jeromep

The Double Tree across from SeaTac is a large property and I've always found it clean. A bunch of the airlines use it as their overnight for crews. Ceaderbrook lodge is behind the Double Tree and is more boutique and feels much more secluded than the airport hotels along hwy 99. Lodging in the Seattle area is not inexpensive. It is lower cost in SeaTac and south King County, more expensive in Seattle proper.

All good points. I haven't had Dim Sum in the International District in many years. I miss it. I can't recall the restaurant name, but it was in the middle of the ID. They did come around with the steam carts with great dumplings and buns. I'll take a good pork bun any day. Next time we are in Seattle I might suggest we do Dim Sum some morning. I love 13 Coins, highly recommended. I'm more familiar with the one that is located in the office tower across the street from the SeaTac airport. We have stayed at the Residence Inn at Lake Union in the past. NIce property. Large rooms with kitchenettes.

The Warwick is an upscale property. You'll be fine. I'm pretty sure that the Warwick is in or on the edge of a neighborhood called Belltown. My wife and I, when we were younger, used to hang out there quite a bit when we visited Seattle. There are some good dining options nearby. Near 4th and Virginia you'll find the Dahlia Bakery. Great place to pick up coffee and pastries in the morning, not sure if they have a full breakfast menu. I also like Serious Pie which is on Virginia going southwest. Same block as Dahlia Bakery. Top Pot Doughnuts is near 5th and Blanchard, again a short walk, and has better doughnuts than Portland's Voodoo Donut, if you have a frame of reference for that. Lola, located in the Hotel Andra, also has a good reputation.

I need that shirt A former coworker gave me a Love Boat shirt that I think is an unlicensed knock off because it mostly looks like the love boat logo, but kind of not.

If your cruise departs from Pier 66, you can't beat the Edgewater, since it is basically right next door. No Uber or Lyft needed. Plus you are on the waterfront, which is walkable, and touristy. Although there is quite a bit of a hike from Pier 66 down to the more touristy parts of the waterfront. If you are departing out of Pier 91, way up north in the bay, then you'll have to be driven to the port (highly recommend Uber/Lyft for this, avoid shuttle services, they are often times slow, and you are always waiting for somebody to get themselves in gear and going, thus holding up the rest of those on the shuttle), so it doesn't really matter where you stay, except to find a place that you think you will like. Breakfast buffet? Nicer hotel? Those two phrases don't generally come together when you are talking about Seattle. If you want a breakfast buffet you are looking at 3-star franchise/chain properties that cater to business travelers and weekend warriors. I think the Embassy Suites still does morning breakfast. Homewood Suites does also. Oh, and Hampton Inn. We stayed at a Hampton Inn up in Everett back in early November and it has a morning breakfast buffet. It was decent but all the food was either continental breakfast (bread, manufactured pastries, cereal, some fruit, yogurt), or it was heat and eat fare (sausage patties, scrambled eggs, little perfectly identical pancakes, exploding can biscuits and (canned) gravy, and little omelets that were made in a factory, might have been Jimmy Dean), all served on the nicest paper plates, with those supposedly biodegradable plastic forks and spoons. The breakfast dining room was on an upper floor and was furnished nicely, but still, not a restaurant. If you didn't want to leave the hotel for breakfast (and we didn't), it filled the gap. We would have had better food elsewhere, but again, we didn't want to leave the hotel. Based on how everyone was dressed in the breakfast room at the Hampton Inn, nobody else wanted to leave the hotel either. It was a sea of t-shirts, sweatpants, yoga pants, basketball shorts, flip-flops and Crocs. Pretty typical PNW morning attire, really. I am trying to be funny, I'm not trying to be flippant, but you will be hard pressed to find a 4-star+ property that has a breakfast buffet. Either that or I'm not looking close enough. That said, there are plenty of chain hotels of the breakfast buffet variety in Seattle. The above mentioned brands will all satisfy that need, although they may not be optimally located for sightseeing. You may find yourself Ubering to a destination due to distance.

I like the Double Tree which is right across from the airport. Large property, used by a lot of the airlines for crew lodging. Met a lot of Southwest crews while staying there. I also like the Ceaderbrook Lodge which is located “behind” the Double Tree. It is a bit more upscale and is quite secluded. Doesn’t feel like an “airport hotel”. Best bet is to book the room for the night you are staying over after the cruise and then check in with the hotel front desk to see if they can accommodate an early check in. You may be doing this on the fly as you are disembarking. I recommend Uber/Lyft or a taxi to get to the hotel, no matter where it is in the Seattle area. Shuttles are a pain to deal with and the distance from the ports to the SeaTac area is long enough that the hotels generally do not provide shuttle service to the ports. In the SeaTac area the hotels do have shuttles to/from the airport and many offer shuttle service to Southcenter if you want to visit the mall.

