Nicki828

19 minutes ago, serene56 said:

The Maitre de starts meeting about 1pm in the dining room on embarkation day.    Get there as early as possible to make your switch   

Thanks for the tip!  I will head over asap.

1 hour ago, Nic6318 said:

 

Hi

 

Jut to add that most cruises sail full. You really shouldn't notice "more" of a crowd.

 

Also, without changing dining times, you would always be able to dine together, for breakfasts or brunches in the main dining room, as well as you could all take a break and get together for dinner on the Lido deck, or even make reservations for a special steak house night. I would imagine since it is the holidays if you chose to do that, you would might want to pick a day as soon as possible.

 

That being said, if you do want to change to dining times, the process would be no different than any other cruise date. First you would have to decide which family was going to change, and someone from that group would need to see the maître d' as soon as you board. If you go to the dining room, there will be a line of others wanting to do the same thing. If at all possible, they will make it happen. 

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

 

Thanks for your reply.  I've been on many cruises - but this is the first time I have had to change dining times.  Dinner is the one time during the day when we all like to gather together - so I'm hoping I will be able to switch.  

We ended up booking a last minute Christmas cruise (beginning of November) to join friends.  They are on anytime dining, while we were only able to get late dining.  We would really like to be able to eat together - at least a couple of times.  How easy is it to switch once on board?  This is our first time cruising over Christmas - so we know it is much busier, just wondering if there is any likelihood that we will be able to switch once on board.  Has anyone else had success switching on a full cruise?

We went in January - really enjoyed our day there.  Would definitely go back.

We used Rony's tours in January - we did not get Rony - but a cousin, and he was wonderful.  We are planning on booking again for our cruise in December.

We booked with Rony's tours last January and went to Daniels Sloth and Monkey hangout and a private beach.  We are hitting Roatan with the kids this time and plan on booking the same trip with Rony's.  We were really happy with them.

Is the parking plentiful?  We are cruising over the winter break. 

I'm currently booked for the Barcelona embark, but now i'm seeing that embarking in Rome has some advantages over Barcelona. (flights to Rome (from Florida) are cheaper than to Barcelona, and hotels in Civitavecchia are also less than in Barcelona and the town looks like a nice place to spend a day/night before cruise.)

 

Anybody who can share their experience with embarking from either port, with pros and cons is much appreciated. I'm now leaning towards Civitavecchia and thinking of changing my embarking to there but want to hear from others before I make the change. Thanks in advance!! :)

 

EDIT: I've been to Rome already so it's not a destination i'd feel i'll miss by not visiting there. Never been to Civitavecchia though.

We did this cruise a couple of years ago with another family, and we felt the itinerary from Rome was much better for us than from Barcelona. From Barcelona you have Naples, Rome and Florence one after the other - 3 very busy port days. From Rome we found it more relaxed - we had a busy day, followed by a more relaxed day. We far preferred that pace.

if you book your own flights, can you still use princess transfers for part of your trip?

Yes. We booked our own flights, and initially had Transfers through Princess, but ended up cancelling when we found another company at half the price.

Hi there, was wondering if anyone has taken the ship's transfer into Rome. We wanted to spend a few days there post cruise and curious where ship's transfer drops you off in town (rather than airport). Will be sailing on Royal Princess Sept 9 out of Barcelona. Our first Med cruise and excited and anxious! Any advice appreciated! Debbie and Joe

We used http://www.jumplimousinerome.com/ and were very happy with them.

Suggest you go online for Toms Port Guides (Free) for Rome/Civitavecchia - www.tomsportguides.com/. He has a very informative and detailed description of how to get from the train station to the port entrance where you catch your bus to the ship. We've done it and it can be done with wheeled luggage.

We walked it (2 families with kids ranging from 11-16). It was a little confusing, but we ended up finding the shuttle. Had to walk for about 10 minutes to get there.

We have reserved a Florence excursion through princess but it is very pricey so was thinking of researching private tours however with Florence being quite a way from livorno, so my question is would you take the risk? I definitely want to see the the sights like the Ufizzi, the Cuomo, David, the doors at the baptistry and as it is our honeymoon a stroll on the Ponte vecchio is mandatory.....surely? What would you recommend ?

We booked transportation through http://italytours.eu/ we were very happy with them. We stopped off in Pisa for an hour, and then made our way to Florence. We stopped for some great photo opportunities along the way. Tickets to the Accademia were prepurchased for us. We also used this company for Naples. We had a driver for the day and had a private tour guide for Pompeii who was amazing. Can't say enough good things about this company.

Hi fellow cruisers we have always booked a balcony cabin - now considering doing inside, could you give me reasons why you wouldn't book an inside - our thinking is we would have more money for more cruises - any advice appreciated

I think it really depends on the type of cruise and the size of the cabins. I've been on cruises in balcony, oceanview and interior cabins. Our first few cruises were all oceanview. We then booked an inside on an older RC ship, and it was quite tight. a couple of summers ago we booked an inside cabin on NCL Epic - and we were quite happy with the size of the cabins. Because there were 4 of us, it was cheaper to book 2 inside rooms over 1 balcony. We were very happy with our decision. Most of the ports did not have great views, and we were able to put the extra money we saved into excursions. This summer we are taking an Alaskan cruise through Princess. We decided in this case we wanted the balcony for the views. I wouldn't hesitate to stay in another inside cabin - but I would be checking out the layout before making a decision.

Of those - L'Hermitage. By far. Best located, best-reviewed, much newer than St Reg or Sutton. Blu is newer but not as central.

Thanks for your input!

