karatemom2

There is a ports of call board here at Cruise Critic with an Alaska section where you can find helpful information for your cruise and there just happens to be a discussion on this very topic there right now. Here is the link:

Well on the upside you get to experience all four seasons there, probably don’t spend hours in traffic and I bet people don’t lose their minds when it rains! 😊

On the new Royal class ships it is not as ideal as they always use berth 92 which enters through what is in the nicest terms a quonset hut and in harshest terms a glorified tent. They have to crowd people into a smaller space than the nice entry building at berth 93 where we always used to be for embarkation. There is no room for a separate Suite/Elite line like we have enjoyed in the past and people, especially those in the blue lane picking up medallions, are all squeezed into a single small, poorly ventilated and unappealing space where the line winds through a set up reminiscent of a theme park ride. On the upside the parking situation is great and it’s always fun to see the USS Iowa. And for us it’s a 1 hour drive from home.

Mostly just the basics now of vanilla, chocolate or strawberry - although there still seems to be one special flavor offered generally. Princess ice cream used to be one of my favorite desserts - I’m really dating myself but I remember when they used to have an ice cream sundae bar every afternoon in the buffet with all the toppings. One of many things gone by the wayside - along with the warm cookies and milk team. My very favorite ice cream used to be the rum raisin - haven’t seen that in a long while. I would love it if they brought that back. Anyone see it offered on any recent cruise?

Agree with both! I used to puff up like a blowfish but have taken several measures that seem to help including switching to bottled water and canned sodas, limiting some of the super salty items like the cooked veggies, soups, fries etc., limiting my alcohol intake, and walking as much as possible. It all seems to help.

One parent can handle the registration - in fact I think Princess has now set up a way to do it online now in advance of the cruise. You can designate on the registration what other people are allowed to do pick up/sign out. Not sure what the current requirements are, but I believe if granted permission the 11 year old could be given self sign out privileges. Our kids are 5 years apart in age, so we used to grant her older brother permission to sign our daughter out and then eventually granted her sign in and sign out privileges on her own as a preteen as long as she called us when she got to the club and was leaving so we could keep track of her. It must be much easier today with the medallions as you can see where members of your traveling group are on the ship. Probably no more need for beepers anymore. I would have loved that when my kids were little.

That must be a super popular cruise. We looked at it as well but it seemed firmly sold out. I know sometimes things open up around the final payment deadline, but I’m thinking that has probably passed for that cruise. Good luck getting a cabin - looks really fun!

Yes, booking direct is the best option. Most of the people on our roll call booked the train in Flaam directly, although it is now showing sold out for most times via direct booking as well. We are doing a Princess excursion there because we wanted to go further to Voss and it was the only viable option.

This is a really interesting observation and makes a lot of sense related to supply chain issues as we have also found the beds on Discovery significantly less comfortable then other Princess ships and were seriously baffled as to why we noted such a difference. In general we love the comfort of Princess mattresses!

We have experienced the same with the casino booking department - hard sell tactics that rival the extended warranty pitch at a car dealership! 😂 We also politely, but firmly, let them know we can skip that conversation!

We had a similar experience in San Pedro a few weeks ago - waited in line more than an hour to pick up our medallions while my daughter and her husband who had received theirs via shipment in advance walked right onboard. We learned our lesson and will always get them shipped from now on as you really don’t know what the situation will be at any particular port. People have reported similar long waits in San Francisco. It’s worth the $10 in my estimation to avoid a long line and start my vacation hassle free.

Very true. Rates have gone up twice in the last few weeks for our Norway cruise. We have 8 port days and for most we have planned independent tours. We did book two through Princess only because both were things we really wanted to do and we couldn’t find a similar private tour. One has now gone up over $100 per person and another $50 per person since we booked them. In one port we have a small group that has arranged a private tour similar to a Princess excursion (actually better as there are only 15 of us and we are doing more) and the price for the individuals in our group is $150 less per person than the inferior Princess tour. It really is highway robbery what they charge for tours when you know they are probably getting massive discounts from the vendors for the volume of people they deliver. I’ve compared what other lines charge for the exact same tours and Princess always seems the most expensive. I think they count on the fact that new cruisers in particular may be nervous about booking independent tours.

I think the confusion stems from the fact there is actually a sticker on the balcony door indicating that direction. But as far as our experience goes and from all reports here that direction has never been enforced - just the keeping it dark at night part.

These are favorite cabins for us. We have been in these forward facing cabins on the Royal and Discovery, and we have one booked for the Sky this summer for our Norway cruise. The balcony size and expansive views are unbeatable. You can use your balcony any time you like - no need to keep the door locked. We even crack it open a bit at night if it’s not too windy - although you do need to keep the light off and curtains closed after dark. When you are on the open sea they can get a bit more wind then a side balcony and you will generally feel more ship movement in forward cabins. But overall they are really great cabins and the views are amazing!

