hockeygal54

My first cruise was about this time of year in 1989 with a now ex and two friends on a forgotten NCL cruise out of San Juan. I've been on numerous lines, with numerous friends but have settled into Princess as my line of choice and with a friend who is of similar tastes and finances as myself. We are going on our 4th cruise together and second to AK in 3 yrs in under 100 days. Sure things have changed....no more booze smuggling, towel animals or laying in the sun for days on end. No more drinking from sun up till after midnite, but I still get that same feeling ass soon as I cross the threshold onto the ship and hear a crew member say "welcome aboard the ------- Princess" so I say yes, it's a great value for me. I've seen places that are on the return to bucket list and seen places I wouldn't return to if they paid me. I've discovered how people live in other parts of the U.S. as well as other countries and become increasingly grateful for what we have and how good we have it in the USA!

We'll be aboard in August for AK and looking forward to the remodel also! We were on Coral before the facelift to AK in 2012 then back again for PC a year ago last month and the HC was much improved. [emoji4]

Have u ever been to AK?

Agree with TxJess. My two cents is this....the tile on the way to the toilets etc is beyond snail snot slick so my solution was to walk in the sand till I got even with the building and then crossed over.

Drink one water for every alcohol drink! Two water even better. Remember you don't have to "get your money's worth in booze"!

I love my pet(s) dearly and miss them when I'm away but unless I had a true bonafide NEED for a real service animal while on a cruise, there is no way I'd try to bring a pet just for some supposed "emotional" need. I need a break from animal needs and they ️prob enjoy a break from me too!! Altho this cat is snuggled up awfully close right now!!

It's 1525 right now. That would by BOGO HH in the designated bar. Time for Comos! [emoji13]

Many years ago I went on an Eastern Caribe on Princess with a friend/co worker who was old enough to be my Mother. People frequently thought that was the case and some people found it strange that I was such good friends with someone who had grown kids older than myself. We had traditional dining and actually think this was the only option "back then" (mid '90's). First night out we meet our tablemates which included a gay couple and their mutual friend who was sharing their cabin and a VERY pretentious well to do bonafide Mother and daughter from South Fla somewhere. Suffice to say being open about ones gayness was not what it is today and the Fla women had trouble with that arrangement. My friend and I were in the medical field and were quite accustomed to co workers who were in same sex partnerships. A couple nights later as we gathered for dinner the issue became who would be the lucky one that got stuck sitting next to Mamma Big Bucks! We had become friends with "the boys" and enjoyed drinks before dubbed and discussing this other duo. The next day my friend and I were going on a snorkel excursion and I brought a zip lock Baggie to dinner to put left over bread in to use for fish food. Now anyone who has ever cruised before knows there is food available 24/7 and hoarding leftovers in a cabin is not necessary but this pretentious woman had the audacity to ask me if this bread stash was for my breakfast in the morning! Having had a few drinks already plus drawing the short straw that nite and being stuck sitting next to her I responded HELL NO ITS FISH FOOD FOR OUR SNORKEL TRIP! She then went on to tirade about the dangers of being in the sun etc. Both of these women looked like porcelain dolls despite living in S Fla. they despised the heat and I never quite understood why they continued to live where they did plus go on an island cruise!

Low and behold the app has totally changed! The original one I paid $ for was a dedicated Princess app (also paid for RCCL one) and now it's a different one that can be used for all lines it appears. Now I've DL the second and dumped the first and all appears well. Thanks!!

Can't add anything new. It's updated, reset the phone AGAIN, did a sync AGAIN, deleted 2/3 of my photos but it still says I have 1593 pics stored and can't do an IOS 8.3 update cause I don't have enough storage. Currently have 8.1 I believe. Don't know anything else to do. [emoji81][emoji81][emoji81][emoji81]

You have to buy a pkg of minutes plus an initial log on charge which is $3.95 last I checked. The exception to this is if you are platinum or above and the fee is waved and u get x amt of free minutes based on length of voyage. I didn't even bother using mine last month since we drove to port and I didn't need air line ck in.

I've had the SMA for some find and have never been able to add any Royal cruise to my list. I click on it and it freezes up. Any ideas?

