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We find it very worthwhile and much less costly for international flights. For domestic, we fly Alaska and often use our miles. We do not see any savings for domestic flights.

Honestly, it really does not matter. We were in the "Green Lane", but when you get to the port, you just follow the lines and crowd. However, because we are Platinum , we were able to sit in chairs after the Elites and board after them.

We dined in the Crown Grill twice on the Emerald this last May. Service was "fine" but not warm and friendly. We did not tip extra. We dined in the Crown Grill on the Grand just last month. Service was warm and friendly and we tipped "extra" in cash.

2019 was before covid; so no crew smoking area in the aft promenade.

"Conservative, upright and closed minded"... Hmmm...are we stereotyping? One may be surprised at what a "conservative" may enjoy...

So there is still smoking on the ship, correct?

Absolutely!!! This was our experience as well! We saw lots of calving of Hubbard Glacier!

The Emerald and Grand crew were not newbies- just frustrated as their customers. It was not ignorance on their part, they just did not have much to work with.

Then do not walk through on Deck 6 because the smoke will get to you each time. The Universe and Explorer's Lounges are both on that floor.

I think it is helpful that if you cruise late in the season, that the chances of enjoying Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier are highly increased. However, we have also enjoyed Tracy Arm (most of it) in July 2009.

Our first Alaska cruise included Hubbard Glacier and it was spectacular! We enjoyed it more than Glacier Bay. We recently cruised Endicott Arm and Dawes glacier and also enjoyed that fjord. We have even made it all the way down to Sawyer Glacier at the end of Tracy Arm, That was also very beautiful and worthwhile. We had a great Captain who did a great job!

Thanks, @wowzz. I truly did not remember except he did well on the time and we arrived in plenty of time. The OP and other comments say 30 minutes is fine. YIKES!

Your Roll Call will work much better.

Our Blackberry Car ride took 45 minutes to an hour from Southampton to LHR. It was on a Sunday in May.

The wine issue is not an isolated experience. We were on the Emerald in May (12 nights British Isles) and on the Grand last month (12 nights Alaska). For our May cruise, only Princess Plus was available as the Premier Package had not yet been introduced. Even before the menus had changed, the wine selections were horrid- IF they even had a wine that was on the menu. So, the $12.00 limit choices were even more extremely decreased. One night in the dining room, they had Port on the menu so I ordered some. NOPE! They did not have any. On the Grand in September, it was even worse as they now had like one Chardonnay available, etc. One time I ordered a Chardonnay and they said that they had to substitute a different Chardonnay. At least they did not give me a red wine as a substitute

After all of the comments, I realized that I did not mention the fantastic "Blue Bayou" show and the lovely aft viewing decks. Per my research and @Thrak's information, we booked E736 so we also had easy access to these aft decks. And yes, we were able to touch the walls of the locks. I walked the full Promenade deck many times. IC next to the smoky casino- YUK!

We sailed on the Coral in January 2018 for the full transit Panama Canal itinerary. We have been on the Golden (3 times), the Grand, the Emerald, the Regal, and the Crown. We absolutely loved the Regal and the Golden. We also liked the Crown. We were not crazy about the Emerald mainly due to the strange vibe of the crew (recently in May). Sadly, the Golden has been sold... we would gladly sail on the Regal and Grand again. So, the Coral will never be our favorite ship- it seemed small and the design just was not to our liking. The buffet is on the front of the ship. The windows were typically dirty and foggy- it was so humid on this itinerary so we could rarely if at all see out. We did have a fantastic lecturer and commentator onboard doing talks of the Panama Canal. On transit day, he spoke for 10 hours straight with fantastic information.

Thank you @wowzz!

I am glad that you have had good experiences. We were on the Celebrity Reflection for 12 nights in late 2018. It was throughout the ship. I am glad you did not have to constantly see the flies on the food in the buffet- EVERYDAY! The crew did nothing about it. Trying to get anyone to stop at our table in the buffet area was a total joke. We were used to the Princess crew checking on us constantly to offer beverages and to clear our plates. A bartender talked down to us and informed us that there were only 2 white wines included in our beverage package. Fine, but he was quite uppity about it.

Our experience is that Celebrity is snooty and Princess is warm and friendly. It does not matter what cabin you have booked. This is just our experience and will not book Celebrity again.

Evidently, the did not see the back of the ship or understand the Princess logo.

We just got off of the Grand on September 26th. I swear that our sweet steward was in our cabin 3 times a day. Every time we returned to the cabin, it had been tidied up! The ship was only 50% full, so maybe this had something to do with it. Or, as my detective mind wanders... Maybe he was being aware of signs that we might have covid. He was a sweetheart. OTOH... We were on the Emerald in May and the steward was in our cabin once a day. So, we were so surprised by the service on the Grand.

We have been on the Emerald and Grand within the last 5 months. Both had hand washing sinks in the buffet area. We loved that the water was nice and hot!

Absolutely! As a mother of "young adults" with two kids each... I do NOT see them.cruising anytime soon! We, on the other hand..... We have the time and the money.

What @JimmyVWine said and so glad you are safe. What a crazy storm!