azbirdmom

Yep, 2 hours 6 minute wait when I called the casino number today to book a freebie I earned on our cruise last week. I had a good book and that made the wait a bit less painful.

We were there a week and a half ago. We took a taxi to the hotel. And we booked a shuttle to the port through the concierge for $8 per person. We debated walking since it’s a little over a mile to terminal 2 but chose the lazy route.

That wasn’t the entire notice as there are free cruises being offered under certain circumstances. I would take that and contact a company like Pursuit or go to the Princess Lodges website to see if I could cobble together a land tour plus transportation. We did the former a couple of years ago when we used part of a move over offer for an Alaska cruise. Here is the entire notice that a TA posted to FB: "As we all know, the hospitality industry has been hit hard with the lowest number of applicants in the history of the industry and with its remoteness, Alaska employment numbers have been hit extremely hard. This challenge is why we have made the difficult decision to close the Copper River Wilderness Lodge for the remainder of the 2022 Alaska season. This will result in cancellation of some tours that go to Copper River, but we were able to reduce some of the cancellations by changing the itineraries. For some departures, Copper River nights will be replaced by nights in Kenai, McKinley or Anchorage depending on the tour. Guests can rebook to other open tours for 2022 or 2023, but 2022 options may be limited. There are three different scenarios –details below: 1. Copper River Lodge will be closed, so your tour is being cancelled – through June departures. Guests will have two options below which must be decided by June 20, 2022 after which they will receive option 2: · Option 1: Receive 100% Refund and still keep your cruise for FREE (but they pay TF&PE, Air, Crew Appreciation, Princess Plus) · Option 2: Receive 100% Refund and 25% Future Cruise Credit based on $ paid 2. Copper River Lodge will be closed, so your tour is being cancelled – July and later Guests will have two options below which must be decided by June 20, 2022 after which they will receive option 2: · Option 1: Sail on the cruise portion of your booking at the best available cruise-only rate and receive $300/per person OBC · Option 2: 100% Refund and Offer $300/per person OBC via FCC good on any available 2022 Alaska voyage or alternate cruisetour – rebook yourself 3. Copper River Lodge will be closed, but your tour has been modified– entire season · Your Copper nights are being replaced by Kenai nights (Tours MA6, MB6, RA6, RB6) · Your Copper nights are being replaced by McKinley Princess nights (Tours PA8, PB8) · Your Copper nights are being replaced by Anchorage nights (Tours UA1, UB1) · Note: Some departures of these tours are also being cancelled as part of scenarios 1 and 2 above · Offer: $100 OBC/per person will be added to bookings via a promo code · New bookings confirmations will be created to reflect the itinerary changes. For all scenarios: Princess will cover standard air change fees."

Interesting that a couple of you mentioned lines for the MDR. We only experienced that the first night in the dining room on deck 6. We ate in the deck 5 Island dining room 4 other nights with a 6 pm reservation. That dining room wasn’t crowded any of the nights and service was swift. They sat us at the same table for two with the same waitstaff each night. It was a huge difference from what we experienced in the Coral dining room on deck 6. Our steward was amazing and he said his workload had recently been reduced from 23 to 16 mini suites because they had brought on a lot more workers. We saw several coming onboard in St. Thomas. Aside from the yucky smoke in the casino and our thankfully brief problem with our toilet, this cruise was actually better than I expected.

Interesting that he has that many balcony cabins to take care of. Our room steward last week told me that he had been taking care of 23 mini suites up until two weeks ago when more staff was added. He now has 16 which is the usual workload for mini suites. He said he's much happier now as he didn't have much time to talk to guests and it's much better now. I actually heard from others around the ship that they were relieved that more crew has been added. Hoping that will take some of the stress out of their very busy lives.

Hope it stays that way. I am also double boosted and my husband has had five shots (2 from AstraZeneca vaccine study + 2 "regular" Moderna + 1 Moderna booster). Hoping all of that keeps us safe but it just stinks to hear that even 3 CC'ers managed to catch it during the cruise.

I was wondering how you fared, Norm. We were about 35 minutes delayed getting off as we should have disembarked at 8:55. There were lines for CBP passport checks but they moved swiftly. Taxis were plentiful and they moved the taxi queue right next to the terminal, down the ramp just to the left of the terminal exit. You used to have to walk out to the center to get them at terminal 2 - not sure if this a temporary change due to the weather or permanent. It turned out that the flight changes that United made a couple months ago to route us back to Phoenix via Washington DC instead of Houston was a good one. Our flight didn't leave until 1:30 after the storm had passed through and we actually made it home early. Earlier alternatives were either cancelled or delayed so we consider ourselves fortunate. I sure hope that everyone on the current cruise made it to the ship. We had a wonderful time onboard and it was hard to leave. It was definitely better than we expected based on everything we had read. Hope your week is fantastic and that you continue celebrating your anniversary.

If conditions are such that masks will be required on our Alaska cruise out of Seattle in July, we will wear our masks without complaint. We probably will anyway. We just got off the Caribbean Princess yesterday and wore our masks the whole time (except when eating, sip and cover drinking, or in our cabin). It really wasn't that big of a deal to us. Several crew members actually thanked us for wearing our masks, we were among the very few who did. Masks weren't required so folks were free to choose. And despite the documents stating that surgical masks would be provided, 2 KN95 masks were in the cabin upon disembarkation and more were provided on request.

