ricklepickle

Thanks for the information.

Is there a difference in satellite coverage in Alaska vs. the Caribbean? 

For comparison, last year we were on the Celebrity Equinox and the internet wasn't great in our room, but there was a location at a cafe that had good connection that worked for him.  And 3 years ago, on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas I could easily make wifi calls (no need for video calls).  I know they are different cruise lines; I'm just trying to manage his needs/expectations... 🙂 

This is all very encouraging...

Unfortunately, my SO won't go unless the internet is ok (this is his issue, he feels he needs to be work accessible, for the occasional call, etc).  In another thread, I asked and the response was not encouraging.  😞  

This is all very helpful... unfortunately, it might mean this cruise is not in our cards. 😞  Unless someone has some other words of encouragement????

How is the internet on the Grand Princess - with regard to speed and reliability?  I'd be interested both in ability to reliably check email, upload files, etc AND for video calls (Skype or Whats App).

And, I can't find pricing on the Princess site - what would the price be (or the range be) for a 10 day cruise?

(I know, I know, some people don't understand why a person would want internet on a cruise. But some people (in this case, my significant other) need to be able to be in touch.)

Thanks in advance.

7 hours ago, Dani24 said:

 

To better address your question about entertainment and activities on board, here are the Patters from the Grand's SF Alaska itinerary from two years ago. Keep in mind, some things have likely changed, but it shouldn't be too far off. It'll at least give you an idea of what you can expect.
 

http://www.cruisetipstv.com/download-grand-princess-patters-10-night-alaska-cruise/ (click on the image to open up the full document)

 

The above link came through this post, which also has a video that tours the Grand: 

 

Thank you so much, Dani 24.  

We also live in the Bay Area (Palo Alto), so no flight is very very attractive to us.  My last Alaska cruise was Whittier to Vancouver, preceded by a land tour to Denali.  It was amazing, but I ended up doing a lot of planning.  This cruise, should we do it, would be less planning, more "let's go to Alaska" and have a much needed vacation!   

Thank you all for your comments - very helpful.

I've been to Alaska (a land tour to Denali + NCL cruise), it would be my SO's first time. 10 days is a little long for us, on the other hand, a 7 day cruise is really 9 days (a day to travel the day before, because who wants to deal with flight problems, and the last day to get home).  And with this, no flying - we figured that saves us $$ in the end.

Still contemplating...

Hi all - We are a couple in our late 50's, fairly active. We are looking for a vacation this summer, and much to my surprise, my boyfriend liked the idea of an Alaska cruise from San Francisco (we live close by and wouldn't have to drive).  There are some 10 days out of SF on the Grand Princess in our timeframe. It is "last minute" for Alaska (we're looking at August), but it could work.  I've been to Alaska previously (on the NCL Sun), he hasn't been.

I don't know much about Princess as a cruise line, and there doesn't seem to be too much information about the Grand Princess itself.  I was wondering if you had any guidance on how to think about the Princess line and the experience on the Golden Princess (I know it is recently out of dry dock, is an older ship, and will be taken out of service next year).  We both have been on the Celebrity Equinox in the Caribbean, which was lovely but the entertainment was lackluster. I've also been on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas (twice) - lots to do on board. And on the NCL Sun - we weren't very happy with the ship itself (old, not well kept) but Alaska was the main attraction and with a lot of on-board credit to go to the specialty restaurants, it was a trip of the lifetime.

Alaska cruises have a slightly older clientele, in general - what can we expect on these cruises out of SF?

What kind of entertainment is there? 

What kind of daytime activities are there?

Anything else to know?

Thank you in advance!

I wouldn’t consider it a reliable source of information, especially in advance. I just got off the Equinox this morning (8/11 sailing). The app had only partial information, and they didn’t even have the evenings entertainment in the main theater, something known well in advance, until the night before, earliest. Really behind on the technology curve.

