josher_m

We took our teens, 17 & 16 on the Grand in June for a 10 day Alaska cruise and they were fine.  We did not pay for internet so they had to find things to do.  They did not participate in the teen club.  They did hang out with us a bit but they also wandered off on their own a lot as well.  They did not swim but we saw others that did.

They did most of the onboard activities:   trivia, art auctions (watched), karaoke, the voice, princess theater, Movie's under the stars (one night) . . we just highlighted the patter every day and went off in pairs or as a family off and on depending on what everyone wanted to do.  Nobody complained of being bored.    And, of course, lots of eating 🙂  They loved it. 

20 hours ago, The Mikado said:

Another question after reading a few posts here:

 

Do we tender on the AK itinerary? I’ve only ever tendered in Sitka years ago and always docked in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. 

We were on the June 25 sailing and supposed to tender in Sitka but did not.  They pulled up to a dock so no tender.  Not sure what/how determines that--maybe not many ships in port that day as there was only one other ship when we pulled in. 

We were on the Grand at end of June in a mini suite and had flat screens on the wall across from bed and one in the seating area.  Do no believe there was on demand but I don't think we tried it either--we didn't watch much tv as we only used it while getting ready. 

We were recently in E723 and absolutely no noise . .other than hubby's snoring 😉

11 hours ago, vthokie88 said:

Did they provide a reason as to why it was not accepted? How exact has to match - for example if tour is the same but time schedule is different is that eligible (other tour starts at 9, but Princess starts at 10)?

 

Yes, if you submit and it doesn't match, they will tell you why.  Having not done the excursions and not knowing the exact details so I could only go on the info provided from Princess website and a bit of research so it's a bit of a guessing game but we figured it was worth a shot.

One of ours matched and we received credit and another didn't and this was the reason:

Lower rate tour meets at Empress Hotel not in front of pier. Transfer from pier to hotel not included. It's about 20-30 minute walk to the hotel from pier. Time depends on walking ability. Tours are not an exact match.

10 hours ago, Belle said:

On the Grand in May the Patters never said the Oasis Bar was open,

On the list of bars on the back of the patter never listed the Oasis.

We just got off on July 5th and nothing on the patters regarding the Oasis then either.

3 hours ago, Phantom of the Seas said:

Like to know if any “escape room” and  “heist on the high sea” activity on Grand to Alaska.....(what days, etc)...

Just returned last week and there was a "heist on the high sea".  It will be on the patter and is an ongoing event.  I "think" there was an escape room as well. 

Yes, they are on the lights near the beds now.  Each light had one usb port.  Not sure if every room got them but ours did and we just returned last week.

We went on the whale watch/salmon bake and did see some whales in Juneau just last week.  We also saw whales from our balcony arriving into Juneau.  But, the best part was while we were leaving we saw a pod of orcas!!

We also saw a ton of Eagles on this tour as well, mostly from the parking lot waiting on the bus to take us back.

Ok, so we just got off the Grand and I did buy one package for just surfing (mostly to check on our dogs as our boarder uploads pics on Facebook).  Internet worked fairly well but you would have to keep reconnecting during busy times.  I wouldn't use it yet for streaming or downloading/uploading yet as loading pics/videos would literally sometimes take hours.  Yes, hours!

But to use email and surf, as long as I was connected, it worked just fine.

We used spot hero and booked thru them.  Had no issues so far except they moved us but it worked in our favor as they moved us to a lot a bit closer to the pier.   I liked spot hero as when I tried to use Impark we got an email w/o a specific confirmation and when I tried to call to confirm, nobody answered.  At least with spot hero, we got a confirmation immediately and it's the same parking lots so I knew our reservation was accepted/confirmed immediately. 

One thing I learned and realized many don't know about is the Best Price Guarantee on shore excursions:

Once you have purchased a Princess Shore Excursion, if you find that same shore excursion elsewhere at a lower price, you can receive 110% of the difference in price in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit. This currently applies to select voyages. The Best Price Guarantee is not available in Asia, Southeast Asia or Japan ports.

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/excursions.jsp?cid=om_email_promo_internal_portspecific_shorex_pe7ak004a_170518_juneau&fbclid=IwAR29Iyz4Y6q-d40HhfeUnfKIKlGgL0YpYSFHTx74lqAmMhc9I33mg119ek4

Now, it's tricky to find the EXACT match but if you do, it's worth it to get extra OBC.  I just submitted 2 for our upcoming cruise and one was accepted. 

Since there's 4 of us I'm hoping for close to another $200 or so IF they approve the submissions I just submitted.  Fingers crossed.  Worse case, we're no worse off.  I didn't even know about this until they sent an email and I read the fine print at the bottom. 

Oh interesting.  So IF you get the OBC you only have a short time to use it, depending on when your excursion date(s) are?  I guess that makes sense.

Has anyone completed the Shore Excursions Best Price Guarantee request? How do you know for sure which excursions match the ones we've chosen? Some are easy to figure out but some of them are a bit confusing. Also the form says only one form per booking number but there's not enough room for multiple excursions. Advice? We have to submit within 7 days before we board so we can't wait until afterwards to verify info, etc.

