westcoaster

The YVR-YYJ flights are operated by Air Canada Express/Jazz, which is under a separate contract. According to the AC website, they would not be impacted by a strike.

I agree. We were on an Alaska cruise in May, and we had rain every day, and snow on 2 days. Other Alaska trips in May have been warm and sunny. We were surprised how many people weren't prepared for the cold, wet weather clothing-wise.

Not exactly the same situation as the OP, but I was on a trans-Pacific cruise from Japan to Vancouver earlier this year. The information from Princess gave the standard line that passports must have 6 months validity, even though neither the U.S. nor Canada (the two other countries visited on this cruise) required it. I was able to use my passport with 5 months left on it, no problem. No one said anything at check in.

I was on a Princess Med cruise that left from Italy, visited Montenegro, then visited Greece and returned to Italy - no visa required.

When we were there in August 2022, it was around 8-9 C (upper 40s F). I was also there in September 2013, and it was around 5 C (low 40s F).

I really enjoyed both Nanortalik and Qaqortoc. We stopped at Nanortalik on a Trans-Atlantic that also included several stops in Norway and Iceland, and the Greenland stop was our favorite of the whole cruise. We also stopped at both Nanortalik and Qaqortoc on a Greenland cruise a couple of years ago (we missed Nuuk due to a storm). We really enjoy just walking around and exploring places, so both ports were perfect for us. Both a quite hilly (Qaqortoc more so), and there were lots of great views of the town and the surrounding scenery. There were several large icebergs very close to shore in Nanortalik, so that was cool to see. As mentioned by others, there is an interesting outdoor museum at Nanortalik which is worth a visit (you can also go inside several of the buildings). The locals also put on a small cultural festival in the community center, with crafts, dancing, food, etc. when we were in Nanortalik. Qaqortoc is a bit larger than Nanortalik, and a bit more modern, but still very interesting. There is a nice walk around the lake. The fish market was also great. Tendering can be a bit slow. We got off the ship early and had no problems, but returning in the afternoon, there were big line ups. The first time we were in Nanortalik, tendering had to be suspended for an hour or two due to heavy fog, so we had to wait a long time to get back to the ship. How much you enjoy these ports will really depend on your personal tastes. We really enjoyed them, as did many others we spoke with. However, we also heard other people say that they weren't impressed (often due to the lack of shopping opportunities and limited shore excursions, neither of which are important to us).

This is a great idea. I've booked cheap Alaska cruises a few times, and the port charges and fees ended up being more than the cruise fare. This should make it much quicker to easily compare prices.

I've gone on cruises with less than 6 months validity on my passport a couple of times, with no problems. Princess seems to put the 6 months validity language on the requirements list for all cruises, even though most countries don't require that. I'm not recommending that people take the chance and travel with less than 6 months validity, because I guess you never know when someone might decide to enforce it and ruin your vacation (I have a second passport that I can use as a fallback in that case). I'm just pointing out that my experience has been that Princess doesn't enforce this rule.

I'm not sure where you got that information from, but according to official sources (Environment Canada), Victoria averages 28.5 mm (1.1 inches) of rainfall in April and 51.2 mm (2 inches) of rainfall for October. Victoria is in the Olympic Mountain rainshadow and is far drier than Vancouver or Seattle. https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_e.html?searchType=stnName&txtStationName=victoria&searchMethod=contains&txtCentralLatMin=0&txtCentralLatSec=0&txtCentralLongMin=0&txtCentralLongSec=0&stnID=113&dispBack=0

I've done several 28-30 day cruises in inside cabins. I really like them: they are quite, stay cool, and stay dark for sleeping. I always sleep really well in inside cabins. If you want to see the scenery, I would much rather use the open public decks where I can move around for different views.

Everyone is going to have their own experiences with the weather, but if you look at averages, then May is much drier in Alaska than September. Compared with May, average September rainfall is 65% higher in Ketchikan, more than 2.5 times higher in Juneau, and nearly 5 times higher in Anchorage. As others have noted, May also has much longer hours of daylight. And the Coral Princess is a much better ship for Alaska than Caribbean Princess.

