jeromep

@brockmom, as I like to tell the staff I supervise, precision in language and using the same vocabulary amongst ourselves and our customers helps us ensure that everyone involved in a conversation knows exactly what everyone is saying to each other.  That said, what is the cabin category code that you have booked?  This is usually a two letter code or a letter and number code.  Your guarantee cabin will be assigned to a particular category code and what you paid for your cruise is the value of a cabin in that category code.  You may be "upgraded" to a higher value cabin code (in the eyes of Princess), should space run short in the cabin category you have booked.  Sometimes this is great, sometimes you go from an unobstructed window cabin, to an obstructed balcony, so while Princess sees the balcony as a higher value cabin, and prices it as such to somebody that selects that specific cabin, it might not be an upgrade that you were looking for or value.

So, you certainly won't be downgraded to a lower category code which is priced below what you paid in the category you have booked, but you may be placed in a higher priced cabin category, although it may not be a cabin that you personally feel would be worth the extra cost or might not be in a place on the ship that you prefer or would pay a premium for.  Now, you won't pay a dime more than your agreed upon cruise fare for the "upgrade", but you might be surprised as to what Princess considers an upgrade, should you be upgraded.

We did a guarantee once, we were pleased with what we got, but I don't think we'd do a guarantee cabin again unless it was an itinerary that we just couldn't pass up, or a time in our schedule where this was the only way we could schedule in a cruise.

I've posted about this before, but I'll do so again and try to break it down as best as I can.

First off, you have to think about where you are when you use your phone.  Second, you need to understand the wireless resources your phone could access for communications and what you should be using, depending on where you are.

So, let's start out by dealing with using your cell phone while visiting an island.  If you are in Puerto Rico or the USVI, you are in the United States.  AT&T has operations in both places, has towers in both places, and your phone will connect with those towers just as if you were at home.

All the other Caribbean islands are foreign countries and as such your phone will be trying to connect to a foreign country's cellular providers.  On AT&T you would need the International Day pass, at what is now $12/day to use your phone in those countries.  It is a flick of a switch on your AT&T cellular account online to activate the International Day Pass, and you only get charged for it if your phone connects to a cellular network in a foreign country.  You can leave the International Day Pass turned on all the time and it only activates and charges you when you are in a foreign country connected to a foreign cellular provider.

Keep in mind that unless you have your phone in airplane mode or have gone into your cellular settings and turned off your cellular transceiver, if your phone is on in a foreign country it will try to connect to whatever cellular system is there and you will get charged for that International Day Pass, or if you don't have that, the prevailing call, data, and message rate for international usage for that locale (which could be a lot more than the International Day Pass).

Now, let's get to the cruise package.  First off, both packages that AT&T offers are tremendously overpriced.  If you are getting an Internet package on board, there is no practical reason for you to get the cruise package from AT&T.  Assuming that you have Plus or Premier or are purchasing an unlimited WiFi package, you will turn airplane mode on while on the ship and connect to WiFi.  From there iMessage and FaceTime activity will all be carried over the ship's WiFi to their satellite Internet service.  What you need to do with AT&T, to effectively use WiFi for normal cell phone usage while on board and at sea, is to ensure that you have WiFi calling turned on, on your phone.  I'm not aware of any carriers that charge users for WiFi calling, however depending on the service package you have with AT&T, WiFi calling might not be included, so you need to look into that with AT&T before your cruise.  But I'm willing to bet you have the service already.  So, you need to turn on WiFi calling on your phone, and go through a small amount of setup with the service for E911 and such before the service is active.

WiFi calling is beneficial to all the cell providers because it offloads phone calls to the terrestrial Internet taking traffic off cell phone towers, allowing the cellular providers to have more efficiency in their network.  Therefore WiFi calling is almost always included on all calling plans and the switch to turn it on is there in your phone's settings, just waiting to be used.

With WiFi calling on, your phone's cellular system turned off due to airplane mode, and your connection to ships WiFi and Internet, your phone will behave as if it were connected to the cellular network at home.  You'll get regular phone calls and conventional text messages just as you would at home.  Just remember to put your phone into airplane mode as you re board the ship from a day on shore so that it doesn't try to connect to the "cellular at sea" service, which would rack up tremendously expensive charges.

I hope this makes sense, and if you have questions I'd be happy to answer them.

