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Think I made a boo-boo


claudiniusmaximus
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Hi folks

 

We’ve booked the northbound Alaska cruise from Vancouver in June next year.

 

Watched lots of YouTube videos and the royal looked great so booked that. Like the sapphire but bigger and more beautiful was my thinking (only previous cruise on princess was sapphire).

 

Aaaaanyway, I knew the promenade wasn’t wraparound but assumed it was just cut off at each end but ran length of ship on both sides.

 

Been watching lots of videos of people watching glacier bay, inside passage, college fjord etc and decided best place for us to watch would be from promenade.

 

Then today realised royal doesn’t have one[emoji50] just two “cut out” seating areas outside crooners and vista lounge. Booo! I thought as I do enjoy a leisurely stroll along a nice covered promenade, especially as that deck is where you can take in the full wake of the ship (higher decks are so far from the sea level)

 

But....

 

Looking more closely I realised that of the upper decks, all except the Sun deck have full person height blue tinted glass barriers (sun deck they are low enough to look over)

 

So in terms of outside space to actually take in the majesty and grandeur of the landscape (3 out of 7 days are scenic cruising non port days) it’s really limited in terms of being able to get a view that isnt through blue tinted glass (sun deck and small section of promenade deck). And sun deck is so high up I’ll be looking down on the glaciers rather than appreciating their scale[emoji30]

 

And none of it is covered in case of rain or hot sun etc (oh there is the bar at rear of buffet).

 

With 3,600 people on board is going to be really crowded in those areas.

 

I know the importance or lack thereof of a promenade deck varies from person to person so don’t want to get into that - but am really concerned about viewing opportunities of glaciers and such on such a high capacity ship with so few “clear” viewing opportunities.

 

Can anyone who has done Alaska on that class of ship reassure me?

 

 

 

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Hi Elliair

 

Unfortunately it would cost us an additional £2,000 to book a balcony we just can’t afford it.

 

The island princess leaves on the same intinerary three days later I might have to look into changing to that ship even though any changes will cost us £100 it might be worth it.

 

We also have flights and a hotel booked (all via princess) so all that would have to change too.

 

Oh, bother.

 

 

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Hi Elliair

 

Unfortunately it would cost us an additional £2,000 to book a balcony we just can’t afford it.

 

The island princess leaves on the same intinerary three days later I might have to look into changing to that ship even though any changes will cost us £100 it might be worth it.

 

We also have flights and a hotel booked (all via princess) so all that would have to change too.

 

Oh, bother.

 

 

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Big mistake there! The Island Princess Promenade does not go all the way around the ship. They chopped off the back of the ship and made cabins. I'll never cruise on the Island Princess again, but if it's a Promenade deck you're looking for that goes all the way around, look to the Grand Princess. She leaves out of San Francisco to Alaska.

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Ah ok thanks for that (I don’t need the promenade to go the full way around but the length of the ship (ie full length either side) would be fine)

 

But yes you’re right I def need to do more research on the outside areas before I make a decision. I got far too “wowed” by the royals interior when choosing her. Need to look at the outside of island.

 

We really want to sail out of Vancouver - we’ve been to San Francisco and Seattle but never been to Vancouver and being from the U.K. don’t get the chance to travel this far that often so try to see new places. This might be only time we get to Alaska or west coast Canada in our lives.

 

 

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Golden princess does the “southbound” journey the same day as we were planning the northbound.

 

When I costed it out myself (booking flights myself and hotel myself) the price worked out higher but maybe Princess can quote us a good price as a package.

 

 

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Try looking at the prices using their EZAir. You can get quotes through your personalizer or call Princess. We have found going through Princess EZAir we get cheaper rates. You can also keep checking prices as you go along and get cheaper rates as they come up.

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While the Royal is a lovely ship, it's more inward-focused (and therefore revenue producing). Though I haven't sailed the Island since her disfiguring (and revenue producing) remodel, it still should have a nice number of forward and upper deck viewing areas and retains most of the promenade. Anyway, to get the full scope of scenery, I'd choose an outside viewpoint on an upper deck rather than the somewhat constricted promenade. Too bad the Coral isn't an option, but it's not.

