Mary loves to travel

11 hours ago, sharon_pei said:

Thank you all for your inputs. I double checked the shore excursion section of Whittier and there is no standalone transfer offered. There are only combo tours: Portage Glacier Scenic Cruise & Drive with Airport Transfer, 26 Glacier Cruise & Anchorage Transfer, Turnagain Arm, Wildlife conversation center and tram with airport transfer. Nothing else, but all these tours wouldn't make sense to us as we need to get to airport around lunch hour to pick up our rental car. I know i can book a third party transfer, but thought the transfer provided by princess will be worry-free on a hectic disembarkable morning. 

The basic transfer from ship to airport is under the "Flights" tab in your cruise personalizer.   Just scroll down past the EZair section, and you should see "Transfers".

We have booked transfers in the  past without using EZair.

Mary

I’m guessing they weren’t able to get enough entry tickets to the Last Supper. 

42 minutes ago, rbtan said:

CPAP is considered medical equipment & not included in the hand held item category. Hopefully you have a battery back up not all transports have sockets.

thanks.    DH only uses it at night; so should be able to just plug it in while at the lodges.

19 minutes ago, con3 said:

We are leaving in 2 weeks for an Alaska cruise tour. My husband has a cpap and likes to bring it in a small rolling suitcase. I was wondering the same thing. Especially wondering about the train portion. Hope it won't be a problem!

Would really appreciate your feedback after your trip.  
 

enjoy!

Mary

3 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

No problem taking the CPAP in addition to the one published item.  We keep our CPAPs in rolling backpacks.  If we carry them on the bus we can always find an empty seat for them.  But in our experience the bus drivers typically offer to open the chamber on the bottom of the bus for those and other larger bags that folks carry on.  Your luggage travels separately so there is always a lot of room on the buses.

oh, perfect!!

Thanks very much 🙂

Mary

13 minutes ago, VikingRob said:

I do not believe that they are included in your one carry on and can be carried on separately. I know I read this somewhere but cannot find it. I will keep looking. 

 

Kim

 

I am hoping this is the case.   I had no luck searching, but maybe didn't look hard enough on the Princess website.     Otherwise, we're trying to figure out how to make this work.

Thanks!

Mary

We're looking at a Princess land first then cruise Alaska tour.   In reading the luggage details, each person is allowed ONE handheld item onto the tour bus with them.    Is the CPAP machine that one item?

What have other CPAP users done?

Thanks,

Mary

7 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

67?  Depends on whether you were turning around at Stony Overlook or at Eielson.

that sounds like a pretty big difference!

we're debating whether to go soonish, or wait until the road is cleared.

Mary

On 4/19/2024 at 1:24 PM, Thrak said:

We do the land tour first so we can unwind on the southbound cruise. Both times we started at the Fairbanks lodge. They provided breakfast the first day and we then went on included excursions. The attached document is a bunch of snips from our Travel Summary for a 15 day Connoisseur Escorted Tour. I did it in a hurry just now so hopefully didn't miss a day or double a day or something dorky like that. Lot's going on here at the moment so I did it in a hurry. However, even if I messed it up it should give you an idea of what is included. Also, I will attach a link to an old post by @caribill which is one of the factors that helped us decide on this type of tour in the first place.

 

TRAVEL SUMMARY PORTIONS

Travel Summary Snips.docx 52.53 kB · 6 downloads

 

POST BY caribill

 

 

EDIT: Be aware that the Tundra Wilderness Tour can't go the full distance at the moment as part of the mountain slid off and took the road with it. It will be quite some time before they can "replace" that portion of the road.

 

I see now they are doing a "turnaround" at Mile 43, due to the Pretty Rocks Landslide at Mile 45.

How far did the Tundra Wilderness Tour go before the landslide?

Thanks,

Mary

5 hours ago, Mark_K said:

That’s pretty much gobbledygook for a person without much history with the Princess board and its acronyms.

PCL = Princess Cruise Line

MD = Maitre D'

DRO = Dining Room Officer

DMW = Dine My Way

TD = Traditional Dining (2 fixed times nightly)

DR = Dining Room

Just now, carnabombers said:

We certainly do get charged the onboard gratuity. We have to nominate to not be charged. 

On Australia based cruises?

On 4/4/2024 at 6:23 PM, carnabombers said:

In Australia ……

 

The fares we pay for cruises are more than what Americans pay which annoys me as well. Anyway, I would prefer that cruise lines actually pay all their staff a better base wage, include that in the actual price of the cruise and then dump the gratuity payment   

But, you’re exactly getting your wish!   Australians indeed have the “better base wages” included in the actual price of the cruise and there is no gratuity charged onboard.  
😊

I sometimes run into various issues with the Princess website.  Often, trying another browser solves it. 
 

Mary

We did our cruise in January, made it to the Falklands, and did the Bluff Cove excursion.  
it seems they are only working with cruise ships; there wasn’t a way to book independently.  
 

Bluff Cove was wonderful!!

The ride out was smooth, as they used the pandemic shutdown time to fully pave the road.
We saw plenty of Gentoos and Kings.    
Highly recommend, especially if you can’t do rough 4x4 rides, or prefer not to spend 7 hours.  
 

Mary

The spreadsheet approach is really useful.  We do something similar. 
 

The key point the OP is making is that the intangible benefit — be it convenience, a break from thinking about spending, or a feeling of luxury — isn’t worth zero.  
“Doing the math” lets you see the price of the intangible.   Especially on shorter cruises, the intangible benefits may be worth it even if the math says otherwise 😊

50 minutes ago, memoak said:

They already have now that shops are sailing full. Our offers used to contain up to $1,000 free play per person now it is between $250 to $400   Also plus package is rarely included

That is quite a change!

On 4/11/2024 at 4:42 PM, memoak said:

Remember those people who gamble a lot are paying 30% to 100% less in their cruise  fare than you did

Sure.   But, on average, it still works to the cruise line's benefit, or the casino offers would change.

3 hours ago, lorri111 said:

Yep. And I took several screen shots of folio on app during cruise but of course can't access that now.

If you took a screenshot shouldn’t it be in your photos?

27 minutes ago, ladychater said:

I shouldn't have to be "diligent.". It would be ever so simple for Princess to label the food.  Then the servers and customers would know what to eat and what not to.  I feel like you're being a defensive of Princess because this isn't an issue that affects you.  Don't reply to me, I don't care what you have to say, as you don't care about my concerns.  

Um, if you’ve read this thread, you’d know his wife has deathly allergies, so this is in fact “an issue that affects him”.   
 

Being diligent in determining what’s in the food is similar to defensive driving.   
I have a lot to lose, so will always make sure it’s safe to enter an intersection, or use a crosswalk, even if I have the right of way.  

2 hours ago, ChristopherTracy said:

$30 a class? Goodness me!

they *really* want people to sign up for a package!

the problem with issuing an apology is that legally it can amount to an admission of guilt, so businesses are instructed to *not* apologize.    A side effect of our litigious society.

32 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Please note that, if you are booking from the US and have the Plus or Premier fares the daily gratuity is still part of it and there is no mechanism to allow you to remove that part of the fare.

 

so that makes a big difference in the "break even" calculation!!

Just now, skents said:

We booked standard fare and after buying internet,  a few drinks, and a couple of casual dining we saved a lot. 

That’s our experience, too.    
I know “break even” is two glasses of wine a day, but we just don’t drink that much.   
Good to have options.  

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Unless you are booked through a TA, you *should* be able to add one yourself as @Ken the cruiser shows above.  Easy...

Yes, I’ve been able to add transfers as described above.  

Only $300 more, total, for a mini suite?

Take it!!!