Paula_MacFan

The astronomer enrichment speaker looks interesting. Side note -- during the cruise director's behind the scenes presentation he answered many questions, one of which was 'what happened to the onboard star gazing program'? He was joined at that time by the assistant cruise director who both explained they didn't have the proper equipment onboard to properly block the ship's lights at night to make the program feasible. They both said it had been offered on the Regal in the past but unfortunately they no longer had the equipment. Maybe since they are bringing on an astronomer speaker they will once again offer the nighttime guided star gazing program. We enjoyed sitting on our balcony in the evening and star gazing on our own. It's one of the things we love about having a balcony, and from the aft you don't get much light pollution from the ship.

It was on our paper schedule and the app both; however, many events populated only after we boarded. So maybe they will show up later.

No charge. You can also mark events on your app so it will filter down to only things you've marked for the day. I like the paper daily schedule to look over the night before, but the app is handy throughout the day. Due to our schedule change missing Costa Maya they had to reprint the daily Patter so the app was more up to date quicker. Some of the entertainers were supposed to leave at that port and others join us there. When that didn't happen they had to refine the schedule.

I was on Regal last week. We aren't into the production shows but we did enjoy the comedians, cooking demonstration (frankly the head chef and dining manager had a funnier repartee than the comedians at times 😄), illusionist show, house band, and acrobat show. The 'behind the scenes' presentation by the cruise director was interesting and worthwhile, as well as the 2nd officer's navigation presentation. We learned a lot about the ship's operation during these talks. We also enjoyed the onboard enrichment speaker. He gave several talks during the week about vintage travel. He was leaving the ship the day we disembarked though after having been onboard for 3 weeks. I will caution you that the entertainers will likely change as was explained to us during the cruise director's talk. He said they regularly rotate around through various ships so your options may be different than ours. We also really enjoyed the Crown Grill and had excellent meals there.

I was on Regal last week. About 10 days prior to your cruise the app will populate your boarding pass which in our case said check in time was 10:30 - 2. This isn't an assignment but just the open check in time for everyone. During your cruise you'll get a paper delivered to your room asking about disembarkation choices. Everyone has to be out of their room by 8am. You mark your choice of time and option (self walkoff with luggage or what time/group for exit and luggage retrieval in the terminal).

What does your Travel Summary document say? Mine says this:

I'm glad you mentioned this because I was wondering why people who are booked on the Princess cruisetour would do this tour on their own -- I thought it was always included.

Agreed. We were on the Island a few months ago and the Piazza volume seemed appropriate. Last week on the Regal the Piazza volume was EAR SPLITTING. The music was loud but not horrible, but the games and other silly activities were simply intolerable. We heard so many people complaining about it. Eating in Alfredo's was a joke with that going on. Even the wait staff were rolling their eyes. I did put it on my post cruise survey.

We had this excursion booked through Princess for our June Sapphire cruise, but it was cancelled a couple months ago by Princess due to 'operational reasons'. I assume it's time constraints. We're very disappointed as it was a highlight we had been looking forward to.

We're not on the same itinerary as you (we arrive a few days later) but I noticed our hotel showed up this week as well. I had to talk to my CVP about something unrelated but mentioned our hotel assignment showed up and he was surprised we were notified this early. So I'm glad to hear others are getting assignments too and ours isn't a fluke or mixup 🙂

We used it several times last week on our Regal cruise. For the most part it worked as designed. There were a couple times our drinks said 'delivered' but they hadn't been. Twice we went to the bar to retrieve our drinks that we could see had been sitting there awhile. But otherwise it worked pretty well. One afternoon we got Dirty Bananas and were just about finished, when a server comes over with another one and sets it on our table. We laughed and said we already each have one and he said 'oh well, now you have another one' and said sometimes the system isn't perfect. We took one for the team and split the second one 🙂 Not related to Ocean Now, but I did try to use Crew Chat twice and never got a response either time. That was disappointing as we had used it a few months ago on the Island and got very prompt and courteous responses.

