cruisequeen4ever

I always enjoy a good Transatlantic/Europe blog, and yours was even more interesting because you shared it from the Blue Chip freebie perspective. Thank you for sharing that side of things and what your net was by the end. Hope you do more of these in the future!

I thoroughly enjoyed the recounting of your cruise; thank you for taking the time to share it. I wish you the best of luck with your job situation!

I’m so glad it went well for you!

Jax and Emily, what amazing, kind-hearted, selfless, loving children you are! Your parents are going to have such a special experience thanks to you 2! OBC is wonderful because it can be used to pay gratuities, buy drinks, shore excursions, and spa services, purchase items from the shops, gamble in the casino, and pay for specialty restaurant dinners. If you want to guarantee they have no added costs, pay their gratuities. They could go the whole week without spending a dollar. Drink the free coffee, tea, water, juice, lemonade, and iced tea. Eat the free food at the buffet, grill, and dining room. Go to the free events like the pool, hot tub, deck loungers, shows, live music, trivia, game shows, and presentations. Explore the ports on foot. I truly hope you guys can go on a cruise someday, too! Good luck saving for your car and senior trip! 😀

I feel very badly for you all; having that many port calls canceled is significant. I wonder if Princess may want to change the timing of this itinerary in the future to the summer; perhaps weather would be a safer bet then.

My in-laws are currently sailing Alaska with ATT. They discovered they had cell service just before Hubbard Glacier, likely since they were close to Yakutat, and then they had very limited cell service just as they were entering Glacier Bay. All ports have plenty of cell service; we know that from having done many AK cruises before.

I 100% recommend Princess, but as a loyal Princess passenger, I do have to prepare you that all cruise lines seem to have had some cutbacks from Covid. You can start checking in on the Medallion app at the 90 day mark. One of the steps is to order your Medallion, and you can place the order right away. They will just ship it a few weeks out from your cruise. Boarding groups do not open up for selection until a random day leading up to the cruise. I’ve had them open up as late as a few weeks before the cruise to as early as 50 to 60 days before the cruise, and my in-laws had theirs never open up. You’re right that the sales don’t usually give discounts on excursions or drink packages the way that Celebrity and Royal Caribbean offer; they focus more on cruise discounts, which sometimes include OBC or the drink package. Happy planning, and I hope you have found your new home on Princess!

The Royal is my favorite because she has the benefits of the newer ships well still maintaining the classiness of Princess. The Buffay is huge and varied. The ship looks virtually as new as it did when it was new. The food is excellent. You looked a good one.

That really sucks you caught Covid; I hope you feel better soon! I always enjoy your cruise blogs. This one reinforced that there is a cruise line for everyone, and we are all different. I was on the Solstice a few months ago and normally cruise Princess. To me, just about everything is much better on Princess, but that’s just my personal opinion. Looking forward to your next cruise blog, and by one of your last posts, it sounds like it’s just around the corner!

Awww, I’m sorry you got sick and hope you feel better very soon! I’ve been binge reading all of your cruise blogs since the re-start and will eagerly continue when you feel well enough to continue this. When you shared your history of blog writing, it all made perfect sense why you have such a way with words. Thank you for entertaining us on each cruise with your depictions, and please continue! 😀

This is such good news!

Your writing is magnificent. Thank you for taking us on another of your adventures!

Princess is soooo good about that, very caring and proactively helpful.

That’s great info; thank you!

Is Catch open? My mother-in-law has been trying to book it for her upcoming Alaska cruise in a few weeks, and it still is not showing up in the app to book.

That’s outstanding service! I’m sorry you had to go through a medical experience, though.

I second the recommendation to switch to Princess as they own their own lodges, so you have less risk of something being canceled on land.

It was fine in December.

It worked on the Royal but was really slow.

That’s really surprising as at least pre-pandemic, EZ-Air seemed to always beat going directly through the airlines, especially for international.

I really liked him. It’s a shame Princess has lost Jan and now him.

We have long wished Princess had a Shore Excursion department you could call pre-cruise to get more excursion info. Unfortunately, they don’t have that.

We did that very same itinerary last Christmas/New Years. You’re right that it’s cold most sea days, and yes you’ll want to bring a coat. I still totally recommend a balcony stateroom. Seeing the ocean and even just being out there for short spurts is worth it. We traveled back to California during the bomb cyclone and experienced 20+ ft seas. Ensenada was canceled. I considered it an adventure.

I ditto what the others said. You can certainly take the elevator if needed. There just may be a wait.Taormina is beautiful and worth it.

That’s good you switched your flight. The morning flight would have been risky.