CACruiser1973

We board the Discovery this Sunday, and I am secretly hoping we swap Skagway for Sitka.  I’ve been to Skagway three times now and, while I do genuinely feel bad for the townsfolk, once was enough for me.  It has always been my least favorite of the Alaska ports.  I’ve never been to Sitka and would actually be quite pleased to see it - even if it means we lose our wildlife sanctuary tour scheduled for Skagway.  

19 hours ago, MrBreeze said:

What Princess is doing concerning the Crown Princess is bordering on Fraud. They knew well before the start of the Alaska season that there were serious issues with the engines on the Crown and has done nothing to repair them. Yet Princess continues to sail this broken ship, cancels ports and excursions, and is still booking passengers for it while NOT informing them of the engine issues. Princess cares more about money than it does its passengers or guests. Shame on Princess!

I feel terrible for the OP and similarly situated passengers.  I also am nervous as all get out for myself and the rest of us that have been given the Crown for our sailings to Hawaii out of LA later this year.  Fingers crossed they come to their senses and swap out the Crown on the TransPacific sailings - or else I doubt we will make it to Hawaii at all. 

20 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And exactly the reason people who purchased the Plus package are not getting what they paid for in advance.

 

It is different when you do not have the package and pay by the drink and thus can pay less for a lesser quality brand.

Exactly. I paid for the Plus package and did not come even close to getting what I paid for.  I really only drink four things with regularity - Domaine Chandon sparkling wine (supposedly available at Bellinis bar), Black Russians (which require Kahlua) and the Milky Way martini (which requires both Kahlua and Baileys).  Occasionally I will also have a Baileys coffee.  
 

On the 5/29 Discovery cruise, they ran out of Domaine Chandon in the first couple of days and never had either Baileys or Kahlua onboard - for the entire week, it was unavailable on the ship. 
 

I am not unsympathetic to supply chain issues but as I was unable to get any money back on my shipboard account as the package was useless to me (especially when you consider the nonexistent internet) then I most definitely did not get what I paid for. 
 

I may be a finicky drinker but I have never had these problems before. For the record, my “consolation” drink of Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc was indeed a smaller pour than I have had previously. That bothered less since as a package holder it just meant more work for the staff when I would have two, instead of one. But I can see where if I didn’t have the package it would be a much bigger issue as the price per volume was not what it used to be. 

10 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

What makes you think that they'll actually address the problems and fix them when they won't even reply to written complaints?

My naïveté and blind hope? I was being rather facetious when I said it but still can hold out hope it is true. Otherwise I face a cruise that is already paid for with less enthusiasm. 

4 hours ago, kangelop said:

I'm on the Discovery Princess cruise next week and a little worried about internet speed. Sounds like it's bad.

 

If you are on the cruise right now can you tell me if masks have been required?

I got off the Discovery on Sunday. WiFi was completely unusable all week - and as for your question re: masks, I would guess only about 10% of passengers (myself included) wore them. 
 

The ship is stunning and service was great. But the fact that the WiFi was nonexistent, and my three favorite alcoholic beverages were unobtainable all week (they never stocked Kahlua or Baileys at any bars all week and ran out of Domaine Chandon shipwide twice during the sailing) meant my Plus package was not worth the money I paid for it. I really hope bars are restocked and WiFi improved before I embark again on Discovery in July. 
 

2 hours ago, amajaa said:

Same here now green again. I’m dreading trying to upload LFT results. 
 

Take a photo of your Green status and bar code and use that to board saying you can’t get a connection in case it goes to yellow again.

Sigh. It is just laughable at this point. It is now yellow again. I give up.  
 

Thankfully, I took your advice and did a screenshot of the green with the QR code. 

1 hour ago, amajaa said:

Same here, just getting a white screen when I try and get into Health Status. Let us know how you get on. 

So weird - just logged in again and now it lets me in. It still has an exclamation point next to my health documentation (which still says pending on my uploads of my vaccine card and test results).  But at least I could check the box now and also am back to green status. No idea why - but at least it is okay now. 

2 minutes ago, amajaa said:

My status has been green for the last six weeks, why has it suddenly turned to yellow. Panicking now, how do I correct it? 

Ditto. My status just did the same thing for my sailing tomorrow. 

Sigh - we had been fine, green lane with QR code and arrival group.  I logged in today to do the 24 hour health status check as we sail tomorrow on Discovery.  Now it says we are yellow and every time I try to enter the health portion (which earlier this morning worked and was just greyed out not letting me certify the statements) I now just get the blank white screen.  
 

