rheathslc

8 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

If you booked access to the Spa relaxation areas for the duration of your cruise you will not be able to use it upon boarding.  The spa conducts tours most of the day, and the spa facilities won't be available until sometime after sailaway.  Usually around 6 pm.

I wonder if my experience was different because the cruise I was on was less than half full. They let me use the thermal suite/Enclave the first day prior to sailing. A lot of things have changed in the last year. 🙂

2 hours ago, bichonandon said:

Also, if you have any and all packing tips, this is my very first non-carribean/riviera cruise, so I'm also not sure what to bring for the dress up nights, if it's worth it to pack shorts, and in general, how will I dress on board during sea days and during dinner? I have heard it's less formal, but not sure how far we can push it. 

Layers! Pack layers including a heavy sweater. I did a 7-day Alaska cruise last May and it we had gorgeous clear skies but it was pretty cool. I took leggings and wore them with my casual dresses for dinners. Nobody really blinked an eye at what I wore no matter where I was on the ship. There were a few people really dressed up on the formal nights but it was certainly more casual than the cruises I've done on the East coast or in the UK/Europe.

Hello! In my experience you can use the Enclave as soon as you board if you purchased the Thermal Suite pass for the full cruise. However keep in mind that they will be conducting tours and trying to sell passes to other passengers for several hours on the first day so people in street clothes will be walking through. 

The thalassotherapy pool is EXQUISITE! It's not as hot as a normal hot tub so you can basically stay and relax indefinitely without getting overheated. I like to alternate between the pool, the different temperature showers, the steam rooms, and the heated tile beds. They usually provide chilled towels and infused water as well. Enjoy!

Since this has already been answered I will only add that the only distinction I've ever encountered is that a "Shore Excursion Credit" CAN be used in Cruise Personalizer PRIOR to embarkation to book excursions but can't be use for anything else. Once onboard though it is applied to your folio and can then effectively be used for anything. 🙂

I'm leaving on May 3rd on a little 3-day cruise on the Royal. I booked a standard Balcony cabin and checked over the weekend and there seemed to be quite a few mini-suite and Reserve/Club Class minis still available so I submitted a minimum bit for a Club Class mini-suite and the bid was accepted this morning. I'm super excited! I LOVE the Club Class perks and got assigned one of the cabins on the hump of the ship with a larger than normal balcony as well. Yay!

24 minutes ago, Colorado Coasty said:

We have the same situation but I was able to book specialty dining on both cruises without any problem. So apparently the app knows we have Premier but just isn't showing it.

2 hours ago, amet beach said:

I also have only the Plus package showing up rather than Premier on the medallion app.  I have had numerous calls and online chat to resolve the issue but I still wait although they all acknowledge I have it confirmed.  I would like to be able to book my included speciality dining by using the credit vs. my credit card.  I can only wait and call again next week.

 

In that section of the app I think it's either just informational or isn't functioning properly. When I first accessed it, it showed Plus at the top and then if I kept scrolling it showed Premier even though at the time I had not booked either. Now I HAVE added Princess Premier and it still shows both if I scroll down the page. 

But your travel summary in cruise personalizer will show the correct package. That's my go to when checking to make sure everything looks the way I expect it to.

On 4/16/2023 at 10:25 PM, minniegidget said:

Silly question I know. If you get the premier package and there are two of you in the room would each of you get the 3 free photos and the free downloads. Or is it just 3  photos for the cabin?

We upgraded to Premier last September (before the new additions) and we each got 3 8x10 prints, so 6 total.

2 minutes ago, FrankieJayIII said:

Hi, this is a cut and paste- this is where I had read it.. who knows?

 

According to the cruise line, Princess Prizes involves a one-time entry fee per cabin of $20 per day (included with Princess Premier). For that fee, each time an adult guest enters their stateroom, they can look at the “door portal” to see if they’ve won a prize.

Well there you go. I stand corrected. I guess they changed it since our last cruise. Which was almost 8 months ago so that's not surprising. They've been making all kinds of changes lately.

