MileHighAko

Looks great, still Princess classy and modern. Love the inclusion of families with new and fun activities that attract the next generation of princess loyal.

You'll group up just off the piazza on level 5 in a special roped off area where you'll get your photo taken and be given a special welcome drink. From there they'll lead you to the secret dining 360 room. Enjoy!

I thought the same thing. I like the name, but it's kinda tarnished. Like a bad omen waiting to be fulfilled.

For some reason I thought that The Catch was taking over Bisto Sur La Mar on Discovery. I didn't realize Sabatinis would be moving on that ship. I wonder if they'll change the entrance protocol to 360, where they currently parade you through Sabatini's when you begin the experience.

If I were you, I'd arrive at 10:30 AM and go get in line. When we departed out of there a few weeks ago, the line grew long quickly, and one of our group spent almost 90 minutes in line when he arrived at 1:45 PM. He was one of the last to board the ship. Those of us that stayed at the Pan Pacific the night before had it easy as we sent our luggage down with the bellman directly from our room (totally worth the extra expense of that hotel). We were able to line up at 10:30, and despite some chaos at the US customs check point, we sailed through relatively easily.

This ☝️. Riviera deck all the way. Easy access to lido 2 floors up, and just down the hall from concierge lounge.

Was on Discovery last week. Was also on Discovery last September. The internet in Alaska was completely unusable last September. Last week I was consistently getting up to 2.5 Mbps in speed tests, never more, but never less than approx. 1.5 or 1.8 (I failed to take any screen shots, sorry). I think they're traffic shaping to make sure that there is minimum bandwidth for all, which is just fine because at 2.5 we were able to use websites just fine (sometimes a little slow), streamed a movie once or twice for the toddler, and even use FaceTime (video calls usually worked okay, but audio calls worked great). Was very pleased compared to the terrible experience last year.

I asked the future cruise planner folks this question last week while onboard Discovery and they said they're actually expecting them as early as June/July this year. I was surprised because last year it was in December, and historically it feels like it's been November, but they told me they have reason to believe it will be earlier... but didn't give the reason!

Sure! Just have them join you. Don't ask, just assume. In the small case someone does question it, just smile and politely tell them that they're with you and continue on. It's not some secret club or super exclusive entitlement. We're always taking our family or guests in whatever priority status line we have. At the hotel, at the airport, at the cruise port. It's no big deal.

Has your flight been ticketed? In my experience once the flight is ticketed you're safe to make changes like seat assignments directly with the airline, but if you do so before it's ticketed you risk EZ Air reissuing the flight and overriding the changes/upgrades you made. Might not be the case for everyone, but that's been my experience.

This is just rumor, but I recently talked to someone who works in the IT industry for a company that is supposedly contracted by Princess to build a software system for a new loyalty program. It was mentioned that the program could highly favor onboard spending, with the key perks being experiences and not items that customers would normally pay for (things like 360 dining type experiences, special lounge access, pre-cruise concierge, etc.). The thing that intrigued me was the measurement of onboard spend and other activity during a set past period of time (e.g. last 3 years) vs. the lifetime achievement that exists today.

Trying to plan some sail away activities, and looking for a more accurate estimate for how long it takes to go from leaving Canada Place until we go underneath the Lions Gate Bridge. I asked ChatGPT and discovered that it's about 4 miles by water, ships are limited to 10 knots or below going under the bridge, and it takes a cruise ship between 5-10 minutes to accelerate to 10 knots. All things considered, the AI guesses it's 26 minutes until the ship reaches the bridge. It's been a long time since I've sailed away from Vancouver and it seemed longer than that in my memory.

I've gone multiple times in September. Weather has been pretty good for us, it's just starting to cool down from the summer, but you still want layers because it rains and around the glaciers it's simply cold. I love September when the summer rush is over and it's not as crowded and things are beginning to slow down. You'll have a great time.

We sailed out of Seattle last fall departing September 18 on Discovery Princess, had some beautiful weather here and there, some rain in Juneau, sun in Ketchikan, and partly cloudy in Sitka. Day at Dawes glacier was wonderful and we were able to get up close to the glacier for good photos. That was our third time going in September and I loved it. Sadly the we didn't see the northern lights that trip due to cloud cover, but previously we have. I wouldn't hesitate to go in September. It wasn't very cold ever. Ports were all open and excursions plentiful. We're going again here in a few weeks first week of May - should be much colder. :)

We love Alaska in September, been multiple times. I love the beginning of the fall weather, and we've been successful witnessing the northern lights in September. Here are a few pics from my cell phone from our trip last September 18th cruise: