jeromep

@dayzees13 There is a service on the VISA network which communicates card number changes to recurring billers, those billers who you have set up an automatic recurring charge, like Netflix or your internet provider. I can't remember it's official name, but for banks that offer it, it is a service that just operates in the background, it is not an opt-in service, but an opt-out service, so if they offer it, you would have had to opt-out of it at some time in the past. It works well if the biller pays attention to the account number change information which is communicated back to them through the VISA network when they run your old card number for a recurring charge. You may want to contact your card issuer and see if they offer this service and if so, your individual status with the service.

I couldn't agree more. The Princess "port guides" aren't all that useful. Super basic and highlighted places were all sales partners. That isn't a port guide. I stopped taking the Princesses port guides with me when off ship. 1. Whipping out a port guide in port makes you look like a tourist, (yes we are all dressed like tourists, but hey anyone watching and wanting to take advantage of you doesn't need any additional information), 2. The maps were almost useless and it was just additional bulk that we didn't need to carry around. My solution was to photograph the bottom bar of the Princess port guide that provides the emergency contact information for the port agent, along with local emergency numbers, etc. That was the most useful information. That photo sat on my phone and I had the most critical information where I needed it. Third party guides have always been much better and will likely remain that way.

Sounds like all the RV dealer friends I have. They sell RVs, but never have time to go camping. They don't go camping until they quit the industry or they sell their dealership. Anyway, on the Grand Class ships, you had two dining rooms accessible from the Piazza and the atrium, and then the aft dining room which was nestled all the way aft, and down at the bottom of the aft stairway and elevator shaft. That full aft dining room was always utilized for traditional, scheduled seating, dining. It was then used as overflow for Anytime Dining, as space allowed. Now that things have changed to Dine My Way with all your dining choices done through the app, I've not been on a Grand Class ship since the change, so I can't speak as to how they are using the far aft dining room. The food is the same in all the MDRs each evening. Ambience is basically the same, although the dining room names are different. The aft dining room on the Grand Class ships have windows all the way around, making the dining room a bit lighter than the other two dining rooms. Oops, just noticed that you are talking about the Island and Coral Princess, which are the two Panamax ships in the fleet. I don't think things are much different, but again, since Princess moved to Dine My Way in the app, a lot of what I used to know has become dated.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. You have about 4 months until your cruise. I think the systems aren't going to let you do those kinds of reservations that far ahead. Maybe try in another month when you are 90 days out. My last cruise where we had the 1st night complimentary specialty restaurant meal due to being booked in a suite, we just called the dine line when we got on board and got a reservation for the Crown Grill. When we arrived at dinner, the restaurant was mostly empty. I think there were maybe 3 other couples dining. I've never encountered specialty dining venues which were jam packed on embarkation day. That all depends on the cruise and the cruisers. I'd keep trying to do your reservation about once a month until you get close to your cruise, but I'd not be concerned about not being able to use your complimentary dining. The reason that the suite dining benefit is offered on embarkation night is because the specialty venues are in less demand embarkation evening than on the rest of the cruise.

One of the reasons that some people get faster service through chat is because CSRs that are assigned to handle chats are usually doing heavy multitasking. It also helps that the topic you are asking about can easily be handled through chat. More on that later. So, a CSR that is on phones handles one customer at a time. A CSR that is handling incoming chats is usually handling 2, 3, maybe up to 5 customers at once. It requires a special skill to keep that many individual conversations organized. My organization has customer service chat, and frankly our staff maxes out at about 3 consecutive conversations before they start making mistakes. In our experience chat is a great way to provide service to very wrote, non-complex customer requests, changes that don't call into question organization policy, and things that aren't really special requests. Anything beyond simple requests that are a couple of clicks on a computer, and chat becomes too cumbersome for both the CSR and the customer. I think the call back option for customer service lines is probably one of the best features I've seen put into call center phone systems. For anyone that doesn't want to tell the computer that they will accept a call back, please use that option. It really works. CSRs in call centers basically spend their entire day taking one call right after the other until they go on break or take lunch. The underlying phone computer system is doing the work of routing calls on hold to available operators. The call back system basically takes your incoming call and puts it in line with the rest of the calls that are coming in. When you opt for a call back and provide a callback number, the call center phone system keeps your place in line, and then when you are up, it connects to a CSR and dials out to you, to initiate the call. I've had great success with the call back option with many companies and opt for it whenever it is offered to me.

I'm not sure what Princess will do over the phone, but last time I chatted with my TA, all dining bookings are handled through the Princess Medallion app; or at least that is what Princess wants us to do. There are no longer traditional dining and Anytime Dining options available in the Cruise Personalizer; dining selections have all been offloaded to the app, and it is now called Dine My Way. She even indicates that if you are looking for a traditional dining experience you may be better off working with the maitre'd once on board or making your dining reservations on the app when those features open up on the app, closer to your cruise. Everyone has a different comfort level with technology, so I won't say that any person should have to use the app to manage their dining options; however, I just opened the Princess app and there is some functionality present to book dining for a cruise scheduled for July. I didn't go so far as to actually book anything. This is under the Ocean Now section of the app, by tapping on the Dine My Way option. There is a button that says, Explore Dining Options and it tells me to check back later closer to the cruise date. I am curious to know if you are using the Princess app or not? I don't book directly with Princess anymore, I have moved my bookings over to a TA. The last couple years, and especially during the restart period, it sure feels like Princess doesn't have sufficient staff to handle the phones. I went through 3 different Princess Vacation Planners in less than 3 months, I used to have one that I had a bit of a relationship with and had that one for years, that is why I wasn't using a TA, but things have changed, and not for the better. I feel that I get better pre-trip service, when issues arrive the TA steps in to handle them, and I'm never waiting on hold, I just email my TA, and a couple hours later they acknowledge my request or even write back telling me that the issue is handled.

When a bank or credit card issuer has a customer report a transaction as not legitimate and is seeking a chargeback, depending on that issuer's policies, the transaction is considered fraudulent. Since the customer is claiming that they didn't conduct the charge, that leads to the assumption that the card information has been compromised in some way. The only way to address this issue is to issue a new card. Again, depending on the risk tolerance of the issuing institution, they may issue a new card with the same card number, but a new expiration date and new CVV number, which effectively makes any additional fraudulent transactions not work because the data doesn't match when the fraudster tries a new transaction, or they may issue an entirely new card with new card number, along with new expiration and CVV numbers (new chips and new NFC in the card also). Credit/debit card fraud is really annoying, and unless it is an incident which impacts thousands or millions of users all at once, think Target's breach many years ago, you never really know where the fraud occurred and just have to pick up the pieces and move on.

I find it really interesting that nobody has mentioned The Sanctuary. If I were a solo traveler, and possibly choosing a lower priced cabin to avoid some of the pain of the single supplement pricing, I'd be booking time in The Sanctuary. Great place to relax, laid back, good views, most of the time.

