nini

True, it is now the Regal Princess and we love the Regal. We were on the Emerald for the British Isles this last May and the Emerald was a bit disappointing. However, it could be due to covid is stuff. We actually encountered grumpy crew which was shocking for us. But our itinerary was great.

After tendering, we walked a bit and bought train tickets to Dublin. Our stop was close to Trinity College and worked well as we had tickets for The Book of Kells.

You are very welcome. it was extremely stressful for us to get on the plane and test in a foreign country. Hindsight... But my crystal ball was out of order. It is so much nicer to test at home first before boarding a plane. We will be able to test at home in September before driving to the port the day before embarkation.

We have been seated at large oval tables but I do not recall the number of people... Maybe 10-12?

Well, that is certainly a bummer! I wonder what caused it? What deck and cabin number if you remember.

No more guessing. Here is the Princess link. If you are "up to date", you can get the antigen or PCR 3 days ahead. https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/vaccine-testing-requirements/

It looks like it is telling you that it will be the Manhattan pier. I believe that there are also websites for the many ship docks and they have their schedules for ships.

I have never seen an all you can eat seafood in any of the Alaska ports. In all honesty, the closest you may come to all you can eat seafood would be on the ship. you can always ask.for.more than one serving. Princess always has their shrimp.cocktail available each night.

Geez... We miss the Golden.

@MamaStang What do you mean by "Our friend's balcony was underwater most of the time"?

We had two seats in Row 15 and they were perfect. We felt like we were in our own private area and would book them again.

For room service, we usually tip a couple of dollars above and beyond what we pay for "crew appreciation".

Tea kettles are typically provided only on cruises for the British Isles. Apparently, they are not considered a fire hazard with this itinerary. 🤣

This has worked very well on my end. Somehow, I am the designated person for two Meet and Greets this year.

We typically book private shore excursions wherever we cruise. Depending on the situation, we may book through the ship. For Juneau, we love booking a small whale watching trip (6-12 passengers) and it is worth it. We have booked with Harv and Marv. As has been mentioned, we also did a combo tour with Mendenhall Glacier. If you like beer, we have also toured the Alaskan Brewery. They have a shuttle which picks up in front of their store. Skagway- If it is available, the White Pass train is lovely (assuming the weather cooperates). The first time, we took the train up and the van back down which I prefer. One time, we did a zodiak boat tour which was crazy fun. Ketchikan is also a great walking town and we will be doing a "Lighthouse, totems and eagles" tour this September. It is through the ship because Princess booked the local tour company. We could not book directly with the company. I spoke with one of the owners and she explained this to me so we booked through the ship which costs $5.00 more than if we were able to book directly with the company.

We will be on a 12 night Alaska cruise this September. Juneau and Prince Rupert are two of the ports.

I am so amazed that you only needed the 3 pieces of luggage! That is an inspiration.

@getting older slowly- We also really enjoyed the Golden (sailed with her 4 times) and miss her. We saw the Grand in dry dock in Portland earlier this year and will also sail on her this September. We are sad that Skywalker's has been removed, but understand why. We are glad that there is an Alfredo's and Vines, as we missed Alfredo's on the Emerald. For your sake, I hope that Princess will wise up soon regarding the aft crew smoking area on the Promenade deck. We had a corner aft cabin on the Emerald and the smoke was very obvious.

The UK is three days as well.

We were on the Emerald in May and our Wi-Fi was actually pretty good! We were in a corner aft balcony.

I thought I explained the process. Also, @Rick&Jeannie added a comment.

From the Princess website: https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/vaccine-testing-requirements/ It depends from where you are sailing. I am correct in that 3 days is defined as i.e. Boarding on a Saturday means you can test on Wednesday for the 3 days ahead.

Correct.

Unfortunately, the aft location is being used as a staff smoking area on the ships. This is a covid thing and has not gone away. Many people have complained as they consciously choose aft cabins for many different reasons and now that is spoiled.

Do not worry about adding the Verifly app. It is not necessary. Our experience in flying to LHR and then home is that the airport staff prefer hard copies anyway.