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Can you please please check which day is the Crab Shack offered on your cruise?! It is an extra charge pop up seafood boil type of restaurant that they set up in the horizon court for dinner once or twice per cruise, and I have heard many good things about it. We will be going on the same itinerary in a month and want to plan our other dinner reservations around it. 

Does anyone have the crab shack menu for the Alaska itinerary? I have read that the Alaska cruises have a different menu for crab shack but was not able to find it anywhere. 

My group is considering doing the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour (Deadliest Catch Tour) since it seems be the highest rated tour in Ketchikan, and we love nature, animals, sea creatures. BUT we have one person in our group that doesn't speak any English. Is this tour worth doing for non-English speakers? It's a fairly pricey tour and I'm afraid that it's not going to worth the cost for the foreigner visitor in our group who can't understand any English and doesn't know anything about the Deadliest Catch. Would appreciate feedback from anyone who has done the tour before. Are we better off doing something else that involves less talking? Any other recommendations in Ketchikan that fit our interest?

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Have sailed the BC Coast and Alaska for over 35 years, so know it well.

 

Wow, thank you for such a detailed answer! This is exactly the information that I'm looking for! I think we are leaning towards going on a SB sailing now

14 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I would say the ships capacity for 3rd and 4th berths has been reached then.

As I stated in a previous reply, that also cannot be the case, because you can still book 3/4 people in a cabin for both balcony and mini suite. 

13 minutes ago, shepp said:

 

I'd beg to differ here. I totally support the port making money for the tribe. But at most ports, you can shop around and use locally owned operations for a variety of excursions and activities. At ISP, there's a virtual monopoly. Pretty much you book through excursions through the ship or not at all. So in fact maybe 20% of the dollars you spent on your excursion actually went straight into the corporate coffers in Santa Clarita.

 

And if you don't want to spring for a Princess excursion, there's little you can do in port. Second time I was there, I did the ridiculously expensive zip line as a special treat, then felt ripped off..

No one is forced to shop at Diamonds International, anywhere. But at ISP, your options are limited.

We are not the type of people who like to walk around in town and shop for souvenirs or handicraft. In fact, my husband hates all forms of shopping with a passion, so how nice or not nice the port itself is irrelevant for us. Instead, we love nature, forest and animals. I think it's against the rule to post name of the operator, but we did find a local operator in Hoonah (same place as ISP) that offers wilderness tour and brown bear search for 100 dollars. The tour is very well reviewed on tripadvisor. They also have a whale watching tour. I can't find any other wilderness or bear search tour for that price in the entire state of Alaska. Even a car rental in certain ports is more expensive than that. So I would say that it's possible that you just didn't do enough search before the cruise? I know in most popular ports, you can just wait until you get there and there are just a ton of operators at the dock waiting to take people on tours, but for the smaller ports, it simply require more pre-planning. 

43 minutes ago, jlp20 said:

The number of cabins that accommodate the additional 3/4 pax is limited. It's just plain possible because of the sale they're all booked.

If you read my whole post carefully, you would know that is not the case. Give you a very specific example: I did a mock booking for a random Panama Canal sailing on the island with 3 guests for an interior cabin and it shows that cabin A517 as one of the available rooms I can pick. So that indicates to me that cabin A517 is a room that can accommodate 3. Then I go back to the 8/28 Alaska sailing on the Island, try to book interior for 2 guests, it shows that A517 as available (along with plenty of others), so this indicates that this particular cabin A517 that can sleep 3 is available on the 8/28  sailing. But then when I go back one step, and change guest count to 3 for that same 8/28 sailing, it then shows all interior cabins are sold out. So this means that this room A517 that can accommodate 3 is available on this sailing, but Princess is intentionally not letting people book more than 2 passengers in it. 

Thank you guys so much for all the feedback and ideas. I think the conclusion is that the Island Princess probably does have somewhat more limited capacity for 3/4 passengers compared to other ships.  But the inside rooms with the capability to house 3/4 people are definitely not all sold out for the entire summer next year. Princess probably started to restrict people from booking 3/4 people in the cheaper rooms earlier to steer families of 3/4 to book the balconys in order to make more money based on the current demand. It is not convinent for us,  but I do understand that princess is a for profit business and they will do what make the most money. 

