Live From the Grand Princess, 22-Day Alaska B2B, Apr 30 - May 22

[milogurd]

49 minutes ago, silkismom said:

Pre-Covid, I think there was a Senior discount on the Sky Train.

They still offer "concession fares":

https://www.translink.ca/transit-fares/pricing-and-fare-zones

[Paula_MacFan]

@Ken the cruiser I'd love to hear any feedback or insight you have into the new features mentioned in this post, specifically the Voyage to the Stars Northern Lights theater presentation.  Thanks!

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

For those who are interested:  

 

Have you found/had contact with the "mysterious" concierge on the Grand?  Who is s/he?

 

Who is the Assistant Manager in the Reserve Collection MDR?  

 

It's been sooooo long since I've been on the Grand.  Tell "her" that I miss her.

 

Thanks

The suite concierge is Rehana, and no, we have not heard from her yet. As far as the Reserve Manager goes, we’re heading there in a few minutes for our initial visit, as we went to the Crown Grill last night and Sabatini’s for breakfast this morning.

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

@Ken the cruiser I'd love to hear any feedback or insight you have into the new features mentioned in this post, specifically the Voyage to the Stars Northern Lights theater presentation.  Thanks!

 

 

I’ll definitely post any information we may hear about it. The lecture we’re going to this afternoon is called “Welcome To Alaska”. It will be interesting to see if they mention this new program. I would hope so.

[Ken the cruiser]

45 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

For those who are interested:  

 

Have you found/had contact with the "mysterious" concierge on the Grand?  Who is s/he?

 

Who is the Assistant Manager in the Reserve Collection MDR?  

 

It's been sooooo long since I've been on the Grand.  Tell "her" that I miss her.

 

Thanks

Just found out the Reserve Manager is Toru. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, arizonaperson said:

@Ken the cruiser

Thanks!,

just my curiosity. It’s so much better when somebody is actually on a ship to ask these questions. Another CC poster said they got diet Dr Pepper on Regal Princess this year,but again I’ve just never heard of it on Princess,but it very well could be a new thing or varies from ship to ship. So just taking an informal poll and if you don’t have time, not a problem.

I know there would be a lot of happy people if Dr Pepper was available and if diet Dr Pepper was available they’d probably be happy too,but I just don’t think it is available on Princess.

I just checked at the Explorers Lounge and they do not serve Dr Pepper, but they do offer root beer.

[Nikulai]

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Cruise Mapper

 

I usually do an internet search using “<ship name> current location” and then look for the Cruise Mapper link.

 

They have an app as well. 

 

[arizonaperson]

@Ken the cruiser thanks so much for checking on the NO Dr. Pepper situation. I didn’t think Princess offered it,but another CC member said they had Diet Dr. P. On Regal, just checking to see what ship might have it. But in my experience, Princess does not carry this.

 

[hobo1937]

Which dining room served Reserve Collection lunch? 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, hobo1937 said:

Which dining room served Reserve Collection lunch? 

The Da Vinci Dining Room, Midship, deck 6, starboard side.

[hobo1937]

Thanks. The event list from Embarkation day showed lunch in Botticelli and today's list showed lunch and breakfast in Botticelli and also in Da Vinci for Reserve Collection. Never remember them using 2 dining rooms for breakfast and lunch. 

 

[wallyj]

34 minutes ago, hobo1937 said:

Thanks. The event list from Embarkation day showed lunch in Botticelli and today's list showed lunch and breakfast in Botticelli and also in Da Vinci for Reserve Collection. Never remember them using 2 dining rooms for breakfast and lunch. 

 

I believe Princess has started using 2 dining rooms because ‘Reserve Collection’ is usually at deck6 midship restaurant. It seems some ships have moved breakfast and lunch to the aft deck6 dining room for everyone else. I asked about this last year and was told the aft deck6 dining room is larger.

[XBGuy]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just found out the Reserve Manager is Toru. 

 

I am not familiar with the title "Reserve Manager?"  Is he the manager of the Reserve Collection Dining Room or is he something else?

