cruisequeen4ever

The White Pass Scenic Railway in Skagway is relaxing and beautiful. The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour in Ketchikan is a thrill, and she can view it all while seated.

Princess would be a better fit than HAL. Both lines excel at Alaska, but Princess caters to a younger clientele than HAL and has more modern ships. Food is good on both lines. If you opt for a cruisetour, 100% go Princess as they’re the only line that owns their own lodges. The cruise experience extends to the lodges, offering a better experience than the lodges used by other lines. Happy planning!

I can see how that wouldn’t be safe. The Celebrity cruise was to 2 fully developed cement docks, though.

I cruised with a mobility scooter for the first time over Christmas and thought it would be helpful to share my experience with tendering. It’s long been discussed that it’s at the ship’s discretion and not to count on tendering with one. I’m here to share the great news that I got to tender in each port with my mobility scooter! The Patter was a bit confusing as to whether it would be allowed. It turned out that as long as you could walk down the steps to the tender platform and onto the tender, they were happy to transport your mobility scooter or wheelchair. It may have helped that we were on a Royal class ship that has a very sturdy built-in tender platform. I can’t say that this will happen on every cruise, but I’m happy it happened and hope it happens consistently in the future. Fast forward to a cruise I did on Celebrity since then, and no mobility scooters were allowed on any tenders. It was awful. Major kudos to Princess for providing access to those of us with limited mobility!

I found people on Princess to be very kind with the elevators, holding the doors to make sure they didn’t close on me as I entered and as I backed out and pressing the button for me. I’ve only had 2 negative experiences with people cutting in front of me for an elevator, and one of those was on another cruise line. For the theater, I found it smoother to go in, turn around, and park facing out, so that when you go to leave, you aren’t fighting the crowds trying to turn around. Whenever I needed to park it around the ship, I’d just look for a spot that was out of the way of people and carts,yet close enough to where I needed it to be, and I always found a good spot. Love the tip about putting a souvenir license plate on it!!

That line reminds me of tendering in Guernsey! Our line was long but nothing like this on the Royal a few months ago. I sat in the shade and watched the line, sipping water and cooling off with the chilled towels the crew kept bringing while my hubby got shave ice. The Pioneer Inn ringing a bell for last tender is awesome; if we ever do that cruise again, I’m sure my hubby will want to get drinks there while we wait.

Are you comparing a straight 14 day cruise that does not return to Fort Lauderdale in the middle? Or are you meaning that you can either book a B2B seven day or book the B2B seven day as a 14 day? There’s a difference between those. For the first one, I mentioned, the advantage is that you get to see further away islands because you don’t have to return to Fort Lauderdale in the middle. If you’re talking about the second one, though, there’s truly no difference because you will earn 2 credits no matter what, since they are technically separate cruises. It really comes down to which way is the better price for you. Actually, now that I think of it, there would be 1 advantage to booking as 2 separate cruises…if you want to book different room categories for each one.

Yes, Alaska cruises are the most casual of any destination. People tour outdoors in the cold all day and either don’t have time to change or simply want to stay comfy and cozy in their jeans for dinner. Some people will naturally still get dressed up, but you won’t be out of place.

Take Princess back to its roots rather than follow the crowd. Stand out as the classy line with a high standard of excellence. Train crew to once again take no out of their vocabulary. All of the nitty gritty things I’d change would fall under the umbrella of the above.

