etphonehome24

Hello! We will be in port late in Skagway. Anyone have any good ideas for dinner? Does anyone know if the BBQ Shack is still open? I was thinking that, but Google shows they are permanently closed…

I think you hit the nail on the head. If you will feel pressured to meet the numbers needed to make the plan worth it financially, which I do and which is the reason I don’t get it based on my own situation (everyone’s assumptions indicate that both cruisers will be drinking or like soda/coffee), then don’t get it. If you think you can meet the numbers without problem, or feel liberated from having to think about it by buying the package, then get it. As for the port days argument not “holding water,” Alaska ships are in port longer, sometimes as late as 9:30pm. If people want to maximize port time, there really isn’t 6 hours to drink on the ship after you get back. That’s why I made a distinction in my previous post.

My concern with getting Plus is that I'd be stressing during the cruise about making sure I get my money's worth. Our situation, plus the fact that half the days are in port (and will largely be off the ship), probably would not make it worth it. So, I'll just buy what I want when I want it, and not worry about whether I would have got a better deal if I had Plus. Not to say it isn't more of an obvious choice for a bigger drinker or one with lots of ship days, but I'm not going to stress about it.

I'm still hoping the 7am time is a placeholder for the real time which will update closer to the trip, but with every day that goes by, I am getting less and less hopeful.

That is very helpful! Thank you.

I like the idea of doing the door hanger. It'll mean we don't have to worry about standing in line for the International Cafe, and it would still be free. But, the times available on the door hanger don't seem to start before 6:30am. I'd be afraid of missing my excursion. I guess we could also do OceanNow?

Thank you everyone! It looks like International Cafe may be the best option. I appreciate you all.

On our trip in June, the itinerary states that we will be getting into Ketchikan at 6am, and we have an excursion at 7:00am. What are the breakfast options that early on the ship?

When you say they have tea on sea days, does that include the scenic cruising days? I booked a spa appointment during our one "at sea" day, so I'll need to change my appointment time to get tea time in the MDR that day if they don't also have tea time on Glacier Bay and College Fjord days.

I thought I'd write to check in with the original poster about how long it took to get a refund. We are in the same boat (or ship, so to speak). We refared for less than we had paid to date (resulting in an overpayment), and they are telling us 90 days. Currently about 45 days in and no refund.

According to our travel summary, boarding starts at 12:30pm on embarkation day. How early before boarding do people start getting to Canada Place cruise terminal?

That appears to be Princess’ MO recently. Raise the prices but make it look like you are giving them a deal (like recent internet increases, while stressing the prices of the Plus and Premier plans remain the same).

It looks like Princess is having an “up to 20% off” sale on Alaska excursions. However, they raised the prices significantly in the past month or so, so my bookings from July are still cheaper than the sale… In case you haven’t booked Alaska excursions yet, or you’ve recently booked them, you may want to look now to get the “sale” prices.

In the part of the app where you click “Journey” (bottom middle) and go to “My Journey”? Or when you click on the excursions tab (I know they are there)? The app provides a really handy planner there with, for me, only dining reservations showing up. It would be nice to have everything under one calendar, and if they could link dining there, they could probably link spa and excursions.

Yes they show up correctly there. I think our question was whether they also show up on “my journey.” My dining reservations show up on the separate dining tab and on “my journey”, so I figured the spa appointments and excursions would too. Wasn’t sure if they were showing up for anyone else.

Anyone have their excursions and spa appointments show up on “my journey”? Seems like it would make sense to include those there…

Thank you!

Thank you! That is very helpful.

Thanks! Where do we go to get pictures taken? Do we have to go to a studio or are there photographers that roam (like during the scenic cruising part)? It sounds like you can get photographs during formal nights in the mdr. I haven’t cruised since the 90s/early 00s, but I remember they (Celebrity, in my experience) also took your picture when you get on the ship. Is that still a thing? I just don’t want to waste money on a package we won’t use! Premier/plus plans aren’t worth it for us, either (already ran those numbers).

Are others still having problems booking spa appointments on the app? It won't let me choose a day/time for close to two weeks (old app, new app, or website), at least.

What photo opportunities exist on the Sapphire (Alaska), outside the portrait studio? We were potentially interested in purchasing the five photo package before the cruise, but I wasn't sure if we'd be able to find enough photo opportunities without having to go to the studio (we don't really want to go all the way to Alaska to spend time in the portrait studio). The website says, "Choose your 5 favorite photos from our Snap Shots, Cruise Moments and Perfect Portraits prints" but I can't find where they explain what those capitalized terms mean. Thanks!