On 6/17/2024 at 6:49 PM, latebuyer said:

Does anyone know what they are doing in dry dock in september? Are the problems isolated to a certain part of the ship?

I would also like to know.  I wish we had a member that had some inside line on the dry dock schedules and some of the rehab details of those drydocks.  I'm pretty sure we used to have a member here that had that insight, I vaguely recall their posts, but they must have moved on.

As @geoherb stated, the ship is unscheduled for 3 weeks in September.  Most dry docks are only 2 weeks in length, so either part of that 3 weeks is moving the ship from the disembarkation port to the dry dock port, or from the dry dock port to the next embarkation port, or a combination of both.  A 3 week dry dock would allow them to do an exceptional amount of work and rehab on to the ship.  It is amazing what can be done in a couple of weeks in dry dock with massive numbers of tradesmen brought on board and an already developed schedule of activities they must accomplish, however, an extra week could really make a huge difference.

On 6/17/2024 at 5:23 PM, riffatsea said:

I don't understand why people keep asking questions on the phone?

Those people canNOT answer them!

Ask here or ask on Trip Adviser but never on the phone!!

 

When it comes to pre-booking excursions through Princess, or any other cruise line, I tend to do it on the web site, and I read the excursion details.  Overall experience has been that the segmented schedule that is presented online with the excursion description is accurate, and tour operators are very strict with sticking to their schedules.  So, if the timing of the tour, as presented online, doesn't fit with your expectations or needs, then it isn't right for you.

On 6/17/2024 at 7:36 PM, Luckybee said:

I understand the sentiment but isn't that a sad state of affairs ?

I don't expect call center operators to know anything that is beyond what is on their computer.  I know, I work in the periphery of call center operations.  While I don't like it that U.S. companies offshore their call centers, thus introducing the additional issue of staff that technically speaks English, but often times with heavy accents, limited vocabulary, and the use of colloquialisms which are not natural to North American English, I also get that the bean counters look at it only as a numbers issue and believe that all the gaps can be solved through technology (the staff overseas has never cruised, are barely living middle class in their society, they have no frame of reference for the questions that are coming in on the calls, no problem, IT can fix that).  Remember folks, bean counters are necessary, but just like HR staff and auditors, don't let them make business decisions, they always choose the wrong path based upon their limited viewpoint on their own operations.  Accountants, auditors, HR professionals are all the wrong people to make decisions about company strategy.  You know a company is being run by any of these groups if there are aspects about their customer service which really suck or product quality goes way down, etc.

Part of any call center system is a knowledge base system.  Ideally company information is fed into that system, and a skilled operator should be able to search it for answers.  This theory falls apart when the system doesn't contain enough information, the operator doesn't know what to search for, thus not finding the information they need, even though it is out there, or the operator just isn't in the mood to do the searching and thus makes a cursory effort, finds something to read off the screen which isn't really applicable, and gives up.  Most call centers operate with continual queues of callers waiting to be answered, so there is pressure in most of these call centers, most of them contract operations (Princess doesn't operate the call center, they contract it out to a company that does nothing but run call centers), to get calls handled and closed out and move onto the next caller as quickly as possible.  Contract call centers frequently commingle inbound calls from numerous unrelated companies.  This means that one minute an agent is answering a call for a credit card issuer, the next minute the call coming in is for a Princess customer, and the data and information change on their computer screen to reflect the company they are supposed to be representing for the incoming caller.  This adds to the difficulty of getting call center staff members skilled at handling calls.  The whole situation is a recipe for failure, but until Princess, or any other company that has outsource and offshored their call center operations actually can link lower financial performance to an ineffective call center, you are not likely to get any change.

A sad state of affairs, indeed.

Anytime dining will be available in the new program also.  I kind of view this dining change for later on this year as what is old is new again.  This is basically the old dining system, Trad. and Anytime, but leveraging the app to do self-directed reservations.

If it were me I'd just set up a standing reservation in the app and call it good.

2 hours ago, Mark_K said:

If your goal is good glacier viewing, the r/t Seattle cruises are not much compared to the one way cruises. IMO, anyway.

Hence the name "Voyage of the Glaciers" for the one-way cruises sailing to/from Vancouver, but there is a convenience to the RT Seattle cruises and Glacier Bay is spectacular and the on board interpretation by the rangers from the NPS is second to none.

