Waynetor

Very glad to see someone doing a live from the Grand.  We are doing the north and southbound in July for our first Alaskan cruise.

How did you get from the airport to the cruise terminal?  I'm thinking of taking the train that goes to downtown near the port.  My wife is in a wheelchair and I 'm looking for the easiest way.

How many passengers on the ship for this cruise?  

There has been several post recently asking the same question.  Princess has not provided dates to travel agents yet.

My guess is that with the new, increased beverage packages they are waiting so that everyone has to book at the new prices. 

"new bookings only on select cruises sailing in 2022 and must be booked by December 31, 2022."

It is amazing that they will not let you book 2022 cruises after Dec 31 2022 and get the discount

Now we know why Princess is holding back on releasing fall/winter Caribbean voyages.  They would have been normally released a least a month ago but by holding back everybody wanting the package will have to pay the new price.

We saw them a few years back on a Princess ship and I found 3 this March on the Caribbean P.  I re-circulated 2 of them and brought home the Pirate duck.

For our upcoming Vancouver to Anchorage and return cruise I looked on the Princess site at available flights from Toronto.  There were lots of flights going both ways, but I did not see a round trip option with the flights I preferred so I booked a Vancouver to Toronto one way and a Toronto to Vancouver one way.  Both were accepted and paid for.  Later when I checked our booking only the return flight was showing up.   Not being sure if there was a problem or not, I called Princess and was told that you can not book two separate one ways for a single cruise booking, so I told the agent which flights I preferred and she was able to do a round trip with those flights and she said she would cancel the earlier flights.

When I received my credit card bill all the flights were there with no credit for the one way flights.  So today I called back and got everything corrected with a refund coming for the supposed cancelled flights.  While at it, I asked if any better price available for the round trip but no such luck.

Lessons learned -

System will allow you to book 2 one way but will not actually make the booking.

You can ask for a roundtrip combination that is not on the site.

It pays to check your booking after any change.

It pays to check your credit card bill.

Since the cruise is 2 7 night voyages booked as a 14 night, I could have had the 2 original separate booking if I had made 2 separate 7 day bookings. 

BTW - the first call to make the change had less than a 5 minute wait on hold and todays call had a less than 1 minute wait.

I booked Caribbean cruises from Dec 22 to Mar 23 late April 2021 as soon as they were available.   Info on the cruises were available about 2 weeks prior so for late 2023/early 2024 they are later this year. 

Head office tends to not tell the staff that answer phones or agents until they are ready to release the voyages. Once they are released, some agent tends to post here on CC. 

I am doing the exact same thing next year and have done it in the past.

If the 2 ships are docked very close together then a porter can take the luggage or you can wheel it yourself. 

If the ships are docked in distant parts of the port then it is $8 to take a taxi within the port.

try to be near the end of those disembarking the first ship so that you have less time waiting to board the second ship.

Also, it is possible that Sky will not dock at the same dock it left from as the Enchanted may take that spot.  In this case as the 2 ships are the same size, this is unlikely but if it happened, Princess would offer shuttles back to the parking area you left from. 

When on the Sky, check at customer service desk a day or 2 before end of cruise and they should be able to let you now the pier the ships will be at. 

Ours were on our bed when we arrived in our cabin.  The card comes with a restaurant/date/time assigned. You can phone or go to the restaurant to change including to another speciality restaurant.

With the medallion it should not take long to find any passengers trying to delay their departure.  At some point any crew that see guest after last call has been made should either question them or report them to appropriate staff. 

Baked, mash or fries are always available on request.  

If you want the meat in item 'A' but want the veg. from item 'B'. just ask.  

You can always ask about portion size and ask for more if desired.  Eg. the surf and turf has 3 shrimp but ask for more to be added if desired.  Same, the crispy chicken is 2 pieces but I asked for 3 sometimes.  I always ask for extra strawberries on the cheese cake or extra banana on a bananas foster order. 

Pescado Amarillo - I will add myself to the many that would miss your blogs if you do indeed pull the plug.  Thanks for all your informative post.

While on our recent 9 weeks on the Caribbean P,  I often observed the way the most travelled passengers regularly received special attention from senior staff.

As G is one of the most travelled on this cruise, I would suggest he try to get some face time with some senior staff and have a good discussion with them about his and your experience.  It's a long shot if anything would change, but their response could certainly help to cement your 125 and out feeling or give hope that in time you may feel comfortable returning to your home away from home.  

On our recent Caribbean P cruises, the general trivia were 10am on port days and 10:30am on sea days plus 4:30 in the afternoon.  In the evening at 7pm they had themed trivia - generally music/TV/film related.  Theater times were 7:15 and 9pm

On our recent cruises shows were 7:15 and 9 

We also try to book these cabins.  The only down side is that you will feel more motion in rough seas.

On our recent Caribbean P cruise we did 3 diners in each.  Service was excellent in both restaurants and meal quality was excellent.   Check out the menus and make your choice based on your preferences.

There were not open while we were on from Jan 9 to Mar 13 but I would expect them to open once passenger cunts get steadily higher.

The ship is leaving the Caribbean area this weekend and heading to Vancouver.  From there it will sail to Portland.  While on her we were told there will be engine work and new carpeting.  We were on for 9 weeks and for the last half of that one of the aft elevators going up to deck 18 was not working.  No clocks on the open areas of deck 15 were working for the whole 9 weeks.   

The ship is going into a 2 week dry dock in late April.  If your cruise is after that, most of the issues it has now will be fixed in that period.

My understanding is the dry dock is for 2 weeks in Portland.  No changes to layout of anything on the ship but general maintenance including engine repairs and new carpets.  Many of the crew will be staying on the ship and helping with some of the work. 

We were scheduled to leave at 8:10 and we went to the lounge at that time but our colour had already been called and when we got off most of the luggage in that section had been claimed.  Going through immigration is just having your face scanned.  We had to have a covid test done for entry into Canada but could not wait a port and get a print-out.  At airport we had to show the e-mail to airline staff.

Airport was a zoo.  We were on AIr Canada which shares a terminal with Delta.  The lines for Delta were massive snaking all over the place making it hard for people to find the end.  When our flight home arrived we saw the people coming off - Lots and lots of kids.  

When we got to our condo, I reached for deck 15 button but there was only up to 14 plus PH.  Worse was I had to do shopping today and prepare our own food.

Thanks for all the positive feedback.  

Nassau 

Mararegtaville htl

new port design

Ftl. L.

ship being used for sick crew

Sailboat school

Island P

sailaway party

interesting boat

Cozumel

bird

butterfly

Flower

lighthouse

sunset at sailaway

Costa Maya

port performers 

Ships

Flamingo

Mackaw

Swim with dolphins