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Anything goes.

But they should!

Respectfully, I choose to disagree.

You will get a lot of responses saying they prefer southbound. I am one of them. :D

 

If you are also doing a land portion (highly recommended), many argue it's nice to do that first and have the more relaxing cruise second.

 

Also, you get the longer flight over with first.

 

Whatever you decide, you will love Alaska!!

We chose southbound for the same reasons and were very happy to have done so.

Alaska is one vacation which you’ll look back upon and recall everything that you did off the ship, but not so much what you did onboard the ship.

That’s for sure!

Between all of our pre-cruise activities up by Anchorage and Girdwood, Glacier Bay, excursions such as helicopter flights and dog sledding on a glacier, and then post-cruise stayovers in Vancouver and Seattle, it was certainly very memorable for us and an overall fantastic trip.

It’ll be interesting to see how the glaciers and the scenery differ from Alaska and our upcoming cold weather cruise visiting Antarctica.

Whatever you choose, I’m sure you’ll have an amazing time and Alaska is magnificent.

The ship in question was originally being built in a US shipyard, for a US company, to be flagged in the US, and with a US crew. The company went bankrupt after 9/11, and the US government was left with loan guarantees to the shipyard for a half completed cruise ship. NCL negotiated a waiver for the US built requirement in exchange for repaying the loan guarantees. All other requirements for PVSA trade are met by the Pride of America (US owner, flag, crew). While the agreement did include waivers of the US build requirement for two other ships, those ships are no longer in US flag, nor in the PVSA trade, and have lost their waivers. I am not convinced that the Pride of America, even though she was completed in Germany, does not meet the requirements for US built, as there is only a certain percentage of the ship that needs to be built in the US to meet the US built requirements. Aker shipyard in Philadelphia builds Jones Act tankers and container ships, yet only the hull steel is built in the US, and every piece of machinery, and all the walkways, ladders, railings, hatch covers, propulsion, electronics, etc, etc, are built in Korea and shipped over.

 

Had Hawaiian American Cruises not gone bankrupt and given NCL the opportunity to buy the hull from the US government, the US flag NCL operation would never have gotten off the ground.

 

As for cruising and the PVSA, CLIA, the cruise industry association has stated that none of its member companies are interested in revising or repealing the PVSA, as they see little to no benefit to the cruise lines' bottom line.

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

So to board, you would be required to pay the PVSA fines.

Not exactly.

The cruise operator would be the one required to pay the PVSA fines. The only time a passenger would be required to pay the fine is when the cruise line passes the fine onto the passenger instead of eating the cost.

To echo the previous posters, Princess and Holland America Line have the most experience in the area and will provide an exceptional experience. We enjoyed our Southboud Voyage of the Glaciers on the Sapphire Princess and would recommend it.

While it is possible to accomplish what you are doing, Carnival is likely to deny your deviation request. If you have your heart set on doing it, there are other cruise lines that offer a lot of segmented voyages. As these are the same cruises to many different ports of disembarkation, they are no strangers to managing the manifests with complicated itineraries.

Princess will allow you to disembark whenever you choose assuming the deviation request is completed and you agree to pay any fees that may be incurred by the cruise line (such as the PVSA). In addition, Princess will let you delay your boarding to another day/port assuming the proper request had been sent and you understand they will not prorate the cruise.

PVSA would not apply in this case as you would be spending a minimum of one night in the country you disembarked and/or changing ships. You would even be able to return to a different US port should you wish and wouldn’t need to visit a distant foreign port to do so.

looks like the complimentary Medallionet on the Regal is no longer unlimited and comped for elites and platinum...at least not on a cruise we have booked on Regal in November 2018 ... it's now 59.95 for pre-purchase ... I 'guess' we will still get our 150 minutes each for being Platinum??

The unlimited package is only offered complimentary on cruises designated as an ***** Preview Cruise.

Edit.

Yes, however, those transponders are much larger than wrist band size. The wrist bands are likely passive and must be right on the reader. Having a 3 foot range would render the technology useless as there would be several people within 3 feet of the reader at any given time triggering it. The credit card technology is very short range - like 1".