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Thanks shepp.

 

I’m going to call princess tomorrow and get some quotes. The golden looks good though would prefer to stick to northbound itinerary.

 

It does seem odd that they are putting the royal in Alaska considering the limited open viewing spots from on board.

 

 

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There are many places on the Royal from where you can enjoy the majesty of Alaska. I would not worry so much about how the ship is designed as to whether you will get to sed all you wish to see. Take the first day onboard and travel to all areas and then decide which onesto go to to observe the last frontier. The ship is only transportation, use it to your advantage. Enjoy your cruise as we have taken it twice.

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Hi folks

 

We’ve booked the northbound Alaska cruise from Vancouver in June next year.

 

Watched lots of YouTube videos and the royal looked great so booked that. Like the sapphire but bigger and more beautiful was my thinking (only previous cruise on princess was sapphire).

 

Aaaaanyway, I knew the promenade wasn’t wraparound but assumed it was just cut off at each end but ran length of ship on both sides.

 

Been watching lots of videos of people watching glacier bay, inside passage, college fjord etc and decided best place for us to watch would be from promenade.

 

Then today realised royal doesn’t have one[emoji50] just two “cut out” seating areas outside crooners and vista lounge. Booo! I thought as I do enjoy a leisurely stroll along a nice covered promenade, especially as that deck is where you can take in the full wake of the ship (higher decks are so far from the sea level)

 

But....

 

Looking more closely I realised that of the upper decks, all except the Sun deck have full person height blue tinted glass barriers (sun deck they are low enough to look over)

 

So in terms of outside space to actually take in the majesty and grandeur of the landscape (3 out of 7 days are scenic cruising non port days) it’s really limited in terms of being able to get a view that isnt through blue tinted glass (sun deck and small section of promenade deck). And sun deck is so high up I’ll be looking down on the glaciers rather than appreciating their scale[emoji30]

 

And none of it is covered in case of rain or hot sun etc (oh there is the bar at rear of buffet).

 

With 3,600 people on board is going to be really crowded in those areas.

 

I know the importance or lack thereof of a promenade deck varies from person to person so don’t want to get into that - but am really concerned about viewing opportunities of glaciers and such on such a high capacity ship with so few “clear” viewing opportunities.

 

Can anyone who has done Alaska on that class of ship reassure me?

 

 

This will be the first year for any of the Royal Class ships in Alaska.

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There are many places on the Royal from where you can enjoy the majesty of Alaska. IEnjoy your cruise as we have taken it twice.

 

 

 

Thanks Potstech - what spots would you recommend for open viewing having been on her? (bearing in mind most people will be on deck for the glaciers at once I reckon).

 

I’ve only got YouTube and google images so would value the experience of someone whose been on her.

 

 

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We love the Royal and have booked the 49 day repo from FLL to LA around South America. I,too, am a bit concerned sbout space for viewing the scenery.

 

The balconies are pricey but the obstructed view balconies are much more ressonable. You might want to check them out. That being said, there is nice space on deck 7 aft.

 

Cheers, Denise

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Too bad the Coral isn't an option, but it's not.

 

 

It might be Shepp. It’s doing the southbound route a couple of days earlier so it’s possible. I don’t really know anything about the coral though and not many recent vids of island on YouTube either

 

 

 

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We love the Royal and have booked the 49 day repo from FLL to LA around South America. I,too, am a bit concerned sbout space for viewing the scenery.

 

 

 

The balconies are pricey but the obstructed view balconies are much more ressonable. You might want to check them out. That being said, there is nice space on deck 7 aft.

 

 

 

Cheers, Denise

 

 

 

Hi Denise

 

Wow that sounds an awesome cruise.

 

For some reason it jumps by £1k per person between lowest grade inside (which is what we booked) and lowest grade balcony.

