limoncello07

No, I think everyone is saying that prepackaged (and unopened) food is not a source of concern. But fresh food items served on the ship would be.

I'd love to know what the source of the rule is, if anyone knows. Is it a US government rule that applies to all cruise ships, no matter the itinerary? Or is it a ship-imposed rule? Clearly I could take a sandwich from Seattle to Ketchikan via airplane without causing anyone concern, so I'm curious about the logic.

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Don't worry! There will be places at your ports stops where you can buy food. :)

Alas, not so many open, close to our pier and serving lunch food prior to our 7:30 am excursion . . .

Now, I'm worried I'm too high in the ship. Obviously Princess deems these the least desirable balcony category. Is there anything I should be worried about?

I have yet to go on my first cruie, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. However, from all of the pre-cruise reading I've been doing (lol), the potential concern about your new cabin would not be that it is on a higher deck, but rather that is in a more forward location, which can make some people more prone to motion sickness. If you've cruised before you presumably have a good idea whether this might be a concern for you, and I gather it also depends on the itinerary. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Hi all: First-time cruiser here, scheduled on a 7-day RT from Seattle (Ruby Princess) later this summer. We have a busy day planned for our first port stop (Ketchican). We will have about a 40-minute break between excursions (both vendors are aware), but will be outside the center of town and not near any lunch venues. I had originally been thinking we would bring sandwiches from the ship with us, but after spending some time on other areas of Cruise Critic I am getting the impression this may be prohibited due to food safety/agricultural concerns, even though the ship is departing from the U.S. Can anyone clarify? My search of the CBP website is only turning up information about bringing food into the US from foreign countries. And it seems as though food on the ship would have been loaded in Seattle (or Juneau, the other long stop), where it would have already had to pass inspection requirements for "entering the U.S.". Many thanks in advance for your assistance!

I just wanted to circle back and thank everyone who chimed in on this thread and my related post: Mendenhall Glacier following Tracy Arm After reflecting your comments and detailed descriptions (special hat tip to peety3 for the latter), I decided to entirely reshuffle our plans for both Skagway and Juneau. Although it was hard to let go of my prized booking on the Tracy Arm catamaran excursion, and I had been warning to the Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari, I ultimately decided that our group as a whole would be better off with a more active mode of glacier exploring, through the Glacier Wilderness Safari excursion out of Skagway suggested by Coral. This had a complicated domino effect on our other excrusion plans, but the outcome is that we on our Juneau day we will content ourselves with seeing Tracy Arm as far as the Ruby Princess will take us (and in the case of the teens, probably sleeping in a bit longer), and then spend our afternoon in Juneau with the "sled dog discovery" excursion followed by an evening whale watch (only) tour. In Skagway, we will do the aforementioned "wilderness safari" to Davidson Glacier (near Haines), and I've managed to book a brief mini-bus excursion to White Pass summit when we return to Skagway in the afternoon.

Many hard choices, but knowing that we can't do it all, I'm confident that we now have two days planned that will be "wow" days for all four of us. Thanks again for the help (and for helping me already plan activities for my second cruise to Alaska, lol . . .).

I'm taking the Ruby Princess out of Seattle in July and am very much enjoying your colorful report (including the photo of what you packed)!

You may wish to check with the vendor you are using. I don't see it on their website, but the company we're booked with in Ketchikan (Southeast Exposure) indicated that you can either rent a GoPro with them or you can bring your own, but in the latter case they will need to inspect and approve the camera/attachment to make sure it is compatible with their equipment. I'm guessing they've had one too many incidents like the one mentioned by Cybertag!

Have you looked at Glacier Point Wilderness Safari in Skagway - it is not standing on a glacier but it would be a great tour for teenage boys. .

Wow. Had not seen that, and it does sound great. In terms of scenery and the catamaran experience, it also sounds similar to the Tracy Arm excursion that I've already booked, although more active in a way that's appealing. Do you (or anyone else) have any basis for comparing the two from the perspective of scenery and overall experience? I actually picked our Ruby Princess itinerary for the opportunity to do the Tracy Arm excursion (and was excited to get that booked), but maybe this would be a better option for us. Argh, so many options, so little time! :)

But why worry about this now? You have a full sea day after you leave Seattle, and the afternoon after you leave Ketchikan to explore the ship and find out for yourself. EM

The OP can provide his/her own perspective on this question if they choose; however, as someone who used to plan a lot of travel with a disabled companion, I note that I personally found it so much more relaxing to research and plan out details like this in advance than have to worry about it while on vacation, all the while fretting about whether and when we would actually find an appropriate accommodation for the activity in question. Internet forums (fora?) like this, and posters like you and Coral who have visited and can provide concrete details about a place, were *invaluable* to our vacation planning, and allowed us to travel to places with the confidence that we would both be able to enjoy ourselves. So heartfelt thanks to everyone who takes the time to chime in on threads like this.

