cruisequeen4ever

I 100% recommend Princess, but as a loyal Princess passenger, I do have to prepare you that all cruise lines seem to have had some cutbacks from Covid. You can start checking in on the Medallion app at the 90 day mark. One of the steps is to order your Medallion, and you can place the order right away. They will just ship it a few weeks out from your cruise. Boarding groups do not open up for selection until a random day leading up to the cruise. I’ve had them open up as late as a few weeks before the cruise to as early as 50 to 60 days before the cruise, and my in-laws had theirs never open up. You’re right that the sales don’t usually give discounts on excursions or drink packages the way that Celebrity and Royal Caribbean offer; they focus more on cruise discounts, which sometimes include OBC or the drink package. Happy planning, and I hope you have found your new home on Princess!

The Royal is my favorite because she has the benefits of the newer ships well still maintaining the classiness of Princess. The Buffay is huge and varied. The ship looks virtually as new as it did when it was new. The food is excellent. You looked a good one.

That really sucks you caught Covid; I hope you feel better soon! I always enjoy your cruise blogs. This one reinforced that there is a cruise line for everyone, and we are all different. I was on the Solstice a few months ago and normally cruise Princess. To me, just about everything is much better on Princess, but that’s just my personal opinion. Looking forward to your next cruise blog, and by one of your last posts, it sounds like it’s just around the corner!

Awww, I’m sorry you got sick and hope you feel better very soon! I’ve been binge reading all of your cruise blogs since the re-start and will eagerly continue when you feel well enough to continue this. When you shared your history of blog writing, it all made perfect sense why you have such a way with words. Thank you for entertaining us on each cruise with your depictions, and please continue! 😀

This is such good news!

Your writing is magnificent. Thank you for taking us on another of your adventures!

Princess is soooo good about that, very caring and proactively helpful.

That’s great info; thank you!

Is Catch open? My mother-in-law has been trying to book it for her upcoming Alaska cruise in a few weeks, and it still is not showing up in the app to book.

That’s outstanding service! I’m sorry you had to go through a medical experience, though.

I second the recommendation to switch to Princess as they own their own lodges, so you have less risk of something being canceled on land.

It was fine in December.

It worked on the Royal but was really slow.

That’s really surprising as at least pre-pandemic, EZ-Air seemed to always beat going directly through the airlines, especially for international.

I really liked him. It’s a shame Princess has lost Jan and now him.

We have long wished Princess had a Shore Excursion department you could call pre-cruise to get more excursion info. Unfortunately, they don’t have that.

We did that very same itinerary last Christmas/New Years. You’re right that it’s cold most sea days, and yes you’ll want to bring a coat. I still totally recommend a balcony stateroom. Seeing the ocean and even just being out there for short spurts is worth it. We traveled back to California during the bomb cyclone and experienced 20+ ft seas. Ensenada was canceled. I considered it an adventure.

I ditto what the others said. You can certainly take the elevator if needed. There just may be a wait.Taormina is beautiful and worth it.

That’s good you switched your flight. The morning flight would have been risky.

The White Pass Scenic Railway in Skagway is relaxing and beautiful. The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour in Ketchikan is a thrill, and she can view it all while seated.

Princess would be a better fit than HAL. Both lines excel at Alaska, but Princess caters to a younger clientele than HAL and has more modern ships. Food is good on both lines. If you opt for a cruisetour, 100% go Princess as they’re the only line that owns their own lodges. The cruise experience extends to the lodges, offering a better experience than the lodges used by other lines. Happy planning!

I can see how that wouldn’t be safe. The Celebrity cruise was to 2 fully developed cement docks, though.

I cruised with a mobility scooter for the first time over Christmas and thought it would be helpful to share my experience with tendering. It’s long been discussed that it’s at the ship’s discretion and not to count on tendering with one. I’m here to share the great news that I got to tender in each port with my mobility scooter! The Patter was a bit confusing as to whether it would be allowed. It turned out that as long as you could walk down the steps to the tender platform and onto the tender, they were happy to transport your mobility scooter or wheelchair. It may have helped that we were on a Royal class ship that has a very sturdy built-in tender platform. I can’t say that this will happen on every cruise, but I’m happy it happened and hope it happens consistently in the future. Fast forward to a cruise I did on Celebrity since then, and no mobility scooters were allowed on any tenders. It was awful. Major kudos to Princess for providing access to those of us with limited mobility!

I found people on Princess to be very kind with the elevators, holding the doors to make sure they didn’t close on me as I entered and as I backed out and pressing the button for me. I’ve only had 2 negative experiences with people cutting in front of me for an elevator, and one of those was on another cruise line. For the theater, I found it smoother to go in, turn around, and park facing out, so that when you go to leave, you aren’t fighting the crowds trying to turn around. Whenever I needed to park it around the ship, I’d just look for a spot that was out of the way of people and carts,yet close enough to where I needed it to be, and I always found a good spot. Love the tip about putting a souvenir license plate on it!!

That line reminds me of tendering in Guernsey! Our line was long but nothing like this on the Royal a few months ago. I sat in the shade and watched the line, sipping water and cooling off with the chilled towels the crew kept bringing while my hubby got shave ice. The Pioneer Inn ringing a bell for last tender is awesome; if we ever do that cruise again, I’m sure my hubby will want to get drinks there while we wait.