jeromep

Totally correct. Your hands have to be freshly washed just prior to eating, and I'm not talking about washing in your cabin, then touching the elevator buttons, or holding the handrails while you go up/down the stairs for a meal and eating with careless abandon. You basically have to wash just prior to sitting down to the table. Did they install hand washing stations in the Carribean's buffet? If so, washing just before sitting down to eat breaks the contamination chain. Me too! Buffet utensils are a tremendously good place to get your hands contaminated with whatever is on somebody else's. And let's be honest, a contaminated buffet serving tool that slips down into the food has now contaminated the food. For all we know it doesn't even have to slip down into the food to contaminate the food.

I'm disappointed to hear that. If this plays out on more than a handful of ships in the fleet, it probably indicates that they are buying really low grade cuts. If my memory servers from an Ultimate Ship Tour I took many years ago, at least out of the U.S., they buy boxed beef. Similar to how a grocery store that has a meat department with meat cutters will buy boxes of Cryovaecd beef cuts and then butcher them on site. A steak is only as good as the side of beef that it comes from. If the beef quarters or boxed pieces are not good quality, very few, or possibly none, of the steaks that are cut from that piece will be any good.

Staying overnight before the cruise at the embarkation port? I'd ship the wine to the hotel I'm staying at and have them sign for it and then it would be there ready for me to bring on board. Of course, I'd call the hotel direct to ensure that they will sign for a shipment prior to my arrival. I've had to do this in the past with gear and equipment for conferences and most hotel management seem happy to accept shipments for guests that are booked a few days out from the arrival of an item. Uline, the shipping supplies and warehouse equipment company has lots of shipping supplies, and many specifically for wine. https://www.uline.com/Grp_237/Wine-Shippers-and-Supplies?keywords=wine+shipper&SearchKeyword=wine shipper Properly boxed, airlines will check wine into checked luggage. I live in an area with a lot of wineries and most of the airlines will let you check a box of wine no charge out of the airports in wine country. You won't see that outside of a wine producing region, but it is a nice piece of customer service. Properly packaged, wine as a checked item should easily survive the flights. I mean, if you mail order wine it is shipped UPS or FedEx, do you think they are handling boxes of wine any differently than they handle any other box of goods, no. So, wine in a quality wine shipper can handle a lot of abuse and movement with no issues.

Our experience with renewing a passport for a minor (young daughter) non-expedited passport (and passport card, mostly for domestic flights and driving to Canada), was 8 weeks, give or take a day or two, from the time the package arrived at whatever passport center the agent sends the applications to. Passport arrived first, Priority Mail. Passport card came separately, and I'm pretty sure it came in a normal #10 envelope sent regular, non-traceable, First Class mail. We received back her "proof" documents, an old passport and birth certificate, last. Let's say you applied and the passport processing center got the material by mid February. At the longest predicted time, which is 11 weeks now, let's call it 12 weeks for good measure, that would be 3 months, so arriving mid-May. I think you'll be fine. You certainly do have quite a bit of cushion until the first of July. But I agree, this can be a real nail biter. I don't consider 8-11 weeks to get, what is now becoming a necessary piece of identification (don't agree with that, but there are other battles to fight right now), acceptable. No form of government ID, especially if it has become ubiquitous, should take more than 3 or 4 weeks to get. The only thing I'll say is that my daughter's passport is about the most impressive ID document I've seen. The ID page is no longer a top laminated piece of paper same as the rest of the passport pages. It is a plastic card with a "nylon tab", the width of the ID page that is sewn into the passport book. The page is built exactly like a passport card with many of the same characteristics, color shift icons and marks, raised printing on some data, microprint, textures and patterns, big photo in B&W, with a lot of embossing and overlays. Tiny photo in color with birth date printed in tiny print over it. And on the sig page a color photo that is composed of a mosaic of microprint. The passport number is then perforated through all of the pages of the book. Maybe this is why they are taking so long to make; this is a very complex document. I get why people have questions and issues associated with children and cruises and the government required documentation, but feeling how I feel about certain things, and seeing the handwriting on the wall (none of my opinions germane to Cruise Critic), it just seems easier to keep my daughter in possession of a passport. She has had one since she was about 18 months old. It does make some aspects of travel a lot easier.

@Valiamo we are in the a similar situation. Splurged on Premier, going to see if we feel it is cost effective for us. I'm sure some of the offerings will be well used, however I'm pretty sure there will be included offerings that will slip through our fingers. I'll have to make the same evaluation once that cruise is completed.