1. Club Class dining is at an alternate entrance to one of the MDRs. It will be conspicuously signed and, at least on the first night, the host will check your room to ensure that you really are Club Class or Suite. Think of the additional menu items as a "fresh sheet" you'd see that would tag along with the regular menu at a normal restaurant. It is usually an item or two per regular menu section which is additional. They also offer some dishes, maybe a salad or appetizer, which are prepared table side. We would often, but not always, order an item or two from the additional selections. It is a nice perk, sometimes filling in where an evening's MDR menu might not be all that interesting. 2. The "formal nights on Princess" threads are all over the place on the boards. It is really a mixed bag of "enforcement" on most sailings, but suffice it to say you are very safe with shirt, tie, and slacks; nobody will bat an eye. You could probably do a button-up and slacks and there would be no issue. You might even be able to get away with a nice shirt and jeans, especially if they were very dark or black. Casual dining on formal nights, in addition to the buffet, would be the specialty restaurants, or getting pizza, burgers, or dogs up on the lido. They way you describe dressing for Celebrity, you will have no problem any night on Princess. 3. I'm not aware of any beverage service limits associated with Medallion. Food is whatever is available in the Medallion app, however suite passengers can order dining room room service when the dining room is open and for all meals. I think you still ask your cabin steward for the MDR menus for the day, and call the dine line, however, somebody else might have better experience with this. 4. Sky Princess has the Concierge Lounge on Rivera Deck, located next to the amidships suites. Your medallion will give you access, light food selections and a mix of beverages are available all day, along with concierge services to book excursions, spa services, acquire your airline boarding pass, etc. If you have Princess Plus or Premier that wouldn't have any impact on your usage or the services available in the Concierge Lounge. 5. The price cap on Princess Premium is just exactly that. I don' have a drink menu handy, but I suspect there will be one or two over the top cocktails which may cross the $20 that threshold, but most will not. 6. The suite breakfast offering is usually in one of the specialty restaurants. You'll be informed of where in your welcome documents that should be in your cabin upon embarkation. Last cruise we were on the suite breakfast was in Sabatini's. The menu is a bit different than the MDR menu, but also shares some MDR breakfast offerings. The James Beard french toast which is served in the MDR is also available for suite breakfast. We found that suite breakfast was kind of a short order free-for-all. If you didn't see something on the menu you wanted, the waiter would start offering off-menu suggestions and you could just assemble the breakfast you wanted. It was great, actually. 7. Complimentary reserved in advance. My experience was no, but that was before the app. Embarkation night is not a busy night at the specialty restaurants. We did get an embarkation day reservation for the Crown Grill on our last cruise after we go on board. When we were at the Crown Grill there would have been no need for a reservation, there were only 3 or 4 other couples dining while we were there. You'll find that the specialty restaurants on board are much busier on formal nights, mostly for those cruisers that want to avoid dealing with the dress code that is in the MDR. Of course we have already covered the dress code for formal nights. These days, all of the restaurant reservation activity will be accomplished on the Medallion app on your phone, or through the Dine Line, or through the Concierge desk in the Concierge Lounge. 8. It has been a while, but the bar setup includes your typical liquors, vodka, scotch, maybe another whisky. It will be dealers choice when you get on board. You can call the Dine Line and they will do any swaps for you, no problem. They don't have little bottles of the alcohols I like, like Irish cream or amaretto. You can get the bar setup converted to waters, or choose your mix of pop. There will be some cans of beer in the fridge too, and you can get those swapped for an alternate canned beer. Again, the dine line will tell you what they can do for you. If you have Princess Premier, I don't see as much value in the bar setup, unless you just want to have a little nip of something in your room without having to have room service deliver something to you. 9. There is a menu for the canapes. It varies. Mostly meat and a cream or cheese mousse on top of small pieces of bread. Tasty, and nice looking, but nothing to write home about. Good way to take the edge off your hunger