jeromep

If you are staying in the SeaTac area you'll need food. Once you are on the ground and at your hotel your choices are hotel dining room food, which really is hit or miss, or you can try to go out. There are a few chain restaurants in the area around International Blvd. But you should at least consider a local place if your time in Seattle is limited. Near SeaTac, on International Blvd., in an office complex, is a place called 13 Coins. I remember them being 24 hours, however that has since changed, but they open early and stay open late. They are within walking distance to a number of hotels near SeaTac, or a short Uber ride from the rest. https://www.13coins.com/ I think you'll find their menu extensive. My favorite of their restaurants in the one outside SeaTac, however on our last cruise we were in the Pioneer Square area after a Mariner's game and ate at that location. It doesn't have the same cache as the SeaTac location, but the food was excellent. Service is also attentive. Restaurant and food prices in the Seattle area are astronomical, so be prepared. But if you are going to pay and arm and a leg for food, it should at least be good. I guess I'd just advise, don't be afraid to use Uber or Lyft while in the area, even if it is only to get to dinner after you get out of the airport and settled.

Agreed. I looked back in my email, and for our last cruise the folios for the 3 of us showed up in my email the day after disembarkation at 5am Pacific.

Others have covered that Princess does have a luggage-in-hand walk-off option, which is going to be your earliest disembarkation after the ship has cleared customs. If we have to fly to and from the port we always budget, both money and vacation time, to accommodate arriving to the port city at least a day early, and giving us an extra day after the cruise to fly home. I'd rather get off a cruise in a leisurely manner and fly out the next day, than either have the stress related to rushing to the airport to make a flight or try figure out what to do with my luggage and burn time in an unfamiliar city waiting for a late flight out.

Indeed. And they had to rummage through a bunch of paper to determine that they were wrong. Very inefficient. Any airtight payments system operates on the concept of something you have and something you know that would then authorize the transaction. If a transaction at a bar or restaurant on board required you to scan your Medallion (something you have), and enter a pre-established PIN (something you know), that would eliminate just about every unauthorized charge. This is the exact same process as what is used for non-VISA/MC debit card and ATM transactions. You have to insert or swipe your debit card, and then enter your PIN before the transaction occurs or before you can access the ATM. This is widely recognized as one of the most secure transaction authorization practices ever conceived. It is really too bad that the Medallion was not developed with this same attention to securing transactions.

Sounds to me like you are in the Apple iOS environment. This should make things easier. Apple watches aren't very useful unless they have an iPhone attached, so I presume he has an iPhone, too. If you get a multi-device Internet plan, you can attach his phone to the plan and have it always connected. You can then use iMessage to communicate with him; I presume your messages to and from your son are blue in iMessage, indicating that they are being sent through Apple's servers and not via telco SMS. Now you can track his location in the Princess app via his Medallion, and you can communicate with him with push notifications alerting him to messages via iMessage. Also, does your phone plan have Wi-Fi calling? If so, turn it on for all the phones on your plan. With Wi-Fi calling active, and your devices connected to ship's Wi-Fi and Internet, you can take calls that come in from anywhere, and you can also call him, if you need to. Just make sure you put your phones in a modified airplane mode before getting back on board the ship. You'll turn on airplane mode, which turns off all the wireless services on the phone. Then you turn the Wi-Fi feature of the phone back on and connect to the ship's Wi-Fi and Internet. On our last cruise I was actually able to call my wife on her iPhone on board when we were at sea since our plan includes Wi-Fi calling, and I was able to call home (parents who are looking in on the house and cat), and they could call us if necessary, and at no additional cost, besides the Internet package. We had Premier, so we had more than enough ability to connect multiple devices and leave them connected. Keep in mind that there is "cellular at sea" on board, and when the ship shoves away from the dock, that system will go on, and if your cellular antenna isn't turned off, the phone may connect to that service and you'll see some incredibly expensive charges on your cell phone bill, so making sure you are in airplane mode and then turn on Wi-Fi is essential to avoid unexpected expenses.

I have encountered this before. Showing up at the same time as others and the bartender having to sort things out. They do it with ease. The bartenders get in the habit of asking for your cabin number before putting in your order so they get it on the right account. In theory, if you are looking for a technological solution to this you would have a pin number entry system. So you'd scan your medallion and enter the pin number you chose when you set up your medallion and then the charge would both go to the right account and require authorization.

