Mom&MeCruiseAL

I got a text from DIY Jeeps saying they had to upgrade us to an SUV.  I looked at Affordable car rental but couldn't figure out how to book for a specific date.  I added it to my cart but I'm not going to pay for it if I can't tell if they have any available.

Princess just changed the unvaccinated percentage allowed onboard from 5 % to 10 %.   They must be confident that the people testing positive onboard are having relatively light cases.

Thank you everyone for your expertise.  It's really only one couple that wants/needs to have access to wifi for making and receiving calls from home.  They are both divorced with 4 kids each.  The youngest among the 8 kids is 14 yrs old but there have been emergency issues recently so they want to be in contact if need be.  Neither has taking a trip away from the kids either so this is all new territory for both of them.

I've been organizing a cruise for 4 couples to Alaska on the Majestic.  4 out of the 8 have never been on a cruise so I've being doing all the research trying to help them out as best I can.  One question came up that I don't know the answer to.  Do you know if one person in the cabin pays for the wifi for one phone, would the second person be able to use that wifi through a hot spot.  I'm guessing the answer is no.  The second person would need to pay for wifi as well.  Does any have experience with this?

It looks like there were 4 ships in port today with 2 of them being larger ships.  I'm exactly two weeks from Skagway.   The ships in today are the same 4 as when I'm there.  Keeping my fingers crossed for our cruise.

When is your cruise?  We are on the Majestic in two weeks.  Ours has always had Ketchikan as 6:30 am - 3 pm.  I wonder why it would change from week to week.

8 hours ago, Cali Viajera said:

We were on the Majestic last week. NoSkagway, but the Steve Kroschel  wildlife preserve was outstanding! We saw a bear, wolverine, wolves, snowy owl, caribou, baby moose, porcupine, lynx, and a mink. Hit the Fogcutters bar in Haines to hang with the locals and the hammer museum. Lots to if you can’t be in Skagway.

When did you find out you were skipping Skagway?  We are on the Majestic is two weeks.  We have two excursions planned.  One through Princess and one through an outside company.  I just want to make sure we have time to cancel the outside excursion if need be.

We have 4 cabins booked as interior on the Majestic July 16th cruise to Alaska.  Three out of the 4 cabins were visited by the upgrade fairy which moved us to a Deluxe Obstructed view balcony on deck 8.  After a week the forth couple called to see if they could move since all of us were originally booked in cabins close together on deck 10.  He was told that their reservation had "no upgrades" checked.  They removed that and got upgraded with the rest of us.   Two more weeks - Wahooo!

I thought I bought 2 tests a couple weeks ago.  I was only charged for one. I went through the process to upload my insurance card and driver's license.  I wasn't with my husband at the time to upload his.  I wanted to check what time I set the appointment for.  It does not say in any email.  I wanted to reschedule the appointment.  I can't figure out where on their website you can do that.  It says my order is complete.  I've tried the chat. Never got through but left my email.  Nothing.  I've tried multiple times.  I haven't tried to call yet.  That is my next step.  I have a couple weeks still.  I was going to recommend them to the other 6 people we are traveling with.  Now I think I need to come up with another way to get our tests and just kiss this $10 good-bye.  

I'm glad you had a great tour.  We are booked on the Midnight Sun tour next month with Denali Photo Guides.  Thank you for the review.  We are North East Ohioians as well.  

We are doing the Alaska land portion in July.  We traded the History tour for the Denali Backcountry Adventure tour.  Like other excursions, we had to pay the full amount of the tour when we booked it.  Princess did give us a credit for the cost of the Natural History tour in our total booking cost.  I've done the Tundra Wilderness Tour previously when it was an 8 hour tour.  I thought I would be disappointed in the shortened trip that it is this year.  The Backcountry Adventure tour does not go inside the park.  But it is a 60+ mile trip on National Geographic's #2 "Drives of a Lifetime".  I'm hoping it was worth the switch. 

On 6/23/2022 at 12:25 PM, donaldsc said:

 

I know that you did not really mean this but your error might confuse people.  Sitka is on Baranof island and is accessible only by ship.  Your post sort of implies that you took the train from Sitka to Anchorage which is not possible.  You probably meant to say either Whittier or Seward.

 

DON

You are correct.  I was thinking Seward not Sitka.  Sorry for the confusion.

Mom and I went on HAL for a 12 day with 2 nights in Denali ending in Fairbanks back in 2018.  We did cruise first at the end of August with the land portion being in September.  We loved every minute of it.  We did disembark in Sitka and rode the train into Anchorage maybe 4 hours.  Next morning we rode the train about 8 hours, ending up at the HAL Denali Lodge.  Both rides were incredibly beautiful.  I would recommend the train anytime.   

We unknowingly ended up in Denali during their peak fall colors which is completely different than fall on the eastern part of the country.  In Alaska, only a few trees change colors.  It's more the ground vegetation that changes to red, orange, and yellow.  It was really gorgeous.  We got lucky between the colors and being gifted with the entire Denali mountain range view from the train.  It was a perfectly clear day.  They say only 30% of visitors get to see Denali without cloud cover and less than 5% get to see the whole mountain range.  It was spectacular and honestly an emotional experience.  It was so rare that even the train staff was going outside to take pictures.  I know I won't be that lucky a second time.  When we did the Denali Wilderness Bus tour the next day, we couldn't see Denali at all.  If they didn't tell you where the mountain was, we wouldn't have known.  

This time around my husband and his siblings/significant others are taking Princess on a similar 12 day tour but with one night at McKinley Lodge and only the train from McKinley Lodge to Denali Lodge in mid-July.  This is the first time we are trying Princess.  My husband's one sister and brother-in-law did the Alaskan cruise without the land on Princess about 8 years ago.  They said it was there favorite vacation ever even over a trip to Australia to visit a good friend.  

