sunviking90

We just booked a short cruise from the list while on board and we DID get the OBC associated with the FCD purchase AND the OBC being offered as part of Princess’s current sale.

They will have a pile of handouts with the cruises listed. You don’t need an appointment to get one. I didn’t know about this before either. I read about it on another thread a month or so ago.

I would wait. In addition to the OBC you’ll get, they will have a sale sheet on board of slow selling cruises and yours may be on it. We just booked a cruise on board off of their salesheet and the price was almost half of the best price I had found before the cruise (resident rate, etc). Many of the cruises on the sheet were repositioning, one ways, etc.

I couldn’t remember who the naturalist was. Thank you @[Big Z]for answering! As I said MDR food was great. I was pleased to see wild sockeye on the menu and most other fish dishes were also very good. We have “realistic” expectations for cruise food these days, but we’re pretty happy most days. The Botticelli dining room was chaos the first few days though. I had reservations for 2 at 5 pm every night and asked after the first night to have the same table (waiter was just ok, but we liked the location). The hostess gave me a handwritten “ticket” with our cabin #, time and table number and every evening those with tickets were able to bypass the crowd at the door (walk ins and those with out “standing” reservations). It felt like a Disney fast pass line! Then, for about the next 3 evenings they attempted to seat people at our table after we were seated. Apparently their system showed us at a different table every night even though we had a standing reservation and a ticket. Very strange. We just made sure to be on time so they couldn’t give away our table, lol. I didn’t find the variety of desserts at the IC to be very good and missed the daily round cheesecakes that I usually see. Probably just as well. Our rooms steward was also just ok. He mostly did what had to be done, but would forget little things. He also NEVER said hi to us! It was so strange. The other stewards doing other rooms down the hall always greeted us but he didn’t. Very strange. I think he may have been new and wasn’t aware of how those little things make a difference. We saved money on extra tips anyway!

It was great! Food was the best we have had in all our recent cruises. Your previous trip report inspired us to hop on another Alaska cruise, so thank you for that! This is a great itinerary.

We boarded the Crown 11 days ago with 3 ships in port (I think). We got there at 10:40 and were on by 11:00. We do have Nexus so that speeded it up. I would guess another 15 min if you have to wait at us customs. Keep in mind that things will be slower now until the longshoreman’s strike is over. They are working the cruiseships, but at reduced manpower it seems and it will take longer for debarkation of the previous passengers who don’t take off their own bags. We were delayed an hour getting off today.

Just off the Crown also. Our original disembark time was 9:45, then moved to 10:45. It was about 10:40. It ended up being pretty orderly, just delayed. We considered taking off our own bags when we got the delay notice, but decided another hour on a cruise wasn’t a bad thing. We were one of the last groups. Supplies etc are being loaded. Cruises will be fine, but as always pack some patience.

I wish we had those options! We are on the Crown right now and pizza is still complimentary but only 2 basic options. They have a daily special but it’s not listed.

Looking forward to your review. We loved the Emerald Princess and her crew last November and we’ll be on her again in August for 19 days.

Thank you for your report. We were on the Emerald last November and will be again in August for 19 days. One of our favorite Princess ships.

We “usually” are prepared to give extra tips to our room steward and our waiter (we dine at the same table/time every night) because they are usually very good. Having said that we are currently on the Crown Princess and our cabin steward is only “ok”. Small things that aren’t going to ruin our cruise, but I won’t be giving extra tips to him. Our waiter in the MDR is also only “ok” -doesn’t remember that I like no ice in my water, that we like tea after dinner, etc. Maybe we’ve been lucky but these are things our waiters usually know by day 3, and we are day 7 now. He won’t be getting an extra tip. So basically if they’re good we tip extra, if they’re only adequate we don’t.

Thanks OP for a helpful post. We started doing this about a year ago purchasing Esims through airolo or Simoptions. Very cost effective and service is faster than using the ship wifi. I’m fine with using it only in port too. Sea days are a nice break from being “connected” for us.

Thank you. I did that just now (cleared cookies) and it’s still not there. Hmm. Maybe Canadians aren’t allowed to refer anymore, lol.

We have friends who are interested in a cruise we are booked on. I was going to send the link to the itinerary and I thought Princess had a refer a friend link. I can’t find anything though. I did find a description of the refer a friend program on the deals page, but no link to do so. Is this program dead?

Additional advice: if you don’t already have seats, pay for seats as close to the front as possible. It really makes a difference.

I’m sure the casino will be open. That would be the only purpose of making this a 2 night cruise. It otherwise barely takes 1 night to get to Seattle. Additional advice is to wait to book this as they always go super cheap last minute.

Me too. They maybe have 2 sizes. I’m small and I swim in it, but DH is 6’ 190 pounds ands they fit him fine.

As you will be in transit, it will be tight but they should funnel you into your own line up for customs. At least that is how it is done here in Vancouver. The kiosks also really speaks things up.

So glad this has been resolved for you! You will preclear US customs in Montreal.

We don’t mind the ones on the floor by the bed. We just put the throw pillows down there at night. The big bright one in the closet is bad though! It has woken me up in the night when DH has gotten up. We now ask our steward on embarkation day to have it disabled and they are always happy to do so.

You could hear anytime. If the cruise is selling well, it will be closer to the sailing date if at all. You will receive a specific stateroom when you bid is accepted.

Port plug in is only available in some ports. I know here in Vancouver the are able to do this.

For those who receive these offers and are booking, are you actually travelling in the inside stateroom or upgrading? My sister received one and is bringing me along on one of them but upgraded our stateroom. Another friend I know received one and is looking at one of the Europe cruises and also is going to upgrade to a veranda for a total cost of $2000 cad. I checked my “restricted fare” showing in my own account on that cruise and did a mock booking for a veranda and it would cost me $2700. Not that much difference really. If most are actually upgrading then I’d say it is worth it for HAL to send these out. It also covers HAL’s port costs which I think aside from the head tax, are the same regardless of how many are on the ship. Crew still have to be paid, etc.

As always things probably varied from ship to ship. Our first visit 12 years ago on the Zuiderdam was wonderful! (And free) We went back a second night. Our most recent visit on Zaandam just before Covid was terrible, and we haven’t been back. I certainly won’t pay $29 even with a mariner discount to eat in the corner of the buffet.

I haven’t had the pleasure of CO on the Rotterdam, but I love the decor from the pictures. Reminds me of Rotterdam V.