Another option is to do the RT Seattle sailings and visit Glacier Bay or Endicot Arm and Dawes Glacier.  Flights out of Alaska going back home can be pretty expensive.  Flights RT Seattle might be a better deal.

On 6/14/2024 at 3:09 AM, psuboater said:

3) Salt and Straw ($) - technically a Portland import and growing nationally, but the best ice cream in the country, hands down.

Your list is excellent.  On the ice cream side of things, the local brand I believe is Molly Moon's.  They are worth a try, too.

My wife is an ice cream nut and seeks out ice cream when we travel, looking for local joints.  I've been taken on so many wild goose chases and close calls getting to the airport on time on the last day some place to try local ice cream, so I've tried a few.  My first exposure to Salt & Straw was one one of our many trips to Portland.  I like their product, but their seasonal flavors can sometimes be a big reach.  I distinctly recall some kind of pickle flavor during Thanksgiving a year or two ago.  It was a bust.  I find some of their flavor combinations just odd.  So beware that the seasonal offerings, usually with some kind of co-branding with a local baker or confectioner or a local farm can be excellent or terrible.  They also have standard flavors which are always in stock, and they are all very good.  I like Molly Moon's a little better, and their flavors aren't so out there.

But the best of the small producers in the U.S. is Jeni's.  They are out of the mid-west someplace and are also growing to become a national brand.  I think they have a smoother texture, and their flavors are more of what you'd expect ice cream to be, but with better ingredients and more intense base flavors.

On 6/14/2024 at 11:47 AM, latebloomer56 said:

Being from Seattle, question on on number 10. Are any of these listed down a very long set of stairs with taps covering an entire wall? I can't find the notes from our Alaska cruise pre covid. I had a lovey fish dinner and my husband thought the tartar sauce was the best. This was made in house and they gave me the recipe, so nice. The stairs were a killer after trying a few very nice beers on tap.

Thanks

I think that is Pike Brewing Company, but I could be very wrong.

I miss Hales Ales.  Their cream ale was to die for.

Don't forget SEA Spot Saver.  You have plenty of time to disembark and get to the airport, but reserving a spot in the screening line should be helpful.

https://www.portseattle.org/SEAspotsaver

If you have documentation showing that the luggage was supposed to be split between two people, then I would file a dispute with your card provider and ensure that the provider has a copy of the documentation which supports your claim.  The card provider will need the documentation to support their chargeback process so they can actually get the funds returned to them to return to you.  You'll get the funds back sooner than the card issuer due to the concept of provisional credit, where the issuing bank has to give your funds back to you while they conduct the investigation, however if your docs support your claim the bank needs them to ensure they actually get the funds back or can back up your claim as they push it through the card system.

No.  That is not possible.  However, for the flight you will eventually take do look into using the SEA Spot Saver service which may help reduce the amount of time you stand in line at security at SeaTac.

https://www.portseattle.org/SEAspotsaver

A Seattle institution is 13 Coins.  I like it, others may not.  There is one located in the Pioneer Square area a short walk from the football stadium.  Another located in a nondescript office building on the other side of International Blvd outside SeaTac.  They generally have an extensive menu and operate late hours.  Food is basically American or continental.  I make it a point to eat there whenever I'm in Seattle and time and place all work out to get me there.

On 6/11/2024 at 2:26 PM, snorkler8 said:

and spend over $500+ for one night's stay close to the pier.

Why are you trying to stay close to the pier?  Pier 91 isn't close to anything.

You are paying too much and you are over-complicating your stay and ground transportation to and from the port.

You can get a nice place to stay for $275-375 in south King County, basically any of the major brand hotels around SeaTac or Southcenter.  We are sailing out of Pier 91 later this summer and have booked a room at the Ceaderbrook Lodge for the night before.  Look it up on Google, it is located in a residential area on the hillside outside of SeaTac, up the hill from the huge DoubleTree property.  Prior experience, Ceaderbrook to Pier 91 via UberX will run you $50-80 depending on time of day, surge pricing, and tip.  UberXL will be closer to $75-100.  But either way, you get door to door transport.  Ceaderbrook is more expensive than the chain/franchise hotels, but the service is excellent, the on-site restaurant is good, but pricey, and the rooms are very comfortable and clean.  It is a great way to start a cruise.

