Sailing Royal Princess 1 June 2024: what questions can I answer?

[Fishbone]

@_rusty_shackleford 

 

We board the Royal on July 20, sailing from Whittier to Vancouver. We completed the same itinerary last year on the Majestic, but I can't remember what time we were able to disembark in Vancouver. If you would be kind enough to post the disembarkation times for Vancouver, I would greatly appreciate it! I'm trying to book the Quick Shuttle, which departs directly from the cruise level of Canada Place at 9:10AM. I think we can make that, but I wanted to double check. I think the earliest "express walk off is 7:30AM"? Safe travels! Enjoy your cruise!

[_rusty_shackleford]

1 minute ago, Fishbone said:

@_rusty_shackleford 

 

We board the Royal on July 20, sailing from Whittier to Vancouver. We completed the same itinerary last year on the Majestic, but I can't remember what time we were able to disembark in Vancouver. If you would be kind enough to post the disembarkation times for Vancouver, I would greatly appreciate it! I'm trying to book the Quick Shuttle, which departs directly from the cruise level of Canada Place at 9:10AM. I think we can make that, but I wanted to double check. I think the earliest "express walk off is 7:30AM"? Safe travels! Enjoy your cruise!

You'd need to look up your itinerary unfortunately. The way the tides work in Vancouver can make arrival and departure times vary. For example, we were on the Majestic last May and walked off at about 7:30am, but we're not even due back in Vancouver until 9am this time due to the tide schedule.

[Fishbone]

4 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

You'd need to look up your itinerary unfortunately. The way the tides work in Vancouver can make arrival and departure times vary. For example, we were on the Majestic last May and walked off at about 7:30am, but we're not even due back in Vancouver until 9am this time due to the tide schedule.

 

@_rusty_shackleford Very helpful! Thank you so much! I just checked my travel itinerary & it lists 7:30AM next to Vancouver. Do you think that is subject to change, or would the tides have already been considered? Again, thank you so much. That is not something that was on my radar!

[_rusty_shackleford]

Just now, Fishbone said:

 

@_rusty_shackleford Very helpful! Thank you so much! I just checked my travel itinerary & it lists 7:30AM next to Vancouver. Do you think that is subject to change, or would the tides have already been considered? Again, thank you so much. That is not something that was on my radar!

That should be pretty well a set time as long as there aren't any mechanical or immigration issues.

 

You should be fine with making that 9:10 departure as long as you're ready to go as soon as they announce they're ready for walk-offs. I think last year when we arrived around 7 we were off at like 7:20ish.

[Fishbone]

2 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

That should be pretty well a set time as long as there aren't any mechanical or immigration issues.

 

You should be fine with making that 9:10 departure as long as you're ready to go as soon as they announce they're ready for walk-offs. I think last year when we arrived around 7 we were off at like 7:20ish.

 

@_rusty_shackleford Wonderful! Thanks again! Really appreciate it! I hope you're having a fantastic time aboard the Royal! Really looking forward to it!

Edited June 7 by Fishbone

[mattR]

8 hours ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

 

 

 

Very sorry for the delay. I just checked with guest services, and they told me approximately 6:30am for first debark and first bus to the airport leaves about 6:45am. This will of course depend on how fast the ship is cleared. I’m not sure if they start that process first thing in the morning or if they do when we arrive around 00:00 Friday/Saturday.

Thanks so much for this info if you happen to be up bright and early tomorrow can you take a look and see if this is true in reality:)  

[_rusty_shackleford]

Just now, mattR said:

Thanks so much for this info if you happen to be up bright and early tomorrow can you take a look and see if this is true in reality:)  

Shouldn't be an issue. I believe that's about when we've been able to get off in the past. My wife and I are going to hike to Portage Pass Glacier while everyone else is trading places, and we typically leave fairly early in the morning this time of year so the snow is still mostly compacted. I'll let you know what I see for debark.

