portiemom

Never really thought about this. DH is disabled and doesn't leave the stateroom without me. We never bring his medallion with us, unless we are going ashore. Never had anyone inquire.🤷‍♀️

On 9/22/2023 at 5:38 PM, cusematt4 said:

I think the biggest points of confusion are

 

is there a diff in the tours  through princess cruises vs Princess lodges? Yes, there is a difference between a cruisetour through Princess Cruises and a vacation package from Princess Lodges. A cruise tour includes a cruise and a land tour. Princess Lodges offers land tours: "When you book a Princess Lodges vacation package, you can choose from a wide selection of “Land Only” train tours that include rail transportation to/from Anchorage, Fairbanks or Seward."

 

can we still add a pre cruise tour onto the reservation to the Princess cruise through a travel agent if a cruise is booked?  No, if you want a cruisetour, you need to cancel and rebook. Especially since not all tours for next season are released yet and won’t be until October? Cruisetours for 2024 are available now.  If so where do we find the list of pre cruise princess tours to choose from? Discuss with your TA or go to princess.com.

See replies in red above.

On 9/19/2023 at 5:38 PM, cusematt4 said:

Hi All,

 

I have a princess Alaska cruise booked and was told that the land tour portion with princess can be added on at any time. Who told you that? we were torn whether to do a 3, 4 or 5 night land tour, and we also wanted time for some research.

 

I just called Princess land tours and was told we need to book the land tour at the time of booking and cancel our cruise and rebook. Correct.  We intentionally booked the cruise early to lock in a rate.  This contradicts what we had been told by being able to add it on at a later time, ideally before final payment. Who told you that?

 

Does anyone have any info on if land tours with Princess can indeed be added on. No, they can't be added. You need to cancel and rebook. I can't image everyone having their exact pre or post cruise land tour figured out at the exact time of booking. Yep, that's exactly the way to do it. And I noticed multiple past posts where you were doing your research to figure this out. Good for you!

 

Also - does anyone have any recommendations for which 3 or 4 night Princess cruise land tours to consider? If that's the maximum time you have available, then any should be fine.

 

Thanks! Have a great trip!

See replies in red above.

On 8/6/2023 at 12:06 PM, Sunset329 said:

After twenty years of cruising, we are finally going to take an Alaskan cruise on either the Ruby or the Saphire. How are the Aft cabins facing the wake for an Alaskan cruise? 

For me it's a must-do.

On 8/26/2023 at 8:20 PM, Lanz said:

Yes I did receive photos of the mail I would receive today but the Princess pkg was not included. In will definitely go to our local PO.    Tried the customer service line but got in the robo voice runaround.  We are sailing out of Vancouver.  I’ve read that it’s not an easy pick up at that port😩

So sorry you are dealing with this. Rest easy about the pick up at Vancouver. We just did this 2 weeks ago. Easy peasy. Took no time at all for the rep to retrieve our medallions at check in. Actually the whole check in process went very quickly!

2 hours ago, awatt said:

Its now an 8% discount 

Bought some last night at 10% discount! Must've gone into effect today. Dang. Should have bought some in my husband's name, too.

Still green! Boarding Aug 12th.

10 hours ago, Wanderers2 said:

Green lane boarding now comes with Plus & Premier if you have your medallion delivered to your home. 
 

We live in Australia & home delivery of a medallion is not available to us, so does that mean we can never be green lane before arriving at the dock.

I book the standard package. Opted not to pay for medallion shipping. App tells me I'm green lane for upcoming cruise this month. As I understand it, the blue and green lanes are going away, and in my experience never mattered anyway when we arrived at port.

6 minutes ago, portiemom said:

Apparently I would be shorting the crew by such a miniscule amount that it would not make an iota of difference. But you do you and I'll "maximize the value" I get from "the system that exists." As far as "removing" anyone, that would be Princess' decision, not mine. I always thoroughly answer the after cruise surveys, and occasionally write a note of support on behalf of my room steward, while still on board. My conscious is clear.

