atobols

We are a family of four.  We will be in Ensenda for 12 hours.  We've been there briefly on another cruise, so we've already walked around the town, shopped, and eaten.  I want to do something different this time.  I'm torn between the Canopy tour at Las Canadas Park and the kayak excursion to Bufadora.  We're in our early 40s and our boys are 11 and 13.  Has anybody done either of these excursions?  What did you think of it?  Would you recommend either of them to a family?

On 1/12/2020 at 12:06 PM, AlwayzCruising said:

We will be driving in to San Fran for a carnival Miracle departure in April... does anyone have a good, safe, secure place they have parked their car at... 

 

I’m also wondering about driving up to port and dropping luggage and people since my dad is handicap and won’t be able to walk too far, for long periods of time.. I assume this is an easy process to drive in and drop off and out of.. then the others can park and walk in... 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice. We usually leave from Long Beach and know the ins and outs of that pier, but this one is new to us!!

We've done the drive in and parked for the last two cruises, and we'll do it for the one in April.  We travel with two pre-teens and we all have scuba gear, so my husband usually drops all of us off with our luggage and then goes over to the parking garage to park.  We always park at the garage across the street and have never had any problems.  

Has anyone tried the Mediterranean salad?  Was it any good?  

We got it for our 15 day cruise last December.  I haven't counted exactly, but I'm guessing we came home with at least 150 photos.  I'm planning on having copies made of the best ones and framing them for the Grandparents as holiday gifts. IMO, it was well worth the money.  I won't buy it for our upcoming cruise, but it was great to get all those family pictures.  You do get a cruise ship USB with all of your photos on it as well as the printed copies.

Just in case anyone else is interested, I contacted the Nation Park to ask them about Junior Ranger programs.  They emailed me back and this was their response.

"There are junior ranger books and badges on the Princess Cruise ships coming into Glacier Bay National Park. These items are available in the kid's center on the Glacier Bay day. There will be several rangers on board to answer questions and provide programming - including a Junior Ranger program in the kid's center. Young visitors can attend this program to earn their Jr. Ranger Badge." 

9 hours ago, Gimer said:

Last year we used "Impark Waterfront Plaza Garage" located at 80 Francisco Street. They now charge $18.00 per day and here is their reservation telephone number-- 415-398-4162.  Cruise Parking is on the top floor, level 6.  It's just 1 and 1/2 block away from Pier 27.  I will drop my wife and luggage off and it take about 20 minutes to walk back to Pier 27.  We now use a neighbor.  

This is what we used on our December cruise and we are using them again next week.  It would be cheaper for us to use Bart or Uber, but we prefer driving to SF.

On 6/16/2019 at 3:29 PM, 1emerald1 said:

I have never done the Chef's Table but am hoping to on an upcoming cruise.  For those of you have experienced this who all do you tip?  I would plan on tipping my server, but do you also tip the Maitr d' and/or head waiters?  Thanks.

We didn't tip and we didn't see anyone else tip either.  Honestly, it never crossed my mind to tip them.

6 minutes ago, weedpindle said:

Yes, they will play the matches, however it is unknown if there will be a live feed on any Princess ship.

Awesome!!  I might even prefer if they're delayed.  I would much rather watch them in the afternoon or evening with a beer in hand than early morning with a cup of coffee.

I'm going to be on a ship during the quarter-final and semi-final matches, the Grand Princess to be exact.  Does anyone know if they will be playing the matches?

Our last cruise was in December.  We got to the pier at about 9:30, dropped our bags with a porter, walked and shopped around the wharf, and then headed back to the ship at around 11:30.  There were probably 100 or so people in line.  We were on and eating lunch about 45 minutes later.  We're on the cruise after yours.  We plan on being there somewhere between 11 and 11:30 this time.

1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

I've often felt that many people on Alaska cruises are just there to check Alaska off their bucket list.  

 

 

Our cruise is two weeks from today and that's exactly how I feel about it.  We said we would visit all 50 states before our kids turned 18.  The Alaska cruise is just checking one more state off the list.  We still have two stops with only a very general idea of what me might go, Sitka and Victoria.  

You guys are awesome, thank you!!

I've read on the NP website that the rangers will bring a cancellation stamp on board with them, but I haven't seen anything saying Princess will bring a ranger on board.  I'm hoping someone on here will know the process.  What I'm really hoping is that a ranger will board and bring junior ranger books and badges with them.  Does anyone know that level of detail? 