Based on the one reply here, I’m still really interested in going to ISP. I might just need to choose another line. 

11 minutes ago, shepp said:

 

Might one inquire why Icy Straight Point is important to you? 

The reason is that we really want to see brown bears in the wild but don’t have the budget for the $600-800 fly in bear viewing excursions. Based on my brief research, ISP/Hoonah seems to be the only port that offers reasonably priced (less than $200 per person) bear searching excursion. I understand that sighting is not garanteed like on some of the very expensive bear excursions, but should be much better than just hoping to see a bear on the side of the road on other excursions in other ports. 

Please please let me know if there is any other reasonably priced excursions in other ports that offers chance to see brown bear, cuz I can’t find any. 

55 minutes ago, rocklinmom said:

Are you sure that Island goes to Icy Strait Point in September 2019?  I don't see it.  I do see it going there on the August 28th cruise, which also has the 3 for Free promo and a "free Alaska companion book" to boot.  

You are right, the one I’m interested in is the 8/28 sailing. I will be able to get a few days off before and after Labor Day next year to go on this cruise, and since Labor Day is in September, I qualified the cruise as a “September” cruise in my mind. 

Thanks for the feedback so far. Now that I read my post again, I think perhaps I didn’t make the question very clear. I’m specifically wondering about the difference between sailing on the east side and west side of vancouver island. I have read some post here before that someone was really upset that their ship sailed on the west side while they were expecting to sail on the east side of the Vancouver island. So I’m wondering what is there to see on the east side of Vancouver island, and if it’s worth paying extra for a ship that will for sure sail on the east side of the island. 

We are planning for our first Alaska cruise for next year. I saw many ships that include Inside Passage scenic sailing, and some ship itinerary that says may sail on the west side of Vancouver Island so no inside passage. I'm wondering what is there to see in inside passage and how important is it? Is there good chance of seeing wild life, maybe whales? Spectacular scenery that shouldn't be missed? Or does it just make a slightly more interesting sea day than plain open ocean, but not important enough to determine which ship to choose? Would appreciate feedback from anyone who has done it. 

42 minutes ago, rocklinmom said:

Yes I would look at the Coral.  It has the same sailing dates as Island (9/4/19 and 9/11/19) and while the fares are a bit higher it includes the 3 For Free promo (Island does not).  The 3FF would get you free gratuities and $150 OBC.  And there are plenty of triple interior cabins available. 

Island goes to Icy Strait Point for northbound sailings while Coral does not. Not sure why the difference but we liked Island more because we want to visit ISP. We will probably reserve the Coral and check to see if anything opens up on the Island. Will we be able to change ship without penalty if something does come up?

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

I believe you have the correct answer if those capacity figures are correct, and I expect they are, since max capacity is based on lifeboat capacity, and that was likely not changed (lots of money to retrofit larger boats) when new cabins were added.

If the max capacity for lifeboat is the limit here, why are there still plenty of balcony and mini suites showing as available when 3/4 guest is selected but just not inside and oceanview. Do you have a limited lifeboat quota for inside/oceanviews but more allocated for balcony/mini? That seems unfair.

Hi everyone, I'm really looking for some help from cruisers who have more experience with Princess, as we have never cruised with Princess before and have never seen this issue with other cruise lines. We typically cruise with Norwegian and Carnival, but thought we would try Princess for the Alaska cruise that we are trying to plan for Sep next year. We really want to go on the Island Princess since we liked the itinerary and it departs on Wednesday which fits in our schedule well. We have 3 people in our family and we want to stay in one interior room together because we would rather spend our limited budget on excursions. But here is the problem, when I try to do a booking online with 3 guests, it shows that all interior rooms and oceanview rooms are sold out, not just for one sailing, but for every single sailing on the Island Princess for the entire season. When I go back and change to 2 guests, it then shows a lot of opening for interior rooms, and majority of them have the symbol on them that indicates capacity for 3rd or 4th guest. This is also not the case for sailings outside of Alaska, the Panama Canal sailings shows plenty of availability for 3 guests in interior rooms.  It appears to me that Princess is intentionally blocking people from booking more than 2 people in any room cheaper than a balcony for the Island Princess Alaska sailings. Is this a common thing with Princess? Is there any theory on why this is happening? Will they open up availability for 3 people interior rooms as the date get closer if the ship doesn't fill up? This is creating a huge price difference for us and we might be forced to book with another line. 

