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Princess has no pre-cruise hotel partners in Southampton (at least from the U.S.). All pre-cruise hotels Princess offers are all in London proper, so not sure how you would be getting a lift to Southampton the day before your cruise through Princess. If you've made a self stay in Southampton the day prior to your cruise, it's your responsibility to get to your Southampton hotel from Heathrow and from your hotel in Southampton to the cruise terminal. If the agent included a Princess transfer in your booking AND you booked your Southampton hotel on your own, you should have the Princess transfer removed as it will be of no use to you.

Yes. Hopefully where you’re staying has a business center of some sort. I always travel with a laptop, so I save my luggage tags as a PDF and email to the front desk to print if there is no business center for hotel guests to use. I use the handwritten tags at the port as a last resort because they usually smudge or fall off. You might also have to wait in line to get these tags. My friend has no printer and folds an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper into thirds the long way and writes her name, the ship, embarkation date, and cabin number in permanent marker. Her bags make it to her cabin just fine.

Guest Services shouldn't have been the one making the judgement calls here. It should have been Princess corporate. I don't really think they were giving the passengers the best information at the time. The Ruby had a gaping hole on the side near the water line and had to sail in notoriously rough waters for the first day. Did Princess really think that the Coast Guard was going to let them sail at 16:00 the day of the accident? If Princess really thought this, I call into question their credo to safety. Princess' announcements the first day were to save face.

Princess wasn't exactly forthright from the beginning. The day of the accident, they led embarking passengers to believe that they would be departing at 16:00. 16:00 came and went and Princess advised of a 19:00 departure. 19:00 came and went and Princess changed their advise to the following day. The following day came and finally Princess announced a 16:00 Sunday departure. This wasn't like an airline delay where the weather and crew staffing remain fluid up to the last second. It was between the Coast Guard and Princess. Was Princess really naïve enough to think that the Coast Guard was going to let them sail the vessel with a gaping hole so close to the water line? It takes a while to get bids on a contractor and it was great that Princess was able to find a contractor that could stipulate a hastened timeframe for completion of the work. But they could have handled the situation better rather than keeping the guests captive during the first day and promising false start departures.

I always book guarantee cabins. Unless the ship was completely full, at minimum, I've been granted a location upgrade. To me it's like gambling with nothing to lose, because I'm going to the same ports at the same times as everyone else on the ship. Best case scenario, you get some sort of upgrade. Worse case scenario, you get assigned a cabin in the category you booked. Not really a picky a person when it comes to cabins location begin with; it might be a few extra steps to get here and there on the ship, but it's not a deal breaker. I've also noticed, that Princess has been assigning guarantee cabins much closer to embarkation day. If you're an anxious person, probably not the best option. There's not really a way of predicting if you'll get an upgrade anymore because the Bid to Upgrade program keeps cabins assignments fluid up until about 2 days before departure. Only you can decide whether you will be happy. Pay attention to the location category that you will be booking under. If you wouldn't be happy in this location at minimum, definitely don't book a guarantee.

Even if you do or don't make it on the waitlist, still check-in with the ShoreEx Desk as one of your first stops on embarkation day. I've noticed that Princess doesn't release all of shore excursion inventory pre-cruise in the Personalizer. Recently, the White Pass and Yukon Railway excursion was showing as sold out for all times offered, but upon checking with ShoreEx, all were still wide open. The only excursions I couldn't get on were the ones were there was only one bus operating. I think they do this to have excursions to sell onboard.

Let me preface this by saying I don't know if Princess's booking engine is still the same and I'm jogging my memory from about 15 years ago; I was in my teens and was not making my own bookings--just overhearing what my parents were discussing at the TAs office. When my parents wanted my sibling and me in our own room next door, the TA would book one parent and one child in one cabin and the other parent and other child in the cabin next door. Afterwards, the TA would switch the passengers on each booking, grouping my parents together in one cabin and me and my sibling together in the other. Like I said this was years ago and can't vouch if this still works.

I'm still interested to which party is at fault. There was property damage to the pier. The Port of San Francisco isn't allowed to dip into public tax revenue but they are allowed to raise bonds, which conveniently land into homeowner's property tax assessments. Who's coughing up the money to fix the pier? Hope the investigation comes up as conclusive and not force majeure.

It's the long way around, but I recommend walking to the Westlake Center and taking the Monorail to the Seattle Center. It's a neat ride and Chihuly Garden and Glass is a short walk from the Monorail station. Saves you the uphill walk.

