SportsFanatic

42 minutes ago, Russ Lomas said:

Looking forward to trying another line just shaking things up.  My not like it, may love it.  Will not know til we try.  Thing is that if RCCL had not cut their food selection and quality so much (as well as other cuts we did not like - the way they handle MTD, cutting cover bands in the Music Hall, etc.), along with doubling and tripling their prices, we likely would be sailing on RCCL instead of Princess in March.

 

We tried Celebrity and loved some things and did not like others.  We did the same with NCL and really enjoyed it overall, but pricing was always about one and a half times RCCL, so we stuck to RCCL (now NCL is half the price of RCCL, we would likely look at NCL first).

 

Do not get me wrong.  We still enjoy RCCL.  We have 3 upcoming cruises booked with them, but the first of those 3 is not until next summer.  Hopefully, RCCL starts to realize by then that insane demand for cruising now (due to a lack of cruising during the pandemic) will likely subside somewhat and they will have to do something to try to bring back their loyal customers that wandered elsewhere when they decided to downgrade the quality of their product and over price it as well.

Well, you’ll have to let us know how you liked it. What ship are you going to be on? We were on a newer ship, the Discovery , and the washer and dryer were free so that was kind of cool. Also, you can go up and drop your luggage off as soon as you get on the ship even if the rooms aren’t ready yet.  There was a lot of entertainment  going on throughout the ship at all times . Make sure you check out the pizza.  Enjoy 

On 9/26/2023 at 10:32 PM, Russ Lomas said:

I guess everyone is hoping the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  You were unhappy with the cutbacks on Princess, so you are going to try RCCL for a change.  We have grown unhappy with the cutbacks on RCCL, so we are trying Princess for a change.  Guess we should compare notes again after we have each sailed another cruise line.  I guess if you are not familiar with the product that the other cruise line offered previously, we are ignorant to how much the quality has fallen and that is what cruise lines appear to be banking on going after new customers and alienating previous passengers who have shown loyalty to one line or another.  I hope we both find the grass greener on the other side.  Hope you enjoy your upcoming RCCL cruise.  We are looking forward to our Princess cruise because is was 1/3 the price that RCCL was asking for the same cruise (different ship obviously) and the PLUS package with Princess is a steal compared to what RCCL asks for the same perks.

We have done 2 Princess cruises since Covid, Discovery and Regal,  and I absolutely loved the ships. I like that their restaurants and pools are open later. We had free room service 24/7. I felt that the  food was comparable to our RCL, we were always seated right away, and had excellent service.  We only went to a couple shows, but the comedy show we saw was really good. The other cruise was an 80s cruise and the entertainment was outstanding. I really like the medallion as you could find others in your party easily. 

On 9/25/2023 at 2:38 AM, JK805 said:

@SportsFanatic I forgot to reply after my cruise a couple weeks ago, but remembered since I’m leaving on my next one tomorrow! I really only went to Schooner on Navigator last time (found some great bartenders who took real good care of us), but Schooner had Makers. It just was underneath and not on display on top. So it’s definitely available (at least as of now).

Thanks so much for checking.  Have fun on your next cruise !!

11 hours ago, hes122 said:

I am cruising from Tampa in January. The ship docks at 7:00 am. Is a 12:15 flight too early to schedule? I have an option that departs a little later, but the layover window is tight.

I hope so.  We are  cruising in January also and our flight is at 11:30. 

1 hour ago, JK805 said:

I remember a few bars having Makers last time I was on Navigator, though that was a few months back now lol. The theatre bar and Schooner I believe had it fairly consistently. Depending on when your cruise is I can confirm when I’m in board next month too. 

Thank you so much! We dont cruise until January. 

2 hours ago, Awjeez317 said:

Can you be more specific when you say “the bar?” Lol…there are like 114 of them. 😂 

 

Ill just look around tomorrow and see if i see it! 

Any one of them will do.  Thanks!!