[ba5eline]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Then it took another 90 minutes to go through the checkin process. The main cause for this horrendous delay was that the embarking passengers associated with all 3 ships were being processed through the same cruise terminal, where normally there is only 1-2 ships in port on any given day! 😱 

 

Sorry to hear it took so long for transport and check-in.

 

May I ask if you had to stand for most of this 90 minutes of check-in or were there chairs along the way?

 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

I am not familiar with the title "Reserve Manager?"  Is he the manager of the Reserve Collection Dining Room or is he something else?

Yes, he is the manager of the Reserve Collection Dining Room. 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, hobo1937 said:

Thanks. The event list from Embarkation day showed lunch in Botticelli and today's list showed lunch and breakfast in Botticelli and also in Da Vinci for Reserve Collection. Never remember them using 2 dining rooms for breakfast and lunch. 

 

They moved the “regular” dinners to Botticelli on most ships to avoid the issue with people being told to wait for breakfast and lunch who see empty tables in reserve and then try to walk in there. I saw that on several cruises and it was a real problem for the hosts

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, ba5eline said:

Sorry to hear it took so long for transport and check-in.

 

May I ask if you had to stand for most of this 90 minutes of check-in or were there chairs along the way?

You had to stand the whole time as there was no place to sit that I remember.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Went to the afternoon lecture “Welcome to Alaska” given by Pete Griffin. He did a good job, although the way the Vista Lounge is setup with a very slight seating incline, we had a hard time seeing any of the three screens.

My hands were high in the air when I took this picture. Lesson learned: go at least 30-45 minutes early to get a good seat if a lecture is presented in the Vista Lounge. 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

One piece of knowledge we gained from the lecture was to check out https://happywhale.com/browse when looking for any recent whale sightings in a given area around the globe. In this example there have been two reported sightings in the past month where we are currently headed, Sitka, with a lot more sightings noted in the Inside Passage.

 

 
He also mentioned there is a potential for possibly seeing the Northern Lights tomorrow evening around midnight once we depart Sitka if the sky is clear. Here’s what NOAA is predicting for the next two nights. 🤞

 

Edited May 1 by Ken the cruiser

[Nikulai]

53 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

Went to the afternoon lecture “Welcome to Alaska” given by Pete Griffin. He did a good job, although the way the Vista Lounge is setup with a very slight seating incline, we had a hard time seeing any of the three screens.

 

It was standing room only in there. It should have been in the Princess Theater. 

 

I am hoping his future sessions are either live streamed and/or recorded and available on the cabin tv. That's what they did on the Ruby for the Panama canal. 

Edited May 1 by Nikulai

[Ken the cruiser]

We totally agree. It appears Deal or No Deal was scheduled for the theater from 1-2 pm, and we guess they didn’t want folks to come pouring in while that was going on. We’re also guessing, in hindsight of course, that a lot of folks stuck around after the 1 pm game show in the Vista Lounge to watch the lecture. Lesson learned if that scheduling scenario comes up again. We’ll be going to the game show to make sure we get a good seat for the ensuing lecture. 😉

[Nikulai]

4 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Lesson learned if that scheduling scenario comes up again. We’ll be going to the game show to make sure we get a good seat for the ensuing lecture. 😉

I did get there early. It was bingo before so had to sit through Fortuna Luck for 15 or so minutes. 

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, Nikulai said:

I did get there early. It was bingo before so had to sit through Fortuna Luck for 15 or so minutes. 

That’s weird they would have their gambling events, bingo and Deal or No Deal at the same time. The Patter said it was the game show Survey It in the Vista Lounge from 1-1:45pm. In any event, hopefully you got good seats! 

[Nikulai]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That’s weird they would have their gambling events, bingo and Deal or No Deal at the same time. The Patter said it was the game show Survey It in the Vista Lounge from 1-1:45pm. In any event, hopefully you got good seats! 

Maybe I'm misremembering. 

 

I did relatively but was off to the side and couldn't see his laser pointer. 

[cr8tiv1]

Since when did the $$$ revenue events take precedents over the informational enrichment lectures SMH....aka Sheldon Cooper.

 

It should have had priority in the Princess Theater.