My family visits Seattle 2 or 3 times a year. We find that hotels in south King County, so around the airport and Renton to be much more affordable than in Seattle proper. The DoubleTree directly across from the airport is usually competitively priced and the rooms are decent. It is a huge property spread across a large tower and a number of smaller hotel wings that are accessible from what can be described as an enclosed lake walk. It is a very nice property. Behind that there is a hidden gem, the Ceaderbrook Lodge. Rooms are upscale, and the price is higher than a major chain, but I suspect you’ll be more comfortable there than a budget motel. On embarkation morning, take an Uber or Lyft to the port. Budget $70 or so from the SeaTac area to the ports. You don’t state if you are departing from the Bell St. Pier or from Pier 91, cost difference for an Uber, Lyft or taxi is marginal, but Pier 91 is all the way up on the north side of the bay, and is pretty industrial and remote. Bell St. is walking distance to the touristy part of the piers in Elliot Bay. You could also consider getting a room at the Edgewater, which is right next to the Bell St. Pier. If you are cruising from Bell St. you can just walk to the cruise. If you are cruising from Pier 91, the Uber ride will be very reasonable. You will hate commuting in to Seattle every day to play tourist, I-5 traffic is a headache. If you do stay in a south King County hotel and get a rental car, avoid I-5 and drive up hwy 99 (or hwy 509, connects to 99). Just be sure to pull off from it before you get to the tunnel, as it has a toll. But you’ll pull off in SoDo/Pioneer Square, which puts you in Seattle. A good GPS will be your friend getting around in Seattle. Be prepared to pay for parking… everywhere. Oh, look up a restaurant called 13 Coins. There is one in an office building directly across from the airport, and there is one in Seattle, I think it is in the Pioneer Square area now (used to be next to the offices of the Seattle Times, but had to move). They operate 24/7, have an open kitchen, comfort foot, and some upscale food. The one in SeaTac (the city, not the airport) has this 70s vibe, dark and cozy inside, floor to ceiling booths. I like it, but when I go out to dinner I want to easily hear the conversation of the people I’m dining with, and so few restaurants do that these days, they are so loud inside. Not 13 Coins. Very comfortable and very easy to have a nice private conversation. Oh, since you are likely cruising to Alaska, visit the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park building in Pioneer Square. This Historical Park is located in two different places, the building in Pioneer Square and in Skagway, If you visit both locations while on this trip, you can say that you saw the whole park.

Same thing I’ve been wearing casually for the last 25 years, baggy cargo shorts and a polo.

In the land of buffet "dry and unappealing" means that the food is either not well suited for hot hold, the hold hold area is too hot (this is always a balancing act because of food safety and proper hot hold temperatures), or the food has been left out too long. This is one of the reasons that we eat almost exclusively in venues on board that make and serve food to you, and pretty much avoid the buffet. I'm really enjoying your ongoing evaluation and daily updates. Lots of good observations and very nice comparisons between what you are used to with HAL and what you are experiencing on Princess.

Three or 4 years ago, the deadline was a year to 18 months out. The date keeps getting pushed back. Why wait to get an acceptable ID? Either that or Congress needs to go back and scrap REAL ID. The REAL ID act was passed in 2005. So, if they do stick to the 2025 enforcement date, it will have taken 20 years for it to actually be enforced. In that 20 year time period, with REAL ID not being enforced, has its absence actually caused any problems? No. Which proves that it was unnecessary law with no measurable benefit. This is a long walk down the garden path from the OPs original inquiry. But I stand by my advice to do any kind of travel which may be international with a Passport and not take anything to chance.

I'd choose Majestic with balcony. There has been a lot of talk here about public viewing areas, and to be honest, if my goal is to sit and watch land pass by when in the inside passage, or on glacier viewing day, I'd rather do that in my own space than have to be in public sharing space with everyone on board. I'd be booking a balcony on either ship no matter what, so the argument that the Sapphire is better because it has a wrap around promenade or more open deck space isn't that moving when my cabin has its own deck space just for me. As for the overall design of the Royal class ships, loosing the wrap around promenade was a huge loss. The way ship design is going, I'm not sure we'll see a return to promenade decks any time soon. I took a quick look at the deck plans for the new Sun Princess and there appears to be a very modest promenade on deck 8, but doesn't look like it affords the same space as what we are used to on Grand class ships.

The PanPacific is an excellent choice, and very well located. Couldn't recommend more. As for pricing, unless the web site you are looking at is already converting the price from CA$ to US$, the exchange rate is very much in our favor right now. Current exchange rate right now is 1 US$ to 1.34 CA$ That is spot market, so in actual exchange, it may be less due to bank fees to conduct the exchange. Plus the overall exchange rate might be different in May. For a long time now, if you see something quoted in CA$, you can reduce that price by 25% if paying with US$ and you'll have a good ballpark actual price.