Oops, I apologize. It was "flagging", not removing. Removal referred to the gratuities.

27 minutes ago, ldtr said:

instead of shorting the crew by not paying the well established and well known daily gratuity.

Apparently I would be shorting the crew by such a miniscule amount that it would not make an iota of difference. But you do you and I'll "maximize the value" I get from "the system that exists." As far as "removing" anyone, that would be Princess' decision, not mine. I always thoroughly answer the after cruise surveys, and occasionally write a note of support on behalf of my room steward, while still on board. My conscious is clear.

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

One can either complain about it, or can adapt and maximize the value they can get from however the system exists....

 

In the end the goals of the business may not be the same as your goals. It comes down to in the end is the product enough of a value for you to continue to buy.

Agreed.

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

August 12th!

Depends on the ship.

15 minutes ago, spunks said:

I think it is a damned shame that people would consider removing tips to get at the cruise lines.

 

I've been trying to get through all the pages of this thread since the day it started!! After reading the first 22, I skipped to page 45 and finally made it to page 51. Maybe I'll go back and read what I missed but I think I have the gist of things. And though it's hard for me to believe, I'm actually considering removing the tips, too. Not to get back at PCL or anyone else. But more because of the argument some have suggested that Princess has to make the best business decisions for themselves, and I have to make the decisions that suit my finances best. I will keep tipping on an individual basis, and further ponder how to handle the "fleet-wide" tipping. (That was news to me. Thought it was for the crew of the ship I was on.)

I will be cruising when all of this goes into effect. I find it appalling that there has been no notification to customers. The plus and premier packages make no sense for us, so I will not purchase them. Today I received an email pitching them (again) for my upcoming cruise. E-mail did not include the upcoming changes/benefits on the list.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Not to sound harsh, but you might have a look around the forum before posting. Here is one of several recent threads on this topic.

Another "no" for the puffer jacket. Rain jacket and fleece. Base layer and gloves for Glacier Bay only. I don't go anywhere without my hiking shoes. YMMV.

I choose an Alaska cruise by the itinerary, not by the ship. Are the itineraries the same?

Either the Coral or the Sapphire are fine choices. I've never cruised HAL.

Also, are you aware that you can upgrade the NHT for the TWT on Princess?

@AKStaffordis right. DIY is a superior option. I will add that I think the reason you're struggling with your cruise tour itinerary is that you haven't put in time to research the locations and what you want to see and do on the land. If you are going with the cruise tour, at least look at the excursions offered at each stop on the land tour and see what interests you. Then you can determine how long you want to be in any one place. For example, back when I was planning, I saw that Fairbanks was not a priority for me. Denali was my biggest priority. Knowing that every time you change locations on the land you will lose a big chunk of time to do anything there, you will realize that unless you have 2 nights in one location, you won't see much. And there's not much to see when you're riding the bus or train, except the Hurricane Gulch bridge, between Talkeetna and Denali, or Turnagain Arm on the way to the ship in Whittier. So when you say you want "to see the most" what do you mean? The most scenery while staring out the window of your bus, or do you want to have the experiences you will get from tours and excursions by being in one place long enough to do them? It's your trip. To help, we need you to clarify what you want.

The glacier with dogsledding is Mendenhall Glacier, not Hubbard. Mentioning this in case that is what you're searching for. It might be why you're not finding it? I did this excursion and booked it through Princess. It's hard to imagine RCI doesn't offer it, but then I'm not familiar with that cruise line. I believe the company that we went with was Temsco. You can book it on your own through them directly, but then you will need to get to their location on your own. Very worthwhile excursion!! Hope you get to do it.

On 7/19/2023 at 1:27 PM, HiCCCs said:

Just to clarify....are you talking about a combo cruise/land vacation/tour?  The upgrade bid would be for your stateroom on the cruise ship but not on the hotel/lodge room.

Correct. Heart of the Rockies cruise tour. Bid for upgrade on Alaska cruise.

