georgiacat

Thanks, we are 3 adults (2 are seniors).  We do not plan to rent a car.  I am investigating tours and attractions.

Thank you for that information.

Where is the best luau in Honolulu?

Has anyone stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, Waikiki?  How was it?  How far is it from a beach?

I do not know who is running the train system that I saw.  I was sitting in the waiting area for my Seattle flight from Vancouver.  I saw through the window passenger trains, seats with large windows, with Seattle Seahawks colors and markings go by at least 3 times.  The trains were very short, maybe engine and 2 cars.  They were traveling at high rate of speed, and it was hard to tell if people were in them.  They were definitely not freight trains.

 

They would appear to be a commuter system, but I do not know anything else about them.  Looked nice.

We have returned from our June, 2022 Princess cruisetour that started in Fairbanks and finished in Vancouver.  Just some information about Fairbanks and other general stuff.

 

We had a wonderful time.  It was exhausting.  MOSQUITOES are in full bloom.  Even the natives say they are having a bumper crop this year for the tourists, not a problem on ship, just inland.

 

At least half of the planes and buses were coughing heads off.  We kept masks on all the time and practiced safe health measures. 

 

Flying - all planes were full (and offering to buy seats).  Delta is using smaller planes.  We had to wait for pilots and staff to come in from other places sometimes.  They were severely limiting carry on size and number of luggage.Options from Vancouver to Seattle (that I did not know about):  Princess offers bus transfers from ship to Seattle airport.  Seattle train goes frequently between Vancouver and Seattle airport (presumably).  While waiting for our first flight from Vancouver, I watched at least 3 of the Seattle decorated trains fly by the window.  What a way to advertise.

 

Fairbanks:  Not many stores are open on Sundays.  Lots of construction downtown.  Great place to eat:  The Crepery.  Hubby had the Bavarian and I had the crab, both delicious, $13 each, large.  They were very busy.

 

Fairbanks Princess Lodge:  I think we were the first people of the season there.  Staff were very friendly and welcoming.  Room 261 was very good.  Use credit card to pay for things (cashless place). 

Dining room breakfast buffet - very good, $20.95 pp. 

Dinner buffet - not so go, ran out of food, tasteless, slow service, $34.95 pp

Grill - limited choice of about 4 sandwiches - good food, slow service, about $15-20 per sandwich with chips.

Gift shop - coffee and snacks (did not try)

 

Shuttle service:  Call for shuttle, about $5 pp; usually full.  Got phone number from front desk.  No city bus service on weekends.  A tour guide told us that the city bus route is complicated, the bus does not go directly from Lodge to downtown, must make changes.

 

Gold Dredge tour and Paddle Boat tours both very nice.

Our cabin steward asked for our confirmation code for ArriveCAN.  He had to turn it in; request was on paper from Princess.  I printed the code on the same paper and gave it to him.  We do not do smart phones; everything is paper for us.  Also had to fill out customs declaration.

 

We sailed from Whittier to Vancouver.  I learned that Victoria is where everyone on board ship is "entered" into Canada.  We did not get off the ship ourselves.  They do it all electronically.

 

That may be why Victoria debarking is delayed, until Canada gets all the paperwork for everyone cleared.

On 7/12/2015 at 7:36 PM, srice said:

Unable to use standard entry table.  Here is my information

 

 

Ship  Royal Princess

 

Class  Royal

 

Deck  Baja 11

 

Stateroom #B515

 

Category mini-suite

 

Port/Starboard/Bow/Stern  starboard middle

 

Connects With Cabin # n/a

 

Accessible no

 

Quiet yes

 

Balcony Size small

 

View starboard, good view

 

Privacy Issues none

 

Wind n/a

 

Soot n/a

 

Problems none

 

Comments  Good cabin, spacious; full sofa (pull out bed) in sitting area, coffee table, 3 end tables; tall tub has grab bars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring your own laundry pods and dryer sheets.  Sometimes the dispensers are out of order.  Put a few in a zip lock baggie.  It does not take up much room in the suitcase; saves money too.  At the end of the cruise, any extra I have left I leave in the laundry room for guests or crew to pick up and use.

