SuzieQ521

3 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

The most current Alaska cruise port schedules are now on Claalaska (updated May 3)

 

www.claalaska.com

 

 

Thanks, I see it now!

Still has my Royal Princess on RRF on May 23rd, so fingers crossed.

I guess the real test will be next Tuesday which is the first time RRF will be used this season with Royal Princess;  Majestic Princess is supposed to be at RRA around the same time.

8 minutes ago, fabby50 said:

The have frequent specials on board, sometimes more depending on whether you're on a popular cruise or not.  If you're on a more popular cruise, they also can get booked up, you might not get the time or day you want.  I usually prebook one massage and then evaluate what's on offer once I get on board to see if I want to book more.  You can use the OBC either way.

Along the same lines, do you know if you can just book the Thermal spa for one day (not whole week) and how much that usually is?

We are on the Royal in a few weeks and the first sea day happens to be my birthday so I was hoping to have a nice relaxing day to myself. 🙂 Thanks!

3 minutes ago, SleepyBunny said:

1) Do they give pagers to parents for the younger kids while on board (I assume not when ship is in port!)?

 

They seemed to have a few pagers but I was not given one. My kid is in the mid-range group, I'll ask if they aren't super busy! 

 

2) Do you know if they have any arcade games in the younger kids room (ages 3-5?). I thought I saw an air hockey table in the pictures.

 

There is a Foozeball table and two skee ball (side-by-side) machines in the parents-welcome fun zone, then in the room for 8-12s an air hockey table, a row of computers for videogames, a tablet that acts as a jukebox with pop songs. 

 

I was quite impressed with the current selection of kids books in the library - Amulet, Harry Potter, Geronimo/Thea Stilton, Rayna Tellegmere graphic novels, etc. but sad to hear they can only be enjoyed in the club (though fully understandable!)

Thanks!

Is the parents'- welcome fun zone open all the time and when the kids club is closed?

7 hours ago, Kittybucks said:

This was posted to the FB group I am in for our June cruise on the Quantum of the Seas last night. Can anyone verify if this is true?  I can't find it anywhere.  The post also said the person talked to the Mayor of Skagway and he confirmed it.  Royal said there have been no port changes.

 

 

  

 

 

 

That's so strange. I just looked on the main Skagway website that has all the cruise arrival information and there has been no update to that schedule since February. You would think your cruise line would be the first to know...

2 hours ago, Alifay said:

We will be on the Royal this Saturday for the first Alaska cruise of her season!  What production shows are currently on board?

(our Journey view for this cruise isn’t loading for anyone, people at Princess say it’ll work when we are on board). 

Please report back after your cruise if you can (especially on the Skagway rock slide issues)...we do the same cruise on May 20th.

Have a wonderful cruise!

3 hours ago, tutumomickey said:

Pagers are given out when you drop off your child. You may also leave child in kids club while in port you just have to let them know a couple of days in advance so they can staff appropriately. I believe the air hockey table on the Discovery and Royal were in the 7-12 year old section. They really did not need arcade games for the "Tree house" younger kids. They have an indoor and outdoor play areas with lots of climbing/sliding equipment plus organized craft and games. Our granddaughters were 4 in Alaska and 5 in Hawaii and never wanted to leave the club. Be prepared, they came home with multiple crafts ans stuffed animals. Luckily one of the crafts was a backpack that could hold some of their goodies.

Oh that's great to hear! We were on a NCL cruise in January and my 4 year old loved their arcade; however, the Princess's kids club seems a lot more organized with actual activities (as opposed to just video games and Legos) so I think he will have fun in there, especially on our Alaska cruise. The indoor and outdoor play areas look great too.

And that's great about the pagers! For NCL, you had to tell them what decks you might be on but then they really had no way of contacting you other than calling your stateroom (and if you weren't in there, then you would hear the message hours later!). They also were closed on Port days.

Thank you.

If you get a chance to answer: 

1) Do they give pagers to parents for the younger kids while on board (I assume not when ship is in port!)?

2) Do you know if they have any arcade games in the younger kids room (ages 3-5?). I thought I saw an air hockey table in the pictures.

thanks!

Thank you so much!

We sail on Royal Princess in a few weeks with a 4 year old...a few of the same ports so hoping it will be similar activities!

16 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Another thread has said that when it comes time to ship the Medallion to a home, they check if the fee is waived due to having purchased a package and, if a package has been purchased, you are not actually charged for the shipping.

I ordered the Medallion a couple months ago and just received a credit card alert yesterday that I was charged event though we should not have been with the Plus package. So I assume they are getting ready to ship it now.

Wondering if it's worth the headache to call now and get it reversed or stand in line at Guest services...

Thank you for the great photos and updates. We sail the Royal in a few weeks out of Seattle to Alaska.

We also have an obstructed deluxe balcony room...looks pretty spacious from your photos!

May I ask how the main dining room and buffet food has been if you have tried it?

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

We booked independently a few years ago. It really isn't a long walk and it was a nice stroll.

If you have any mobility issues, then it may be difficult but for most people, I would say it is fine.

Does anyone know if there are candy apples anywhere on the ship, like with the premium desserts? Thanks 

31 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

You are in with the Solstice.  As both ships are over 1000 feet, be prepared to hot berth (spend half the day there instead of the full day).

Yes, you're probably correct.

One would think they will tell us soon to let us make changes to any reservations; as of now, our itinerary still shows a full day.  We are doing white pass railroad in the morning so will see what happens...