before a late dinner. Worth getting since it is a suite perk. I distinctly recall one of the selections is a caviar of sorts with some dill on top, on the same little circular cutout of bread. I'm not sure I can classify it as real caviar, but it is fish eggs, and very salty. Not bad, only about 3 or 4 little golden eggs on top of the bread. You can ask for a specific selection of the individual canapes for your order, avoid what you don't like and get what you do. It has been a while for us, but there was an order card left in your room each day by your cabin steward, and you just checked what you wanted from the list of offerings, and gave it to your steward or put it someplace where he would find it and your canapes would show up in the early evening. 10. Ultimate Balcony Dining is a multi-course meal where you have a dining room steward which hangs out at your room and coordinates the serving of the various courses. This is very different from room service which is more of a drop off affair. With UBD the steward will arrive and set up a table and linens on your balcony, and then begin with your starting course. Just like in the dining room, they will check in with you from time to time, and when the next course arrives they will serve it, and take away the used place settings. It is a very interactive experience. If you are ordering room service and the day is nice, and it helps that it looks like you are using your balcony that day, room service will offer to set you up in your living area or on the table on the balcony. I'm comfortable if they set up room service on the coffee table and we make our way to the balcony dining table ourselves with our food. And yes, UBD is a fee based offering, but it is quite an experience. 11. Premium deserts are any desert which is sold at a price on board, and not available complimentary in your cruise fare. Gelato is a premium desert. There may be others, but I'm not solid on the details. The inclusion of premium deserts in Princess Premier is a really new offering. 12. The configurations and location of pools relative to the Sanctuary is different depending on the class of ship. If it is an older Grand Class ship, the lotus pool is the pool that is accessible from inside the Sanctuary. If you are on the newer Royal class ships the retreat pool would be the pool that services the Sanctuary. It isn't a far walk. It is closer on the Grand Class ships than on the Royal Class. 13. I can't answer this directly, I don't know if everyday items are not going to be on the MDR menus, but what I do know is that in the past the dining room has almost always been able to serve an item to me which is off menu. There are some exceptions, but for the most part they are able to work off menu as long as the request isn't over the top. Something like a simple pasta dish, or a Caesar salad wouldn't be too crazy to ask for if it were not on the menu. I suspect they would be able to accommodate as I've done requests and have been accommodated almost every time. I'm not aware of Princess doing dish limits in the MDR. I'm hearing of that over at Carnival... maybe RCI, but so far I haven't heard of that occurring at Princess. At Carnival it is an extra dish charge, so it isn't a ban, but you would pay for more than one main dish. My experience is that even in the specialty restaurants, there is some flexibility in terms of how many dishes you can order. It all depends on what you are asking them to do or how many extra you are asking for; but I also wouldn't be asking for multiple main dishes in a specialty restaurant. They will charge you another cover if you are asking for that. 14. The Wi-Fi is unlimited, and in the Premier package it is multiple devices per user connected at once. Lots of reports that speed isn't quite as good as Princess once advertised pre-shutdown. There are rumblings that the satellite provider changed while the cruise lines were out of production and that has impacted the quality of the service as cruising has restarted. I don't have any actual details. That said, you'll be able to keep in touch with land, most functions will work, just don't expect everything to be zippy, like at home. Can you upload photos. Sure, but it probably won't be fast, like a home. 15. Sky Princess is a great ship. It is Royal Class, and those aft corner cabins, in fact all of the aft cabins, have limited overhang from the upper deck, so you'll be exposed to sun and weather on the balcony pretty much all the time, depending on the ships orientation to the sun. I don't like those cabins as much as I do the aft suites on the older Grand class ships, in which every aft cabin was fully covered (except for maybe the top aft cabin deck), due to the cantilevered design of the stern of the ship. You'll want to consider this when picking cabins. You might be happier with suites at the front of the ship or amidship.

