jeromep
Members-
Posts
1,023 -
Joined
About Me
-
Location
Eastern Washington State
-
Interests
Cruising, rail travel, home improvement
-
Favorite Cruise Line(s)
Princess
-
Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
Alaska
Recent Profile Visitors
The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.
jeromep's Achievements
Cool Cruiser (2/15)
-
It is an exclusive place to hang out and relax. Special loungers. Special staff looking in on your. Some folks really go for it, some don't. It has never been my thing. Plus if you want a whole cruise pass, you have to basically be on board early on embarkation day to even get a whole cruise booked. Lots of people express frustration getting on board early and the whole cruise bookings are all gone. Since this is your first time on a large ship, I'd recommend just picking a day or two or showing up and seeing if they have space and paying just for the day or half day to see if it is really something you like. My family is not really into the buffet. Our first cruises we avoided the buffet like the plague. We would have most, if not all, our meals in the MDR, or we'd eat from the grill or pizza on the Lido. But the changes that Princess has made on the Royal class ships with hand washing stations at the buffet entry has markedly improved sanitation. On our lass cruise the food in the buffet was just as nice in appearance as the food in the MDR on most evenings. I'm not sure if they have retrofitted the hand washing stations on the Coral Princess, but I hope they have. Coral Princess is a smaller ship compared to the Royal Class ships or even the Grand Class ships. You'll have a much more intimate experience on board. By modern standards Island Princess and Coral Princess are not large ships, they are Panamax, so by definition just large enough to fit through the old canals. I think the smaller ship will be something you enjoy.
-
All good questions. I can't claim to answer all, but I'll take a few of them and do my best. Your cabin location is probably just fine. Don't go through the hassle of doing this. If the cabin is on starboard (right side) and you are doing a Pacific to Atlantic transit, then yes, you will be looking out to the ocean. However, the ships transit in the shipping lanes that our in International waters. You'll be anywhere from 15 miles to maybe 30 miles away from the shore when transiting distances between ports. So, from that distance you won't see any land. Remember, on flat land, the horizon is about 10 miles away, and then the curvature of the earth kicks in and you cannot see anything on land beyond that point. I've always liked "bump out" cabin balconies. There are certain coveted balcony rooms on ships and cabins with bump outs or extended length balconies are usually the ones that people clamor for. Since you have a Reserve Class mini, I'm not surprised that the balcony is just a bit better than a regular mini. A full suite would be nice, but you will have the Reserve dining option in the main dining room (MDR) for all meals. It is a nice touch and you get seated very quickly. I'm aware of the bid upgrade process, but have never used it. It is a bit like doing an eBay auction purchase. You basically commit to Princess a particular maximum additional fare you'd be willing to pay, and if the offer is high enough you'll get a cabin in that category. It is always possible that they show no availability in the suite category, but there may be a few cabins held back for travel agent bookings or contingencies. If you see a suite offered as an upgrade bid, you have nothing to loose really, except the additional expense you bid for the room. I opted on our last cruise to get them at the port. It didn't delay our ability to get on board and I didn't have any concerns about them getting to me before we got to port. On our next cruise we'll have them delivered to the house. I think it streamlines just a little the check-in process. But as others have said, you'll get them about 3 weeks before the cruise if you have already gone through the process of "ordering" them. Yep, that is a phone call to Princess. Not much we can offer here for advice. You can make those reservations in the app. I have mixed experience with this, but it is possible. Just be on the lookout for any charges that the app wants to make to you. My experience is that if you have the Premier package your first two reservations should zero out when you go to check out. It will want to behave as if it is going to charge your card, but then doesn't. It isn't very good interface design. The new Princess app sure looks better than the old one, and I think it runs better, too, but they still have some interface and process bugs in there that need to be ironed out. Yes, you can get reservations to specialty dining on embarkation night. We've done that on most of our cruises. Don't get the reservations you want on the app? Don't see the times you want? Too close to your cruise and they are not allowing reservations? Just use the app once on board and connected to the ship network to make the reservations, or call the dine line from your cabin.
