Nodales

I love threads like this. We've cruised Princess for years and we're still learning new things. The pockets of my husband's dress pants were ripped from sitting in a dining chair with arms years ago. It's nice to know we can request armless chairs for our upcoming trip!

I'm about 350 lbs and I think the only thing I'm really worried about is the showers. I've seen so many comments about them being tiny that I keep picturing myself standing with one foot in the toilet and not being able to get clean at all. Is it as bad as I'm imagining?

Even average sized people find the showers uncomfortably small. My husband is a big guy and can't get his whole body in the shower.

However, some ships have open, outdoor showers by the Lotus Pool. So if you don't mind showering in a swim suit, it's a great alternative. :)

What brands of watches is Princess selling on board these days?

The Star had the Smokehouse bbq every evening on a recent sailing. Don't know how late they stayed open, but know it was at least until 930pm. It was a nice break from the dining room and specialties on a longer cruise after a busy port day. The onion rings were excellent!

Thank you for sharing this! I'll be on a Star soon and somehow despite so many cruises, my husband and I have never seen this night BBQ!

Sipping a long island iced tea while watching MUTS from a hot tub!

I've got my fingers crossed that Moana will be played on MUTS next month!

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Thanks everyone for the quick responses. I'm not one who'd want to give up a night on board, but the hubby was dying for a night of DnD with our friends so he'll have to wait until our next visit! LOL

My husband and I have an upcoming California cruise where we plan to see friends in two ports, LA on a Friday, and Catalina Island on Saturday.

If we wanted to spend the night with our friends (get off in LA and re-board in Catalina Island), how can we make this kind of arrangement with Princess, if it is allowed at all?

Any advice would be appreciated!

I just very recently discovered your YouTube channel and gotta say I love it! I've taken lots of cruises and found your content very informative. You've got me re-thinking how I pack for my trips--ie. For the first time ever, I'm bringing more than two necklaces--because I bought a jewelry roll! Game changer!

Thank you for the detailed tour of the Star Princess. I'll be boarding her in April and hope to see those Honolulu Cookies in the Vines shop still around!

What's the date? I can check on both currencies from work. I doubt it though. 1.40 would be reasonable.

Vancouver to Hawaii April 4th. Cruise critic shows a price drop down to $999USD and Princess quotes $1297.55CDN.

Did the exchange rate change again? A cruise I was looking at had a big price drop, and comparing to US sites it looks like the rate is 1.3.

(Granted, I didn't check for other departures, just this one.)

My husband and I were eyeballing a Hawaii cruise out of Vancouver for several months, waiting patiently to see if the price would drop to a comparable rate we paid a couple years ago. Then the price dropped (not enough), then two days later their exchange rate changed.

Ouch.

Right now we're looking at a 60% price increase over what we paid two years ago--it's ludicrous. You'd think Princess would try to entice Canadian travelers to cruise with them. None of us are getting paid more at our jobs. Our housing market is skyrocketing and vacations are unreasonably expensive.

Amazing that my husband make as much as we do and yet we still feel poor.

Pacific Whale Watch foundation has whale watch tours running until about mid May. Went out with them in early way last year and saw humpbacks as well as bottlenose dolphins.

By YVC do you mean YVR (Vancouver)?

Just got off the Ruby today and sailed Grand for two weeks last year. I'll never get on the Ruby again, but will happily go with the leaky, creaky Grand! Ruby felt significantly more crowded. On Grand we rarely had to wait for a table for Anytime Dining. Ruby, there were very long lineups for dinner and lunches. All the venues felt busier and overall we both agreed Ruby never again.

If you have a choice of whale watching from Victoria, Vancouver, Telegraph Cove or Alaska with the hope of seeing orcas, go with Vancouver.

Why?

Whale watching boats will often go for whatever whales are closest, unless another species is a reasonable distance away and you'll get both. Victoria, Telegraph Cove and Alaska ports see more humpback whales than orcas. Vancouver, on the other hand, gets more orcas and the companies that depart from here are willing to travel farther (up to 3 hours distance to get to whales if they have to!).

Last summer we had a string of over 60 days with killer whales EVERY day. July and August see the highest success rate of 95%.

Take this from a person who works whale watching from Vancouver. ;)

My husband and I sailed the Grand last year and while we loved the cruise, we found the lack of a central staircase more annoying than anticipated. Like others have said, yes, you may see buckets collecting water but that doesn't effect the quality of your trip. We also heard some creaking at night which wasn't a big deal but my husband liked to joke the ship was gonna snap in half Titanic-style. :P

We probably would have had no issue with the missing central staircase if our room wasn't in the central area of the ship. If we booked Grand again (wouldn't be our first choice but it's got great itineraries at great prices) we would definitely pick a room close to stairs!

Considering how quickly Princess' only Vancouver RT itinerary sold out this year, I'm surprised they only upped the number to three in 2016 and all in May-only.