I don't have a photo, but the layout is similar; just split the bed and put one or both of the end tables between the beds, and you have a twin setup.

I actually really want to try this specific cruise, but haven't had the time or opportunity to do it. However, like another poster commented, there are some negative comments about the itinerary and the ship floating about on the Internet. I'd rather try it than just dis it. I tend to be a ship rat, so I pay attention to what is going on in the world of new builds and ship classes. The Pride of America is an oddball ship, a one off that was built for another cruise line that went bankrupt before they even finished the ship. And so to sail RT Hawaii, a cruise line needed to find a ship which was built in the U.S. that could then be flagged in the U.S. with crew that have legal status to work in the U.S (so green card or citizenship). All of this work to be legal for the PVSA. NCL purchased the empty hulk of the ship from the domestic shipyard that laid the keel, then had it towed to Germany where a shipyard there finished it. This meant that the ship was not fully constructed in the U.S. and technically couldn't be U.S. flagged (based upon the PVSA regulations), but they got Congress to write an exception for it, and slipped that into some appropriations bill, for sure. Now the ship was U.S. flagged it could do RT Hawaii sailings. I think what turns me off on NCL as a cruise line is the nickel and diming, or rather the prevalence of fee based food options and middling included food options.

Fair enough. Sounds like a partnership broker of sorts. May also act as a travel agent to coordinate the link up between your resort memberships and the cruise lines. I looked at the site and the pattern I see is that the cruise lines they work with are Virgin Voyages, MSC, and Royal Caribbean (and Celebrity which is owned by RCI). I don't see any of the Carnival Corp. brands listed. Princess is owned by Carnival Corp. I'm not surprised by the brands I see on the site. RCI's business model is very much into penetrating markets and always growing. They have to, they have some of the most physically large ships at sea, they have to fill those cabins, so they have broad partnerships. MSC is more European than North American, however they are making a huge push into the North American market, and again, partnerships benefit them in getting new customers in their cabins. Virgin Voyages is a brand new mega ship line, so they also are looking to get their name out there and people into cabins, so having partnerships doesn't surprise me. Virgin Voyages is also a "no kids" line, very adult oriented, so fits well with a casino membership program. Carnival Corp. brands are much more insular. My status with Princess does not translate to any other Carnival Corp. brand. If I were to start cruising with HAL, I'd have to start at the bottom rung in their membership program and cruise my way up. Another observation is that most Carnival Corp. brands do not do a lot of co-branding or themed cruises. I've never seen Princess partner up to do a theme cruise, like a Star Trek fan cruise, or a 80s music cruise, or Star Wars fan cruise. I'm not aware of much like that on HAL. I think I've seen a bit of that on Carnival. Each cruise line at Carnival is essentially operated as its own company with its own management style and they tend to do things their own way. For better or worse. Do you have a travel agent? If not, this would be a good time to find one. I think you'll have a better experience getting perks from Princess if you are working with a travel agent than working direct with Princess. Also, the condition of the customer support lines at Princess is kind of shaky right now. I've had 3 different Princess Cruise Consultants (or advisors, not sure what the official term is) assigned to me in the past 3 months. I worked to book a cruise through the 2nd advisor I had and he was hard to get ahold of. Two or 3 days to answer email. At least a 24 hour turn around on phone calls, and I could never get him on the phone during the business day. Haven't bothered to deal with the most recent person. Your specific inquiries about your casino status and getting comped cruises from Princess would probably be best handled by a travel agent, not directly with Princess.

I respect your opinion, but food is subjective. On every cruise I've been on, food, or rather its appearance and taste, has varied from day to day and venue to venue. I've been on cruises where the buffet was atrocious at almost every meal, but the MDR was almost always stellar. I've been on cruises where the MDR was good some nights and terrible on others, and the buffet was the same, good some nights, terrible on others. I've even been on cruises where the only really great food on board was from the pizzeria and grill on the Lido, and everything else was just edible matter. It has never caused me to write off a cruise line entirely. I chalk up these experiences to travel in general. I've been on non-cruise vacations where I couldn't find decent food anyplace, not the airport (usually never the airport), not high end restaurants at the destination, not low end places at the destination. And then the opposite is true of other vacations. One of the best pasta dishes I've ever had was in coach on an Alaska Airlines flight. It was piping hot, the pasta was cooked just right and the sauce was savory and excellent. It only cost $6. And it was served in a black plastic bowl with a foil lid. I've not been able to replicate it in my own kitchen. Frankly, the things you said that you loved, are probably the biggest reasons that we cruise and mostly with Princess. The ships are great, the staff is great, the medallion is great, and their embarkation and disembarkation process is stellar and quite sane. Any one of those items not being up to par would make me more likely to not cruise a line than the food, or a couple not so wonderful meals on a cruise. I've always seen cruise food as being the worlds largest catering event. I've had lots of catered food in my life; weddings, a few parties, a number of business conferences and trade shows, and the common thread is that the food is ok, but never stellar. I see the food on board a cruise much the same way as food at a conference or trade show. You have kitchens that are feeding 3000-6000 people every day, so the menu has to be somewhat limited, and you have to put up a lot of the same thing over and over that day. When you are doing steak for 3000, there are going to be a lot of gaps in its preparation, quality issues related to hot hold and cold hold of prepared items which can't be easily resolved, that a regular restaurant doesn't necessarily deal with when you are preparing steak one at a time for each order. I've done the kitchen tour on Princess and the on board kitchens are both spotless, but also totally different from the kitchen at your local Applebee's. The quantity of food they are slinging each day, combined with the scale in which they have to prepare it does impact what comes out of the kitchen. We shouldn't pay mid-high market prices for bad food on a premium cruise, but there are limitations in how cruise food is prepared which some executive chefs can get past, and some do not. Just my errant thoughts. Happy cruising.