On 7/16/2023 at 2:52 PM, cusematt4 said:

Hi all - we are in the process of planning a possible first time trip to Alaska.  We are looking at the Grand or Sapphire from Anchorage to Alaska.

 

Does anoyne have a recommendation for a pre-cruise Princess land tour?  We would only want to do either 3 nights or 4 nights max, prior to the cruise.

 

It seems like there are over 50 options for Princess-organized pre or post cruise tours.  Has anyone done research as to which would be the best pre-cruise Alaska tour among the 3 or 4 night options?

 

Yes, there are lot of options, so you will need to set your priorities. Do some research. Are you aware that CC has a forum dedicated to all things Alaska? Scroll down to Ports of Call. Realize that Alaska is a vast land. With only 3 or 4 nights on the land, you will eat up a lot of time just traveling from one place to another. So if you have any 1 night stays in any one lodge, you will have a few hours that afternoon or evening that you arrive for an excursion or tour. The next day you will be back on the train or bus to move again. So how important is Denali National Park to you? How about Fairbanks? Decide what YOUR must-dos are BEFORE you select your cruisetour. Best of luck.

On 7/16/2023 at 8:10 AM, pompeii said:

If you don't bid on the first offers you get, does Princess send better offers closer to sail date if there aren't enough takers on the first batch?  I'm on a 2-day Seattle to Vancouver and the minimum offer from an inside to a balcony obstructed is $75 per person.  For a standard balcony, the minimum is $150 per person, for just the bid...on top of your original fare.  For a two day cruise!  That seems insanely expensive, especially considering that very, very few cabins have sold except for interiors.  

 

Do the bid offers get better closer to the sail date?  

Mine did not. Same offer.

On 7/8/2023 at 5:48 PM, cruzsnooze said:

Does anyone know if they also do bidding on cruise tours?

On 7/8/2023 at 6:55 PM, 1cruiselvr said:

No they don't. 

Really? Maybe I'm missing something, but I've received 2 emails now (one just today) urging me to bid on an upgrade for my cruise tour. The cruise portion, obviously, not the land portion.🤔

21 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I could be wrong and I'm sure someone will correct me if so 🙂 but I thought the Kantishna tour wasn't offered now due to the road closure through 2026.  

 

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

 

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bus-tours.htm

You are correct. I was hoping that it would be open again by 2025, when the OP is going. But that does not seem to be the case.😕

21 hours ago, cpizzull said:

Thank you! That's exactly the type of post I wanted to read (someone who has been to both and would still decide to do Denali for a specific reason).  Did you book the Kantishna tour thru Princess?  And if one does the Tundra Wilderness tour, does it make sense to also do the Kantishna one? Thanks again!

I don't know if it is still possible to book Kantishna through Princess. I had no problem switching out the Natural History Tour, which was included in our package, for Kantishna and paying the difference back in 2012. I called Princess and did it myself. I've seen posts here on CC that suggest it might not be possible now. But you can still do it on your own. There is so much more to see that I would absolutely recommend going all the way to the end of the road. For example, we had a park ranger meet us at Wonder Lake and talk to us about the history of the park and pointed out the flora and fauna (ptarmigans). So we were off the bus for awhile and walking around with the park ranger.

I would do the cruise tour with 3 nights at Denali and skip Talkeetna. Denali National Park is far more important to me than anything I would do in Talkeetna. That said, we chose 2 nights at Mt. McKinley Lodge and 2 at Denali. It was gray and rainy both days at Mt. McKinley Lodge. We did enjoy a river rafting and walked around Talkeetna and had lunch, which was nice, but does not compare to having an extra full day at DNP. We were sure to do the Kantishna tour that goes to the end of the road in DNP. Highly recommend. Did not see the mountain either of those days at the Denali Lodge. Mountain was not out on the bus tour through the park. Finally, did get to see the mountain from the train on the way to meet the cruise ship! Magnificent!! I hope it works out for you whatever you choose!