harryfat1

The reason the US companies don't add in the final sales tax price into product is because unlike Europe where there is one VAT rate for each country, the US has over 11,000 different sales tax jurisdictions with state/county/cities all having their different concept on how much sales tax to impose. Thus it's impossible to know the "final price" as they can't imbed just one tax rate as in the US, there are different "layers" of state/county/city tax as every city has a right to charge different sales tax rate as they please. The US sales tax rate can be as low as 0% at handful of states or over 10% at some states when you add in the state/county/city rates. So when a US consumer sees an item on Amazon online for $100, they may end up paying anywhere from $100 to $110 when the product arrives at their front door as sales tax is charged based on their "ship to" address. Someone living in Oregon has 0% sales tax rate but California at next state at some cities is over 10% tax rate. I live in an area where different cities charges different rates such that a $100 table at the local Walmart is $110 after taxes but if I drive 15 miles to the next town's Walmart, the same exact table will cost me $109 as that city has lower tax rate.

That's not even counting the other berth with another ship in town. For us, we will be there the same day as the Radiance. In theory between two ships, it could be upwards of 5K+ people in town - depending on how full both sailings will be. Especially with our sailing being a late change, many people will have no tours planned given the last minute change to a port they haven't researched. The line for the free gondola ride at ISP could rival Disneyland like wait time.

If you are talking about entertainment consistency/longevity of shows on RCI, that's partly because they build the platform/stages of their ships for the entertainment in mind. The aqua theater is for the water show. The ice skating rink has it set of consistent ice skaters. I just checked the RCI web site and the Allure of the Seas is still running the same Oceanaria and Blue Planet shows from 2014 when we sailed on her. Easier to just run the show over and over again. Few pics from our prior RCI cruises below. We will be on the Majestic in a week and I already told the family to tone WAY down the expectation for Princess entertainment from the various trip reports I have been reading on CC these few months. Don't expect RCI level of high energy entertainment. We are going for the scenery of Alaska instead. Different cruise lines provide different venues. Water show from Allure of the Seas: Blue Planet show: Ice shows from Freedom and Independence of the Seas:

I had the same problem with our flights for on Alaska and Delta Airline next couple of weeks with "MR" or "MRS" as our middle names for all 6 of us traveling. I actually called both airlines and Princess to ask about the situation as I didn't want TSA/US & Canadian Customs to look at us sideways with these funky names. The airlines said it's Princess fault and they can't change anything. Princess said their records are not showing any errors so there's nothing to fix. So lots of finger pointing and no real solutions. Glad we weren't the only only with this problem and not a big deal with any customs agencies.

I posted this screen shot over at the Princess board as well. You see the August 8 port has been swapped out with ISP. It's so new that it has no hyperlink to see what excursions are available. Maybe Princess will update it next few days or maybe we won't find out until after we get on the ship on August 6. I have to imagine the excursion desks will be very busy on the ship with people trying to ask questions on the new tour options. For folks on the Discovery next couple of weeks, I think you are going to Sitka instead of Skagway. Think any sailing originating from the south will go to Sitka and any sailing starting from the north will go to ISP as Princess is playing it week by week on what to do the rest of the Alaska season.

We were scheduled to be in Skagway on the Majestic Princess on August 9 but just checked our itinerary online and ISP has been substituted for Skagway. Depending on your sailing on whichever Princess ship, you may be going to Sitka instead of Skagway for at least next 2 weeks, maybe longer.

Yeah, someone from our roll call just alerted me that the Majestic Princess sailing starting next Saturday from Whittier will be visiting ISP on August 9 instead of Skagway. Went into the cruise itinerary and sure enough, Skagway is no longer there and replaced by ISP but no excursion link available right now (no hyperlink). Maybe that will be updated later. So depending on the ship/direction of sailing, Skagway is being replaced by ISP or Sitka at least next 2 weeks.

Without taking this thread into a Skagway versus ISP versus Sitka debate, everyone can have their preferences of Alaska ports. I just hope Princess comes out with a decision prior to every sailing so people can have time to research the new ports. Unless the passengers are on CC regularly or follow rock slide news about Skagway, many will board their sailings on Majestic/Royal/Discovery tomorrow not even knowing their Skagway stop could be in jeopardy, The tour excursion desk for these next few sailings could be a mad house with people trying to rebook their excursions at the new ports of ISP/Sitka if it turns out their Skagway stop has been canceled. We had enough time last couple days to watch various YouTube videos to have an idea on what we will do at the new port if we can't dock at Skagway. Just hoping Princess give enough heads up to rest of the passengers so they can plan accordingly.