Cabin type and location is not important to us, so we always book an IF guarantee (30+ cruises). We used to occasionally get an upgrade to an outside or balcony cabin, but since Princess started charging for upgrades, we've nearly always got the same or very similar category to what we booked. Prior to Covid, we would often get a category IE or ID cabin in the aft. For the last few cruises since Covid, we have been given a category IF cabin near the front of the ship.

I've taken the 2 x 7 = 14 day RT from Vancouver a couple of times. The entertainment has mostly been the same, but both times there were some differences. Most recently, on the Grand in 2022, there were 2 production shows during the first 7 days, but 3 production shows on the return cruise Whittier to Vancouver (2 of which were the same as going up). On the Crown Princess in 2014, there were 3 production shows on each leg, but one of the shows on the second leg was different, so we saw 4 different shows over the 14 days.

I have found the opposite. When using Princess' self-serve buffets, I like to take small amounts of a wide variety of things. When using the HAL crew-served buffets, I always end up with portions that are way too big, despite asking for very small amounts. I also find the crew-served buffets take a lot more time to get your food.

I would still take the promenade deck on the Island any day over the Royal Class ships, which only have a few disjointed sections of promenade deck. The promenade deck on the Island Princess goes almost completely around, except for the aft section. And even there, you can complete an outdoor circuit by walking up a short flight of stairs to the aft outdoor section of the Emerald deck - it's really no different from having to go up the stairs to the forward Emerald deck section on the Grand Class ships. Island also has a wider promenade deck with full loungers compared with the Grand Class ships.

In addition to having fewer passengers and the covered pool, the Sapphire also has a wider Promenade deck than the Caribbean, which allows for full loungers.

I always book inside cabins. I'm a light sleeper, so I find that I sleep much better in the darker and quieter inside cabins. It's also easier to control the temperature of inside cabins. I've been upgraded to a balcony a few times, and it has only reconfirmed for me that I'm not a balcony person. I found the layout of the balcony cabins to be less efficient compared with inside cabins since you lose the back wall. I also found that I rarely used the balcony. When I'm outside on a cruise, I like to roam around on the open deck and view things from different angles. I don't like being confined to one spot on a balcony.

I'm not too worried either. Just curious about how this is handled. My dining times are different on different days, but I'm less concerned about sea days. Nice timing that you get to have 2 anniversaries!

I'm going on a 22-night trans-Pacific cruise that crosses the International Dateline heading east. As a result, we have two days with the same date. However, when I try to book dining on the app, it only shows one day for that date, and only shows 21 nights to book dining overall, even though the cruise is 22 nights. I'm just wondering if others have experienced this issue and how was it resolved?

It's pretty common in parts of the northern U.S. and in Canada Pop vs. soda

I was on a cruise from Auckland to New Zealand earlier this year, and instead of the usual $250 US for the Shareholder obc, it was only $250 AUD. Same thing for the Future Cruise Deposit obc.

I've had a similar problem to the OP, where the App doesn't recognize my Elite status and doesn't give the 50% discount. On my last cruise, I spoke to one of the agents who are supposed to help with Medallion app issues. They said to go ahead and purchase at full price, and I would get the 50% discount once on board as OBC. I did that, but I had a hard time convincing the person at passenger services that I should be getting a discount. She was adamant that I shouldn't get it. I did eventually get it, but only after going to passenger services a couple of times and arguing with them. For my next cruise, I'm going to wait and purchase the internet while on board!

Here are a couple of photos of the Crown Princess passing by Victoria this morning.

I asked my server at Alfredos on the Majestic, and he said they supplied the pizza for the buffet. I guess it's just not as fresh out of the oven when it's at the buffet.

I was on the Majestic for 2 weeks earlier this year in Australia/NZ. They had pizza by the slice every day for lunch at the buffet. I think they also had it for the dinner buffets. I found it very comparable to the pool-deck pizza by the slice on the other ships I've been on.