I also vote that you go get a passport. The sooner the better. They last for 10 years, I suspect you'll do a number of cruises in that time period. For those of us on the left coast, our drivers licenses are no longer REAL ID compliant (unless you pay your state a lot of money for an "enhanced" drivers license), so a lot of us are having to get passports and/or passport cards just to fly domestically.

I've found that a lot of card issuers don't make a big deal of the service. So, they may offer it, and it works in the background, but little is said of the service. On the flip side the issuers that don't offer the service won't educate their CSRs on the fact that they don't offer it, so if you ask a CSR in a call center about it they won't even know what you are talking about. The mailer that a card is attached to has a lot of information printed on it regarding card features, contacting customer service, and so forth, but the account number migration feature is something that is usually not mentioned on that limited real estate.

I've only heard good things about Iceland Air, however, unless they have made huge changes in their fleet, they fly mostly, if not exclusively 757s. They have long enough legs to fly from North America, with the layover in Iceland and then on to Europe. If you haven't spent much time in 757s, they are like an overgrown 737, single aisle, 3-aisle-3 seating in coach, and they take a while to load and unload due to their length. I don't really like flying on 757s, and one of the reasons I don't fly Delta much domestically. They are fine aircraft, and considered by pilots to be a real sports car, very fast compared to the sister wide body 767, and have more overall performance than 737s. It's just that for the length of the flight, the onboard experience is not nearly as comfortable as a wide body. If you aren't worried about how you get there or your comfort while getting there, Iceland Air will be just fine.

What ship will you be on, and itinerary? There may be a recent cruiser that was on your vessel within the past few weeks that might have insight.

Reading the thread title I really thought that the OP had a major emergency or terrible tragedy on board. But no, it was gambling gone wrong. These posting boards have occasional tragedies documented. I've read a few times of the couple that went on a cruise, and only one came back, the other was "repatriated", to be polite. That is a terrible tragedy that is heart wrenching. A mix up with an on board gambling giveaway, at best, that is annoying or bothersome. I presume that the whole family is back at home and doing whatever it is that you do when not on vacation. Good. Everyone is alive, and I presume in good health, and that is something to celebrate every day.

@megaphone84, did you provide any comments to Princess after the cruise. I know that we all like to warn each other about the bad things that occurred on a cruise, and food seems to be a particularly hot button topic, but unless this is put in writing to Princess, either on their comment forms, or somehow sent to their customer service group, all of the commentary here is not much more useful than screaming at clouds. I believe everything you have said. Sounds like the Emerald, as a ship, is encountering issues in multiple areas of hotel operations. If enough pax make enough of a stink about the issue, in the right channels, Princess will have to address it. Might require changing the head chef. Might require changing the food & beverage manager or the hotel manager. Might even require that they pay more to attract more and better staff. It isn’t uncommon in a cruise line fleet to have that one ship which, for a time, is not the ship you want to be on, either as a cruiser or as an employee. Many years ago I recall that the Caribbean Princess was plagued with issues of food quality, then it was engine and speed issues that changed itineraries for something like a year until they could get a long enough dry dock to address the issue. Lately I’ve heard good things about the Caribbean Princess, so maybe the torch of the worst ship in the fleet goes to the Emerald. Too bad, really. I’m sorry you had a poor cruise. Maybe wait a couple of years and come back, on a different ship and itinerary. Life is not static, I doubt that Princess and the other lines which are facing huge expenses and a difficult restart will always be suffering like this.

I’ve never had a bad meal in the Crown Grill. Meat does very in quality, and sometimes very unexpectedly. Here is a little story. A coworker is a skilled user of pellet smokers/grills. He smoked two prime ribs over the Christmas holiday. The prime rib he did for himself he purchased form Costco, it was a USDA Prime piece of meat, the best grade that the USDA offers. Lots of marbling. His dad purchased a prime rib from a local butcher that has a good reputation. That prime rib was supposedly only USDA Choice, kind of your regular grade of beef, and didn’t have all that much marbling. The butcher left the fat flap, about 4 lbs that had to be trimmed, before seasoning, but anyway. So, he did his normal prep on the Costco beef and smoked accordingly. He did the same with his dad’s roast and smoked similarly. The Prime beef from Costco he regarded as tender and good, but a bit chewy. The Choice beef from the local butcher ended up being super tender, melt in your mouth and with a lot more flavor. The moral of the story is that beef, even when graded appropriately, may not live up to its grading. Since there is so much variability with beef, I can see how somebody might not be pleased with the cut they ordered, but at the same time, is that really the fault of the chef, the meat cutter, the beef packing house? I don’t know, but I’d rather experience a speciality restaurant on my own, and make my own decisions rather than let other’s comments scare me away. I’ve never had a bad meal in any Princess speciality restaurant. Someday, maybe, but I’ll stay positive. One bad meal doesn’t ruin a cruise.

@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.