cruisequeen4ever

Great plans!

I’m not an expert on this as a legal matter, however I know of multiple people who have done the B2B from Seward or Whittier with no issues.

Seward’s embarkation is very spread out throughout the day, so there’s usually a small to no line, and it’s a small town so very easy to navigate. There’s no customs to clear as you’re still in the US. Vancouver is notorious for long lines and waits during embarkation. Some of it is because multiple ships can be embarking at the same time from the same terminal, so they funnel through one security line before going to separate check-ins. There’s also an extra step involved, to clear US customs, which slows the process down. Don’t get me wrong; we love embarking from Vancouver because we live exploring Vancouver Pre-cruise, but it’s just far easier to depart from Seward.

I’m surprised it was almost unanimously Baltic. We loved our Baltic cruise, but St. Petersburg was the highlight, so I’d personally wait to see if ships are able to return one year. The British Isles cruise is wonderful.

Interesting pricing. Do you get any gifts for that price? Princess charges close to that but includes cool, valuable gifts.

It’s definitely unfortunate to incur extra costs and consequences and be affected by the hurricane. I hate to say it, but it is a known risk when traveling to the Caribbean during hurricane season.

Fun review; thank you!

Yay, mine finally posted! I was worried because everyone was posting they got theirs, and mine hadn’t posted yet. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, I’m sure they’re coming. They must be posting them throughout the day.

To me, they’re not putting their best food assets on the Venezia. This will be an interesting experience!

It’s not Covid safe to crowd everyone for the muster, and I haven’t experienced the new muster to make an opinion of whether it’s sufficient or not. If it’s not safe enough to just do the current muster, then a hybrid is what I would recommend where crowds are not occurring but more information that’s important is being properly disseminated. Already, Carnival was behind times in having everyone crowd on the deck. No need to go way back in time.

I sure hope they compensated you for getting less than what you paid for! I’ll give them points for creativity in their temp solution, but they should have moved you and upgraded someone to your stateroom. That person wouldn’t care since it was a free upgrade.

I can’t believe Grand Turk is still requiring vaccination with how everywhere else has dropped the requirement.

I’m sorry you had to endure that stress and still have to endure stress of the DMV and hoping your bag will come before your next trip. Your experience was the last bit of confirmation I needed to buy air tags. Hope your bag comes in time!

Thank you for sharing!

Holy casino play!! Congrats on qualifying and having fun despite not making it all the way! I can’t imagine a $27 max bet. Happy for all those who hit jackpots!

This was such an informative thread for those of us doing these sailings; thank you to the primary blogger as well as everyone else who contributed!

I’m so sorry you have gone through all of that! Thank you for sharing your experience, so we can all go into Med cruises without eyes open. I had thought, based on one Holland America passenger’s experience at a Rome hospital a few years ago, that Italy was actually a safe place to get medical care if necessary. Perhaps they got lucky with the hospital, or perhaps the pandemic wrecked the medical care there. Regardless, it is scary to think of having a medical emergency in many cruise ports. The MedJet idea sounds best to reduce risk. I hope you recover well and quickly!

It’s my understanding that as long as the girl was not person #1 on the stateroom, she can be dropped or replaced. If it is a two person stateroom, and she is just dropped, then your son would become a solo passenger in the stateroom, and he would still be paying just about what it costs for two people. As a result, it would be more cost-effective to just have one of his buddies join him. Alternatively, since you’re so far out, as long as you don’t have a nonrefundable deposit, you could just have the three of you in one stateroom and save a ton of money!

Woohoo for you!!!

I’m so relieved to hear there is still bingo! I read that Celebrity is no longer offering bingo, only Deal or No Deal. Though I like Deal or No Deal and look forward to playing it also, it is by no means a replacement for tried-and-true bingo. I did try playing bingo remotely from the Royal Tea in the Piazza ad they overlapped. It made me nervous that if I won, I somehow would not get the prize, but I would assume they have a way of getting it to me??

My travel agent told us that they are actually letting some people other than suite guests go, but it’s by invitation only. Sure hope we somehow get an invite!

I sure hope they go back to putting new releases on Movies Under the Stars in December and not just on one ship but on them all! My husband and I were literally just talking this week about how we need to make sure we don’t watch too many new movies in preparation for our cruise.

“The Princess bed” as it is truly named is my dream bed, and I am so sad that they do not ship to Alaska! Of course we know that one bed does not fit all, and that is why there are so many different beds out there. I really believe Princess hit gold with theirs though. The only person I have encountered complaining about it was my mother-in-law because it was too soft for her.

I live in Anchorage, and I don’t walk around downtown Anchorage alone probably for the same reason you were talking about, the homeless people. Just like other cities around America, it’s a huge issue. We are ashamed the tourists Experience this and wish the government would clean up downtown. Aside from the homeless, it’s a beautiful downtown with great gift shops and wonderful restaurants. A lot of tours launch from downtown, too. In the summer, tourists really don’t have a problem as there are so many tourists milling around, and I have honestly never read about tourists having ever been attacked or had a crime committed against them.

As an Alaskan who has done the one-way Alaska cruise many ways, both starting in Alaska and starting in Vancouver, I can tell you that both ways are fun, but if you want an easy embarkation, starting in Alaska is hands-down easiest. I hope you get the flights that you want; you could call and request to fly in a day or two early by paying their fee to do so. I would think it wouldn’t be too late since your cruise is so far off from now. Spending more time in Anchorage is what I would recommend and just a little time in Seward as there’s much more to do out of Anchorage than Seward. The boat tour others are referencing is excellent and one night in Seward would certainly be fun. it’s an adorable town. Happy planning!