snowblower

3 hours ago, kstaffen said:

I've seen worse 😉 Do you happen to know who the DRO is? I don't see one listed.

 

Didn't notice the DRO was missing from the photos.  The DRO is "Neville Saldanha".

The DRO is "Neville Saldanha" on the Regal Princess 

Hi, on the Regal right now. Here is the latest on Officers & staff as of this sailing. Can't edit the doc with my phone, sorry. Hope someone else can make the updates. Thanks!

I second the use of electrical tape.  I keep a roll with all the other items that are only used on a cruise.  Always let the cabin steward know we taped it so they don't remove it when they see it.  Just another annoying thing that has to be done on the first day of the cruise.  

I received this pitch today from a Princess Rep. and it really felt like a timeshare pitch.  We sail 5 - 7 times a year so it would be easy to use the cruise credits but the hotel offerings made me uneasy.  I was told that any hotel/resort that could be found on Expedia was on their site.  I was also told that booking a $300 a night room with the voucher was no problem.  The thing i didn't like was that the rep wouldn't allow me the opportunity to review the booking site unless I signed up. I wanted look at the hotels, view the pricing and see for myself what the booking would look like on a specific date.  I ended up cornering the rep and ran two specific scenarios by him.  One was for two specific hotels in the same location on the same date and the other was for two specific hotels at a high tourist location for any date.  For the first scenario, I would have had to pay an additional $200 a night beyond the value of the voucher (plus the tax and resort fee's) if I wanted to stay in those particular hotels.  In the second scenario he couldn't even locate the hotels in their system although I know they show up on just about every popular travel site.  At this point I declined their offer.  Maybe I'm missing out on something good but I didn't get that warm, fuzzy feeling.  I only came to CC tonight to see what others are saying about this program but at this point I'm not going to bite.  Time will tell how this program will work out but I'm not going to be one of their test cases.

12 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

KRON4 news said at 10:37 PM the plan was changed to Monday for docking.

I suspect some preparation work needs to be done.

Might be that the tides are not favorable. I do not have a current tide table at hand to look at.

It can't be the tides that is an issue.  We are at the highest tides of the month (high +6.4 @ 11am, Low +1.9 @4:50am).  Chart shows the channel depth @ 47 feet+.  The GP will sail under the west side of the Bay Bridge and turn east around Treasure Island.  That is the same routes for all the cargo ships into Port of Oakland.  I don't believe there has ever been a large passenger liner cruise under the Bay Bridge but I could be wrong.

The original cruise terminal where the GP departed is circled on the left.  The Outer Harbor in the Port of Oakland is marked by an "X" for those curious where the ship will be docking.

11 minutes ago, NSWP said:

How far is Point Mugu from San Francisco? 

They have to sail about 280 nautical miles.  The Grand's speed according to ship trackers is approximately 11 knots.  It will take about 25 hours to sail to the navy port if they stay at their present speed.

3 hours ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

 

He is there and if you read his tweets, he wholeheartedly believes the quarantine worked to keep the passengers safe.  If I am interpreting his tweets correctly, he believes if there has been spread on the Diamond after quarantine it's because passengers have acted badly and have not faithfully followed health and safety protocols. 

It will be interesting to continue to follow his twitter feed because even when he gets off the Diamond and books a flight home doesn't mean the authorities are going to let him fly on a plane or allow him into U.S. if they know he was on the Diamond.  He might be enjoying it now but it could cost him a small fortune in $$$ and time to get home.  I would have got on the plane today.....

2 hours ago, milolii said:

Thank you. Hoping local Bay Area news will offer updates about Travis arrival.  Best wishes for all onboard. 

Other countries evacuating their citizens as well. Best wishes for them. Those of you who get updates, please report on their progress.  
 

 

 

Just an update provided @ 6:20 PM PST. The Diamond Princess flight was delayed for 6 hours this morning in Tokyo. The new ETA at Travis AFB in Fairfield CA is now scheduled to arrive at 10:47 PM PST this evening.  Some of the flight trackers show different information but i believe this information is accurate because the telemetry that is shown on the tracking site appears to be accurate for their position. 

Just an FYI for those who have family/friends on the Diamond Princess that are being flown to Travis AFB in California.  The flight is Kalitta Air #585, Flying from Haneda (HND) to Travis AFB (SUU) scheduled to depart 1:10 AM Tokyo time.  Landing is scheduled for 4:53 PM PST at Travis.  Flight time is 8h 43m.  They are flying on a Boeing 747-400.  As of this post it appears the flight hasn’t departed Japan (10:00 AM PST/03:00 AM Tokyo Time) which means they are already 2-hours late departing.  I hope they have a safe flight.  Hope this information helps.