She said her son is an adult but he may not be 21. If he can’t drink alcohol the package may not be the best investment. It would be a lot less expensive just to pay the $14.99 for one meal. Our adult son traveled with us recently and he made some friends on board and ended up eating with them on a few nights. Princess has meet ups for 18-21 year olds. Maybe he can connect with some other young people his age and enjoy a meal or two with them.

That may be the case on some departures but definitely not all. We waited over an hour in a hot, crowded and cranky line to pick ours up at the port in San Pedro for our recent cruise. It was not a fun way to start a relaxing vacation. My daughter and her husband had their medallions and basically walked right on the ship. They were already well into a relaxing lunch in the MDR by the time we managed to board. So no, it wasn’t 30 seconds, it was stressful and we missed our traditional MDR lunch on boarding which is how we love to start our cruise. I will always try to get it shipped in advance from now on.

Isn’t the alcohol sort of mitigated by the cooking process? There are lots of recipes that incorporate wine or liqueurs. If you really want to avoid it completely you could always request they substitute the standard French onion soup they serve every night in the MDR. It’s quite good as well.

Beautiful photos - thank you for sharing. I love Cabo. It’s such a pretty port!

Well I’m glad it worked for you! Our OBC is from our casino deposits and shareholders credit, so not sure if the type of OBC is limiting our options or if it’s just not loading for some reason even though it’s reflected on our summary.

I completely agree. Some of our best experiences in Alaska have involved just renting a car and exploring on our own, hiking and meeting local people. We have seen some of the most beautiful sights, and lots of wildlife including bears, moose, deer, porcupines, beaver and even a tiny little shrew! These are memories I will carry with me forever - and photos too! And we never broke the bank for any of it.

We did this tour and it was a lovely walk, but no bears. We also did a private Bear excursion in ISP on another trip and no bears. So just go into it knowing there is no guarantee. Ironically, the two times we saw bears in ISP were on a whale watching trip and a canoe excursion where we spotted them on the shoreline. Glacier Wind is a fantastic vendor. Highly recommend!

I tried but for some reason it’s not letting me? The OBC shows up on my cruise personalizer but not as an option for payment when I go to pay for the excursion. It’s worked in the past on other cruises but not this time. Don’t know if it’s a glitch in the system, if Princess has changed its policy on using the OBC in advance, or just an issue we are experiencing. But it just won’t work - I had to pay with a credit card.

The reality is that any reasonable person should be able to expect that a cruise line will deliver on the voyages it sells, barring some major malfunction or act of nature. Not all cruisers have the knowledge or insight that these boards provide. We were actually considering booking the inaugural Sun cruise - I thought it would be really exciting to be on the first sailing of a new ship. And I’m an experienced cruiser. It really didn’t cross my mind that a cruise line would not allow adequate buffer time prior to an inaugural voyage. But because I know to put questions like that to the test here at CC, I got a ton of responses warning against booking - very great advice but only because I am lucky enough to be aware of this resource. A lot of cruisers are not. There are others, like those poor newlyweds, who likely would not have imagined their dream honeymoon being yanked out from under them. And that Princess waited until just a few days before the cruise really makes it worse - basically virtually stranding passengers who had already traveled to Europe. It really stretches the bounds of credibility that they couldn’t make the decision sooner. I like Princess and understand things happen, but my sympathies are fully with all the people who have been impacted by this delay. They have every right to vent and no one should be shaming them for feeling massively upset with Princess.

True on the bus tours. We have booked those online at times and the numbers never change - just stays at 20. But on smaller tours it will show you the spots left. We just missed out on a horseback riding tour on one of our Mexico cruises. There was only one spot left and it wouldn’t book both me and my DH. We tried the waitlist route but no luck. Same thing with a small boat tour in Alaska we missed. We just weren’t able to get on. Right now for our Norway cruise the train excursion in Flaam is already completely full and I doubt that will open up unless people drop. There is only a finite amount of space for some smaller, more niche tours where with bus tours extra buses and guides can probably be added. In the instance of the Norway excursion I was watching there is clearly still plenty of availability so the price increase wasn’t related to capacity. I was sort of hoping to hold out and book onboard because we have a ton of OBC. But with the prices going up, it seems like waiting just ends up costing more.

That is an interesting thought, but I don’t think that is the reason as people are reporting these price increases on cruises from Alaska, to the UK, and in our case Norway. It appears they are raising prices across the spectrum, unrelated to the local currency.