Again, an odd thing to have in the MDR on a formal night. I think Bubble & Squeak is great. We have an "Irish" pub in town, really more of a townie bar (at least it isn't a pick-up bar), and they have dinner hours, and Bubble & Squeak with a side of soda bread and a side salad on the menu. It is my favorite dish of theirs. I have no idea how authentic it is, but its creamy and tastes great. It doesn't look like much on the plate, and that is why I wouldn't think it to be MDR food. Cruise food has to taste good. It is nice when something comes out of the kitchen and looks like a piece of modern art sculpture, however if it has no flavor, or doesn't taste right, who cares what it looks like. Really enjoying this thread. Sure seems like this is a good cruise, overall.

Yeah, that was my reaction, bangers and mash on a formal night? That's pub lunch fare on sea days. would I eat it? I'd sure consider it, but only if there was nothing else on the menu that really struck me. That's terrible to hear. Both for her meal enjoyment, but indicates that the cuts of meat are not very good grade. NY strip should never be full of gristle, especially if the grade of beef is reasonably decent. If this beef were provisioned in the U.S., if it were USDA Prime or Choice that wouldn't be the case. Sounds like they are going low cost on some of their meat suppliers.

If you want something near the airport but with a much nicer vibe, the Ceaderbrook Lodge is very nice. It isn't the least expensive airport hotel, but it is a very nice stay without the airport hotel vibe and beautiful grounds.

I don't know who you are cruising with, but Princess' EZAir has generally excellent flight prices for international flights, including from the U.S. to Canada and back again. A few years ago we had a cruise that was RT Vancouver and we used EZAir to fly my in-laws into Vancouver from Louisville, KY. The round trip flights were ridiculously inexpensive.

I wish I could give you more than a gut feeling, and some personal experience, but if you don't want to be sweating bullets or generally uncomfortable on disembarkation day, a later flight is a better choice. I'd opt for early afternoon, if possible. As @Ferry_Watcher stated, 11:30 or later is a good rule of thumb. And the SeaTac Spotsaver link that @psuboater shared will also be very useful. Use it. SeaTac is not a bad airport, but the terminal is too small for the number of flights coming and going and that leaks over to security screening areas that are also too small, and frankly very inefficiently run.

I'm not a coffee snob, but have two Nespresso units at home, one for original pods and one for the Vertuo pods, plus a Keurig, and I have a Technivorm Mocamaster for drip coffee. But I'm not against drinking coffee from 7-11, CircleK, McDonalds, Flying J, Love's. Some is better than others. I never minded the coffee concentrate that was served in the past. I always cream my coffee, so that must have softened out the rough edges. I would order a pot of it from room service most mornings. It was never so bad that I just couldn't drink it. But coffee is very subjective.

I really like Club Class. Makes the evening so much more enjoyable.

For web site issues with Safari on iPad the two most important settings to look at are cookies, they must be allowed, and cross site tracking must be allowed. That will fix a lot of web site compatibility problems with Safari on iOS. In general Apple does not do a good job with handling cross-site tracking on Safari, they use a sledgehammer rather than something more graceful. Many web sites use off site resources to display information, present forms, etc., and Safari sees this as cross-site tracking, not a legitimate resource request from an off-site resource. So, cross-site tracking in that situation, while not ideal is also not an issue because the other site that is providing information to the site you are visiting is doing so "at your request" and for a legitimate site. Firefox, Chrome, Edge all by default have cross-site tracking blocked, but not for legitimate site running exercises. Also, when one browser doesn't work with a site, try another. I run multiple browsers on my computer, and I keep alternate browsers on my iOS devices just in case sites don't play well with Safari. I presume that you are a seasoned traveler, and possibly a seasoned cruiser. For those of us that fly and book hotels and rental cars and even theme parks and other travel resources online, it just makes sense that we can handle booking a cruise on our own. And for the most part I'd say that is correct. But things have really changed for the worse with regard to cruise line booking and pre-cruise customer service. The call centers are overwhelmed, the call center staff doesn't seem particularly well trained, call center staff don't have the information they need at their fingertips, and cruise offers, fares, discounts, credits and features seem to be changing on a daily basis. I think in cruise sales everyone's heads are spinning right now, so a cruise line call center has to probably be one of the most unorganized working environments you can imagine right now; and that trickles down to any customer contact that is more complex than booking a cruise over the phone or getting a question answered where the answer is on a computer screen right in front of the call center employee. That said, on my most recent booking I transferred my online booking of a cruise to an independent travel agent I found through a friend. My pre-cruise sales and service experience has never been better. There was a number of changes to the Princess Plus/Premier program and initial grumblings coming out of CC indicated that staff at Princess didn't know anything about the changes. Plus you couldn't opt-in to the changes through the web site. You had to call them or deal with your TA. Knowing how many people have been having issues getting things resolved through the call center, I decided to make the jump to a TA. The TA handled the changes I needed on their own when they were able to access those changes in the booking system. I didn't have to remind them, they just handled it. I'm not sure why you are averse to dealing with a travel agent. I've found my experience to be excellent. I speak with the same person every time. I bounce travel ideas off from them, and since they are also active and avid cruisers on many different lines, I get great advice and first hand experience. Sure, they send out email blasts every now and then, but it isn't annoying and the delete button remains easy to use.

