capriccio

I've parked in the Heron garage twice this year. The garage and terminal 2 are contiguous. Drop your luggage off with the porters before entering the garage. Park next to the elevators on level 5 (IIRC - it is marked) with direct access to the walkway connecting the two buildings and the elevator down to the entrance to Terminal 2 or park on level 4 near the elevators and take the garage elevator up one floor to level 5 and access the walkway. It's very easy access and you are out of the sun and heat!

From Alaska Public Media: Skagway’s busiest cruise ship dock at risk of catastrophic rockslide, study says (https://alaskapublic.org/2022/07/25/skagways-busiest-cruise-ship-dock-at-risk-of-catastrophic-rockslide-study-says/) A new report compiled by geotechnical engineers shows that Skagway’s busiest cruise ship dock is at significant risk for rockslides impacting the dock, moored ships, cruise ship passengers and workers...

That's great! We received our new passports within a few days of being approved. I hope you do too. Have a great cruise!

Have you checked the State Department website for your current status? https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/status.html If you haven't already check out how to get your passport fast: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html If there is still no indication that you will receive your new passport before your cruise, I suggest you call your Congressional representative's constituent services office (either local or in Washington, DC). Government agencies respond to Congressional inquiries.

If you haven't done this already, I suggest posting youe question on the UK Cruisers forum where it may be seen by more cruisers with experience flying from northern UK to south Florida. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/

Seconded.

My sister and brother-in-law were just re-united with their luggage on Friday afternoon from a flight that began - and should have ended - on Monday but didn't end until Tuesday morning which included many hours of delay sitting in the airport in Toronto. Meanwhile their luggage never left the airport. During the week they received notice twice that the luggage would be on flight XXX arriving at DCA so my BIL went to meet (they live within 5 minutes of the airport) the luggage at the carousel. Oops, the luggage wasn't on either flight. She sent me a picture of the bright priority sticker still on the luggage sitting on her porch on Friday afternoon. Air Canada first class was only good for using the lounge since one out of two of her flights in each direction were cancelled and they were re-booked in economy. Unfortunately they have another trip on them in a few weeks and they've decided to expect the worst and hope for the best.

The Island Princess is not a sister ship to the Caribbean Princess. It was originally a sister ship to the Coral Princess but within the last decade underwent a major change when additional cabins were add at the expense of losing a lounge and aft viewing areas.

Adding one more bullet point to Heidi13's extensive list: Investigate the enrichment programs (full time naturalists, guest lecturers, guest performers, etc.) offered on board and then ask here on Cruise Critic for passenger reviews of the programs. They can add a great deal to any cruise, but especially if it is your first visit to Alaska.

The Port Miami website has an section on parking that might assist OP and others with a similar question: https://www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/parking-information.asp

In our experience, including on the Caribbean Princess in January and the Enchanted Princess in March, the body lotion has never been in dispensers. It has always been in tubes. The shampoo/conditioner and bath gel are in the dispensers located in the shower.

The first time (summer 2018) that happened was on the Ruby Princess out of Seattle. I don't remember where it was the second time. We just took their word for it that cabins weren't available. It wasn't a big deal since it was already noon so we just brought our carry-ons to the MDR for lunch.

When we first experienced delayed cabin availability dropping luggage off in the cabin was not possible because the hallway doors were closed and locked and alarm sounded when trying to open them! Just ask my DH.

You didn't mention Fort Lauderdale but that should be thrown into the mix earlier in your cruise planning. The airport and the port are separated only by a highway. You can watch planes take off and land from the ships in Port Everglades and you can see the ships from the airport. There are plenty of hotels very near the airport (Dania Beach) and even more between the airport and Port Everglades (17th Street area). Cruisers often find that when sailing out of Miami, it is worth considering flights into/out of Fort Lauderdale and local hotels since they generally are less expensive than in Miami but, of course, you have to add transportation costs to/from Miami (it is 30 miles between Port Everglades and Port Miami). So do the math to determine if the savings are worthwhile.

In our pre-covid experience on one or two cruises when cabins weren't ready at check-in we received a note saying so and that luggage could be stored at the Crown Grill if I remember correctly. We just took our carry-ons with us to the MDR for lunch as did many other passengers. On our 2 cruises this year, one we boarded late and the cabins were available and on the other we boarded early and the cabins were available (but the ship was sailing with only 33% capacity).

That has always been our experience on Princess. When we first started cruising our servers and steward asked us to put our name and cabin number on the envelope to ensure that they were allowed to keep the entire tip. I gathered it had to be confirmed that we had not removed the 'recommended' gratuities. I don't know if that is still the case, but we still do that and include a short thank you note. In the past Princess also had commendation forms passengers could complete. Now Princess sends passengers an on-line survey after the cruise that includes a section about staff that made your cruise special. Complete it with the name, position, location, and a sentence or two for every staffer you wish to commend. We've been told numerous times that commendations can earn them anything from extra time off to better locations to promotions. I would expect that most cruise lines that do not automatically include gratuities have similar processes for tips and I would hope all cruise lines have a process for commending staff.

Regarding first night dinner: you can - and should as a courtesy - cancel your evening reservation via the Dine My Way function on the App. You can do a walk up in any of the open dining rooms instead. Just realize that you may need to wait in line if you go at a popular time. Alternatively, you can eat in the Horizon Court buffet. And to add to travellingnana's post: embarkation lunch is served from noon to 1:30 and is a lovely way to start a cruise.

Go to your initial post in this thread. Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner. Click on report. Explain your request. The moderator will change the title if she agrees.

We traveled with my 2 brothers and spouses on the Enchanted Princess in March. We were able to find each other using the App. It was very useful. Unfortunately I can't remember the details on how to set it up on board (someone who has cruised more recently will hopefully add that) but we did it easily while sitting together having drinks during sail-away. I think it has a text feature but it doesn't send an alert to the recipient so we just used our I-phone messaging to text one another.

Since the title of your thread is rather short on specifics it may not have opened by recent Emerald cruisers. Have you checked for a current (or very recent) 'live from the Emerald Princess' thread? You could ask on it. Alternatively, go to the current (or very recent) roll call and ask.

We have been in Vista Suite E732 on the Emerald and had no issue with noise. Shows in the Vista Lounge are over and done with by 11 pm but even earlier than that we didn't have an issue. Before covid the smoking section was on the starboard side promenade below suite E733 and mini-suite E731. We have been in E731 on Emerald's sister ship, the Ruby Princess, and weren't bothered by the smoke but that was before the reported closing of the entire aft section of the promenade deck for smokers. This is our favorite cabin location.

That was our experience in January. We were supposed to be on a family cruise (8 passengers) last week but I cancelled it at final payment not because there was anything wrong with the ship but because the Covid vaccine wasn't approved in time to get our youngest granddaughter (almost 3) vaccinated. I rescheduled to the same ship, same itinerary, same week next July.

@tteettimes - the company is called Bags to Go (https://bagstogo.net/florida/product/fort-lauderdale-baggage-storage/) and is only open Friday thru Monday (which I think may be a post-covid change). You can make a reservation on the website.

Remember that Princess transportation and shuttles in ports charge per person. Taxis, Uber, and Lyft are per vehicle. Do the math. For short distances the per vehicle price will be cheaper than the per person price.

We've stayed there twice and would again. It is in a great location for picking up any last minute items including wine at the shopping mall and is a nice area to walk around with an extensive nearby park.