From other postings, it's speculated that Princess might make a decision for the upcoming week(s) by this weekend as they sort things out. It would be nice to have a decision by tomorrow (Saturday) as that's boarding day for a new set of passengers on Majestic/Royal/Discovery Princess ships. Most of these are boarding thinking they are going to Skagway on their sailing so it would be good to know prior to sailing so they can react accordingly instead of getting a letter while on board. It's a case of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. I have been looking at various YouTube videos to be up to speed on ISP in case we end up there. It wouldn't hurt if you look into Sitka in case you guys end up there.

Thanks, Martin. Always appreciate your insights at the Alaska boards. So mystery solved. I was confused on why we had to rush back to Vancouver on August 13 to arrive back at 3:30 AM when the "normal" schedule is 7:30 AM for all other sailings. In doing so, we lost some valuable port time. Just for curiosity sake, I looked into the Vancouver tidal chart and sure enough, on August 13, the high tide that morning is around 6:24, right before the ship would be closed to coming for the 7:30 docking. By coming in 3 hours early, it would give them few more feet of clearance as it'll be closer to low tides. Wonder what is the magical number of tidal conditions that the ships feel safe to pass under the Lion's Gate?

Yeap. Still there (see below). Officially Princess only canceled this week's stop at Skagway for Majestic/Royal/Discovery/Grand for this entire week as Skagway city folks moves everything away from the RRF dock in case there will be more rock slides. There's speculation at the other threads that Princess will change ports for these ships the remainder of the Alaska season or this could be just a one week thing and everything goes back to normal. Since your sailing is further away, you can wait and see. For me, I need to look for backup options in case we do head for ISP instead of Skagway as we are leaving soon.

I'm on RCI's email distribution list and saw their promotion this morning. They are also having a kids sail free promotion. Totally different vibe than the Princess promotion.

Sometimes the booking software limits you from booking two people in a triple room. If you are trying to book a connecting triple to another triple, the software may be looking for 6 people to fill the cabins. Pretend you have 6 people and see if you can book the connecting cabins you want to see if my theory is correct. We were able to book connecting triples on the Majestic Princess for Alaska with only 4 people in total so it may be Princess wants to save those connecting triples to fill up later when there's total of 6 people. Currently Princess is having a 3rd and 4th passenger free promotion so this could have an impact as they may be locking all triple and quad cabins to be fill by the max allowed during this sales period.

We will be on the Majestic Princess next Saturday (sailing southbound) and we had our Juneau stop shorten by an hour and our Ketchikan stop departing 3 hours earlier than the original plan. The change just showed up on our itineracy couple weeks ago. Some people in our roll call received email from Princess on the change in time but others like myself never received any email. So there could be some angry passengers when they board the ship next weekend only to find the port schedule changes and they were never informed of it. Needless to say, that created a lot of turmoil for folks in the roll call as if you had a longer private excursion booked, that needs to be canceled and trying to book something last minute won't be easy. As for Skagway, there is a different thread talking about the possibility of not able to visit that port rest of the season due to rockslide closing the RRF dock. So you may want to explore a backup plan for your Skagway day.

I was in the same line of thinking in booking an one way route after having done a Seattle round trip in our previous Alaska visit. In our previous Alaska visit, it rained during our visit to Hubbard Glacier and it was white/foggy by the Hubbard Glacier such that you can barely see anything more than a mile past the ship. Just aim the camera at the area and hope something shows up (it didn't). With that experience in mind, we are booked on the Majestic Princess sailing in couple of weeks going southbound and we are scheduled to see both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay on back to back days. Alaska weather is unpredictable and if seeing Glaciers of any type is high priority to you, then I would find an itinerary that has both to increase the odds of you seeing at least one.

Thanks for the info. We will be on the Majestic Princess in two weeks and starting yesterday I was looking at YouTube videos to see what's out there at ISP if indeed Skagway's RRF dock is closed for rest of this season. As other have said, there are limited options at ISP as it's port that's created for the cruise industry - very sanitized like those private islands at the Caribbean . The port area looks nice and there's a free part of gondola ride (second half costs like $49?) and walking around the area might kill couple of hours. This port stop at Skagway was to be our longest in staying in town for 14+ hours. Don't think there's much to do after lunch at ISP. This may be a hot tub/indoor pool afternoon. If this pattern of port changes hold - it looks like south bound voyages for Majestic/Royal Princess that was scheduled to stop at Skagway (any given Tuesday) might stop at ISP for rest of the season. Wil see what Grand Princess do when she goes down later this Saturday as she's in Whittier now. North bound one way cruise for Majestic/Royal might be stopping at Sitka as that's where Royal Princess is heading toward today (any given Wednesday). Round trip from Seattle for Discovery headed for Skagway (any given Thursday) could also bound for Sitka if the reports are true that she will be there tomorrow.

