Coral

Happy Birthday delayed. I have yet to spend my birthday on board yet. I have never done Alaska this late (work in education) so looking forward to more pics! 🙂

I agree - I have stayed at a ton of the hotels in downtown Vancouver and many I would stay at again. It would not be that expensive to get insurance for the 2 extra days in Vancouver when covering hotels.

Princess hotels fill up pretty quickly. I don't think it is an issue of over committing as IMO - they could buy twice as many rooms and still fill them. I am guessing your TA is seeing things properly. It is also possible that they have not released/signed contracts on the rooms for next summer yet.

I absolutely loved the Pacific Rim hotel. I would stay there again in a heart beat. One of my favorite hotels!

I have booked a few Princess hotels and I agree, sometimes it makes sense. It definitely is convenient. There are 2x I have booked a hotel in London due to transportation and I liked the hotel Princess used. So I am not opposed to Princess hotels as a blanket statement like some on this board. Vancouver is incredibly easy and with the price of the Pan Pacific and being right at the pier, I would do that over the Westin with Princess.

For those dates you mentioned - you can get the Pan Pacific for $264/night US. This is a steal for this hotel. I would rather stay there! The Pan Pacific is attached to the pier where your ship will dock in Vancouver. There are a ton of great hotels within a few blocks of the pier. I would book independently.

Enjoying and following along!

Yes - you are swapping your original terms for new/current terms. Only exception would be if using future cruise deposit.

My friend heard it was fleet wide. So it may take a few weeks for it to be implemented across the fleet. He heard this from Captain and Officers.

It was sold over 10 years ago.

They should give you at least Plus as an inconvenience! Though it sounds like they are trying to look at it - more than most problems I have had and tried to address with them!

I did not buy a package and my app is correct, unfortunately.

Honestly - the tour has always rated high, even when they were having safety issues. A lot of safety issues the average person would not be aware of. There was an independent excursion that I did multiple times, I raved about and they also had very high ratings. They were a favorite amongst locals and when locals friends and family visited Juneau, they would take them on this tour. At the end of 2022, they were shut down by the Coast Guard. A friend went summer of 2022 and didn't notice a thing. I signed up to go in 2023 and it was cancelled the day before. It turned out that they didn't go any day in 2023. This was my all time favorite shore excursion that I did multiple times. It was a very popular excursion. Just because it was my favorite and I loved it, doesn't make it safe. Nor does it mean that I would be able to tell if it is safe or not. My point was to say that someone died on this excursion and from reports I posted, there were several incidents of unsafe conditions in which the excursion ran in the past. Thus, I will probably never go on the excursion. I don't know if they were sold or not. I couldn't find any proof that this was done. Ratings don't make things safe.

I won't watch the video either. Prefer to read about reports. Much quicker to read and don't like the self promotion of YouTube videos. If someone posts pictures, one can quickly look at those. Video, you have to wait until something interesting is discussed (if something interesting ever comes up).

I don't see that the company has been sold. Maybe I am missing something - can you show proof? From what I can tell - it is run by the same guy: https://www.alaskax.com/Home/About Robert Murphy owned the company when the death was occurred and when people raised issues.

I love the train ride to Seward - very scenic. If you can spend the night in Seward, that would be great. Kenai Fjord boat rides, Ididaride sled dog tours, Exit Glacier, etc.....

The bus is actually great. More of a large van with Chilkoot. It follows a different route and you get off several times (which you can't do on the train). I have seen people fall asleep on the train on the way back. The view is the same on the train on the way back.

It is a bit iffy for me as I don't drink coffee or soda either. I do like the virgin drinks and fresh squeezed OJ. One of those if I have enough OBC, I will do it. But if I need to spend a lot of money on excursions, I probably won't. My next cruise is a coastal so no excursions through the ship. I bought it at $40 and $50 with out thinking. $60 is iffy and if it goes up, I probably won't. I haven't sailed since the inclusion of 2 casual meals yet. Sort of peeved the pizzeria (Alfredos, Gigi's isn't free anymore).

Which is what I am doing on my next cruise as I am not booking any excursions. I don't drink so buying Plus and Premier is a waste of money but I have no need for $400 OBC so I will be buying that. When in Europe, I prefer to use the money for excursions. The main issue is that Plus has gone up $20 per day over a 1-2 year time period. So if someone is interested, they are best to pay for it up front at time of booking and not wait. $20 per day over a 14 night cruise is a big chunk of money IMO.

I agree. I have 2 booked in February 2026. Same issue. With Plus and Premier, there is not much need for OBC except for shore excursions.

When they made the change of charging for shore excursions when you booked them, they allowed us to use OBC right away and to also get stock holders credit way in advance. I feel like this is a step behind (not better). I preferred it when we could book excursions and didn't have to pay for them until on the cruise.

It has always been that way since "cancel for any reason" has existed.

Regular gets 75% cruise credit for "cancel for any reason". Platinum gets 100% cruise credit.

I would do Chilkoot Tours - bus one way/train the other way. I would do an entire day. Most days in Skagway are all day. You have time to see the town after.

I would get it a year in advance.