Live from Royal Princess sailing May 2, 2022 for 12 nights rountrip from Vancouver to Alaska

[AstoriaPreppy]

I haven’t posted in the thread since we sailed, but today was a *major* screwup by the Royal Princess crew. 
 

We’re sailing in Glacier Bay today, and were  lucky to score spectacular weather. Having been here before, we know the drill with park rangers coming on board and narrating throughout the day. 
 

We were on the open decks, and got about 1/2 hour of ranger narration on and off, starting at about 8 am. Then, nothing. More nothing. A high pitched static. Then some sort of adult contemporary music. Then even more nothing. 
 

Apparently, the PA system went down, and the crew was unable to resolve the issue  for *hours.* We didn’t get ranger narration back until about a half hour after we left  Margerie glacier. Some of the other rangers were wandering the deck, and seemed p*asked when I asked about it. When I reached out using the medallion app crew chat, they seemed to know they narration was not working in the cabins on the bridge cam, but not that it wasn’t playing on the open decks. 
 

Eventually the narrating ranger came back on around 11:45 or noon, apologized for the technical issues, and narrated a quick trip into Johns Hopkins inlet and a bit on our way out of the bay. 
 

Still, this was exasperating as a passenger, and especially for the rangers with no real way to communicate with the 1,600+ passengers onboard. I felt especially bad for the Alaska newbies who had no idea all of the information they were missing. 

[AstoriaPreppy]

8 hours ago, Wulfwyn said:

Only 2 dining rooms are open.  Deck 6 mid and aft.  Allegro and Concerto. Crown Grill is open.  Sabatini's is closed for dinner.   

The fun part is that Sabatini’s being closed for dinner is not listed in the app, or in the Dine My Way system. 
 

I know this because I went into DMW on the stateroom TV (it has been completely non-functional in the medallion app for the duration of the cruise), and made a reservation for tonight. It was only this afternoon while chatting with another passenger on the deck that I learned from that passenger that Sabatini’s had been closed for the entire trip… yet is still accepting reservations. 
 

I did a crew chat, and they verified it was closed and they would be happy to cancel the reservation we made a few hours ago for us. 🙄

[ebeluga]

16 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Yes.  It’s on the left hand side by the magic Medallion box.  You’ll need dainty fingers.  Once your HDMI cable is plugged in, tune to the Bridge Cam or other live channel.  Reach under the dead-center front of the TV, hit the button you’ll feel.  A menu will pop up.  Select HDMI. Voila. 

Thx! While you are at it, is there any sleep timer setting for the TV? 🙂

[xltiny]

12 hours ago, mrsskyhook said:

If you have issues with Journey View, try logging off and back on. Click on your photo top left, then select log off. You can also get into the old system (pre medallion) Ocean Concierge  by navigating to royal.princess.com  It works great.

Thanks that got it working!

[nini]

15 hours ago, Wulfwyn said:

Sabatini's is only closed for dinner on this cruise.   Technically issues.  Seams like a lot of technical issues on this cruise.  We are just calling it the shakedown cruise.   The cruise will have most of the issues  fix by next cruise.  At least I hope so.

We are on the Emerald. Sabatinis is closed... One restaurant choice for your special complimentary dinner. I think all of the closed Sabatinis is due to labor shortage?

[hapster85]

On 5/8/2022 at 10:25 AM, Yehootu said:

Unfortunately my Verizon plan is $80 for a month. We are just going to use the online tests and go from there. We will be in Victoria the day before flying home, so we'll take our tests there.

Are you on a prepaid or very old postpaid plan? I thought most (all?) current plans included both Canada and Mexico. I know ours does. We're on the lowest tier unlimited.

[Wulfwyn]

So far I believe  I have seen 4 chefs table. I know of 1 wine makers table so far on this cruise 

Patter for day 9

[mrsskyhook]

[mrsskyhook]

As you can see by reading the pages posted above, Princess is being very proactive to be certain everyone clears customs and immigration effortlessly when we get back to Canada.  It is a bit odd to fill in and submit my declaration before our Ketchikan stop, but I am sure there are good reasons for it. 

 

In addition, planning for disembarking in Vancouver is being done. You will note that Princess will provide COVID testing for those who are departing from Canada by air immediately after the cruise. 

[XBGuy]

1 hour ago, Wulfwyn said:

So far I believe  I have seen 4 chefs table. I know of 1 wine makers table so far on this cruise 

 

 

Four Chef's Table events on one cruise????????

 

To say that is unusual is an understatement.  I have heard of two Chef's Table events on a cruise, but typically, there will only be one per cruise, and that seems to be regardless of the cruise length.

 

I wonder if the closure of Sabatini's is the reason for this.

 

[mrsskyhook]

We dined at the Crown Grill last night. Really a disappointing meal. Lyle enjoyed his scallop appetiser, but his rib eye steak was luke warm. His side dishes of mushrooms and fries were fridge cold. I ordered the lobster tail and baked potato. Both were very overcooked. That poor potato must have been in the oven for a couple days!  That bring said, many have reported that the filet is fabulous.

