SeaCBear

I have the same problem. We purchased the Premier package ten days ago but the Princess website AND the new (and old) app both show we have only the Plus package. Both apps also show we're "New to Princess" even though we're both Platinum.

I called Princess yesterday and they confirmed we do have the Premier package and are indeed Platinum and we will not have any issues (apparently) at the port in Sydney next Tuesday.  

Last January we did what you're planning to do.  We booked a car for pickup at the airport, I think with car rental company Sixt.  There are taxis waiting a short walk from the port area.  It was a quick ride to the airport.  All very easy and stress free.

We had a great day touring Hobbiton, Rotorua, etc.  

We had the Plus package and ate at Alfredos twice on the Sapphire last week.  It was almost empty both times, which meant we got a window table each time.

We were told we could have anything off the menu.  There is only one appetizer - grilled veggies with fresh mozzarella - it was good. There is also only one dessert - Tiramisu - which was also very good.  We both really enjoyed our pizzas.

I didn't look at the prices, so I'm not sure what the 'special' pizzas are that people have referred to here? Anyway, we weren't given any restrictions on what we could order. 

We stayed there for one night after our cruise ended in Sydney last February. We absolutely loved it. 

Our room was beautiful, and had a view over a closed area of the zoo. We had a koala bear in the tree just outside our balcony in the morning.  

Our stay included two tours of the zoo - one before it actually opened - and an excellent breakfast with a beautiful view.  The views from the lobby bar and restaurant are amazing.  

We also bought tickets for a concert at the outdoor amphitheater in the zoo that night (a great Abba show - not the actual Abba of course) which was so much fun. We sat on the lawn and watched the sun set over Sydney with the bridge in the background. 

We loved everything about our stay and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a splurge, but we really felt it was worth it.  If you can do it - do it!  

Hi everyone - we're back after our 11 day California coast cruise. 

As promised, I'm back to report on our cabin, B100 at the bow of the Sapphire Princess.

Well, my husband would very happily stay in this room on every cruise. He absolutely loved it, and I liked it very much too. 

The doors were never, ever locked. We did have balcony furniture. In fact, near the end of the cruise all balcony furniture was replaced, including ours, and we gained two foot stools.  

The views were great, especially in ports where we were facing downtown - specifically San Diego and San Francisco. 

I'm attached a few photos to illustrate.

We really enjoyed this cruise. The food in the buffet and dining room was good and sometimes very good, and always hot.  We ate in Sabatinis and Alfredos (which was usually almost empty) twice, and those meals were excellent.  I'm a pescatarian and my husband is a vegetarian and we had no trouble finding things we enjoyed. My husband usually ordered from the separate vegan menu, which was always available upon request.

Overall, for an older ship, the Sapphire is in pretty good shape.  Our only disappointment was the entertainment. My son and I enjoyed better entertainment options on our last cruise in June on the Crown Princess. I'm not including the production shows in this assessment as we didn't go to any.

We did, however, have a retired Canada Major and former Top Gun jet pilot and instructor (and many other things), Dale Erhart. He gave a presentation on every sea day - on Top Gun and other aviation topics. He was fantastic, and very popular. Standing room only in Explorer's where he was speaking. 

I'm happy to try and answer any questions!

Dropbox.zip

We are booked in one of these cabins on the Sapphire - B100 - on an 11-day California coast cruise that departs from Vancouver this Wednesday.

I’ll report back after the cruise!

Thank you so much!  Finally, some more information! 

Thanks! Unfortunately there is no mention of our ‘special’ three day cruise.
 

We did end up booking it,  so we’re just hoping it will be incredibly interesting or entertaining!

Yes, I'm sure I've looked at this 3-day cruise from Seattle before and it was just a plaid old cruise, not this Hollywood Insider thing!

But after looking at various meaning for EFX I'm pretty sure it's a cruise about movie special effects. But it would be nice to have more specifics!