What I found out yesterday after several failed attempts to fill out what I could prior to our trip (to save time later), I had established an account with ArriveCAN.  I signed in again and looked around before jumping in.  At the top there are tabs that have different things.  The second from the left says "travelers".  I entered that and put in name, address, passport, and vaccination information and uploaded pictures of vac cards.  The date we are sailing and entering Canada is too far out and there was no save button; however, I exited, went back, and the information had been saved.  Later I will enter the site and put in the dates and print out pages.  Hope this helps.

Thank you; that looks interesting.  As a senior we could ride for free.  Do you happen to know if it stops close to the Princess Riverside Lodge?

We are staying at the Fairbanks Princess Riverfront Hotel a couple of days prior to starting our land part of our cruisetour.  We had thought of visiting the Museum of the North on the University of Alaska campus.  What are the transportation options to get from our hotel to the Museum and eating options in downtown Fairbanks?  shuttle bus/taxi/uber?  We do not have smart phones and do not wish to rent a car.  Thanks for your help.

 

Could we rent a local for a day?

We did a cruisetour 11 years ago and doing the same tour (in reverse) this year.  We did not buy the meal plan.  We never found that we were lacking in food choices.  We like to make our on decisions.  Sometimes we ate in the Princess restaurants and other times with local restaurants.  Be prepared for very high prices (it is Alaska, everything is high).  But it was a good decision for us.

Thanks, that is good to know.

We are considering the HOHO bus option for our cruise stop in Victoria.  We only have a few hours and do not wish to spend a lot of time going to/from Buchart gardens.  Does anyone know how close the HOHO stop is to where cruise passengers disembark?  Also where it is?

 

Has anyone done this HOHO bus tour?  advice?

barbienj,

Where do you plan to get  your covid tests?, airport, pharmacy, self administered?

We did a British Isles tour in August, 2018.  Here are my opinions of the excursions/ports:

 

Cobb, Ireland: 

There was no problem finding eCoach tour for Blarney castle.  We walked around the Castle gardens; they were very pretty, but I surely could have used my walking stick here.  The ground was uneven and with lots of rocks and pebbles.  We did not wait in line to climb the stairs for the Blarney Stone.  About an hour wait when we got there and 2 hours when we left.

 

We went across the street for shopping at the Blarney Woolen Mills.  Wished we could have stopped for a snack, but the guide said we did not have time here.

 

We rode the bus to Charles Fort.  Bill got off and took pictures; it was misting.  We saw lots of country between Blarney and Kinsale.

 

We went to the small fishing village of Kinsale for lunch at the White House; this was 3:30 pm.  I had beef and Guiness stew, delicious; Bill had Philly beef steak sandwich with fries. 

We arrived back at the ship about 5:30 pm.

 

Dublin, Ireland:

 

We did a Princess tour of the Powerscourt Estate Gardens and Dublin.  Powerscourt is an estate in the Wickslow mountains.  It burned down about 1974 and the outside was rebuilt about 1994.  The gardens were beautiful and easier to get around than Blarney gardens.  These had more flowers and statues.

 

We ate lunch at the café, sandwiches and Diet Coke.  It was good.  The bus returned to Dublin and gave us a tour of the city.  The guide was not very good; she was older than we are, and this is the first time she had worked with this driver (he was nice), maybe the first time for this tour.

 

Many people did not wish to be dropped off in Dublin, so the driver found the shuttle to the ship for us.  We returned that way about 5:30 pm.

 

Liverpool, England:

We took a FabFour Beatles 3 hour taxi tour (65 pounds) that I had booked online.  It was very good, but lots of getting in and out of the taxi, hard on knees and shoulders.  He told lots of stories of the Beatles childhood and stopped at the early homes and other sites.

