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Ha... an excellent, and appropriate, play on words. Bravo!

Technically, the Seaway is composed of two sections: 1. Welland Canal connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario, and; 2. The portion of the St. Lawrence River between Lake Ontario and Montreal. Downstream of Montreal, it's simply the St. Lawrence River although the navigation channel in this stretch is fairly narrow. Downstream of Quebec City, the St. Lawrence widens pretty quickly (as you noted) and once past Ile d'Orleans, it's much like a widening estuary to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Ahhh... the opening times for bids must vary a bit depending on the voyage. I have a Transatlantic planned for next April (I am currently in Aqua) and when I enter my reservation number and name it tells me 21 days. Or, maybe, they've flagged me for some reason!! Quite possible all the potential upgrades are currently sold too.

Better check your currency conversion. 13,000 JPY is closer to 100 USD.

You can enter a bid within 21 days of the voyage and it could be accepted anytime after you put in your bid up to two days prior to voyage departure. See FAQs... https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/bid-on-cruise-room-upgrade

OK, I'll bow to your better research on this one!

BruceMuzz made a couple of reasonable suggestions. Are you planning on arriving at Narita on the day your cruise departs or beforehand? This will likely shape your travel strategy. I recommend you make your way to a Yokohama hotel near Yamashita Park for a night or two prior to boarding (i.e. Hotel New Grand) and go from there (Narita Express to Yokohama Station then Minatomirai Line to Yokohama). Whether your cruise line will be operating a shuttle, I cannot say but, at least, you won't be too far from the cruise terminal for a taxi.

The published Minimum Connection Time at ORD for Domestic to International is one hour.

You'll be pre-cleared and unlikely to see an immigration officer so, no stamping.

You'll be asked to complete a E311 - Declaration Card; it will take all of one minute.

The Quebec Via Rail station (Gare du Palais) offers checkroom service: https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/baggages/station-checkroom https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/quebec/quebec-city

We were scheduled for the Ruby over Christmas/New Years, 2024 but changed that to the Grand to do a B2B to Mexico after the Hawaii cruise. We have been on both ships a couple of times and enjoyed them.

With all that OBC and gift cards, I'd wait until onbard and simply pay the upgrade cost. I definitely wouldn't pay now with the hope that Princess would reverse the credit card charge!

That's a matter of opinion. Majestic Princess is much newer than Grand Princess and definitely has some different features. Personally, I prefer the older ships but that's entirely up to you. As for price adjustments before final payment date, I have seldom had any problem. Trick is, you may have to switch cabins (somewhat unlikely) and any promotions that came with your original fare (such as OBC) may be forfeited.

We are in exactly the same situation as you. For the time being, pre-purchasing water and foregoing the specialty coffee and tea is entirely satisfactory. If Princess decides to get out of the reasonably priced water business, we'll have to think a little harder about our options but I don't really see that possibility as some sort of reason to abandon ship.

Yes, booking through the website will permit just about anything. I had great plans for a lovely B2B a few years ago and, of course, that eventually fell apart when somebody at Princess caught up to me and explained the PVSA limitations on my plan!

LA to NYC on Emerald Princess OK too.

Any particular difficulties with hauling your luggage around for a bit and hopping on and off subways?

You cannot use your OBC to pre-pay gratuities. Your understanding of what happens once you're onboard is pretty much correct.... your OBC will be used to pay daily gratuities, purchases, etc... until depleted. After that, it'll be charged to your onboard account and payable at the end of the cruise. I'd say most people just have it charged to the credit card they have on file.

There's a priority list for the MedallionApp??

Hmmm.... didn't know about that one. Usually, I have my breakfast in the morning before heading to the ship but it's hard to pass up a 'free meal' after having paid my fare. How is this done? Do they just herd the Elite pax into a dedicated area where the goodies are available?

I thought you said the Medallion (device) can work without the MedallionClass App?

Yes. I've wasted enough time with the app and will just get things done at the pier. I think Princess has enough information on me to complete the process and hand me a fully functional medallion. Being Canadian, had to pick it up anyway.

Not that I believe this gem, but he did say the Plus and Premier get headsets and the other poor joes have to make do with the CC.

Me too... I often fall asleep part way through a paragraph.