Does anyone have any idea what this cruise is all about? It's a 3-day cruise on the Crown Princess, leaving Seattle on October 16, 2023.

I've contacted Princess to ask - twice.  This first time they told me it was a Magic Castle Conjurer's Cruise. That sounded great, and I immediately put a hold on a cabin. But after more digging I realized that's actually a 7-day cruise on the Discovery Princess, out of  Los Angeles. The cruise title is completely different.  

On my second attempt to get more information from Princess, she read out the itinerary to me. I said I knew the itinerary, but wanted to know what "Hollywood Insider Behind the Screen EFX" meant. She said she couldn't provide me with any more information.  

I've Googled every term I can think of, but found nothing.

So, does anyone here have any ideas? The date and itinerary would be great for us as a quick little get away, but we don't to book a mystery cruise! 

Thanks!

This article doesn't specifically mention Princess (unless I missed it), but I think it's relevant to this thread.  Apologies if someone has already posted it here.

Cruises are increasingly adopting the strategy of budget airlines: Get ready to pay more for all the extras.

On 6/3/2023 at 4:33 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I don't personally travel with a fan, but I've heard of many cruisers that do, so I don't think it's all that unusual.

 

Pillows are more unusual, I think, but you're certainly not alone.  I find myself inundated with TOO MANY pillows when I travel - both hotels and cruises.  Anything more than two is overkill, IMHO.  That's probably more rare than people who bring pillows along.

 

Anyway, my newest friend insisted I bring him along on my last cruise (Ruby in April).  That's a little unusual:

 

We take Captain Hudson too - so far he's only been on one cruise, but he's looking forward to many more!  

1 minute ago, Coral said:

Enjoy your cruise! I hope you have great weather.

Thanks again Coral. And thanks again for your terrific 'live' post.  I know it was no doubt a lot of work for you, but it was very informative, entertaining and much appreciated by me and many others. 

Just now, Coral said:

I probably did say that - I meant - I spoke with several passengers who had told me they had planned on doing so. I do not know if it happened. I wonder if they assumed they could. I didn't actually see them disembarking.

Ah, got it. Thanks Coral. I just did an online chat with Princess and they said no, we can't disembark in Victoria. 

So, we'll come back from Vancouver. Certainly not the end of the world. It's a beautiful ferry ride back to the island, and we'll get our last dinner and drinks on board the Crown Princess. 🙂

1 hour ago, martincath said:

Our Coasting Trade act is fundamentally the same as a combo of Jones and PVSA - in that very similar rules apply to both passengers and goods in a single piece of legislation. We're efficient that way up here - since we have to write everything twice (French and English) it's already twice the work!!! We have different specific exemptions but similar 'common sense' exemptions in principle - e.g. many of the small coastal/island towns and villages need supplied by air or water, so if something happened to a regular Canadian-run 'lifeline route' a foreign vessel could step in they'd be allowed to until a Canadian boat was able to operate it again.

 

The same basic principles apply to the vast majority of developed countries - Nobody wants foreigners stealing their jobs basically, especially if there's a potential 'race to the bottom' on safety standards for passenger transportation!

 

Someone boarding a cruise ship in Van would absolutely be denied disembarking in Vic 100% of the time unless it was an unscheduled emergency, just like someone boarding in LA would not be allowed off in Seattle unless it was a trip that include a Distant Foreign Port; but cutting short a loop that started in the US by getting off in Vic is no problem legally - a cruise between two different countries is never the subject of coastwise trade, by definition!

Thanks so much for your comprehensive explanation. It sounds like we won't be able to hop off in Victoria, although my neighbour assures me they did get permission to do so on their Alaska cruise, as they also didn't want to come back from Vancouver.

Coral, I think you said you saw some passengers disembarking in Victoria?

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

 

I wonder if Canada has a similar law which prevents getting on the ship in one Canadian port and getting off in another (nearby).