Everyone I know that gets discounts for gambling is an existing Princess cruiser and is an active spender in the casino. You have to get yourself established first with a casino use track record before you'll see any discounts or benefits, at least of the magnitude you are suggesting. Princess does not have any reciprocity agreements with land based casino resorts and their member programs. Princess is a great line, and they have a great product. I'd recommend buying your first cruise and establishing yourself in the casino. I suspect that after this first cruise, they will make some offers to you after the cruise has ended for your next cruise.

We had an aft corner suite on the Ruby many years ago now, I think it was D737, and the balcony was huge, fully covered (as the Grand class ships all have galleon sterns, so each deck cantilevers out above the deck below it, from the water line to the top of the ship). The aft suites on the Royal class ships are mostly uncovered as the stern of the ship slops the opposite way from waterline to the top, leaving those balconies almost fully exposed to sun and the elements. If you want a great balcony with a suite, you'll want an amidships suite, I think they are category S4 on Riviera deck, or one of the suites that are at the front of the ship.

I was going to say the step up couldn't be more than 2 or 3 inches tops. It's enough to really stub your toe, but it is not even close to a full step height. You'll want to turn on the light in the bathroom entry alcove to see where you are going if you are visiting during the night.

Princess is effectively a no smoking line. There is generally one cigar lounge or bar that allows smoking, and there are some designated outside areas that are for smoking, but you cannot smoke in your cabin or on your balcony or anyplace that is not specifically designated for smoking.