-
I'm grateful that you didn't flame me on that. I've been to and from Seattle since I was a kid in the80s. It used to really be the Emerald City. It is still very beautiful from 1000 or 2000 feet as you approach the airport to land, but when you get on the ground, it isn't nearly as nice as is used to be. That is why when we visit Seattle, for a cruise or just for fun, we stay in south King County, in hotel properties in Kent or Renton, or around SeaTac. We Uber/Lyft or drive in for a few hours, park in a secured facility close to where we want to be, and then go back to the hotel at night. On our last cruise we did take Link home from the stadium. We had the fortune to be able to take in a baseball game the evening before our cruise. We Ubered from the hotel in SeaTac to T-Mobile Park; $55, surge pricing. When the game was over we then walked past Lumen Field to go to 13 Coins for dinner. From there it was a quick walk to the Link station which was just beyond King Street station. That is where things started to go south. Aimless people meandering around. Numerous individual sitting on the ground leaning against buildings. We got our tickets and went down the stairs to the platform going south. More odd people hanging about. Got on the train. One or two folks acting odd in our car. They got off early. We got off when we got to the airport station, but we still had a $8 Uber ride from a hotel near the airport Link station to our hotel a ways beyond the airport. Total cost of the link ride south, $6 for two people and and $8 Uber ride, so $14... and my nerves.
-
Quiet PreCruise Stay outside of Seattle
jeromep replied to cavaaller's topic in West Coast Departures
May I ask where you are traveling in from? What kind of hiking are you wanting to do? If it is just being out in the fresh air, there are numerous walk/run/bike paths and greenways that the local governments have installed over the years. A lot of this done to supposedly encourage commuting by bike, but very few employers and fewer employees are located along these paths to make commuting by bike on them realistic for many. Many are located along creeks and minor rivers, some along abandoned railroad right of way. Most are very nice, but be aware of your surroundings. If your goal is to go to Mt. Rainier, that is going to require a car and driving. It is over 2 hours from the SeaTac area to Paradise. They are doing timed entry tickets this year for the first time ever. This regulates entry into the park, so you'll also have to get the recreation.gov app and book your timed entry ticket and then plan your day accordingly to get there while your ticket is good. There are a number of vacation rentals near the park boundary, and you could always stay at the historic Paradise Lodge. There are plenty of hiking paths which start at Paradise Lodge and loop around. Most of these are going to be out and back hikes for day visitors. It is possible to circumnavigate the base of the mountain from these paths, but this is going to be a multi-night backpacking/camping type of hike. You have to be serious, have the gear, know what you are doing in the back country, and probably also have a back country camping permit. Another option is to take the train to Leavenworth. You'd book that on Amtrak. Leavenworth is on the east side of the Cascades. This will be a very scenic trip, it will go through the Cascade Tunnel, both historic and a real engineering feat. Leavenworth is a Bavarian themed town that is on the east side of the Cascades. It sits in a steep river valley and is very picturesque. Plenty of nice hotels there. You'd get on Amtrak at the King Street Station in Seattle. Leavenworth is just a whistle stop or flag stop. There is only a platform and a shack where the train stops, so you'll need to have reserved tickets and the train will be knowing to pick you up for your return to Seattle. The train doesn't stop unless there are scheduled pickups. Sorry, I don't know the time tables but that can all be found on Amtrak's web site. The train platform is over a mile from the center of town. There is limited ground transport. I believe you can get an Uber. The hotel might shuttle you, but ask them about that service before you book a room. The town is totally walkable and you can rent bikes, too. If you go I recommend the Bavarian Lodge or the Enzian Inn. If you want a 5 star experience, the Post Hotel is the newest and most luxurious of them all. Most of the nicer hotel properties in Leavenworth offer complimentary morning breakfast. Make your own waffles, plus sausage, eggs, cereal, breads and pastries. You can really make a meal out of it. So much free hotel breakfast in Leavenworth that there are only a couple of restaurants in town that offer breakfast, so keep that in mind. You can also book some guided activities like floating the Wenatchee River or other guided tours. I agree with @Gardyloo, those are good suggestions. If you are looking for a nice hotel in the SeaTac area, and rent a car to go other places, the Ceaderbrook Lodge near Seatac is a good jumping off point. It is nestled into a residential neighborhood on the hill overlooking the airport. You really can't hear the airport, and can barely see it from their rooms. It is a lovely hotel, easily a 4 or 4.5 star property, also operated by the same folks that operate the Salish Lodge. There are almost infinite options for what you are asking, I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. -