Great tip, Coral -- thanks!!

Thanks again for the additional comments. I agree that being on the actual glacier would be much more exciting -- I've done that before in the Canadian Rockies before, which is one of the reasons why I've been finding the descriptions of a typical visit to Mendenhall Glacier a bit underwhelming. I wish I could figure out a way to give the boys a similar experience of standing on the at least the edge of an actual glacier without a helicopter -- apart from the cost, one of them has had experience with a helicopter crash in his family. I saw a really interesting "paddle and trek" option that would allow us to do just that; unfortunately, it leaves too early in the afternoon for us. Oh well, can't do it all! I have instead gone ahead and booked us on one of the Gastineau Guiding combo tours, which get great reviews, and will make the transportation a bit less complicated. I'm sure we'll enjoy it -- thanks again to everyone for the input!

Thanks to everyone for the additional replies. Yes, my understanding is that the hike is on the Trail of Time, which is what made me a little concerned about it possibly being a bit slow for the boys. Peety3 your description is very helpful, and the story about the guide being attuned to wildlife opportunities is encouraging. I've gone ahead and reserved the tour for now but will lay it out for my nephew along with other potential options and get his reaction -- I do think he and his friend will like the photography guidance once they are on the whale watch, as well as the small tour size so it may be that they are willing to put up with a slow start if need be. And I will also keep in mind BQ's suggestion about perhaps taking a detour if they are restless, in coordination with the guide.

Sherryf, I appreciate the reality check, and am completely with you on the food issue -- I wish I could blame it on the teenage boys, but the truth is I myself don't do so well on an empty stomach, and need to factor in food breaks so I can enjoy the rest of our time without feeling lightheaded or headache-y. The tour pickup won't be until 3:30, so that will give us all some breathing room.

Thanks to everyone for the detailed feedback and clarifications --very helpful to getting a more precise end product!

I have a couple of follow-up questions on the issue of filling your own mugs. I understand the general concern about contamination, but since I haven't actually been on a ship, I want to make sure I also understand the service logistics correctly, so I can write a better description of the concerns.

• My initial assumption was that all coffee in the Horizon Court buffet is self-service -- can someone confirm that is that in fact true? I saw some references in other threads to waiters serving water at the buffet tables, which made me wonder whether they are supposed to be in charge of serving the coffee too. Or is it a mix of waiter and self-service for beverages?
  

• Assuming at least some of it is designed to be self-service, is the general rule on coffee and other beverages that you should always use a fresh cup/mug from the buffet line, rather than one from the buffet line? I had assumed the problem with using a personal mug -- especially a tall travel mug -- was that its larger size would put it in danger of touching the spigot. However, when I searched for images online (they exist!) I'm seeing several photos like this, which suggest there would be plenty of clearance between the bottom of the spigot and the top of even the tallest travel mug. Is the concern that no matter what the actual clearance, some people will inevitably stick their mug up into the spigot? (I'm not questioning this policy, btw, just trying to understand the rationale).
  

• Am I correct in understanding that the buffet (and MDRs) have only ceramic cups, whereas the International Cafe has paper cups available?
  

Any other information regarding coffee options at the specialty restaurants? Perhaps since those restaurants themselves vary from ship to ship, the safest answer on those is YYMV.

Many thanks again to all, please keep chiming in with any further clarifications or nuances . . .

Hi all: I'm a first-time cruiser (on Princess or anywhere else), planning a trip to Alaska on relatively short notice, and appreciate all of the great tips from past Princess passengers on this board. The information on the Princess website is often very general (and sometimes outdated, I've learned), so the small-but-critical details provided here have been particularly helpful.

That said, I'm having a hard time keeping track of some of the advice, and find myself particularly confused about the topic of beverages on board. (Excursion planning is a piece of cake by comparison!) For the sake of my own sanity -- and hopefully to help others new to Princess -- I thought I would try launching a few easy-to-find master threads about the policies and options for indulging in particular beverages on board. I'm going to start with one of my favorites, and one of the most perplexing for Princess newbies, which is coffee. I will type out a draft summary below, based my personal understanding to date. I invite/humbly request/desperately plead with knowledgeable posters to chime in on subsequent posts with corrections, clarifications, and proposed additions. Once (or if) we reach a critical mass of subesquent posts, I will endeavor to type out a revised summary. If other people think it would be useful, I can then check with the forum administrators about whether we turn this into a FAQ or sticky. But one step at a time.

