phillies fan

I'm giving thought to taking a 10 day cruise of the Panama Canal this upcoming year.   The choices seem to be the Island Princess (older, smaller ship; transits the historical locks) or and Caribbean Princess (newer and larger ship, transits the new locks).

Anything anyone could offer to help in this decision would be appreciated.

I just returned from a 7 day cruise on the Coral Princess which I greatly enjoyed.   I understand the Island Princess was a sister ship, but has been modified to add additional cabins at the cost of the aft lounge.

Thanks for your thoughts on this topic.

12 hours ago, youngkona said:

I bought the book used, hoping for a map, but no map.  Any chance I can purchase just the map once on board from gift shop?

The map, independent of the book, was available last week on the Coral Princess.  I don't recall the price.

FWIW, I purchased a used copy of the book (in very good condition) on Better World Books, a wonderful site for used books.   

My copy did not include the map however.

I was on the Coral Princess last week and saw copies of both the book and the map available in the gift shop.

Just back from our Alaskan cruise and thought I'd post an update.

We opted to use the Alaskan Railroad and were very pleased we did.  One of the advantages of this for us was knowing when we'd be leaving Anchorage, when we'd arrive in Whittier and when we could be on board the Coral Princess.   On a previous trip to Alaska, we arrived at the airport at the time Princess suggested and then had to wait several hours to board a bus to Whittier.  We chose the extra expense, but the guaranteed schedule of the train.

The train arrives just as Essiesmom noted.   The Alaskan Railroad staff assisted my wife getting off the train.  We crossed one set of railroad tracks and the crosswalk over to the terminal entrance.   The traffic guard on the road called for a wheelchair and we were escorted through embarkation right to our room in a few minutes.  

It could not have gone any smoother and is certainly our preferred route for the future.

I was on the Coral Princess cruise from June 5-12.   As a Platinum level guest, I got 150 free minutes and decided not to opt for an internet package until they were all used up.   

I only tried to connect when we were in port cities and found the internet very slow and unreliable.   I first tried using my iPad in my cabin and then started using the computers in the Internet Lounge.   Opted to only look over emails needing immediate attention (which were few in number) and left the ship never coming close to using the free minutes.

After a few days, I began to enjoy not having my phone on my hip and being off the grid     

Thanks for getting back to me.   We have done the HOHO tour on our last visit to Vancouver.   It was a great experience, but I fear my wife's mobility has diminished enough since then to prevent us from using it again.   I certainly agree with your assessment of how convenient it is.

We used the hotelsbyday.com site and are booked into the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver for the day.  Day rate is 250 CAD.   This will allow my wife a quiet place to rest up for our red-eye home and me a chance to enjoy downtown Vancouver, one of my favorite cities.

Other sites we found helpful, but did not take advantage of are toursbylocals.com which had a variety of tours.   Given that the ones that most appealed to us traveled to many of the same places that we visited last time, we decided to look into the day use hotel instead.   There are a good number of interesting tours offered on that site.

The other site, for luggage storage, is porter genie.    You check in your luggage with them at the cruise ship terminal and tell them when you'll meet them at the airport.   They were very prompt in responding to my initial email.   Certainly worth considering for those in need of that service.

Thanks again for your response and interest.    

Thanks for your post and response to my question.  I appreciate your ideas.

One pressing concern, which you were mindful of, is that my wife has some mobility issues.   She would not be able to walk around Vancouver, as wonderful as that would be.   

We were fortunate to find a day use hotel downtown where she can rest for the day while I enjoy Vancouver again.   

Your comment about eating dinner downtown and then heading out to the airport is especially helpful and is one we'll pursue.

Thanks again for touching base on all this.   

With a 10:30 pm flight out of Vancouver, we are interested in any day use hotels in Vancouver, preferably near the airport.   Plan is to check in after getting off the cruise ship (9 am) and spend a quiet day there instead of at the airport.   We'd likely check out around dinner time, check in at the airport and have dinner there before our red-eye flight.   Thanks in advance to those who can help out.

Thanks for posting these pics....They are very helpful as I'm trying to decide which alternative is best for us.   

My wife and I are making plans for our cruise trip in Alaska this year.   We are interested in taking the Alaska RR train from Anchorage to Whittier.   My wife uses a rollator to get around. Reps from both Princess and Alaska Railroad have indicated we are on our own in getting from the train to the cruise terminal in Whittier.   There does not appear to be any sort of shuttle available to assist in this transport.   Have others, using rollators or wheelchairs, done this?  How long a walk would this be from where the train lets passengers off to the cruise terminal?  Our alternative plan is to use the bus transfer Princess coordinates from the Anchorage airport to the cruise terminal in Whittier.   We did that last time the cruised, but were curious to try the railroad train as an alternative this trip.  

Thanks in advance to those who respond.    

We just returned from enjoying an aft balcony on an Alaskan cruise on the Crown Princess. It was nice not to have any wind as the ship was at sea and we enjoyed the view over the wake.

One other benefit is that there is very little "hallway traffic" at the aft end. We never heard passengers yelling up and down the hall to others, as has often been the case on other cruises.

The one downside is it is a long walk to the front of the ship, but we were never in a hurry.