travelin.sisters

January from LA it was 2nd sea day, 1st day out of Hawaii, &2 days before Ensenada (so days 3,10 & 13)

It is lively there are multiple ship's departing that day & they needed to stagger the sailings...our inner harbor is not very wide.

Yes it makes it so much easier not to have to keep explaining & safer as there is less chance for a mix up.

First chech your travel summary to see that they are truly gone. We have had excursions 'vanish' when they were canceled. No notification just gone. We did get a credit card refund once , which is how I noticed it. If you used OBC then you would just have to notice it, as you did. Ours most recent one was due to port changes, so once on board they told us what they had switched us to as the most similar to what we had booked, but we could change. I think you might need to call Princess for more info.

On the first night I spoke to the head waiter or maitre d' (now the restaurant manager & head of restaurant operations) and the hostess, explained our need for consistency (due to allergies) & asked to be at the same table each night. We only had minor glitches on any of our 3 cruises this year.

I think (but I could be remembering wrong, or they could have changed it) that if you are Platinum or Elite you can make reservations as soon as you book, if not its after final payment.

I don't have any info or suggestions that are pertinent specifically to your issue, but I would try calling again & see if you can get a different answer (Princess recently is notorious for "the only thing consistent is the inconsistency") from a different agent. There are also some fairly recent threads llisting email contact info for Princess higher-ups that you might try reaching out to. Did you use a TA for your April 2020 cruise? they might be able to help you. Hope you find a solution & your wife's foot heals well.

have a wonderful trip...thanks for taking us along

OBC is a strange thing before cruising...it still shows up as there if you use it for excursions too...then on the ship it will have all your OBC & then the excursions subtracted...it is confusing to me

I told you they wanted a Cherry.

yes, the waiter or usually the jr waiter will take your drink orders, I don't believe you can get deliver through the app in the dining rooms (what you can order changes based on your location)

we have different food issues than yours, but still need to be very careful, almost always have had very good success with the rest manager (some superb) but do not be afraid to ask for more help or the head of restaurant operations (used to be maitre d') if there are problems...we always book same time same place so that the waiters also know & watch out for us &we don't have to keep sharing the "list" with new people. You can look at the menu for specialty dining ahead of time & if there is something you would really like, you might consider asking the day before if it could be made with your restrictions in mind.

There have been several larger tables in every specialty dining room I haven't been in on a princess ship, so I would notice overstress on this. That being said, I do like having everything all in order beforehand, so I would probably stress some. If you can't get it fixed before stop by or call once you are on-board & they will sort it for you.

in a few days we will know...the Hawai'i were released very late this year as they figured out the Asia schedules, but Alaska should not be very much impacted by that

we are looking forward to joining you in March!!

no it is drive up & find a spot

any updates on the Crown post dry dock?

thanks for sharing your lovely journey!

If you do 2 balconies you can open the balcony door to allow access & you can get everyone's Medallion to open both rooms...I would recommend @harryfat1s Cheepo Dad thread about his family's trip to Alaska for tons of great info about Alaska & traveling with a family group it's long but really good:

I don't know about the family suites, but we book a balcony & inside across the hall from each other for 3 people for the same price or less than a mini-suite so I would guess that the family suite would be much more than 2 rooms...any suite will go very fast & Platinum members get to book a day before everyone else so I would not count on getting one of the family suites...I would suggest a good local TA who knows Princess to help you navigate this process.

the question is will you spend the extra $25ish a day on drinks or is the not having to worry about it worth it to you...there are several good threads where people discuss this in detail, but while it was nice to have the package & not have to worry about what we were ordering, it wasn't worth it for us but others love it either because they use that much or they like not having anything more to pay on the ship (also consider how much OBC you have to spend, ours usually pays for gratuities & if you are Platinum or Elite the wifi is 1/2 price)

we take full advantage of living within miles of the port & pack what most people would consider entirely too much...fuzzy blankets, decorations for the room, Stanley bears & their clothes, 'ukuleles, the list goes on & on...I could make everyone pack less, but why?

bingo still exists (a lot!) but I have heard (I don't play), that if you don't get the machine you probably won't win because they are faster than hand stamping the cards

fortunately they are...when we were rerouted from Puerto Vallarta to San Diego last month, we got patters with the correct info after they juggled all the schedules to move sea days & ports around...a ton of work for all the planners

I hate doing the Journey View "dance"...its like some strange tech version of the hokey pokey or an awful square dance...scroll all the way down & then two spaces right, all the way up & then two more to the right (or is it left) spin around & then give up & sit in your room & order chocolate (or head to the nearest bar depending on your preferences)