I guess I live in a different world, but I have in-laws in the Atlanta area, and my wife has friends and extended family in a wide range of places, like Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Louisville, Nashville, Philadelphia, SoCal, etc. We live in Eastern Washington State, so we aren't near any major airports, but to be honest, it is only a day's travel, including drive time to an airport, plus time wasted in the airport waiting for the flight, and then the flight itself, to get anywhere in the U.S. for us. No place is really tht far, just a waste of a day involved in air travel. But whenever we are planning vacations, cruise or otherwise, we always figure at least 1 travel day on the front and back end of a trip due to all the time it takes to actually get someplace. That said, you'll only have a travel day to get to the Pacific Northwest, and a whole travel day going back home. Be certain to figure a travel day and overnight lodging before and after your cruise to make the whole experience more comfortable and enjoyable. While a great deal of the appearance of SE Alaska, what you would see sailing on the inside passage on any Alaska cruise, is very similar to the appearance of the Washington Cascades or the Olympics, we still like cruising to Alaska because it is actually so very convenient for us to do an Alaska cruise that is RT Seattle. We live 2.5 hours from Seattle, so a summer drive over I-90 Snoqualmie Pass is easy and relatively quick. If you intend to do a Voyage of the Glaciers, which are one-way southbound or northbound, you will have at least one very long travel day with a number of plane changes. Voyage of the Glaciers either starts in Whittier and ends in Vancouver, BC, or starts in Vancouver and ends in Whittier. To be honest, if I'm doing this cruise, I'm going to make it a cruise tour and include a land portion of the vacation in Alaska at one of the Princess lodges. I don't have any strong feelings about any of the lodge locations, all will be beautiful, you'll just have different scenery and different lengths of trip from Ancorage to the lodge and back again to meet the ship. However, I think starting your vacation with the land tour first strikes me as the most logical. You'll end your vacation in Vancouver and your flight home will not be as long as your flight there. Vancouver is a pleasant metropolitan area, and very picturesque, so you may want to add a day or two there to explore. If your vacation time is more limited you may want to consider the RT Seattle cruise option. Sea-Tac is a major airport with lots of connections. I did some poking around and Alaska Airlines offers direct flights between Charleston and Seattle. I have a gag I always tell people about Alaska Airlines. They have many convenient hubs, so long as you consider Seattle convenient, because Seattle is their hub to everyplace. I've flown the SEA-ATL flight so many times I can't count them. And I've done the SEA-BOS and SEA-PHL flight a few times, too. The direct flight will make your travel day experience a lot better and you'll be less fatigued in spite of the time difference and the hours on the plane. Seattle is, or used to be, a beautiful city, depending on who you talk to and where in the city you are visiting. Seattle Center is a nice tourist destination and a trip to the top of the Space Needle, while expensive, will give you the best views of the Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier, and a good chunk of northwestern Washington. All Princess cruises depart out of Pier 91, which is on the far north side of Elliot Bay. You will have to take a cab or Uber/Lyft to get there. If you are flying in on embarkation day you can get an airport transfer from Princess, but that is a very long travel day and with air travel the way it is right now, you really do need to pad your travel time accordingly. It is very industrial in the area of Pier 91, and also houses the southern access to the Magnolia neighborhood (which is beautiful and very suburban in nature in spite of it being in Seattle proper). The other pier, Pier 66, also known as the Bell Street Pier, serves a number of other cruise lines including NCL. The cruises out of Seattle are all 7 days RT. Some include Glacier Bay, some include some of the other fjords that have glacial activity. We are booked on the July 2, cruise on the Discovery Princess. This cruise is Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. We've done Glacier Bay a number of years ago. For this cruise we wanted some different scenery and we wanted to sail on a new ship. The vibe on an Alaska cruise is totally different compared to Caribbean. You will probably sail in the summer, but you'll find that people are more bundled up more of the time. Alaska in July isn't necessarily cold, but it is never tropical. Seattle and Vancouver can get quite warm in the summer, but not necessarily hot. I recall our day in Juneau started out cool and misty, and by mid-day it was 75 degrees out and sunny. This is why the clothing advice for cruising Alaska is "layers". Your morning will start out cool and maybe harsh, and by mid-day you are stripping off layers because you are too hot. The vibe on board ship is also more subdued. Plus most port days are very active for most cruisers, so night life can be a bit of a downer. The cruise staff do all the activities, but a significant chunk of people have had dinner, watched a show and then turned in for the night. That means more space for you in the night club or for the late shows. We always book at least a balcony room. When not in port, we do like to have our cabin be our retreat, and your balcony is the best location for watching the shore pass or for glacier viewing days. We did a special glacier viewing balcony breakfast on our Glacier bay day. It was great. We had plenty of food in our room, turned on the channel with the park rangers narrating, and were able to pop in and out of our cabin to the balcony. Go out, look at things, get cold, come in to warm up and repeat. The round trip Seattle cruise is very busy considering most days are port days, with only a few sea days, and the port times are sometimes rather compressed. So, the crowd on board is pretty laid back, but the schedule isn't. Be prepared to be busy or feel scheduled. There is probably a lot more to share.

That is what I would expect the Love Boat Dream to look like. I am totally unfamiliar with the one that has the "curves".