More connect-the-dots guesses here, but I'm pretty sure that you will speak with an offshore call center in the Philippines, or another low cost labor country, at least during certain times of the day.

Good question. I think that @sirclean suggestion is very good, and if you are a small party and like your servers on the first night @billco suggestion is also excellent. I'd like to add that the type of cruise you are on, and the type of cruiser you are with, has a lot of impact on dining room flow. If the cruise is Alaska you are going to have a lot of early diners, mostly because a number of the ports are early morning stops and excursions start about as soon as the ship ties up. So, you'll find a lot of folks that are early to bed and are doing their best to get a meal and see a show before it gets too late. If your cruise is more laid back, Mexican Riviera or California Coastal, you'll have a bit less demand for the earliest dining room seating as the crowd on board is probably a bit more laid back, in more of a relaxation vacation vibe and there is probably a bit less pressure to be up early and off the ship first. So folks will space out their dining a bit more as there may not be anything pressing to do the next morning. Oh, and remember, there are 3 dining rooms on board. Two off the Piazza and one at the aft that is only accessible from the aft stairs. If you haven't made reservations and the dining rooms off the Piazza are busy or have lines, check the aft dining room that is below the Vista Lounge. It might not be all that busy.

I'm not a gambler, but there is a certain psychology that gamblers have and that is partially why casinos have the gaming club cards and do things like ply gamblers with free drinks, low cost or free food, comped rooms, special deals. If you get somebody that will sit in front of a slot and pour money into it, at some point, you want to keep them doing that and they have to feel they are getting enough free stuff in exchange for the money they are pouring into a machine. Just as you said, a gambler will always tell you when they are winning (or getting something for "free" from the casino), but nary a peep if they haven't done so well in front of the bandit. And all that free stuff they get from the casino or the cruise line because they spend in the casino, well, they have already paid for it, and probably in excess. That is a very strong discount. If I were Canadian and I was buying something at par, I don't think I'd be expecting a bunch of extra perks or OBC to come behind that. All the promo was provided up front at the purchase.

Based only upon recent experience and a bit of "connect the dots" logic, PVPs are inside sales people who are given access to "self-service" cruisers, those of us who have become comfortable booking through the web site on our own, and their goal is to conduct email blasts and phone calls to get these unassociated cruisers to book more cruises. Unassociated you say? Yes. Meaning cruisers that book direct and do not use a travel agent. If you use a travel agent to book cruises, you are terra non grata and become the "property" of the travel agent you book with, so if you have a TA you won't hear from PVPs and will not have one assigned to you. Now, if your most recent cruise was booked through a TA and you are getting promotional contacts, either via email or phone calls, from PVPs, I'd love to know, because the moment that I moved my most recent booking from Princess direct to a TA the emails and phone calls from PVPs dried up. Are PVPs travel agents? I suppose so, but only inside the Princess organization. I consider them more along the lines of warm call sales. A lot of what they do is cold calling, but they only call a list of persons who are either past cruises with Princess, especially those that have booked through Princess, or have shown interest in cruising with Princess by requesting brochures and promotional materials, so you are in their database. So, a warm call. So here is a little story. Booked direct with Princess for a 2023 summer cruise last fall. From the time I started showing interest in the cruise until I booked, about 6 weeks to hammer out the vacation time details and budget on my end, I was assigned 3 different PVPs. The last one felt questionable, didn't return calls in a timely manner, took 48+ hours to respond to an email, and didn't seem to know anything. That was the last straw. I booked through the web site on my own and hoped for the best. Then the changes associated with Princess Plus/Premier were announced, tried to get ahold of my PVP. They were gone, I'd been assigned to somebody else. That was the last straw. I talked with some friends, asked some questions and found an independent TA. They navigated me through the Princess Plus changes, made the adjustments to my booking to ensure that the new features were part of my cruise, and did this all based upon their own calendar and tasks list. I didn't have to call them, they took notes of our conversations, put things in their schedule to look into changes and made adjustments that we already wanted and just handled it. I read so many threads here of people that are working through cruise changes, questions, needs and are going through the call center at Princess trying to deal with these issues. I've had to do many of the same things, but since moving my cruise to a TA, I get straight answers, and if they have to work with the booking, they do on their end and "just handle it". So, @AE_Collector I strongly recommend finding a travel agent, developing a relationship, and using them to book your future cruises and not book directly through Princess. I think your pre-cruise booking experience will be much better.

In the U.S. we are required to have banks open at least 4 days a week, come rain or shine. Federal holidays figure into that, but we also don't stack up more than one Federal holiday per week. The most holiday stacked month is November, where we have Veteran's day on the 11th and then Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday. Anyway, we have the best experience booking specialty restaurants by getting reservations when we are on board.