Looks like admins moved this from another forum. The existing thread here has already gotten a lot of good input. I have used cruise line transfers in the past. It is a lot of hurry up and wait. We tend to be punctual in our travels, especially if we are making a scheduled service of some kind, like a cruise line shuttle; we don't want to hold everyone up, however our experience is that others aren't so considerate and have no issue showing up 5 or 10 minutes after the scheduled meeting time or even departure time. On one of our first cruises out of Pier 91 we stayed at a hotel in Seattle close to Mercer street. The hotel offered a shuttle to port. It had a 10am departure time. We were at the shuttle by 9:45. Most of the rest of the folks showing up for the shuttle were there right about 10, but we were missing a couple. Driver goes back into the hotel and is gone for 5 or more minutes. Comes back and indicates that the last passengers scheduled for this shuttle are in the lobby checking out and having to work through some issue on their invoice. 10:20 or so they finally show up, have a bunch of luggage to load in the back and leisurely get in the van, and off we go. So, while the ship was not scheduled to depart until like 4pm, we were hoping to get on board on the earlier side, have MDR lunch and start relaxing. Did an extra 20 minutes ruin anything. No, but it was highly inconsiderate. And this experience has duplicated itself over and over again with all kinds of shuttles. Therefore, when I can, I'll do UberXL or a large vehicle Lyft and have my travel party transported on their own, not having to wait for others to get organized. I recognize my experience may not be others, but when CC members come asking about transportation to and from the port, especially in Seattle, I'm always going to lean toward Uber or Lyft over shuttles based upon my experience.

Have you thought about just taking the train all the way from Portland to Vancouver? That is Amtrak Cascades bread and butter route, plus you have no wait times going through the border crossing. You could even just take the train from Portland to Seattle, stay overnight, then catch the next train to Vancouver, stay another night and catch the cruise. You won't be exhausted from driving, you won't have all the fuel expense from having to fuel up along the way and no border crossing wait times, especially on the return trip back in to the U.S. I did a dummy trip for July 11th of this year. Going from Portland to Vancouver on the 518 train, departs at 2:10pm, arrives Vancouver at 10pm. Coach seat is $52 and a business class seat is $162. Basically more leg room for business class. But consider that you can get up and wander around as you wish. There is a cafe car on board, so you aren't going to starve, and the scenery along the way is some of the best of any train route in the nation (in places). This is a tremendous value.

You can pick just about any hotel in the Seattle area to stay at, proximity to the port is basically immaterial because Pier 91 is not near anything. It is an entirely industrial and seafaring location which is only accessible through a series of odd surface street level interchanges and bridges. So you aren't walking to port, and public transit isn't convenient to the port, at least not for travelers and their luggage. There is a bus stop at the port, but the walk from the bus stop to the terminal is very long, and I think there is a set of stairs down from the bus stop that is on the bridge. So you will need to shuttle/Uber/Lyft to/from the port. That said @Ferry_Watcher's advice about the Ceaderbrook Lodge is excellent. It is probably the best property down near SeaTac. I've stayed there a couple of times and it is both enjoyable, picturesque, and upscale. You barely know that you are near an airport. Seattle Express is an excellent shuttle company. I don't have any recent experience, but they continually get good "votes" here on the boards. Nearly all the shuttles to the airport are passenger vans; older Ford E series wagons and the newer Ford Transit wagons. When using any ground transportation service, you will get what they send you. If your travel party is large, you may get something more akin to a shuttle bus, but if your travel party is just 3 or 4 of you at your pick up location it is unlikely that you will get anything more than a passenger van. Generally speaking hotels do not provide shuttles to the port, you are on your own when it comes to getting from the hotel to the port. I have cruised with children, even children younger than yours, and, generally speaking, find that Lyft/Uber drivers and cabbies do not make a big deal about booster seats. Last year we used the hotel booked black SUV from the Ceaderbrook to Pier 91. I helped the driver get all our bags on board, and my wife got our 8 y.o. daughter buckled up in the center seat of the back set. My wife and I sat on either side of her and off we went. I would advise against the hotel booked black car or black SUV because the trip plus tip was $100. When we returned from the cruise we used UberXL and got a similar SUV to take us back to our car that was at Ceaderbrook and that was $76 including tip. Same routine. I helped the driver load up our bags and my wife got our daughter all secured. We did carry with us a MiFold booster seat. It lowers the seat belt to child height, but does require you to fish the seat belt through brackets to function. If drivers showed concern we'd whip it out and use it. If not... away we go. We rented a Jeep in Juneau last year and the rental agency had a booster waiting for us when we picked up the vehicle. Again, no need to bring one as they provide. If you are very concerned, I'd look into the MiFold product line. The style of seat we have is no longer in stock, but they have other products which are travel friendly.

