Smokeyham

There are plenty of clocks on board, or are you referring to something else?

What a lot of great information! I remember our ship was built in Germany but at the time I didn't consider whether that meant east or west Germany. Good point about the ships being too wide for the Danube and other rivers with locks. The age of the vessels is also a factor, and as been said, likely would not make it worthwhile for Viking to try and move them to other markets (even if they could fit).

Hopefully Viking will be able to get their ships out. I agree with the earlier comments.... A very sad situation. I'm glad we got to go in the 1990's. As was also noted above I suspect we will not have the opportunity to return.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone heard if non-Russian companies, that offered river cruises in Russia, able to get their ships out of Russia?

Thanks..... In their booking confirmation they said they will pick us up from our ship 1/2 hour before our scheduled activity.

Hello, We will be stopping for a day (July 2 -- 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM) in Kodiak. We will be on a smaller ship (Oceania Insignia) so will not need to tender. Any recommendations for things to see and do while we are there? If there are any local guides that you can recommend we'd love to hear about them. Thanks in advance.

That looks incredible! We are thinking the 1.5 hour dog sled ride would be great. Question... The Seavey's ranch looks to be a bit inland. Is there a taxi or other transportation to get from the pier to this location?

Thanks..... The SeaLife Center looks really interesting as well! https://www.alaska.org/detail/alaska-sealife-center

Thank you! That sounds like fun! 🙂

Hello, We are scheduled to stop in Seward on July 3 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Do you have any suggestions for things we should be sure to see/do? Also, any recommendations for tour operators that you have used and liked would be appreciated. Thanks!

It sounds like you are quite an experienced traveler, so things which might seem obvious may be new ideas to those less experienced. I appreciate the ideas expressed by everyone, especially given this is a board for those who are new to cruising.

Thank you! The thread you linked has some good descriptions and pictures of the tributes.

A related hint....... Take a picture (or make a note) of the name and telephone number of the ship's agent. This is the person/company ashore that you can contact if you are having difficulties (such as a delayed return to the ship, or missing the ship). Note that just calling them won't mean that they will hold the ship but at least they can communicate to the ship that you are on your way. You can find that in the ship's daily newsletter (or perhaps on the app for the daily schedule). As others have noted, do check the sign at the gangway as you leave the ship (and you might take a picture of that as well). The all aboard time for a stop on our latest cruise was earlier than we had seen on the TV in our cabin so we went with the earlier time and did fine.

We just finished two cruises on Princess. One was a 7-day from Vancouver BC to Los Angeles and the second was a four-day from LA to Ensenada and back. We felt the difference in the atmosphere on board was very noticeable. Of course, some of that had to do with the destinations and clientele who want the different experiences, but we felt that a lot of that had to do with the length of the cruise. For the 7-day cruise people people settled into the routine on board and the pace of the cruise was a lot more peaceful. If you did not get to participate in one activity then it was likely to be offered again, so you didn't feel like you only had one chance to do something. The shorter cruise was a lot more frantic. At sail away people were pushing up to the bar to get drinks and it had a lot more of the "party-hearty" atmosphere. The Cruise Director's staff seem to also pick up on this and the various games, etc. had much more of a let's get a little crazy atmosphere. It also seemed that there were more drunk people on board. Of course, it is fine if the party atmosphere is what you are looking for, but if you are wanting to try cruising because you have heard about the relaxing atmosphere, great shows, fun ports to visit, and elegant ambiance then I suggest you make your first cruise a week-long (or longer if you can) to give you a taste of that type of environment. I think on a shorter cruise some people have the mindset that they have to "get their money's worth" by partying, eating, and drinking, as much as they can for the limited amount of time they are on board. I hope this perspective is helpful for those planning their first cruise.

I would agree that the specialty dining rooms are quieter on the first evening. For us specialty dining is a treat and for those it is nice to dress up a bit. We usually don't feel like doing that on the first day. Additionally, we probably had a later lunch and so could not fully appreciate a large dinner. Dining in a specialty dining venue on the first night actually could be quite a good idea and we might try that on a future cruise. As others have noted the main dining rooms can be quite crowded on the first night.

For those who were on board a Cunard ship at the very sad time of Her Majesty's death, can you tell us how the announcement was made, if indeed any announcement was made? Also, did they hold any special service or remembrance? Thanks,

I'm the same..... What a train wreck, but I keep watching! I wonder if Princess had an advertising campaign built around this and now will have to scrap it? I enjoy looking up the various cabins that are shown to see the layout, etc. Funny also to see them use venues like the disco, but the participants are the only ones there. Were they filming at odd hours of the day?

I hear what you are saying, but there are only a small percent of the total number of cruisers who participate in CruiseCritic and even for those who are technically savvy the pre-cruise portion of the Medallion experience has been quite challenging.

Try "printing" the luggage tags as PDFs and then print out the hard copies from there.

The cabins on Crown Princess are still the traditional style. I believe the primary reason for the drydock was to address the engine issues that were being experienced last summer in Alaska. The ship looked in good shape and we enjoyed our time on board.

Following our trip on Crown we went on Discovery and experienced the newer version of the Club Class Mini Suite. The rounded storage had been removed and the cabin has a cleaner layout. The TVs are both mounted on the walls. For a one-week cruise we didn't need the storage in the rounded structure but on a longer cruise we would likely miss the additional storage and shelf space. It would be nice if they replaced the small table on the left hand side (just this side of the curtain) with a tall cupboard for additional storage space.

Hi, If you would like a quick tour of a Crown Princess Mini Suite (Dolphin 424), I have posted one here. We really enjoyed the mini suite. The extra space was nice. We especially enjoyed the Club Class dining which meant that we did not have to make a reservation (or stand in a long line without a reservation) for the main dining room. The wait staff also got to know our preferences and it really was a nice experience. There are other privileges such as early embarkation. During the tour I did not turn around while standing at the balcony, so failed to show the second TV which is in the "sitting room" area of the cabin. There is a spare American-style plug behind each of the TVs. If you have any questions please feel free to post them here.

We disembarked from a Princess ship last month in San Pedro. I did not specifically see a taxi rank, but since I was using Uber I was not really looking. I can speak to the availability of Uber and tell that was easily available.

Those are nice teak chairs.

We are joining you on board today and looking forward to our first trip on Discovery. 360 sounds like a fun experience.