We have the Coasting Trade Act, but it doesn't have the limitation that applies to cruise ships in the Jones Act. I think that restriction may be unique to the U.S.

If anyone has insomnia, they could read the act here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-33.3/page-1.html#:~:text=Coasting Trade Act ( S.C.  

🙂

3 minutes ago, baybeach11 said:

Our cruise also started and ended in Canada.  Mimmo1/Dominic, do you have any more information to share about your experience of trying to get off the ship in Victoria instead of ending in Vancouver?  

That's so weird!  Whether you get off in Victoria or Vancouver, you're getting off in Canada. This is from RCL's website:

The Jones Act (also known as the Passenger Services Act) does not allow ships of Non-U.S registry to embark and debark guests at two different U.S ports, since travel between U.S. ports is prohibited on foreign flagged ships.

Any Jones Act experts out there? 

3 hours ago, baybeach11 said:

Someone on our cruise also lived on Victoria (Dominic)  and asked to disembark there with his father but was denied due to the Jones Law requirement.  Maybe he can fill you in on details if he's still checking this site.  Sorry!

Thanks baybeach11! 

But our cruise departs from and ends in Canada, so I don't think the Jones Act would apply

Thanks so much for a wonderful trip report. My son and I are doing almost exactly the same cruise in a couple of weeks. I've been to Alaska three times before, but every trip to Alaska is different then the one before. My son went once and it was foggy the whole time, so he didn't really see very much unfortunately. 

We live about half an hour from Victoria and I'm wondering if you cleared immigration in Victoria or Vancouver? We're hoping we can just leave the ship in Victoria and then we won't have to take the ferry back to the island.

On 5/13/2023 at 7:21 PM, wolfie11 said:

Sitka - pick up some of the locally-made Theobroma chocolate bars!

 

 

I think Theobroma chocolate is actually Canadian, made in Quebec.

I'm also in Canada and transfer all our cruises to our big box TA.  I used to book directly with the BBTA, but I have found - particularly with Celebrity - that the price can be cheaper on their site than on the BBTA.  For our next cruise, for example, we received a significant "resident discount" for our four day cruise out of Southampton.  The BBTA was showing a higher price for the same category.

I have found recently that even though I follow the BBTA instructions - I complete and submit the correct form to the cruise line, and I then fill in the BBTA's Google form to transfer the cruise - something seems to always get dropped. The cruise line usually processes the transfer quite quickly, but I then have to nag the BBTA to add the booking to my account.  But it's worth it for that shop card. 

We've done a lot of Celebrity cruises but never one shorter than a week.

In May we'll be doing a four night cruise out of Southampton, on the Silhouette. Will we have a Chic night on one of those four nights?

Thanks

I've been on three cruises to Alaska and have noticed that people dress much more casually, even in the evening and even on formal/gala/chic/whatever nights, than on other cruises.  I think people want to pack warmer clothes, hiking shoes, coats etc. and perhaps don't have room or weight left in their suitcase for 'dressy' clothes.  So if you don't want to pack dressier clothes, you really don't need to (unless you're on Cunard).

We live near Victoria.  If your teens are shoppers, there are quite a few quirky, hip stores in Downtown Victoria. You might also want to take a walk to Fan Tan Alley, "known for being the narrowest commercial street in North America, being less than 0.9 m (3.0 ft) wide at its narrowest point."  The alley is right across from MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op), which is a great outdoors clothes and equipment store (similar to REI in the U.S.), if that's of interest.  You could also stop by the Bard and Banker for a drink and/or snack - it's a pub (all ages) in a former old bank. These are all within walking distance of each other, and unless mobility is an issue, from the ship.

Hope that helps. 

We spent 10 days in Iceland last May (absolutely incredible - my profile picture was taken there) and we flew Icelandair to Reykavik, from Vancouver.  Both flights were absolutely fine - comfortable clean airplanes, and good service. We wouldn't hesitate to fly with Icelandair again.