sunneesmile

IF we are sailing Princess on August 23, would arriving at Pier 91 at noon be a good plan?

Thanks for posting the LIVE FROM blog! We will be on that ship next week, August 23. So, how is weather? It is really long sleeve weather. The last time were in AK, in 2013, It was Mid July and it was in the mid 80's during the day. :o

Do any of you who posted here have photos of your cabins and/or balconies? I know that princess has photos, but I like the real deal and the cruisers seem to have the best pix! Thanks SO much

If you are bringing a bottle of wine and need to pack it in your suitcase for air travel, this works well. It may seem overboard, but it is a great way to insure that any kind of liquid says contained in case of spillage. I have used it for hair products I can't just buy at the local drug store in port. When I pack items like this, I usually take the amount I need so that no packing has to occur on the return trip.

 

I use a disposable baby diaper and wrap the item(s) with it and secure with packing tape. Then I seal that in a vac pack meal saver type bag (Foodsaver). The Foodsaver heatseal is better than a ziploc because it won't come unsealed. And we all know that a baby diaper can hold a crazy amount of liquid.

 

When I have posted this on other threads, I get people who just go nuts that I would go to this trouble. But if you have ever had an expensive product compromised or your clothing ruined, you may go to great measures. It is a personal choice and my OCD stays in check knowing I have done my best to make sure everything stays clean. So, don't hate! LOL :rolleyes:

Great idea!!!

Suggestion for ladies who pack nail polish ..... A couple of years ago I had put a bottle of polish in one of my cosmetic bags that was packed in a checked suitcase, as I had done many times before. When I got home and opened that suitcase I immediately smelled nail polish. Panic time!

Somehow the neck of the polish bottle had gotten cracked (maybe thanks to overly-enthusastic baggage handlers??), and the polish leaked on everything in the cosmetic bag. Fortunately it was contained in the bag and none got on anything in the suitcase.

Now when I pack nail polish, it goes in an empty pill bottle that has been lined with a bit of bubble wrap for cushioning. It's well protected and if it should happen to leak it would be contained in the pill bottle.

In reference to the Military OBC....

Years ago, you would have to send in the military credentials for every cruise. Now, they keep your info in their system and when you book, it will automatically show up.

As far as dirty laundry, I bought a mesh pop up hamper, that folds completely flat and we pop it up and put it in the corner of the closet. When collapsed, it will fit nicely on top of everything in the suitcase. If we do laundry it is easy to carry to the laundry room. Looks just like this one, but you can get them at Wal-Mart or Target.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Laundry-Essentials-Mesh-Pop-Hampers/dp/B006ZZZLP8

 

True, but we just use the ship's laundry bags for that and don't send them out.

I think the PPM opens at 9am Fri-Sun.

Here is a photo of my $10 bouquet from 2010. The flowers from PPM are outstanding and the cost is almost laughable. I wanted to buy tons of bouquets! :) I might also try the Des Mouines Market. We are staying at the Cedarbrook Lodge near the a/p and plan to use UBER or the light rail. I am considering getting to pier 91 early and then walking back the Market and getting my flowers and taking a taxi or UBER back to the ship, depending on the weather.

GREAT suggestions

Did it hold water? Do you have a photo?

 

I bought beautiful flowers at Pike Place Market in September and took them on the Carnival Miracle with us for our Alaska cruise. It was not a problem at all. They did not sell vases at the market. But one of the flower vendors told me about a shop across the street that sold collapsible cardboard vases. So I went over there and bought a red one and it really accented my beautiful flower in our cabin for the week. They lasted throughout the week for the most part too. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. We're doing an Alaska cruise in May of 2015 out of Vancouver and I'm wondering if you can find pretty flowers in Vancouver since we'll have a car to get around to get them that morning if so. Plenty of time to do research for that. And I know I can bring a vase from home, but I'm going to look online to see if they have cardboard ones like the one I bought in Seattle as it will be easier and lighter to travel with.

I have bought quite large bouquets from Pikes when sailing from Seattle on Princess. The cabin steward always produced a vase.

Also, if you stay at the airport, even if you come in a couple days early, you can book the Princess transfer to the ship. Catch the shuttle back tot he airport and then follow the directions to your motor coach. We have done this in Seattle and also in Brooklyn NY

As far as packing a bottle for transport, the coolest way I saw this handled was in Italy. It was large bottle of olive oil and the bottle was similar to a wine bottle. It was from a small street kiosk. They wrapped a baby diaper around it with packing tape (yes it was new and clean right out of the box) and then sealed it into a vacuum seal bag (like a foodsaver). They said if the bottle was compromised the diaper would absorb it and the heat sealed bag would ensure it did not leak.