Thanks

4 hours ago, eileeshb said:

RRF = Railroad Forward is the berth that’s the open question right now as that’s the one Ship Rock could hit if it falls. A ship can’t move quickly enough to dodge if it drops so the local authorities have to convince the cruise lines scheduled for that berth it’s safe. 

RRA = railroad Aft is the berth that’s been used by NCL last week and this week with the shuttle buses. 

Thanks for the info.

Our Royal Princess is currently set to be at RRF all day on May 23rd. I would assume that the only alternate berth that could fit a ship of this size is RRA?

7 hours ago, Ombud said:

E409-E425 is great, E403/ E404 & E433/E434 are okay as well, restricted view to 1 side. Basically those obstructions are looking down. But the other rooms have some version of an obstruction.  Either the full tender or just part of it (front, back, top depending on tender size)

Great to hear...we have E411 and from what I've seen...barely any obstruction!

Same as the poster above. We have Plus so should not have been charged but when I ordered ours a couple months ago (haven't received yet for our cruise in less than 4 weeks), it mentioned a shipping charge.

However, I also do not see that my credit card was charged so maybe it was not actually charged either.

If you google images for that, some will come up. It appears that there is a lifeboat obstruction but if the savings are worth it for you and you prefer a balcony more for the fresh air and peek a boo view, I say go for it.

We actually are booked on an obstructed balcony on the Royal next month but we don't have much of an obstruction so it's great and we got to save money from a regular balcony. If you can, I would google cabin numbers of various obstructed cabins to see what the obstruction is.

4 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

There is a good possibility that the ships will be hot berthing.  One ship will come in and tie up for 5-6 hours and then leave while the other ship comes in and stays their 5-6 hours.  Operationally, this is the safest solution, since if there was a major slide, the forward ship would have little chance to get off the dock before being hit.  This would negatively impact passengers' experience in Skagway, as given that at least an hour would be needed to get people off and bus them to the parking lot and then back, maximum time for tours would be limited to 3 or 4 hours.  Another possibility might be to dock and discharge passengers then anchor out and allow another ship to dock, but I haven't seen this discussed anywhere.  

 

Many of the tours go over to Haines.  I don't know how these will operate given that it is around 1.5 hours transit to Haines and back unless the ship stops by Haines to pick them up.

 

I don't think anyone knows for sure how this will be resolved.  It will probably evolve during the season or there could be a big landslide and the dock could close permanently.  I think we just have to wait and see and roll with the punches..  

 

Please support local tour companies and businesses if you can.  Covid literally closed the town down and now this.  

Yes, I think I read in the most recent Skagway update that was exactly the plan--basically a full day port stop would be cut in half to accommodate two ships in one dock per day.

The question is: how to determine which ships would do this and when are they going to let passengers know? We sail on Royal Princess in less than 4 weeks and as of now, we have a full day in Skagway.

1 hour ago, saleaaway said:

Sorry should have said that.  We leave the. 28 of May.  Been counting down for weeks.  Lol. 

Sunset I believe is closer to 10 p.m. that time of year so there will still be daylight. 

You could walk around downtown Juneau, very walkable from cruise area. Not sure if any stores will be open but Red Dog Saloon is a fun place.

Also you can walk along the wharf--some restaurants there too.

2 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

It was the first time on a Royal class ship, and we really enjoyed it. We've sailed almost exclusively in mini suites and on the Royal we had a deluxe balcony room.  The extra 2 seater couch was a big plus over a regular balcony room. The balconies on the Royal class ship are smaller but that didn't matter. The Royal has so many great viewing spots. I loved sitting at the aft bar and enjoying the scenery as we sailed. What I missed on our most recent cruise on the Crown was the variety of food venues that the Royal offers. The buffet on the Royal sure beat the layout on the Crown. Beautiful ship, great time. Enjoy! We are on the Regal in Sept, and can't wait.

Thank you! We have a deluxe balcony room so that's good to hear (needed the sofa bed for our son).

We actually also sail the Crown for a Thanksgiving cruise this year...here's hoping that the food will be better for that special holiday, haha!.

On 4/19/2023 at 10:10 AM, Yehootu said:

Sailed the Royal last May and just got off the Crown. Excellent staff on the Crown, however the buffet was worse than my 1980's college dorm food. Bad layout and horrible selection. Could've been Astoria was missed due to conditions of the Columbia River Bar.

What did you think of the Royal? We sail her in a few weeks to Alaska!

4 hours ago, saleaaway said:

was hoping someone can answer a quick question.   We have a tour scheduled when we come off the ship that lasts 4.5 hours.  We get back to the dock around 8:00 with the ship leaving at 11:00.  Was wondering if there is much still open in the evening.  We just miss the Tram, it closes at 8:00.  Thanks in advance.

 

Which month? Likely makes a difference if it is during summer cruise season or off-season.

10 hours ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

Yes, indeed.  You can order a variety of food and drink.  The Medallion App is great for ordering room service.  My wife and I decided to have a "pizza and a movie" night, and so we ordered pizza.  The app not only confirmed our order, but gave us an ETA of 30 minutes.  The pizza arrived in approx. 30 minutes!

Great, thanks! Do you know if you can still order some breakfast items the night before ? (you used to be able to leave the paper with your continental breakfast order outside).

It would be great to keep my son entertained with a danish/muffin, etc. while we are getting ready in the morning.😀

Thank you for your great review. We sail the Royal next month.

Did you utilize room service at all? Wondering if one is able to order a specialty coffee drink (i.e. Latte, Mocha, etc.) and a cocktail via Medallion that way.

5 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Also sailing on the Royal next month. Where have you found the dock location?

https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf