georgetheblue

I’m guessing mine will be the same. My TA doesn’t know how they work. All my excursions on land are paid for. I hope it is broke down so I don’t need to spend it all in one place. Thanks for the info.

Can someone please explain what is a “Cruisetour gift voucher” and how does it work? I will be spending 10 nights at 5 lodges after my 7 night cruise. I know my tour director will hand me my room key, meal vouchers and excursion voucher at each lodge arrival. It can’t be anything like OBC where daily charges are posted to my folio while onboard and I settle up before disembarkation. I also know I am responsible to settle outstanding charges before leaving each lodge but if I only spend say $20 at the first lodge will that be deducted from the total and carry a balance to the next lodge? Somehow I doubt that’s how it works as each lodge is actually a separate hotel.

I have no explanation as to why the Alaska Airlines flights were removed. By checking on Alaska Airlines website there are now NO daytime departures from FAI. For now I rebooked flights but not at times I want but also adds additional costs, later flights and an additional connection in Anchorage. So now FAI to ANC to SEA to TPA. It’s still likely I will cancel the whole damn thing, 17 days cruisetour, 2 pre cruise nights in Vancouver, 8 additional excursions, plus extra flight costs.

Just happened to open my account today. FLIGHT CHANGE notice. All my EZ AIR flights have been cancelled for my August Alaska cruisetour. I can rebook my departure flight. The only return flights EZ AIR will only let me choose connections in ORD or DEN for the same cost, No explanation. I think Alaska Airlines is still cancelling the MAX 9. I’ll keep checking back but it does not look good.

On Sapphire in Alaska, when is the casino open?

Worth to me. Your tour director handles everything except your carry on. If there are any issues, they will handle it. They make dinner reservations for the time you want and if you choose to eat with others in your group or not. If you do not like your room location, they will handle it. They are very knowledgeable and entertaining during the bus rides etc. I love the voucher system, it has the room key, meal and excursion vouchers. Last time at the beginning of the tour there was a group wine paired dinner in a private room in Fairbanks. My next tour begins in Copper River so they may do it at the end in Fairbanks. Loved it

When I was not able to book times for my (included) two speciality dinners at the restaurants I actually called Princess and the rep made them for me. No credit card involved. I guess I got lucky.

Definitely worth it for me. I did an Alaska cruisetour In 2018 and have another booked for mid August 2024. Yes, it is expensive but to me the inclusions make it worthwhile. Having an exclusive tour guide to take care of the entire land portion is wonderful. I love knowing nearly all meals are included and I can order whatever breakfast items or dinner items(appetizer, entree and dessert) that look good without thinking about price and tips. This time I cruise first and the downside is I don’t meet my land mates until disembarkation. Unfortunately last time my tour missed the rail ride due to floods on the tracks, darn. This time, I’m happy the Music of Denali is not scheduled (corny and mass produced mediocre food). I’m aware that the Tundra Wilderness Tour has been shortened due to landslides inside the park. I will look at opting out of the gold dredge 8/riverboat excursion in Fairbanks. Been there, done that. Give me a credit and I will book another excursion that day.

In the future i wouldn’t waste money booking aqua class. The only benefit to me was dining in the Blu dining room but the clean cuisine menu is unappetizing and just plain wierd. My cabin on deck 9 had a supersized overhang on the balcony and most nights there was noise from the pool deck above. On the Constellation the Persian Gardens is just a dark place, nothing special.

Overall the ship is in good condition. Can it use some upgrades, yes, but is it going in dry dock in April. I found the food much better than expected. Tons of choices in OV buffet. Carving station, even prime rib one day, pasta station, salads, paninis, pizzas and more. Yeah finding a seat is tough. I was able to order from either the Blu or MDR menu. I found something I liked every day at dinner. The boarding was a mess between the Customs and Coast Guard then not getting away from the dock until almost 5:30. Shout out to Willifredo at the Sunset Bar, also the bartenders at the Martini bar Ranzom, Punjab, Lester. NO points for my cabin attendant. When he finally showed his face it was way after 6pm and my luggage was god only knows where. He found it 3 decks away. Next morning I shower, wash my hair only to find out the hair dryer doesn’t work. No one used the hairdryer on the 15 day TA? In Aqua I got no sparkling wine, no binoculars, broken hair dryer, late luggage, removal of perks like tote bag, no iced teas, no canapés, hell I couldn’t get him to bring ice for the first 3 days. Regular Wi-Fi is “iffy” but didn’t feel the need to upgrade it for 6 nights. To top it off he brings a bill for a bottle of water. No way, I bring the Evian from the bars. Yet he was still bringing two cans of that nasty aluminum stuff every day. Celebrity is not going to be my first choice, I only wanted to give it a try from Tampa.

See everyone onboard this afternoon.