Don't worry about rush hour.  You'll get there.  I'm not sure your first boarding time, or the all aboard times, but with normal traffic, SeaTac hotels to Pier 91 is about 40 minutes.  I suspect that RCI does things similar to the other lines that use Pier 91.  So you'll end up boarding about mid-day, all aboard somewhere between 3 and 5pm.  Traffic on the best routes to Pier 91 from the SeaTac area isn't terrible, especially mid day.  With heavy traffic, an hour would be about the worst.  The route doesn't go via I-5, which is the road to avoid.  Most rideshare drivers will take a combination of Hwys 509, 99 and surface streets in Seattle proper.  If I were driving it in my own car, it would be 509 to 99, and then get off 99 before the tunnel and then Alaskan Way to Elliott, to Western, back to Elliott and then to the odd interchange that takes you to the port.  Last time I did an Uber, they did exactly this.

Avoid the light rail.  Frankly it is not for the faint of heart.  Last year rode the light rail from the light rail station at King Street Station back down to the station at SeaTac and open drug use was visible in the station area along with the aroma of human waste, and lots of sketchy people meandering around aimlessly.  It got better once you were on the train, but for the first few stops there were some genuinely odd people getting on and off the train.

Look, you have likely spent thousands of dollars on the cruise, you are probably in it at least a thousand for your flights.  Ground transport in the port city will run you another couple hundred, plus you have pre and post cruise lodging, that will push $500.  Travel isn't cheap, especially these days.  You aren't going to be able to shave more than a few percentage points off from your ground transportation cost if you try to cobble together public transit and ride share, and your lodging cost in Seattle feels really out of wack.  The place where you can save money does seem to be your lodging, but as a traveler that needs to get from point A to B reliably and without fuss, trying to do a mix of public transit and ride share just to save $25 doesn't make a lot of sense.

Change where you are staying to someplace closer to the airport and less expensive, and rely on rideshare to get you to and from the airport, airport hotel and pier, and your life will be a lot easier.

I'm an RVer.  I'd rather go to a campground that provides me an appropriate power hookup for my rig than to have to run my generator 4, 6, 8, even 10, hours a day to be comfortable and have the comforts of home at my disposal.  My rig is old and getting a solar setup isn't practical, but I'd rather plug in that run my generator.  If I'm dry camping someplace and need power, sure I'll run my generator, but I'd rather not have to.

When a ship is in port, it is always better to be able to hook up shore power to run the vessel while docked.  I would expect that the only reason that cruise lines or other ship operators might be against plugging in is because the cost of the power provided at port is more expensive than the cost of running their own generators.  I burn almost a gallon an hour generating my own power.  I can only imagine how much you burn for a large diesel generator.  And yet, it wouldn't surprise me if the port authority has made the price of shore power less competitive than running your own onboard generator.

I looked at the bridge cam.  Still alongside in Vancouver.  You can see a tug boat in the photo.  That doesn't clarify anything, but sure seems like she is there much later than she should be.

There is a little gag out there about Alaska Airlines. 

<Enter professional sounding female voice artist>

"At Alaska Airlines, we fly almost everywhere in the U.S. through our convenient hub centrally located in Seattle, WA."

To be honest, you'll be better off taking an Uber/Lyft to whichever beverage seller you wish and then going back to the hotel of your choice the same way.  That said, I would recommend a pre/post cruise stay at the Ceaderbrook Lodge.  It's a bit more expensive than chain/franchise hotels that line International Blvd. just outside of the airport, but is very close to the airport and provides for a better stay.  Nicer and cleaner rooms, attentive staff, a good, if not expensive, on-site restaurant, a very good hotel spa.  You are near the airport, just up the hill from the SeaTac Double Tree, but in this lovely wooded area that you'll barely realize is near the airport.  The property has some great walking paths, it is almost park-like.

12 hours ago, Bantha09 said:

Hello all! 

 

We are going to be setting off 6/23/24 on the Majestic Princess On the Alaskan inside passage. My son has a bit of a limited pallette and one of the things he loves is potato chip and the other crunchy snacks (Cheeto, tortilla chip, etc) I've tried watching videos of the buffet and international cafe but haven't seen any display of potato chips so I wanted to see if that was something on board and I was just missing them on the videos.

I'd advise bringing on the chips you wish at embarkation.  You won't find much packaged food on board.  My daughter has a very limited pallet and we can keep her fed on board no problem.  She like chips and crackers, but any bread product is usually a winner.  Deserts are easy.  Dinner doesn't have much variety, but she is happy with any type of crispy chicken, plain burgers, hot dogs, and most potato products, but especially fries.

