clkelley

Yes, it was eventful, but we had a blast!! It was our first Princess cruise, but definitely not our last. At least I do now know that I need to book waaaay in advance to get an accessible cabin. We had to rent scooters instead of bringing our own, as ours are too big for regular cabin doors.

What has surprised me, is the lack of media cruises before the inaugural. Icon had "media" cruises, and from my recollection, Disney has always had media cruises first.

We did exactly what you are doing last August. We flew into LAX and stayed at the Holiday Inn near the airport, the day before. I found information on our documentation that stated we needed to be at Baggage Claim in Terminal 1 by 10am. We took the hotel shuttle back to the airport and immediately found the Princess representative. They took our checked luggage right then and we didn't have to deal with it until it arrived in our cabin. If you plan to be in Los Angeles prior to embarkation day and wish to return to the airport for your transfer to the pier, please meet at the airport locations below and locate a Princess Representative to confirm your transfer time to the pier. Locations: Terminal 1 Baggage Claim Meeting times: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM In case of flight delays, please call the Princess Enroute: 1-800-545-0008 If you cannot locate a Princess Representative at the airport, please call (206) 849-6910 Transfers are valid only from LAX Airport Unused transfers are non-refundable

Had a small sign made from Etsy. Magnetic.

We were on the Emerald to Hawaii in August last year and absolutely LOVED it. The cabin was spacious, (R747) the bed was really comfortable and our cabin steward took fabulous care of us. Our cabin was not accessible, but we had two small mobility scooters. There was plenty of room to store those in the cabin. We hopped around the dining rooms and had exceptional service each and every time. We ate at the Crown the first night and Sabatini's the last night. Both were exceptional. We had a great time in the casino and playing bingo each day. We had some challenges on the cruise and the staff handled them beautifully. (We were in the Pacific days before the Lahaina fires). They immediately canceled and refunded our excursions, rerouted us to Kona instead of Lahaina, and provided a great list of excursions for the replacement port on very short notice. We also were arriving back in LA when the hurricane was supposed to hit. They sped up, stopped in Ensenada a day early for about 3 hours for paperwork (not allowed to disembark), then we arrived in Los Angeles a day early. A lot of people left the ship the day we arrived, but as our flight home was not until the next day, we stayed on the ship. No hurricane, but it was pouring down rain, so we just chilled out on the ship, played some trivia, did some laundry, just relaxed, took the opportunity to explore some areas of the ship we had missed during our voyage, and had our fabulous final night dinner at a very empty Sabatini's (Although the view of the commercial port was not what we envisioned). We LOVED the formal nights and took the opportunity to really "doll up" (including wash and set hair/makeup appointments each time). We also took huge advantage of the professional photographers, and had a black and white custom photo session. We went to the spa introductory session, and both booked manager special treatments, and really enjoyed those.

When we sailed on the Emerald last August, our steward noticed we had a CPAP and there was a gallon of distilled water in the room when we came back from dinner on the first day. (Hubby actually doesn't use it) Been on a CPAP for 20+ years and has never used the water feature.

I've got a question about meds when visiting Japan by cruise ship. Found a cruise that starts in Australia, has several port visits in Japan, and then transpacific to USA. Our goal is to visit Japan, but spouses' prescription meds and all the rules seem daunting if we were to fly into Japan and stay/travel there. If we leave the meds on board the ship at the Japan ports, will we have to deal with all the forms and requests to import (pain meds)?