Jon is a trooper! Glad you made it home safely but sorry that you tested positive too. It was wonderful to meet you both (albeit briefly) and I hope you feel better soon AND that we'll see you on another cruise. Although I imagine the latter is the furthest thing from your mind right now. Oh no Steve, so sorry to hear that you are ill now. I sure hope that you shake it soon. Thank you for keeping track of our roll call and it was very nice to meet you!

Thank you. Disembarkation has been slow due to the weather. Only one jetbridge is operating and facial recognition software is down so they are checking passports. Also stevedores are having a bit of a struggle with luggage with the wind and rain. 5 inches in the last 6 hours and still coming. Sure glad our flight isn’t until 1:30. Oh and they just announced that in transit guests should meet in the Princess theater at 10:15 instead of 9:15 so those who will be on the next sailing shouldn’t expect to embark on time.

For those of you on the next leg, it seems that there will be a late departure from Port Everglades. This evening the Captain announced an all aboard time of 6 PM for in transit guests. They must be allowing more time for those flying in to make it to the ship. We are actually supposed to dock at 11pm tonight. We’ve been racing back to beat out the storm. Disembarkion is supposed to happen on time, at least as of right now. Those of us flying home tomorrow have our fingers and everything else crossed that the storm won’t affect our plans.

There are no longer any tournaments but they have had $1-$2 no limit holdem games going on a PokerPro-like machine. My DH has spent a lot of time on it.

Oh my goodness I am so sorry to hear about Jon. You are two of the very few people who have been masked too. It’s just not fair. I sure hope Jon recovers soon and that you escape it. Sending hugs and good wishes to you both.

Thank you, I will! I am enjoying reading on the balcony at the moment. It has really clouded up and I am not sure it will be possible to be out here tomorrow with the rain expected. Last I checked we are going 21.5 but it’s a smooth ride. The captain said he’s pushing all 6 engines to get us up to the Bahamas area quickly. He is keeping up posted. We are set to fly home immediately after the cruise but I am not going to worry about it and will just appreciate our last couple of days onboard.

We are onboard the Caribbean and are among the handful of people who have remained masked. We have been thanked by some crew members for masking. Everyone is within their rights to cruise mask-free but for us it’s not that big of a deal to keep our’s on.

Agree 100%! Inside is still quite nice. The crew can’t do enough for you and are working so hard for all of us. And I’m thinking that the food is better than what we had on the Regal in February. It’s all been so pleasant and any problems we have had have been quickly resolved. That is except for two things that we can work around. The door doesn’t open when we approach. We have to physically tap our medallions to the tablet and then wait a few seconds for the door to open. Same thing apparently happened on the last cruise and they are working on a solution. The other thing could be more troubling if our steward wasn’t on the ball. The tablet changes from do not disturb mode to service the room on its own. The steward checks his device and can tell we are in the room so no harm done. Back to watching the fuel barge off our balcony.

I have my bare feet up right now. But they are on a footstool on our balcony. I’m enjoying the shade and occasional breezes and am about to start my second book. The view is nice too, at least from the railing up. Below that is a huge fuel barge and next to that is a shiny tug. Thought about wandering up to the pool but they are all quite crowded so I will enjoy the view from the balcony. And I’m very glad I didn’t see bare feet on the Piazza furniture!

Missed the word toilet so hopefully everyone knows what I meant. I know you did and thank you! We are using OBC today to go to Mountaintop and Magens Bay. Hot and humid waiting for our transportation. Enjoy the Sanctuary or whatever you decide to do today.

Ha! Well I’m happy to report that we have gone an entire day now with a fully functioning. The parts they replaced along with other plumbing wizardry performed at 3 yesterday AM did the trick. Our cabin steward showed me one of the parts. I had no clue what I was looking at but it appeared to be ancient.

No it isn’t but the seating area is open as overflow from the buffet.

Final passenger count for the sailing is 2742. And our toilet issues continued through the night. Got to meet a plumber at 3AM. And it’s nothing we did. Fingers crossed that it’s now fixed once and for all. Otherwise trip is great.

We are also masked up but we are definitely in the minority. So sorry to hear about those who disembarked with an unwanted “gift”. Hope you all feel better soon. And we will do our best to stay healthy.

Great news! Unfortunately our toilet issue persists although it’s not awful. I used it when we got back to the ship and nothing happened when I flushed it. Henry said wait a few minutes and sure enough it flushed itself. Still going to report it after we are showered. We thankfully have not run into any surly people and everything else has been wonderful. Dinner last night was excellent. We had a reservation for 6:30 and got right in. Tonight is Crown Grill so we have been pacing our food intake. And room steward is fantastic. There were even no lines coming back on the tender. Nothing to complain about. Hoping to see you and Jon again!

Writing this from Princess Cays. All is well. I slept like a brick but was awakened at 9:30 by the captain’s announcement from the hallway about the delay in departures to Princess Cays. Quick trip to the bathroom…no flush. I heard the steward in the hallway and he called a plumber. After 10 minutes it flushed on its own. We are very careful about not putting anything extra in the toilet. Plumber was going to see if another cabin is creating the problem, fingers crossed that it was a one time event. Oh and the steward left these little friends for us. Back to enjoying the Bahamian breeze.

So nice to meet you! And very glad that you were able to secure your beds in the Sanctuary. Hope to see you during the week be it at Outriggers during sailaway or around the ship!