caribill

So people can still book future cruises and "know" these venues will be included free.....until they get on board and find they are not.

It is a cover charge. If you go to a nightclub on land with a cover charge that includes two drinks, you pay the cover charge even if you do not order any drink.

So all the cruise lines have to do is raise the basic pricing for a cruise to cover these extra costs. The major cruise lines are reporting to their stockholders that bookings are at record levels at significantly higher pricing. So cruise pricing is up and now, at Princess, will also include less than before.

On the Island Princess (which does not have an Alfredos) recently they had a couple of times at lunch "Alfredos at Sabatini's" where they served free Alfredo menu pizzas. It was well attended. I wonder now if they will either: a) start charging for this Pizza at lunch event or b) just discontinue having it.

They wouldn't anymore. The high beverage package only price is good for showing how much you save by getting Plus/Premier package. Especially misleading is advertising that says gratuities and beverage package are free "with certain fares." They are not free at all.

Which means your real daily contribution to your own cabin steward is about one cent a day. And why are we now tipping Guest Services and Entertainment people? Since Princess says that 75% of passengers will have the Plus/Premier package, that means only 25% of passengers have the option of adjusting their daily "crew appreciation" amount.

That might be possible for a single voyage, but not for every voyage including future ones while the sales material still shows the Inside Passage route.

Shipping lane or not, Princess has been sailing that route for years. We greatly enjoyed that route on our previous Alaska cruise. Also not mentioned is that the Princess cruise map showed and is still showing for future voyages sailing that route. I think the "Inside Passage" also includes part of the route north of that island. Also, the book that Princess sells on board which describes the entire route along the Alaska coast, pointing out all the things to look at along the way, covers the part of the Inside Passage that Princess now is bypassing.

If it was, it would be listed in the posted Patters, so look at those Patters to find out.

Thanks for your great trip report. a) On our two Princess cruises this year on different ships, we asked the cabin stewards for the soap bars and they were able to get them for us. b) You can get a note pad by asking your cabin steward for one or by asking for one at the Guest Services desk.

None for the entire excursion?

What times were the evening shows in the Princess Theater? What Production shows were there? Thanks

I assume you meant "did not blame"

Of course. Thoroughly understandable. A giant disappointment if it was one's first scheduled visit to Alaska of if one had been there before. But when life hands you lemons, you need to make the best lemonade you can. Obviously when the incident occurred everyone booked on the cruise was either already in the San Francisco area or on the way there. It is not like it happened enough before the cruise that passengers could have made other plans. Nobody who stayed on the ship received the cruise they had wanted, but they did get the best cruise alternative possible including a rebate of 3/4 of the cruise fare along with the FCC for a future cruise. When the Sky Princess recently had to cancel 4 of the 4 scheduled ports and had a new port added on a cruise to Iceland due to weather and a medical evacuation, they did not receive any cash back for the disappointment of not getting the cruise they paid for. (They did get an FCC for 20% of the cruise fare, something Princess did not have to do.) To quote deltaqueenie: "We are missing Reykjavik, Grundarfjordur, and Aukureyri…and the captain continues to change our itinerary…I do understand that weather can affect a cruise, but this has been a HUGE disappointment."

Wasn't that in reference to passengers who chose not to stay and may have incurred additional expenses in returning home beyond what Princess said they would cover?

On the other hand we were on a recent cruise where the distance between ports was so small that the ship went out of the direct path and went extra distance so it could go at least 12 knots to maintain stability.

2 cruises a year was referring to passengers who boarded in San Francisco and decided to leave the ship before it goes anywhere.

Based on the news report with an above link, repairs will take another 24 hours from now. So being able to depart Sunday is only an estimate which may or may not come to be.

So the question remains: Why are they waiting until Sunday to depart? Unable to make any other scheduled Alaska port if they left today?

Photo from

Heathrow area hotels use a shared shuttle service which has a charge.

Heathrow area hotels use a shared shuttle service which has a charge.