jeromep

Not sure how long you are in Boston. I didn't do my homework and look up your cruise to see how long that day there is. Boston is my favorite east coast city, at least based on my memory of my last visit there. Never had a bad meal anyplace, the city is generally very clean and tidy. I can't say the same for other east coast cities I've visited. I agree with doing as much of the Freedom Trail as time allows. The Paul Revere house is very interesting. We also got cannoli from one of the noted Italian bakeries, Mike's Pastry, which was very near the freedom trail and we ate at an Italian restaurant also on the freedom trail, just a few doors down from the Paul Revere House called Limoncello. We thought the food was good. I wasn't on a cruise when we visited Boston so we had a number of days to explore and meander around. I recommend picking one or two sights to see, or booking a tour of some kind through the excursion desk.

Aft suites are my favorite, except on the Royal class ships. They are not fully covered balconies, and so you are subject to the elements. Unlike the Grand Class ships where the stern is cantilevered, or called a galleon stern, so each subsequent higher level sticks out further than the level below it, the Royal class ships have a "fast back" appearance and that leaves those aft balconies mostly uncovered. I'd rather than one of the amidship suites, even thought the balconies are narrow, or one of the forward suites with possibly a narrow balcony or one that is really windy at sea, because they have better overhead coverage. And yes, watch out for Emerald deck above the lounge. You are going to hear something every night.

Don't take my word for it, check with AT&T first. Their web site should have a service map and it should clearly state if they have access and how it is provided.

If the ship is at dock or close to the dock at Ketchikan you should be able to get terrestrial cellular service from your normal provide pretty easily. You'll need to do two things with your phone to ensure that you are not on ship WiFi or connecting to ship cellular. First, turn off your WiFi on your device, that will disconnect you from ship's WiFi for sure, then ensure that your phone is set to not allow roaming. This should force the phone or other cellular device to go looking for a native broadcast tower owned by your cellular provider. According to signalchecker.com, naitive service in Ketchikan is limited to Verizon and T-Mobile. AT&T isn't there, and neither is U.S. Cellular (who is famous for great rural cellular but atrocious metro cellular). https://www.signalchecker.com/ak/ketchikan So my earlier advice about turning off your roaming on the ship so the device doesn't connect to ship cellular ensures that you don't have any odd charges show up on your bill, but that advice might impact your ability to get cellular service in Ketchikan which is considered roaming for some services, although you probably don't pay for terrestrial roaming on your regular plan as very few people have plans like that anymore. You'll want to check with your cellular provide directly for their service in Ketchikan, most providers have a service map that indicates the type of cellular that is offered in a geographic location (4g, 5g, etc.) and how strong the signal might be. Depending on who your carrier is, you might find yourself having to try to use ship's WiFi for your Zoom session if you can't get terrestrial cell service that is effective. Also note that the ship is a huge Faraday cage as it is full of steel boxes and framework. You may find yourself on a top deck or out on a balcony to get a good cellular signal, if your provider does offer service in Ketchikan.

As all government buildings should be... functional. It is a beautiful drive, and a beautiful location We visited there the last time we were in Juneau, it feels like eons ago. If it weren't for friends we were cursing with, I doubt we would have made it there since it is not on any of the organized tours. We did have a snafu with our rental car, or rather their rental car. Supposedly they booked it for 8am, like when we were able to get off the ship, but they went to the rental car center and they were closed. We waited around on the dock in a junk shop for an hour and a half until our friends finally arrived with a convertible (yes a convertible Mustang, in Juneau, on a typical foggy, misty day there); which they eventually got when the rental car office opened. Not sure where the miscommunication was there. I don't have first hand experience renting cars in Juneau, but I do have some experience driving out to the shrine and visiting it. When our daughter was born we named her after St. Therese, whom the shrine is in honor of.