But I am glad they did increase them at all! I think I know what our 2016 cruise will be. :)

I hope this question isn't too dumb......

 

We're going in June and have signed up for a whale watch. Clearly it's going to be wet. We have waterproof jackets, boots and gloves. Should we just wear jeans? Thanks!

That totally depends on what kind of boat you've booked. If you're in an open zodiac, you'll likely be provided with waterproof gear to wear. If you're in a semi-enclosed vessel you should dress in layers (it's very chilly on the water), but you likely won't get wet.

June is an excellent time to see killer whales if you're whale watching out of the Vancouver area.

There are no "regular" places the boats go to see the whales. They are wild animals and their locations vary from day to day. But no matter which company you choose, you will ultimately end up in the same spot.

There are three companies I would recommend (Prince of Whales... is not one of them for many reasons):

Steveston Seabreeze Adventures: Locally owned by former fishermen who captain their own ships. These guys know the waters like the back of their hands! They depart from Steveston and provide a shuttle service to and from any Vancouver area hotel.

Vancouver Whale Watch: Also departs from Steveston and has shuttle service.

Wild Whales: These guys depart from Granville Island, which may seem more convenient but in reality it just means the time to get to the whales is significantly longer. Most trips involve crossing the Strait of Georgia, which can suffer rough conditions, and due to the angle these guys have to cross it, you'll be on that rough patch almost twice as long as Seabreeze Adventures or Vancouver Whale Watch.

Every year is different, but in 2014 there were a lot of transient (marine-mammal eating) killer whales that were seen in the Strait of Georgia and around the Canadian Gulf Islands.

I know my information contradicts what others are saying, but trust the one who works on these boats. ;)

I work as a naturalist for a whale watch company and I can tell you... every trip is different and everyone's reactions differ. I've had days where the whales were feeding and taking long dives, and other days where whales have come so close their fins probably touched the hull of the boat. Some days the passengers are completely enthralled and "oooh" and "ahhh" when a whale surfaces even if they're 200+ yards away and other days where the whales are breaching endlessly and passengers go back into the cabin to eat their lunches!

... Then there was this one girl who spent the entire trip trying to take the "perfect selfie" of her with whales behind her. I don't think I ever saw her even turn around to actually look at them.

Granted, I speak as a person with a lifelong passion for whales so for me, every encounter is precious. Even if the whales are being evasive or taking long dives, just seeing them with your own eyes is completely different than watching them on TV. It's not edited or dramatized, it's real, and no movie can replace that experience. When you can hear their breaths echoing through a thick fog, or see scars imbedded into their skin, there's nothing else like it.

As others mentioned, all the whale watch boats are in communication with each other. Often the first sailings will branch out into different areas and report over radios where they find whales. Fishing boats, ferries and even float planes will also report sightings, it's a very good system based on teamwork.

I was in inside cabin B524 April 28-May 12 and found the mattress too soft. We like firm mattresses and while the mattress was comfortable, after a few days I was getting a little sore form it being too soft.

My husband and I were on this cruise as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. By far it was our best cruise with Princess. The food was great and the length was perfect (we usually do 7-day cruises).

I did notice a few buckets collecting water on various decks but it's really not the kind of thing that effects your vacation. It was more comical than anything else. The vessel creaking in rough weather was a little annoying when trying to sleep though.

While we loved the trip there were a couple things that bothered us:

1. Air conditioning in our room wasn't cold enough. We were sleeping without blankets and still sweating. The AC was looked at a couple times with no resolution.

2. If you're under 65... you might have a hard time finding activities. The age demographic is old, really old. The cruise really catered to them, so the number of "interesting" things on the patter was a lot lower than our previous cruises. Often we'd only find 2-3 things that we wanted to do on the entire patter for a day.

3. On the second-to-last day all but one pool was drained completely. They never refilled the pools and the one other pool was closed until about 3pm (the covered one). For whatever reason they waited to do some excessively noisy construction in the covered pool area until just after it was finally opened. The noise was deafening and spoiled our last swim of the cruise... it went on for over an hour until we finally gave up. I don't understand why they didn't do the work while the pool was closed.

By far the cheapest option is to take public transportation. The #19 bus is just two blocks from the cruise terminal (walk south to West Pender Street). The bus is $2.75 per person and runs every 10 minutes. It's just a 7-minute ride to Stanley Park and you'll get off at the last stop.

The bus stop is close to the seawall, the miniature train, the rose gardens, the horsedrawn tour and the Vancouver Aquarium.

Do you recommend a whale watching company?

Personally I wouldn't recommend Prince of Whales. Seen them making too many illegal moves around the whales.

Sorry, me again. What's the best way to get from Vancouver to Victoria? Getting from the city to ferry terminal then ferry across seems to take a long time. Is the ferry ride worth it? Or is there a better way?

You can fly via Harbour Air from Vancouver to Victoria but it is significantly more expensive. The ferry routes take you into the Canadian Gulf Islands and it's a really beautiful scenic trip with a good chance to see whales.