13 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

WHAT???  IMPOSSIBLE!!!  That was the only decent dessert on the menu.

2 hours ago, Mikkar said:

Not sure if we're talking about the same one but the Chocolate Lava cake is gone. It was my absolute favorite dessert on NCL ships.

Seriously?! How much cheaper can they get? Based on this trend, we soon are going to be eating pizza, hot dog, and pudding cups in MDR...

I have never been to a cruise line private island before, and we will be at GSC next month on the Escape. We are experienced snorkelers and plan to bring our own snorkeling gear to the island. I have heard that NCL requires everyone to pay to rent a snorkeling vest even if you bring our own snorkeling gear, and that no one is allowed to snorkel without a vest on GSC. Anyone has personal experience that can verify if that is true? We never snorkel with a vest, not even in the open ocean from a boat. Any advise is appreciated. 

12 minutes ago, Mikkar said:

We just got off the Escape on Sunday and it seemed to us that the food in the MDR was a lesser quality than on previous cruises. The desserts are horrible!! One of the desserts ( I forgot what they called it, cherry something) in the Manhattan Room had Jell-O in it. I doesn't get much cheaper than that.

We are going on the Escape in 3 weeks, this is so sad to hear. Do you have any pictures of the menu? Did you get a chance to check out the specialty restaurants. I really would like to know if lamb chops are still in Moderno on the Escape so that we can decided if need to adjust our dining reservations. 

Lamb chops are gone, but I know a group made a fuss and low and behold lamb chops appeared on the table authorised by an officer.

Are you saying that lamb chop is gone from Moderno on Escape too? I may be making a fuss on my next cruise in November then....

Lamb Chops are GONE from Moderno. I just learned this last week on Getaway. So disappointing, that is the only meat i really ate there.

:eek::eek:Can anyone please verify if this is true? :eek:And if it is a permanent and fleet wide change? We are going on the Escape in November.

When we sailed on the Getaway 3 years ago, lamb chop was on the menu in MRD one night, now they are not even going to have it in a specialty restaurant? They took away my favorite duck breast dish in La Bistro two years ago, now they are taking away lamb chop from Moderno???? The cutback is unbelievable!

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has pictures for the specialty restaurants menus on the Escape from recent sailing? There has been so many rumors about menu changes like lobsters being removed , and then lobsters added back in, Bayamo turning into a seafood restaurant... Would really appreciate it if someone can clarify the most recent status. We are going on the Escape in November and trying to decide how to use our SDP.

Yes, a mixture of SDP and a la carte guests can dine together. Reservations just hold a number of people. How they pay (or even what stateroom they are staying) doesn't matter.

 

 

Anyone can order just an app or just a dessert. The guest will decide how to pay. A SDP user probably wouldn't waste a "meal" on just an app but they could. A non-SDP user can order and pay for whatever they want.

 

 

The sharing with others isn't allowed...but it probably does happen.

If it's completely up to us on what to order and how to pay, can we swap dishes once they are served to save money? For example, if person A has SDP wants a pork chop which is $16, and person B who doesn't have SDP wants the lobster which is $25, can't we just have person A order the more expensive lobster and person B order the pork chop, then swap their dishes once they are served? Is there any rules that against doing that?

This is a pretty specific question, and I can't find any answer on the forum or online. We will be on the Escape in November. I know that many of the specialty restaurants now have an a la carte menu for people who don't have a dining package. So what happens if 3 of us want go to a specialty restaurant together, two have the specialty dining package and one doesn't? Can we still get a reservation to sit together? Is it acceptable for the one without package to only order an entree with no appetizer or dessert? Are we (the ones with the package) allowed to share our app and dessert with her?

Does anyone know the price of beach massage at Mahogany Beach? What about a la carte prices of water toy rentals, such as kayaks and aqua bikes. I know that carnival sells beach packages, but I'm not interested in the packages at all. Thanks :)

First time cruising on Norwegian Getaway next month. I know that the MDR has a rotating menu and they will serve something everyday of the sailing. So I'm wondering if there is any way to find out what the day by day menu is for the MDR ahead of time, so I can decide which days I want to eat in the MDR. :)