I didn't even attempt to keep vegan on our last cruise.  I usually do vegan at home and vegetarian out so it wasn't something I went out of my way to keep up on the cruise ship.  I will say that it was very difficult at the buffet.  Things are not labeled well and it was a guessing game as to what had meat in it and what didn't.  I found it much easier to know what I was getting at the main dining room.  At least there things are clearly marked if they are vegetarian.

The rough seas around SF make some serious waves (2 to 3 feet) in the indoor pool.  The kids love having the waves drag them from one side of the pool to the other, but the walls of the pool are rough.  My sons had scrapes all over their chest and stomach but didn't want to stop.  Swim shirts are a really good idea if your kids are going to want to play in the waves.

Spicy food is hard to find on the ship.  Bring hot sauce if you will be wanting it.

I have two boys, ages 11 and 12.  I asked them their opinion of the food choices on Princess.  They say that they definitely prefer eating in the MDR.  They say the food is better quality there.  They like it because they can choose something which they think they might like off the adult menu, but if they hate it they have the kids menu as a backup plan.  I do remember a few meals where they ate one bite of the adult dish and decided it wasn't for them.  Our waiters were awesome about getting them another meal if they didn't like what they originally ordered.   

2 hours ago, Cafedumonde said:

Did they have any discovery activities in the kids clubs? 

No, and that was why my older son didn't like kids club.  He loves science and nature so that was one of the things he was most looking forward to.  It was all crafts and games in the kids club.  We did have almost 450 kids on our ship though, so the kids club people may have been overwhelmed.  We did have an amazing naturalist on board and she did a daily talk.  We went to all of them and our 12 year old thought those were great.  

I've been on quite a few cruises and just got off my first Princess cruise a few weeks ago.  The kids club is OK.  I have two boys, a 10 year old and a 12 year old.  The younger one loved kids club because he could play minecraft and mario kart.  My 12 year old thought it was boring and only went a couple of times on our 15 day cruise.  The dining room food was by far the best I've had on a cruise ship.  The buffet, the burger stand, and the pizza were no better than other lines.  The most glaring thing to me was that the passengers were much older than I am used to.  We like it enough to book two more cruises with Princess.

We have 2 boys, they're 10 and 12.  We just did our first Princess cruise a couple weeks ago.  Our younger son is super social and loves kids club and video games.  Our 12 year old is more of a loner.  He spent most of the cruise in the room, swimming, watching movies, and he did a few crafts.  We made sure to go on a cruise where there would be a lot of kids.  It was over winter break and there ended up being over something like 450 kids on the ship.  Everyone in our family loved it.  I will say that the clientele was OLD.  There were definitely some crabby old people on the ship, and that's a direct quote from my mother who is 65.  There were walkers and mobility scooters all over the place.  It's definitely not as much fun as other cruise lines, but there are other things which make up for that.

We had our 10 and 12 year old in Mexico a couple weeks ago.  They didn't need anything other than their ship card to get back on the boat.  They needed their passports to get originally, but they never left the safe while we were on board.

I just wanted to add that we were on deck 12.  The tables around the pool were right above us.  We could hear them dragging the tables and chairs across the floor every night when they were cleaning.  It was loud but there was only one night it really bothered us.  We chose to book rooms on deck 10 for the next two cruises.  I wanted the bigger balcony and not to have the pool directly above us.

1. The naturalist on our Christmas cruise jumped in to talk about the upcoming Alaska cruises.  According to her, the port side is the better view for Alaska.  We booked a port side balcony room because of her recommendation.  It was very choppy when we were going in and out of the SF area.  My family thought it was much worse when we were in the far front or far back of the ship.  Our room was in the middle and it wasn't as bad there.

2.  We just got off the Grand and had a 3 person balcony room (room #A424).  We had the bottom two beds as a queen and the top bunk dropped down from the ceiling.  I think I have a picture but I will have to look and get back here.

3. I don't know but I would love to know the answer too.

2 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

I wouldn’t trust what a barista you’ll never see again said and instead trust the coffee package’s T&Cs which states they expire at the end of the cruise.

 

“The coffee package is valid only on the voyage for which it is purchased. If the maximum number of coffees pre-purchased are not used during the voyage, the remaining value will NOT be credited or refunded and is NOT transferable for any purpose”.

I was just passing on the information I was give.  I won't be cruising again for another 6 months so I lost out on the coffees either way.

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

No, if the card does not have an expiration date then they good until 08/31/2019.

I didn't have a punch card.  The coffee card was loaded onto my cruise card/key card. 

I ended last week's cruise with 11 coffees left.  I asked if I could use them on our next cruise.  The barista told me they would be good for a month or two but would disappear after that.