CU64

Just a nice way of thanking our cabin steward and if we do traditional dining, we always thank our waiter, et al for their good service....

The poster before tips very low for baggage, IMHO, and seems to think people on CC "brag" about throwing money around. Sorry to hear that. The service people make low wages and do all the work as per usual in most businesses.

However, as you say: no extra required.

As far as the 3 yr old, I saw a couple with a young child with a cute harnass type affair, fitting for the gender of the child. Thought it was a great SAFE idea for walking or standing with a child in an open area where many people are around.

Hi,

 

I was lucky enough to be upgraded to a Lido balcony on my Alaska cruise. As others have mentioned, you can hear the naturalist on the TV and pop in to get warm, use the bathroom, etc. I spent at good part of every single day on my balcony, watching the scenery, using the binolculars, and reading. I did go up on the main deck a few times for glaciers, etc., but found that the crowds were overwhelming and it was hard to get to the rail to see anything. What really made it great for me is that I love photography, and on the balcony i was not being bumped and jostled by others trying to take pictures or see the whales. I have some great shots and wonderful memories of a lovely, peaceful time in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

 

Only you can decide what setting is best for you and your family - whatever you decide this will be an amazing trip and I envy you! Enjoy!

I prefer natural light and air in the cabin. We rarely SIT out there but do go in and out for various reasons/ check our weather/ going in and out of port...

In Alaska, I agree with the above poster. We prefer not being up among the crowds....the scenery invokes a "spiritual" component and the masses often are talking, taking selfies, et al......ruins it all for me......

In the balcony, we turned on TV for naturalist, went in and out, et al. I also was on Deck 7/Prominade which was less crowded & covered if needed.

Booking the first cruise in season gives best prices. + lovely snow on mts.

There is a duplicate bridge group (30) on board from So Calif. Glad to hear how the weather was in Vancouver on sailaway. Most have not been to that port or Alaska. Too beautiful........

Background:

Sailing on this one nighter was myself, DD (age 9) and DS (age 4). We are loyal Princess cruisers and took this particular one nighter as a means of getting to Seattle for a flight out to Long Beach. Living in Vancouver, this was a quick and easy (not to mention fun) mode of transportation to get from A to B!

 

Embarkation:

We had been pre-warned by friends working at the post (I am a former Princess shoreside employee) that there would be 3 ships in port and to arrive early as all passengers would be pre-clearing US CBP. Having experienced this many times as a staff member, we arrived at 10:35am and dropped off our bags with a porter before heading upstairs to Hall C at the convention centre. This is not the usualy process, but is employed when multiple ships are in port in order to assist with crowd control. Hall C was set up with many rows of chairs and it was clear that the port had been pro-active in anticipation many passengers! On arrival, we were handed a card with a boarding group number ( 26) and directed to the check in area. There was a fair sized line but it was split into preferred and regular check in. As we are Platinum, we headed to the preferred line, which actually seemed a little longer than the regular line due to the number of repeat cruisers. However, it moved very quickly and we were checked in and handed our cruise cards within 15 minutes. Ordinarily, at this point you would need to sit and wait for your boarding group to be called in order to proceed back downstairs for security and CBP. However, as we had arrived early there was no line up and we were told to go down right away. Security was a breeze and the first real line we encountered was to pre-clear US immigration. Although it was organised and moving, we were in line waiting to be processed for about 25 minutes. Following this we were directed through the the lounge area to await boarding - the priority area had coffee, pastries, etc but was definitely not large enough to accommodate all the priority guests. Even this early it was standing room only and very crowded! In contrast, there were rows and rows of empty seats set up for the non-priority guests that hadn't yet arrived![/quote

Haven't been following my own post, but yes, we did receive the same e-mail regarding our cabin being upgraded to CC with no increase in fare. I too have checked the the current price of these cabins and the price has increased a full $1k PP from what we paid back on the 1st of April prior to the introduction of CC.

 

49er

This Club Class minisuites sound like CC Class on Celebrity......just another way to compete and cost more. I do like the CC on Celebrity but those are not minisuites.

Loved our C3 Deck 9 cabin with covered balcony. Never had covered balcony before but my cabinmate sat out there all the time with her ipad.

Now I always get covered balcony!!!!! Find it more useable.

Crown Princess was delayed leaving Vancouver 5/6 for 4 hrs due to Security/Customs lines with 3 ships in port...caused Capt to miss entry into channel for Glacier Bay the scheduled day. He changed itinerary which caused people with excursions to be at ports on different days than original itinerary.

We did go to Glacier Bay and everywhere else with gorgeous weather. People with ship tours got refunded and rescheduled. Don't know what happened with others. ...

Arrived at Canada Place at 10.05. Ushered into Hall C #8 cards. Short 20 minute wait to check in at Platinum line. Issued cruise cards, then through security in 3 minutes. Onto US CBP. Told customer service guy we had Nexus/GE. Bypassed entire line and directed straight away to very nice immigration officer. Through in 3 minutes & in P/E/S lounge with coffee & pastries at 11.05. On ship at 11.45 am with a leisurely lunch in dining room.

