SwimCarrie

We're going on a longer cruise and I have celiac disease. I don't necessarily want to eat in the dining room every night, but the only way I know to ask for a gluten free meal in the dining room for the following night is to order it the night before. Who would I speak with during the day to order dinner for the same evening? Or should I just swing by the restaurant the evening before just to order for the next day?

Thanks for you help!

On 6/1/2023 at 12:49 PM, Nicole&Pete said:

Does anyone take a stapler with them for luggage tags?

Just buy the plastic ones off Amazon. So much safer and only about $5!

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12156265/Cruise-ship-passenger-airlifted-hospital-800-miles-home-says-wasnt-ill.html

Daily Mail as a news source. 😄

6 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Well, remember my Murphy’s Law???   Well, my Uber driver got pulled over for speeding right as we entered the airport.   Now I’m sitting in the car waiting for the driver and the policeman to get done with the ticket process.   Tick tick tick tock.  My driver can’t find his insurance card. Tick tock tick tock.   I can’t make this s$&t up

No good vacation goes unpunished. 😂

7 hours ago, FrankieJayIII said:

in other news we are officially packed and slated to be picked up in 11 hours,..  will be crossing paths with @cruzin4us and to the terminal by 9am to board the glorious ruby.  thanks for all the posts.  appreciate your hard work!

9am? You're going to be there before the workers at the pier! 😂

2 hours ago, bomabound said:

On our last cruise to Alaska we mainly walked for miles and miles in every port and we loved seeing a lot of everyday parts of each port.  We actually did that exact walk to Safeway and there was no problem….then cut across the street up the hills and found a good trail, and cut back down from above closer to the ship.  Happily we didn’t run into any bears but I won’t pretend I wasn’t nervous about it. 😀. As a side note, we actually picked up a few really nice souvenirs in Safeway at non-tourist prices.

 

As another aside, the reason for our walking based trip was that we were geocaching in all the ports, so that guided us to a lot of locations.  We had already done a lot of excursions on previous trips.  On our upcoming trip we are doing a combo of excursions and exploring on foot.  I won’t be surprised if we find ourselves in Safeway again. 😀. I find seeing a town’s local grocery store just as interesting as a jewelry store.

I don't enjoy shopping but I love walking adventures. Sometimes I'll find a local pool and swim (but it looks like their pool is currently closed for construction, hoping it's open by the time I get there). Not sure if the walk there is good but I'll figure that out later.

I've been to Ketchikan 3 times. We did the Lumberjack show twice, (one before kids and once with them), we swam at their local pool and I walked around town when I went solo. Whatever people think I'm missing, trust me, I'm not! 🤣 I actually am going to do a duck tour this time, as well, but it's only an hour and a half. 

There's so much more to see than Diamonds International and salmon bakes. I don't judge people who enjoy that, but I prefer to meet a local down at the pool and learn about the town through them. (Easier in Canada and Alaska than Mexico---all those years of Spanish in school didn't seem to stick). Lol. But even in Mexico, we met friends who love there part time and went for a long walk along the beach and up in the hills. I don't want to sail by El Arco... I want to swim around it! 🤣

To each their own! Hope everyone enjoys whatever they choose!

4 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

I also love a good stroll off the beaten path in far-off places.  It gives me a chance to get away from the hordes and meet the locals.  As you walk down Tongass Avenue, there's some cute artsy type stores, a thrift shop, a couple of tattoo parlors, a great donut place, and the seaplane base.  Usually a lot of eagles hanging out by the harbor.  I enjoy walking to Safeway and getting some drinks or snacks to take back to the ship.  Ignore the people judging you for doing what you want on your vacation.  Most people are tourists, you're a traveler.

Yes!!! I appreciate someone understanding! Someone suggested the gym. The gym! You're out in a beautiful state with so much to see and you want me to go to the gym? 

I went for a glorious walk in the pouring rain last time but didn't research ahead of time. I was enjoying looking at all the homes, imagining what their day to day lives look like, but it suddenly occured to me perhaps I had gone a little too far off the beaten path when I came upon a house with 20 or so old toilets and bathtubs in their front yard. I had a Deliverance moment. Haha. Here I am, a 40 something year old woman, walking alone in Alaska and after waiting a short time, the ship would sail on with or without me. Lol. 

It seems like Safeway on a busy road might be a safer choice. 🤣 Besides, I can stock up on candy for the rest of the cruise. 😁

Just now, quack2 said:

Doesn't seem like a good use of port time.  But your call.

I have a shore excursion planned later in the day. This is just for exercise. Judgy McJudgerstein. 🤣

have a feeling things aren't going to get better given the length of the list already. Hope it turns around for you! 

Hi,

I love to go on walks off the beaten path at new ports. There is a Safeway that's about a mile and a half down what looks like a major road in Ketchikan. Anyone live there who can let me know if it's safe to walk alone? (Trying to avoid wild animals and wild humans.) LOL. 

Is the food in the buffet labeled? I don't see any signs. 