 

I did not enjoy this tour very much, but we took it for my husband.  I would not endorse it.

 

Belfast, Ireland:

No tour scheduled for today.  We took the free shuttle to the center of Belfast.  Then we took the city bus to the Titanic Museum.  At 2 pm we were at the admission window where the earliest admission ticket for the museum was 4:30 pm.  We went to the restroom and shopped in the gift shop.  Then we took the return bus and shuttle to the ship for a late lunch

If I could change anything, I would arrange for tickets ahead of time, on-line.  We did not know what we planned for this day, but enjoyed what we saw of the Titanic display.

 

Greenock, Scotland:

This is why I chose this time of year for our cruise.  Wonderful, but once was enough.  Strongly endorse Clyde Coast Tours.

Tattoo Day with Clyde Coast Tours

Met the bus at 8:30 am for 9 am departure.  Our guide was James (in a kilt, no less).

 

We stopped at the town of Luss (home of the Colquhoun clan) to admire Loch Lomand, nice lake.  Beautiful scenery and some shopping.

 

Next we stopped at the viewpoint Inveruglas for another view of Loch Lomand; there were lots of steps and stairs.  At the top most everyone enjoyed a taste of Scottish whiskey.

We stopped at the Drover’s Inn for refreshments (diet Coke).  This is an old coaching inn still in use.  It had a lot of stuffed animals.

 

We stopped at Kilmahog to see the Highland Coos (cows).  They are cute and very shaggy.  I did some shopping at Trossacks Park.  This was the only place I found golf towels in all of Scotland, a big item on my souvenir list that was limited to only one towel.

 

We arrived at Stirling Castle about 2:15 pm.  We used the restrooms and had lunch (fish sandwiches) in their café.  We toured the castle with a free tour guide; it was very interesting.  I had purchased the Historic Scotland Pass on-line (strongly recommend), so no waiting in line for tickets.

 

4 pm the bus left for Edinburgh and arrived about 5:15 pm.  James walked us to the front of St. Giles Church where we would be meeting up with him after the Tattoo at 9:30 pm this night.

 

It was very crowded with people attending not only the Tattoo, but also the Fringe Festival.  We walked around, but did not shop, too crowded.  I did not find any golf stuff.  All of the restaurants were prior reservations only.

 

We picked up a sandwich and diet Coke for Bill, pastry for me, and a couple of candy bars, just in case, at The Little Inn.  It was cash only, about 20 pounds.  They cleared off some seats and table for us outside.

 

We joined the long queue across the street on Johnston Terrace for entrance to the Tattoo about 6:10 pm.  It started moving about 6:20-6:30 pm and moved consistently.  We picked up programs (included with our tickets), and went through bag inspection.  Stopped by the restrooms, then found our seats.  They were way up high on row R.  We were seated by 7 pm.

 

The pretalk started about 7 pm with the dignitary being the Prime Minister of Scotland (a lady in high heels); she walked all the way to the top of the stadium in those heels.

 

7:30 pm was the start of the show with bagpipes, bands, dancing, drum corps, and other displays.  It was wonderful.  The show concluded about 9:15 pm with fireworks and a lone piper.

 

We walked back downhill (easier) to our meeting place in front of St. Giles Cathedral.  We were a few minutes late, but not the last ones to get there.  We left the meeting place about 9:50 pm and walked 15-20 minutes to get to our bus.  There were a lot of buses parked on the street in front of the national museum.

 

The bus left Edinburgh about 10:10 pm and arrived at the ship about 11:50 pm.  We had beautiful weather, cool and warm.  It drizzled a bit on the way to the ship.

 

Invergordon, Scotland:

One of my favorite days:  We walked off the ship about 11:20 am with no tour planned.  We walked around the cute town taking pictures of the wall murals.  We stopped in their museum and went to the craft market; I bought a few things.  We walked down the street and shopped for souvenirs.  The people were very friendly and welcoming.

