luuuv2cruise

It wasn't a prophecy. I was just asking questions. And as I said, some of the questions/issues have been resolved due to the help of some great cc posters.

Actually, we have experienced some of those other issues as well. Just not all on the same cruise.

I agree with you. We've been to Alaska many times, and have been really lucky most of the time. That last HAL cruise didn't deter me, but it did deter her. I'm just trying to coax her back into cruising with this coastal.

My travel companion HATED our 14 day HAL Alaska cruise last year, to the extent that she said she never wanted to cruise again. A 4+ hour wait in the terminal squished in with passengers from multiple other ships. Rain and fog for 13 days, ports cancelled due to strong winds and storm conditions, Covid and Norovirus rampant, ship was listing badly, umbrellas and chairs blowing overboard and glassware smashing to the ground, dining rooms closed due to "danger" (although some of the bars remained open)... I really felt bad for the passengers who were on their first trip to Alaska and couldn't see anything other than thick rain and fog. Add to that, there was very little entertainment, other than classical music. So, I have a lot riding on this cruise. If this one turns out to be a dud too, I don't think I will ever get her on a cruise ship again. I convinced her that it will be a relaxing cruise with lots of good entertainment and good food, and a couple of good ports. So I started to panic a little when I ran into all those issues initially. Starting to look forward to it again now.

I'll watch for it!

Thank you to everyone who responded. You have all eased my mind. Update: While I was on the Princess website this am, I noticed that a lot of cabin categories have opened up that weren't available at the time of booking. My travel agent was able to get us upgraded from a category BD balcony to a 2C premium balcony for $56. We were also able to book the Botticelli dining room for 5pm each night. I'm so glad to hear that there will be lots of entertainment options.

Thank you! I was able to find the roll call...don't know how I missed it. Is it normal for them to only show 1 entertainer for the whole week, and yet also have other acts? Do you know what department at Princess I would contact ahead of time?

We just booked a last minute CA Coastal cruise on the Ruby Princess for Nove 2-9, 2024. Not an exciting itinerary, but the itenerary allows us to drive to the port, and we usually enjoy the food and entertainment on Princess. I just tried to book dining reservations. Due to a diabetic dining companion who needs to stick to a fairly strict schedule, I was hoping to book for 5pm each day, but I keep getting the message "Sorry! There are no available time slots for this date". I get the same message for both DaVinci and Botticelli dining rooms. When I go to the "Ship Schedule", the only entertainment shown is Piano and Vocal Entertainer Paul Holmes. He shows up on the schedule 21 times. No other entertainment listed. I tried to check the roll call, but nothing comes up for this cruise. I'm trying not to feel buyer's remorse but am starting to dread a cruise with minimal dining options, minimal entertainment (unless Paul Holmes turns out to be to our taste), and kind of boring ports. Can the dining choices and entertainment really be as bad as it sounds? Shouldn't there be a roll call?