nomadguy
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Posts posted by nomadguy
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From reading the thread, I understand it's not so easy. Thank you for laying it out so succinctly for me. We navigated LAX from DL Terminal 2 a few years ago and it was A BEAR trying to figure out where to go for a shuttle to an airport hotel. For our transpacific flight the next day, we had to check in and take a Delta shuttle from one terminal to another which wasn't as bad as finding the shuttle to the hotel! I believe we will arrive at Terminal 2 so not as convenient to get to that shuttle location by walking for two seniors with luggage. Do you think it would just be more convenient to summon an Uber Black, knowing it could cost double? The sea of humanity was so overwhelming in 2019.
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I called the Crowne Plaza to ask about ground transportation from LAX to San Pedro and they recommended an Uber/Lfyt over a taxi. We will also be arriving on April 2, 7pm. How long does it take to get to the Crowne Plaza at that time of day on a Saturday evening?
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3 minutes ago, AJSkarbo said:
I also got a towel animal on day 2. Any guesses? My mom thinks he is a dog cause he has a tail. He is currently relaxing on one of the night stands.
elephants have tails... just sayin 😉
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13 minutes ago, Coralc said:
Will you post a link to where you read that, please?
here's where I found it: Cruise Ship Color Status | Quarantine | CDC . Navigator of the Seas is still in YELLOW - "CDC has investigated and ship remains under observation."
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Key is offered on Navigator (1/31/22) but no mention of room service being included. Hmmmm, to jump on it or not?!
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has anyone done a comparison between:
Med Jet (offers home-country hospital of choice)
Global Rescue Insurance (offers home-country hospital of choice; affiliated w/Johns Hopkins)
Travel Insured Int'l Multi-Trip Plan
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Did you make a port stop at Cape Canaveral? If so, what were the options for excursions besides NASA? Thanks for a great recap! Much appreciated.
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7 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:
It seems like you might have a screwy booking issue... you definitely shouldn't have been downgraded from a mini suite to a balcony. I'd call Princess immediately.
Also, I'm booked on the 2 May sailing, and they're replacing Prince Rupert with another day of scenic cruising in the Endicot Arm. Victoria was always scheduled as a full day stop at the end of the voyage (it's one of our favorite places and one of the reasons we booked this cruise).
Yes, Victoria was always on the May 2 sailing itinerary but they had shifted the date with the redeployment. I saw the additional Endicott Arm cruising on the latest itinerary. Doesn't matter for me, I'm cancelling due to the ship change along with the itinerary change, the lack of outside space, smaller balconies (by a foot but still!), and the need for the Royal to go outside in open waters vs. not going alongside Vancouver island. It's just so discouraging. I'll probably jump ship; I have friends sailing the Aegean sea on Celebrity that week... I'll consider joining them instead and my 7th AK trip will just wait until another "perfect itinerary" comes along!
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As seniors (66 & 73), medical coverage (primary) and medical evacuation are essential. I like $100K minimum for medical and $250K minimum for medevac. Now I also require pre-existing conditions (asthmatic) and "cancel for any reason" must be considered (75% refund is fine). I use both insuremytrip dot com and squaremouth dot com as my go to research. I favor squaremouth choices over insuremytrip's. The cruise line's insurance option is never robust enough for my liking but to each their own. Making a claim can be a hassle so I look for a company with a Zero Complaint Policy and read reviews to see what claimants say about the claim process itself. (It can be arduous.)
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On 9/12/2021 at 2:08 PM, Thrak said:
Our cruise is set for May 2nd. I can't get to the Summary page but, if I change the word "summary" to "itinerary" in the url I can get to that and other pages. For my cruise I don't show much of an itinerary change and it certainly doesn't skip Ketchikan. Of course it's possible that Princess just hasn't updated this info yet. I really wish they would get this figured out and settled.
I also notice that my new booking shows a "category upgrade" from BF to a BD cabin. I find that odd as I was originally booked in a BD cabin. (It's hard to figure out how they could think a cabin almost all the way aft - C726 - is a "BF" which is a forward cabin.) The new booking actually shows the exact same cabin number on the new ship. I have to wonder if that will change when I can see the Summary page.
For the May 2 sailing, they changed a port date and replaced Prince Rupert to Victoria. That's all I noticed on our sailing. I can see they put us in a Balcony mid-Aft on Aloha deck on Royal whereas we were in a Mini-Suite on Dolphin Deck on the Sapphire. Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper! Not sure we will pay final on February 1 or not. Not too keen on a bigger ship with another thousand of our closest cruise buddies either.
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My "friend" is riding on my Diamond coattails as I like to call it. He loves every minute of his instant status! LOL (My friend has the same address.)