I tried using the iPad, hoping it was just my iPhone and same thing. My last hope is to try my mom’s phone when I go visit her later today as she has the last version of the software and keep my fingers crossed that hers works. 
 

I am pretty technically savvy but if I am having these problems I have no idea how they expect people like my 74-year-old mother and 84-year-old mother-in-law to manage this app and its idiosyncrasies. 

Beware - long post follows - I followed quite a few of these suggestions on my recent March 10 cruise on the Grand - where I have heard anecdotally of a number of positive cases here on CC but we stayed negative. I had a bit of a throat thing when we disembarked but after three negative tests, it must have been something else.
 

My mom and I both have some comorbidities so while we are both fully vaccinated and (now double) boosted, we have managed to avoid Covid since the start of the pandemic.  We booked the cruise when it was masks required and could not get our money back when the policy ended so we went - but I could not get off the ship fast enough. I’m just not comfortable cruising right now and need to stay home for now. But these are some of the things we did while onboard. 
 

1) I wore KF94 masks everywhere - and I mean all day, everywhere.  I did sip and cover for every beverage and all meals but one (in the Crown Grill where we had the only table for 10 feet around us).  Chewing with a mask on is not easy, but I figure it is easier than being sick or quarantined.  To manage this, at every meal I designated my left hand as “the dirty one”

to lift the mask from my face to allow the fork under before quickly lowering it again.  
 

2) We have always wiped down all airplane areas, hotels and cruise rooms for years before Covid. We continue to do so - wiping everything from light switches and door knobs to even tables and countertops. We go through a LOT of Lysol wipes but it is worth it to us for the peace of mind. 
 

3) We wash our hands constantly and also carry around hand sanitizer.  I try to view the menus outside the dining room so I don’t need to touch them when seated but do have sanitizer on hand to use after touching a menu if necessary. 
 

4) We only take the elevator if it is more than four or five decks. And when we do, we do not ride with unmasked individuals. For the start of the cruise, we would just exit and wait for another or take the stairs if close enough. The last day of the cruise, I just started telling people we would not ride with unmasked people and closed the doors on them. I know I’ll get flamed for that and don’t condone my actions, but after two weeks, I was tired of the snarky comments from non mask wearers and tired of having to wait for three or four elevators to get one with only masked people on it. 
 

5) We requested (and received) socially distant tables in the dining room with nobody near us - I still ate with my mask on, but felt better having a column next to me instead of other unmasked coughing passengers (which there were plenty of at the end of the sailing).

Finally, we have done the Hawaii sailing from LA almost 20 times - we love Hawaii and dance hula both on and off the ship, and have played ukulele and Hawaiian slack key music for years. That being said, the two most stressful experiences for me were due to those practices. 
 

I always bring my guitar (usually an electric Hollowbody so nobody can hear it but me so I don’t disturb others).  I would often choose the couch along the wall near Explorers Lounge to play. I always wore my mask and didn’t mind comments from passerby about the guitar. One day though, an unmasked man invited himself to sit next to me, promptly grabbed my guitar and began playing it. I was horrified. Aside from it being poor etiquette to take someone’s instrument without their express permission to do so, his hands were now all over the instrument. For someone that won’t touch an elevator button or handrail others have touched, it really bothered me that if he had just coughed or sneezed into his hands (as I saw MANY people do on the cruise) those germs were now on my guitar.  Fortunately, it was my carbon fiber instrument, not one of my wood ones, so I was able to go back to my cabin and wipe it with Lysol wipes. Memo to me - never again take a wood guitar with me.  Note - not the first time this has happened. A guy did it with my custom ukulele once as well, jamming his fingers into the side sound port to see how big it was. Sigh. 
 

The other incident involved Hawaiian Ambassador Rowena. She was a lovely lady, very friendly. But perhaps given the pandemic filled with a bit TOO much aloha. She talked about how great it was we no longer had to wear masks, and urged hula dancers to hug, touch and “share aloha” together. Hence, Mom and I stayed in the back of the Vista, never dancing on the crowded floor. She also would go around and hug or touch all the passengers in the Piazza each night, as she and all of them were unmasked.  Twice she came up to me (who she

never once saw without a mask) to hug or kiss me. I was mortified.  I didn’t want to be rude to her so I just stopped going to their performances. If there was one single greatest spreader of Covid onboard, it was probably her.  Lord knows if she was positive and asymptomatic she would have given it to hundreds.  Again, I really liked her personally. We talked about feather lei making (Mom and I have a feather lei company so we often wore them), hula and Hawaii. I just would have liked her more if she had respected my personal space a bit more and not repeatedly hugged me unmasked unsolicited after just hugging dozens of other unmasked people. 