Many on CC, our concierge at hotel, and two who walked down to port about 11AM, were told to go late, around 2:30. Guess you all knew best! (:

We enjoyed Vancouver, including a nice lunch there, until 2:30. At this port, apparently going very early = better odds at less wait in security room.

I find it amazing that a threat can be said without hesitation. Things happen. I have learned to live with, there is nothing I can do, and it makes for a story when I get back home.

sorry you interpreted it that way.

This makes me a little nervous. I'm a huge animal lover, so would be excited to pet happy little puppies, but I don't want to see them stressed out. I'll have to think about whether or not I want to participate. Out of curiosity, what time of day were they aboard? Thanks for your info.

 

 

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Around 2-3 PM. My DH said they were down there; I went down about 3PM to see how they were doing with no intention of holding or petting. The handlers took them back about 10 minutes later. They looked very tired.

I sure hope Friday goes way faster. We were lucky compared to most! Our balcony was directly across from the glass hallway leading to the ship.....by 6pm people looked they had been dragged thru the desert and ready to jump.

We told the Customs Agent they must be really tired (we were in the last group #91 at 6:50PM). He said that they had to go through 8 days of what happened May 6.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice! I think right now, I'm still going to try and make that flight. If not, Ill spend the night in Vancouver and fly out the next day. Since this is my first Princess cruise will I still be able to walk off early? I know on Carnival the Diamond and Platinum people are able to walk off first. Hopefully, then I can catch a quick taxi. I'm also going to check on the global entry to see if that might get me through a little quicker. Again, thanks for all the replies.

After you get off ship, grab a porter who will get your luggage and cut through all lines. We had 4 of us May 13 Crown Princess, (would do it for 2).....gets you right out to cabs, tip about $20....saved our backs, and lines.

So we are on the Coral 7/16-23, we should see the puppies?! How exciting!! Anyone who's done this...Any more details on this? Is it a day time thing whole at sea of something that they do on a port day?

 

 

 

 

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They brought them in for about an hour...2 of them 8 weeks old. People lining up to hold for pictures. I was not thrilled to watch the pusppies handled by everybody for over an hour. They got exhausted.

I keep hearing about this Global Entry thing. We have Nexus which automatically, I believe, makes you eligible for the Global Entry system. No one has been able to fully explain on this bulletin board exactly how this works at Canada Place. The only information that I could find on CC was that they do have Global Entry, but this does not get you through the security line-up any quicker than anyone else and only marginally quicker through US CBP. Does anyone have more detailed information about how Global Entry works at Canada Place.

 

 

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one traveling with us sat with us for 4 hrs in Security WR...they called for Global people once we were all seated in Customs area. She went right in. We sat another 45 minutes. I don't know if she told the Security people as she was, like us, just following the herd. I think if you make it known, it is useful. The people giving out numbers in the WR may not have known about Global Entry.

Well we will certainly miss you in Vancouver, however IMO a few extra hours that a pax may have to wait in line at Canada Place early in the season is worth the vastly superior scenery one enjoys out of Vancouver than that of sailing from Seattle. Remember itineraries out of Seattle spend the better part of a day in either direction on the west side of Vancouver Is, where sea conditions can be rough and there is no scenery.

three times to Alaska/all out of Vancouver/nothing like this has happened before/nothing like sailing out of Vancouver/one of most beautiful port in world/now that we know to go early (not wait like everyone, even people in Vancouver told us) + plan to have Global Entry.......we will do it again (:

Advice for embarkation at Canada Place...get there early. Plan to be there around 10:30 - 11:00 am. You will have Security and then possibly US Immigration (depending on first port of call). Get on the ship early..views of the city are great. Sit on deck and watch the seaplanes come in.

they told us to go late: 2:30 because 3 ships in port 5/6.....we got on at 7PM and ship left 4 hrs LATE.....only those who got there at 10 got on before 12...

only time I would go that early/we are not the types to go to eat but prefer to avoid lines.

I'm sorry there were issues, already discussed. However, I take issue with your comment "I will not tolerate this..." Things do happen when you travel, either by air or ship, or car... How exactly would you not tolerate something if and when unexpected events occur? The only way of that happening is to stop traveling altogether....:eek:

The way I won't tolerate it is: never go out of Canada Place so early in season/as much as I love Vancover, we will probably go out of Seattle next time/ if possible, check how many ships in port at once...we are getting Global at this point, worth it at airports and now port Customs

Altho we knew 3 ships in Port and that security and customs likely to be slow, we went at 2:30 and sat in a huge room for 4 hrs waiting to get called for Security line/ then Customs, got on ship at 7PM....lost 6 hrs. Some went at 12 and got on at 6PM.