If ABC7 is reporting the news correctly and the pilot was indeed a member of Pilot Evaluation Committee, then the pilot must be someone listed below.

This was offered last month on the Majestic Princess in the Hollywood Conservatory. I would pass. Not really much goes on. The ship's singers sing a few sets. It's the same blankets that are used out on the Lido deck, and the same cookies served in the buffet. There are plenty of other opportunities for scenic cruising on an Alaska cruise. You can go and sit up there any night of the cruise and watch the scenery.

Was on the Majestic in June to Alaska. I can confirm that there was no "The Voice" competition. I was on for 2 weeks, northbound and southbound, and neither week had it. JourneyView will populate more fully on embarkation day. I remember there being more than one karaoke night, but very late, in Princess Live.

According to the letter that was passed down to the passengers, this is the Captain at the time of the incident.

Was on the Royal Princess in April and we docked in both Astoria and Victoria on a Pacific Northwest cruise. There was nothing to see in Astoria. The cruise lines are subbing Prince Rupert for Victoria on Alaska cruises in the summer to reduce marine traffic in the area and "save the marine life." See article below https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-replaces-port-of-call-to-safeguard-marine-life/93693 The Royal and Discovery Princess still stop in Victoria, albeit for short weird hours for the Alaska season to satisfy PVSA.

The Alaska snow and king crab season has been cancelled for the past 2 years due to population decline of the crabs. What you're getting isn't Alaskan and has been frozen and defrosted. Better off going to a wholesale club, buying frozen king/snow crab, and prepping it at home. Same stuff and more cost effective. Even the crab shacks in ports don't serve Alaskan crab and if they do, it's been frozen for at least 2 years.

The beauty of the Internet now a days is that you can do your own research on the ports of call before you leave. There are so many resources like social media, Google Maps, and review sites. You no longer have to depend on the cruise line staff or the shore excursions team to plan your day. You can be in control of your time in call. Purchasing an International data plan can help while you're exploring each port. The pandemic has heavily impacted the cruise experience for all cruise lines, and there has been cost cutting across the board by all cruise lines. I'm afraid to give a direct answer because by the logic used, I might take the brunt of the blame if the Princess doesn't pass your standards.

Reiterating the news report. News outlets don't have access to the Captain and Princess is keeping tight lipped. Totally understand your POV.

Repairs are underway. Photo credit to Michael Thomas of KRON4.

Footage at the time of the incident. Bar pilot is under investigation.

Carnival Miracle is passing the Golden Gate at around 17:45.

It's 16:45 and there are no signs of the Ruby Princess approaching the Golden Gate yet. She's in berth with the Carnival Miracle, and it hasn't left yet either. Having sailed from SF before, ships are usually sailing under the Bridge at this time because the tides are right.

For the cruise portion, the southbound cruises on the Royal Princess stops in Icy Straight Point, skipping Skagway. Northbound on the Royal Princess stop in Skagway. Would do the Northbound cruise from Vancouver and land afterwards because of this. Icy Straight Point is a tourist trap with overpriced stores and restaurants. With the exception of the overpriced zipline, all of the excursions can be experiences elsewhere in Alaska. Would go to Skagway over Icy Straight Point any day.

Hampton Inn YVR is old and run down. There's lots of construction in that area right now, so the walk to the SkyTrain isn't so great. River Rock Casino Hotel has a walkway Bridgeport Station and the Radisson YVR (not Radisson Blu) is right across from Aberdeen Station. Both are fine hotels for just one night.

The forward facing DW cabins provide an interesting view. You'll always have front row seats, literally, and the balcony is huge. The balcony doors are never locked by the crew, and you're free to use the balconies while at sea. The stateroom curtains have to be closed at sunset because any light emitted from the cabin could cause interference with navigation. The problem becomes, the wind. Some days it's just too windy to use the balcony. There's no shield and the wind gusts hit the balcony directly. The cabin attendants usually strap down the balcony furniture on these days. I had a Forward Facing Mini Suite assigned to me on a Caribbean cruise, and it was fine. My friends chose a Forward Facing DW cabin on a Trans Atlantic and they really never got a chance to use the balcony once the ship got to the open Atlantic because it was too windy. There are some YouTube videos showing these rooms.

Not sure how luxurious of a place you're requiring, but I've had relatives on a tight budget say at the Best Western Los Angeles World Port. I dropped them off here before a cruise, and despite the 2 star rating, it's a fine hotel for 1 night. There's a Denny's next door. You can book an Uber to take you to San Pedro, which is a 10 minute drive from here.