thehowlingroad

This was super helpful, thank you!!

I'm having some odd problems with the search function, so apologies if this has been brought up recently. Has anyone been on a ship in Shimizu that has docked at the Okitsu Port rather than Hinode? A tour agency I'm working with has brought up that our ship, the Diamond Princess, is docking at Okitsu in April (which is a far more industrial port than Hinode) and we might experience problems trying to get taxis, as they're not typically allowed into the industrial areas. I'm looking at the possibility of having our tour guide drop us off at the S-Dream Plaza after our tour, and then getting ourselves back to Okitsu, but if the taxis aren't allowed to do drop-offs in the area, then I'm more concerned. Has anyone been in Shimizu lately that wants to share their experience? Especially if you docked at Okitsu... Has Princess (or other cruise lines!) offered shuttles out to town? Are the concerns about getting taxis totally overblown? Thanks!

We went last year on the Enchanted Princess. 3 ports in Norway, 4 in Iceland (no overnight in Reykjavik). It was a good mix for us, and I had looked at multiple other cruise lines during the planning process; Princess regularly does 4 stops in Iceland, instead of 2 or 3 with an overnight in Reykjavik like some of the other cruise lines. Whether or not that's a trade-off that's worth it to you is a personal preference; all our port stops were 10+ hours, so we felt it was still plenty of time to do the tours we wanted to do and walk around town. With the exceptions of Reykjavik and Akureyri, the other "typical" Icelandic port towns (Isafjordur, Grundarfjordur, Seydisfjordur) are really small.

We are booked on the Feb 2024 edition of this cruise on the Spirit. Thank you so much for what you've posted so far!

Considering that Princess has given booked customers a bit over 2 months' notice about an increase to "crew appreciation," I don't think it's too much to ask for more than 3 weeks' notice.

Honestly, I put a deposit down on a '24 booking that I already felt was overpriced for 3 of us, but figured I wanted to hold the room and reprice later on... but this is making me re-consider the booking altogether, especially when other lines have similar itineraries at significantly lower fares. And with less than a month's notice before the fee increase? This isn't a good first impression for NCL, lol.

We prefer pods sealed in a Ziploc bag and put inside a harder container, but you can buy liquid Tide in travel packets as well (I think Harmon sells them and I've seen them at Target twice), if you're worried about the pods bursting or anything like that. I've never used the detergent sheets but wouldn't mind trying them. The washers are top-loading, the dryers are front-loading. We did three loads of laundry on the Enchanted over the summer-- two were planned, one was not after we got caught in a significant rainstorm in Norway.

Was on Riviera on the Emerald in 2018-- I don't remember where exactly the room was located, but we got a lot of deck chair noise, especially in the mornings when the crew is setting up for the day.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PGXWNWG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I use this Anker one for the outlets by the desk, and another adapter (it isn't listed on Amazon anymore), and that works great for 3 phones, an Apple Watch, a DSLR battery charger, 2 portable battery packs for long shore excursions, and my Kindle.

Yeah, you only bid for the 1st and 2nd person. So when you divide my $200 bid over 3 people, that's $66/pp.

My bid averaged out to $66/pp (there's 3 of us) from an interior room into a premium deluxe balcony, but mini-suites weren't available for bidding yet when I put it in last week. Your daughter got a steal!

Yes, the 4-day run to Ensenada and back. We love San Diego during the holidays but hate the traffic, so this is the neatest solution, lol.

Our cruise sails on 12/17 and I got my bid accepted today. My app says we're 18 days from sailing.

I once made the mistake of booking a room below Lido and it was annoying but not unmanageable with earplugs. I can see this being a similar situation, but can also see light sleepers/early sleepers absolutely hating it.

Reviving this thread because the cabin reviews thread didn't have the information I was looking for... we're booked on the Discovery, E731, after a successful upgrade bid. Anyone have strong opinions either way about the Vista Lounge noise on this ship? Even experiences with the same room on the Enchanted would be helpful. The deck plan tells me it's the cabin immediately to the left of the starboard corner suite.

My bid was accepted this morning. We moved to an aft cabin on the Discovery; E731. I'm a little concerned about noise from Vista Lounge in the late evenings, but given it's only a 5-day cruise, I think we'll be okay.

I placed 5 test bids on our upcoming Discovery cruise next month, just to see what would happen. 4 of the 5 were rejected an hour after I placed them, but the premium deluxe balcony bid is still pending. $200 total, but there's 3 of us in an interior room, so any kind of upgrade would be worth it, tbh.

Princess is one of the very few lines that will do 4 Iceland ports, instead of an overnight in Reykjavik. Flam and Olden are deep fjord ports, and that’s honestly more than you’ll get with most other itineraries. Quite frankly, the fjord ports are very small and there isn’t much to do, so you do need to balance it out with the coastal ports for a good mix of activities. If you’re looking at the June 3rd Sky Princess sailing, I’d say go for it. We went on the 2022 edition this summer and did not regret a single moment.

Most places will accept Mastercard and Visa. The one place in Alaska where I found was truly cash only was the shuttle bus from the furthest dock in Juneau (the AJ dock; check if your ship is docking there). It's $5 for the whole day, cash only. Our ship was kind enough to point out that you can exchange USD and break large bills down with the on-board Casino but I'm sure there was an exorbitant fee and unfavorable exchange rate.

We did Norway/Iceland earlier in the summer on the Enchanted Princess and just got back from Alaska for the 2nd time. The Norwegian fjords alone blow Alaska out of the water completely. You won’t regret going. Our itinerary had 4 Icelandic ports— it sounds like you’re okay with tacking on extra days in Reykjavik before the cruise, but I would have chosen something that stays longer in Akureyri, since it gives you a chance to do the Diamond Circle loop as opposed to the “standard” Myvatn one. But otherwise, this is a solid choice— the typical recommendation for Norwegian ports is that at least one of them should be a “fjord port,” which you’ll get with Geiranger. It’s worth waking up every day at 5:30 am on these cruises because the sail-in scenery is unmatched.

We're embarking our cruise on the same day as you and will be in Juneau on the 14th; Icy Strait Point on the 13th. I didn't even think of the possibility of seeing the lights, figuring it was too early, but maybe not!!! Following along with the thread!

Viator is a marketplace, so I assume all tours listed there are just being resold. Much better to book directly with your tour company. Viator always lists who the company doing the tour is, so just google the name and book directly instead. The tour company will also appreciate it, as Viator takes a chunk of their revenue too. I personally do not like having a 3rd-party company standing between me and the vendor (if things go wrong, the finger-pointing starts), and we've also received some benefits for booking directly, such as bundle pricing for multiple tours.

Enchanted Princess was the only ship in harbor on 7/30 and we still anchored off-shore due to size. Beautiful little port on a sunny day, but with very limited harbor infrastructure, so it makes sense that the large ships have to run tenders.

Maybe I missed it, but I was looking very specifically for the Pub Lunch on sea days and there was no mention of it at all on the Patter or on the TV menus-- it only showed the standard MDR lunch menu for the day.

there was pub lunch in the MDR on the Enchanted during the July 22 sailing; it was the last sea day, but wasn't advertised in the Patter at all. We stumbled upon it purely by luck when we saw the hostess outside the MDR, telling passengers who walked by about it.