That is a busy day in port if they are having a ship that is visiting Seattle as a port of call use Pier 91. Pier 91 is properly sized for embarkation and disembarkation, but its location is industrial and far away from anything of tourist interest. @Ferry_Watcher is totally correct with regard to having to catch an Uber/Lyft or taxi to get to see anything in town. Also, if you are headed southbound and your only foreign port is Vancouver, they may also be using Seattle as your port of entry and customs for the U.S. The facilities are much larger at Pier 91 to handle offboarding the whole ship to go through customs before the remainder of the cruise continues. I lean toward rideshare, so Uber/Lyft as the vehicles are cleaner and the drivers are more service oriented. I can't remember the last time I actually hailed and rode in a cab in any major city. Plus, with the rideshare apps you can see where your driver is as they come to you, and you can see how they are supposed to get you to your destination, plus the price for service is stated up front when you hail them in the app. Seattle public transit isn't for the faint of heart and it isn't really all that efficient. Don't waste your valuable port day "commuting". While you have indicated that you want to visit Pike Place Market (no "s", it isn't plural or possessive), I think there are better things to see in Seattle. The market is very crowded on weekends, like shoulder to shoulder crowded, and the vendors aren't all that exciting. A couple of wineries have branch locations in the booths on the mail level, and the obligatory company that sells oils and spices that are supposedly "artisanal". The flower market has plenty of fresh flowers. And there are a number of fruit and vegetable sellers. The fish guys may or may not be slinging dead salmon overhead, it's all for show anyway. The rest of the market is curio shops and junk sellers, and a few eateries, and last time I check the lower levels weren't air conditioned so it can be pretty muggy in there if enough people are milling about. Maybe they got around to air conditioning the place, I don't know. Natives aren't often fond of the Space Needle, however I think it is excellent for what it is, a high viewing platform, and it was recently remodeled. The restaurant is gone, my wife and I celebrated our 1st anniversary in the restaurant at the Space Needle many years ago and we had a fine dinner and enjoyed the rotating views. I guess that space is now a booze bar or lounge, but not a restaurant. So, I do recommend taking in the Needle. There are a number of other attractions at the Seattle Center, and while in the vincinity, go to Dick's and get a burger. Probably the least costly meal in all of Seattle. The waterfront is probably your best bang for your buck. Plenty of sights, a number of good places to eat, if you have enough time you can pay and walk on the ferry to Bainbridge Island and get away from Seattle and explore the village that is on the other side of the ferry run. That ferry runs very frequently, so It is a bit of a walk down the waterfront to the ferry dock, but if your port stop is long enough, a ferry ride and back is very possible.

I presume that you are dining together. When the bill comes around just let the waiter know that you are taking care of the table, and they will bill your room for the meal, not all that different from charging a meal to your room at a hotel on land.

That is why I included the Port of Seattle link to their 2023 cruise schedule. It clearly indicates what ships are docked where and on what days.

That really depends on a number of factors. Are the photos you pull from the Medallion app highly compressed or low res jpegs or are they normal res jpegs, same as what you will get from the photo desk? Yes, I realize that jpeg is a compressed format so there is always compression. The likelihood of getting raw images from the photo desk on board is about zero. So long as the photos you get digitally from Medallion are full resolution jpegs, you should be fine. Also, having the right tools on your computer helps to be able to extract photos off a phone with ease. My whole family is in the Apple ecosystem and exporting photos from iPhones or iPads to a Mac is super easy, and is easier if you have third party tools. I long gave up on the iOS device management that is native in MacOS through the finder. For years I did backups of iPhones and iPads through the Finder tools, but recently I have moved to a software product called iMazing which conducts similar backups, but you can put those back ups on any disk or network drive you wish, something that the native tools in the Finder can't do. On top of that, after a backup, you can go through photos on a device granularly in the iMazing application and export and store photos wherever you wish, on the Mac, attached storage, etc., with great ease. I do agree with @donaldsc if I have a photo package that says it includes taking away images on a USB stick, then I should get the photos on a stick. And I also agree that photos on a stick, plugged into a computer are a lot easier to handle than working to get photos from a phone to a computer. I guess I'm just pointing out that there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Gosh, that is exactly how I fold jeans at home. It doesn't generally put a hard crease in them, but I stay consistent between how I fold slacks and jeans. You do have rather expensive taste in clothing, and if you are willing to send them out to be cleaned, I'm sure that anything I own could be sent out to be washed without any concern.