We upgraded to the Princess Premier for our 7-day Alaska cruise last September (before the price hike and new inclusions) and I really enjoyed it. I did the math and based on what we would likely pay for anyway - specialty dining, photos, multi device WiFi specifically - it was a good deal for cruises that are 7-days or fewer. Anything more than that I think it starts to make sense to pay a la carte for the pieces you want. But I also like wines that are now on the Premier list so that was another factor. Having the peace of mind that I could order anything I want was nice.

I'm booked solo on a 3-day cruise in two weeks and opted for the Premier package even though I don't really NEED it because the extra $60 it will cost ($20/day more than Plus) is what it would cost for one specialty dining reservation and the Prizes enrollment. Because I really did end up liking the Prizes. We won a $250 statement credit and a few other small things which basically covered the extra cost over the "Plus" package for our 7-day cruise. And it was fun to check the door to see if you won. We don't really gamble so we don't ever go to the casino but the Prizes added a little extra fun. 🙂 

An earlier commenter said something about the Prizes enrollment costing $20/day which I don't think is correct. They have changed the language since the last time I looked and I couldn't find the official info but on our last cruise it was just $20 one time to enroll the stateroom for the entire cruise. But I might be mistaken. 🙂

Oops! Forgot to post about Ketchikan. Mostly because we were exhausted and decided to stay on board. But we got a glorious day.

General ship review and Day 2 - Ketchikan (sort of)

I watched as many video reviews of the Royal as I could find before we left. The most recent do show the newer furniture around the ship such as in Crooners, around the Piazza, and outside of Princess Live. More contemporary colors and patterns on the upholstery, etc. One of the pleasant surprises for me is that the carpet in our suite was new and a lot more aesthetically pleasing than what was showing in some of the videos and pictures I saw. I try to post pictures as well.

There were a few areas of the ship that are starting to show their age but overall I found the decor and furnishings to feel pretty updated and fresh. Mind you, I normally sail on Grand class ships so my perspective is probably influenced by that. Haha!

Our suite was incredible. I LOVE that the tubs in the suites on the new ships do NOT have jets. Those are just notoriously hard to keep clean and always had a bit of an ick factor for me. Even in swanky hotels. The tub was incredible! I could submerge my whole body at one time and it has a nice angled back rest. The shower with the glass surround was such an important upgrade. WHY oh why does Princess still keep those horrid curtains in all the other stateroom categories. They're the worst.

We had a huge wrap-around balcony on Riviera deck. The way the aft decks are terraced that meant that almost our whole balcony at the back was visible from above but the side was fully covered by the deck above. To my delight, the barrier between our balcony and the one just forward of ours created a nice little pocket where there was almost never any rain hitting the deck even on the rainiest and windiest days. The couch is terrible. It was very hard and the fabric has an almost plasticized feel. It was very slippery and hard to actually sit on. Preston used one of the cozy plaid blankets to make it easier to sit on. I mostly avoided sitting on it at all.

We LOVED the concierge lounge. The host, Ecer, was incredible. While there was a sign for a Suite and Elite line at the Passenger Services desk the one time we tried to use it (on the 1st morning before we remembered about the concierge lounge) some people in line told is there was only ONE line and we had to go to the back of it. I was in a non-confrontational mood so I didn't push it. But after that we never even tried to go to Passenger Services or the Excursion desk. We just used went straight to Ecer who helped with everything from cancelling an excursion after the deadline to comping our sushi at Ocean Terrace when we we unable to rebook Sabatini's after I slept through our reservation.

We have 5 future cruises booked and now I'm trying to figure out how we can afford to stay in a suite on all of them. Haha! It's unlikely but we were for sure spoiled on this trip.