Reliable shuttle from Seattle Pier 91 to Seattle airport
jeromep replied to mhlcanada's topic in West Coast Departures
Seattle has regulated carshare services to the point that they are basically the same cost as taxis, within a few dollars per ride. I prefer the carshare services, Uber or Lyft, the experience is nearly identical. The vehicles are cleaner, the drivers are more personable, and the experience is cashless. It isn't uncommon for a taxi driver to pick you up and take you someplace then treat you, or your luggage, like dirt when they drop you off because you are paying with plastic. Uber and Lyft eliminate the hassle of paying for the ride at the end of the ride because the app handles it all. All it takes to check rates for any of the car share services is to download the app and then use the map to locate your beginning and ending point, and you'll get a rate albeit for the moment you are looking. A little advice from some recent experience, don't schedule rides rides in advance, like the night before your trip to the port from the hotel; the ride will usually cost you more than if you request the ride when you are ready to head to the port. My experience is that there is a premium charged for scheduled rides. -
Sailed out of Canada Place a few years ago. Our sailing was the first Princess ship calling at Vancouver for the spring/summer season. With only one ship in port, I wouldn't call it chaotic, but unlike other embarkation ports, there were very slow lines and many switchback queues. It isn't a huge open facility like most modern cruise ship port buildings. It's a lot like waiting in line at the DMV... with all your luggage. On the outside Canada Place is a striking piece of mid-80s architecture, on the inside (at least in the cruise terminal portion) it looks like a Carter administration government building. My local post office was built during the Carter administration, so I know how drab and boring that looks. Come to think of it, when Canada Place is filled with cruisers trying to embark, it looks a lot like our local Social Security office... but everyone has luggage.
-
We don't cruise often, but when we do we book suites. I've only done conventional tendering once without the priority tender embarkation that you get with booking a suite, but Princess tendering does feel slow. If you have priority tender embarkation then you get to skip the line, cut the line, really, but the "at sea" tender handling process feels quite slow, deliberate. I guess that is good, I mean we wouldn't want to have tenders crashing into each other at the ship or the dock, or a whole bunch of seasick pax because the tender pilot was Carol Shelby, but tendering with haste is not Princess's strong suit.
-
Oh, I get it. I could only tolerate the Piazza for a few minutes at a time most evenings. The entertainers on the ship during our sailing were all excellent, but it is super loud. I could never understand why they would have a good vocalist/pianist/stand up at the Piano in Crooners while at the same time they were playing music down on the floor of the Piazza. I enjoyed it when the Piazza shows ended for the evening and all that was left was the piano player at Crooners. Then Crooners "got hot" and was the place to be.
-
Unless they have completely torn apart the Ruby's dining room since we last sailed on her, the 2 tops in the dining room are mostly a curving banquet with a table for two and a chair on the other side. While they are 2 tops, you sit mere inches away from the people at the 2 top next to you. There are very few table and chairs for two in their dining rooms, but a couple of them are out there. And yes, if you have the reservation for a table for two in your app and you can see it in there, then it should also be in the service computers in the dining room. I recommend a polite conversation with the Maitre D, at some point in the near future. It will be much easier to get a 2 top later in the evening or very early in service, so if you can change when you dine, that will make your selection easier.
