_rusty_shackleford

Certainly, here you go. We had Alfredo's for lunch at embarkation but neither of us had dessert. Sure sounded good though so we'll be sure not to miss it. Seems like almost everyone on Carnival boards is most concerned with who the cruise director is whereas on Princess boards the interest seems broader. Any special reason?

Yes, screenshot from the app. I'm on the ship at the moment. I definitely remember seeing a lamb dish on the physical menus they hand you as well last night. 95% sure it was chops but might also have been leg of lamb or something like that.

It's on the menu but since we didn't order it I don't know for certain if they have it or not. They didn't mention being out of it when we were seated but may also wait to see if someone orders it. No clue.

Not in a suite actually. We got lucky and got one of the "obstructed" cabins on Emerald forward that has a balcony that looks twice as big as the standard ones (yes yes, I know, shhhh). Very much recommend. We picked the steakhouse and Sabatini's on nights where the MDR didn't have options we really wanted so I'm hoping Sabatini's is better. We'll probably give the steakhouse another chance and I appreciate the lamb recommendation! I'll admit I have mixed feelings about the ship. It's very nice but also very large. Even though they're older my favorite ships by far are the Spirit class on Carnival. Plenty of space and don't feel crowded even at capacity. We're hoping for seasonal weather this trip, even if that means rain. When we came in June this year it was like 80 degrees. I prefer it much cooler personally so 50s-60s would be ideal. It's a little late in the season for salmon runs but maybe we'll get lucky. Edit: somehow quoted the wrong poster, sorry about that! I'm going to blame MedallionNet because it makes me feel better about not proofreading 😄

Hi all. My wife and I are on this sailing as well doing the 14 day round trip. I've been on Carnival 14 times and this is our first time on Princess. Some notes and observations for the review and amusement of the community: - Embarkation (Vancouver) went fairly smoothly. No one cared about or checked arrival times and best I could tell there was no 'green line' and 'blue line'. We all went through the same line. I'm guessing we arrived around peak time (11am) and were on the ship by 12:15 or so. Had we waited another half hour I bet we would have just walked on. Vancouver is a lovely city. We stayed at the Loden Hotel (thanks Amex Credit!) and ate dinner at the restaurant attached to it, Tableau. Probably the most complete meal I've ever had from presentation to flavor to execution. Well worth it. We'd love to come back and spend more time in VAN in the future. - Decent weather so far. Rained overnight but clear skies today. Seas are about 6 ft or so and were around 8 ft overnight and early this morning. You can feel motion but it's not at all unpleasant. Crossing the Gulf to Whittier and back might be a different story- we shall see. - This ship is without question a step above the Carnival ships I've been on. It's difficult to put a finger on what makes that so but a lot of the finishes and refinements are just a step above. Carnival's decor is very, err, "festive". To borrow my FIL's favorite description, Princess is 'plush, but not overly ostentatious'. She's in really good shape. Crew seem to be in good spirits as well. - I'd guess the average passenger age is around mid-50s and definitely skews towards the higher end of that range, fairly unsurprising given school is in session and Alaska in general leans older. My wife (32) and I (33) are definitely some of the younger people on the ship. According to the crew running the kids clubs they have 18 kids under 17 TOTAL on the ship for this leg. Their peak times in the Caribbean they said are usually around 600 before Covid. We're definitely not at capacity, probably somewhere between 50-75%. I'll update if I get a better number from the crew. - Mask mandate is in effect. A surprising number of people to me are complying, probably at least 50%. Passenger:crew ratio is much better than my Carnival Spirit sailing out of Seattle in June. - We ate at the Crown Grill last night. Honestly this was a bit of a disappointment. The appetizers were outstanding (lobster cake, crab cake, and beef tartare) but our entrees (beef rib chop, veal chop) left some to be desired. I don't think my rib chop was seasoned before it was grilled but both were cooked the way we ordered it. Sides were good but nothing to write home about. Service was outstanding. I'd give Carnival's steakhouse the edge in entree quality but Princess service and appetizers are clearly better. - We opted for the Plus package and have zero regrets about that. Well worth it. We got nicer glasses of wine with dinner last night and paid the cost difference. Not enough to convince me Premier is worth it personally. I'm mainly a bourbon and scotch drinker and I'm very happy with the selection. Maker's, Knob Creek, Woodford, Talisker, Glenfiddich 12, Glenmorangie, and Dalwhinnie are all included with Plus to name a few.

@caribill might be right, not sure how it works. @jagoffee it's the whole Plus package, not just the drinks. Gratuities and WiFi as well.

You can definitely add Princess Plus after final payment. We just did for our sailing in September. It's still the same $50pp per day they advertise on their site. You'll likely need to either call Princess directly or your travel agent (our case) to do so.

They now have Sitka and ISP listed as alternate ports on my Royal itinerary leaving 3 September. The last few days have just had ISP so I suspect others are correct and it will be Sitka NB and ISP SB.

See you'd think so, and then you go there on a day it gets over 80 like we did and suddenly coconut cocktails don't feel so out of place.

My wife and I were just talking about tenders last night. Even if Skagway doesn't have the boats/manpower to do it the ship certainly does with lifeboats. That's how we got to shore at ISP when we went on the Carnival Spirit in June- docks were full so we anchored and used a few of the lifeboats as tenders. I think the other Carnival ship there that day did as well. Like you said, it may very well be that there's no physical space to anchor and not block ship traffic. I can't remember how much space there is near Skagway.

Never been to Sitka but have been to Icy Strait. There's not a ton to do there- it's kind of its own self-contained deal. There's a nature trail, a bar/restaurant (we didn't eat there so can't comment on the food), a zipline ($120ish a person I think?), a gondola where the first half is free and the half that takes you up to the zipline is paid, and a few shops. Decent whale and eagle watching opportunities near the bar but overall our least favorite port in Alaska- the only one where I felt like once was enough. You can get transportation to Hoonah but there isn't much at all there from what I understand.

That sounds about like how it's done on Carnival. Really appreciate the suggestions everyone!

Apologies if there's already a topic in the past on this. My wife and I are going to be first time Princess cruisers (14+ on Carnival previously) on the Royal embarking 3 September and I'm wanting to surprise her with a spa treatment. She's been through a lot the last few years as a nurse and I want to do something nice for her. She usually gets a mani/pedi before we leave so I think she's good there. She's the type that likes facials and massages. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for spa treatments based on past experiences? Couples massages are out because a) getting away from me is part of the appeal and b) I don't want strangers touching me. I appreciate any advice!

I have done this as well. OP, if you go this route I'd highly recommend only doing standard Cruise Cash. This can be used anywhere on the ship unlike (I believe) the bar and photo Cruise Cash. Please make sure you're going to spend it all though- you can always use your unused gift card balance at a later date but all CC is non-refundable. The good news is Carnival prioritizes usage of your non-refundable OBC first but still make sure you're going to spend all of the Cruise Cash you buy.