EMS8

We cruised on Royal Princess in March and did not receive a survey. First time.

I fully agree with you on this Hank! What a disappointment Celebrity has become.

We had been loyal to Celebrity for over 20 years. We get the feeling that the new management doesn't value the longtime loyal customer anymore. We have found far more similarities than differences between Princess and Celebrity. And yes, there are things we like more about Celebrity than Princess AND vice versa. It seems that Princess appreciates our business more than Celebrity.

If this is the Princess roll-a-board, yes it expands.

We were on Royal Princess last month in R734 and I can confirm what WetHen has said. There was soot, but it wasn't a major problem. The room steward cleaned and washed down the balcony every day.

On Royal last month and had to be out of stateroom by 0800.

We just did the UST last month on Royal Princess. We signed up at guest services a few hours after boarding and we were # 9 and 10 on the list. We only had 10 people on our tour. It was $150 pp and I would say well worth it. We toured all the places that were previously mentioned and were given good quality Princess robes, a very nice and colorful chefs apron, a nice picture frame with 3 pictures that were taken on the tour and personalized stationary. Overall it was a very nice tour of the ship.

I checked in for our flight last Thursday while on Royal Princess using the computers at the internet cafe. I did not have any internet package so I paid by the minute at $ 0.79 per minute. I checked in on AA and then checked weather. I used 6 minutes and it cost me $4.74.

Hi Hank.

If what you say about first run Cuban cigars available in Mexico is true, then something has definitely changed in Cuba. Maybe the world-wide demand of a few years ago has diminished?

What time of year was this? We’re doing a self tour in mid May after our Celebrity Cruise. We’re currently booked on the Tundra Wilderness tour but are planning to switch to shuttle bus. I like the idea of freedom of movement.

We did a cruise tour the second week of July. And what Wolfie11 said, the park doesn't really open until around June 1st. If you go before that, you won't be able to go very far into the park. If you are going to Denali National Park, I would strongly suggest you go after the park fully opens because there is so much more you will be able to see.

We were at Eielson about 30 minutes or so. It seemed like shuttles were every 30 to 45 minutes.

I can't speak for Princess Alaska until next August, but with the Celebrity Alaska cruise tour we did in 2015, we dumped the worthless Natural History Tour that Celebrity had, and booked our own park shuttle to Eielson visitor's center. Next year we are going to book the shuttle to Wonder Lake.

Hi and welcome to one of my reviews for the first time. Thanks for the kind comment!

I wonder why you are no longer enamored with Celebrity? Princess is great for us but we (especially me) love the S Class ships. We haven't sailed an M Class yet. We have only sailed in S1 suites on X so that may color my opinion somewhat as we are treated like Kings on there.

Norris

Norris,

I have read all your cruise reviews and just been a lurker, but had to jump in on Mellow Yellow to win the virtual pillow chocolate.:D:D

My DW and I have been longtime, loyal Celebrity cruisers and have sailed in every class of Celebrity ship multiple times. And we too really like the S Class ships. We've sailed in three of the five ships. We also like those aft corner S1 Sky suites. The long walk to the stairs and elevators is good exercise :)

I guess we feel like the current Celebrity management doesn't see value in the longtime loyal Celebrity cruiser any more, so that is why we tried a Princess cruise two years ago on Royal Princess. We liked the ship and the service.

Norris,

I believe it was Donovan who sang about “Mellow Yellow.”

Love your cruise reviews and pictures. Would love to cruise with you and Carol sometime. We like Princess as much as we used to like Celebrity.

Reedprincess, thanks for the info. BTW, we LOVE St Lucia and will be there in March.

This is my detailed review of ours https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2371972

Thank you. I remember reading this review when you first published it. It was an excellent review. So was this the Denali Explorer cruise tour? When we were in Alaska in 2015, we were one of the lucky ones who saw Denali in full glory as we arrived in Talkeetna.

Geoherb,

Which cruise tour did you take? The Denali Explorer, On Your Own or Off the Beaten Path? Was there someone from Princess on the the tour with you who handled the luggage, transportation and lodging?

Hello Princess cruisers. My DW and I need some help with Princess Alaska cruise tours. I think I understand the details of a connoisseur cruise tour and that you have a cruise director with you until you reach the ship or the airport.

On the other Alaska cruise tours, who takes care of the transportation, luggage and Princess lodges details?

When we did an Alaska cruisetour and cruise with Celebrity in 2015, we had a cruise director and the same bus driver/luggage handler from Anchorage to Seward.

Thanks for your help.

Steelers and Astro,

Thank you for all the work you do to keep us updated on Princess wine prices.

I have talked with Non, and she is willing and available to provide great service to "old" and new customers.

I can tell you firsthand that yesterday I cancelled a cruise around 1600-1630 hours and rebooked the same cruise. At 1715 hours when I was talking to the Princess rep, our cancelled stateroom was available and we snagged it again.

Corfe Mixture,

I found out yesterday by talking to Princess, our process of transferring a reservation from a TA to Princess, is the same as yours in the UK. They said it usually takes a couple of days to get things transferred.

Coral,

Maybe we can meet on a cruise soon and I can talk with you, Hank and Tony and you'll help my DW and I find a great agent.

Well, we have canceled this cruise and sadly are ending our relationship with what was once a great travel agency. I re-booked the cruise this afternoon and saved $1510. Too bad this agency couldn't have done this for me, eight months ago they would have!

Hank,

I truly appreciate the information you provide here at Cruise Critic. I may not always agree with you, but I do like that you nearly always shoot straight and too the point, trying to help people.

I'm afraid I don't have the patience to do all of the comparison shopping that you do. I was perfectly happy with my TA until her untimely death. I also received excellent service and felt I always got a fair price, obc and frequently our gratuities paid for. Had I comparison shopped, maybe I could have found better prices.

I'm not certain what my DW and I will do now when it comes to booking cruise travel.