I’m Elite on Princess and have been on 2 Celebrity cruises, one of which was last month. I believe it’s wonderful that there are a wide variety of cruise lines from which to choose, and everyone can choose what best suits them. Between Princess and Celebrity, IMHO… Itineraries: Pretty equal Ships: Princess has more elegant ships, whereas Celebrity goes for a colder, more modern look and feel. I prefer the warm, comfy atmosphere of Princess. Crew: Equally wonderful Food: Princess wins hands down with great flavors as well as variety. We always found something decent to eat on Celebrity, but nothing was stellar. It seems like the main way to get good food on Celebrity is to sail in a suite; otherwise, food is fairly ordinary. The only things Celebrity did better were having a yummy Eggs Benedict station and offering both soft serve and hard scoop ice cream. Drinks: Princess drinks are less expensive. Both have good tasting drinks, but I prefer the consistently well-flavored Princess drinks. Entertainment: Shows- Princess offers better quality production shows; Celebrity’s often don’t make sense. The comedian and the guest entertainment band on Celebrity this last cruise were better, but we have had fantastic comedians in the past on Princess. Cruise staff led activities- Equally fun, except they each have one advantage. Princess wins for still having bingo!! Celebrity gets praise for adding a third round to Deal or no Deal where you can win a free cruise. Casino: Equally fun games and promos Laundry: Princess because of self-laundry Pool: Equal because they both have adults only pools. Whichever ships have an indoor pool win, and that could be Princess or Celebrity. Demographics: I’ve experienced kind and friendly people on both cruise lines, but I’ve found Princess pax to be more down to earth. Hope this helps! Happy planning, whichever cruise line you choose!

Wayyyyy back in 2005 when she was new, and I sailed her, there was a sewage smell in an area of the ship. I don’t remember where it was; I just remember not enjoying walking through that area. A sewage smell can be found on many ships, though, and not just on Princess. I haven’t experienced it on any Royal class ships, however. Don’t let it stop you from going on the Caribbean, though.

DH and I are excited about the changes to the Enchanted, BUT it’s disappointing to see that they’ll now be charging for what is in essence, the Pub Lunch.

It was so fun to spot you and your daughter in matching dresses in the cruise terminal! So glad you girls had a blast. My friend and I did, too. Can’t wait to read about your next cruising adventure!

My curiosity is piqued. Though we were hoping to fry Bistro Sue La Mer this summer on the Enchanted, The Catch will be fun to try, and I know my hubby will love the new Irish pub!

You should definitely receive some sort of incentive, like a stateroom upgrade on the alternate sailing or OBC or a more expensive cruisetour at your current cost.

My friend and I noticed that they limited the number of available slots for pre-booking. We had hoped to have side-by-side pedicures, but it showed there was only one at a time possible. Once on board, we were surprised to see that someone else was having a pedicure at the same time and had just walked up and booked it onboard. IMO, they should have all available time slots on offer online for pre-booking, but they apparently don’t. My advice would be to head straight to the spa once you board to book.

If this is true, I’m very glad I made sure to cancel our reservation one night when we just decided to go to the buffet instead. I can understand this being a consequence for a specialty restaurant reservation because those are paid, but it really doesn’t make sense to me to charge this for a dining room reservation when, at least on the cruise I did a few weeks ago, they were really really wanting people to eat in the dining room and to enjoy their experience so they’d keep coming back.

It’s around 3 ft in the shallow end and around 4 ft in the deep end. I was able to swim laps, do PT, and water aerobics. Sometimes I had to dodge other swimmers and teenagers hanging out. Other times, people were very respectful to basically take a lane, so others could exercise, too. The pool was nowhere near 90 degrees the week I used it last month!! I’d guess 78/80ish. My friend was cold each time getting in.

It was not offered as of a few weeks ago.

Patrick was the cruise director 2 weeks ago at least. He did a good job. We saw the Spa Cafe set up once but never again. I’m not sure if we just didn’t look at the right times, or if they decided it wasn’t worth keeping open.

I love burgers, and I was able to eat the Mast Grill burger and not hate it but also not love it. I never felt the need to have it again, whereas on Princess, I eat a grill burger practically every other day. I also didn’t like the style of fries; they were almost double fried or extra crispy. I didn’t dare get one from the nasty looking display in the buffet.

I’m so sorry this happened to you! I’m also sorry some people’s first reactions were to say they’ve never heard of it happening on Celebrity, which is a 100% unhelpful statement. I’d definitely fight to get all purchases reimbursed and a healthy FCC. Celebrity’s offerings to you were terrible customer service as obviously you need head to toe clothes immediately, and with the laundry, you can’t send out your outfit and wait a day to get it back, or you’d be naked for 24 hours! Good luck!!

I agree with the food being decent to good.

They offer Shellac

Breakfast- orange, apple, and POG juices Lunch and Dinner- Fruit Punch, Lemonade, and Iced Tea All times- filtered water, coffee, and tea