KristyMisty14

For us, we went to Mendenhall Glacier (private excursion did after we got to shore). Best excursion our family has ever done!!!! Though the team looked really fun and I would have enjoyed it as well.

 

 

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What company did you book with?

When it is offered, it will be part of the daily schedule listed in the Patter.

 

Being only about two or three lines in the schedule, it is easy to overlook on the day it is offered.

 

You may want to ask one of the Cruise Director's staff about when it will be offered.

That's great information!! I hope we have this on the Emerald in August! Would be fantastic!

I'm on the Emerald Princess and they offer the excursion! Can't wait!

Ok, you sold me! I will do the 2 day pass on the trolley! :cool:

Enjoy and Have fun!!! :D

We call it Faked Alaska.

Bahahaha! So good:')

First time to try Princess and we booked a guarantee BF balcony on Coral. Still no room to be assigned to us 5 days before sailing!!

 

We had booked the guarantee cabin many times on Royal Caribbean and always be assigned a room very quick. Not sure what is the policy on Princess. When did the guarantee room usually to be assigned on Princess? I would love to hear everyone’s experience on Princess.

The longer it takes the better! (historically better chance of an upgrade for sure!) And the long shore men have lots of luggage tags at the pier, so not to worry your luggage will reach you regardless! Fingers crossed for you for a good upgrade!

Has anyone stayed at either the HI Express or Crowne Plaza, downtown Seattle? We want to be within walking distance of Pike Place and Space Needle from the reviews both of these are. I am using points (IHG) and can get either one, but the HI looks like it is in a business district, can't decide if Crowne Plaza is the same from photos. Also , HI has breakfast and Crowne doesn't, but not a deal breaker. Hints for good eating places near by appreciated also.

Thanks in advance.:)

CP is great! (except that steep hill lol) Close by is restaurant called Purple Wine Bar, it's really great and great atmosphere for dinner! (make a reservation if you can)

looking chilly next week! Guess we don't need shorts??

Where are you leaving from? It's was 88 degrees in Vancouver yesterday and more humid than I ever like and will be about 73-80 all week

How are the Hop on Hop off busses? I am stayng at the Marriott residence Inn Downtown. ANy suggestions for a company ?

I love the http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/ Trolley!!! As a local I experienced it when I had a visitor here from Australia and rode it for a full day with her. So many great stops and funner than riding in the big buses! Would recommend for sure.

Has anyone done the Military Tattoo Excursion during British Isles Cruise. Our cruise begins 8/17 in Southampton. This excursion is quite expensive so we're looking for opinions on whether it's worth it. Are there other resources to get tickets and to get us there from ship? Your advice is valued.:o

If you are there during the Tattoo it's an absolute must see!!!! I can't describe how amazing it is there at the Castle, really I one of kind experience. Book it for sure!

Just got off the Emerald Princess this morning (6/25) after Alaska cruise. Any questions please ask.

 

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Did you see/hear the naturalist? It so worth it?

pretty much.

There is no question that the vibe of princess is quite different from carnival. in talking about both (we've done cruises on many different lines) we've used the terms class, elegance, upscale, professional socioeconomic group, more sedate, older, mature, as more applicable to Princess; rowdy, younger, louder, working class, more tattoos, aggressive partying, tackier to carnival. Having said that we've never had a cruise we didn't enjoy and there are elements to both that are strengths, there are things carnival does better, things princess does better. Its about knowing what you want on the whole, what vibe fits you. I enjoy parties, and i know what kind of parties I will have fun at, what i find boring. You know what you like. Something for everyone basically.

Totally!! 7 times out of 10 I will choose Princess but sometimes you like something different, not even cruising by taking a land based vacation instead. I'm an easy traveler and haven't been on a trip I didn't like. But also don't have expectations that are unrealistic lol! I have seen a lot of posts on here (like a pizza quality debate) and I'm totally like First World Problems!! I feel just lucky to work hard and be able to afford to take vacations lol!

Thanks guys. I think I'll skip it. I'm not really a fan of zoos or things like that, unless they're very much into conservation and their focus is keeping a species alive, or rescuing animals that might not otherwise be able to live in the wild. This is one reason I'm so excited to see Alaska. To see all the beautiful animals that call Alaska home, in their wild habitat, will be amazing.

 

 

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:) Totally!!!! Last time I was there my mom and I met a lady in Ketchikan walking her beeeaaauriful dog with deep blue eyes and we petted him and I took a couple great photos. So you may see dogs anyway 🐶

I love dogs and a dog sled tour is something I've been considering for our cruise to Alaska next year. I'm torn though, since my version of loving dogs is they live inside, sleep on fluffy beds, are warm when it's cold outside and cool when it's warm outside. I have nothing against dog sledding and I know the dogs who pull sleds love to do it, however, I'm just wondering if doing a sled tour and seeing were they live, tied up to their dog house as I've seen in numerous pictures, will ruin it for me. Is dog sledding something I should just pass up? Again, no snarky comments, I'm just wondering if it's something we should do or not.