[Italy52]

@_rusty_shackleford, thank you for your post, I appreciate you answering questions.  We just got off the Royal May 18-June1st cruise. We will be returning on the Royal August 10-24th, same itinerary.  If you don't mind, can you post if you got an Immigration/Customs form PRIOR to debarkation in Vancouver.  We were handed ours after debarking the ship and in line for our clearance.  It was quite hectic for all trying to move along luggage, fill out a form and then present it to the authorities.  Also, our disembarkation time was delayed to 9:30 AM from 6:30AM like our original itinerary showed -- no word as to why.  So, if you could, please verify when you will be getting off the ship when you have the final notification time shown on the disembarkation form.  If you have eaten in the buffet, did you notice that fresh cut fruit was scarce and that American cold cereal options were very minimal?  Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@_rusty_shackleford, thank you for your post, I appreciate you answering questions.  We just got off the Royal May 18-June1st cruise. We will be returning on the Royal August 10-24th, same itinerary.  If you don't mind, can you post if you got an Immigration/Customs form PRIOR to debarkation in Vancouver.  We were handed ours after debarking the ship and in line for our clearance.  It was quite hectic for all trying to move along luggage, fill out a form and then present it to the authorities.  Also, our disembarkation time was delayed to 9:30 AM from 6:30AM like our original itinerary showed -- no word as to why.  So, if you could, please verify when you will be getting off the ship when you have the final notification time shown on the disembarkation form.  If you have eaten in the buffet, did you notice that fresh cut fruit was scarce and that American cold cereal options were very minimal?  Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

Large ships coming into and out of Vancouver are dependent on the tides for times

Edited June 8 by memoak

[_rusty_shackleford]

18 hours ago, mattR said:

Thanks so much for this info if you happen to be up bright and early tomorrow can you take a look and see if this is true in reality:)  

6:30ish for first debark was about right. Most people will not be doing self-assist in Whittier so you should be able to get off with ease if you're ready.

[Italy52]

Just now, memoak said:

Large ships coming into and out of Vancouver are dependent on the tides. 

Got that.  Have sailed out of Vancouver many times and usually some sort of explanation is provided; we were all wondering what was going on.  Lots of people were scrambling to change flights, long lines for walk off, tempers were short.  Fortunately, we had a 1:30pm flight.  We did walk-off and caught a cab so we were OK. 

[_rusty_shackleford]

5 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@_rusty_shackleford, thank you for your post, I appreciate you answering questions.  We just got off the Royal May 18-June1st cruise. We will be returning on the Royal August 10-24th, same itinerary.  If you don't mind, can you post if you got an Immigration/Customs form PRIOR to debarkation in Vancouver.  We were handed ours after debarking the ship and in line for our clearance.  It was quite hectic for all trying to move along luggage, fill out a form and then present it to the authorities.  Also, our disembarkation time was delayed to 9:30 AM from 6:30AM like our original itinerary showed -- no word as to why.  So, if you could, please verify when you will be getting off the ship when you have the final notification time shown on the disembarkation form.  If you have eaten in the buffet, did you notice that fresh cut fruit was scarce and that American cold cereal options were very minimal?  Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

I've had no issues getting the standard fruit offerings (watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, etc.) in the buffet. I think I recall like 4-5 cereal offerings like granola, raisin bran, frosted flakes, etc. every morning as well. I've never noticed a shortage of anything in the buffet.

 

Will be happy to update you on debark. We're supposed to be off around 9-9:30am. I remember getting customs forms/ArriveCAN the night before in the past so I'm not sure what the issue was with your cruise. Hopefully it's smooth again this time but I'll let you know.

[KarmaCruisers]

To interject on the fresh fruit selection on Royal class buffet (World Fresh MarketPlace)

it is among the best I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship! It’s literally the reason I almost only sail Royal class; the food choices (including fresh fruit) are amazing.

[_rusty_shackleford]

Just now, KarmaCruisers said:

To interject on the fresh fruit selection on Royal class buffet (World Fresh MarketPlace)

it is among the best I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship! It’s literally the reason I almost only sail Royal class; the food choices (including fresh fruit) are amazing.

We've only ever sailed the Royal class but I've never found myself lacking for fruit, even during the pandemic. Apples, bananas, oranges, melons, and pineapples have always been easily accessible. If you come expecting unlimited berries all the time I suppose you'd be disappointed but we've always been really happy with the buffet quality on Princess. I personally believe it to be consistently better than the MDR on Carnival ships.

[Italy52]

@_rusty_shacklefordThanks for the quick response, I appreciate it. 

 

With regard to the shortage of a few buffet items, we think the fruit and cereal were due to the ship using up supplies from the prior cruise and ours was not fully stocked for our cruise.  We had Rice Krispies that were shaped like little pellets, Ginger Ale from China, minimal fruit offerings at times and lots of dedicated Asian dishes.  We are very light eaters so we tend to gravitate towards the buffet; glad to hear things are looking up in the buffet.

