." It does not mention shore excursions, but says you need the test just being on the cruise ship if it will dock in Canada.

Are you saying the Canadian government does not know that Princess has MedallionNet®, "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea" ?

Some very interesting points at the start of that link: COVID-19 continues to circulate in Canada and internationally. The virus can spread easily between people in close quarters, such as on cruise ships. The chance of being infected with COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you’re fully vaccinated. Follow individual public health measures such as wearing a mask and physical distancing, even if it’s not required. If you aren’t fully vaccinated, or if you’re at higher risk for developing severe disease from COVID-19, you should avoid cruise ship travel.

If that is what Princess wanted, they would have said "medically supervised" as they have in the past. When they just say "self test" that implies you do it yourself without being observed at a test site or online. Maybe in 24 or so hours they will change the wording. If they do not change it, it is ambiguous to me.

Usually the only noise from a hallway is from people talking loudly as they walk past your cabin. And that can happen anywhere in the hallway.

Princess has not had self-dispense soft drinks in the past, so if they end up offering it, it would be the first time.

I think it is more because some TAs this spring ended up with a surprising number of Covid cases by the time the ships reached Europe.