Would you go swim with Dolphins in Mexico? I wouldn't, so I know if was in your shoes choosing to do this excursion or not the answer would be no I wouldn't go, I understand what everyone has written below in regards to it being what they are born to do and bad apples and all that. I think it's totally a personal choice. Has it been your dream to dog sled? There are a billion other amazing excursions to do in Alaska. Some ships bring sled dog puppies on-board for people to pet and get their picture with the dog in port which is another way to see the dogs if it's a dog you want to see.

Thank you! I'm a first time cruiser. The analogy to Las Vegas is greatly appreciated. In Vegas, I was in my room by 7pm. Not my cup of tea.

I use that analogy for NCL as well lol :cool:

And yes to the frequent cruisers! And I can add to that people that chime in on a thread just to add something negative that is not helpful or truly responsive to the question! I am of the opinion that my vacation wherever it is, is better than my office! Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Lol totally agree on the add something negative..... I hate whenever I see those negative comments or I see on here that someone writes back to someones legitimate question a version of "that's been talked about on here before" ----and then doesn't bother to insert a link to the said threads lol

When I see those responses I'm always in my mind like:

a) the search tool on this website is not very good for key words

b) information changes so often, so good on ya for asking and hoping for good answers, isn't this what this site is for?

c)My mom always taught me "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all" (of course in reason, it being an old fashioned statement)

If they could do a cheese extravaganza I'd be supper happy =)

Yes I have too. The bartender cuts the person off and then calls the supervisor. The supervisor then calls all the bars to notify them not to serve this person.

 

The intoxicated person may end up in what they call a focus file. The focus file is designed for passengers who's behavior needs watching. They post the passengers picture in the crew area's to alert the crew to be on the lookout.

I was on a 3 night coastal sailing from Vancouver to LA about 7 years ago before the all inclusive bevy package existed and we watched first hand this guy get sooooooo drunk in the nightclub, he started first with verbal altercations with passengers and progressed into punching another guest on the dance floor on the 1st night, he ended up getting quarantined to his cabin and wasn't allowed to leave for the rest of the sailing.

I think Princess gives you a little bit of everything!

Carnival for me is like the Las Vegas of cruising. I like that sometimes lol!

Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated. I didn't really think it would be an issue. As someone else also pointed out, it seems that you actually have to book and pay before you get to see the Ts and Cs/cancellation policy of the booking. Seems we can safely book now, thanks again for the confirmation.

You're welcome! I loved that we can now book online in advance for the specialty restaurants, even with only 3 time choices, I thought they were quite reasonable times, and not have to worry about it being the first thing we do when we get on running to standing in a line to get reservations or being on hold in the cabin. We can get on and truly enjoy the afternoon before the ship sails!:)

Especially when people pour out a handful and take just certain things & pour the rest back in the bottle. :rolleyes:

I seriously doubt if Princess empties the glass servers out each day because people were touching them.

I've had the Norwalk virus off and an NCL ship, (Dr. confirmed) I think about all those things now lol.... it was awful lol!:eek:

Now that specialty restaurant reservations can be made and prepaid online, in advance of your sailing, what would happen if the booking has to be cancelled? Uncharacteristically, the Princess web site does not make finding the answer very easy. Prior to sailing, if you had to cancel, I assume your credit card would be credited back, but would a refund be forthcoming if someone waited until after boarding and had to cancel? Would the charges be credited to your onboard account, or worst case, would you not even get your money back?

 

We always book immediately after boarding (well, after first grabbing Sanctuary seats ;o), either in person at the restaurant, or if they refuse, via the phone line, which is usually jammed on embarkation day. There are benefits to booking online well in advance and we're not averse to it, but I'd like to know how easy it is to get our money back if plans change.

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts comments .

On your cruise personalizer , when you click on the specialty reservations and then scroll all the way to the bottom and it shows what you have booked, right under your bookings it says:

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations can be made online up to 7 days prior to embarkation and will receive a full refund to the credit card used. Cancellations can also be made onboard 24 hours prior to your reservation by calling the DINE Line or at the respective specialty dining restaurant. Onboard refunds will be applied to your stateroom account in the form of onboard credit.

2 weeks ago on the Emerald we were about 10 minutes late is all, still had plenty of time to make our other excursions. We docked pretty much downtown. I wouldn't get stressed out about being a few minutes late. The captain of the tour boat was watching the clock, he knew most everyone had other excursions they had to make.

Oh that's awesome!!! Did you love the excursion?

In the lounges they always bring around snacks. I enjoy the oriental mix and my husband enjoys the peanuts. They are very generous - if you don't drink - no problem order a soda. The area is cozy and lots of people sit and play cards or read etc.

I get nervous with those mixes that after someone leaves, they just dump the left overs from that bowl back into the bag LOL :o