Princess makes all their baked goods on board every day, their breads and dinner rolls are excellent.  They also make their own breadsticks, the crispy ones, and a number of home made crackers.  When we were on Discovery last year we went to the Suite/Elite reception in Take Five most evenings and they had huge displays of their home made breadsticks and crackers and they were far better than anything you can get at the grocery store.  Fresher, tastier.

In just about any dining venue all you have to do is ask and they will do their best to find something for you.  I suspect that if he likes chips, the crispy crackers and breadstics they make on board will be a hit.  Princess has good french fries, they do vary from the dining room to the grill up on Lido, but they are good nonetheless.  If you want them extra crisp, they will give it a try.

We are also on the Majestic this year.  We are on the sailing immediately after yours.  I hope you have a great time.

11 hours ago, dickinson said:

Yes, start the roll call yourself.  Also keep in mind that the sailing is two years away so it will take a while for people to book.  Some roll calls never get very active though.  

I think I started a roll call for an Alaska cruise this summer.  There was no existing roll call as early as February, and the roll call has been pretty quiet.  This sure has surprised me because almost all of the roll calls I've been part of in the past have been pretty active.

Well, you have nearly 2 years to think about this cruise.  Have fun.

We were in Alaska last year and in Ketchikan we were at one of those trinket shops on Creek Street.  They had a cooler with individual cans of pop made by 49th State Brewing for sale.

https://www.49thstatebrewing.com/sodas/

They sold them cold and loose, but they had the plastic rings to make a 4 pack (or was it a 6 pack) at a small discount, and we did so.  I was concerned about bringing them back on board.  We showed them to security and they just nodded and we put them on the belt of the scanner and they made their way to the fridge in our cabin.

While this is very different than how much you can board the ship with at embarkation, I would say you are safe with a 12-pack per person.  I bet you could push it, but I'm not sure I would.

The pop from 49th State Brewing is excellent, worth looking for if you are on an Alaska cruise.

There was another thread on here talking about the value of Plus and Premier, and my takeaway from it (and it was a good takeaway), was that if you try to do the math to justify the daily cost of Plus or Premier, most cruisers would not be able to justify it, although Plus is mathematically pretty solid in terms of the value to the average cruiser.  On the other hand, if you view it beyond the transactional aspect of number of beverages purchased, cost of standard gratuities, cost of Internet and such, and move toward thinking about how you will actually enjoy your cruise more knowing that you aren't going to be billed for every beverage you drink, that you can try that fruity drink you'd never order at your local townie bar, and not feel guilty if you don't like it, or that you can freely connect your phone and iPad and any other devices to the Internet and not worry about logging them out when you are done using them, that has a benefit, too.

When we are out there living life and buying the things we need we all do so understanding that every transaction we enter into, the seller is attempting to make a profit, and is likely doing so.  If I'm selling something to sustain my life and I'm not making a profit doing so, I won't be selling things for very long and will be shuttering my doors and moving onto something else.  At least on a subconscious level we understand that businesses exist, and products and services come to market, because the seller believes they can make a profit and improve their standard of living.

Therefore, I find it quite odd that folks approach things like a feature or benefits package, or some kind of upgrade, and expect that what is included in the package is going to be valued at par or greater than the price paid for the package.  There is no difference between a cruise package and a frozen pizza, the cost to make or supply either is quite a bit less than what is being charged.  Nobody seems to mind the price of frozen pizza, and those that do, just don't buy it.  Same with cruise add-on packages, those of us that purchase them understand that somebody is making a profit, but psychologically we get benefits from the purchase beyond the number of beverages we consume or the daily gratuity that isn't showing up on our folio.

I guess my summary is that choosing to buy a package is a good deal to some, not such a good deal to others, and the way we decide which way to go is as subjective as our opinions on cruise food.

Skagway is in a National Park.  Part of that National Park is in a building in Pioneer Square in Seattle, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the rest surrounds Skagway.  I believe it is the only park in the NPS where it operates in multiple locations.  As for the people of Skagway, the permanent population is quite small.  Most of the folks you encountered there, either as tour guides, or restaurant and retail workers, are all seasonal workers.  They love the place, they love the subject matter, they like interacting with the public and tourists, they like working part of the year and then not working and living off savings the rest of the year.

