karatemom2

Agree. It’s really not any more intrusive than the former process, and honestly so much quicker and easier once you get your account set up. The benefit is applied to your account very quickly once you submit through the app.

There is definitely an advantage to letting someone else do the driving so you can relax and enjoy the scenery. Plus you get the best of both - the train trip and the drive. We have toured with Chilkoot Charters a couple of times and they deserve the great reviews they get. I would suggest you call them and ask about the space for the walker. I seem to recall that the large touring van they use has space in a back trunk area that would probably easily hold a fold up walker.

This made my chuckle! On our one and only HAL cruise that we chose in Alaska for the great itinerary, at 8:30 pm when we would walk down the hall to our cabin for a quick refresh after dinner, everywhere you looked the breakfast order cards were already hanging on the doors because people had turned in for the night. It was the most low key nightlife we have ever experienced on any ship. Thank goodness for the wonderful piano bar performer who kept us and one other couple our age entertained each evening.

@Buddysmom10 we are also on the same cruise with you this summer. We have had no problem getting right off the ship on our two recent cruises the in past years out of Southampton. We will also be doing early walk off again this year on our upcoming cruise and have our car service scheduled to pick us up at 7:45 am. You don’t need to provide Princess with any flight info. Just let Guest Services know once onboard that you are want early walk off for your disembarkation.

Say what you want about port times, NCL’s times are short or odd hours that make many activities that don’t start that early or run that late difficult. When you factor in the transit time from Ward Cove it just adds even more time and inconvenience. Sure, if you are happy to stick to cruise line excursions, you will find things scheduled to work. But Alaska is a very easy and desirable place to plan individual excursions that are infinitely more cost effective and often more satisfying. We really like NCL and have actually done six Alaska trips with them. But we were not happy with the Ward Cove set up - and we gave it two chances figuring perhaps the first year was just still working out the kinks. I’m quite good at basic math, enjoy NCL and am not just wed to cruising Princess, and have personally experienced the Ward Cove port. It’s not for me. I would rather spend my time experiencing Alaska then a manufactured port with chaotic shuttles and limited access to all the area offers without relying on a cattle call cruise excursion. So, we will happily cruise NCL many other places in the world but not in Alaska. I’m sure they will still fill the ships - but ultimately some people just don’t understand what they are missing out on, and those that do can come here to complain if they choose - since this is Cruise CRITIC. And in the end, people who prioritize port time and access will choose other lines.

It creates a nightmare! Our last visit to Sitka in 2022 was on the Royal Princess which is already a larger ship holding over 3,000 passengers. We were lucky we got there first and we had early plans so we were up and off the ship as soon as it cleared and immediately got the shuttle into town. However, Ovation of the Seas, which holds nearly 5,000 passengers arrived shortly after us, and I heard the waits for people trying to get the shuttle after that ship arrived were hours long. Getting back on the ship was a cluster. The line for the shuttles in town was ridiculously long, and the port was a complete zoo when we got back - no way was I even attempting to go into the few local businesses or eateries there. It took us around 90 minutes to get back from town and back onboard the ship.

From what has been shared here that benefit has been discontinued and is only available on your cruise if you made the booking prior to the end of December 2023. Not sure when you booked, but if it was after the beginning of this year, it will not be offered for free as a suite benefit. If it was prior to then end of year deadline, you should still get it as a perk, but may have to call ahead to get it worked out or have your concierge arrange it onboard. I can say based on our experience doing it on the Discovery on New Year’s Eve, it is well worth the price if you do end up having to pay for it.

When we had a similar long time frame before our flight, we rented a car at port that we used for the day and then dropped off at the airport. It was way more reasonable then the Princess excursion, we were able to easily able to keep our luggage with us stowed in the trunk, and we had full freedom to do whatever we wanted to do. At the airport we returned the car and took the shuttle from the rental return to our terminal. It was great!

The van portion picks passengers up in Fraser where the train ride ends and proceeds to Carcross, Carcross Desert, and Emerald Lake. On the way back to Skagway it also makes many scenic stops including Caribou Crossing and the Yukon sign. They also have a combined trip with the train that goes all the way to Lake Bennett we have taken as well. Both are great combos.

