sashas_mom

Martin gives great suggestions. I too suggest you add time and spend a couple days in Victoria and plan on whale watches. If you have another 4/5 days, then head up to Port Hardy and Telegraph Cove. This is your best success area with an orca priority.

We are sailing out of Vancouver up to Alaska. Would we see Orca's? What month do you suggest?

Hello BudgetQueen,

So nice to see you are still posting about Alaska. You were so helpful when I was a new cruiser and going to Alaska. It was 8 or so years ago, and we are pretty seasoned cruisers now and have been all over the world. We would love to go back to Alaska. This time my husband wants to definitely see Orca's. Last time we did first two weeks in June and had beautiful weather and an incredible b2b.

When do you suggest we go to see Orca's? I know there are never weather predictions that can be guaranteed, but trust you would know what to suggest is a good time to go. We would be sailing out of Vancouver. Any tips you want to share would be warmly and gratefully accepted.

Thanks and regards,

Eileen

The formal nights will be in the Patter the day you embark. The Patter will be in your cabin. You're in for a treat with Elua. Take their classes. So much fun! I never missed their performances either. She is so graceful when she dances and I could listen to them all day��

We're flying on Jetblue.

Thanks to all that answered this. Hi, Dave.

DH and I just booked one of those California Coastal cruises on the Crown! Great rates even with roundtrip airfare from Florida. $669pp for a balcony. Roundtrip nonstop air from FLL-LAX $366pp.

 

We were planning to vacation in the US this year instead of a Caribbean cruise like we usually do, and San Francisco was on our list of possible places. When we saw these good prices for a California itinerary, we jumped on it. Another cruise, it is!

Can you tell me what airline had the non stop at that price? Looking for a good price to Fort Lauderdale from LAX in December.

Thanks

okay, now I think E 506 is showing E505. I can't find Dave's pics, but it seems to me that you had the correct pic for E 506 before. I believe the port side has a boat. That's when I first noticed the Royal and Regal were different than any other ships in the fleet. They are not mirror images.

Thanks for the quick response and changes😊

Hi Theo,

I hope you know I am one of your biggest fans, and appreciate all the work you've done. However, if you look at the ship picture with the cabin numbers listed you will see that E505 and E511 are not accurately portrayed when you show the individual cabin pictures. E505 does not have a lifeboat in front of it, it has davits. I think E506 has the boat. And E511 has a boat in front of it when you look at the ship picture, but your individual picture shows a Davit.

I hope someone will take a picture of E505 on the Royal/Regal from the inside looking out so we can get an accurate picture.

Thanks again for all your hard work. We all appreciate it.

We ran into Godwin on the Grand in November. Haven't seen him in a few years and as soon as he saw me he gave me the biggest hug and a warm handshake to my husband. He said he's more behind the scenes now, taking care of every food venue on the ship. He was visible every day as he made his rounds and stopped to say hello every time. We are big Godwin fans too.

You are the Elite beneficiary. Your cabin mate isn't.

 

You will receive:

 

Priority Boarding (includes cabin mate)

One Mini-bar (you may share if you are generous)

Tender priority (includes cabin mate)

Chocolate Covered Strawberries (you may share)

Internet minutes (meant for you alone)

Corsage or boutonniere (one)

Free laundry (meant for you alone)

Elite Disembarkation lounge (includes cabin mate)

Cocktail hour (includes cabin mate)

Elite line at Customer Service (includes cabin mate if you are doing the talking)

10% discount in boutiques (meant for you alone)

Tea service in your cabin (includes cabin mate if you place the order)

 

Am I missing anything? He/She is going to want to travel with you all the time!

Corsage? I've never gotten one and have been Elite for our past two cruises.

On our last cruise we had $750 OBC and it said non refundable (which was a change since our cruise before that a year ago). After tips deducted I figured out what I could "spend". Never had so much fun shopping. I went looking for things to buy and came home with beautiful tops, a ring, earrings.....every time I walked out of the store I said "thank you Princess" and I meant it.:)

Hi Lois,

I just came across this thread and wanted to give my condolences to you and your sister. So sorry to hear of your loss.

Warm regards,

Eileen

You can make a standing reservation in the Anytime dining room on any of the Princess ships. Simply let the head waiter know and they will make a note of it. If you decide to dine elsewhere for an evening, simply call the dine line and let the. Know you won't be using your table that night. Welcome to the joys of cruising!

We were on this same cruise... I disagree with our experience with the crew. Top notch in every venue we were in. Actually one of the first times we went out of our way to give an extra gratuity here and there to some of them. Everyone's experience is obviously different.

 

As far as the scooters go, yeah, there were probably more of those and walkers than I've ever seen on a cruise. That said, MOST of the people that were in scooters were younger types that simply let themselves go and had no respect for their well-being -- i.e., overweight and WAY too large for the size of scooter they bought/rented..... Time to hit the treadmill for most of these folks. STEP AWAY FROM THE BUFFET!!!!! I saw one guy fall over on the dock at Lahaina... he was about 400 pounds and in what looked like a kid's stroller. *sigh*

 

Yeah, I can comment on this having lost 50+ pounds before it got away from me in the last 3 years and kept it off. Choices.

