ceilidh1

Tried to order Mermaid Mimosa. Canceled as none of the more expensive sparkling wine available. Tried to order watermelon margarita but canceled as none of the more expensive tequila available.

Upgraded beverage package is a bust thus far. If, like me, you don’t really care about wine the package is worthless. The handful of cocktails listed higher than the $12 are not available. I have tried to order 3 of the higher charged ones so far, just to test it out, but each time been told that the higher end alcohol is not available

Definitely issues. Guest services are slammed

Came back to drop something at the room …

Direct view into balconies from seawalk

After trivia and breakfast DS went to kids club and DD and BFF went to origami. They found out it had been canceled. I wanted to go to the retreat, but it’s closed. Time for a new plan.

Forgot to mention that I stopped by guest services on the way back to the room last night to get drink charges removed. The poor guy looked defeated. He said that he has been dealing with this all day. He explained that when the new packages were released, they were not added to the ship drink ordering software so it had to be done manually. Premiere package doesn’t yet exist in their system but does show on guest account. Plus package had a name change for the drink portion so this also has caused issues with their system. He gave me his card and told me he would take care of it and not to worry until a day or two before disembarking. At that point, if charges remained they would be removed. This morning, most charges have been reversed but now it’s back to charging us for drinks again - which had been fixed at some point yesterday.

Not according to this

International Cafe

Trivia winnings

I will take one tonight - I didn’t take much notice last night but we are using both the sofa and the bunk above

ArriveCAN notice- very confusing as the vast majority on this sailing are Canadian residents and the info regarding residents (if you go to the provided QR link) says this needed to be completed 72 hours prior to embarkation- which we did!?!

Todays Patter

Not that I have seen anywhere but I will keep a look out

Smoking area deck 16 aft

The gym was pretty lively this morning but I tried to get a picture without anyone in it!

Confirmed- there is no one in the connecting room next door

2,597 guests on board. It’s too early to do math so I will leave it up to someone else to figure out what capacity we are at. It certainly didn’t feel crowded anywhere on the ship yesterday. Off to the gym now

Yes we are in a connecting room. I heard no noise from there whatsoever. I’m not even sure there is anyone in there

Yes we are in a connecting room. I heard no noise from there whatsoever. I’m not even sure there is anyone in there

We headed back to the room around 10:30 last night and I unceremoniously told BFF to hang up the darned phone. There will be a “chat” with her today. I did not win anything with Princess Prizes on my return to the room last night. Observation about the room. I have never noticed the motion sensor lights before. Are they new? They drove me nuts last night as every time DS turned over, his sheet would trigger the light. Talking of sheets, the ones on these beds seem particularly crisp/new and they make a crinkling noise each time you move. Did I mention that DS is the most restless sleeper in the world? Lol. Despite that, I had a great sleep and love the Princess beds so much. The room was very quiet - not sure if there is anyone in the connecting room, but I didn’t hear a sound all night

I didn’t take too many ship pictures yesterday as we have been on Royal Princess so often, but here are a few

I will attempt to do a “live from” on our upcoming cruise on Royal Princess. I have read reports of wifi being awful, or CC not cooperating, so can’t promise anything but will post as/when I can. We are still one week from sailing, but since I have already started thinking/obsessing/planning/writing I figured I would get this rolling in the hopes that anyone else sailing might chime in. Our roll call has been pretty quiet, but I know there are a few of us on this sailing! Background: Boring stuff first. On this sailing is myself, DS (11), DD (15) and DD’s BFF (15). Kids and I are seasoned cruisers, with Princess being our go-to line for many years. We are starting to branch out and try other lines these days – partly because the kids want more excitement, and partly because I haven’t been thrilled with the direction Princess has been taking (can we talk app???) This is BFF’s first cruise and I’m a little nervous – she’s a great kid, but she’s a teen…my kids have been cruising since they were babies so know the rules and the expectations. Let’s hope BFF is quick to learn! After booking this cruise, I learned that there are a number of ex coworkers/friends of ours also sailing! Ironically, we all worked together for Princess Cruises back in the day when Princess actually hired their own staff to work shoreside at the ports. Those were the good old days. It’s going to be fun to sail with them – we all booked separately, not realizing that each other was going so this is definitely meant to be! This cruise was a bit of a last-minute thing to use up FCCs before they expired. I had originally booked on Crown for a roundtrip Hawaii sailing in October, but then DD informed me there was NO WAY she would miss 2 weeks of school. After a lot of juggling, searching, and tears, we found this sailing that met all of our requirements so I immediately booked it. We have cruised Alaska more times than I care to remember – one great advantage to where we live in Vancouver is that we can walk to the port (yes, walk) BUT you are also restricted on where those sailings will take you… - Royal Princess docked at Canada Place

I will attempt a live from, internet and CC permitting! If you are on this sailing, please feel free to add your posts! Background Sailing this time is myself and DS (10). Just 6 days ago we got off NCL Bliss doing this exact itinerary. We live in Vancouver, so these coastal s are faves for us. We haven’t been on Princess since pre Covid- sept 2019. This was one of our best sailings, marking the 4th trip in a year with Matt O! I’m not sure how much we will enjoy princess without Matt, but going in with an open mind and hoping to have a blast! Pre Cruise This was not ideal! We have sailed medallion class many times before the app and loved it. Sadly, the app has taken away much of the pre cruise excitement and replaced it with frustration! First off, my perfectly good iPhone 6 was not compatible with the app. At that time, there was no web version to use and I reluctantly upgraded my phone (much to my teens delight as she now has the brand new iPhone 12 which also didn’t work well with the app). I was able to get to the green lane after many hours of switching between app and web. However I was never able to choose an arrival time or complete the health questionnaire. It was made even more infuriating with all the emails from princess reminding me to complete these steps! I gave up and will just roll with it. Originally, I went with this sailing as the departure time from LA was 11pm. I’m not one to fly in day of but with this late time I felt confident in doing so. I booked EZAir at a decent price and was ready to roll. Then they changed departure time to 5pm and my flight was just not going to cut it! Four hours on hold and I had a flight the day before and now needed to pay for a hotel. I booked Crowne Plaza again - we just stayed there two weeks ago and it suited us fine. Testing We still need negative tests to fly to US as well as to board, so I booked a proctored session through azova.com and used my own free rapid tests. Went off without a hitch and both negative! Completed ArriveCAN easily and checked in for air Canada flight, uploading proof of vax and proof of negative test. Ready to roll! We are very familiar with transportation in Vancouver, living downtown so we hopped on the Canada line to the airport and breezed through security and US CBP. Currently having dinner at the Canucks Bat and Grill!