I have to disagree with the lady who found Talkeetna a waste of time etc. it's a fair distance from the lodge but Princess had a shuttle that left hourly or so and it was $10 R/T. There are lots of shops and restaurants which were nothing special but the walk down to the river was interesting. We lucked out because there was a local craft fair going on off one of the side streets. Many vendors all with hand crafted goods, lots of nice people and conversation if you were interested in talking to them. I met a guy who used to live in my area and had made plenty of money there, got tired of the rats and rat race and moved to AK about 15 yrs ago. He really wanted to hear about certain things in our area since he had moved north and opened up the beer cooler and we had a nice chat while waiting for the return shuttle. He owned a shop in the strip area where the shuttle stops.

Personally I loved the lodge at Denali and liked the fact there were food choices right across the street. I'm not enough of a foodie that the conneseur thing appeals to me. We basically got something for breakfast then snacked on trail mix mid day and early dinner. Yes food is higher in AK but if you eat what you really NEED and not forage as tho already aboard ship it's very do-able economically. I bought some AK beer and had several left and just took aboard the bus to the McKinley lodge. Put it on ice in the room and took one out on the deck later. Time for a refill? Walked to the room.

Seeing wildlife in Denali NP is tied directly to how far you go into the park and not going too early in the season. We were there in mid August and it was great.

I just booked L102 for a 10-day Caribe cruise in Feb! Can't wait! We had another awesome cabin for our Canada cruise last fall but it was booked.

In reference to the officers showing up question....the organizer contacts the assigned coordinator for that particular ship/voyage and obtains a list of key officers. It's long and drawn out so one must "cull the herd" so to speak. I went to the dollar store and bought a couple packages of invites and they were written by hand with time, place etc and a note basically saying that "while we know you are busy with ship duties, if your schedule permits......" The last one aboard the Emerald had an excellent officer turn out inc CD, FB and even Capt. Himself! Several people remarked they had never seen a Capt show up to a MG, how did I score that? Well like my Daddy always said "you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar"!

If pvt tours have been arranged that business needs to be taken care of at a different time/place.

Mobility devices IN the corridors??? HAL allows this?

The total is for cost of one drink. They got the fixed 15%

It's about 15-20" to the first and IMO BEST stop. The other 3 are pretty close together. On the return the first drop point is the Carnival/Princess pier Puerta Maya. To get a better idea, go to their web site and find the "route" link. It has a map.

I too have been shocked and especially since I'm an icu nurse for 35+ yrs but when you put it in perspective with the way US pharmaceuticals inflate prices for high profit margins for stockholders part of it makes sense. Those of us that are insured and have low co-pays don't get it @ all but if you have no insurance or marginal it makes sense to pick up a round of an antibx you use once a year for resp crud or something for a chronic condition that is so much cheaper.

EBags dot com has a nice cooler that is soft sided but quite rugged with lots of separated dry compartments. It's called a "crew cooler" and can double as lunch box, camera bag, personal item on airline etc. also a Jr. Model but I got better price on larger one.

Just a suggestion since I've been to Coz a lot both before and after the cruise lines invaded this once sleepy island. I would search for a driver who is willing to serve you for x amount of hours. Traffic can be horrendous and not without danger to tourists. Have both heard and read about "accident" scams that are geared towards extorting $$ from tourists that they know have to catch a ship and get out quick. Also with a driver if you choose to do a little imbibing of adult beverages you can do so without concern. Just my 2 cents worth.

The self serve laundry feature was the deal breaker when I had to commit to Princess versus RCI several years ago. Since I was looking at loyalty perks etc the laundry thing was the ace. Now the fact you can combine OBC too has sweetened the pot! Working towards elite is such a chore! ☺

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This was probably a particular porter issue also and should've looked for a different one without such a narrow job description.

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The form is about gut issues as others have said. Not a nagging winter cough or Ebola. The decent weather, clean salt infused air and relaxation will have her cured! Bon Voyage!

The luggage tag thing didn't work in Houston last month. The porter refused to take our stuff and said we had to lug it aboard ourselves. Since we had one bag each and a carry on I decided we could handle all of that ourselves and our lousy 2-12 packs of soda my daughter needed. Don't know if this is a port policy or just a rude porter but I wasn't happy.

Aren't the parents of a kids club kid given a pager device so they can be located? And doesn't it work in reverse if a parent is trying to locate their kid thru a worker? Just curious here.

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