cruisequeen4ever

I agree; that’s definitely not the strength of Celebrity. We had a great comedian and a really fun guest entertainer boy band impersonation show, but the regular Celebrity cast shows just don’t usually makes.

Im not surprised, given that they gave so many away as casino cruises.

I can try to answer some of that, not from personal experience having it but from witnessing those who did have it. Please note, this was from pre-pandemic, so things may have changed. For dinner, Princess let them choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert from any of the options at any of the restaurants on property. I’m not sure if no alcoholic beverages were included. I saw them getting crab and halibut, so you really can choose anything. For breakfast, they had a full buffet that only they could have. Those who didn't have the meal package needed to order off the regular menu. I live in Alaska, and our food prices are exorbitant, wherever you choose to eat. Yes, the meal plan is expensive, but I consider it be a strong value and a great amount of convenience to be able to start and end your long touring days with filling, quality Alaskan food.

I forgot to take mine off when I went swimming one time, and it still worked. I always try to remember to take it off to be safe, though.

It seems like they either stay the same price or go up closer to the sail date and once onboard.

I live in Anchorage, and the local news reports are vague. It does seem like the real problem is being kept hush hush. Who knows though. I hope all the pax affected were able to at best, get on a Princess ship Saturday or a Holland America ship Sunday to sail south or at least enjoy a few days of Alaska over the weekend before flying home.

Your food situation was really bad, yet you maintained such a positive attitude about the trip. It’s hard sometimes to see the good when there’s constant bad, so I’m glad you didn’t let the food taint your opinion of the ports and experiences. I can’t imagine the stress of coming home to the pipe emergency, and even then, you maintained a positive attitude. Kudos!! Can’t wait to read about your next adventure!

You really lucked out with that! At my former school, the librarian led all those same types of groups, was then eventually cut to half time and got fed up and retired. Education has changed so much.

Sounds like Royal Caribbean was more than generous with the cruisers who had an extended cruise due to the hurricane.

We ate at Catch on the Enchanted last month and we’re very letdown. The food was frankly not as good as the MDR or buffet.

I live in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. We are unfortunately actually known to have outrageously expensive medical costs. My guess is that either those tour guides are all Alaska Native, so they’re used to receiving free healthcare, or they’re from out of state and don’t understand that Alaska Natives get free healthcare but not any other residents.

Yvonne, I absolutely adore your blogs. Your adventures with your dad (and without) are so entertaining. As an Alaskan, I do need to correct one fact, though. We do not receive free medical or free dental for living in Alaska or for being born in Alaska. Only indigenous Alaskans aka Native Alaskans receive free medical care. Your peach and blueberries story made me want ice cream with fresh fruit! Our produce can be pretty sad unless it’s locally grown in the summer months, so one of the things we look forward to the most on cruises is all of the awesome fresh fruit!

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do all of your cruise blogs. We enjoyed visiting your lovely country on a Baltic cruise just before the pandemic. 😀 Happy cruising to you!

The European land tours are always exorbitantly expensive. The only real reasons to do one are if you’re a lady traveling alone or if you want someone else to take care of everything for you along the way. Otherwise, save a ton of money, and DIY.

We were midship, so we chose one of the midship dining rooms, and we were happy with it. When we did chef’s table, it was held at the aft dining room, and it was nice, too. It just would’ve been inconvenient to go there each night as you have to cross a deck all the way aft, and then go all the way down. The elevators are smaller in the aft, and there was quite a wait for an elevator after dinner.

We cruised out of Barcelona on the Enchanted last month, and I’m sorry I can’t remember the designations of different lines. I can say, however, that there was little to no line in in any of them when we arrived at 10:45 AM. We are elite, so we were able to walk right on after checking in. I’m going through security. It looks like the regular line was about to start being released board also.

Just make sure that you download them prior to leaving the ship because if I remember correctly, when we were on the Enchanted last month, once we got into port, the app would not let us view them, unless we had downloaded them. OP, your idea of printing them is great, since Princess no longer does this for us.

If you’ve never sailed on Princess, you’ll probably really be happy because you don’t know what you are missing. Those of us who have sailed for many many years on Princess miss certain things that are gone, feel that some of the magic has waned, and feel the value has been somewhat lessened. Some of us, like me, are still 100% devoted to Princess, though, because it’s still better than other options. Ignore the reviews, and make your own opinion. You don’t have much to lose. You either end up addicted to Princess or decide to go with a different cruise line next time.

It’s hot by day and warm to cool by night. Having a sweater is always a good idea whether it be for AC indoors or out on deck at night.

The food on Princess is superior to Celebrity IMHO.

The only baked goods that taste good to me on Celebrity are the cookies. They’re not as good as Princess’s, though, and I certainly wouldn’t pay for them. This is just ridiculous.

Totally agree with this on Celebrity.

1) We like the sports bands. Everyone can choose the color they want, they’re comfortable to wear, durable, and affordable. 2) Yes, you scan your medallion to pay for the laundry and the detergent. 3) Get there 20-30 min early to be safe. 4) The Sapphire is unique in that it has 4 identical layout dining rooms. You can go to any of them; the difference is the theme in decor. Each used to have a specialty dish but not sure if that’s still happening post pandemic. 5) I don’t know 6) Yes, you can add all of your family members to your app, so you can track them all. Beware though that there is a delay. One night, I wanted to surprise my husband, so I used the app to find him. Well, I kept missing him because the app would be a few min behind. I finally had to use Facebook Messenger to call him.

That has wonderful; congrats!

I don’t know this answer, but there will be taxis at the port authority (where the port bus drops you off from the ship). They encourage you to book one to wait for you while you tour, so you don’t have to wait for a taxi after. If I remember correctly, it’s about 26 Euros one way taxi.