Even if you decide to book another cruise line, you can book the train and land portion on your own.  The land is more expensive than the cruise portion so figure out what your priorities are and go from there.  As far as excursions, we only saw 3 or 4 whales on our boat trip in Juneau that late in the year.  Being July this time, I'm hoping to see more.   We only had one day of rain on the cruise and otherwise it was partly or mostly sunny.  The temperatures were fine if you had a light jacket.  The only cold day we had was cruising into Glacier Bay.  We stood on the bow for a couple hours to get a railing spot for viewing the glacier.  The ship was moving pretty fast.  We had our winter coat and gloves on for that.  The wind from the speed of the ship was the worst part.

Whatever you decide to do, keep checking the current pricing for drops and added perks.  We booked with $100 OBC originally in an interior mid-ship room for the new cruisers that are going with us.  Six months later, the price was the same but the perks went to $200 OBC and free specialty dining.   I decided to move two cabins away for a reduction in fare of $80 per person.  I save a good bit by rebooking but no one else did.  All 4 couples got upgraded to obstructed view balcony rooms.  I got a better deal since no one else thought it was worth rebooking for the extra credit plus dining at a reduced fare.  

Thank you so much for your trip report.  We are on the JA5 going north in July.  Your info and pictures are a huge help for my planning purposes.  And Go Steelers!

Even after the update, I still can't order custom medallions. 

I've had a lot of problems with the app.  Trying to order medallion, specialty dinner, etc.  I called Princess for help.  He was able to book the dining for me but not the custom medallions.  He said we would have to pick them up at the port.  Since I haven't paid for the custom ones, I'm assuming we will get the generic ones.  

7 minutes ago, middlehaitch said:

I see from your post #27 that some of your party have never travelled outside the USA. Do you all have passports? 

 

Cheers, h.

Yes, we do.  The two that have never been out of the country just received their passports last week.  Everyone is good to go as far as that is concerned.  

13 minutes ago, Enzma said:

But the real issue from onset is/was cruise line offering exemptions.without advising of port/country rules and laws.this could possibly be inexperience or total lack of information

Exactly.  The cruise line and airline.  Nothing was noted when we booked the flights last summer.  And we have not received anything to say that there are requirements to board the plane or when we land.  

We booked a year ago.  Requirements change all the time. It's really hard to keep up.   My husband and I are fully vaccinated so I didn't think twice.  It's just others in our group, including some that have never been on a cruise or out of the country, are not vaccinated.  I'm just trying to get information for them.  One of them doesn't have a computer and is not good with his smart phone either.   I appreciate the guidance.  

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

Looks like our OP is a one hit wonder.  Why do people come here for advice and either choose to ignore it or just choose not to bother responding?  At least come back and acknowledge our existence!

Wow.  Less than 24 hours and I'm a one hit wonder.  At this point, nothing has changed.  What did you expect to change in less than a day.  I haven't even told the people that this affects yet.  We didn't know anything about Canada's restrictions until yesterday.  If it wasn't for these boards, we probably wouldn't have found out until we landed in Vancouver.  I am grateful for the info and knowledge shared here.  We have booked and planned this cruise for a over a year.  

Princess is following CDC guidelines for vaccination status.  They are allowed up to 5% of unvaccinated passengers.  Those people will have more Covid tests on board the ship and charged $150 for it.  It was actually a Princess rep that told them about the waiver.  Princess only required you to state that it is for medical, religious, or personal reasons.  At least one of our group could get a medical exemption but I don't know about the others.  It's pretty devastating news since we just had the final payment a couple weeks ago.   

Anyone have experience flying into Vancouver unvaccinated?  Four in our group are not vaccinated and received the waiver from Princess.  I've been researching but haven't gotten a clear answer.  We are flying in a day early.  I don't know if that counts as a passing through to another country exemption.

We have 4 cabins in our group all booked as interior back in August 2021 for July 2022 Alaskan cruise.  Three out of the 4 cabins were upgraded to Obstructed balcony about a month ago.  After a week, the 4th cabin called to ask Princess about an upgrade.  They were told that the No Upgrade button was checked.  Got that removed and they were upgraded with the rest of us.  My husband was thrilled since he didn't understand why we weren't booking a balcony.  He got spoiled on our last cruise and thinks that you can't go without a balcony.   I checked out the room views and moved us to the mid-ship larger balcony with no obstruction.  The others shouldn't have too much in their view if the online pictures are accurate. 

On 5/4/2022 at 10:08 AM, PacnGoNow said:

When you click  finalize the order…what happens?   

Nothing.  It isn't lit up so I can't push it.

On 5/4/2022 at 10:07 AM, PacnGoNow said:

Go into the Ocean Medallion..

Order history…. Anything there?

Click on the sailing tab, if shown..

Does it show your selection?

 

You should get an email confirmation

like was

asked by cltnccruisers.  That would

confirm your order went through or your cc charge.

 

You may need for a PCL rep to complete your order if it won’t work.

 

I’d call first thing in the morning, so the wait won’t be so long.

 

 

I can't find Order history anywhere.  We did not get an email or charge on our CC.  It still shows as order in process.  I've tried to add more items, finalize the order, I've added the shipping address and payment method.  When I get to the end for the order review, it's blank and I can't push the place your order button.  It doesn't light up.  The address and payment doesn't show up either.  I will have to call them.  

We are booked on that excursion too.  I have not received anything from Princess about a cancelation.  We have 4 couples going on this trip.  That was the only excursion we were all doing together.  The group will be sad when I share this news.