Hmm, curious how this translates to the old packages--I'm not familiar with them as we haven't sailed yet but we got one under the sip n sail package.  Does anyone know how that will work now?

34 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

If you wait for more than a half hour and no one shows up, then I think you have every right to remove their wet clothes.

If they don't care enough about their laundry to stay with it, they are denying use of the machines for everyone else.

As far as dryers go, same thing.....but don't just pile their clothes up on top and throw yours in.  It would be polite to quickly fold the items so they are not totally wrinkled when they are eventually retrieved.  We were always told to do that back in the college days when we had coin operated machines in the dorms.  

lol if that's the rule then everyone would leave their laundry for others to fold, wouldn't you think?  Sorry, but I'm not folding other people's laundry simply because they left it unattended.  I do more than enough with 2 teens.  haha

3 minutes ago, Dani24 said:

 

I’m over in the East Bay, and I do think you’d really like sailing out of SF. I highly recommend you try it at least once!

I’m a big planner when it comes to vacations. I like to have all the details hammered down before we go. Back before smartphones, I used to travel with an small accordion folder of information/confirmations/tickets/etc. I keep detailed spreadsheets for road trips. And I like to plot out our days and possible timelines to ensure we have adequate time for everything we want to do.

But cruising is special. Outside of making the initial arrangements and booking a few shore excursions, it’s one vacation where I don’t have to do much planning. No researching restaurants/lodging/activities for every day, making reservations, etc. We get on the ship and there are a few things I like to get lined up (like the Chefs Table or a spa treatment), and then I just “be”. Everything is there and ready, and I can decide on a whim what I want to do. Not having to plan flights and pre/post-cruise hotels enhances that. And the extra sea days are extra days to force myself to relax.

 

I hope you end up going, and you have an amazing time! 

That's exactly why we chose a cruise and to do it out of San Francisco.  I usually do all of the planning, all of the driving, etc.  I'm the exact same way and that is NOT very relaxing.  haha

When hubby asked where to go, what to do, nothing else sounded like a vacation if I have to do everything.  lol   I'm a type A (bit OCD as well) so this will be perfect for us 🙂

We are going out of SFO this year for our first time.  We were also initially worried about lack of amenities as we are bringing our teens but decided we'd rather spend our vacation days ON the ship vs IN a car with teens going up to Seattle since SFO is much closer.  lol  SFO is 3-4 hour drive where as Seattle is around 12 hours.

Being bored (possibly) on a ship will still be better than being bored at home is how we chose to look at it.   I figure we don't/won't know what we are possibly missing on other ships or lines so we are planning on having a grand time 🙂  Can't wait!

Does anyone know if there are other options than what is on the menu for the specialty restaurants (ie Crown Grill or Sabbatini's).  We'd like to especially try Crown Grill but there is nothing on the menu that our daughter would eat that I can see.  Is it possible to order something off menu at these places?

My husband will not fly so no flights in the near future for us.  We will be crossing from AK into Canada for this one excursion and I've read a lot of varying info but according to Princess and the state department, the passport card is sufficient.    We'll have trip insurance for our cruise to cover anything if something should happen as well but for 98% of the time, we will be in the US. 

9 minutes ago, clambake said:

If you're an American, traveling between the US/Canada/Mexico/The Caribbean/Bermuda by land, or sea the passport card is fine.

The passport card won't work for anything other than those destinations and that's only by land or sea.  They aren't good for international air travel.  I'm flying into Vancouver, so I don't think I can use the card, only the book.

 

Here's what the State Department says:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/card.html

 

Have fun.

Thanks, that's what I've seen as well. I've just seen so many conflicting posts indicating otherwise I started wondering if something changed that I was not aware of.  I don't understand how/why it's so complicated--it's all spelled out but so many people were insisting they couldn't use them, etc so I started getting worried.  lol

According to Princess excursion website, passport cards are acceptable for the rail excursion to Skagway. However, I've seen many people saying that is not true or they had issues so curious what people have experienced.  I know the pros/cons of each but am curious if the passport cards will actually work. 

Notes from excursion:  Since this tour enters Canada, all guests must carry a passport or other WHTI compliant document. For U.S. citizens these documents include: U.S. Passport, U.S. Passport Card, Enhanced Driver's License, Trusted Traveler Card and Military ID Card (for U.S. armed forces members on official orders). Citizens of certain countries need a visa to visit Canada – visit www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp to see if this applies. Written consent is required for children traveling into Canada without both parents.

Because we live in San Pedro and it’s an $8 cab ride to the port [emoji41]. Plus, we love sea days !

 

 

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Not exactly the same but we're doing the 10 day out of San Francisco for similar reasons. 4 hour drive with 2 teens vs 4 day round trip drive to Seattle . . .No brainer. lol Would rather have the extra sea days than be stuck in a car.

We still get just as much, if not more, port time once we are actually IN Alaska, as if we went out of Seattle so we are looking forward to it!