17 minutes ago, LucyR. said:

I am in shock with two planes from the same company crashing. I was on the Royal ship on April 13th. The Royal has wifi in all of their cabins. Most passengers chose to insert their Medallion wifi into their cell phones or computers. I paid to have wifi installed into my computer where I could stay in touch with facebook relatives and friends. I think when the passengers arrive in Juneau they will be able to receive calls on their cell phones. Juneau is an American port so Americans will be able to contact the cruisers. The ROYAL is the only ship that is cruising from Vancouver. The other Princess ships are cruising out of Seattle to Seattle. Most relatives hardly ever know the name of the ship. They will only say they went on a Princess ship. Ask if they left out of Seattle. If they say "yes".... then you know they are safe. I think tomorrow we will be getting reports from the Cruise-Critic members that are at the  Ketchikan Hospital that survived the airplane crash. I have been a cruise-critic member for many years and we are the first to find out more detail information from our members than from the News people who are getting second hand reports. We will learn more on what really happened with the planes crashing.

 

 

Might want to look at the itineraries again.  The Coral, Island & Golden are also sailing the Vancouver - Whittier - Vancouver run this summer. The Golden is sailing opposite direction to the Royal on the Saturday to Saturday schedule and the Coral/Island are sailing on opposite schedules too on Wednesday to Wednesday.  When one ship is in Vancouver the other ship is in Whittier. 

We just got back from the New Zealand/Australia trip on Majestic and were in a forward cabin (E-219) and although the seas weren't real bad (10-15 foot seas) there still was a lot of motion on the front of this ship.  We don't get seasick but would not book a room this far forward again on this style of ship with an itinerary that has a potential for rough seas. 

For those whom have visited these two cities in Scotland and if you only had three days available which city would you spend two days and the other just one? Why is one city better than the other to visit? I appreciate your responses, thanks....

We have done Anytime Dining for years but in the past 18 months it has gotten really bad. We went back to traditional because we were sick of the lines and length of wait for a table. On our past four cruises, Club Class occupied almost a 1/3rd of one of the Anytime Dining Room and the majority of tables were empty. I hope this is one thing that goes away because it appears to only be servicing a few and upsetting many. We never had issues until Club Class was started. If you just got off a cruise make sure you notify them about your dissatisfaction in the survey because Princess won't fix the issue until they get a ton of negative feedback.

It can vary but the simple answer is somewhere between 11:30am & 1pm. There is nothing stopping you from getting to the cruise terminal early except that once you get there and the ship isn't ready you will have to wait. I'm going to assume you have your own transportation to the ship so here are some points to consider on sailing day:

The ship will arrive in Whittier at 12:30am so there is rarely an issue with getting everyone off the ship first thing in the morning. Boarding at 11:30am is usually pretty reasonable from many of the cruises we have sailed.

The cruise terminal is small but covered from the elements. If you get there early you can wait inside the building and stay dry. It can be cool with all the open doors so you might want to have a coat handy if you have to wait.

There is a one-way tunnel you will need to drive through from Bear Valley to Whittier to get to the ship. This will be your biggest issue because you only have a 15-minute window each hour to make it through to Whittier. Timing is everything and the schedule is below. The two 15-minute blocks per hour that is not listed on the schedule below is for the Alaskan Railroad (Princess Train) which also uses the tunnel. Trucks, cars & trains alternate using the tunnel each hour.

There is almost nothing to see or do in Whittier so you can wander if you get there early but don't expect much.

Here is this summer's (2018) tunnel schedule

9:00 - 9:15 am Whittier to Bear Valley

9:30 - 9:45 am Bear Valley to Whittier

10:00 - 10:15 am Whittier to Bear Valley

10:30 - 10:45 am Bear Valley to Whittier

11:00 - 11:15 am Whittier to Bear Valley

11:30 - 11:45 am Bear Valley to Whittier

12:00 - 12:15 pm Whittier to Bear Valley

12:30 - 12:45 pm Bear Valley to Whittier

1:00 - 1:15 pm Whittier to Bear Valley

1:30 - 1:45 pm Bear Valley to Whittier

Hope this helps & have fun!

You really can't go wrong with any of the newer higher-end Canon or Nikon point & shoot cameras.

What I really want to say is don't wait to buy just prior to leaving on your trip. I see so many who do this and end up regretting it. Make a choice, buy it now and use it as much as you can prior to sailing. Learn how it works and the limitations it might have. I have seen someone with a low buck DSLR camera (~$500) take better pictures than someone with a $3,000 camera because they new how to use the equipment they had. I've done many Alaska cruises and can't tell you how many times I have had someone ask me how their camera works. I attract them because I am one of those with the $7k camera and 2 1/2 foot long telephoto lens and they think I know everything. The dream camera doesn't always have to be the expensive one with the ugly learning curve where the manual is thick as the local phone book. Nice cameras do help but knowledge and experience will overcome quality just about any day.

I love night shooting too. I feel the same as the rest of you that I don't get night ship shots unless I'm on an overnight in a particular port.

I go with less ISO (100), aperture around ~f14 with a 20-30 second exposure. I go as much as a full stop (-1) underexposed so it doesn't blow the harsh lighting out.

Ruby Princess/Quebec City, October 2014.