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I'm a Celebrity fan but frequent Princess as well. Back in the 1980s, there were 3 lines sailing AK waters - Princess, Holland America, and Regency. I was on Regency b'c it was the least expensive. Glacier Bay is a must see for a first-timer. I had been to AK numerous times but my partner's first time, we sailed the Pacific Princess - a small ship that did Glacier Bay. (In order to sail the National Park, the cruise line obtains a National Park permit. Not many are available so only a few cruise lines secured them. Princess is one of them.) On my partner's 2nd cruise to AK, we sailed Celebrity as there was no reason not to since Glacier Bay was already off the list. I find the food comparable on X and Princess.
Personally, I look at the itinerary, port times, ship size/configuration, cabin/balcony size and then cost before making a decision. I demand a balcony especially for Alaska and want "overhang" incase the weather is inclement. The smaller the ship, the better as far as I'm concerned! I like intimate vs. largess.
I am 66; my partner is now 73. I rank my lines:
1. Celebrity (aka X) - I think of it as understated sophisticated but not stuffy
2. Princess - all around goodness
3. RCCL (if I'm bringing elementary school kids with me)
4. NCL (Pearl to AK said to be good but that was a few years ago)
5. HAL (when I'm in my 80s I might sail on them again)
Good luck.
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On 12/18/2020 at 9:17 PM, reallyitsmema said:
We drive our own car down and park at the port for the week. ... You can park at the Embassy for the week, they have a higher rate room that comes with parking, but we find the garage at the port to be more secure than the open lot at the Embassy....
Do you make reservations for garage parking in advance? We will be driving in from Central NJ for a cruise next June.
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In 2020 I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Embassy Suites really close to Port Everglades. Both were fine and had shuttles to the port but we took an Uber. Next March we are staying at Homewood Suites Airport Cruise Port (Dania beach). Still $300/night. Booked with free cancellation to have something secured now I will just monitor pricing to see if anything goes DOWN between now and March! It's expensive. Period!
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where did you sail from - Southampton? If so, how was crossing the North sea in late fall?
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1 hour ago, VersaliusPrimus said:
Hi all!
My family has been interested in sailing around Japan, but decided we would wait until an itinerary was offered on a Royal class ship after we spent 3 weeks on the Sapphire. Looking through the 2021 Alaska itineraries posted on this board the other day, we found such an opportunity:
- Royal Princess
- Itinerary: Japan & North Pacific Crossing
- Leaving Saturday, Sept 4th, 2021 for 16 days
- Ports: Anchorage (Whittier), Cross International Date Line, Kushiro, Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokyo (Yokohama)
This brings up a few questions:
- How are the waves along this path in the north Pacific and around Japan? Looking at windy.com shows 20+ ft waves southwest of Alaska but how would it look in September? I'm looking for a website that shows historical wave data with an interface similar to windy.com.
- Is this a "good" time of the year to be visiting Japan? Regional typhoon season is said to be May through October, peaking in August/September. I have read previous reports of the Diamond Princess missing a port or two from its schedule, but it follows a different path than the Royal will take.
- Is this itinerary missing a port that previous cruisers would consider a must-see?
- The sailing after this one has the Royal Princess ending in Singapore. Does this mean the Royal and Regal are swapping places for winter 2021 i.e. Royal out of Sydney, Regal out of LA/SF?
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I sailed on the Diamond Princess in June 2019. (The iris and rhododendron were in bloom.) Our itinerary started and ended at Kobe. Ports included Kobe, Kochi, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Pusan (S.Korea), sailing through the Kanmon straits, and back to Kobe. (Full disclosure - This was our second trip to Japan; the first was a land tour with Collette featuring the gardens of Japan so my opinion is biased based on our previous trip.)
It gets hot starting in June so ideally I would choose mid-April to May to visit and see the flowers in bloom, too. But typically that's not when the cruise ships sail there. I might also consider October/early November but would need to double check before committing during that time frame.
We did have a little bit of motion when sailing through the Kanmon straits (mid-aft Baja deck, cabin 617) and just slight motion one day early in the cruise (don't recall which) but otherwise it was pretty calm.
We enjoyed seeing the castles and the temples in Japan and did a ship excursion to a temple and then to the fish market and shopping area in S. Korea (b'c it was easier than trying to get there on our own). In Kagoshima we took the ship's excursion which went on a ferry over to the volcano and then saw a very nice Japanese style garden (but not the same quality as the National Gardens which we saw with Collette). Our guide that day was excellent. We felt the ship excursions were pretty expensive and noted that many had not booked excursions - assuming due to the expense but it could have been because the ship was 50% Japanese so they may have seen these places previously. (The S. Korean excursion was about 1/2 the price of the Japan port excursions by Princess.)
One day it poured down rain - perhaps it was Miyazaki. We never left the ship as we didn't have a tour scheduled so we were glad we hadn't committed that day. Our tour in Kochi was cancelled (I suspect not enough English-speaking guests registered for it) so we went to the Manga museum and castle on our own. (I remember carrying an umbrella that day so I assume there was at least a threat of rain.) Almost at every port there were locals sending us off in style - drumming, dancing, etc. Really spectacular that they had such great warm greetings for us. (I think this may have been the first time Princess was in many of these ports but I'm not 100% sure of that fact.)