I looked at the weather up in SE Alaska. It is a chilly, and damp day, by Pacific Northwest spring standards. I hope that those Bilss pax are prepared for the weather.

Slippers are a full suite "perk". I've had slippers, in clear plastic, waiting in the closet when we arrived at our cabin. They are also one-size, and that isn't my size. They fit my wife, but not me. They are also very disposable, definitely constructed to be used once and then tossed when cruise turnover day occurs and cabin occupants change. And they aren't very comfortable or supportive. Of all the cost cutting measures they could do on board, dispensing with the slippers is one I wouldn't mind.

The Medallions are magnetic. We stick them to our fridge when we get back. Princess does try very hard to satisfy dietary needs and allergies. Be sure to mark your preferences in the Princess app before you sail. I'd recommend doing that at least 3 weeks before you sail so the information is transmitted to the ship with sufficient time for them to provision and have record of your needs. Be certain to check with the maitre d' in the dining room, or the head waiter, and alert them to your needs. If the technology is working correctly, they already know your needs.

Sounds like you know exactly what you are doing, which is good. There is no place on a cruise which is steerage (except maybe inside cabins, I can't do those, but to each their own). Either way, you are totally correct, you can cruise very well without any packages if you know yourself and your needs.

A drink order through the app, if it were your first action on board, would be the trigger for the $14.99 one time charge. Basically the first time you use the OceanNow service will trigger the fee. And that is on a per user basis, so if your traveling companion logs in on their credentials and orders, that would be a 14.99 fee to them. It would be possible with three passengers to have 3 $14.99 charges in the cabin. If one of the passengers is a youth, there are things you can do to limit this for them. My daughter does not have any of her own devices, so on board she doesn't have any access to OceanNow. And if she orders through the TV, she is on my account or my wife's. Either way, there are ways to be smart with these changes so you aren't taken to the cleaners.

We did 360 on Discovery last July. It was a wonderful experience. It was comped. We were invited as Suite guests. I got a random call from a call center at Princess about 2 weeks before the cruise to select an evening for 360. I had to really dig into the itinerary to see what date would be best for us, but it worked out. It is a stellar experience, however at like $150pp I'm not sure I'd do it again. The food was very special, and I ate things I'd never had before (octopus) and the Mediterranean story line was interesting and visually striking, it felt a little out of place on an Alaska cruise. However the talent (host) and wait staff were all top notch and the interactivity was something I've never seen before. Ok, so maybe it is worth $150pp; and considering that I've pad that much for the old Ultimate Ship Tour, I guess it isn't outrageous, however with the old Ultimate Ship Tour you got a whole bunch of swag to take home. With 360, we just got some photos from the pre-entry reception, and some nice memories.

Once we are back from the cruise the Medallions go up on the fridge. They are magnetic.

Exactly! And speaking of the app, to set your preferences, including food allergies, you go to Profile (where you see your smiling face), scroll down... way down, and choose Dining Preferences. There are three tabs there, the first is Allergens, where you click on the food groups you are allergic to, the Diet tab is where you would click to tell Princess if you were following a Vegan or other type of special diet, and the Seating tab ask for table preference and dining pace. This is a much more reliable way to communicate this kind of information to Princess than trying to email them and having some call center handle it.

I recommend that you download the recreation.gov app. From there you can order your timed entry ticket. Or you can just visit recreation.gov, but I like the app better.

Still better than everything else in Seattle.

