nattie

Thank you everyone for support! I'll block off some time to call Princess (not looking forward to being on hold). JeffT237, your explanation makes perfect sense.

Thank you for suggestion! If I can find time, I'll definitely call. So far I have emailed my PVP with Princess (who booked the cruise) to see if he has any info.

Just a vent here... We booked an Inside package cruise on Discovery Princess this August. We are very flexible with sailing dates, so booked what seemed like great time to go (August 7th), but dont really care if we go any time from mid July to end of August. I paid for all the excursions I wanted as soon as I booked my cruise (some of them were already sold out) with the most important one to me being the Endicott Arm Explorer. I am not planning to do Alaska itinerary again (not a cold climate person here!) so wanted to actually get close to a glacier. Anyway, We have received a notice yesterday that "guest capacity for your shore excursion has been reduced due to operational reasons". I am really upset about that (may be undeservingly?), we paid for the tour in full as soon as I booked the cruise, so way before final payment date, why are we being booted off? To put more salt on the wound, the tour itself is still on the Princess website and doesnt even show as "sold out", there is a waitlist option!!! Why weren't we automatically put on waitlist? Thats just not right, so someone deciding just now to book this will automatically have higher waitlist number than people originally on the tour, but booted off?? If it wasnt for my final payment date being over, I would have switched the cruise timing. Now we are kind of stuck. I really expected more from Princess in terms of customer service (ie I would be fine with cancellation and automatic spot on waitlist). Vent over. I get that things happen and plans change, but putting cancelled passengers as first in line for waitlist spots is a no brainer to me. Could be that I am all getting worked up about nothing and that particular excursion is not going to blemish my Alaska cruise experience.

We did Regal in January and wanted to try the dining room at the back of the ship that used to be for "set time" dining only. The experience there was AWFUL. Next time we went to one of the regular dining rooms, had wonderful wait staff and were offered to get that table reserved for us for the rest of the cruise. We had no issues from that point forward! So I guess it all depends...

Just got the email about time change. Might have to figure out something else. We will for sure see them on the day we are getting back. I am also considering flying in a day earlier, but flights are RIDICULOUS right now. We are coming from East Cost, so breakfast might be doable too.

We are doing Discovery Princess cruise from Seattle and would like to meet up with friends for lunch before sailing. We have never sailed out of that port, so I dont know what the procedures there are. Ideally, I would love to pay for "sail away" package for my friends, for them to visit on the ship and have lunch with us there, but I dont think that package is available any longer. Second choice is to board the ship around 11 or so (we are Elite), leaving carry-ons in the room and disembarking to meet up with friends. Is this possible? Kind of treating Seattle as port of call? Any other ideas?

I love the Princess Plus because it lets me just relax and not think about extras. I have recently booked Discovery Princess for Alaska and for whatever reason Princess Plus didnt show as option during booking. My PVP was able to add it to the booking for just $200 per person extra (total) for 7 day cruise. Great deal.

We have just come back from NCL Breakaway cruise in Haven suite. Chose the cruise because we wanted to sail from NOLA and upgraded to accomodate an elderly relative. I have posted a full review on NCL boards, but wanted to comment my preteen here: "Mom, keep the waterslides, I want to go back to Princess". I know Princess is not perfect, but to get that testament from 12 yo is quite something. If anyone is interested, I am happy to answer questions. Overall, NCL Haven is 100% YES (but at $$$$), I dont think Princess has anything comparable, but general NCL (or at least Breakaway) is 100% NO.