shirazcruiser

19 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I still hope you all get some benefit from my write up.

Did you enjoy the Teppanyaki and Spellbound? Is the cost of Spellbound $149 pp and I read that they have a cocktail/formal dress code?   

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

Our S9 fare for a 1 week cruise for 2 passengers increased from under $5000 including the Plus package to $8300 with the Premium package included.  if we decide to keep the booking, it will be one and done at those fares.

Our 21 day May 2025 Owners Suite (S2) was $26K with the Plus pkg which DH wants to cancel as he thinks it’s ridiculously priced. The new pricing for the renamed Grand Suite (S2) with the premier pkg is $41K. On the Sky the difference between a Plus and a Premire is $20 a day which should be $840 extra for 21 days ….not $15K. Who’s going to pay those kind of prices for Princess?

Did you enjoy the Teppanyaki and Spellbound? Is the cost of Spellbound $149 pp and I read that they have a cocktail/formal dress code?   

20 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

We seriously only spent time in the suite lounge, the suite sundeck and the suite restaurant except for Spellbound, Teppanyaki 😜

 

Thank you for the review! We're booked on a 21 day in May 2025 in an Owners Suite and I appreciate the info to share with DH (who is thinking about cancelling😝...over my dead body!). Did you enjoy the Teppanyaki and Spellbound? Is the cost of Spellbound $149 pp and I read that they have a cocktail/formal dress code?  After almost 50 cruises, we're done with formal attire. Thanks for any info.

2 hours ago, deepcman said:

Who puts creases in jeans or do you still call them Dungarees?

I do - they look nicer 

On 4/6/2024 at 5:13 PM, Tinkrbell said:

We are going on a long cruise and would like to know if anyone has successfully taken a clothes steamer through the security scanner. 

I take a clean 2” wide flat iron to touch up clothes I wash and it is allowed. I press DH polos after I wash them and they look almost as good as home ironing. The flat iron puts a nice crease on jeans and shorts. 
 

2 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Our Off the Beaten Path tour doesn't go to Copper River -- ours is Fairbanks, Denali, McKinley, and Kenai.  Our longest travel day shows 7.5 hours and that includes a 2 hour stop in Anchorage for lunch on our own.  I thought about doing the one that stopped at Copper River but decided it was a little 'too' off the beaten path for us 🙂  We've been to Alaska on a cruise before too, but really wanted to see more of the interior and go to Kenai Fjords National Park.  We're very independent travelers but after pricing everything out, the cruisetour seemed reasonable when we factored in the convenience.  

We’re on the 15 night Off the Beaten Path starting in Anchorage with 1 Mt McKinley, 2 Denali, 2 Copper and 2 Kenai. This will be our 2nd cruisetour out of 4 Alaska cruises. I think I’ll look at some that leave out of Fairbanks since the flight is about the same and the cruisetour travel is less. DH is in his mid-70’s and after almost 50 cruises, he doesn’t like long tour days anymore. We’ve done a lot of port intensive cruises especially in Europe and he wants more relaxation. I’m glad he still cruises and I want him to enjoy it. 

14 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

My Travel Summary lists all the transportation details. If you've already booked log into the Princess site and download your Travel Summary.  

Thank you - I just pulled up my travel summary and it's there. We're now going to reconsider that cruisetour...9 hours with rest stops & lunch is a long day.  The travel from Copper River to Kenai is also 9 hours.  As we're getting a little older and having been on 3 Alaska cruises....we'll look at another tour with shorter travel times. The train is long, but worth it and relaxing. 

2 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

You're welcome!   

Do you happen to know how I can find out more details about the cruisetours travel times between lodges? As I was booking with my TA, they mentioned the travel between Denali and Copper River was 9 hours by coach 😝.

21 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Here's the CC Alaska forum.  There's no separate forum just for Princess Alaska. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

 

 

Thank you for responding about the meal plan info...that's new for us, but we prefer dining flexibility.  We booked "Off The Beaten Path" so no breakfast for us! 

Do you happen to know how I can find out more details about the cruisetours travel times between lodges? As I was booking with my TA, they mentioned the travel between Denali and Copper River was 9 hours by coach 😝.  Again - thanks!

My apologies in advance as I can't figure out how to post under Princess - Alaska.  Any advice on how to do that for the future would be appreciate.  We took a Princess Alaska Cruise many years ago and I know things have changed.  Is breakfast included on the cruisetour portion?  

57 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

- I loathe the idea of wearing a lanyard around the ship, but I can see the point in wearing one for boarding -- would keep the boarding pass, passport, etc. handy.  