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I have not yet gone, but I did also reserve and pay the deposit over cash for our August cruise. I also just had to cancel two of the reservations we made (2 of 6), about a month in advance, and they refunded the deposit.

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It looks like fun.

But does it seem odd to anyone they made this a Moveable Feast Cruise less than six weeks out? Or is this how Celebrity does it?

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Check this link

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/specialty-cruises/moveable-feast-with-fine-cooking

Thanks! Looks great. But isn’t it weird that today this cruise became a Moveable Feast Cruise?

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I was just on the Celebrity site, and our cruise, Aug 11 on Equinox (in 6 weeks) is suddenly listed as a “Moveable Feast” cruise.

I am 99.99999% certain this is new (as in, no more than a few days).

1. Is this possible? Or is it a website glitch? (Anyone know?)

2. What does this mean? Looks fun (and maybe delicious) but I don’t know what this means!

Thanks in advance.

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Yeah, it seems to be some glitch. I got around it by clicking on the forgotten password link, changed my password...cleared my cache (yes really, ridiculous) and it all works just fine now.

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I did. My TA is a big box one, they don’t show these promotions in their site. But the agents I spoke to all knew about it and helped me several times. Two rooms in my party have one perk, and one has Go BEST (this makes sense for our groups needs) and the TA was very helpful.

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I have had very good service from big box. You don’t get one person to deal with, but I have done a lot of changing of our upcoming cruise - price reduction reimbursement, changing categories and cabins, adding perks, etc. everyone I dealt with was very helpful and went the extra mile. They won’t call you with a price decrease, but they are helpful. No commission, so they are fine spending time with you.

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I’m having trouble, too.

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We’d be taking all three rooms. I’d be in 2110. Any other concerns from anyone who knows these rooms? It seems like we should take them if possible.

Do you know if the balconies connect?

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Hi - the rooms 2106, 08, 10 and the equivalents on the port side are available on our sailing. We have rooms in the same class (C2) mid ship on deck 10. The rooms on the upper deck have bigger balconies, and are reported as quiet. Are there reasons I shouldn’t take them that I am missing?

I have looked at the google sheet, and deckplangenius, etc. not much info.

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Both my mom (74) and I (53) had a wonderful time on this excursion. But we are roller coaster people. We loved the twister boat. We aren’t big drinkers and the food was just so so, but we enjoyed the beach....and did I say how much we loved the twister boat?

This summer we are going on a cruise with my dad (78), brother (52), nephew (18) and boyfriend (59). They all get seasick easily. Needless to say, we are not going to do this excursion with them.

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Thanks - meant to ask about the Equinox.

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Do the Aquaclass rooms have footstools on the balconies like the Concierge class rooms?

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I don’t think it is unusual. This happened to me last summer on an RCI cruise. I anticipate it on the August 11 cruise with this itinerary because when I went to check out how many and which ships were in port when the Equinox was supposed to be, it seemed like the order was reversed.

It could change again.

The non-ship shore excursion folks seem to keep up with these things though. That’s my experience, anyway. I could be an anomaly.

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Thank you for the kind words. I am hardly an expert. More of a student driven to learn more.

I think being a restaurant owner, sommelier and chef, you qualify as more of an expert than most. And much more likely than anyone I travel with to notice some of the details you did, although I think those details make for a good cruise experience even when I don’t consciously notice- I’d probably notice the absence of some of them.

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Thank you for the thorough review. While we don’t look for the same things from our cruising experience, it’s so great that Celebrity can (mostly) meet both our needs. I enjoyed reading about the food and wine from an expert!

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Definitely look into non-ship excursions...but if you have the credit, some of the ones you can book directly are also the exact same ones as those you book through Celebrity. You may save a few bucks if you were doing it out of pocket, but using the OBC works too. We did one amazing excursion in Alaska booked directly with the tour operator - that had people from our ship and from a Carnival cruise that had paid slightly more on it.

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