Oh, forgot to mention, as a suite passenger you have access to the Reserve Collection (used to be called Club Class) section of the main dining room. Just look for the separate entrance to one of the mid-ships dining rooms off the Piazza on deck 5 or deck 6. If my memory serves, on the Grand class ships the Reserve dining room entry is on deck 5, starboard side. But I could be wrong on both the deck and side. Just look for a sign at the entry that says Reserve... something. It is possible for it to vary from ship to ship and from ship class to class. No need to reserve a time to eat, just walk up and you'l be seated quite shortly. You also won't be offered to sit at a larger table with others, you can dine on your own every night. There are three main dining rooms on board. Two off the Piazza, one on deck 5 and one right above on deck 6. There is a third dining room hiding aft on deck 6. The only way to get to it is to go up to deck 7, go all the way to the rear stairway/elevator lobby, go down a level, and you are there. But since you have a suite, no need for you to find the "hidden" dining room. Also need to add that you'll have plenty of extra documentation on the desk in your cabin when you get on board telling you about a lot of these offerings. You'll get an invite for the suite/elite passenger reception that will tell you the time and location of the reception each evening, and even the type of snacks they will offer. It is a great way to spoil your appetite for dinner.

I hope you are in a full suite, the Concierge Lounge is a very nice suite perk, probably the best one they currently have on the Royal class ships. Especially since the Enclave isn't a suite perk, like the thermal suites used to be,... but it should be. The Concierge Lounge is on Rivera deck mid-aft on all Royal class ships. It is attached to a wedding chapel or small meeting room, depending on the country the ship is registered in. UK flagged ships do not have wedding chapels, but the Bermudian ships do, or rather UK maritime law does not allow a ships captain to perform marriages, so on UK flagged vessels, the location of the wedding chappel is just a cozy meeting room. The lounge sits central on the ships center line, flanked by the Starboard and Port passageways, with access doors on port and starboard. On either side are the Riviera deck suites. I think they are S4 suites. And there are public restrooms also located at the entry to the lounge on port and starboard. It is pretty easy to find on a ship's deck map. I believe that the aft wall of the Concierge Lounge is shared with the laundromat for Rivera deck. We would pop into the lounge a couple of times a day to see what was up, take a look at the snacks and beverages that were available and partake. They also host a suite reception in the evenings. There will be a bartender and server there tending to the food and offering beverages. It is a nice place to meet other passengers, socialize, maybe play a board game or read. The concierge holds office hours, and can handle booking shore excursions, specialty dining reservations, spa reservations, etc. Suite passengers have 24 hour access to the lounge with the card key located in their cabin.

Your travel agent has no bearing on the cabin or packages that you purchase with Princess. No need to mention them. The travel agent is... well... an agent, reselling what Princess offers. I am glad you used an agent for your first cruise as they can be helpful if you have any needs between now, when you booked the cruise, and when you embark. I'd rather deal with an agent who I know their name and number and have some relationship with them than trying to deal with Princess' call center. Princess' call center is a nightmare. That said... Since you have booked a full suite (not a mini-suite... bad naming and marketing, mini-suites are not suites), you are comped one specialty dining meal on embarkation evening. All you have to do is to call the Dine Line when you get on board and get a reservation for the venue of your choice. That would either be the Crown Grill or Sabatini's, in the case of the Grand Princess. I like Italian, and on our cruise last year Sabatini's was on fire. Loved the menu and the dishes. We did Sabatini's 3 times when on board. That is a record for us. If you aren't into Italian, then the Crown grill is also excellent. It is modeled after higher end steakhouses with typical steakhouse fare. The two "free" speciality dining meals are part of your Princess Premier package. Those you'd want to use on the remainder of the evenings on board. In total, you have 3 comped specialty dining meals, one that is part of your suite and only good on embarkation night, and two more for any remaining night on board. Room service breakfast, from the main dining room menu, is a full suite benefit. Just ask your cabin steward for the daily MDR menus and then you'd call the dine line to order room service. This is only available when the MDR is open and serving that meal. This applies to lunch and dinner. As a full suite passenger you have a special breakfast venue only for you, which is held either in Crown Grill or Sabatini's. It is usually in Sabatini's if the ship has that venue. You will receive documentation on board letting you know of some or all of the additional benefits you get as a suite passenger, including where suite breakfast is served. The menu is slightly different for suite breakfast compared to MDR breakfast. Plus they do short order cooking for suite breakfast. Feel like an omelet, they can do that. Want a whole mess of bacon and toast, they can do that. LOX, on bagel, no problem. Fruit and oatmeal, no problem. French toast, pancakes, waffle, no problem. Plus they do mimosas, espresso based coffee drinks, and so on. So you had better check out suite breakfast. No dress code either. Just throw on any old thing after you get up and head down. The Grand Princess does not have the Concierge Lounge, that is only a space on the newer Royal Class ships... and the new Sun Class ships. However, there is a separate service line at Passenger Services in the Piazza on all ships, and if you are calling passenger services they know you are calling from a suite and you tend to get prioritized. My goal is to have as little to do with passenger services as possible, and so far, I've been successful. Best way to avoid any lines with passenger services is to frequently check your on-board folio during your cruise to ensure that all charges that show up make sense and if you see something that you didn't do on your folio, report it as soon as possible. You can check your folio through the Princess app very easily. It appears that you have Princess Premier as your all-inclusive package, so you should have few on board expenses. Your gratuity is covered in Premier, along with two of your specialty dining meals, along with any casual dining venue meals, specialty deserts, juices and just about all beverages (up to $20/each). If you use the spa, that will be additional cost, along with shore excursions purchased through Princess. You are on a Grand class ship, which has the older thermal suites. Thermal suites should still be complimentary to suite passengers. Hope this helps a little.