-
I agree, I love Take 5. First off, I'm inclined toward jazz in terms of instrumental music, but the space is just beautiful. Has a lot of natural light during the day, a great bar. When we were on the Discovery last July the Platinum, Elite, Suite nightly lounge was hosted there and it was a great way to get a snack and beverage before a later dinner. The sausage roll they had most nights was spectacular. I could have made a meal out of them. Great live music later in the evening too. That said, the Discovery is a beautiful ship. In general, Princess does put their A teams on their newer vessels. Wouldn't you, if you were running a cruise line? Sure, you want a consistent experience, but human variability is always in play. A theme amongst the fans here is that Princess doesn't impress... it is comfortable. There is glitz and glamor in some places, the Piazza is basically that space, but generally speaking once we have settled into our cabin, it feels like home. @Oakman58, I see a lot of references to sailing Norwegian in your signature. It is difficult to compare the two lines. While I suspect that you'll have an excellent cruise on the Discovery, especially since the ship is new, I can't help but wonder if you are hoping for the Norwegian vibe. I know that your experience on the Diamond wasn't good, and as you state, it was just post CVD and the ship was in a restart mode. I think the Discovery will give you a much better experience and be more indicative of the current state of Princess as a line.
-
Reserving Suite Complimentary 1st Night Specialty Dining
jeromep replied to vakamalua's topic in Princess Cruises
Just like @suekel we booked in the app for embarkation night and we were not charged. It zeroed out at the end of the transaction. If it doesn't and expects you to input card information... Then do what @memoak suggests and contact the dine line once on board or visit the concierge lounge to have them get you reservations. Yet another reason to get on board as soon as possible on embarkation day. I have usually left comped first night specialty dining reservations to chance and booked them once on board or through the concierge after getting on board. -
Well..., we were on Discovery last July and my wife and I both purchased the full cruise pass to the Enclave. The facility is nice, but compared to the spas on the older Grand class ships, I don't like either the overall location of the Lotus Spa or the cramped quarters the whole complex exists in. The Enclave is different than the thermal suites on the Grand class ships. First off, the centerpiece is a hydrotherapy pool that has a number of jetted stations where you let the water blast against various muscle groups, typically back and legs, along with some underwater loungers. It is a nice feature, when the pumps are running it is loud and kind of breaks the peace of the location. When the pumps' timer turns off, the room becomes library quiet, but somebody always turns it all back on. It has a similar collection of steam and thermal rooms, as compared to the thermal suites on Grand class ships, on the periphery of the hydrotherapy pool. And then there is a small selection of heated loungers on the port side of the Enclave. Relative to the number of people on board, the facility is way too small and was busy and crowded every time we visited. Not just on sea days, but on port days. And since it is part of the spa, it is only available during spa hours. Once the spa closes, well, your access does too. Once you purchase your pass, it is linked to your account and your medallion is what gets you in. They will verify your pass through your medalion when you arrive at the front desk, then hand you a key card that lets you come and go from the Enclave. My wife and I would change into swimwear in our cabin and then head down to the spa. It is usual procedure to head to the locker room, grab a robe and spa slippers, put your shirt and shoes in a locker and then head down the hallway to the enclave. The locker rooms are tiny and when it is busy you are rubbing shoulders with the guy next to you. Lockers have electronic locks that allowed for self coding, but they were not working, so nothing left behind in the locker was secured. I hope they got that fixed. After that, it was always chance if you would be able to find open loungers or if the Enclave was packed or not. When leaving you'd head back to the locker room, grab your things, put used robes, towels and sandals in the dirty hamper, and give your keycard to a spa staffer at the front desk. Would I purchase a pass again? Maybe, if I was fairly certain that the place wasn't jam packed with users at every visit. The major difference between the Enclave and regular thermal suites is basically just the presence of the hydrotherapy pool. Note that suite passengers get free access to thermal suites on the Grand class ships, but on the Royals with the Enclave, suite passengers still have to pay for the pass. Considering that the only major difference between the two is the presence of the hydrotherapy pool, I don't consider that a good exchange or amenity change, at least for those of us who typically book suites. I mentioned earlier that I liked the Lotus Spas on the Grand class over the Spa on the Royals. Simply put, the Spa on the Royals is low down on the ship, and the public areas are very dark, since they are all inside with no external lighting. The design cues that have been chosen for the new Lotus Spas are attractive, however it doesn't make up for the fact that the spa is basically a long rambling hallway with rooms on either side and no exterior views. The Lotus Spa on the Grand class is up high with natural light coming in from the windows that encircle the Lotus Pool, and waiting areas and treatment room access all get natural light from this space. Plus the treatment rooms in the Spa on the Grand class ships all have exterior windows allowing them to be light and bright inside. The treatment rooms on the Royals are a mix of outside rooms and inside rooms, which can be very dark. I haven't looked closely at where the spa is on the new Sun class ships, but I hope Princess made the choice to give them a lot more natural light and larger public spaces than what they did to the Spa on the Royals.