I suspect a number of the folks you met are winter sports nuts, making all their money during the spring/summer/fall, and then turning around, leaving Skagway, and going someplace to couch surf or #vanlife and spending every day on the slopes.  I had a friend from high school that became a heavy equipment operator and skilled construction worker and that is exactly how he lived life.  Made a ton of money for about 6 months of the year, then meandered around for a few months, settled down for a month or so or meandered around a cold state from ski resort to ski resort spending the days on the slopes and the evenings involved in extracurricular activities.  It's not my idea of a good life, but it worked for him.  He easily afforded his lifestyle and was not a burden on anyone.

On 5/17/2024 at 6:52 AM, jimlouisesophie said:

Just remember if you take a excursion that is not from the Princess sponsored cruise excursions, and  you are late getting back to the ship before the ship leaves, you are SOL.

Correct, but that is mostly marketing and placing the onus on the tour operator to follow the ship's port schedule to a "T".

However, consider this; tour operators in many ports live and die by having good working relationships with cruise operators.  It isn't hard for a cruise line to freeze out an operator that doesn't do their job well or repeatedly misses getting passengers back to a ship by boarding time.  If a cruise line gets tired of a bad operator's behavior, they just won't resell their tours.  Now also consider that most tour operators in ports sell tours direct or through other tour agencies.

So, on any given day, a tour operator is running tours that have been sold through a cruise line, and sold by a third-party agency, or they direct sell.  First off, they know the ship schedule at the port.  In fact port schedules are set up very early and long before the cruise season in a region starts.  Second, in most instances tour operators have a relationship with the port agent, and if not a relationship, have access to the port schedule and know who the port agent is.  In fact us groundlings can easily find the port schedule for just about any location in the world thanks to the Internet and a little time with a search engine.  With just a little bit of effort you can have the same ship schedule information that tour operators have.

About the only time that a cruise line "guarantee" associated with a shore excursion being useful is if there is a weather event in the port that forces the ship to get underway to avoid the weather event before the all aboard time.  This is an incredibly rare occurrence.

So, do not be afraid to book excursions through third-party agents, or even at a shore excursion kiosk once you are in port.  Note your all aboard time, note the times for shore excursions sold by third-party agents or at the kiosk in port, and behave accordingly.

1 hour ago, Glaciers said:

We ate at 13 Coins on Tuesday. Timed it so the Mariners game had started hoping it wouldn’t be too busy. Forgot about the Stones concert on Wednesday. It was packed with elderly concertgoers who were headed to the concert the next evening. 30 minute wait.

Also important to note that 13 Coins runs a different menu on venue nights; they don't offer their full menu when there is something going on at Lumen or T-Mobile.  If it is just a normal night in SODO, then there will be a full menu.  And yes, this is another vote for 13 Coins.  It is about the most convenient real food near King Street Station.  Flatstick Pub, is nearby also, a bit north of the station, and is good, too.

2 hours ago, psuboater said:

To anyone reading this who wants to take Amtrak the same day as their cruise, I am on the Cascades right now to Everett to get home. We’ve stopped twice now- once because we lost air pressure (30 minute delay) and now for freight train access (10 minutes). We are already 40 minutes delayed for what should be a 45 minute train ride for me. Not sure what’s to come on the way up, but factor in any customs problems at the border, and you’re not making your cruise. Definitely plan an overnight if you’re taking the train up!

Out west, Amtrak is notorious for not being able to maintain their schedule.  A lot of this has to do with the track being owned by freight lines.  Now, strictly speaking, passenger service is supposed to take priority over freight service, however the freight lines have conveniently made most freight trains super long, miles and miles long, which means that they can't be moved onto a siding to allow the passenger train to go through.  Since the passenger train is much shorter, and fits easily into nearly all sidings, the freight trains get priority by default.  And that leads to most of the delays on the Amtrak system.  Back east Amtrack owns more of their track, however a lot of that owned track is also specialized service (electrified, or higher speed), and the east coast relies on the train for commuting a lot more.  Amtrak works much better in the east than the west and a lot of it has to do with distances between places, convenience of track relative to places, and the demand for service.

But I'm sure glad that @acct1975 is using the train to get to Vancouver.  Cascades is a good service, even if it might not run totally on time.  I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip up.  Some of the scenery is spectacular.