Wow, I've never encountered MDR breakfast to be that slow, but there is a first time for everything. Suite breakfast, usually in Sabatini's, but it can vary from ship to ship, is a sit down experience, but the number of pax that are being taken care of at any given time is much smaller than what the MDRs may handle, although I suspect that most non-suite cruisers are probably just doing buffet breakfast anyway. That said, we usually spent about an hour with breakfast in Sabatini's, but we also were not in a hurry. After a couple of days with breakfast in Sabatini's the staff would know your customary order and would be prepared to put it in immediately. They were always happy to mix it up if you weren't in the mood for your usual.

Since I presume that your stop is going to be at Pier 66, they could wait outside the Pier someplace on Alaskan Way, near by. Anthony's on Pier 66 is a decent restaurant and you could plan to meet there, also. The Edgewater Hotel is just to the north of 66 and it has a coffee shop, restaurant with bar and such, and you could meet there also. Both are within a couple of minutes walking distance of the pier.

We probably have $400-$500 of laundry expense in a typical cruise, at listed prices, but since we book suites, and laundry is included, we figure that this is one of the most effective ways of getting our money's worth out of cost of a suite. We even bring along some of our work clothes that need to be dry cleaned. We wear them for formal nights and have the cruise line dry clean them afterward and they are all fresh, pressed and ready to go when we get back home. We have never had any delays in getting our laundry back. We have a bag ready to go in the morning for our steward, he grabs it while we are out at breakfast, and we get it back the next day. On a couple of cruises we were seeing same day service, bag out the door in the morning, clean clothing back in our cabin some time while we were out to dinner. The thought of doing laundry at a laundromat while on a cruise is not that desirable. Reminds me too much of the time I spent doing laundry in college. Plus people behave the same in a laundromat when they are in their 20s as when they are in their 50s, leaving wet clothing in washers unattended. Not getting their clothing from the dryer when it is done. There are a lot of people that use the laundries on board, but don't bother setting a timer on their watch or keeping track of time so they can come back and collect their clothing.

For embarkation and disembarkation Princess uses Pier 91, however if Seattle is a port of call for a cruise that is transiting say from California to a Canadian port like Vancouver or vice versa then they use Pier 66 which is located in the middle of the harbor and much more accessible by foot to the touristy areas of Seattle. The following link is a PDF published by the Port of Seattle showing the cruise schedule for 2023 and also indicates which visits are ports of call and not embarkations. https://www.portseattle.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/2023 Sailing Schedule Updated 3.14.23.pdf

A travel agent should not be more expensive. I used to direct book with cruise lines, but not anymore. Frankly, Princess' telephone support has become very poor post the disease that shall not be mentioned. I've only found responsive travel booking support for cruises by going through an independent travel agent. Travel agents make a commission based upon the sales they make. Generally speaking, a cruise you purchase direct from a cruise line should be the same price as what a TA will offer you and should include any "specials" that the cruise line is running at the time you book. The cruise line benefits when you book direct from them because they "keep" the commission. On the other hand, when you book with a TA, they get the commission, but they get the commission because they are your point of contact for all cruise booking issues prior to boarding, they are doing the work for the cruise line. So the cruise line makes more money per cruise if you book direct with them, however I just don't think you get the after sale support from the cruise line that you do from a TA. Since you are not a U.S. based customer, while it should be possible to book direct, I think you would significantly benefit from booking with a local TA who can guide you through the flights, travel documents, hotel stays pre and post cruise, maybe booking excursions outside of the cruise line, etc. Plus, your travel agent should be "on call" when you are on your cruise as a point of contact if you have any needs. A TA can also more easily navigate special cabin bookings than you can yourself. Travel agents have access to pools of cabins which are held back from the general public that book through the web site. Cabin availability is highly dynamic, similar to the dynamic nature of hotel room booking and pricing and flight booking and pricing. They can easily find adjoining cabins, if you book two. The doorway between adjoining cabins is ideal for the situation you may end up in, booking two cabins for your family of four, making it easy to move between the two and for all of your household members to share the resources of both cabins. However, your booking will be one adult and one child per cabin, which means that both children cost the full adult fare for the room, as if they were a 2nd adult, not a 3rd or 4th berth supplement. Once on board it doesn't matter how you use the cabins, but the official assignment will be an adult and child per cabin. So your kids are a great age to start cruising. The kids clubs on board will be ideal for them, if they are so inclined to be involved in structured activities. Princess keys their on board kids club activities to your itinerary, so there will be a lot of enrichment related to the Panama Canal and the ports you are calling at. You'll never really know how much this vacation is going to cost until you start talking with a TA. I don't cruise a lot, I cruise when it fits our family schedule (between school breaks and limited vacation time) and we we can find the accommodation we like on an itinerary we like. We save our pennies to afford the accommodations that fit our travel style, and that tends to be more high market than bargain basement. Be careful how low you go in price, you'll feel it the most when you are thousands of miles away from home and really needed that extra perk or the extra room to make the difference between just being away and actually having a vacation.

