canuck13

Just back from the Coral with a group of 10. We had one round table in TDR. There was room for servers to get all the way around so service was efficient. Sorry, no photos.

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We are debating between a HAL vs Celebrity Alaska Cruise w/land time on our own. The itinerary is basically the same on the 2 cruises we are looking at - EXCEPT HAL goes to Glacier Bay, while Celebrity goes to Hubbard Glacier. Should we lean to one over the other? And why? Thanks.

Just returned from our Princess cruise that included both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. They are quite different experiences. Hubbard is very impressive due to its massive size but is a much shorter visit. Glacier Bay is a full day of awesome beauty with viewing of multiple glaciers. We were fortunate to have great viewing conditions both days.

The problem with an itinerary that includes Hubbard only is that there is a greater chance of missing it entirely if visibility is poor or ice does not allow the ship to get close. While some have reported poor viewing conditions in Glacier Bay as well, it seems to happen much less often and it is unlikely that the entire day would be a wash out (or fog out). Wildlife sightings are more frequent in GB as well.

I prefer to include both but if forced to choose I would lean toward Glacier Bay.

Alaska. OP is sailing southbound from Whittier departing August 12.

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Agree. We loved the flight but didn't really enjoy the boat ride back. Weather may have been a factor. Rain kept us inside the boat with limited views. Pretty typical for Ketchikan.

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Pros and cons to the fitness centre on the Crown. Well equipped and beautiful forward facing views. However the Crown has cabins directly below the fitness centre and on our spring cruise, half the treadmills were shut down until after 9 am. Also did not open until 7 am.

We live in Canada where chip and pin cards have been the standard for years. We travelled to the Baltics last year and we were able to use our card everywhere. Our American friends did not have a PIN and there were numerous times we had to come to the rescue with our card.

On this cruise, the port of departure was Vancouver.

I just checked my cruise. The price did not go down any but it actually went up by $50.00. And at 1.30 it is a 5% drop only. I booked my cruise at 1.35. But thanks for the info. Have a great day.

For our cruise, the US$ price stayed the same but that 5% drop in the exchange rate saves us $240C for our cabin. That's worth a phone call to me

I received a price drop alert today on a Princess cruise I was watching. The price in US didn't go down so possibly they dropped the exchange again. Check your prices!

Thanks for the tip. Just checked prices for an August 2017 Alaska cruise we have booked. Exchange is definitely 1.30 today. :)

What is the best way to get to St Andrews golf course from the cruise ship?

Practice

When we did our land tour, the Denali Princess Lodge was our last stop before the cruise. There were at least two stores across the road with wine available and we stocked up for the cruise there. Selection and prices were far better than we had expected.

If there are specific wines you need, you should probably shop in Anchorage and carry it. If you are willing to settle, you can wait and save the hassle.

Good morning all, just checked prices on Princess website. It seems Princess has dropped the exchange rate back to 35% over the US prices. I checked on my cruise for March 1 2017 and it is showing the same price I booked at before the increase. Hopefully the CDN dollar keeps going up and the rate drops further. Have a good day everyone.

Interesting. These changes seem to be a work in progress. I have 2 cruises for which I'm tracking prices closely, one in 2016 and the other in 2017. When I pull them up as saved cruises, the prices still show on the first page unchanged at $1.45 exchange. If I try to do a mock booking, the prices come up lower and appear to be at the $1.35 exchange rate. Encouraging news!

Just a thought. The 2017 cruise is an Alaska cruise that I already booked in US$. Had I booked in C$, I wonder if Princess would automatically adjust or if I would have to call. I suspect the latter, but I'd be interested in hearing from anyone in this situation.

Any advice from anyone who has done this cruise in 2015. We are on the Emerald for this one.

We were on the Regal for the Baltics last year. Many of the ports are the same. Here's the link to my trip report.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221001&highlight=baltic

Bob

We did this cruise last year. We made the trip to Berlin by train & we were glad we did. However we expect this to be our only trip to this region and were happy to just get a taste of Berlin. Others on our cruise chose to take tours to Rostok and/or Schwerin. We heard good things about those excursions.

Is the fettuccini Alfredo in the Parmesan cheese basket still always available?

Yes

Off the Royal a week ago. Items removed from always available were the salmon, beef medallions, tori tip & I think the hamburger. Shrimp cocktail, Caesar Salad & chicken were definitely still there. Two of the Curtis Stone items were Mahi Mahi and Pork Tenderloin. I can't remember the third - we didn't try any of them. The changes are not an improvement in my opinion.

Yes! We have an 11 night booked for 2016 and that's all it took! If there is a current promotion with a $100 booking deposit that would work as well if you have others wanting to book that don't have FCC. Many travel agents will run sales as well with low deposits.

Good deal! Thanks everyone.

