jsglow

So I've started to do some reading regarding our upcoming Princess Glaciers cruise departing Vancouver to Whittier. For reference, we'll be spending some time in Seattle beforehand visiting our son and then busing to Vancouver the day before the cruise. We will be fully 'up to date' on our Moderna vax with booster #2 taking place roughly 2 weeks prior to the cruise. As such, we'll technically have a 3 day lead time window to complete our Antigen test necessary for boarding, certainly done in Seattle. We've also already downloaded and inputted all of our relevant info into our ArriveCan App although I can imagine a tweak with the date of that booster #2 in early August. Now here's where my confusion comes in. Does Canada require a negative Covid test (for the fully vaxxed) as an entry requirement when we cross the border? I've not read anything about that and I suppose I was just assuming the 'old' fly back to the USA rules that had applied up until mid-June were operative and similar. Now obviously we'll have our Princess eligible test results in hand but are they necessary for ArriveCan and is that something we load into the App at the last minute? Thanks for clarifying. Just trying to avoid surprises. Oh, and we know we'll face an indoor mask requirement as things stand now. Gotta find those things again. No problem.

Ha! Exactly Ferry. Came back here to read up on the latest. DW and I have bus tickets already purchased for trip from Seattle to Vancouver one day before cruise in late August.

I don't think you'll be spoiled. Trying different types of cabins helps you evaluate their relative worth in your eyes.

As others have said. I just want to relay how refreshing it is to witness Blue Cards see an exotic destination for the first time. Last winter a young solo cruiser sitting next to me on the water shuttle let out an audible gasp and then exclaim that HMC was the most beautiful beach she had ever seen. She apologized. I told her that her reaction made my day. 😊

John Heald provided public clarification on this topic a couple weeks back. D&P (and Suites) are welcome to quickly drop luggage and go upon embarking the ship. Blue/Red/Gold card holders are not and should not proceed to their cabins for any reason until the 'all clear' announcement is made by the CD. On our very first Platinum cruise, we were personally greeted by our Steward's first level manager (who somehow knew it was our initial Plat cruise). He welcomed us onboard at our cabin handing over his card and saying 'Welcome and please reach out if you need anything from me our my team.' It was a nice gesture. We pushed our carry-on bags under the bed and quickly departed respecting the protocol. In our multiple cruises since then, we have always had access and were careful not to abuse the privilege.

We very much enjoy sailing out of NOLA. We'll be doing it for the second time later this Fall. We're big fans of the city and will enjoy 2 days there before embarking on Valor. Funny, it's the only port we've ever walked to. Straight down Poydras St. and then over. The end is a bit tricky but now having done it before.......

So on our first cruise post pandemic we had legally purchased our allowed 2 bottles of wine at the local convenience store. But I must have been out of practice because I erroneously placed them in my roller bag rather than in my duffel. Well, arrive at the port, hand my roller to the porter as I routinely do and proceed into the terminal. CRAP, I'm such an idiot! Oh well. That roller bag arrived at our stateroom no problem. Thanks for the courtesy fellas!

So here's a little interesting twist. We're getting strategic for an upcoming Alaska landcruise on Princess where we're allowed 3 tiers of luggage: Backpack, nightly but stowed underneath on the bus, and cruise ship ONLY. I'm thinking we'll take a backpack each, a single 'checked' size for the bus and a carry-on size for the cruise only portion. Alaska is always challenging because the sheer bulk of coats/sweaters makes a difference. PS. If you Southerners are doing Alaska, DO NOT purchase matching 'winter' coats. We northerners chuckle under our breath. 😏

I find the 'balcony' answer interesting. No wonder the older Fantasy class ships have to go away. Sunshine class and Spirit class completely changed that dynamic for what appears to be a very large cruising segment. My guess is they'll be around for many years. We're in the minority, I suppose. The price differential between an OV and a Balc needs to be very skinny for us to upgrade. Sure I like a Balc. But not enough usually to pay for it. Sometime we should try an Inside again but the extra space of the OV seemingly makes a big difference to us. Sail on.

Texans needing room for their hats! 😆 We've gotten much better at packing light and are now routinely able to carry onto the plane. Historically we'd only carry on our duffel handing our two modest roller bags to the porters. But that was before reaching Platinum when we'd have to babysit our bags until 1:30. Now, because we can do a quick drop and go, we may reconsider. One thing that's important is that we do have very nice wire cable connected luggage tags that have almost a zero chance of failure. We've never had a problem.

It's interesting to me that nobody has seemingly experienced this scenario. OP, I might suggest you call Carnival and get clarification. I sure would want to know my potential fate before boarding a plane only to get denied at the pier, not saying you will.

