sonoma03

You can find more information about the cruise ship terminal and shuttle here: https://www.sitkadock.com/

On my last Alaska trip in June 2018, we saw a bear along the side of the road (within 6 feet) while riding the public bus back to town from Mendenhall Glacier. We also took a jet boat adventure tour to the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines from our port of Skagway (took a ferry from Skagway to Haines), and we saw 8 bears foraging on the banks along the river, including a mother with 2 cubs. That was an unexpected surprise.

Also the packages like Princess Plus offer a discount compared to separately paying for the gratuities, WiFi package, and drinks package. But if you aren't going to make use of all the benefits, you are probably better off paying for things separately. I did the math on the last 10-night cruise that I took on Princess, and since my husband and I don't drink alcohol, it was far cheaper for us to just pay the gratuities and buy one WiFi package to share, and pay for any drinks individually if we actually wanted one.

My TA was able to book the Americas Sale fare and provide $250 OBC per cabin for an obstructed oceanview cabin for an Alaska cruise on QE this summer. Definitely worth it for me to book with the TA instead of directly with Cunard.

Thanks everyone, and thanks to bluemarble for the suggestion to wait until the second day to buy the package; that's a great idea.

I am booked on the QE for an Alaska cruise in August, and I intend to buy the Essential Internet plan for $18/day, but was wondering if they ever put it on sale. Is there any benefit to buying it before sailing vs. buying it on board? If I buy on board I can use my OBC which would be preferable. Thanks!

In case you haven't found it yet, here is the information: https://www.cunard.com/en-us/advice-and-policies/standard-cancellation-refund-policy

Only for certain voyages. I asked Cunard specifically about the Queen Elizabeth since I'm considering an Alaska cruise on QE. They said there are no dance hosts on Alaska or Australia voyages. They do have them on repositioning cruises and Japan itineraries.

I will be doing the tour on Feb. 20. Hope my experience will be as good as boeckli's. I also prebooked because other excursions were getting sold out. I noted the 24 hour cancellation policy and intend to watch the weather as we get closer.

My husband and I are booked on a tour with Monarch Wildlife Cruises and Tours. The 2.5 hour Cruise to Sea Wildlife tour is NZ$120 per adult, NZ$100 for children 5-14, with pick-up and drop-off at the cruise terminal in Port Chalmers. https://www.wildlife.co.nz/cruise-to-sea-wildlife

Taxi will be more expensive than we want to pay. Not sure about using Uber; I will need to get a local SIM card and set up that phone number in my Uber account which is currently based on my U.S. phone number that won't work in NZ or Australia.

If Celebrity doesn't honor the set dining time, is there any way for me to reserve a time in advance? I don't see a way to do it in the app. When I go to the Web site and try to reserve, it says "Dining time already set" and won't let me make a reservation. Do I have to switch to anytime dining?

I will be on the Celebrity Edge in February stopping at Lyttelton, and I've been reading some conflicting information about transport and shuttles there. My understanding is that there will be a free shuttle to Lyttelton, and paid shuttles from the cruise terminal to Christchurch. The local authorities are strongly discouraging cruise ship passengers from using the local buses because they swamped the capacity of the bus system last season which was bad for the locals. But I have not found a good way to visit both the gondola and Christchurch city center without using the local bus. The ship's excursion to the gondola is a round-trip shuttle so it doesn't go into Christchurch, plus it's expensive. There is a shuttle that goes from Christchurch to the gondola and back, but it only runs once per hour and it wastes time and money since I have to pay for one shuttle from Lyttelton to Christchurch and a second from Christchurch back out to the gondola and then back to Christchurch, and the gondola is far closer to Lyttelton than to Christchurch. Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative besides taking the public bus? Thanks!

During the application process in the app, there was a question of whether you plan to stay in NZ and visit. If you said yes, you are charged the $35 IVL fee in addition to the $17 eTA fee so you should have paid NZ$52 if you are visiting in NZ and not just passing through.

My husband and I are booked on the Celebrity Edge in February and we have Celebrity Select Early Dining at 6 pm. I saw that there are 4 main dining rooms on the Edge and each of them have their specialty starters, entrees, and desserts in addition to serving what's on the daily menu. Since we have the set 6 pm dining time, will we be assigned to one of the 4 restaurants at the same table for the entire cruise like in the old days of traditional dining? If so, can we still order specialty items from the other 3 restaurants so that we can try them, or will we need to do anytime dining at one of the other restaurants if we want to try their specialty items? This is the first time we've been on this class of Celebrity ship so I'm not familiar with how the main dining works. Thanks!

I was just there today, and there was no luggage storage that I could find either in the VIA Rail station or the bus station. I asked the clerk selling bus tickets and he said they no longer have luggage lockers at the bus station.

The FAQ states that the $5 room service fee applies to each order placed by stateroom phone, so if you order using OceanNow, the $5 fee should not apply.

I read in other postings that on formal night when lobster is on the regular portion of the MDR menu, Princess is now charging a fee if you want a second lobster tail. That fee is separate from the new fees that were recently announced and I believe it applies regardless of whether you have standard, Plus, or Premier fare.

You can find the cruise ship dock assignments for Quebec City here: https://www.portquebec.ca/en/cruises/vessel-schedules/seasonal-schedule Dock 30 is at 300 Rue de l'Estuaire so that's likely what you're calling the Estuary Sector. Go to Google Maps and search for "Quai 30 Quebec City" and it will show you the location.

I'm also very sad to hear about the lack of live music for ballroom/Latin dancing. Dancing to the band in the Wheelhouse or in Explorer Lounge was one of my favorite evening activities on past Princess cruises. It really is becoming much more difficult to find good opportunities for ballroom/Latin dancing on cruise ships; Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are no better. I still hope to try Cunard sometime, but the cruise I had booked in 2020 got cancelled due to COVID and I have not found a good itinerary at a good price so far.

Another option is to take the Orleans Express bus, which has more frequent departures than the train. It takes 3 to 4 hours depending on time of day, similar to the train, but it gives you more choices of when to travel. A flexible ticket costs CAD$65.74 for adults. That's cheaper than the flexible fares on VIA Rail, though it's more expensive than the non-refundable "Escape" fares if those are still available on the desired train.

I find it very unfair for Princess to implement these changes on cruises that have already been paid in full some time ago. I am booked on Caribbean Princess for an Aug. 30th cruise so the new changes will apply, but at the time that I booked and paid for my cruise, Princess advertised that some of the features they are now charging for would be free to everyone, regardless of whether they have Plus/Premier packages. Princess has the right to make more money by implementing these changes, but doing so on cruises that are past final payment is unilaterally changing the terms under which passengers booked those cruises. It may be legal, but it certainly doesn't build good will with customers.

I don't drink alcohol or sodas so the Plus package is not worth it for me. I don't need the fancy teas either; the free ones that they have at the buffet are just fine.

It always annoyed me that they don't have a free self-serve coffee/tea station near the International Cafe, like they do in the Cafe Promenade on Royal Caribbean ships. I ended up going up to the buffet to get my free cup of tea to go with my food at the International Cafe, which was a hassle but got me more exercise to work off the extra food. 😄

DPreview.com is still live and running. It has been bought by Gear Patrol. https://www.dpreview.com/site-news/8298318614/dpreview-com-looks-forward-to-a-new-chapter-with-gear-patrol