DougH

If you stay at the Ibis it is almost across the street from the train station, and close to the bus. I took the train to both Portsmouth and Winchester for day visits before my cruise

4 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Ours too. It's also a PC transit so it's a double whammy.

Mine is also a TA so double for me also 😞

Of course my next cruise is 16 days 😢

Has anyone stopped in the port of Le Verdon? From what I have read there is nothing there and it is really just a way to get to Bordeaux. I'm not into wine and all the tours seem aimed at that, and they don't seem to get positive reviews. Is there anything near the ship to see or should I just stay aboard?

Everyone has their own preferences, mine happens to be early season (Mid May-Mid June)  To me the biggest negative about late season cruises is the lack of daylight. Every time you leave port it will be in the dark and IMHO you miss half the scenery. Also a greater chance of bad weather as many have said.  If September works for you go for it, it beats being at home

3 hours ago, beaglesandducks said:

NavyVeteran     We are embarking in canada in august  i understood that there was no covid test requirement to enter canada (just the vaccination requirement)    

No test required to enter Canada but you need a test to board a cruise ship from Canada

Great review so far. I'm on the Emerald later this year and am wondering where you are doing the pre cruise Covid testing? Do they do it on the pier and at what cost?

I always check my statement every couple of days to make sure there are no errors. Got off the Grand on June 22 and just received my post cruise survey on Tues July 12 and my final statement today July 14. Not sure why the delay, in the past always received them the day I got off the ship

Log into the cruise personalizer and go to the summary page. At the very top it will say to print luggage tags and travel summary. Print the summary out, it has more detailed info. It will show under special services

Aft balcony for sure. It is great to be out of the wind and have a 180 degree view. You can always head topside for a full view

25 minutes ago, quack2 said:

The Juneau round trip requires you to arrive in Juneau early enough to board the boat at 8 a.m.   Getting harder and harder to find an itinerary that does that.

Northbound Princess cruises from Vancouver to Whittier are about the only ones long enough for the Adventure Bound tour.  It is a long day but Captain Steve stops many times if he sees wildlife, I've seen whales and bears with him. Getting up close and personal with the glacier is a far different experience than from the cruise ship, I've done this 6-7 times, last just a couple of weeks ago mid June. Highly recommended and a good value for your dollar. If you have the time in port I would do this as it is rare that the schedule allows

For some reason my shipped late and arrived the afternoon before my last sailing. Too bad that I had already flown out that morning to arrive a day early. Not really a big deal as they printed an old style card for me to board the ship and then once aboard went to the pursers desk and they printed an actual medallion for me. 

I've gone with Chilkoot several times, just a few weeks ago the bus trip into the Yukon. They do a very nice job and you are on a smaller bus

I was in E436 on the sister ship the Majestic. Great cabin, no real obstruction and very little people out on the promenade deck below. 

I have sailed with Princess four (4) times since last Aug when they restarted sailing and all have been very good. I have not had any issues and all the staff has ben very good. I have no plans to switch anywhere else.

I was on the Grand Princess also and was disappointed how far away we were. Not anywhere near passing the island. We did get a decent distance into College Fjord and were past the Harvard Yale split. Closest I've been in years but still far away from the Glacier face

You can only enter arrival data with exactly 72 hours of your arrival time. One minute earlier and it will not accept the info

Sure hope the weather holds for next week, you photos are great. I've done Alaska almost 30 times but never get tired of the vies

9 hours ago, erber said:

I chatted with Liz Pentz,  the manager at the Loyalty desk. I think she said the cut off for this cruise is 245 days, so we almost made it. We have 236 days at sea. The luncheon is the final sea day, June 7th. We have made the cut off on several Alaska trips in the past. 

Thanks for the info. I am pretty sure I would make the cutoff as early in the cruise I go over 600 days. Glad to hear it is a lunch, I much prefer that over a cocktail party.

When I bought mine years ago I did a lot of online research, bird watching and boating sites had some good suggestions. Try to get some actual test looks at local sporting good stores etc as I noticed a vast difference between the, and was not always impressed by the more expensive ones

If you get a chance I would like to know the cutoff for the Most Traveled luncheon. 

They always seem to have an excuse for not getting closer. I usually do a North/South B2B and always laugh when I hear them say how luck we are, this is the closest we have gotten all year. lol

Sure hope the weather holds as I get on when you get off.  If you think the ship is nice with 1400 passengers I was aboard for Christmas and we only had 400+, Talk about deserted 🙂

How close did you get to Hubbard, it looks pretty far? My last half dozen visits we never seem to get close anymore. My first visits back in the 90's and early 2000s we got very close. FYI  I don't consider it close unless you are past the island and can see all the way down the face of the Glacier to the right.

I was very lucky on my early visits, on the old small Island Princess we saw a huge calving event and when the piece was carried past the ship it was bigger than the ship itself. We were only about a ship length from the face.

The first few hours out of Whittier are some of my favorite views. Try and be on deck for a while

10 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

Oh yes, that would make more sense… nope, didn’t attend that one either, that was last night lol… we may attend it on this next leg. 

Correct I meant the Captains Circle party. I hope to get invited to the Most Travelled Luncheon but seems like lots of high Elites are sailing post Covid  Just trying to figure my chances lol