Lemme give you the B2B procedure. Assuming you are switching cabins, you'll fully repack your suitcases and leave them in your 'old' room. Your steward will relocate them to your new cabin during the change-over. We printed 'new' luggage tags just to be nice and make it extra easy. Do NOT put your luggage in the hall. You and your fellow B2B traveling companions will gather in the dining room where you'll wait for the last of the disembarkation. During your wait, you'll meet with a crew member who will provide you with your new S&S cards. Once the ship is 'zeroed out' (except you) a crew member will escort you down into the terminal where you will be quickly taken through the Customs process (remember to take your Passport) and immediately returned to the ship. Typically, the atrium bar will have mimosas lined up for the B2B guests. The reason for this is that your S&S card won't actually activate until 10:30a at the very earliest so don't try to sign on to the internet or anything until staff tells you that the new folios are up and running. As to testing, IF the medical director deems it necessary, it'll happen one day before you dock. We sailed when it was required and it was handled the prior afternoon.

Not 100% sure but I'd bet money the answer is no. You'll receive it when you disembark for good. That loophole would be huge and not in Carnival's interest.

Our poor OP just wants to know about breakfast!! Um, a light 'hotel breakfast' snack usually is good enough. And A03 will be boarding within maybe 15 minutes of A01. As others have said, you'll almost certainly board about 11a. Enjoy your cruise.

You sail on 'much smaller' ships zen? What lines? Miracle is like 80,000 tons. Quite small by today's standards for the mass market lines.

It's going to be interesting to see where she goes. I like her too.

Okay, here's my 3 cents. Paradise is one of the last couple Fantasy class ships. No doubt she's the most outdated of the 3 and certainly the smallest. Her price point and itinerary would need to be significantly superior for me to choose her. Freedom is a nice, but aging Conquest class ship; the backbone for Carnival operations for the 2000s and much of the 2010s. I'd absolutely sail her again. She's probably in the top 2 in terms of refurbishments of those 5-6 approaching 20yo ships. Port Canaveral is a very good port to sail from. Sunshine is the very first total retrofit done by Carnival (converting the late 1990s Destiny) completed in 2013. She absolutely has the most bells and whistles of the 3 listed. I've sailed her but not out of Charleston. Fully featured boat with everything many of the new builds have (think restaurants) plus the best Serenity in the fleet (not available to your daughters/too young.) I will tell you that none of these boats are anything like a giant Oasis class RCL ship. If that's what you're looking for, you won't find it in these all older vessels. You'd never catch me on one of those giant mega ships but just so you understand. Might I offer you a suggestion? Sister to the Sunshine is SunRISE sailing out of Miami. She's similarly rebuilt rolling out about 2018 and runs some really excellent 5 night itineraries; my favorite of which is Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk.

I also wish they'd bring Dream back to New Orleans sending Glory over to Galveston. That would give both those ports multiple ship classes. I can also see that Dream will be squeezed out at some point when Jubilee arrives.

I spent 14 days on Pride last October. Honestly, I thought she was fine for a 20 year old ship. And in fact in better condition than Miracle. Sailed on her in March.

Echo elk. Love both the Windstar and Star Clipper. Completely different experience that a typical 'big box' cruise. The key is the intimacy and the ability to get into tiny, out of the way ports. There's differences between the two lines that I won't expand upon here. We find Carnival to be a wonderful product for our basic cruising needs. We save Princess for destination cruising where the objective is to get places we haven't been further away from home. But Pride is doing that very nicely here later in 2022 and again in 2023.

As others have said, Long Beach is more convenient but I'd sure price compare LAX as it's not a terrible ride from the cruise terminal. And you're going to be switching planes regardless. Anything in the early afternoon or later is fine.

That's incorrect Always. You are allowed to sail if Fully Vaxed (meaning the original 2 shot protocol for the Moderna, etc.) You are 'Up to Date' if you have all the recommended boosters. The only thing different between the two is the required timing on your Covid test.

So after 2 years is this a serious question? If you test positive immediately prior to the cruise you are simply not allowed to sail. You call the cruise line, tell them, likely provide a copy of your positive test result and get FCC for a future cruise. It's no more complicated than that. And as to the OP, everywhere we've been on a total of 8 cruise segments post pandemic, the Cruise Director has been very informative about exactly what you need to take ashore. A pic of your vax card on your phone does the trick. I don't think we've ever been asked for it. Most ports will want to see your driver's license and your S&S card. Also, we've never done Verifly simply preferring to take our actual vax card inside our Passport holder. At the terminal, they will examine 3 documents as the very first step 1) Passport (confirming it's YOU), 2) Vax card, 3) negative test (with all the necessary info).

One more thought. Have you considered (or already done) the Eastern 8 day to St. Maarten and St. Kitts?

That's tough. We LOVED Curacao but I've not yet been to Bonaire. Aruba is 'okay' in our eyes. I personally like Grand Turk a lot and would rank it above Amber Cove but that wouldn't be a deal breaker. Try to decide which of the 2 ABCs you would rather see and go with that one. If the ship itself is a consideration, I'd personally prefer the Magic but others might disagree. And of course the 2 price-tags would be relevant. These are similar cruises so a big price would sway me.