 

This is definitely not big brother.

Ocean Medallion doesn’t require tapping anything to unlock your door. Your door simply unlocks as you approach it because it uses an active and short range radio instead of passive.

but I can see no benefit to changing from the S&S cards to wristbands for a cruise ship.

The enhancements are for the revenue management teams... not the guests.

Most people on the Regal Princess have been wearing them as necklaces instead of their ship cards on lanyards. You can still opt for a traditional ship card if you’re in an Ocean Medallion stateroom... just make sure your steward is aware the Medallion isn’t with you or your room may be skipped that day. ;)

I personally wouldn’t use it and opt to use my plastic hard-tickets when visiting the theme parks that pioneered Ocean Medallion.

Enjoy being platinum while it lasts who knows what kind of changes they will make

And if rumors spread that the changes will be brilliant, there’s some bad news ahead.

We returned nearly three hours late from a Carnival excursion to the Panama Canal due to an unforeseen issue with the boat. The ship waited for us and we left shortly after we got onboard.

When doing bigger excursions that frequently offer delays or require travel to a city very far away from the port, we tend to reserve directly through Princess.

My wife (who has never been seasick) has a fear of the atlantic. Still on our list tho.

Our Regal Princess TA a few weeks ago was probably one of our smoothest cruises and not a thing was felt. Our Magic TA has some movement for a day or two but overall smooth. I’d highly recommend you guys give it a try. We’re crossing the Drake Passage from Cape Horn to Antarctica and back on the Coral Princess and we’re anticipating rough seas.

Back on topic though... does the Baked Alaska parade on Carnival use a real flame like in the past or have they adopted a light up flame like other cruise lines?

Might have you beat on the dirt age. We have toured the QM2, they do things in an interesting way. I would love to sail her “across the pond”.

 

 

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You should definitely look into a crossing. I’m surprised you haven’t done one already when considering how many cruises you have been on.

The cruise is to Alaska and it is in big demand.

 

 

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Check Princess or Holland America Line. Both offer a more refined Alaska experience and have better availability than Carnival in that market.

I only have $470 left to pay on my cruise. Final payment date is 5/31. Fares are $150+ more expensive than my current rate, and travel insurance would be $130. Does anybody have an ideas to get the amount left over $500 so I can get the credit? (edit) Without adding more than $100 in cost.

Assuming it isn’t your deposit, ask them to refund $40 back to your card so your balance is a little over $500 and then settle the remaining balance on the card with the offer.

Credit posted as well from a Princess cruise.

I wouldn’t mind going to the bars for a soda if it weren’t for the wait. They ignore the soda people, especially kids, in favor of the people ordering the pricier alcoholic beverages. It’s probably because they’ll get a better tip. The sodas are cheap and the tips not that much. I just hate waiting 15-20 minutes just to get a Diet Coke. :(

Once you're pegged as a soda drinker on Carnival, you can expect to wait extended periods of times for a drink... especially if you look young or are a kid.

On Princess, when sitting down at the Lido buffet, a server will ask what you want to drink, will have no problem if it's a soda, and will be back within a minute. In the MDR, the assistant waiter -- not a bar waiter -- will handle it and it'll be there without a wait. The bartenders don't ignore you and are happy to assist and they don't even look up your picture when you order something.

Thanks for the link. It worked with my SPG Amex.

In the past, I enjoyed the perceived value and service I received on Carnival but as things changed, Carnival was no longer providing the value or the experience I was looking for. We simply outgrew Carnival and combined with a poor experience where we were very underwhelmed and disappointed with the cruise, we branched out and found Princess.

While I still believe Carnival offers a decent value and a nice experience for the first time cruiser, there’s nothing I particularly love about Carnival and haven’t returned to Carnival since that poor experience.

All this was done to satisfy the Jones act.

This was done to satisfy the PVSA... not the Jones Act.

The Jones Act has no influence on cruise ship itineraries or passenger fines.

Where do you see names? I only see numbers, if they do show names that would be kind of weird.

Click on the number representing the amount of people who voted. It will show you the results.

Classic vBulletin feature.