Babewho

We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express Old Town the night before our cruise on Jan. 31.  They have several Park and Sail packages depending on how long you will need to park.  They have shuttles to and from the port.  

When we were looking into connecting cabins for an upcoming cruise, because we're traveling with another couple, our TA told us that the door that connects the cabins takes away half of the closet space.  Not sure if that's true, since we decided not to book them, but it's worth looking into if closet space is important to you.

My sister lives in Oregon, and we have visited Astoria.  It's a wonderful place!  Like others have said, the Ft. George Brewery is great, a wide variety of beers/ales and delicious foods.  I also agree with those who have mentioned the Coast Guard Museum.  It is an amazing place, tracing Asotora's history as a shipping port, among other things.  When we were there, they had a booth where you could do a mock weather report, using the tools that TV meteorologists use.  After doing that I have a greater appreciation of what it takes to do a live weather forecast!  There is also a lot of history about the Lewis and Clark expedition in Asotoria,.  It ended at the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific, and there are state parks at the location where the expedition camped and at the mouth of the river.  Hopefully they'll have a good variety of excursions for you to choose from.

Is there a way to link dining reservations with another couple when booking online and use the dining credits?  We're traveling with another couple who also have credits for specialty restaurants.  I'm not seeing a way to do that.  Our cruise reservations are linked.  

Thank you for asking this question.  I also don't drink much alcohol, and I was wondering if there were any fun drinks available.

Thank you for taking the time to do this.  I'm loving it!  We'll be doing the 18-day Hawaii cruise in January, 2023.  

On 8/14/2019 at 8:10 AM, PoohUnderstands said:

Just did a cruise tour with them that included 4 nights stay at three different Fairmont hotels in Toronto, Montreal, and Montebello, and Ottawa.  The rooms were standard, but they were very very nice in each hotel.  We got either two queens or one king in each location and room was nicely situated.

 

Pooh

Thank you!

23 hours ago, cruzrbachoua said:

We sailed 2 years ago with friends...we were on floor 7 or 9 facing the interior courtyard with windows in the hallway looking at the water...our friends had a room further up on floor 12 or something overlooking the little area/park between the Frontenac and Auberge hotel.  They were kept awake with music and such going on at night there and we were not.  They had a standard queen bed set up  just like us just higher up with a different view.  Not sure how the rooms are assigned.  They had a mini suite on the cruise and we had an interior...

Thank you!  This is exactly what I was looking for. 

Thanks!  It is somewhat more going through Princess.  However,  I did some research, and including the transfers to the hotel from the airport and from the hotel to the dock, the cost through Princess wasn't a ridiculous amount more than doing it all on our own.  So we decided to go with Princess just for the simplicity and ease. 

Yes, I could call the hotel or Princess.  I guess I'm looking more for others' experiences.  Thank you.

We booked a one-night, pre-cruise stay at the Chateau Frontenac through Princess for an upcoming cruise sailing out of Quebec City.  I've searched Google and the Princess CC boards to find an answer to my question with no success, so I apologize if I have missed it. 

My question is, when booking the Frontenac through Princess, does anyone know what room category is assigned?  

Thank you!

2 hours ago, AJs Grandpa said:

There are lots of posts re EZ Air to be found on this board.  to be succinct, here are answers to your questions:

 

1.  Flexible tickets are often less expensive than restricted.  Nobody but the airline gods knows why.  But, it is the only way to go because you can make changes--or simply cancel--without penalty up to 45 days prior to departure.

 

2.  No, the price won't go up as long as you don't make any changes.  Naturally, you will pay the prices current at the time of your change--maybe higher; maybe lower.

 

3.  Neither Princess nor any travel consolidator can guarantee the airlines won't change flights.  You have the same risk when you book directly with any airline.

 

4.  The only advantage of paying for the flights early is that some airlines won't allow you to pick seats until paid.  Paying early negates the biggest advantage of choosing flexible fares--any changes after that will be subject to the new fare and probably change fees.

 

I am a big fan of EZ Air.  Earlier today I booked a flexible fare to Montreal from California and from Ft. Lauderdale back to California for $120 per person less than the same flights could be booked directly with Delta.  The flights are next October, and I know Delta is likely to tweak the schedule between now and then.  However, I am locked in at a great rate and can make changes without penalty if necessary.  Meanwhile the money for airfare stays in my pocket.

 

Good luck.

We must be on the same cruise.  I got a great deal for CA to Quebec City and Ft. Lauderdale back to California at the end of October.  It was hundreds less than anything I could find looking for myself.

I booked through my travel agent, so it was very easy for me.  Our flight from FLL to SFO was changed today, but it is actually better than the original flight, and the cost is the same.

This is my first time using EZ Air, and so far I'm very impressed.

I have thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated your review. Thank you for sharing your experiences and pics! We will be on this cruise this October.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and spectacular photos. We will be on this itinerary in October, and your review has made me even more excited about our upcoming adventure.

We are also from an agricultural area near San Francisco, more like 90 minutes out. We love being able to cruise without having a flight involved!

If you haven't left yet, the Polynesian Cultural Centre is good, also the Waikiki Zoo.

We are going in early February, 2017. Thanks so much for your suggestions. The Polynesian Centre was something we were considering. We didn't realize there was a zoo. Wish we had more than three days!

Thanks for your help, everyone! It's nice to have so many options!!

Another vote here for Meclizine HCI 25 mg.

No droziness

Chewable

And the best part is I get it at my local Sam's club at the Pharmacy, No

Prescription needed.

Very inexpensive too

4.00 or 5.00 for a bottle of 100

Dramamine puts me to sleep 😠

I also get gin gins ginger drops from T J Max or Marshall's for those excursions

where I'm in the back of the van on those beautiful trips on the Amalfi Coast..

And I'm good to go..

Chris

Another vote for Meclizine. I have dealt with motion sickness for my entire life. Car rides as a child were torture. As I got older, there was no improvement. Dramamine would make me sleepy and crabby.

Meclazine has been a life changer for me. Not only can I go on amusement park rides that I missed as a kid, I can go an entire 14-day cruise without getting sick! Like others, I take it nightly before bed beginning on the day before the cruise and continuing through the cruise with no negative side effects. I get mine on Amazon.

This review is for the Crown Grill on the Grand Princess, but it shows lots of pictures of the food. I'm guessing that it's pretty standard fleet-wide. We had a great meal on the Grand in May.

http://www.beyondships2.com/grand-princess-crown-princess-crown-grill-review.html

Visit Pearl Harbor' date=' and all of the other associated museums. Bishop Museum and Iolani Palace are both wonderful places to learn about Hawaiian history. You can reach all of these places by http://www.TheBus.org

 

Don't know about tour company is question, but Oahu is a great place to visit and really not necessary to get expensive tours to see lots on a wonderful island.[/quote']

 

Thanks!

This question isn't cruise-related, and if that isn't allowed, I'll delete.

We ARE going on a Hawaiian cruise in October, 2017, but my question is about what to do when in Honolulu during a 3-night stay that I won through a radio contest. I found a couple of good possibilities by searching online, and those that appeal most are through Discover Hawaii Tours. Does anyone have any experience with this company? TIA

You should have sent it back.

It had already taken a long time (over an hour) to get served, and we didn't want to take the extra time. I just chalked it up to a bad night for them and will try again when we go to Hawaii in October.

The best steak I had on our Alaskan cruise in May was at Sabatini's. It was a 10 oz. strip steak that was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The steaks we had in the MDR were very good, too.

The steak (actually, the entire meal) I had at the Crown Grill didn't compare to Sabatini's. I ordered my steak rare, and they somehow managed to cook it well-done in the middle and rare on the sides. It wasn't awful, just not very good.

You know what I don't get? Why the OP is on cruise critic. If they don't like the questions they don't need to be reading them.

 

I've only been reading a few weeks and I'm finding a ton of good info. I do use the SEARCH feature also. Last topic I did that I found a 10 year old thread. Now how realible do you think that is. Somethings have to asked again.

 

Also there is a learning curve on figuring CC out. Not everyone has the time or the skill.

 

I'm thankful for the experienced folks that like to help with the questions.

 

Dori

Exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for posting!

I prepaid for parking for our May cruise in January, because I like spreading the trip expenses out over time, rather than taking a big hit at the end of the cruise. Being worry-free about having a place to park close to the pier is an added benefit.

Although there really isn't a lot of variation in itineraries for Hawaiian cruises, that was the deciding factor for us when booking our 2017 cruise.

We originally booked a 15-day cruise, round trip out of San Francisco, on Princess which was great for us since we live near SF. The ports are Lahaina, Honolulu, Hilo and Nawiliwili.

After doing a little research I found an 18-day itinerary, round trip out of San Diego, on Holland America. This itinerary includes an additional stop in Kona, and the ship overnights in Oahu and is there for two full days. The difference in price was $500 total, and we were able to get a balcony cabin on the stern, which we prefer. We figured that the 3 additional days, the extra port and the extra time in Oahu were worth the price difference, so we changed our booking.

Like others have said, research is the key to finding something that floats your boat.