Do consider purchasing Ultimate Balcony Dining. Since you are in a suite you have a large table on the balcony, but during UBD you have a waiter who brings you the courses as they come up from the kitchen. So it is full dining room service but on your balcony with courses served and plates taken away between courses. It is very nice and very nicely coordinated. For folks that have regular balcony cabins they do bring a folding table and get it set up with linens and a centerpiece.

To be honest, Pioneer Square can get rough at night, but the Seattle branch of the Klondike Gold Rush NHP, is located in Pioneer Square and is worth the visit because if your cruise visits Skagway, the rest of the Klondike Gold Rush park is basically the whole town. Seattle has a branch of the park because the gold rush started in Seattle as it was a provisioning location for the rushers and of course, the port. Visiting the beginning of the park in Seattle is a nice bookend for your cruise. As I tell everyone that visits Seattle from away, pre or post cruise, your best bet for getting around Seattle is Uber or Lyft. I wouldn't have been concerned about staying at the Embassy Suites (it is a very nice property) and going out at night, because I'd just hail a rideshare from the hotel lobby, hop in and let them take me to wherever I needed to go, and then back again to the front door by rideshare. No issues. However, your new hotel is much, much more convenient than the Embassy Suites. It is an especially good choice for embarking at Pier 66. I'd just camp out at the hotel until check out time and wait until about 11 before walking down to the pier.

Everyone that has offered you advice is spot on. I've stayed at the Hilton Conference Center a couple of times in the past. It is a nice property. Don't walk there. It is actually quite a bit of a hike, and the folks on International Blvd. at night you may not want to interact with. All the airport hotels offer shuttle services, but that late at night, I'm not sure that all offer service that late. You'll want to contact the hotel directly and find out what their shuttle hours are. It could be 24/7, or it could be something like 5a-11p. Shuttle availability also has a lot to do with if the hotel has a contract with an airline for crew overnights. I'm pretty sure that the Double Tree does have a 24/7 shuttle because they have a number of aircrew lodging contracts. Every time I'm at the Double Tree there's Southwest crew coming and going. If the hotel doesn't have a shuttle, or you don't want to deal with waiting for them to drive the shuttle over after you call them, your backup plan is Uber or Lyft. In the Seattle metro, for ground transport, I prefer the rideshare services over cabs. They are cleaner, and the cost for your trip is already calculated when you hail the service, plus the charges are automatically put on your card by the service. Uber and Lyft are also sophisticated enough that you can transmit your location while in the rideshare to your travel partners just in case. The ride from the airport to the hotel won't be long, but budget for $20.

In terms of product, I think Hyatt House is a nicer property, in most locations, than Hampton Inn. Honestly, the location of the Hyatt House is much better for seeing touristy things by foot. I'd stay there in a heartbeat. I thought my wife and I had at some time in the past few years, but she said she was sure that we hadn't. You can't spit without hitting a hotel in Seattle, except maybe in the more residential neighborhoods like West Seattle or Magnolia. Being close to the Seattle Center is a plus, but there are other things to see and do in Seattle and you'll likely not want to hoof it to all the other things you might be interested in seeing. That means you'll be using Uber or Lyft quite a bit. And I do recommend the carshare services because they are cleaner and more reliable than cabs. As for using public transit, Seattle's system is a rather disconnected mess. Lots of busses, some light rail they are developing, but it doesn't really go everywhere you may want to go, there is also a street car, but same thing, it doesn't necessarily take you where you want to go. It isn't a nice system, either in terms of being tourist friendly or friendly for the commuting locals. Have a great cruise and enjoy Seattle.

While it may sound impossible to eat a multi-plate dinner on your couch in the living area of your cabin, it isn't that hard. Room service will bring a tablecloth to cover your coffee table. Plus there is space on the desk and wet bar in your suite for them to place the tray with your meal. You just kind of work your way around the fact that you don't have a dining room table to eat on. If you must have a chair and table height place to eat, the desk in the living area or the dressing table in the bedroom will also suffice. One time my wife and I just sat on the floor, put our legs under the coffee table, put on a movie and had dinner. It was fun. You can ask about having them bring a table when you put in your room service order. Who knows, they might be able to do that. I've never tried.

Window suites are considered full suites and receive all of the suite amenities and perks; you just don't have a balcony. If having a balcony isn't all that important, these cabins are a great value. Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Next cruise I opted to just pick up the Medallions at the port. 1. I'm not paying for shipping. 2. One less thing I have to worry about packing and keeping with me as I go through airports and jump through ground transport. Sounds like the customization is nicely done, so if it is worth $5 for you, pull the trigger. Unfortunately, I just don't see the value proposition. Have a great cruise!