To begin:

DRAFT SUMMARY: COFFEE

Princess Policy: "What's Included In My Cruise Fare": Beverages (Iced Tea, Lemonade, Water, Tea varieties, Non- Specialty Coffee)

Source: http://www.princess.com/come-back-new/new-to-cruising/ -- click "See what's included in the cruise fare"

Interpretive Guidance:

• Only "regular" coffee is free; coffee drinks like espressos, lattes, etc. require an extra fee
  

• Important note: the "regular" coffee included in your cruise fare is not freshly brewed on board; rather, it is made in large batches from a coffee concentrate. While some people think it tastes fine, others find it unacceptable.
  

• Freshly brewed coffee -- often referred to as "brewed coffee" -- is available only at the International Cafe, and requires an extra fee. It cannot be ordered via room service.
  

• "Regular coffee" is available in the main dining rooms, buffet, specialty restaurants, bars and via room service.
  

• [QUESTION: do any of the specialty restaurants offer brewed coffee? or coffee drinks?]
  

Alternatives:

• Just drink the "regular coffee". Some think its fine.
  

• Purchase individual coffee drinks or cups of "brewed coffee" at the International Cafe. A cup of brewed coffee currently costs [??], while specialty coffee drinks range from [??].
  

• Princess offers a "Premium Coffee Card" currently priced at $35.65. This card contains 15 "punches," each of which can be used at the International Cafe for a specialty coffee drink (hot or cold), "premium" tea, or hot chocolate. (On some ships, 1 or 2 punches can also be used to obtain gelato.). The Cruise Personalizer states that the card represents a 20% savings compared to purchasing individual beverages. The coffee card also entitles you to unlimited "brewed coffee" at the International Cafe, as long as you have at least one punch remaining. Cards with unused punches [CAN/CANNOT] be used on future Princess Cruises. The Premium Coffee Card (also referred to on the Princess website variously as the "New Grounds Coffee Card" and the "Cafe Select Coffee Card") can be purchased in your Cruise Personalizer under "Beverage Packages." It can also be purchased onboard. Official description: http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/beverages/
  
  

• Brewed coffee and specialty coffee drinks from the International Cafe are also included in the All-Inclusive Beverage Package, currently priced at $56.35, also available for pre-purchase or onboard. See link above re: beverage packages.
  

• Some posters recommend bringing your instant coffee packets (Starbucks Via is frequently mentioned as a favorite), and adding it to hot water, obtained either from the dining areas or via room service. Some posters recommend adding such packets to the "regular coffee" as a flavor boost.
  

• Other posters recommend packing a small, safety-approved coffee brewing device along with your own coffee, for use in your stateroom. For safety reasons, any electrical coffee devices must have an automatic off/on switch. [Correct? Any other limitations?] Princess does not supply coffeemakers or electric kettles in its staterooms.
  

Additional Tips:

• Some posters like to bring personal travel mugs, either to obtain a larger volume of coffee at once, or to be able to carry coffee conveniently to other parts of the ship.
  

• For hygienic purposes, if filling a personal mug in the buffet line, be careful that your personal mug or the coffee inside does not touch the spigot of the coffee dispenser. To avoid contaminating the spigot, some posters have recommending filling a smaller clean cup at the buffet, then pouring from that cup into your personal mug.
  

Pshew, that's all I can remember from what I've read here and on the Princess website. Have I missed anything? Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to chime in with comments and corrections.

Bottled water is not listed as part of any soda package' date=' and it was not included in December, 2015.

 

You might be getting confused--there is a HUGE difference between the "all inclusive BEVERAGE" package and the soda or "soda and more" package.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the clarification -- I think indeed I was getting it confused with the AIBP.

You can purchase the soda & more package, $8.05/day, "Indulge yourself with this premium Unlimited Soda & More Package, entitling you to unlimited fountain soft drinks, plus mocktails, juices, and complimentary hot chocolate throughout your cruise. Price includes service charge." Canned soda is not included with this package.

While I know canned soda is not included with the beverage package, I feel like I read somewhere that bottled water *is* included -- is that correct?

Plan on testing it tomorrow. I'm leaving on the Crown Princess to go to Alaska but if anyone has tried it let me know.

I've never previously heard of Ripple but will be on the Ruby Princess in July and would love to hear how your test goes! I have no desire to be chatting on the phone, but with 2 teens onboard, would love the ability to text message with real-time (silent) notification!