[quote name='debuskjt']That's just an anecdote, and [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence#Faulty_logic"]we all know anecdotes aren't indicative of much[/URL]. I'm not saying it cannot happen, but it's incredibly unlikely and probably due to a blemish in the glass already. You should still try to put them towards the center of your luggage just to avoid it from taking direct impacts, but the odds of breaking are really low. Even more so with something bubbly, as those bottles are even further re-enforced.

If you think you want to take wine and are really paranoid about it, I'd wrap it in a t-shirt you don't care much about and take an empty two gallon freezer bag to then slide it in to contain any spillage. But buying special containers or taking up lots of space by bubble wrapping it is unnecessary. Otherwise, like I said, just try to pack it in the center of your luggage away from all sides of the suitcase and make sure the suitcase itself is fully packed so items can't shift around.

A bottle is only going to break if it takes a rather strong direct hit. If it's in the middle of the suitcase, that can only really happen if the bag's frame fails. In that event, you probably have bigger issues, as all your liquids just got crushed, not just the wine.[/QUOTE]

Wehwalt--We don't always consume it all. Sometimes we have taken one or two 3 liter boxes for a cruise longer than 7 days to share with friends we travel with. We usually have a mini suite and it is a nice place to hang out with them. At times we have offered the leftover wine to our steward. One steward told us they have a place where they hang out and they will bring things there and share them as well.

 

How large a box? I see my boxed sangria in my frig is three litres. That would be too much for me on a short cruise, though.

sorry duplicate

We have taken 1 or 2 boxes of wine on every Princess cruise we have ever been on, embarking in various ports, Whittier, Seattle, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York from 2003 to 2014. We usually put it our back pack and it gets scanned. We don't make a big deal out of it, nothing has ever been said to us about it and it is not because we are avoiding a bar tab. We still have a bar tab in the clubs, at dinner and around the ship. The thing for us is enjoying a glass of wine on our balcony whenever we want. Plain and simple.

We always try to get a mini on the Emerald deck. We love the covered balcony and never problems with people dropping things from above. Our first experience with a dolphin deck mini, which was uncovered, we had people from above throwing french fries for the birds to catch and that was a real issue.

 

We try to get as far to the aft as possible and we have snagged the last minis on either side a few times and got the extended balcony. We even had an amazing steward who brought us an extra lounge chair!

 

I love the motion of the back of the ship for sleeping and I love the walking. Just my opinion

Just curious where you sailed to on your Thanksgiving cruise when the winds were so bad. Thanks

 

I loved the balcony but I almost got blown overboard! ...slight exaggeration . the loungechairs did take a beating however, on the rougher sea days .our cabin was Lshaped which made it easier if we wanted to watch different tv shows.I would probably select the same cabin if I could be guaranteed smoother seas.

Going on the Ruby in January... Chose a mini suite lower and aft this time

Merry Christmas & Happy new year!

Current Promo for EZ cruise Parking-JULY- gets you $10 off. I tired all the other months too and it showed $5 to $8 discount :)

Has anyone ever brought a box of wine onboard successfully? Also has anyone ever brought liquor onboard and were turned in by the room steward?

We have not had to pay corkage fee yet under the newer rules for wine we bring aboard. We never take it to the dining room, we always have it in our cabin, on the balcony or share it with friends. So, we have not had a corkage fee on any of our wine and we bring more than one bottle per person. We are sailing out of Anchorage in a couple of months, onboard the Island Princess, so will be interested to see what they do.

We've only managed to cruise twice so far. Both times we checked the box saying we'd like robes in our room. We didn't get them either time. I checked the boxes again for our upcoming cruise but don't really expect to find the robes there.

 

Ask your room steward. They are usually at the laundry on embarkation day being washed. He will bring them.

There are about 2000 threads on CC about tipping w $2.00 bills. All of them indicate that the people who receive this play money hate them because when they try to spend them, nobody believes that they are real money. Why do you insist on making life more difficult for the hard working crew members? If you want to tip $2.00, give them 2 ones.

 

 

DON

 

I wish there were a "like" button on this forum. I so agree with this

 

Lots of Starbucks Via. I hate ship coffee.

 

I loathe the syrup coffee onboard Princess. That is why I always get a coffee card and get the free brewed coffee with it. I usually find my fav coffee spot early on and go there each time. Last cruise on the Island Princess, there was a bar in between the Horizon Court and Caribe. The two tenders there could usuly see me coming and they would start a fresh pot.