This! I just got off a Caribbean cruise 2 days ago and we saw people in coats. One day on the beach in Cozumel we saw a couple in a flannel shirt and wool shawl. This was on a crowded beach in upper 80s. On the ship we saw people wearing what I would call a snow or puffer coat on the dance floor and walking around in blankets from the outdoor movie area. I wonder at what point does it get hot enough for these people to feel warm. We had come from the midwest and 3 weeks of subzero temps. So upper 80s seemed like heaven. My point being take layers to Alaska. What is hot or cold to someone else may be completely different to you. Layers for cool and possibly wet weather are great 🙂

Princess excursions typically indicate specific travel details such as distance or steps required to walk, time for travel, restroom availability, time at stops, etc. If you look at a tour on the Princess website, there are three tabs -- Overview, Excursion Details, and Customer Reviews. Here are screen shots showing where to click for the Excursion Details and an example from an Alaska tour which shows all the specific parts of the tour. It's been our experience that Princess tours closely match the descriptions. Hopefully by looking at some tours that interest you and then determining the activity levels that will help you narrow down some good choices.

A few days before the end of the cruise you get a form in your cabin asking when and how you want to disembark. If you're physically capable of handling you own luggage you can do the express walkoff option and be in the first group off the ship as soon as they are cleared to disembark passengers. The other choice is you put your bags out the night before to be collected by cruise staff (in this case it was no later than 8:30) and then the next day you leave in your assigned time group. Then you search for your bags in a gigantic warehouse by group. We did that option the first time we cruised and have never done it again. We always take off our own luggage and disembark in the first group.

I try to only use official port websites if possible. They seem to be the most up to date and usually have berth codes. The generic 3rd party websites usually only list the general port and not specific dock info. Try this (I make no guarantee 🙂) http://wico-ltd.com/cruise-ship-dock/ship-schedule-port-availability

Nope, quick glance at our passports and on our way.

Good point. We've also been places where the ship docks in industrial ports (Hawaii, Europe) and simply walking somewhere isn't feasible or sensible. I like to know in advance where we'll be docked and what services are available. Google maps is a great planning tool.

We've had excursions booked for our Alaska cruise for many months. Many have been sold out for a long time already and the ones that aren't have increased in price. Book early to avoid disappointment and price increases.

I always check the port schedules for several reasons. If we're doing independent tours or on our own it's important to know where we're docked. Also depending on the number and size of ships, that may impact our excursion choices. Case in point we're on our way home now from getting off the Regal this morning. There were 7 huge ships in Cozumel, so we chose a quiet beach day on the east side away from the masses on the west side. Lastly, by looking at the port schedule we knew our Mahogany Bay stop would be changed weeks prior to the official Princess notification. That was valuable info for planning.

We lined up for walkoff at 7:15 on deck 7 by the Wheelhouse. Line started moving at 7:25. In our car heading home by 7:37. Easiest and quickest disembarkation from Galveston ever. We left from pier 25 and returned to pier 28 but they are right next to each other so it was fine. Two minute walk back to car.

We haven't docked yet but have already received our post cruise surveys. Hoping our disembarkation goes smoothly. That's been a criticism noted in recent reviews. We always do express walkoff. We had a fun week but are ready to head home. Looking forward to our next Princess adventure in 3.5 months.

Yes. They opened up the cardboard 12-pack box and took out every can and looked it over. Then put them back in the box and taped it back up.

They said the name but I didn't catch it. After the 'behind the scenes' talk put on by the cruise director we stayed for the 2nd officer's navigation talk. He reiterated the current captain was leaving as well. He further said all ships have 2 captains since they all do 3 months on and 3 months home. So for the 17 Princess ships the company will always have 40 - 45 active captains under contract. Even after 20 years of cruising I learn new things from these talks and enrichment speakers.

We're attending the behind the scenes talk with staff, and they announced today is captain's rollover day. Two captains onboard, prior one leaving tomorrow and new one taking over on the next sailing. Also mentioned some system training being done here to test some things for upcoming Sun deployment. No mentions of the inaugural delay. Side note we've seen many medical staff attend to passenger mishaps on this cruise. We've seen 4 people fall, 2 on the ship, one at the Cozumel pier, and one getting on tender. Each time medical response was swift.

I get the '20% off Alaska Excursions' banner when I log in, but the prices have all increased so much they exceed what we originally paid months ago.