That would be my stance also. You can cut your nose off in spite of your face by trying to get a "deal", and then have 5, 7, 10 days or whatever having to hop around each other in a cabin. And if you think you'll get a respite from your family by taking a long bath or shower in the bathroom, think again. Regular balcony cabins and down have very small bathrooms and that horrible shower curtain that sticks to you. The shower in my motorhome is a glass walled neoangle shower and it is roomier and more comfortable than Princess' regular cabin showers. That said, I looked up your sailing. It's 15 days... with 4 people in an inside cabin! Sure two are small people, I don't know how small, but they are also probably very active people, they may also have nap times, and may not be able to last a whole active day. So that means at least one parent is stuck back in the cabin with child care duty, and the other can be out, maybe with the older kid or who knows. The point is there isn't much to look at in an inside cabin except for TV, and on board TV entertainment can be limited. There are those out there that will say, "oh you are never in your cabin, so you don't need to have a window/balcony/mini-suite/suite." I've never found that to be the case. A good cabin, is a place you can escape to when you no longer want to hang out on the Lido with everyone else, or sit in a chair at Crooners having forced conversation with a retired proctologist and his half-retired real estate agent, trophy wife while listening to a good piano player, sing a not so good version of "Piano Man". We were on the Ruby many years ago, had an aft suite with a balcony. The seas headed to Princess Cays were kind of rough and I didn't have my sea legs yet. So, I sat out on a lounger on the balcony and cracked open a low priced domestic beer that just happened to be in my mini-fridge and nursed it for a couple of hours while I listened to the prop wash and let the sun warm my feet. You won't be able to do that in an inside cabin.

@MTNest93, I hope that you are aware that you can have MDR meals served in your suite for every meal if you feel so inclined. It is one of the suite perks. And then there is a separate dining room open for suite breakfast every morning. In my experience it is usually in Sabatini's, but it can vary from ship to ship. They are happy to do short order cooking, putting up whatever you want for breakfast. You can create a breakfast totally off menu if nothing on the menu is to your liking. After about the second morning of doing breakfast there they remember what you order and if you are a creature of habit you can just have that, or you can ask for something different. You are also Club Class or is it now Reserve Collection, so be on the lookout for the Club Class or Reserve Collection entry door to the MDR. That is where you will go for all of your MDR meals. You are unlikely to experience any lines or waits at the MDR. There are a lot of suite perks. I hope you can take advantage of them all.

For that many people, 3 adults and 1 child, I can't imagine having a cabin any smaller than a mini-suite. You will have the couch option for the small one, and, with the correct cabin, the pullman bed that pulls down out of the ceiling. I strongly suggest the mini-suite also because you should have enough storage space in a mini to hold the contents of everyone's luggage. I'm not sure that a regular cabin would have sufficient storage.

Did you go an rescan your Medalion later or did they write something down and record it offline?

Last time I checked I don't recall Princess opening up their ship for specially themed "charters". This is something that Norwegian and RCI and even Carnival do rather frequently. I've always wanted to go on a Star Trek cruise, but the timing has never been good for me, the itinerary is usually a shortie, like 5 days, so "not worth it" to me, and the ship is usually one of the older ships of whatever cruise line is offering the "charter". This doesn't feel like one of those charters. It feels like an affiliated TA has blocked out cabins for the polka cruisers, and Princess will provide an entertainment space or two for them through the day. https://www.jimmysturr.com/cruise I have no clue if it will really adjust the vibe on board a lot, but I wouldn't be surprised if the polka band was up on the Lido playing rather frequently.

