Arizona Wildcat

I give the apps (Princess or ???) two trys. At that point I call and will w a it on hold up to 10 minutes. With Princess they have been really good with short hold times and excellent at taking the info over the phone. If that fails I bring my confirmations - TA and Princess - and show up.at the pier. Cannot imagine wasting hours to click on an "I accept. button.

When on board in a full leg cast the maitre d provides me with a table cloth turned into a kilt. Worked fine. Sad to hear shorts etc allowed. On Celebrity shorts (ex Bermuda) are turned away.

Cruise ship employees do not run the embarkation. Locals handle most of those details. Have never seen an embarkation lounge. A roped off area with a few beverages and pastries- yes. Sometimes.

We often book cruises over a year ahead. Specialty restaurants often are full except for very early or late months before the cruise. You can always change once on board.

Look at ALL the Solstace class of ships for your cabin, cabins on the opposite side of the ship, or nearby cabins for comments. If it was needed by someone doubtful they would have assigned it to you. In general have found accessible cabins to be larger and quite comfy.

Several of the older ships were revolutionized before covid

We always just go the first night then decide. We have always been accommodated as jelayne said by being seated with the same wait staff. Sometimes they would coordinate same table for us. Easy once on board.

No issues I saw. Just fine.

Would suggest you let people know what ship and when. Best way is go to the ship you will be sailing and ask on the current roll call. Not sure how anyone would know specific songs as groups (3 to 5) usually play in the evenings doing in my experience mostly requests.

As an ex resident of Alaska, the OP was unhappy as their expectations were for 5star accommodation. To see Alaska fly to ANC and rent a car. 2 nights in ANC, 1 Airbnb in Healy to see Denali, 2 in Fairbanks, 1 in Glenallen at a BnB and back to ANC. A personal comment that Whittier is pretty grim. Seward is great with lots to do especially the all day Kenai boat tour and Exit Glacier. Thus we usually cruise other than Princess. PS - need to remember most places in tourist areas are open late May till Labor day. Clean basic accommodation. Need 5star suggest visiting a place without a 20000' mountain and heaps of wildlife like New York City.

Formal nights? They went away except for Cunard some years ago. Think of what you would wear to a nice restaurant at home. DW wears a dressy blouse, nice jewelry and long silky pants. I occasionally will wear a dress shirt and once each cruise a tie. I bring a sports coat if cruising or visiting cool places. Cruises in the Med tend to be dressier. Alaska and the Caribbean more casual. If you want more answers simply do a search on Dress Code or Formal. Hundreds of threads. And yes a very few will be in gowns and tuxedos or kilts

Ships in Australia are sailing full today. Book now if you are in the US and cancell or rebook if the price drops. If sailing with UK friends their rules are different so either use your US address or whatever you prefer.

I use a TA who checks periodically. We book another cruise and cancel if one opens up. Lots easier for them to do it. Depending on the cruise can you change the date?

Hmmmm. Drove a fishing boat and there is little difference if you are going to do a land tour. Many things not open in either May or September. Just more daylight in May. If I were to go back I would do a week long land tour on my own. ANC to Denali and Fairbanks then loop through Glenallen back to ANC. Late May or early September. That is the best part. Then cruise south. FWIW, There is little in Whittier and Seward is wonderful and worth 2 nights. Kenai Fjords tour better than anything offered in the ports; thus I usually cruise Celebrity out of Seward.

Definitely suggest going to the Princess website where you can see every venue on your ship from restaurants to shops to pools along with deck plans.

The restaurants vary as said. Anything from an all you can eat or a Chefs Table that could be $95 or more to a sushi bar where things are a la carte. The 18-20% gratuity added is pretty much the norm today. To literaanswer your question a "cover charge" pays for your meal or cover.

Suggest you check out the ports forum and your roll call. Any tour operator doing snorkeling will supply fins, mask and vest. Sometimes they are not the best.

I would go back and see what you checked that caused the health check. We did not require a health check just a couple questions on the website.

Lots of threads on this. Pending means exactly that. Patience. Very few MoveUps as said, but always a few last minute cancelations

Arive early? Possible. Disembarking early? Not likely but possible. Would depend if port authorities open early and your prior port as they could possibly clear your ship (we had multipleports in the Azores). Lots of what ifs. Thus . . . . Do you go to casinos? This would be better odds than playing the slot machines but definitely worse than playing blackjack. My question would be: Is the tour refundable if your ship is delayed or misses the port (we have missed one port on each of our last 5 cruises)? If not I would look elsewhere.. You need to decide what works for you.

This was debated at length last year. For a short time the corkage fee was mentioned as being charged. To my knowledge it has not been in place for some many months.

Glad you were able to sort things out. As one who has organized tours for some 25 years I always suggest it is lotsxfaster and less stressful to sort things after boarding. Book if available and cancel if it doesn't work out. I also absolutely suggest booking direct. An internet search will usually find a couple alternatives that are cheaper. Just make sure the operator will refund if the port is cancelled or if weather cancels the tour. A rain check is not much good to a cruise passenger.

Don't laugh. Best two tours for Eagles would be on your own. In Ketchikan take the city bus to the Totem village. Cost is a couple dollars. The best place to find Eagles is near piers where people are cleaning their catch or town dumps. Eagles are scavengers and as said can be found everywhere.

Two suggestions. Look at a deck plan. Think Ocean view - a large port hole/window are getting confused with Infinate Veranda cabins. The window opens. Suggest you look at the cabin sticky above. Cabins port and starboard in a similar location will be the same as will any of the Beyond and her sister ships. As for cabins far forward. Did an Antarctic cruise in the most forward cabin on the lowest deck. It was just fine.

Several volunteers we know willing to go. Just don't wait until the last minute as any changes can get fouled up.