My priorities for Japan would include include Tokyo and Kyoto - neither port stops. Closest port to Tokyo would be Yokohama and closest to Kyoto might be Kobe (but double check).
In Tokyo, I would suggest seeing the National Gardens, temples, anime at Akihabara an IT nerd's dream, towers, Tsukiji fish market, castles, Asakusa - old town style as well as eating at a conveyor belt sushi place and looking for Kimonos and Yakatas. (We planned but missed Shibuya - to see that crazy scramble intersection seen in movies and Hachi the Dog - real story with movie starring Richard Gere.) We also took a day trip from Tokyo to Kamakura (see Buddha pix below) which was fascinating!
Kyoto is a must see! (Geishas, Bamboo grove, National Gardens, temples, castles, Golden Pavilion. We took the bullet train from Kobe after our cruise ended over to Kyoto where we stayed two nights. (Then we took the bullet train back to Tokyo for two more nights before returning stateside.)
I want to return. I loved visiting Japan. I'm sorry I cannot provide more specific information to answer your questions but this may give you a flavor for what we experienced. Feel free to DM me if there's anything else I might share.
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On 12/11/2019 at 6:59 AM, TeeRick said:
Thanks! She is looking good!
I tried to click on the photo and got a Malwarebytes warning that it contained a Trojan and not to proceed. So proceed with caution If opening that photo!
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Well, I used a lot of TAs but recently went with a BB TA. Downsides -
limited hours of operation
can only use Visa (I'm an AMEX loyalist as I receive airline status by charging everything to AMEX... which I'm kicking myself for having booked my next TWO cruises with BB)
never get the same agent (or experience as some agents are much more helpful than others)
would I do it again? Um, probably not. I'll still use a TA but one that accepts AMEX as well as Visa!
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On 9/8/2019 at 6:43 PM, striveforhealth said:
I know there are no guarantees...but how were the seas? i'm traveling with someone with motion issues and we're leery of smaller boats, but this sounds amazing. And yes...she'll have patches, etc. 🙂
The seas from Seattle that first sail-away day and the last day sailing back to Seattle on a 7-day round trip voyage were a little motion prone both times. Enough so that it gave me a headache (hint - seasickness coming on if I don't lay down). The teen had a headache and wasn't feeling fabulous on the outbound portion either. Not awful but just noticeable enough to warrant treatment. (Didn't notice it when sailing out of Vancouver; we will do that round trip again in summer 2020.)
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Aqua also gives you a bottle of champagne at embarkation (If you request it) and bottled water (I'm guessing 2 bottles)! As noted previously - I found these amenities as well for Aqua Class - "priority seating at Blu restaurant, Relaxation Room & access to The Sea thermal suite, personal spa concierge, expanded room service breakfast menu, personal training sessions, wellness consultations, and spa-inspired stateroom touches (Bossini shower panel, aromatherapy diffusers, pillow menus, daily deliveries of flavored tea and fresh fruit, bottle of sparkling wine, welcome bottled water)."
I'm anxious to see their "pillow" menu!
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From the stuff I have read, there are various categories as mentioned above. Crystal IS NOT Premium - it is luxury which is one step above Premium. Please google the industry's standards for each as the posts above are not correct. I'm not positive about those in the Premium category but I "think" it is -
Mass Market
RCCL
NCL
Carnival
etc.
Premium
Celebrity
Princess
HAL
Luxury
Azamara
Viking
etc.
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Determine your MUST DO/EXPERIENCE item (eg for us it was being up close to a glacier so we booked the boat to Tracy arm Fjord from the side of the ship). Then we filled in with other experiences - dog sled camp in Skagway and salmon fishing from Ketchikan. Next time our big excursion will be a helicopter to a glacier, then we we will fill in with almost free stuff like walking the towns of Skagway and Ketchikan - red light district, funicular to scenic overview, salmon ladders, that kind of touring.
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19 hours ago, Oakman58 said:
I'm no expert but I'll give you my opinion. Since you say this is your first and perhaps the only time you do an Alaskan cruise I would pick a cruise ship that visits Glacier Bay National Park. There is a reason Glacier Bay has National Park status, it's awesome. By the way, the National Park Service only allows two cruise ships per day into Glacier Bay. The two cruise lines that have the most permits to visit Glacier Bay NP are Princess and Holland America
In early May the Ruby Princess does a Seattle round trip and visits Glacier Bay NP, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, and Victoria, BC. This is just my opinion of course.
Here's a link to the thread about whether Glacier Bay is a must do or not. I included some photos in that thread I took while cruising Glacier Bay NP. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2690263-is-glacier-bay-a-must-do/
I agree! Glacier bay is a National park for a reason!!
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I can imagine a 5 year old would love the dog sledding and mushers camp experience. This kid was 15 and in heaven! The dry sled reminded me of Fred Flintstone car!
Updated dry dock schedule please.
in Princess Cruises
Posted
is there an update to this schedule?