3 hours ago, pompeii said:

Well, you fared better than I did. After starting to feel a little iffy on the flight home, I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat and tested positive.   I was frustrated with the lack of testing, masks and distancing on our cruise. And I know from speaking with a passenger who had been quarantined that 20+ isolation cabins were in use.  Regarding the Hawaiian ambassador, Rowena, yes, she is a very sweet lady but getting in each other's personal space is not appropriate right now. I went to her hula classes and she encouraged us to aloha each other at the beginning of each class by hugging one another. No thanks!  

I’m so sorry to hear you tested positive.  I was on the same cruise  and stopped going to Rowena’s events. Super nice lady filled with aloha - and it was supremely uncomfortable to me that she kept trying to hug me after hugging dozens of unmasked people while she was unmasked too. 
 

I still don’t feel 100% (minor headache and throat) and plan to take another at home test tomorrow or Tuesday to be sure since the first one was negative. But if I got it - I think her events could have been to blame as I never took off my mask - even in the dining room.  I gave up on soup but managed to eat everything else with the mask on.  

Wishing you a speedy recovery to get well soon! 

6 hours ago, Ronnieslady said:

How are you feeling right now ❓. I pray you are or will be okay.   The part about keeping us & other passengers in the dark is something I can’t & never will  agree with.  It makes no sense.   Why not tell us the truth. By not telling us the truth do they think they are gaining brownie points with us.  It certainly doesn’t. In fact it just makes me NOT believe a word they say, either verbally or written!!!!!!

I have had a headache for the last few days and some dizziness the first night home.  A bit of cough but I am fine, thank you for asking.  I took an at home test and it was negative.  Looks like my mole strategy of rarely leaving my room and heavy duty mask paid off.  

1 hour ago, Ronnieslady said:

 

I have been reporting that the Ruby has been in the Orange since the 24th according to the CDC.  And besides the Ruby being Orange, so is the Majestic, the Grand & the Caribbean Princess.  Princess must have been aware before that even.   Wondering if any of the other ships besides the Ruby have told their passengers.  So that way the choice is yours , be cautious or not.  Give us the #s from day one.  

I can’t speak for the last 24 hours, but I was on the Grand from 3/10 to 3/25 and it was orange then.  They never told us a word.  As I stated in another thread, my waiter and assistant waiter for my permanent table both disappeared a couple of days apart, never came back, with no explanation.

I finally started spending most of my day in my cabin after learning we were orange.  The final straw for me was how a maskless Hawaiian ambassador would chat and hug every unmasked guest in the Piazza  - literally ALL of them as she made her nightly rounds.  Twice she came up and did it to me even though I wore my mask everywhere and it bothered me so much that I stopped attending her performances.  Having someone share cheek contact with a bunch of unmasked people ( some of whom had been coughing) then do it to me, was too much for me.  

I understand how people are tired of masking.  I understand Princess doesnt want to lose money.  But to know we are orange, and to keep us in the dark about it while partying like it is 2019 is too much for me.  I booked the cruise when there was a mask mandate.  I could only get FCCs if I cancelled, so I went and wore a mask everywhere.  But I nearly literally ran off that ship yesterday and could not get off fast enough.

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

On our first visit to the dining room we’ll be eating most of our meals at, my DW makes sure the hostess and/or maitre 'd know that if at all possible we would like an empty table next to us while dining and are also very willing to sit at the most undesirable table they have. But, in order to be able to do that, we always try to come when the dining room, especially in the evening, first opens. It's amazing how accommodating they can be when you don't care what (non-window) table you sit at.

 That is exactly what we did on the Grand. We spoke with the Hotel director Riccardo and head waiter Fabrizio and they got us socially distanced tables.  For breakfast and lunch we were at a table by a column - even then I got to the dining room (wearing my mask) about 20

to 30 minutes ahead each day after a woman complained she wanted the same table we had been assigned.  Be aware - we asked people to please not breathe down our necks but most people (80% unmasked on the Grand from 3/10-3/25) stood only inches behind everyone in line. 
 

I ate with my mask on for my meals (bite then chew with it on).  I only saw one person in two weeks doing the same thing and Grand was orange with lots of coughing on my trip. 