[_rusty_shackleford]

1 minute ago, Italy52 said:

@_rusty_shacklefordThanks for the quick response, I appreciate it. 

 

With regard to the shortage of a few buffet items, we think the fruit and cereal were due to the ship using up supplies from the prior cruise and ours was not fully stocked for our cruise.  We had Rice Krispies that were shaped like little pellets, Ginger Ale from China, minimal fruit offerings at times and lots of dedicated Asian dishes.  We are very light eaters so we tend to gravitate towards the buffet; glad to hear things are looking up in the buffet.

They've still got some Asian things like sodas on board. Funny you mention the supply issue- I heard from staff they had started to run out of things like water bottles on the voyage before ours and we were late out of Vancouver to load extra supplies. Hopefully that issue has been resolved going forward. No noticable shortages the first 7 days for us.

[Italy52]

11 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

To interject on the fresh fruit selection on Royal class buffet (World Fresh MarketPlace)

it is among the best I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship! It’s literally the reason I almost only sail Royal class; the food choices (including fresh fruit) are amazing.

We enjoy the Royal class buffet as well. 

[mattR]

On 6/8/2024 at 1:49 PM, _rusty_shackleford said:

6:30ish for first debark was about right. Most people will not be doing self-assist in Whittier so you should be able to get off with ease if you're ready.

Thanks for the info

[Josephc]

Does the ship have Coke Zero? I can't drink that Diet Coke crap. Thanks. 

[ninka26]

On 6/7/2024 at 2:10 PM, _rusty_shackleford said:

A couple of other general notes and observations:

 

-Starlink has been nothing short of excellent. Enough bandwidth to stream Netflix/other apps. Occasional spotty ~10 second lags/buffers but very strong service in places where other satellite has struggled in the past like Skagway and Glacier Bay. I'd be happy to provide up/down/latency numbers if anyone is interested in more detail.

 

-This may surprise a lot of you (tongue, meet cheek) but the app has shortcomings onboard that aren't apparent on land. It does not display opening or closing times of bars or restaurants, and does not display any menus beyond the main dining room and specialty restaurants. I'd highly recommend taking a picture of the Patter every day for reference or bringing it with you. It's a minor inconvenience but would be a major quality of life improvement.

 

Thank you for this suggestion. I'll be on the southbound Whittier to Vancouver on the July 20th sailing and really appreciate your insights.

[_rusty_shackleford]

19 hours ago, Josephc said:

Does the ship have Coke Zero? I can't drink that Diet Coke crap. Thanks. 

I don't believe so. I know several people have asked and I've never seen it. I think Coke and Diet are your only options onboard.

 

What you could do is bring some Zero on with you (you get a 12 pack per person) and get more in every port to bring on.

[cruise_critical]

I'll be on the Royal later this year. Can't wait!

Do magnets stick to the ceiling on most staterooms?

[adoris]

On 6/8/2024 at 2:05 PM, KarmaCruisers said:

To interject on the fresh fruit selection on Royal class buffet (World Fresh MarketPlace)

it is among the best I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship! It’s literally the reason I almost only sail Royal class; the food choices (including fresh fruit) are amazing.

On the May 11th from Anchorage to Vancouver…the fruit, except for cantaloupe and honeydew was non-existent.  A lot of other items seemed to be in short supply…vegetables were lacking in the dining room and salad dressings and soups were watered down.  From previous cruises I know that this is totally unusual…..but it really affected the overall cruise experience.  This had to be due to supply issues and overindulgence on the previous cruise.

[Italy52]

@_rusty_shackleford, did you get a Princess tote bag in your cabin? Just wondering as we did not get one on either leg of our May back-to-back cruises.  Got them earlier on other cruises -- just not the 14 day cruise.

[_rusty_shackleford]

Just now, Italy52 said:

@_rusty_shackleford, did you get a Princess tote bag in your cabin? Just wondering as we did not get one on either leg of our May back-to-back cruises.  Got them earlier on other cruises -- just not the 14 day cruise.

I've never actually heard of or seen tote bags on this or any of our previous Princess cruises, and we've been with Princess since 2022. Didn't even know it was a thing!