Here is a link for the Roll Call for your specific cruise which is likely where you would want to share this message: Enjoy! We loved our British Isles cruise a couple of years ago!

Yes, they are fully covered and flush with the decks above so no one can look down into your balcony space so you have shade and privacy.

Understood that the OP is visiting Haines and not Skagway, but for others reading these comments who may be stopping in Skagway, another good option is the train/van combo offered by companies like Chilkoot Charters. This allows you to get the best of both worlds and experience the train, which is a wonderful experience, but also see this scenic route from another vantage that the highway offers while also stopping at several places along the way. On our different trips to Alaska over the years, we have done train only, van tour only, car on our own, and the train/van combo, and for what it's worth I think the train up and van back is my favorite option.

And we did a 12 day round trip out of Vancouver in May of 2022 shortly after this was published and nothing like this was offered on the Royal. As I said, it was Alaska themed dishes a couple of evenings as one of the menu options. Certainly not every night and not all that different from seafood offerings we have had on non Alaska cruises. Maybe you will find something different but after years of cruising to Alaska with Princess, I’ve learned where to find the best fresh seafood meals and that is on shore. No complaints about the food in the MDR, but it doesn’t quite compare to the seafood we have had in our Alaska ports. Going back again this September on the Ruby so I guess I’ll see if something dramatic has changed with the menus. We did love our cruise on the Royal that year though - our first in over two years thanks to the pandemic. My daughter got engaged on that trip and it was one for the record books - even though we all got COVID a couple days after getting home!

Interesting. I wonder if this is a new policy? We bought our internet package via the app for our upcoming cruise just prior to the rate hike and just paid the half price rate. Maybe this just applies if you wait and purchase onboard? Would love to see if someone who has purchased recently has any first hand experience to share. If this is now the new policy it further demonstrates the slow erosion of this particular Elite benefit.

Most spa services on Princess are ridiculously overpriced and the quality in my experience is generally just ok. I no longer get spa services on our cruises unless it’s at some kind of significant discount - like a port day special. If I do invest in one of these, it is usually a hot stone massage as I find those the best option offered onboard in terms of the quality of the service. I save it for great and affordable massages at home or even on some of the ports we visit like Cabo where you can get amazing massages by the beach for literally a fraction of the price onboard.

This is the age range into which my kids fall. Neither they or most of their friends can afford a cruise. It’s everything they can do to afford their rent. The only reason my daughter and her new hubby got a cruise for their honeymoon was because Mom and Dad were footing the bill. Princess can advertise to that demographic all they like, but it may be many years before they reap any benefit. They would be smarter to stick with at least a 40 plus demographic or advertise to us Gen X and Boomers encouraging us to bring our adult kids on cruises. Many are living at home anyway.

I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the cabins they may reserve or set aside for travel agents to sell? We are taking a Norwegian Fjords cruise this summer that seems to be very popular - a great itinerary. It has appeared to be virtually sold out for months with almost no cabin availability, but when I checked again this week just out of curiosity, quite a few cabins that had not been showing as available before were suddenly open. We are now within 90 days of the cruise, so I'm just wondering if by a certain time a travel agent has not sold them they revert back to Princess. Or maybe it is people who cancel at 90 days for a refund? It's a mystery to me - but ships do indeed seem to be sailing at or near capacity these days.

You can't monitor other people's behaviors - everything we touch in the world has been touched by another human who may or may not have good hygiene habits. All you can do is protect yourself by washing and/or sanitizing YOUR hands before eating. We don't completely avoid the buffet, but if we go, we wash our hands before serving our food, and wash our hands again before eating, and I always carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer with me not just on our cruises but everywhere I go in life. I work in health care and am well aware of the pathogens that surround us - you just have to do your best to practice your own best hygiene and self protection and that is simply all you can do. It's called living in a world with other people over whom you have no control, but with whom you have to coexist.