 

I personally did not appreciate how this "speciality" restaurant was so open to the wheelhouse bar, and the "sing along" style music being done there. It was not condusive to fine dining.  

 

We have returned to our club class dining in Concerto and have promised not to stray again

Edited May 10, 2022 by mrsskyhook

[cr8tiv1]

15 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

Four Chef's Table events on one cruise????????

 

To say that is unusual is an understatement.  I have heard of two Chef's Table events on a cruise, but typically, there will only be one per cruise, and that seems to be regardless of the cruise length.

 

I wonder if the closure of Sabatini's is the reason for this.

 

 

On my Sea of Cortez (10 day) voyage, they had 4 Chef's Table events in the Crown Grill.  It was fascinating to watch the parade of waiters go by.  Hmmmm...could these waiters have been stolen from Sabatini's now? (both restaurants were open on my cruise). A money maker for Princess.

[mrsskyhook]

Glacier bay

[mrsskyhook]

Glacier bay from our balcony

[beg3yrs]

42 minutes ago, mrsskyhook said:

...

 

In addition, planning for disembarking in Vancouver is being done. You will note that Princess will provide COVID testing for those who are departing from Canada by air immediately after the cruise. 

Enjoy that service as you'll be one of the last to get it. Princess has announced to 'circumstances beyond their control' they will no longer provide COVID testing for those who are departing by air on disembarkation day. They will however reimburse you but they don't say how to submit a claim for reimbursement. Of course they don't tell you just what those circumstances are either.

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

@mrsskyhook  So glad the weather cleared up for you.  Gorgeous day for sailing through Glacier Bay.  Stunning photos.  Thank you for sharing.

[Italy52]

47 minutes ago, mrsskyhook said:

 

In addition, planning for disembarking in Vancouver is being done. You will note that Princess will provide COVID testing for those who are departing from Canada by air immediately after the cruise. 

Your cruise is lucky.  We are on a June B2B out of Vancouver and Princess has discontinued this service.  We received an email from them --- if we need a test to fly home, we will have to make our own arrangements.

[gbphipps]

Happy Anniversary and thank you for taking us along on your cruise.  We are going on a 10 day land tour followed by the June 18th Southbound on the Royal.  It will be interesting to see what things change by then.  We will be celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary on the 23rd of June.  It should be a great anniversary celebration!

[Buckeye10640]

45 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

Enjoy that service as you'll be one of the last to get it. Princess has announced to 'circumstances beyond their control' they will no longer provide COVID testing for those who are departing by air on disembarkation day. They will however reimburse you but they don't say how to submit a claim for reimbursement. Of course they don't tell you just what those circumstances are either.

 

 

I have not seen any reference to reimbursement fo testing

[PhotoGal07]

1 hour ago, mrsskyhook said:

As you can see by reading the pages posted above, Princess is being very proactive to be certain everyone clears customs and immigration effortlessly when we get back to Canada.  It is a bit odd to fill in and submit my declaration before our Ketchikan stop, but I am sure there are good reasons for it. 

 

In addition, planning for disembarking in Vancouver is being done. You will note that Princess will provide COVID testing for those who are departing from Canada by air immediately after the cruise. 

I'll be curious to see if this happens for future cruises.  I think this cruise was one of the last before they started changing the verbage for testing upon departure.  It's been frustrating to follow.

[Yehootu]

We plan on doing our eMed test in Victoria. Can someone please let us know if the internet is good enough, I guess if not we'll just do it in a pub with wifi.

 By the posts here made daily, it seems as if the internet is working good on this sailing.

      Mahalo

[mrs.seaweed]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! And happy anniversary!! We are boarding the Royal on the 21st -- this thread is super timely and helpful! 🙂

[AstoriaPreppy]

5 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

We plan on doing our eMed test in Victoria. Can someone please let us know if the internet is good enough, I guess if not we'll just do it in a pub with wifi.

 By the posts here made daily, it seems as if the internet is working good on this sailing.

      Mahalo

Service issues/ship quirks aside, we’re having a great time. That said, one thing I would note is that the MedallionNet internet service has been abysmal on this voyage. It’s almost like someone forgot to turn on the connection… it’s almost unusable, especially if you’re trying to do any work. 
 

We’re talking basic tasks: sharing photos in a family group chat takes minutes. Trying to download an app (or even connect to the App Store) is a total fail. Streaming anything (music) is inoperable. Even opening my work Outlook to download emails on my phone is a multi minute process. 
 

Not sure what the deal is, but we’re absolutely not receiving anything remotely “fastest internet at sea” speed. I wouldn’t recommend trying to use it for the emed test. 
 

[Wulfwyn]

This collection of food is from Horizon court. 

[Senga]

4 hours ago, mrsskyhook said:

We dined at the Crown Grill last night. Really a disappointing meal. Lyle enjoyed his scallop appetiser, but his rib eye steak was luke warm. His side dishes of mushrooms and fries were fridge cold. I ordered the lobster tail and baked potato. Both were very overcooked. That poor potato must have been in the oven for a couple days!  That bring said, many have reported that the filet is fabulous.

Why didn’t you send the food back?  Being served cold food, even if we weren’t paying a surcharge, is not acceptable.