I have a Coach lanyard that has a clear window on the front for my seapass card. The backside has 2 credit card slots where I put my tour tickets. I detach the lanyard strap and attach it to my small flat Travelon passport organizer (4”x6”) that I wear around my neck when we’re at the airport and on embarkation day so I don’t carelessly drop our passports or have to fumble around in my purse looking for them. 

The one time we didn’t have the same cabin on a B2B, we took a bunch of CVS type plastic bags to repack non-clothing items for moving. When I packed up a particular cabin or bathroom drawer in a bag, I didn’t have to think about organizing them in the next cabin since each bag was already sorted for a single drawer. 

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

 Alternately, take your suitcase down to the gym and use that scale.

Why would I schlep my 28" suitcases to the gym (which I did once and never again) when I can carry my hand held digital scale that weighs 4 oz....I can then easily adjust my luggage weight in the privacy of my cabin. Now that we travel with 3 28" suitcases and 1 carryon since we like to bring our favorite travel things...that would be even more miserable.

Since most of the time the sinks don't hold water for DH to shave and my hand washables, I bring a flat suction sink stopper which was recommended years ago on a similar "what to bring" thread. 

Also:

- Air tags

- Lanyard - I hate to wear them, but I put tour tickets in the pocket the night before since DH dropped and lost our tickets before getting on a tour bus causing a stressed out situation. After the tour begins, the lanyard is put in the backpack.

- Magnetic Roll-up Dry Eraser board to list upcoming tour times and specialty dinners

-Luggage Scale

-Flat Iron to touch up wrinkled or washed clothing (since Irons aren't allowed)

We'll be on Jewel of the Seas in a few months in an Owners Suite and wanted to know from anyones experience if it's difficult to access the HDMI port on the wood encased swivel TV to hook up to our Ipad.  We've never had any problems in Grand Suites in the past.  Any info would greatly appreciated.

Does anyone remember what brand of tv is on JOS?  I want to check my universal remote codes for streaming. 

I got it 30% off prior to the Black Friday 40% off sale...which I cancelled and repurchased.  Keep in mind what Merion_Mom said about the daily cost because my May sailing now has 45% off which is the exact same total cost of my 40% off Black Friday sale. 

I don't know if bed location is an issue, but I always book a suite with the left side of the bed closer to the sliding glass doors and the right side closer to the vanity.  I sleep on the right side and DH won't be in my way when I'm doing my hair/make-up at the vanity.  We're sailing on the Jewel in a few months in OS #1060 with this bed location. 

I bring my own shampoo & conditioner, but the ship water still slightly frizzes my hair.  We’ll be on the Jewel in a few months in an Owner’s Suite and wondered if you get a bar of soap for the shower and bath sinks or liquid. We prefer a bar in the shower and liquid at the sinks. I’ll bring both if it’s not available. Thanks for any info. 

On 2/6/2024 at 1:16 AM, AmericanMom said:

Hopefully everyone is much kinder on your next trip! ❤️ 

Hello and great review! I know this is after the fact, but did you notice if there were blue EQUAL sweetener packets available on your sailing? RCCL always offered them in the past; however, Celebrity discontinued them on our fall 2023 sailing. DH only likes Equal and I always travel with enough for pre-cruise hotels, but will bring more if JOS doesn't offer it.  Thanks for any help!

FYI:  We're on Jewel this May and got 2 internet devices for $27 during Black Friday. 

4 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

I board Jewel on Saturday in a GS.  Keep an eye out… i will probably start a live report soon.  I can tell you the concierge will be Edna & she was spot on with sending out an email a week in advance.  She has put in our dinner reservation requests ( we have 3 night package)

We're sailing on JOS in late Spring in an OS and would appreciate it if you could post how crowded the Lounge is,  I've read they limit the Pinnacles to 30 if there are too many onboard.  It's been a quite a while since we sailed on JOS.  Have a great cruise and look forward to your reporting. 

On our last suite cruise on Sky, we sent brand new crew socks that looked like they were 6 months old by the end of the cruise and nice womens Eddie Bauer t-shirts come back tie dyed looking. I've always handwashed my delicates, but on our next cruise I'll be doing all of our laundry in the laundry room even though we're Elite and sail in a suite. I've read on several threads that suites receive some complimentary laundry tokens.  

41 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

On smaller RCCL ships, I think you can have breakfast and lunch in a specialty restaurant set aside for suite customers in Chops on the non-CK ships.  But yes, dinner in the MDR, Windjammer or specialties.  

There is only a suite breakfast in Chops, but no suite lunch.  Long ago on the Voyager class, suite guests could take their buffet lunch meal and sit in Giovanni's since it is located outside of the Windjammer. There have been so many complaints about the MDR food and MTD wait times, that we purchased the UDP.  This upcoming cruise is itinerary driven since we're sailing the Artic Circle; otherwise, we wouldn't have booked JOS.