On 9/8/2022 at 11:31 AM, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

I'm wondering if Vines even HAD a menu available to you? Recently on the Emerald and asking for a menu seemed like a foreign concept there. There were no QR codes on the tables like other venues. When they finally got me a menu, it was paper and the only Plus options available were the same as all other bars. Even at the Premier level, there wasn't much by the glass for us white wine drinkers..... ☹️

 

I was handed a menu when I asked but it was disappointingly spare. I remember vines used to have pages of great by the glass options and even more bottles. 

Hello again! We're back to the land of reliable wifi and normal daily routines. This turned out to be less of a "live from" for me than an ex post facto review. Sorry about that! The days got away from me. And once we disembarked we had 36 hours in Anchorage with my sisters and their families before catching the red-eye home to SLC and we ended up sleeping most of the day yesterday.

I'll post as much as I can remember of my thoughts and impressions of the ship and itinerary as well as answer any questions that I can.

As I mentioned before, this was a replacement cruise for the two 5-day B2B cruises we originally booked on the Diamond. Those were to be round-trip from San Diego with plenty of sea days and warm weather ports like Ensenada and Cabo. This was a huge departure from that and I struggled the entire time with the dueling priorities of wanting to relax as originally intended and not wanting to miss out on the beautiful scenery and unique experiences of an Alaska cruise.

I will say that the Enclave on the Royal class ships may have tipped the scales for me. I usually prefer the smaller ships but that hydrotherapy pool was pure heaven! Between that and this being our first cruise in a suite we really did have ample opportunity to relax and enjoy ourselves.

I'll be posting about the following as quickly as I can:

Ship condition

Suite experience

Crew

Food and Beverage

Itinerary

and whatever else I can remember. 🙂

On 9/10/2022 at 9:17 AM, HaveDogWillTravel said:

@rheathslcI am wondering what type of wine glasses are used on the Royal. On the grand class ships the nice glasses without a lip (sometimes even Riedel) are only available in Vines and the MDR upon request. And they don’t like you to take them out of their spaces. So I carry my Riedel on now.
 

However, on the Discovery last April all venues served all wine in nice glasses without a lip. 
 

‘Does the Royal have the nice glasses everywhere or only in limited venues?  
 

Welcome home. I hope your cruise and birthday were everything you hoped for and more. 

They had nice wine glasses in Club Class dining and Crown Grill as well as Bellini's, Good Spirits, and Ocean Terrace as far as I recall. We did not order wine from Crooners, Princess Live Cafe or Vista Lounge. Cannot speak to the rest of the dining rooms.  I also fell asleep and we missed the SD we had reserved in Sabatini's so I also don't know about the glasses there other than the champagne flutes for the mimosas I had with our suite breakfast each day. 🙂

1 hour ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

Thanks for taking the time to give us so much information. If you like sitting at Vines, try the Jordan, cab sauvignon. If Amel is there, tell him Donna sent you! I will see him soon.

I usually love sitting at Vines but found their wine btg selection lacking on this trip. My favorite mainstays in the sparkling department, Gloria Ferrer and Nicholas Feuillatte are not on offer. But they are available on the ship somewhere. Because they are on listed as by the bottle options to order on our evening canape menu. And I got a glass of the Nicholas F. at Ocean Terrace with our sushi last night.

Will try posting the menus I've collected if the internet will behave.

On 9/5/2022 at 3:41 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Interested in knowing if the Royal will have suite breakfast available in Sabatini's (or Crown Grill) since turn around day in Whittier is so uneventful.  Most often, they use the venue for special disembarkation groups.  Rarely, someone has posted that it was open for suite passengers.  I've never had that experience (even on turn around days).

We just got disembarkation info delivered. Suite Breakfast in Sabatini's is from 6:30-8:30 in Whittier on disembarkation/turn around day.

That is unfortunately the end of the line for us. I'm jealous of all the folks staying on. But I've used up all my PTO with my two Alaska cruises this year and have to get back to work before they replace me. Haha!

Hello all, sorry to have been MIA again. I'm just not having much luck getting CC to work even with the cell signal in port. Every time I go to post it looks like it's going to quote every single post in the thread and I can't find a way to remove the quoted material. Has anyone else experienced that?