1 hour ago, Optotronics said:

I went to feeling fine when the captain made his announcement to having chills around 11pm. Just woke up to the worst chills and sore throat I’ve had since I was a kid. Wife says she’s not doing any better. Going to call medical for a test.

we had plans to stay a night on fisherman’s wharf before flying home, do they even let you fly home with active Covid?

this was a major mistake.

all the pieces fit now. We went to the show about 4-5 days ago and you could tell that they had just grabbed a regular crew member to fill in and was terrible.

then on Cabo we where put right next to each other in the theater to wait for our tender and many not wearing masks and lots of coughs.

 

I am so sorry to hear this and hope you feel better soon and end up being negative.  
 

I just got off the Grand yesterday.  I wore my mask everywhere - even did the sip and cover method while eating with it on.  I would say only about 20% wore masks on our Hawai’i sailing and there were definitely people coughing. 
 

I have a small headache and last night was dizzy, the room started spinning.  I’m lucky enough to be only 20 minutes from San Pedro so I can self isolate at home for now and will take a home test if the headache is still there tomorrow.  
 

I think Princess went way too fast, too soon with the removal of the mask requirement.  At any rate, I wish you and your wife all the best and hope for a speedy recovery for you. 

On 3/23/2022 at 9:01 PM, Mary Ann 2 said:

Is there anyone currently on a Hawaii or Panama Canal cruise that can tell us if they were tested mid-cruise? Or if you left in the last 2 days if you were tested at the port?

I am currently on the Grand Hawaii cruise from 3/10 to 3/25. We disembark tomorrow and were never tested again after we provided our negative test at embarkation. 

29 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I may ask as we will be on a 18 day PC cruise next month, how many times have you been tested once you arrived at the terminal on embarkation day after, of course, providing a negative antigen/PCR test certificate upon arrival? I’ve read on other threads folks are tested at the terminal as well as 2 days afterwards. Did this happen on your cruise?

 No!  Not even once have they tested us. I think they don’t want to know the answer. Like ostriches with their heads in the sand.  We showed up with our negative test on 3/10 and were never tested again. 

I am onboard the Grand now.  Despite numerous attempts at resetting my password on my iPhone, I keep being told that my account (Waimea’sMom) has the incorrect password. So I gave up and created this account now. 
 

When we booked this cruise the mask mandate was in place. After it was lifted, I was unable to get our money back and the Grand had a Green rating the last time I had checked, so we decided to go ahead and cruise, and keep our masks on while onboard. We wear them everywhere, and I have even been keeping mine on at meals - I do the sip and cover method. 
 

I asked at the Passenger Services Desk and was told that there were over 2,000 Passengers on board this sailing.  And I would estimate about 20-25% are wearing masks. 
 

I have been hearing coughing all cruise long but it does seem more pronounced of late. We also have had the same table at Da Vinci’s for breakfast and lunch - one that is a private table for two, socially distanced by a column. Over the course of the cruise, we are now on our fourth waiter at the table.  One day we overhead the head waiter asking our first waiter if he had gone to the doctor and could not hear his response. We never saw him again. A couple of days later, our assistant waiter left and we never saw him again either. 
 

For the vast majority of cruisers, I am sure that this has been a great cruise.  For me, it has been a nightmare, and I cannot wait to get off this ship tomorrow. I have seen tons of people coughing onto their hands in the Atrium, and then touching chairs and tables, even saw one mask wearer take off his mask to sneeze.  
 

I do wish people were showing more respect for differences in comfort - they don’t socially distance at all in line - inches away from the back your head - I had one older man literally sneeze onto the back of me.  I also think the Hawaiian ambassador Rowena is a lovely lady, and very friendly, but it is very uncomfortable for me that she constantly makes the rounds maskless hugging and touching people in the Atrium each night. I don’t really feel comfortable only an inch or two away from someone unmasked that just hugged a hundred other people. I finally just stopped going to their shows as I didn’t want to be rude to her and I was clearly the only passenger uncomfortable with the practice. 

I don’t know the numbers of positive cases onboard (I do wish I could read the thread another poster mentioned was live on another site), no way are they advertising that. But I do know I have seen three different cocktail servers in the Atrium double masking.  So they seem concerned too.  
 

I know - I am concerned and so I shouldn’t have gone. But I didn’t want a ton of money in future cruise credits and mistakenly thought it wouldn’t be too concerning.  
 

If you are among the vast majority that seem to be fine mask free - I wish you a lovely time onboard. If you are even remotely risk averse, or nervous, I would say stay home, at least until the new Omicron variant runs its course.