Paula_MacFan

Princess' IT department could use improvement. We board the Regal on Sunday and the excursions show as 'closed' for bookings in the personlizer and have for a couple days. However, earlier today I received an email inviting me to book excursions for my cruise. So yeah, they could do a better job 🤨

We sail on the Regal this Sunday and got the 'emergency notification' email about the change in departure time on 9/13/23. The official cause was 'operational reasons' which is vague, but it seems to be due to port congestion in general this season in Galveston. That makes a quick turnaround day for the crew, but I'm happy to be on our way as soon as possible 🙂

Several months ago our Princess CVP called about something unrelated but while I had them on the phone I asked if they knew when our Alaska cruisetour land excursions would be available, because like the OP I was already seeing cruise excursions in the Personalizer. They told me to just keep checking online as Princess no longer had a dedicated shore excursion department. That shocked me but we've had the same CVP for years and I've no reason to doubt them.

We have a cruisetour booked for late May/early June 2024. I keep track of the dates we book excursions and I booked ours as soon as they opened up in November. I can also tell you many have been sold out for awhile already and all of our excursions have increased in price from $10 to $50 per person, and this includes ship excursions as well as land/lodge excursions. My advice is to book early if there's something you definitely want to do. I check the Personalizer everyday to see when things open up and monitor price changes. It sounds like Alaska bookings are strong for 2024 and some independent vendors are already taking reservations for 2025. Good luck with your planning! To me it's half the fun of traveling 🙂

I agree the app is mostly irrelevant for checking in and I always have printed copies of Travel Summary and other documents. However, I also take a screen shot of my app green lane status to show if asked. That way you're not relying on spotty service/connection.

Nonetheless I'm pretty sure people knew which ship you were referring to since this thread asked specifically about the Caribbean Princess 🙂 We've sailed on CB twice and have another cruise booked for 2026. We tend to choose trips based on itinerary, so if that's the ship sailing it then away we go. All ships have plusses and minuses, and you can get sick on any of them as well. For our upcoming Alaska cruisetour we chose Sapphire for a myriad of reasons, but we had many options for that destination. We leave in 3 days for the Regal since we can drive to the port. It will be our 3rd Regal cruise. If the CB was sailing on an itinerary I wanted, I wouldn't hesitate to go.

I thought I was saying that too but you said it with more facts and authority so thanks 😊

Don't want to hijack the thread but we are also huge fans of smart tags! You can see bags at all times and when they get loaded on the ship it looks like they are floating in the water on the map 😀 I also recommend using the airlines apps as you can track your bag there too and see as soon as it's loaded on the plane.

The Princess map I posted in #36 shows Royal class ships sailing from Vancouver. The map key shows the black dotted line and 'Royal Class Ship Route'.

I've taken Grand class ships from Seattle too so I'm aware they go west of Vancouver Island. But I thought from numerous reviews and the Princess map that all Royal class ships go west regardless of originating point. I only responded about Royal class since that was the question, and if you want to sail east of VI then don't chose a Royal class ship.

I haven't sailed a Royal class ship in Alaska, but doesn't this Princess map indicate that all Royal class ships travel west of Vancouver Island even from Vancouver? I thought it was due to the Royal class ship size and not what port they sailed from. I could be wrong.

We got our Medallions this week, 11 days prior to our cruise.

If that happens they issue your medallions at the pier when you check in for boarding.

Package terms & conditions from Princess website. See third bullet point.

I looked at our Patters from October and these were offered on a 12-day cruise: paper quilling, SeaCrafts cross stitch pendant, paper flowers, SeaCrafts life saver ornaments, card making, and SeaCrafts nautical paper crafting. This was a port-intensive cruise so they weren't offered every day. We leave next week on our next cruise and I don't currently see any art and crafts listed in the Journey view yet.

We avoid any up-sell 'seminars' like the plague, but we do enjoy the fruit and vegetable carving, ice carving, and galley tour offerings. To me those are just 'activities' and not up-sell opportunities like the ones in the spa, shops, and art auction. We've also enjoyed talks given by naturalists and ship officers on various sailing topics. Again, those are in no way 'sales' opportunities.

I can't answer your question about the train from Whittier to McKinley as we are doing a different cruisetour, but for travel between McKinley and Denali our Travel Summary says it's 2 1/4 hours or 112 miles.

I don't know but I noticed the same perk listed in the Reserve Collection benefits as well. How many people can they accomodate with 'priority specialty dining reservations'? https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/staterooms/reserve-collection

Welcome! Not a silly question at all. On Princess hair dryers are generally found in the desk area and not the bathroom. She should be able to sit comfortably at the desk and you can dry her hair. Here's a representative picture I found online -- it's not specific to the Caribbean Princess but is representative of the general set up on Princess cruises. The actual hair dryer may look like the second picture as the Caribbean Princess is an older class ship.

Agreed! Reserve Collection is not worth it for us given the cabin up-charge. We rarely eat in the MDR and would rather spend the money on specialty dining or some other cruise perk. For one of our upcoming cruises we chose a window suite for less money than a Reserve mini. We usually wouldn't consider cruising without a balcony, but decided for the money it made more sense in this instance to get full suite perks while paying less than a Reserve mini and only $11 more than a regular mini. Everyone has to weigh what perks are worth it to them 🙂

Princess website per Google: https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/staterooms/reserve-collection

No experience with NCL in Alaska but Sapphire gets rave reviews for Alaska and especially in a suite as you have on hold. We have Sapphire booked for our 2024 cruisetour. We have cruised Princess 20+ years and they have a long established presence in Alaska.

Look at this Princess cruise map, it shows the Inside Passage. The larger ships go to the west of Vancouver Island and the smaller ones sail the calmer & more scenic east side route. You can see on the map key for Princess that 'Royal class' or their larger ships sail west of VI. As already mentioned a one way cruise to or from Vancouver would travel this route.

Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply they were changing on existing ships. Just that Princess management is aware people hate them and going forward they won't use them. 🙂

On our last cruise while attending the Captain's party they gave an update on the new ship builds and announced 'no more dreaded shower curtains!' to which everyone loudly clapped. 🙂 Glad you had a good cruise and thanks for taking the time to write up the review and provide pictures. Very nice.