In a word, yes, the FCC is all that is required. Princess allows pax to reserve cruise sponsored excursions and pay for them once on the ship. They also allow up to 24 hours before the excursion to cancel without penalty for most tours.

Thanks for the reply. Let's see if I can be more clear with my question.

What I've always referred to as an Alaskan "cruisetour" now appears to be listed as a Land & Sea Vacation on the Princess website. It's the package with a land tour either preceding or following the cruise. Can this package be reserved with just an FCC deposit?

Now that we know itineraries for Alaska 2017 will be released next month, I'm in the early planning stages for a group of 8. We're weighing the pros & cons of Cruise Tour vs. cruise + DIY land tour and I'm trying to give people a realistic picture of upfront costs if we book early.

We have Future Cruise Credits available & I know that will cover full deposit for a cruise. Will FCC's also serve as full deposit for a Cruise Tour with Princess or is a higher deposit required?

Hi Everyone,

 

Can someone enlighten me as to whether the ticket machines for metro accepts our US credit cards with chip but no pin? Or does it accept cash only? Is there a ticket agent that we can buy the metro ticket from? I plan to take the metro from the aiport to Avenue Hotel in Frederiksberg. Where to we get the Copenhagen pass and can we use our credit card as well or cash only?

 

Thanks!

We found the most convenient place to buy the Copenhagen Card was at the airport. There is a tourist info booth on your left as you exit the baggage claim area. We never saw a line there and they accept credit cards with or without chip.

Were the lines for the taxi long and did you notice the lines for bus 26 or public transportation. We have 5 people but we will be going to a hotel in the city centre.

When we disembarked there were plenty of available taxis, both large & small and we had no wait. I did not pay attention to waits for buses. We typically have too much luggage to consider public transportation.

Hi, this is Anne .

Just like to check how reliable are the external tour operators like SPB and Alla. Will they take us back to the ship on time based on your experience . Thanks.

 

Why are the external operators better ? The costs are about the same.

Hi Anne,

Our personal experience was that our SPB guide and driver were very time conscious and aware of when we had to be back on the ship. The first day we were 15 minutes behind schedule returning, but they knew that we had no evening plans and this wasn't a problem at all. Day 2 we saw everytjing on our agenda and were back on the ship 45 minutes early. I read a lot of reviews prior to our trip and I found no reports of any of the major tour companies being late returning passengers. They understand what this would do to their reputation should it happen.

I was surprised by your comment about the costs being the same so I went and checked current prices on the Princess website. Their standard 2 day tour is priced at about $450 pp on a bus with 32 people. Others on our ship arranged a similar tour for 16 people for $285 pp.

The Princess tour comparable to what we did, including Catherine's Palace, goes for $630 pp - again for a bus with 32. We paid $470 pp for a private tour for 4. In my opinion, the smaller group and personal attention gave us a vastly superior experience and more time at each site. We never felt rushed and didn't have to wait for anyone. There were a number of times we were able to re-route and dodge traffic in our minivan, something that wouldn't have been possible on a full size bus. We were fortunate to have a terrific guide and driver assigned to us - that's the one variable beyond anyone's control.

Hope this clarifies.

Bob

Hi, thanks for the writeup. Just like to know if it is easy to get the passports from the cruise lines onboard if we go with SPB tours or any external agents .

Also appreciate it if you could let me know if Regal Princess provide bottled shampoo and bath.

We were not required to surrender our passports. We kept them in our stateroom safe and took them with us as required. St. Petersburg was the only port where we had to show passports.

I read through your very interesting review tonight, and I do have one question about the ship, specifically the Promenade (or lack thereof). NCL made a similar change on the Breakaway and probably the Getaway, though we haven't been on that ship. On the Breakaway, you could walk back on and forth on either side of the ship. Not as good as being able to walk all the way around, but it turned out to be an acceptable alternative. Is the Regal Princess the same, or is the walking/running track up on top the only outdoor opportunity to walk?

 

On the Regal (& the Royal), there are open sections of the promenade midship and aft with lounge chairs and tables. They made a small change on the Regal to allow some walking space between these areas. However it's a very narrow passage between the ship and lifeboats and not a pleasant walk at all. The walking track up top is a much better alternative. Most of the day it's partially shaded and was better than we expected.

We did this trip in May. Many of the shops in the many different countries take both euros and American dollars, so there is no need to get their money. You may need a few small euro coins for restrooms. In fact, there were no free restrooms to, from, and in Berlin.

I agree it's good to have some local change for emergencies. However we did the entire trip without once using a pay toilet. The key is to never pass up an opportunity. All the City Halls have free restrooms as do all museums and any cafe where you're making a purchase. For Berlin, there were restrooms on the train to & from. Our Reichstag tour gave us access there & Topography of Terror and our lunch stop got us through until we were back on the train.