One of the reasons that getting cruise lines going again is so hard is because the whole of the cruise business is basically a fixed expense for the company. Whether or not there are pax on a ship, the ship still costs you money. You still have to crew it and you still have to feed and water the crew, along with other support items, like crew medical, and crew operational support, like laundry and housekeeping. Wonder why cruise ships usually look great in spite of them operating in the same salt water environment as their freight carrying cousins, who usually have visible surface rust and a certain amount of allowed corrosion? Because the crew is always painting and cleaning. So, you have the staff to do the painting and cleaning, you just have the added expense of the gear you need to do the painting and cleaning. I saw some of the photos of the active Princess fleet when they had them at sea or off the coast of the Philippians during the shut down and they were pretty rusty. They had moved to skeleton crews to keep the ships running and they weren't doing the exterior maintenance they normally would do. While this was all surface rust and easily solved with an angle grinder and some paint, it sure did indicate that they were running the ships at the most minimal staffing possible. Ships that are laid up and not operating turn to garbage pretty quickly, so keeping the ships moving and in operation was key to getting them going again when cruising restarted. Port charges are basically fixed, you have to be in port or at least at a moorage, which is also an expense if you are not moving. Depending on where you are ported or moored, you may also have to burn fuel to generate electricity to keep everything going on board. So no savings there. So, unlike a store, which may close down early some night because there are no customers, and they can save a few bucks in labor and electricity expense, a particular sailing that has a small number of guests isn't so easily canceled as the ship is already scheduled for the ports it is visiting and is already staffed and ready to go. Just because one week's sailing isn't very popular doesn't mean that the next week's sailing won't be totally full. It is a game of averages for the cruise lines. Some sailings have tremendous margins, other sailings they are scraping by or loosing money. The goal is to have a lot more sailings that are profitable than those that are not, which is what keeps you in business.

Ohh, good idea. I think I still have my Safeway apron from eons ago, when grocery store clerks wore aprons and ties. I might still have my name tag; and I bet where I find my name tag I'll find a Safeway issue blue polyester tie and a box cutter. I'm sure I'll be a hit in the MDR on formal night all dressed up appropriately. 😉

That's not weird, that is just good taste. Eggs Benedict with Tabasco or Frank's Red Hot is great!

On the Royal class ships the buffet area is many times larger than on the Grand class variants. I think what I enjoy most on the Royals is the dedicated pastry shop or bakery. There is a bit of a rebranding going on from the older Royals compared to the Royals from the Sky onward. The Horizon Court and Horizon Bistro are being rebranded into the Worldfresh Marketplace. Not sure I see too much of a difference in the food, but decor is better with the newer branding. As for food, you'll generally find that whatever is on the menu in the MDR for that evening will be replicated for the buffet, if it can, as not all MDR dishes translate well to chafing dishes and warming zones. And then you'll find lots of other variety. A couple of different meat preparations, vegetables, different starches, sauces, salad bar, soups, it is too extensive to really list. There is usually a theme each night that is in conjunction with the MDR, or possibly in addition to the MDR offerings. I like just about all of Princess's pasta preparations and actively look forward to them. I wouldn't avoid the MDR on account of your husband. If you let the maitre'd know of your dining needs for your husband, they will be able to put whatever food he wants up ever night, and then you can have both table service and get a plated dinner form the regular menu. We cruised with a very picky 22 month old who would only eat chicken strips and fries and maybe some diced fruit. The dining room put up whatever we thought she would eat, and it was always off menu, so don't be afraid to do the same for your husband.

Packages? No, not like other lines. As others have said, if you book ahead of the cruise, you have to pay at that time. I honestly don't recommend that if you have OBC. Your best bet is to plan on getting on board as early as possible on embarkation day and use the app to make reservations or call the Dine Line. I recall Dine Line could either be very busy on embarkation day or nobody was answering, but we eventually got through. Things are better with the app when you are on board. My experience with specialty dining has been mixed. I've been on cruises where getting reservations early was absolutely necessary, and I've been on other cruises where you could just walk up and get seated. It has to do with where you are going and the pax mix, and that varies.

Don't forget, Premier gets you a higher dollar limit on beverages. I believe Plus includes beverages that are up to $12, and Premier raises the beverage cost limit to $18. Wow, and $18 drink! I hope it comes in a gold encrusted glass or something. haha