Awesome review! If you could possibly do me a favor and check out the bar and see if they carry Makers Mark. Yes, it is on the list of alcohol they carry but when we were on another cruise line, it was also on the menu and they don’t carry it anymore.  Before I buy drink package I need to make sure they have it.  Appreciate it,

On 5/25/2023 at 12:13 PM, NightOne said:

The Goldbelt / Mount Roberts Tram in Juneau was $35 then $45 and now they just raised it to $50 per person. Wow!

 

Anyone have any coupons or discounts to share? 

 

There used to be a buy one get one free in the Alaska Tour Saver book in 2021/2022 but nothing in the 2023 book.

Wow! $50 per person is absolutely ridiculous. No way would I pay that. That’s just me.

14 hours ago, SleepyBunny said:

Here is our kids activities list from our Alaska cruise last month. My 9 year old also loved swimming, looking for cruise ducks, karaoke, attending some (but not all) the lectures and shows (the magician was an absolute favourite), as well as a SeaCraft, Puppies on the Piazza, some of the music and dancing, and most definitely the food and

 

Thanks for posting.. 

1 hour ago, SuzieQ521 said:

Headed on the Royal Princess this Saturday and my son will be in Camp Discovery. 

 

I would imagine the Alaska ships have similar kids activities so I will try to remember to take pictures of the schedules.

That would be great, thank you so much!

1. Hello everyone! If anyone has some of the activity sheets that are from the kids Camp Discovery  would really appreciate if you could post it! Preferably for the Discovery  on an Alaskan cruise. Thanks !!

1. Hello everyone! If anyone has some of the activity sheets that are from the kids Camp Discovery  would really appreciate if you could post it! Preferably for the Discovery  on an Alaskan cruise. Thanks !!

49 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Its a different type of booking-- a day use rate is specific to an early check in and check out in the late afternoon. Some hotels offer it, some don't, and some only offer it if there is space. 

 

But you wouldn't make a regular overnight booking-- you would specifically book a day use rate to get a morning check in. You can do it with Marriott family hotels by using code "ZDY". https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-23598

Good to know, thanks for the information! 

1 hour ago, princeton123211 said:

Hotels that offer day rates guarantee check in usually starting at 8am. 

I am not familiar with that. All I know is we took  a later flight coming into Seattle  because the hotel we booked  said they were booked solid and could not allow any early check-in’s at this time.

On 4/23/2023 at 8:21 PM, stephwef said:

Hi all - our flight home after our cruise was cancelled and the airline moved us to an 11:15pm flight back to the east coast.  Long story short because we had booked the flight with credits from a previously cancelled trip, we can’t cancel and go on another airline.  

 

That said, we now have a very long day to kill in Seattle before boarding our flight after our Alaska cruise.  We are 4 kids aged 6-12 and two grown ups.  I was looking into a day tour to mt rainier but the ones i’ve found are super pricey, and i’m not sure if it will be super exhausting on a very long day, and before a long flight home.  Are there other tours one might recommend? or hotels near the airport that are good/willing to do a day stay?  We are seeing some of the major seattle sights at the start of our trip before the cruise departs, so any suggestions for how to best use this newfound time would be so appreciated. 

 

Thank you!!

We actually ended up with  a really late flight also and decided to do the tour to Mount Rainier. I think I must’ve called at least seven places before I finally got a decent price. I know will probably be exhausted but will end up just sleeping on the plane ride home. problem with the hotel is most check-in times are not until like  3 o’clock. Unless you can find a place that will let you check in early. Looks like some people gave you some good suggestions. wish you luck!  

43 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

With all the recent talk about cancelled port calls at Skagway I am surprised the port listing has apparently not been updated since Feb. 27th.  Perhaps it has been updated but the date has not been changed.

It was updated on 5/3.  https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1250

I love all your pictures of Ketchikan. I’m very excited to go there. We have been debating about going to the Saxman village or the Totem  Bight State Park.  It looks great and how lucky no rain!. 

3 hours ago, memoak said:

On long cruises they often run out of certain brands. The difference in the major bourbons in the plus package are all pretty close in taste.  Makers Mark is actually pretty far down my list the Woodford Reserve is one of my favorites but the are all pretty much the same. He is not going to drink if one brand is not available ?

