time4u2go

I realize you said you are "about to leave", but is there any chance you could squeeze in a little 3 night cruise before then, just to get the points?

I was thinking the same thing. It's not just about how they look/sound/act. It's also about the overall entertainment on the ship, which they are responsible for.

Also need to consider the countries that the cruise visits...what requirements do they have?

And most likely confine them to their room (until they can be put off the ship).

I agree that an hour for embarkation is normally not bad but in this case we had been told that it would all be handled on the train and that it would be zero time other than the security screening. Also, when that hour is at the end of a long day and not at the typical noon ish embarkation time, it makes it worse.

It's undoubtedly easier for the cruise lines to just require testing for all cruises than it would be to try and differentiate for cruises that go to the half of the islands that require testing versus the half that don't.

The testing was done at the different Princess lodges that people stayed at prior to the cruise. As far as I could tell, it was fairly well organized (and no additional cost). I did not hear of anyone not being allowed to cruise, but then again, I never really was in contact with anybody that would know (or that would talk about it if they did). On the other hand, as the cruise progressed, we heard more and more coughing onboard. On the last day, signs were placed in the elevators requesting that people wear masks in the elevators. I would guess that some people that had planned on flying into the U. S. after the cruise were unable to due to positive tests, but that's just a guess. Of course, that rule is being eliminated on Sunday.

Favorite: Bacon, when it's cooked right. Least favorite: Bacon, when it's not cooked right.

This was our first Princess cruise, and we were not disappointed! It lived up to and exceeded our expectations. Below is our summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Note that there was far more good than bad, and only a little ugly. The cruise was from Whittier to Vancouver, with stops in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan along the way, along with cruising near glaciers. The good: Glacier viewing. This was the highlight of the cruise for us. We spent time up close to Hubbard Glacier. What could be better than sitting on your balcony just a few hundred yards from a glacier! Condition of the ship. The ship was clean and well-maintained. It looked like it could be brand new. Very impressed. Crew. The crew was very polite and very helpful. We were always greeted, always with a smile. Naturalist talks. The naturalist (Mark) was always fun and interesting to listen to. He was so enthusiastic, and he had such a wealth of information that he truly enjoyed sharing with us. The bad: Evening main theater shows. We expected more in the way of bigger productions. The only real "production" show was a song and dance show, with people singing some familiar songs, and mostly unfamiliar (to us anyway) songs. The singers were very talented, and they sounded great. There was an opera singer who also sounded great. But it just didn't feel like much of a production, to us anyway. The "orchestra" consisted of six musicians playing along with obviously pre-recorded music from other instruments that were not present. That just seemed weird. The selection in the buffet at dinner. I realize that on this cruise, a vast majority of people eat dinner in the MDR, unlike a lot of other cruises we have been on. This means that fewer people eat dinner in the buffet. So that may have been the reason, but it just didn't seem like there was much of a selection of items in the buffet for dinner. The shops. This is a very minor complaint, but it seems like there are too many shops on the Majestic. There is a very large watch shop that rarely had any customers in it. Same for the makeup shop. Admittedly, we don't do much shopping on cruise ships, so this really didn't bother us much at all. I know that the presence of these shops is somewhat due to the ship originally being in the Asian market, but it just seems like some of the space could be converted to something else. The ugly: Embarkation process. This cruise was part of a land and sea package that we did with Princess. At the end of the land portion, we took a train from Denali Princess Lodge to Whittier to board the ship. When the train reached Wasilla, several Princess employees boarded the train to check all of the train passengers in for the ship. Once the train reached Anchorage (maybe an hour later?), almost all of the Princess employees left the train. We were told that because of cell reception problems, that they were only able to check in 3 of the 5 train cars. Unfortunately, our car was not checked in. We were told that we would need to check in at the dock in Whittier. Once the train reached Whittier, we all got in what was already a very long line of people waiting to check in. We watched as the passengers from the 3 train cars that were lucky enough to have been checked in went straight through the security checkpoints, and onto the ship. We spent probably close to an hour waiting in line. Once we finally got onto the ship, we rushed to our room to drop off our things, then rushed to eat dinner. Once we finished dinner, it was too late to see the early theater show. After a very long day, and the stress of the embarkation process, we were too tired to stay up to see the late show, so we missed one of the things we really enjoy about the beginning of a cruise, the "welcome aboard" show. Looking back on it, the embarkation problem really isn't that huge of a deal since it only affected one short portion of the cruise. But with it coming at the start of the cruise, it really made a bad first impression for us. Overall: As I stated above, overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. It was a beautiful ship, with a great crew, and obviously amazing scenery. We would definitely cruise with Princess again.

So you will never be going on any cruises? I'm confused why you are even asking about this.

Not for a long time.

Nope. Also, you should put them in your carry-ons, so they won't get damaged or lost.

Thanks! We had not planned on eating at Harmony, but we will be eating at Crown Grill. I hope it's a good choice.

Exactly!

I know that the crew are exposed. But I seriously doubt that the cruise line would want to place crew into a roomful of people that are known to have covid. Anyway, do you honestly think crew members would complain to customers about wearing masks?

Probably because it would expose crew members to covid. They in turn could then spread it to other crew members and passengers.

Hello Princess cruisers! We are soon going on our first Princess cruise (but not our first cruise), on the Majestic in Alaska. Any tips you'd care to share? Thanks!

...nvm...

I agree. It's just not the same.

One piece of advice (judging from others similar threads): Be prepared to possibly wait a long time for food. One poster in particular had issues with at least one meal arriving after 2-3 hours. So order your meals early! Also find out all of your food options...MDR, specialty restaurants, etc.

And a negative covid test.

OP, I'm curious...did you receive any compensation for this, similar to if somebody tests positive?

Thanks. You didn't offend me...just confused me!

Agreed. Not sure why some feel the need to judge other people's decisions regarding masking, especially without knowing a person's individual circumstances.

Keep in mind that people's responses might be affected by whether or not they have to have a negative test at the end of the cruise in order to fly home.