Celebrity has delayed tomorrow’s check in from 11 am to noon due to customs and border inspection. Like they didn’t know that was going to happen. Hope there is no fog when they dock like last year.

I just checked the dining menus for my November 22nd cruise. The have changed the menus again. They have totally removed the baked/broiled/poached lobster the one night it was being offered. Now added more lamb, duck, veal dishes daily. Not for me. It was on the menu just last week in all dining rooms. I only hope they change the menus again by Wednesday but I don’t hold out hope. This is BS that I should have had to reserve the Tuscan Grill for the entire cruise. I might have if I had seen the menus when I booked. I am in aqua class and knew I would be assigned Blu and already plan to order from the MDR nearly every night.

Has anyone checked the “new” menus for our cruise? They removed the broiled/ poached lobster. This sucks. Added more duck, veal, lamb. NOPE, never. The selection of menus items is important to me. I should not be required to have paid for Tuscan Grill every night of this cruise, I can hope these menus change again before or when we get on.

May B. I agree that this am would have been a fog issue but no ships in Tampa port today. I believe the Constellation will plan to arrive very late 11/21 or very early am of 11/22. That may be why the port schedule is listing her at terminal 6 on 11/21, then terminal 3 on 11/22. parkey—I’m very happy to hear your trip is good to great. I’m really looking forward to getting onboard next Wednesday for a short trip to the Bahamas. Thanks for your information.

While it is true I am a picky eater I expect to find something I love on each evening’s dinner menu either from Blu or MDR. Why do they bother listing 50 alcoholic beverages and very limited entree options? My point is—the waiter is required to find a bar for each beverage order, he will need to do the same for my dinner order. I don’t care.

Will be on Connie, assigned to Blu. The Blu dinner menus make me puke. I don’t eat duck, pheasant, veal, lamb. I plan to ask for the MDR menu every night in addition. I understand this should not be a big deal since MDR and Blu are basically in the same room. I chose an aqua suite for cabin location, Persian garden entry and the fact that I will not be waiting in a long line for a table to open up in MDR. I refuse to deal with OVC carrying a tray around looking for an open seat. Perhaps if Celebrity had given me more OBC I would have booked a Tuscan Grill package for the entire cruise now that I can see the Blu menus on the current sailing.

Celebrity’s behind the scenes is about the same cost at Princess. I’m not inclined to spend the money since there are no “gifts”. There were chocolate covered strawberries and champagne along the way and the champagne flowed freely on the bridge with the captain and bridge crew plus security. A gift bag full of goodies plus the bridge group photo delivered later that day. Not worth it to me.

When I used the Princess transfer from LAX there was a person at the baggage claim wearing a Princess logo shirt. She retrieved my bags and brought them to the curb. She had my hotel voucher (and hotel to ship transfer) and brought me to the correct hotel van. It was very easy.

Finally the excursions for tours for McKinley were available today. Again though each tour only had 9 slots open, and early and late were already sold out.

I’d be on the phone to a Princess cruise planner demanding the excursions I want. If I am unable to book the excursions I want this cruise tour will be history. I don’t live for the 7 day inside passage. It’s okay but it’s more important to see what I want inland because of the small fortune I’m spending. .

Excursions opened today for some of my land portions. Was able to book Copper River and Fairbanks. Still waiting for Denali to be posted. There were only several openings on each and they just got posted ttoday.

Thanks for the info. That’s the page I’ve been using and alas, it’s still only 5% discount for my cruise. I’m good at 10%, I’m done bitching now. LOL

This whole drinks package upgrade thing just doesn’t make much sense. I booked the AI back in June. I kept receiving email offers to upgrade from the classic to premium bev pkg at a 20% discount. Well, to only upgrade, they will not give the 20%. I ordered and cancelled and reordered several times in the past months still trying for the 20% because it would only give me 5% discount. Last week they email that because I had joined the Captains Club, call this # and receive 10%. So I cancel the premium pkg again, wait for the OBC to go back into my account and call the # they gave me. No problem at all, finally saved 10% on that premium package. I know I will be using it because the martini bar martinis are $17 and the classic pkg only covers $10 and under. I know it’s not much $$ but don’t offer it to me if I can’t have it.

Thanks for the heads up Paula. It does seem odd they pop up on a Sunday and only for Kenai. The river float was the only one I would like and it had 9 slots for the afternoon time, the early and late were sold out. This would not be my first choice but at least I have something booked. It’s not a great feeling that I’m almost desperate to book any excursion rather than nothing. Maybe Princess will be adding more options and I can always cancel and rebook. I also reserved Jayleens Whale watching in Juneau. I found her tour on you tube a few weeks ago and it looked great. I am lucky that’s she has an opening for my port date. The pic is of the two ladies I did the river float with in May 2018, all the gear plus boots then climb onto a zodiac raft. Yes, I’ll do it again. The river is beautiful.