I'm taking a mom-and-son (he's 7) cruise during the end of August to Alaska. We have only one particular week available to go, so I've narrowed down the cruises to two, but I can't decide. Here are the only differences between the two:

 

Cruise 1 (HAL Oosterdam) - visits Sitka and Hubbard Glacier

 

Cruise 2 (Norwegian Pearl) - visits Skagway and Glacier Bay

 

I've read to choose Sitka over Skagway but Glacier Bay over Hubbard -- which is why I'm asking now because I can't have both!

 

Things to consider:

 

a. If Cruise 1 can't reach Hubbard, will it go through Glacier Bay instead, or what is the "consolation prize," if anything?

 

b. My son is young. I've researched the two but am not figuring out which ship is better for his entertainment. Same for ports. (Although, he's pretty well traveled and enjoys some of the excursions that adults typically do.)

 

Thoughts, please?

We are taking our first Alaska cruise this summer. I will share my thoughts based on my research. We have heard Glacier Bay is a must see. There are some really great excursions out of Skagway - and we are very excited about the excursion we have booked. I can't speak about HAL - but we have been on Norwegian with our kids for 2 cruises - and the kids clubs are fantastic.

We are planning on staying 3 nights in Vancouver after our Alaskan cruise, and have narrowed it down to the following:The St. Regis (1097 CND)

L'Hermitage (1215 CND)

Sutton Place Hotel (945 CND)

Hotel Blu (976 CND)

We are celebrating our 20th anniversary, so would like to splurge a little - but would like to stay under/around $400/night. Any input - or even alternate suggestions - are appreciated!

We are planning on staying 3 nights in Vancouver after our Alaskan cruise, and have narrowed it down to the following:The St. Regis (1097 CND)

L'Hermitage (1215 CND)

Sutton Place Hotel (945 CND)

Hotel Blu (976 CND)

We are celebrating our 20th anniversary, so would like to splurge a little - but would like to stay under/around $400/night. Any input - or even alternate suggestions - are appreciated!

I will probably be booking the same excursion in July. In my research, this does not appear to be a problem. If you check the FAQ on their website - this is one of the topics. Through google, many people have said they have done this excursion at this time with a 7:00 am dock time 😀

First- Princess does not operate any tours. They are a contractual booking agent. The tours booked with them generally will allow larger numbers of people.

 

 

With your choices- Allen Marine is the whale watch vendor, they do do a good job. It will be a multi deck larger boat than any of the independents, which would be as small as a 6 pack. The "problem" with this combo tour, is the time at Mendenhall is usually too short. IF the glacier is after the whale watch, then you can ditch the return and get on a shuttle for $15pp (verify this). This would be necessary if you want to stop in the Visitor Center (included admission) and Nugget Falls trail. It's still worth staying longer anyway, if a nice day.

 

 

With the White Pass RR, I never recommend the ship contracted tours. Simply a poor choice compared to independent. Reasons- they use large tour buses. These take time with loading and unloading and your stops are fixed. Viewing is not good side to side.

 

 

Big advantages to using smaller shuttle buses. Excellent viewing for all and ease of loading/unloading, more flexibility in stops and time of stops.

 

 

I highly recommend Dyea Dave, allows time in Carcross and a superb lunch stop (optional) at the Chilkoot Bakery.

Thanks for the great tips. I will definitely look at the other options for the Skagway excursion

I will investigate other options for Juneau. The tour through the cruise has been the only option I've found so far that covered both the whale watching and Mendenhall.

My husband and I are taking our first Alaskan cruise this summer. We have travelled on several cruise lines, but have never booked an excursion through the ship. The majority of our cruises have been in the Caribbean, and we would just explore on our own. 2 summers ago, we took a European cruise, and decided to book our excursions through private companies, as we were a larger group. I have currently booked the following tours on our Princess cruise:

Juneau - Alaska's Whales & Mendenhall Glacier Trail

Skagway - Yukon Expedition & Whte Pass Scenic Railway

Does anyone have experience with these excursions on Princess? Or am I better off booking independent excursions, and if so, do you have recommendations for similar excursions.

Hi -

 

We just decided to do an Alaskan cruise this summer. Group includes my family (husband, 3 kids - 8,6,3) and my parents. This will likely be my parents only time to Alaska. Timing is July.

 

In my initial research on these boards I would like to include Glacier Bay. I think we want to do a 1 way itinerary to maximize time in port.

 

Given that and the ages of my kids, is there a ship/itinerary you would recommend?

 

Thank you!

We decided on Princess for our cruise to Alaska, this will be our first time on Princess. We have heard wonderful things and we really like the itinerary. I have been on 2 NCL cruises with my kids. Once when they were 5 & 8 and then again when they were 13 & 16, and we found the kids programming to be fantastic. By far the favorite of my kids. For reference, they have also been on Carnival and Disney cruise lines.

We bought repellant for our upcoming trip. Resistant would only be good for light rain.

We will be on the Island Princess in July. I'm a little stumped on my tour choices in Juneau. We would like to go whale watching, but would also like to see Mendenhall Glacier. I was originally looking at Harv & Marvs, but they just seem to do a quick stop at Mendenall Glacier if time permits. My other option I was looking at was the Princess excursion - Alaska's Whales & Mendenhall Glacier Trails. I just can't find any reviews on this tour. Or is there another good alternative that features both alternatives?

If you can wait until next May, I'll be glad to comment on motion on our aft balcony. lol

 

Sent from my SM-G386T using Forums mobile app

LOL - we just made our decision. We are booked on the Island Princess as we really liked the itinerary, and the timing worked out really well with the dates available for us. We are booked on a balcony on the Aloha deck.

Do you plan to be in Vancouver Saturday, July 1st pre-cruise? If so, there is a cruise terminal fireworks show to start your anniversary.

Unfortunately no. Our youngest leaves for camp on the 2nd, so can't go before then.