Thanks a lot for the replies. It looked good to me, but wanted to hear feedback from someone who has actually carried it around. Again, thanks! I'm looking at the different rental companies.

Definitely not too bulky/heavy. We're renting two of them for our Alaska Sampler next month; I'm also renting a 600/4 with (at least) a 1.4x as well.

If your thinking about renting the new 100-400 Mk II it's is your best bet for the cost of the rental. It's a very sharp lens from experience. It only weighs about 5 oz. more than the 70-200 Mk II and has the same image quality.

I would look at borrowlenses dot com for rentals. I've used them in the past and they seem to ship equipment in pretty good shape.

Not to sound obnoxious but your killing me with the 600/4 and adding the 1.4x to it. Why take a 10k + lens and put a piece of equipment on it that will degrade the picture? If your shooting a FF body (like a 5D Mk III) and want the longer reach you would be much better off renting a 7D Mk II with the 1.6 sensor than using the converter. If you are currently using a crop body you really don't want to push it much further than the 800-900mm range because when you go that long even the slightest atmospheric conditions (haze) will also degrade the pic.

BTW, I use the Manfrotto aluminum monopod (~$65) and you can beat it on the side of the boat without breaking it. A little heavier than a carbon fiber model but much more durable and not an issue putting it in your checked luggage (I do all the time). I hate to lose a carbon fiber model and you have very little chance that will make it past TSA if you try to carry it on a plane.

As for the 600mm (or if you rent something similar) a tripod + gimbal head works so much better on a boat or shore if you have the room.

Alaska is a great place to shoot. Here are two pics I took up there last summer (cruise + land tour) that speak for themselves. They were taken with a Canon 1D-X using a Canon EF 800mm f5.6 lens. I have used the 600mm f4 and it doesn't come close to the image quality of the 800mm. Both picks were taken in the 125-150 yard range on a tripod/gimbal head combination. Hope you have fun!

When we made elite, we had 95 days with 8 cruises. We tried a suite our second cruise and never went back. I don't feel bad about making it in fewer days than most because we have spend a lot of money. We fell in love with the grand suite and book one whenever it is available. We really get the same perks as elite so the elite status doesn't mean much to us. Everyone says the laundry is the best perk especially on a long cruises. How long does it take to do a load or two of laundry??? My wife never sends her things down and just a few of mine. We take nice clothes and don't want them ruined by the hot water temps and very hot dryers.

We like wine so we never drink all the bottles in the bar set up and like someone said, their value isn't that much. We usually leave that stuff for the steward.

We usually wait until afternoon to board so the priority boarding is no big deal. Getting on board early just to eat lunch is not important either.

 

So if there is a new system and it knocks us out of elite - no big deal.

Completely off topic but go read and understand your benefits. You can trade the mini bar for wine, coffee cards, etc. instead of just throwing it away to the steward. The other thing most don't understand is if you book a suite + you are elite you can get two bar setups and not one.

I've noticed that the winners in Princess photo contests tend to have no people in them, or if they are people, it is obviously the Captain's Circle members themselves. I have seen one or two where the people are so far away, individuals cannot be distinguished (e.g. looking across the river to the painted houses in Curacao).

 

I'm pretty sure the brown bear in the latest magazine didn't sign a release. :D

There are a lot of misconceptions by most about what can or can't be legally photographed without a release. On the far end of the spectrum look at all the nasty, questionable photo's Paparazzi take every day and don't get sued. Princess is just taking the high road so they don't have to deal with the potential legal backlash that could come from selecting a questionable photo. This is a great article on what you can and can't do in the USA with a camera:

http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/street-photography-and-the-law-7-things-you-need-to-know/

Yes, as for me I didn't approach that Brown Bear to see if I could take his picture. He was 8-9 feet tall standing up and guessing was more than 800 lbs. I watched him for a while and the way he beat up the other bears for the fish I was pretty convinced he would have eaten me if given the chance. He bit salmon in half like they were made of butter. BTW, I used a Canon 800mm telephoto lens to take that shot so I wasn't nearly as close as it appears.

This is so sad to hear. Joe and his wife guided us around several of the ports when we were in South America. He was a fantastic person and will be missed by many.

To answer your question I would assume that the majority of your pics would be of wildlife. If that is the case the lens you have is too short in my book. I would go with one that is at least a 400mm. If you start choking on the cost to purchase one this size go google "dslr lens rental" and see if renting a lens for the trip is an option for you? It's a once in a lifetime trip, pick up equipment that it will make it memorable. I use Canon myself and when I go to places like this I carry an 800mm lens but know a piece of glass like that for you would be nuts with the camera you are using.

Last cruise booked a mini-suite on Dolphin Deck (Golden). Was upgraded to the Owners Suite on Sun Deck. Were we happy, beyond belief!!! Probably happen again....never.

They are attempting in a very poor way to space the passenger boarding out in an attempt to avoid long lines. It's all B.S. and would ignore it. Go when you want and they won't turn you away.