nslatin

We used this company with great success.  Nice driver, brand new SUV and great communications.

 Vancouver Limo Service - YVR Airport, Whistler, Tours, Seattle, US Transfer - KJ Limousine Services

We saw that last week in Seattle.  Did you notice the Seaplane on the rear deck?

I second the recommendation of Quality Limousine.  We have used them several times and the deliver the best service.

Its shorter to run it on the floor.  Just bring a roll of duct tape and tape it every foot or so on the carpet.  I bought a roll of orange duct tape, so it catches your eye.

One additional benefit to the Port Valet program is that without your luggage and with your boarding pass in hand, you can pass through TSA security more than four hours before your departure time. We Arrived at SeaTac 5 hours before our flight and had no problem getting to our boarding gate.

17 hours ago, JudithLynne said:

Neal...how long before your cruise did you apply for Port Valet?

We have a Princess cruise out of Seattle in early Oct, 5 months away.  The website offers advanced reservations, but our ship is not listed.  The two Princess ships that they list will not be in Seattle at all during our cruise time. We have used PV many times w/o a problem.  It is a wonderful program.  We have always booked on board the ship. Advanced reservations are fairly new.  We would love to take advantage of that.

I did the PV reservation on 2/23 for the 5/11 sail date.

We just used it on the NCL Sun and had an interesting experience.  We had signed up in advance and confirmed with guest services several days into the cruise.  About two days left to the cruise and we had not received the luggage tags.  A quick visit to GS and I was informed that they were unable to process all of the port valet requests.  

Last evening of the cruise our Port Valet luggage tags appeared in our room.  It seems that they were only able to process the request MADE IN ADVANCE.

Our bags made it home safe and we learned a very valuable lesson.  Sign up in advance of the cruise.

Neal

Thanks for the update.  That gives us a general idea of what to expect.

B2B is a loooong cruise.  32 days on board.  I'm not sure that I could do that, but have often thought about cruising this itinerary.  

Hey smillerholmes, 

We are on the next cruise, May 11 Alaska.  If you get a chance can you ask guest services how many passengers are expected on this next cruise?  Thanks much.

Neal

I have used Quality Town Car several times and their customer service is second to none.

If I recall correctly, when you have AI and the ship is in port don't you have to pay sales tax on the included drinks?  If so, then wouldn't Celebrity have to charge you tax on the Elite HH drinks while in port?

i ordered the classic NY steak with my lobster tail.  My wife ordered the mushroom risotto with her lobster tail. No extra charges for the second entrees, although we were informed about the charge for a second lobster tail.

Does anyone have any insights into why these wine packages (3,5,7 bottle options), are no longer available.  We did a cruise in December of 2022 and was able to purchase this in advance of the cruise, with a discount.  Now they do not show on the website, either discounted or at full price.  I hope they are available on the ship upon boarding.

'We will be on the Solstice on February 4th.

Jim,

It was great meeting the both of you and that was a fantastic whale watching experience.  We have done several and that was the best yet.  I was able to get a few hundred photos but here are just a few.

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Finally found out the passenger count.   We set sail with 1,660 guests.   Lots of Blue Chip Free and Looks like a Travel Agent FAM group.   Saw them in a conference room presentation.

 

Solstice has 1,425 Cabin so at Double Occupancy of all room 2,850 and Maximum capacity of 3,800

 

At double occupancy we are at  58% capacity.    I was told the  last cruise they only had 950 passengers and a staff of 1,000.

 

The ship really feels empty and most bars even Martini Bar are often empty. 

We will be enjoying the next sailing.  Is there any chance you can get the expected passenger count for that cruise?

Thanks in advance.

I think this is either 10/16 or 10/23 cruise date.  I only think that since I am on this ship from October 16th to the 23rd.

The tenders drop you at the dock behind the tram terminal.  Very convenient location.

You can also buy multiple bottles at 50% off.  We bought 4 bottles for our 4 day

Radiance cruise.

We all went up the ramp with two staff members, one was new and training, to push my wife up the ramp.  We arrived around 11:30 and had no significant wait anywhere.

Other have chimed with good info for your questions.  My wife was having some mobility issues during the boarding.  We had no wait for the vax card/Verifly checks and once we passed thru security we were directed to the diamond/platinum lane and a staffer Immediately dropped the ropes so we could go direct to the handicapped counter.  This staffer opened the conversation by asking if we wanted a wheelchair for boarding, which we agreed was a good idea.  We later found out that the elevator was out of order (fixed by the time we returned).  With no elevator you either walk up the ramp or use the escalator.  Be aware that you cannot carry any luggage on the escalator.  Nothing.  Nada.  The security guard was very clear about that.

Several weeks ago, I was able to book Port Valet for our Carnival Spirit Alaska cruise on August 10th.  Just now I was able to start the process of duplicating the Port Valet booking.  So I am not so sure that OP's info is correct.

Just some observations from our 4-day cruise.

Pig & Anchor was only open on the sea day.  It was not open for lunch on embarkation day,

Sea day brunch was from 8:30am-12:00pm.  No lunch served in MDR.  These hours seem to be reduced from past cruises.

First night in steakhouse promo gets you a free bottle of house wine or 50% ALL wine purchases. We bought all of our wine for the whole cruise at the steakhouse and had them store the bottles for consumption in the MDR during the cruise.

For this cruise the sea was so calm when we left Ensenada, we just floated along not moving or just cruising along at +/- 3 knots.

Ensenada port. 

You cannot get or return to the cruise terminal by taxi/uber.  You must either shuttle downtown & back or walk out to/from main street.

No shops are open in the terminals.

And finally.,

If room attendants (pre-covid) were doing 20 rooms twice a day and getting x$ in tips per room, they were getting 20x$ in tips, assuming nobody reversed the tip charges.

For this the did 40 cleanings.

Now post-covid they are cleaning twice as many rooms 1x per cabin and receiving twice as many tips for the same amount of work, 40 cleanings. 

In addition, they have twice as many opportunities for additional cash as before.  This is not a complaint or a criticism, just an observation.  I have always felt that the room attendants work extremely hard and deserve all of our appreciation, spoken and cash.

50% off ALL wine purchases at 555 on the first night.

As a platinum cruiser my cabin is ready when i board. Our sail and sign cards are in the slot and the room steward is done with our room. Yes we have open the unlocked fire doors to get to the room but everybody we see greets us warmly.

When we did a Pacific Coastal from San Diego to Vancouver we breezed right off the ship to our luggage and out of the terminal.  Canadian customs weren't examining anyone or their luggage.