One of the biggest flaws with the Princess apps is the ability for one person to multi-register. I think you have gotten yourself into that trap. My wife has also, but in a bit different way. As we are previous cruisers we have Captain’s Circle numbers so our logins need to be synced with our individual loyalty numbers. A long time ago I got all my information synced up so my login is linked to my Captain’s Circle account, and as I understand it, that is then linked to the website login. I also understand that is also linked to your Medallion. When you call, are you talking to stateside support or overseas support? And are they able to provide a solution while you are on the phone or do they indicate they have to defer to another department by opening a case with another group?

I think some more specificity is needed here. I have always known that alcohol based hand sanitizers, Purell and anything private label or third party, that is gelatinized alcohol based, is ineffective against Noro. But just to make sure I wasn't crazy I did some research and the CDC, for whatever they are now worth, confirms this, along with a number of university research papers. The nature of the structure of Noro is such that alcohol can't penetrate the virus casing, and as such it survives even after using alcohol based hand sanitizers. Wet Ones, the most visible market competitor to Purell, has an active ingredient of Benzethonium Chloride. Over the years I've watched the advice regarding the effectiveness of Benzethonium Chloride against Noro go from "the jury is out, probably better than alcohol based hand sanitizers," to "nope, not effective against Noro". And again, a number of research papers indicate that Benzethonium Chloride doesn't have any effect against Noro. So, what is effective against Noro? Bleach and hydrogen peroxide. A number of widely used spray disinfectants, like Lysol, claim to be effective, but read those product labels. The label on a can of Lysol indicates the contact and hold time necessary for their product to eradicate different bacteria and viruses. It varies greatly from bacteria to bacteria and virus to virus. Some contact times are instant, some a few minutes. Some contacts times are upwards of 30 minutes or longer. Of course, when it comes to sanitizing your hands, handwashing immediately prior to eating, with no touching of other surfaces from the sink to the table, is the best practice to limit spread. And what is it that really gets our hands clean? Soap helps and is honestly necessary, but hot water and agitation, rubbing your hands together, is what washes away the viruses and bacteria on your hands. Soap acts as a detergent and surfactant which helps to improve the capabilities of water to remove whatever is on the surface of your skin and carry it away down the drain. The introduction of wash basins in buffets and requiring passengers to use them and use them properly goes a long way toward cutting down on viruses which are passed through touching surfaces. Is it Carnival that has automated hand washing systems installed in some of their buffets, you basically put your hands in these tubes and the machine turns on and hot, soapy water, is blasted on your hand for a pre-determined period of time and then your hands are clean. This type of technology is widely in use in the commercial food processing arena so as to standardize and ensure that food workers have clean hands before being in contact with food that will feed thousands or even millions of people. As for "Food Code" strength hand sanitizer. I'm not aware of any such product and the research I've done doesn't indicate that such a thing exists. If it does, please correct me. Please provide a link to the product so that I can read up about it.