 

Yes she really does look beautiful. By deck 7 aft do you mean the area outside Vista lounge that is part of what would have been the promenade? It does look nice but just so limited in size for such a large ship and with everyone wanting to be out on deck at the same time (Marjorie glacier at 2pm etc etc)

 

 

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Hi Denise

 

Wow that sounds an awesome cruise.

 

For some reason it jumps by £1k per person between lowest grade inside (which is what we booked) and lowest grade balcony.

 

Yes she really does look beautiful. By deck 7 aft do you mean the area outside Vista lounge that is part of what would have been the promenade? It does look nice but just so limited in size for such a large ship and with everyone wanting to be out on deck at the same time (Marjorie glacier at 2pm etc etc)

 

 

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Yes, outside the Vista Lounge. We had an obstructed view balcony above it on the Regal. It’s what we had booked for the Royal but I couldn't deal with all the lights at night and people coming in and out.

 

We are very excited. It is going to be an amazing advernture. Leaving on the Grand tomorrow for a 7 day coastal. I think a grand class ship is your best bet for not having a lot of blue glass.

 

Good luck with your research. There is a perfect ship out there for you.

 

Cheers, Denise

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Is there a particular reason you are choosing the NorthBound over the Southbound.

 

We did Southbound on the Coral....

We started out staking out a spot on the Promenade. Then realized when it came to the real viewing, coming into the glaciers etc... we went up higher to really get that spectacular viewpoint!

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Hi wishing

 

Reason for doing northbound: it’s a ten hour flight plus drive to airport and prob overnight hotel so maybe 36 hours total travel time and we’d like to get over jet lag and settle in to new time zone in Vancouver for three days then be relaxed by time cruise starts.

 

 

Other reason is we prefer doing cities before nature on holidays the holiday becomes more and more relaxing as we go.

 

When we do nature first we find the city jarring and unpleasant after having wound down.

 

But I wouldn’t rule southbound out if coral is the right ship and the price is right.

 

We are actually awkward in that we have a tight window available so it’s first two weeks June. If it were a bit later or earlier coral would be doing northbound.

 

But north or south doesn’t matter as much as choosing right ship. I just read coral was designed specifically for Alaska? That sounds promising. I just worry she’s a bit dated but am looking into it now.

 

 

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Hi wishing

 

Reason for doing northbound: it’s a ten hour flight plus drive to airport and prob overnight hotel so maybe 36 hours total travel time and we’d like to get over jet lag and settle in to new time zone in Vancouver for three days then be relaxed by time cruise starts.

 

 

Other reason is we prefer doing cities before nature on holidays the holiday becomes more and more relaxing as we go.

 

When we do nature first we find the city jarring and unpleasant after having wound down.

 

But I wouldn’t rule southbound out if coral is the right ship and the price is right.

 

We are actually awkward in that we have a tight window available so it’s first two weeks June. If it were a bit later or earlier coral would be doing northbound.

 

But north or south doesn’t matter as much as choosing right ship. I just read coral was designed specifically for Alaska? That sounds promising. I just worry she’s a bit dated but am looking into it now.

 

 

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Im sorry II don' know the answer to your question.

 

However, I love the fact that you have recognized that the city is and jarring for you after the cruise.

 

I would have never in a million years thought through that when booking my cruises.

 

Thank you for sharing that insight.

 

I'm sure it will make a huge difference in my future Cruise planning.

 

Good luck with your research.

 

I look forward to hearing what you end up doing .

 

Please come back and tell us.

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We've done 3 southbound cruises on the Star and all were great, as were the roundtrips we did on the Golden from Seattle and on the Grand from San Francisco. And we are doing another Southbound on the Royal next year and looking forward to it. There's plenty of room outdoors, enough for everyone to have great viewing of the majesty of Alaska. Sure it is missing the covered Promenade deck but all of the indoor spaces are so much better than what the other ships have to offer. You'll be fine with any of the options.

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