Capt had to reroute us next day because we lost entry to Glacier Bay due to this delay,........

The weather was unbelievably gorgeous the whole trip. However, it felt like a 6day cruise.......never again will I tolerate this. One person with us had Global Entry and was able to use it AFTER we went through security (4 hrs). There were not enough interpreters for the foreign groups + too many people.

they will take your luggage with you. One goes to Granville Island and there are others. Good way to see the city and have your luggage handled.

The Emerald deck mini's are Cat ME. The two times we have booked an Emerald deck mini we have been offered an upsell to a full suite. We took one on a Baltic cruise but skipped it on a 4 day coastal because we had E731 booked and our friends were in E729. We selected the meta upgrade only option to prevent an "upgrade" to an uncovered Dolphin deck mini.

we are in one on starboard to Alaska this weekend. Originally they were all booked but after the upsell, 3 appeared on that side (I was worried about E730bass vibrations)...I spotted them while checking website. I suspect they all upgraded to a suite but we wanted covered in Alaska.

Rebeccalouiseagain and Coral you are making me feel much better! Please, tell me more good things. How many people fit in the Thalasstherapy pool? Can you compare the buffets? What about the movie area outside on the Infinity? The photo that I saw made it look rather small. Is it larger than I think?

 

I looked on you tube but didn't find very much. We actually have a very long wait for this cruise so I have plenty of time to ask questions. :)

altho not on Infinity, & have been Concierge C3 and Aqua...loved the service and the ships....you will not be disappointed in Infinity

We disembarked the Crown last Saturday & those in our group who had the NY strip steak in the dining room & the filet mignon in the Crown Grill preferred the NY strip. My experience has always been the opposite but to me the quality of the filet's in the past year on all of my Princess cruises has noticeably decreased. Maybe I've just been unlucky but with the price increase to $29 and less tasty filet mignon & small lobster tails (much larger in the MDR) then our once a cruise CG dinner will not happen again.

 

We went to the Trident Grill during the daytime on the Crown & they were cooking raw ground beef hamburgers to order. At night it apparently may be different when it becomes the Smokehouse BBQ but hopefully boiling burgers is only a shortcut used by a lazy cook. If I had that experience then I would have submitted a question or asked the maître d' about boiling hamburgers to keep them warm resulting in an unacceptable rubberized burger. On other Princess ships there was nothing smokehouse about their food (won't call it BBQ) which is understandable being on a ship. However the boiled beef and ribs that had a dry rub added before broiling were not tasty to me. I seem to recall reading they now use BBQ sauce which may be an improvement.

 

Overall the food on our cruise was what we expect on Princess & for anyone who enjoys Princess food the Crown provided that to me. To me Princess food is overall well presented good banquet quality food prepared to serve thousands of passengers with many options for dining.

 

When sailing with multigenerational family groups it's been on RCCL however I much prefer the Princess food but taste is very subjective. The Crown's food didn't disappoint me (except for the CG filet mignon & small lobster tails) and having sailed on the Crown twice in the past 6 months would happily sail her again. I respect the opinions of other passengers even when my experiences were different.

it is the fat that makes it tasty....I rarely order filets anywhere or cook them myself as they cannot compare to a ribeye

I have same issue with people who do not arrive back on time for the bus or show up late for muster drill....somehow some people think rules are not for them

We typically book minis. We will book an MA gty and hope for a suite upsell. This has happened for us several times. We just managed to score a suite upsell for less than the current cost of a MC mini.

We prefer MC Minis on Emerald with a covered balcony. >>>useful in cold or warm weather...marked NO UPGRADE

sometimes upgrades sound good but are in a lousy location with noisy decks above. Check before you buy.

I loved Star Princess and did this itinerary last year

Any comments on our reservations? Would we have been better off port side? We're on Aloha - Should we have picked a lower deck? Trying to learn for the next time before the first time Our reservations were made by a travel agent used by the family for years. Starboard side is going to best on the Northbound itinerary

 

Any things we should definitely take advantage of on board as 2 60ish cruisers? Best bar? Best viewing area for College Fjords? Glacier Park? Recommendations for the best time for anytime dining? Best place for lunch?

The open deck is the best place to view College Fjords and Glacier Bay (I liked sitting on the promenade deck). There is a hot tub at the back of the ship on Deck 16 that is great to sit in and view the Glaciers. The Skywalker's nightclub (Deck 17 aft) is also good for taking in the scenery.

 

Any thing we should definitely NOT do on board as 2 60ish cruisers?

Fwiw - we're probably over prepared for Alaska. We have rain jackets/pants, binoculars, cameras, and lots of clothing layers.

 

Any comments on whether this voyage is typically smooth or can we expect rocking? Our cruise was very calm. The ships move slowly through Alaska because of the marine life. We didn't have a single rough day on that sailing.

Thanks much.

Aloha Deck is usually below sports deck....Jacuzzi noise in daytime, et al