Same here. We have been on multiple Alaska sailings and have never noted a significant difference in the menus over any of our other sailings in other areas, with the exception of maybe one or two dishes during the week that they describe as an homage to Alaska cuisine - similar to our Hawaii cruises. And given that they are generally filling the food coffers at the point of embarkation, I highly doubt any of it is "fresh" Alaska caught seafood. That is not by any means to say I'm complaining or the food is bad - but just a reality check. If you want fresh and local seafood in Alaska you will find it in the ports.

They may have a couple of regional dishes that feature seafood with reference to the Alaska itinerary, but by and large the menu is the same. You will find the standard seafood menu items - salmon, sea bass, halibut, shrimp, lobster etc. on the menu as usual on different nights. Not sure they are even actually sourced from Alaska. Not that they aren’t good - generally the seafood dishes on Princess are fine. But if you want fresh, locally sourced Alaska seafood you will be better served eating in the ports at a local restaurant. There are many great options.

There are packages they offer for vow renewals. Here is a link: https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/celebrations/cruise-gifts-services/romance-packages

Princess doesn’t offer dining packages like NCL. There are some dining benefits in the Plus package which includes two casual dining meals and the Premier package which includes two specialty meals. There are usually a couple of Indian dishes offered in the MDR at lunch and dinner at sometime during the cruise. Also, Indian dishes can usually be found often in the buffet. If you mention to your server your preference for Indian food, they may be aware of special dishes available that they might bring to you.

In the words of Forrest Gump, Roll Calls are like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are going to get. We have had amazing roll calls where we have made lifelong friends, nonexistent roll calls where virtually no one signs on, or roll calls that were engaging in advance but didn’t live up to expectations onboard. The best you can generally hope is you find a few kindred spirits who may become your trivia crew, drinking or gambling buddies, shared excursion adventurers, dining partners, or, at the very least people with whom you can exchange pleasantries when you run into them onboard or in port. So sorry this one didn’t work out for you, but hopefully the next one will. All roll calls are definitely not created equally, so do give it another try on your next cruise.

I'm sure that Princess has evaluated the financials of the packages and there is no doubt they are making money on them, which is why they are marketing them so aggressively. Keep in mind, the mark up on the alcoholic beverages, WiFi, and other package benefits is probably quite high - so even though it seems like a savings to the consumer, just by virtue of locking people into a set extra price for these items, Princess is likely ensuring that lots of people are investing more in onboard expenses then they would have prior to the packages. Plus, Princess is getting this money upfront and far in advance in many cases, and they are collecting more on the Princess Insurance for those who buy the packages in advance due to the increased cost of the overall trip investment. This improves their financial position and strengthens the bottom line because it is money in hand gathering interest before services are even delivered while before the prepaid packages, they would not have been collecting that money until people actually cruised. While most people who buy the packages feel they are getting a savings, which is likely true for many, there are probably equally as many people who buy the packages who also "underuse" them once onboard, especially on port days. Also, the packages definitely negate some level of the Elite benefit, but many Elite passengers still buy into them for the perceived added value and convenience. So this is a whole group of people that Princess is making more money on then they might if they didn't buy the package because they are in essence paying full price for a WiFi benefit that purchased ala carte would be half price. So, Princess is definitely making money and people are buying them and seem to really like them - win/win scenario. I doubt Princess will make any other adjustments that might make the current packages less attractive by offering something at a lower cost. If anything, it's likely the cost of the current packages might increase at some future point, especially if they throw in more benefits to try to make them more attractive. In the meanwhile, we continue to cruise package free as it doesn't add up for us. But I do appreciate that those who are purchasing the packages are likely contributing to keeping the overall cruise fares lower because it offers another big revenue stream to Princess which is good for those of us who aren't interested in buying them and prefer to apply that money toward other expenses we may value more like shore excursions and experiences, or pre and post cruise land travel.

It was reported earlier on this thread from someone actually on this cruise that in this case the ship had collected all passports and were holding them. We have had this experience once on our British Isles cruise where our passports were collected before our stop in Ireland and returned afterwards. Not sure the requirements around this practice for some ports of call, but in any event the ship had all of their passports in hand so it was easy enough for them to deliver them to the port authority when the passengers failed to show.