I'll post some full day reviews this evening if I can get them to post correctly. 

This is just a brief review of Princess Premier so far:

Wine prices DID go up as has been reported on other threads about Premier. The only New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (my personal fav) - Cloudy Bay - is now $19 so thank goodness for Premier or I'd be paying a bunch extra for it. There also seems to still be a supply issue. Several of the wines I have ordered have not been available and they tell me they'll replace them with something else at that price point which is confusing to me as the menus don't have multiple options for each varietal at the higher price points. All of the wine offered on Princess Plus is JUST offered by varietal - no specific wineries are named at all. I'm not much of a red wine person so I've been paying attention mostly to the whites and sparkling options. If there is a specific wine you want me to check on let me know.

Prizes: So far I've only noticed that we've "won" one entry for the end of cruise drawing. We end up not coming and going very much while the casino is open which on this cruise has so far been only one sea day and late at night. I have also noticed that every stateroom door shows the Princess Prizes logo. I don't know if that's just to entice the people who didn't sign up or of somehow everyone actually is enrolled. That seems unlikely to me and I'll try to get an answer about that.

Pictures: we've been posing for lots of pictures on board and we even had one taken at embarkation and when we got off the ship in Juneau. That's the first time they've had either of those on any of my cruises since the restart. Hopefully there will be enough that we like that we can each pick the 3 prints that are included with Premier. 

Stay tuned for reviews from Days 2-5 🙂

2 hours ago, lolo11 said:

I would love to know about the white wine selection in Vines, if anyone on board happens to go there. Also, what are the generic white wine offerings (brand) in any other bars? Thanks. 

Haven't been to Vines yet but once we do I'll get pics of the menu for you.

Interesting note: with Princess Premier we get drinks "up to" $18. On the TV menu and app the ONLY sparkling option is an $18 per glass Brut. It's quite lovely. But I know they have a Prosecco at $10ish. It's not even an option for me. Again this is only when we order on the TV or app. My favorite vacation drink,  a strawberry margarita, is NOT on the app so we've been calling room service instead to get them.

2 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

Singing draws too much attention but you are wearing a tiara and sash?  Love it!!  Happy Birthday.

It's not the attention I dislike in general. Just the song itself. I really really don't like the birthday song for some reason. Haha!

3 hours ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

Thanks for all the information. Enjoy your suite and the special breakfasts. I consider that to be my favourite part of the suite experience. 

The breakfasts have been the highlight so far for sure. We're about to send our first load of laundry as well and I'm thrilled about that as I'm not Elite yet.

53 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I can only assume wifi is pretty much non-existant since @rheathslc needed to wait until Ketchikan to post. I have done Alaska so many times and never really had any issue with wifi (I mean, it wasn't lightning fast but it was good enough to use) but this season I've heard lots of complaints about it. Is this due to the volume of passengers that use it now (with most having it included with their Plus package) or has something else changed?

Maybe it's just me not knowing the proper settings. Who knows. But I could not get CC to behave. I CAN use Facebook and use Google Meet to video call (I'm an Android user and as such don't have FaceTime much to the chagrin of my iPhone using family)

Duplicate post

27 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

Sailaway:

The weather was gorgeous and we spent the sailaway in the Retreat. All of the top deck spaces were packed with people. The is by far the fullest FEELING sailing I've been on since the restart. At the Captain's Circle event they said 2200ish passengers - I can't remember the exact number - which seems low for how busy all the public spaces seem. I guess I just got spoiled in the last year with all the less than half full sailings.

2 hours ago, twprincessfirsties said:

We are on the Royal for the return trip from Whittier on the 10th and am following this closely. We are worried, of course about COVID, especially since on previous cruises from Whittier it looks like there was a significant breakout.

 

Anyway, hope all on the boat is having lots of fun! 

They have been pretty strict about the masks. We're wearing ours indoors as requested but I forgot to put mine on last night when we went to the Captain's Circle event and they wouldn't let me in without one. They were handing them out at the door.