Awesome that you were able to lose that much weight. It's not easy and I applaud you. I know, because I struggle with my weight all the time. However, I assume you were able to exercise, which I know helps burn those calories and keep the weight off. Before passing judgement on these people, understand they might not have the ability to do that. You are fortunate to be mobile. Be grateful and hope you never find yourself having to rely on a way to get around other than your own two feet. See if you can keep your weight off if you can't even walk, much less run, jog or whatever.

We were on this cruise. Embarkation was a horror story and Princess really needs to get their act together. The ship itself is beautiful and our cabin was great. Food was ok specialty dining was great. The retreat pool was fantastic too bad they do not have one of those on all the ships. Dining staff in the Symphony dining room were wonderful and the staff on the ship as a whole were great. Did not like the idea of people smoking in the casino therefore visited the casino only once. Even though there are air purifiers you could still smell the smoke.

Have fun everyone going on the Regal!!!!

When we were on the Royal last year the retreat pool was cold. I spoke to an attendant and he said it was because the ship was Green and they were conserving energy. Huh? What's the point of having a pool that's too cold to relax in ? Was the retreat pool cold on the a Regal?

I posted this on the other thread, but after reading this question, thought I'd post it here too.

We were on the Grand in November. We had a very nice crew, but I think many of them went home the day we disembarked. There was a wonderful server in the Piazza, Lydia, who was so personable and greeted me with a hug after a few days. Our cabin steward was one of the best we've had. The band in the Wheelhouse was excellent for ballroom dancing and so was the one in Explorers. I did not enjoy the CD, very blah personality. The food was very good but never hot enough in the dining room or the buffet.

E605 was a great obstructed cabin with very little obstruction. The closet is too small, but like everyone else, we managed. (Pam, we took good care of the cabin for you) Never saw a rude passenger.. The best part is we had Elua entertaining and being our Hawaiian ambassadors. They make the cruise so enjoyable. Many participated in the hula classes and ukulele classes.

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We were on the Grand in November. We had a very nice crew, but I think many of them went home the day we disembarked. There was a wonderful server in the Piazza, Lydia, who was so personable and greeted me with a hug after a few days. Our cabin steward was one of the best we've had. The band in the Wheelhouse was excellent for ballroom dancing and so was the one in Explorers. I did not enjoy the CD, very blah personality. The food was very good but never hot enough in the dining room or the buffet.

E605 was a great obstructed cabin with very little obstruction. The closet is too small, but like everyone else, we managed. (Pam, we took good care of the cabin for you) :) Never saw a rude passenger.. The best part is we had Elua entertaining and being our Hawaiian ambassadors. They make the cruise so enjoyable. Many participated in the hula classes and ukulele classes.

Thank you waterbug, I didn't know that so your information is very helpful.

Thank you Stacie, that would be awesome!

We are doing 14 days on a Regal, East and West Caribbean. Never been to either. We LOVE sea days. Just got back from Hawaii where we had lots of them plus beautiful ports. We rented a car for the Islands because we have been there before and did the tours.

Oh, I would be so grateful if you can make your way to the Starboard side and get a shot of E 505. We're not going till December of 2015. BTW, I was following you last year and loved the Royal as much as you did. It's the reason we booked the Regal, for the ship more than the itinerary in this case.

Have any suggestions for what to do in the ports? We've never been there and are not beach goers, but would enjoy seeing some sights.

I went to the wonderful thread of Renmar's where people post photos of obstructed view cabins, and while 505 is not posted, 506 is, so assume the view might be the same since it is directly on the other side of the ship:

 

https://sites.google.com/site/cabinviewbyrenmar/regal-royal-princess

Thanks for your response.

Quite awhile ago I discovered that on the Royal and Regal the starboard side is different than the Port side. These are the only ships like that. I emailed Renmar and he agreed when looking at the ship's deck plan. There is one less life boat on one of the sides, so he will have to have separate pictures for each side. Our wonderful Dave only took pics of the Port Side. I hope people will take pics of the starboard side obstructed balconies of these ships so Renmar can add them to his site.

Anyone stayed in this cabin and have a picture of the obstruction? I've figured out the location from pictures of the ship, but am wondering how much the Davit blocks the view.

My friend is on the Coral doing the Panama Canal and said they have it their at lunchtime. So far, she hasn't 't seen it offered for dinner, but the cruise just started.

Your first post indicates that you are low on miles, not 'out' of miles.

 

Have you considered buying enough miles to make up the difference?

I was wondering about that. Yes, we do still have miles. Can you tell me how that works? For example, if we buy coach seats how do we use our miles to upgrade to First?

Delta