No, the monorail isn't everywhere. The monorail has an interesting history. It was built for the 1962 World's Fair, along with the Space Needle and a couple of other buildings that remain that are on the grounds of the Seattle Center. The monorail is more of a tourist piece than it is a functioning part of Seattle's public transit system. It runs from the Seattle Center to Westlake Center, a shopping mall that has seen better days. It is worth the ride and doesn't cost much, but it certainly isn't mass transit. Most of Seattle's public transit is bus service, however over the past 20 years the city has advanced some light rail services and a streetcar. As somebody that visits Seattle many times a year, I have to say it is one of the most disjointed and inefficient public transit systems out there. Plus, I never feel safe on public transit in Seattle. Seattle isn't a particularly walkable city. Most neighborhoods in Seattle are self contained, but once you want to venture out of a neighborhood, you'll find yourself walking huge distances. You'll want to have the Uber or Lyft app (or both), on your phone and ready to go. Car sharing services are probably the cleanest and most reliable way to get around Seattle in comfort. As a tourist, definitely visit the Space Needle, while at the Seattle Center check out the Museum of Pop Culture and the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. The Seattle Museum of Art is always a nice visit, they have a very broad permanent collection and their visiting collections are always worth looking in on. Boeing's Museum of Flight is way south, down near the area of some of their original operations and about midway between Seattle proper and their Renton plant, home of the 737. You can blow a whole day down there, but I'd focus a visit on the red barn, their original factory building, along with the war aviation museum and the air park across the street. The air park is fascinating as they have on display the first 747, one of the older 707 based Air Force Ones, The Concord, the first 727 first 737, and one of the test 787s, amongst many other notable aircraft. Be sure to tap on the side of the 787. It's quite a bit like tapping on the bottom of a Tupperware container. It is fascinating that such a large aircraft is made out of carbon fiber. Now when I say way south, the Museum of Flight is about halfway between Seattle and the airport, so you'll arrive in the Seattle area way south of the city. When you arrive at the airport you are actually landing in a city called SeaTac. It used to be unincorporated King County a number of years ago, but the people voted to make it a city on its own, and so it is. As for staying before and after your cruise, you have many options, inexpensive isn't one of them. The hotels down near the airport are considered south King County, which has lower prices than the Seattle proper hotels. This is mostly on account of the extra taxes and labor costs associated with hotels that operate in Seattle proper. Nobody talks about lodging in north King County, so around Everett, but the prices of hotels north of Seattle are also less costly. What you save in hotel costs you will consume in ground transportation costs, so it is a tradeoff. The Mediterranean Inn is nice. My wife has to visit the home office in Seattle about 4 times a year and she usually stays there. It is walking distance to the office, and the neighborhood is nice. It has a pleasant roof deck with excellent views of the bay, Seattle Center, and the lower Queen Ann neighborhood. This might be your best jumping off point to play tourist, especially after your cruise. If you want to get on another boat after getting off your cruise, you might consider Argosy tours. They have a number of tour boats. I recommend the Ballad locks cruise. You'll catch them on the waterfront. If you venture down there the whole waterfront is walkable and touristy. Seattle has a large ferris wheel, the Seattle Great Wheel, and it will present you good views. You might want to visit Ivar's Acres of Clams. The food is decent, the clam chowder is good, although I prefer the clam chowder at Gracie's Sea Hag in Depot Bay, OR (but that is a very long drive). The Ivar's organization was started by Ivar Haglund, who was a local personality, probably as eccentric as Seattle is. The Ivar brand is now a local chain of chowder and fish bars. It is likely that your cruise will visit Skagway. In the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle there is an outpost of the Gold Rush National Park. The reason there is a Seattle unit or museum is because the Alaska/Yukon gold rush really started for most of the "rushers" in Seattle, where they provisioned for their adventure, and found transportation on ships in the port of Seattle. I highly recommend visiting this place to "close the circle" on your visit to Skagway. The U.S. National Parks are tremendous gems and well worth visiting. The visitors centers are generally very well equipped and the park rangers are tremendous resources. The entire city of Skagway basically exists in the National Park. I don't recall the visitor's center in Skagway being that impressive, but Skagway is, especially the train ride on the White Pass & Yukon. Here are some links. https://www.nps.gov/klse/index.htm https://www.museumofflight.org/ https://www.ivars.com/acres https://www.mediterranean-inn.com/ https://www.spaceneedle.com/ https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/ https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/ https://www.seattlemonorail.com/ https://www.mopop.org/

You win the Internet for today! I'm not sure I've ever linked a "refreshing morning" on board to watching Caligula, or a "relaxing afternoon" with Midnight Cowboy, but I have new food for thought.

The flatulence means the cabbage is working. That said, corned beef and cabbage is the American way of recognizing St. Patrick's day. Along with getting plastered and behaving terribly. I'm all for good corned beef and a nice, sweet, head of cabbage, cooked properly and seasoned right, but I'm not much for getting plastered and behaving badly. If I saw a properly described version of corned beef and cabbage on board, I'd certainly try it. Best corned beef I've ever had was prepared in the Instant Pot. Wonderful flavor, melt in your mouth tender. The only way to prepare it.