It was a four-day cruise so I don’t think they ran out, they said they haven’t carried it in over six months, but was hoping, maybe it was just a certain ship.I know  he drank another brand since they didn’t have it, but  he just wasn’t happy with the other choices. 

14 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

Screenshot this off the Take Five menu…

I am wondering why there is no price showing after it. 

14 minutes ago, memoak said:

Most every large bar on all the ships I have sailed on has Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace bourbons and all fit into the plus package

We were on the Regal in January and they said they did not have Makers  Mark and had not carried it in over six months. So that is why I am checking because my son didn’t want to get the drink package if they didn’t have it.

18 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

Yes to Makers Mark. But I’m afraid I can’t find the answer to the hot tubs hours, and I didn’t see any seating in the pools, although they do seem to have a shallow lip all the way around.

Thank you so much for checking! Much appreciated

Thank you so much for posting all this. Would  you be so kind as to ask at one of the bars if they carry Makers Mark ? It would be much appreciated.  Also, can you tell me how late the hot tubs are open? Did you notice if any of the pools were seated?    Thank you ! 

On 5/1/2023 at 10:01 AM, Kittybucks said:

This was posted to the FB group I am in for our June cruise on the Quantum of the Seas last night. Can anyone verify if this is true?  I can't find it anywhere.  The post also said the person talked to the Mayor of Skagway and he confirmed it.  Royal said there have been no port changes.

 

 

  

 

 

I was wondering how this was going to work out because we are in Skagway on Thursday with the Quantum  coming in a half hour after us and we are both on the railroad dock of course. They extended our time in port, which I thought was due to maybe we were going to tender and was going to take a little longer. But I was curious as to what was going to happen with two big cruise ships coming in around almost the same time so we shall see.

10 hours ago, endoellen said:

I certainly hope they get things worked out! Our ship Radiance will be at RRF dock on May 14th if it doesn't get cancelled all together.  And now I'm finding out that is where Ship Rock is located! Yikes!

Radiance is a smaller ship so hoping we won't have to miss this port.  I've been looking forward to this port & excursion with Chilkoot!  Our excursion is at 12:30pm & with my luck we'll probably be switched to docking 1/2 day in early morning....

The instructions I have from Chilkoot for Railroad dock is to walk to the end of the pier and go through security checkpoint to the "Skagway Small Boat Harbor" sign near public restrooms.  I'm wondering if

this will be different due to the construction??

So far we have not received any changes from Royal.  I sure hope they don't wait & spring the changes on us after boarding.  I don't plan on paying for wifi on the ship & we would need to be able to communicate with Chilkoot charters.

We have an excursion booked with another tour company, and our instructions were also to meet at the small boat harbor. As it gets closer, I will ask if there is an update.

On 4/24/2023 at 6:26 PM, wolfie11 said:

There is a good possibility that the ships will be hot berthing.  One ship will come in and tie up for 5-6 hours and then leave while the other ship comes in and stays their 5-6 hours.  Operationally, this is the safest solution, since if there was a major slide, the forward ship would have little chance to get off the dock before being hit.  This would negatively impact passengers' experience in Skagway, as given that at least an hour would be needed to get people off and bus them to the parking lot and then back, maximum time for tours would be limited to 3 or 4 hours.  Another possibility might be to dock and discharge passengers then anchor out and allow another ship to dock, but I haven't seen this discussed anywhere.  

 

Many of the tours go over to Haines.  I don't know how these will operate given that it is around 1.5 hours transit to Haines and back unless the ship stops by Haines to pick them up.

 

I don't think anyone knows for sure how this will be resolved.  It will probably evolve during the season or there could be a big landslide and the dock could close permanently.  I think we just have to wait and see and roll with the punches..  

 

Please support local tour companies and businesses if you can.  Covid literally closed the town down and now this.  

I don’t think our ship will be hot berthing . In fact, the extended the time in Port showing an additional 15 minutes.