symui

We were on the Dec / Jan Antarctica B2B also on for an 11 day Alaska trip on the Sapphire in April 2023. No Poker or Baccarat tables on either cruse. I would NOT count on a Poker table for your cruise but there is a chance they will add it by then. It is odd they don't have it on that ship as most Princess ships have an electronic Poker table.

I received the same offer just after 11am this morning. -Rick

Agree, IMO both are world class destinations. If you prefer touring and vacationing some of the great cities in the world Tokyo is one of my favorites and this trip would be a great choice. I enjoyed my business trips to Tokyo so I booked a two week land based trip to Tokyo and other parts of Japan. I could spend a month or more and be perfectly happy and never run out of interesting things to do. If you prefer scenic beauty and nature the Sydney, NZ trip is one of the best. DW and some friends did this trip in 2019 and loved it. Sydney is a beautiful city and the sail out is one of the best in the world. The southern Fiords in NZ are amazingly beautiful and the port stops heading north towards Auckland are some of my personal favorites. Tahiti and particularly Moorea are stunning is their own right and also have one of the best sail in / sail outs in the world. Sailing north out of Moorea toward Hawaii is one of the most beautiful sights I have seen and will be etched in my mind forever. If I had to pick one it would be the SYD-YVR trans pacific since I enjoy scenic beauty and nature more than cities. Let us know what you prefer and what you decide.

Wow, this is great. Many thanks !!

Thanks for posting - timely as DW and about a dozen friends are boarding on Sunday. How is the wine selection at other venues and availability on the Plus or Premier packages. Any Caymus, Rombauer, Ferrari Carano? Other favorites etc? Thanks again and enjoy the remainder of your cruise.

The Emerald is headed to Hawaii from LA right now. Use a ship locator website to get the coordinates when the ship is 3 days out from LA. I would guesstimate that the ship will pass through a partial eclipse with about 25% of the sun obscured by the moon - so worth a look with eclipse glasses. Duration with be about ~1.5 hours from first contact at 16:30 (UT), to max at 17:15 (UT) ending at 18:00 (UT). Double check the ship time on day 3 vs (UT). I would use the website below to match up the coordinates and help with the time conversion. There are many sites available but this is the one I use for eclipses. http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=20.13909&Lng=-152.02051&Zoom=7&LC=1 Enjoy the partial eclipse and your time in Hawaii.

I have always used OBC at the casino (tables) most recently on December and January cruises. I check my folio daily and see the debits from the casino hit my cabin account using the OBC.

I just saw that, 3 Sky and 6 Owner suites. Also provides an upgrade path for existing cabins. Folks get your upgrade bids in quick if you have not already.

Agree most Princess ship have a electronic poker table but not all. Just off the Sapphire, no electronic poker or tournaments, also no Baccarat table. Aside from that - the ship and the crew were great and we enjoyed the cruise

I use Uber or Lyft to Pier 27 on a regular basis and find the service reliable, never missed a cruise or had an issue. Your can get pricing with the Uber and or Lyft app for different sized vehicles and compare that against other services.

I boarded at San Pedro on 12/1/23 without a medallion. All you really need is your passport but we always bring a hard copy and screenshot of the travel summary as some agents can find your reservation faster if you have it handy. Agree with CruiseRaider that boarding was a bit of a mess but I have certainly seen worse. We arrived at 2pm and there was a line outside the tents so we were glad it was not raining. If it was better organised the total time from curb to cabin would have been about 30 minutes faster. Green lane might have saved about 15 minutes on that particular day/time at San Pedro Most of my embarkations with Princess (San Francisco) have been in fairly smooth with or without a medallion. Much better than airlines on average which IMO are the weakest link when traveling

Yes the hallway between L107 & L108 is passenger accessible. Just about the only people you will see are the passengers in cabins L101 to L108 and housekeeping, also it's usually a very quiet area. These are some of my favorite cabins on a Royal class ship including the balconies in the middle. To go from L108 to M108 you will need to take the stairs or elevator near L302. About a 2 to 5 minute stroll depending on how fast you move. L108 is a great cabin. Enjoy!!

Yes, take it to the cashier and have them exchange it for $5 free play chips if you want to play the tables. If you want to play slots have them apply the $100 free play chip to your casino account and you will have $100 free play when you log into a slot machine. Nice find. Let us know how it works out for you.

We have been in L102 twice and loved it. That and the mirror cabin L101 have slightly larger balconies than the obstructed balconies up front. All the front balconies are larger than regular balconies so any of them are nice. Be sure to bring binoculars for stargazing. Since it is above the bridge it's the darkest spot I have found on any ship. Whenever there is a tail wind it's usually not too windy and we sit on the balcony day or night to enjoy the views. Sail in's and sail out's are particularly good, sometimes spectacular so we plan our activities accordingly. We usually bring furniture risers to boost up the chairs about 3 to 4 inches. This provides better views over the solid railing. They take a bit more luggage space but we always bring them when we don't have a see thru glass railing.

Yes, I'm booked on the 22 day on the Ruby. My CVP applied the promo to my hold yesterday and now I'm fully deposited and booked. I too saw the $800 deposit when I put my cabin on hold. Emailed my CVP and she told me about promo and applied it, then I paid the $200 with the cruise persionalizer and received my booking confirmation. Folks might want to check with their CVP to apply the promo. TA's might or might not have access to the promo? My recommendation is to ask.

That's the impression it got but don't know for sure. Something to ask about before paying the deposit. HTH, Rick

Put a hold on my favorite B4 this morning for the 22 day out of San Francisco. Amazing itinerary but was stuck with the $800 deposit since I'm out of FCD. There is a $200 deposit promo available for the next day or so. I emailed my CVP, she called me about 10 minutes later and was able to apply the $200 deposit under the promo - Done. Hopefully TA's can do the same, not sure but worth checking if you're out of FCD.

I agree, call and get another CVP. Next cruise - go to the meet and great and ask for CVP recommendations. Thats what I did 100+ sea days ago and have been happy ever since. My only concern is my CVP might change jobs. If so, I have received several recommendations for good CVP's from friends at the meet and greet - just in case I need them.

Thanks for the update and inquiring about the electronic poker table on the Sapphire. I will be back on the Sapphire in December and it would be nice if they had the electronic poker table, fingers crossed for a Baccarat table as well as I found it really odd they didn't have one.

Most not all. Was on the Sapphire in May and there was no Baccarat or electronic poker table, yet every other Princess ship I've been on had both. That said the Sapphire is my favorite Princess ship so I just spent less time in the casino. As for the Royal they have a great location for the electronic poker table. It's on the non-smoking side of the casino, forward section of the casino, very nice. I've been on two Alaska cruises since the restart and usually the casino opened 45 min to one hour after leaving Alaskan ports which surprised me since according to the map it would appear we were still in Alaskan waters. The nights I wanted to play I stopped by the casino after the ship left port and asked the staff who were setting up when they were opening as if varied slightly based on the port location etc.

Yes, agree with the others, simple and easy to pickup at the pier. We used to have them mailed to our house before the cruise but now that Padgett charges extra to ship we pick them up at the pier and have had zero problems at the Ports of San Francisco and Vancouver.

Good Morning Skagway

Goodnight Juneau

Someone started a new thread the other day. "Live From the Sapphire Princess! (29 April - 10 May)" Check it out, yours and many other questions will be covered.

My large bag laying on the floor measures 13" high and fits (just barely) under the bed. I've been on the Ruby about 7 times since the restart. It's one of my favorite ships. Enjoy your Cruise !!