Well, I guess I'm a heal. I didn't tip the concierge on our last cruise. I didn't think it was necessary. He was a nice guy, and quite helpful, and we chatted him up on a number of occasions. We didn't bend on him much. I think he booked one specialty dining evening for us, and booked one excursion, but I could tell he only had so much pull to make things happen. If a restaurant was booked up or if an excursion was full he didn't have any magic wand to make space. He was attentive and certainly did take his job seriously, and he ran a lovely venue, but I'm not sure if tipping would have been beneficial. I don't disagree. That is what we have been doing the past few cruises, and we've been booking Plus or Premier, so the gratuities have been bundled. I usually put some remaining "travel cash" into an envelope for our cabin steward, but that is about as out of the way as I go for tipping.

I hate those things. And they are not even leak proof. I pick up my daughter from school most afternoons and I'm in a sea of yoga pants and Stanley mugs. And then there is me in wool-poly slacks and a polo shirt with a company logo on it. I'm not sure if it is me that is out of place or them looking kooky. As for Alaska or the U.S., they explicitly say you cannot bring anything off ship. That will be announced and signs will be posted. We tend to eat hearty before a port visit, and we have some granola or protein bars with us that we brought on board in case the urge comes up. We will eat on shore if we "trust" the port location, but if not, we will wait to eat until we get back on board.

Great review. We've had aft suites on the older Grand Class ships, and they do vibrate when the ship is really hauling the mail. It never bothered me that much, in fact slept like a baby the last time we were on a Grand Class ship in an aft suite. It was the Star Princess and we were on a California Coastal cruise. There were a couple of transits between ports that required them to make speed. We had some nights with vibration, but I found it quite soothing. We were on the Discovery last year in R606. I like the mid-ships suites that are near the Concierge Lounge. Super convenient to pop in and grab a snack, chat with the concierge a bit, and even chat with some of the other passengers. A very friendly space. All the Royal Class ships are conventional screw drive, just like the Grands and the Island Class. A lot of the other cruise lines you have been on have Azipod drive, which can be smoother since each propeller is housed in a pod that swivels 360 degrees for both steering and propulsion, no rudders, and no shafts through the hull. Lots of different things make Azipods run smoother than conventional drive. The new Sun Princess is an Azipod equipped ship, so it may also have better high speed manners than the older ships. However, Azipods can have more maintenance issues which will take a ship out of production without a lot of notice. Either way, I'm glad you could be accommodated to another cabin to sleep in. Glad you liked the food and you had a good experience with services at the pool. I hadn't paid much attention to the lift chairs at the pools when I was on the last cruise, but they were there.