georgetheblue

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.

I have my cruise port excursions covered but I’m waiting for Princess to put up the excursions for Copper River, Kenai, McKinley. They have me booked for the gold dredge 8 and the sternwheeler in Fairbanks but I would love to get out of those and book something else. I’ve already done them. I would consider something to the Artic circle perhaps. Does anyone know if you have the National Park Pass does Princess still refund the $10 fee for the TWT? I think last time my tour guide had to hassle it out of the hotel manager in Denali.

Unable to open the RCL land destinations for excursions

WOW - That information is very disappointing to hear. It explains why they were there for awhile but now gone. Princess better get their act together on this problem. FYI, my TA has a partnership with shore excursions group.com and they do have a few excursions for interior Alaska, so that’s something to look at. We’ll now I will be researching RCL to see if they are offering interior excursions on their landtours

No land excursions are available for booking for my august 24 cruise tour. When will they be available? I have t wo nights in Cooper River, two nights in Kenai, two nights in McKinley that i want to choose an excursion. The excursions are included in Denali and Fairbanks. Right now the only excursion availibilty is for the cruise portion. Is there time limit before princess releases the land excursions?

As a solo traveler I need the moving pieces to fit together easily. As such I pay the price. I want the Princess rep to meet me at baggage claim and get me to my hotel, room key and vouchers in hand. Of course i also want a transfer from the hotel to the ship. As for the per person charge, in most cases I already pay double.

Good advice to snap a pic from tv. Have to say I liked the Princess medallion. Easy to scan, no swiping, no paper receipts, no mis charges, super easy to wear. I’m not looking forward to wearing a lanyard all week. If I have to wear it, they better be swiping it.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I want to be in port before the ship because we all know how stuff happens. I will go back to my TA, they do need to work for their $$. Last time (2018) I stayed at the Pinnacle which was beautiful and very close to Canada Place. I began my cruise tour in Fairbanks, ended in Vancouver and added a Trafalgar tour 9 days to Banff. Loved the tour, hated the bus. I get it, post pandemic businesses are still trying to catch up, so all prices are up.

Westin must not be available through Princess at this time. They attached a note that the prices can change at the cruiselines descretion

My TA just presented me with the precruise hotels choices for two nights(with transfers) next August. My choices - both Fairmonts run $850 to $900 USD. I guess i will just have to add it to my overall Alaska cruise tour experience. But-YIKES, it’s just a hotel.