Depending on the kids age and cruise background, they may not be that happy on a Princess ship versus RCI/Carnival/NCL. If they are younger and never cruised before, they will be happy with any kids camp as that's way better than sitting with grown ups at a long dinner at MDR. However, as they get older or have experienced other cruise lines built in attractions like rock climbing/water park/zip lines/go karts and other venues, having to be on a more sedate Princess style ships will be a hard sell. We have been cruising with our kids the past 20 years since they were born. When they were younger, they had no clue so HAL and Celebrity kids camps were super fun for them even though neither cruise lines are really know to cater to kids. As they got older and been on more kids friendly ships, now I can't bribe them enough to drag them onto a HAL ship. We will be on the Majestic Princess in couple of weeks and it was a not easy to convince them that they could enjoy themselves on a Princess cruise when they rather be on other more exciting ships. Princess calls this a "kids promotion" but if you read the detail, the free discount can be ANY 3rd or 4th passenger in same cabin regardless of age. So it could be any 4 people together in a guys/gals only cruise.

Assuming the time at ISP is similar to the time the ships would be at Skagway, most ships are there for awhile. Skagway is the longest stop for the southbound one way sailing from Whittier in stopping there for 14+ hours so will see if Majestic Princess stays late at ISP today. Skagway stop typically includes the visit with Libby Riddles and the dogs so that could be a major disappointment for folks their hearts set for that event. Here is the screen shot of Skagway ships that's scheduled to be there this week before Princess' announcement. All the ships on the Railroad Forward (RRF) docks are impacted. So most likely a NCL ship may change her port of call later in the week.

Taking a quick look at the 2022 October cruise schedule for Juneau (assuming everyone docks there), it looks like only NCL has sailing into October this year so they may be the only ones sailing in October in 2024.

The new damage report that just came out is saying the area is not safe so they are not docking at the Railroad forward dock. Someone provided this link on the Alaska board. Looks like many Princess ships this week will be impacted, not just the Majestic - The Royal/Discovery/Grand will likely have their docking schedule changed. https://cruisefever.net/princess-alters-a-few-itineraries-on-cruises-to-alaska/ We will be in Skagway in two week so this will have us scrambling to learn at ISP as we have never been there.

Don't know what cruise line OP is sailing with (sounds like HAL) but Princess' official policy for Vancouver flight time out is 4 hours after docking. This policy is on their brochure which was published way before announcements of YVR staffing shortage. Most of the Princess ships are scheduled to arrive in Vancouver at 7:30 AM so in theory they are allowing any flights after 12 noon. We booked our air with Princess for next month's sailing ending in Vancouver. Originally the flight is with WestJet departing at 7 PM but last month WestJet canceled that flight and they threw us into the 12:35 flight so we'll be scrambling to make it to the airport along with OP and many others. This is one rare incident where you hope your flight is delayed for an hour....

I was going to ask the same question as we are doing the southbound route on the Majestic Princess in few weeks so I was tracking the position of both and Majestic and Royal as they flip flop north/south on their one way route. Typically a south bound one way sailing out of Whittier does not stop at Victoria but the Royal is heading that way at 22 knots so she's in a hurry to get there.

Yeah, that was the same response I got when I submitted my request couple weeks ago. The OBC showed up in the account less than a week later so check your account next week to see if anything shows up.

Joelocal - I believe the Majestic Princess is docked at Skagway today. Are they allowing the people to walk off the ship past the rock slide area from few weeks ago? I have read reports of them tendering the passengers in previous weeks but saw on a recent post they have created a walkway around the slide. Just checking as we have early excursion booked for Skagway and is wary of trying to get off the ship if we have to tender. Thanks, Harry

The 5 to 9 PM MDR time is consistent with the time offered on the app as well as the various Alaska bound Patters people have posted all summer long from other Princess ships. Here's a link from someone that boarded the Ruby Princess today for Alaska and on post #2 it shows the 5 to 9 PM dining. Guess the Princess fleet on this side of the world didn't get the same memo... https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2867356-live-ruby-princess-to-alaska-round-trip-from-san-francisco/#comment-63594383