Thanks very much poss for the additional perspective. I had been thinking mostly about still being distant from the glacier itself, but you make a good point about being able to walk up to the falls. I think indeed we're now going to do a bit of hiking in the area around the glacier, just for purposes of having a nice walk. (And I've eliminated another activity from the schedule so we're not running from one excursion to the next, which will make it more relaxing). We may or may not wind up doing the Nugget Falls trail, but I'm sure we will enjoy being outside in some nice scenery.

Yeesh -- thanks for the heads up!

Have not yet been, so can't recommend, but passing on a link that may be of interest: Ten Free or Cheap Things to Do in Skagway. And have you thought about sled dogs? There are a couple of options, puppies seem like a good crowd pleaser.

For the OP: I've also been looking into (less ambitious) hiking options near Mendenhall. I'm not sure which guided tours you have looked at -- and any paid tour will be "expensive" compared to doing it on your own for free -- but I thought this one was an example of something that seems pretty reasonable in cost for the amount of time and small group size. Note: this is not/not a recommendation, as I have not been on the tour, and I have no idea of the quality. Rather, just wanted suggest that you may find a larger range of range of guided tour options available if you dig around a bit. I hadn't seen this one among the ship's offerings or any of the well-known sites that handle shore excursions, I think I found it through Google. Good luck whatever you decide!

p.s. -- just missed the "edit" deadline to add one more question to my post above, regarding the photography version of the Gastineau Guiding excursion. This might actually meet my timing preferences for visiting Mendenhall Glacier (and obviate the need for private transportation arrangements); however, from some of the reviews and the description on their website I am wondering whether the initial "photo safari" leg in Mendenhall may be too slow-paced for two 14-year old boys -- any thoughts? They will have some amount of interest in photography, but I suspect will get pretty fidgety if we are stopping to memorialize every wildflower on the trail. I welcome thoughts from anyone who has been on the trip!

Several thoughts come to mind:

Hi peety3, thanks so much for the additional tips! Yes, I've been coming around to the view that as much as I'd like to see Libby Riddles, it's not worth planning our day in Juneau around an event where the start time is hard to pin down and could easily change at the last minute. I'm disappointed, but it gives me some comfort to know that I'm not the only one who has been faced with this choice, lol, so thanks for commiserating. :( Perhaps they will replay the presentation on the stateroom tv at some point.

If we're not rushing to get back to the ship by 7:00 there are more possibilities for a late afternoon/early evening whale watch. (Thank you for the recommendations regarding Gastineau Gliding, which has been on my radar!). In addition to wanting some "padding" between excursions, I'm also thinking that after 6 hours on the catamaran, we -- or at least I -- will want to stretch my legs on land for a bit rather than jumping onto another boat right away. So I'm gravitating to a plan where we leave the middle of the afternoon relatively unstructured, to permit some time to hike a bit on our own in the Mendenhall Glacier area. (Maybe Steep Creek trail?). This will likely involve making private arrangements to get to from the port to Mendenhall, and then later Mendenhall to Auke Bay; however, even if we wind up arranging taxi rides for that, I think it will be worth the extra cost to be able to spend the afternoon going at our own pace and in the order we want. (A combo tour would be more cost effective, but time constraining; also, many of the combo tours do the whale watch first, whereas I'd like that to be our last activity of the day). Sunset should be around 9:40 and the Ruby does not depart until 10:15, so might as well make the most of our day in Juneau .

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions, much appreciated!

I differ on this somewhat. If you choose to spend, one can, but a pretty much all inclusive experience is still possible aboard Princess. Drinks weren't included in the past, as far as I know, so what is it that one has to spend these days that one didn't have to spend in the past?

Brewed coffee? Or has that always required an extra fee?

Why not see what your whale watch timing can be with a vendor do drops you off (or picks up) from Mendenhall? You may not even find any suitable time? Then knowing the times you can get accurate replies.

 

Yes, I have been to both Mendenhall and Sawyer Glaciers many times, including- both again a couple weeks ago. BUT Sawyer Glaciers are not a given. My recent trips, only went to the North Sawyer Glaciers, with a great visit of Mendenhall and a walk to Nugget Falls.

Thanks for the suggestion and the report from your recent trip -- good point to keep in mind! Yes, I've checked with some vendors and am now confident that I can make this all work time-wise if I want; it's just a matter of figuring out whether we want to try to "cram it all in" or go at a slightly more leisurely pace. Thanks very much for the reactions!