-
My wife has to visit the home office in Seattle three or so times a year. They usually put her up at the Mediterranean. It is nice, not 4 or 5 star nice, but it has nice rooms, is clean, and has a very nice roof deck with great views. It is located in the Lower Queen Ann neighborhood, and there is generally a decent amount of food available in walking distance in that area. The La Quinta is on the edge of Belltown. And as others have correctly stated, it is an office tower neighborhood, so it is sterile and caters to a day crowd. It has been a while, since I've hung out in Belltown, but my impression was that Belltown kind of folded up at night and didn't have a lot of food choice as the evening got late. It was more of a brunch/lunch neighborhood. That said, I always recommend staying farther south, closer to the airport. The hotel prices are much more reasonable and food is easily found, either in hotel restaurants, or some of the more notable restaurants in the SeaTac area. I'm a huge fan of 13 Coins and they are open very late. I think the SeaTac location is 24 hours, but I could be wrong. Seattle is not an inexpensive city, in fact it has become very expensive in the past 10 years.
-
While I understand that you are asking about public transit, I used Google maps to determine travel times. If you are moving from SeaTac to the hotel in light traffic, the travel time is not quite 20 minutes. On the other hand if you use Link, you are looking at 45 minutes. Plus Link can have some very sketchy characters on board, and isn't very clean. I'd always do an Uber or Lyft to and from the airport over taking public transit. Plus, when you get to Westlake you will be underground, and will have to pop up and, by my calculation, have to walk at least 2 blocks to the hotel. If you Uber, you will be dropped at the door. Downtown Seattle has a lot of "characters", more than I'm comfortable with anymore.
-
Alaska out of Seattle.....where to stay
jeromep replied to Beer Belly's topic in West Coast Departures
We've cruised out of Seattle a number of times. I much prefer to stay overnight before the cruise in hotels near SeaTac or in south King County and take an Uber/Lyft to the port the next day. It is a pretty rare unicorn to find a hotel in Seattle that offers shuttle service anyplace you really need to go. The only hotels that will shuttle you from the airport to the hotel are going to be the SeaTac area hotels. Virtually no hotel in Seattle proper offers shuttle service to/from the airport, although during the cruise season some hotels do arrange for shuttle service to/from the port through third-party providers or the van arm of a local cab company or limo company. I'll get back to that. Last year we stayed at the Ceaderbrook Lodge, which is down near SeaTac, but up the hill and stuffed way back in a residential zone. They had an affordable park and cruise fare, for a 4 star location. An Uber from that location to the port is about a 40 minute drive in weekend traffic and will run you anywhere between $50-80 including tip. We made the mistake of letting the front desk book a black SUV for us the morning of the cruise, that cost me a shade over $100, including tip, and the driver insisted that I pay in cash. We didn't make the same mistake on disembarkation. We booked an Uber SUV to take us back to the hotel, and for the same distance paid $70 including the tip and I didn't have to fumble with cash. I'm not a huge fan of using hotel provided or booked shuttles because there is a lot of hurry up and wait. With Uber or Lyft you walk out of your hotel room when you are ready to go to the port. Fire up the app, indicate which pier you are going to, and ask for a ride. You'll get a driver in less than 10 minutes and you'll know the price for the ride up front and you tip in the app. Every time I've used a hotel booked shuttle, my travel party is there, on-time, waiting for the shuttle, the people we are sharing with are late, confused, disorganized, trying to even up their account with the hotel, whatever, and delay the van getting going to the pier. And on a per/head basis, my travel party in a hotel shuttle costs about the same as my party in an UberSUV. When it comes to selecting where to stay before or after a cruise, ask what kind of hotel you want, look at online reviews and pricing and pick the one that you like the best. Leave the driving to carshare services and don't involve the hotel in your transportation.