Sea Hag

This keeps getting asked and answered. Everything above is valid. Of our three cruises since the restart, arrival time was available a week before final payment on one and two or three weeks out for the other two.

We have two more booked for this year and two for next year. We're still optimistic.

I think we've been lucky so far. We've cruised three times since the restart and the only things that really bothered us were these two things: Made the mistake of booking in the aft deck 6 dining room on the Ruby. Every night, it was a disaster at 5:00 when the world showed up and many of them didn't want to stand in line since they had reservations. The waiting area outside that dining room is ridiculous. It was shoulder to shoulder, with the line snaking back and forth. We stuck it out because we got a really great table for two and really great wait staff. We still had to stand in line and weren't allowed to just go in. We did a really nice excursion in Vancouver, but there was a lengthy delay getting off the ship. All the excursion groups were herded into the Princess theater, where we sat for over an hour with all the unmasked. The other little differences didn't bother us, and I was a big fan of the smaller portions in the MDR. I could get all courses instead of having to forgo one or more. As I said, I think we must have been lucky, since so many people have had so many problems.

I'm the wrong person to ask on this. We never travel with others. But I think most, if not all, balcony doors can be opened. I'm sure somebody else will have a better handle on this.

Definitely fairly new! 😂

I don't know about this. Are twenty year old movies "fairly new?"

We haven't sailed on the Discovery yet (will be in August) but we did have one of the standard sized balconies on the Majestic. For just the two of us, we thought the size was fine. Small, yes, but not nearly as bad as what we expected.

I would go for C238. S306 looks really close to the bandstand, and I have no idea what noise you might hear in it. Plus, if you like looking at otters, they'll just be little specs that high up in the ship unless you have binoculars. You'll probably want binoculars no matter which cabin you choose, since otters are small. But you won't see them every day anyway.

If all other things were equal, the noodle bar on the Majestic would be the tiebreaker for me. We loved it.

I was able to book our free specialty in the app without being charged for it. Your mileage many vary, but hopefully you can do the same. Won't know until you try. 😃

The Royal has a lot of balconies that are sold as obstructed, but many of them aren't obstructed much or even at all. My guess is that they'll put you all in some of those.

When we were on the Ruby last Fall, the time varied. It'll say in the Patter each day.

I'm not a big fan of guarantees, since I can usually find at least one cabin in the booked category or above that I wouldn't want to have. I was on a cabin crawl some years back, probably Royal Princess but cabins should be the same, and I see in my travel notes that I rated E107 as very good. It had a larger balcony than many on the Royal Class and no obstructions. Interestingly, you got a good view of the bridge from there. I would definitely book that one if I were looking at this type of cabin, or one nearby. Good location in my opinion.

The corresponding cabin on the Royal is a connecting cabin. I won't be keeping that!

This was many years ago, but to the best of my recollection it started at daybreak (4:00 am?) and continued for at least a half hour. It was annoying. I hope your situation isn't as bad.

As Rick&Jeannie said, you do it through the app. There's no telling when it'll be available, but most folks have said two weeks out, I think. Our first cruise after the restart, arrival times were available before final payment. No idea why. We like to get on board as soon as possible so we get more time on the ship. We definitely like to get on the ship early enough to have a nice lunch in the MDR, rather than fighting the buffet.

I'm wondering that as well. Going to be interesting to see where they put us.

I certainly know about sticker shock at the supermarket, and I certainly know that people have found prices high in Alaska in the past. Living in California, we didn't ever notice that much. I have no quarrel with this place charging that much for fish and chips, and I certainly have no quarrel with anybody who's happy to pay. I just won't. 😃

Isn't it just?

I ran a search here on "crown" and "propulsion." They were having propulsion problems on the Crown at back at least in January 2020. They may be blaming it on barnacles now, but I've got some serious doubts about that.

Just got the email telling us we're being moved over to the Royal. Now I wonder where they'll put us.

Wow! We have a booking on the Crown for 9/16/23. Wonder if we're going to get changed as well.

You have a great cruise too! We'll take good care of the ship for you. 😃

I think you mean connecting cabin. Adjoining cabin would just be the one next to it with no door connecting the two. I wouldn't want that cabin, partly because it's connecting and partly due to the location. You don't give details on what ship or cabin, but I won't book one under a pool deck because we had one once. It wasn't the daytime noise that bothered us; it was the very early morning dragging chairs around on the deck over our heads while the crew was getting it prepped for the day. That was bad.

We've cruised three times since the restart and arrival times on the app. First one was an Alaska roundtrip Seattle. We had Princess transfers and had chosen early boarding. When the bus arrived at the cruise terminal, we all just went in together. Nobody checked boarding times at all. Second cruise was southern coastal, roundtrip San Francisco. We had a suite for that one, drove to SF, and had early boarding. We were directed to wait in the PES waiting area, just like always based on loyalty level. Nobody checked boarding times at all, so when the PES waiting area was called, we all went in at once. Third one was northern coast, roundtrip San Francisco. For this one, they actually checked, but it was after we'd already gone in and gone through security. They checked at the green lane desk and directed us to the PES waiting area. We saw photos of horrendous lines after we were already on the ship, but we didn't encounter that. The actual checking in procedure for all three cruises was very good. We sail again in August, the Discovery sailing before yours, and it beats me what they'll be doing in the way of checking boarding times.