9 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

I didn't do any organized excursions.  I was just happy meandering in town and just being in Alaska.    We have booked excursions in the past, but sometimes the weather isn't real cooperative in Alaska, and it it's cold/raining/snowing, I don't want to go on a dog sled ride 😉.    

Ketchikan is a great little town to walk around in, especially if you go in July when the salmon are going up the creek.  There is a Lumberjack show that is right off the ship and would be an easy one if you looking for something fun.   

I'm not going to lie, the excursions are costly in Alaska, and sometimes they are cancelled do to bad weather or being late to port (such as we are this cruise).   I'm just as happy taking in the scenery as anything else.

Hi! Where have you been? You had all of us worried! Scroll up. 😁 Glad you're okay! 

1 minute ago, cavecreekguy said:

I'm currently in a deluxe balcony. The categories available for me to bid on are:

• Premium Deluxe Balcony
• Mini Suite
• Club Class Mini Suite - Forward Facing
• Club Class Mini Suite
• Vista Suite
• Premium Suite
• Penthouse Suite

Wow. That's a lot of choices. I'm only being offered 3. Maybe since I'm on a casino offer? I saw something about aft facing. Guess I'm going to have to scroll through all the pages. Ugh. Lol. 

32 minutes ago, cavecreekguy said:

I have an upcoming Sky cruise. There's just one premium deluxe balcony category available for me to bid on. No distinction between aft-facing or not.

Is it the highest category they are offering you? I think they're only offering 3.

Well, sorry to hear it happened, but glad it's not OP. This is quite the mystery. Hoping for a positive report soon! 

Can someone please confirm if they are still separating out bidding for "aft facing premium balcony" and "premium balcony"? Thanks! 

16 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

How long ago did you pay for the oceanview obstructed?  It takes a few days for the bidding website to update your current stateroom and update the categories you can bid on.

 

I booked a guaranteed interior last month on the Royal Princess.  The algorithm auto-assigned me a mini-suite 2 weeks before the sail date.  A few days later, I was sent more bid to upgrade e-mails--this time for Club Class, forward facing mini-suite, and suites.  Didn't take the bait though.

That's exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you! I only paid today, so I'll keep an eye out. Did the price go any lower once your cabin was assigned?

I'm curious if anyone else has had this experience: 

I was hemming and hawing about placing an upgrade bid because I was worried about where it would be on the ship if my offer was accepted, so I just finally booked the category I was okay with and paid. From inside to Oceanview obstructed. 

I went in to see what the bids look like now and the 3 cabin categories available didn't change. Bummer. I would have still bid for a balcony (assuming it was cheaper since I just paid more). 

Has anyone seen this yet? Is there anyone go even ask about it? Thanks! 

1 minute ago, sunviking90 said:

It was fully obstructed, and I had bid for an obstructed balcony on a Royal Class ship so I would have accepted it rather than the inside we had for $120 cad pp! I like the “obstructed” cabins on the bump out deck 8 as they have larger balconies and no real obstruction (no lifeboat). I saw a few still open so asked my CVP to move us.

Oh, yeah, those cabins are amazing. Sailed in them many times now. That's not an option on Ruby. I would have loved that. So it's not that the initial one was too far forward or aft? 

Just now, sunviking90 said:

You probably could, but you wouldn’t get any money back I don’t think.

How bad was your original cabin they put you in that you felt you wanted to change it? 

1 minute ago, sunviking90 said:

No, you can’t get your money back, but I won a bid and was able to have my CVP change the location to another cabin in the same category. I knew this was a possibility as my cruise was not selling well, but if your ship is near full, it may not be possible.

Hmmm. Not allowed to even go back to a lower category even if it's a different cabin? 

I pulled the trigger and bid on a balcony from an inside. Basically making my "free" casino cruise a not so free casino cruise but YOLO. If I get a really far forward or really far aft cabin, can I move back to an inside (and get my money back) if I contact Princess? Does anyone have experience with this? 

4 hours ago, Traveler1977 said:

Not being a big gambler, I was wondering…. how much does one need to gamble in the ship’s casino on a cruise (or multiple cruises) to qualify for a free casino cruise?

 

I BET from my question you could tell I’m not a big gambler. 

I'm elite and never gambled on a cruise (aside from one time on a 10 day to Alaska where I lost more than I had any business losing---hence no longer gambling), but started again during the pandemic (6 cruises so far). As stated above, I don't think I gambled enough to get anything more than my free inside cabin and am lucky I got that. 

4 hours ago, WAvoyager said:

That seems unusually high. Did you contact the casino support team, or did you just call the standard reservations line?

The casino team usually has upgrades available at a casino discount.  These upgrades are usually up to a balcony mini-suite category.    I’ve never upgraded from inside cabins, but oceanview to balcony, or balcony to mini-suite is usually only a few hundred dollars, we’ll below the regular upgrade rate.

 

I called the casino line and they confirmed it. I didn't gamble very much, though, so I guess the free cabin was generous enough. 

1 minute ago, RD64 said:

And if you don’t get the cabin that you truly want

Guess I'm going in an inside cabin. 🤷‍♀️ 🤣