 

Edinburgh, Scotland:

Of any day, I would change this one to a tour out of town.

We took the tender to shore and caught the shuttle bus to the center of town about 10 am.  It was 20 pounds each which included trip in and return from town and the Hop On/Hop Off bus.   The shuttle delivered us to St. Andrews Square, and the driver showed us where to walk to catch the Hop On/Hop Off bus.

 

We got off at the Castle stop.  I had prepurchased tickets with the Historic Scotland Pass, so we went right into the Castle.  We used the restroom and had lunch (pizza) at the café.

 

We stood in line for the Crown Jewels, just a crown, scepter, and sword, not as much as England’s.  The road up into the castle was very steep and wet with the rain.  It was wet and windy with steep cobble stone paths in the castle.  We walked through the area where the Tattoo had performed before.

 

We shopped a little, asking in several stores, but could not find any St. Andrews golf stuff.

 

We went in St. Giles Cathedral where we had met our guide the other night.  It was lovely.

 

We caught the Hop On/Hop Off bus back to St. Andrews Square where we caught the shuttle to the 4 pm tender back to the ship.

 

LeHarvre, France

Beaches of Normandy Spearhead Tours (recommended)

Our tour left at 8 am.  There was a mini-van with 3 couples.  We had enough room.

 

We visited the American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and a couple of churches.  We had lunch at a café Le Roosevelt at Utah Beach.  Our guide and driver Florin had good commentary and stories.  He had a book with pictures of events.

 

We were not able to visit the museums and no shopping time.  There was a long ride back to the ship, arriving about 5 pm.  We did a lot with the time that we had.

 

Sorry for the length.  I would do it again with little changes.  I loved this cruise.

 

Check out EZ Air.  Book as soon as possible and keep checking them for lower prices.  I snagged a good price, and I do not dare change it because prices are double now.  Delta keeps changing flights though frequently.  At least I should be on a plane somewhere.

Glad to see you back.  Following along.

I had to put in my booking number, birthdate, etc. and change my name, but I eventually got it to work for me.  See response for other post.

We do not have smart phones and do not plan to get one.  I was able to use the link on the Summary page (the one with the apps on it).  Under the black rectangles for apps there is a small blue link that says "try our web version".  It took several tries on different occasions, but I was able to successfully check in with everything except our photos (they can take those if they want them), and complete the health questions that have to be answered within 48 hours before boarding.  I even ordered those medallions (the free stuff).  I consider them the new "cards".  I will use them as such and enjoy my cruise as I did before this new technology.

 

In my opinion when I have had trouble signing into my Princess account to view my booked cruise, I have discovered that Princes has been changing something pertaining to my cruise:  ship, airline flights, etc.  Eventually, I get on.  I am practicing my patience.

I've been wondering the same thing.  I am interested in any knowledgeable replies.  It is probably guesswork until the cruisetours start.  Mine is in June, so not the first.

We really enjoyed the Totem Bight State Park when we were there many years ago.  I was looking forward to other totem pole places in Ketchikan, but then our itinerary was changed so that we are not stopping there is year.

 

We also enjoyed the Mendenhall glacier visitor's center in Juneau; we are not hikers, but you get a lot from the visitor's center.  We are going there again this year along with a whale watching tour with Juneau whale watching tours (private run not ship).  It will be interesting to see how much the glacier has changed (smaller).

Thank you for your suggestions.

We are on a Princess June cruisetour.  You are able to add additional days to stops along the way.  We used a travel agent to register for us, but I am sure there are other ways to do this.  We are flying into Fairbanks a day early to get our eastern clocks resettled and rest.  I have seen fly fishing trips advertised in the tours.

 

Check out the towns and stops that you will be visiting by using Google.  The ship tours are not the only game in town.  Read all that you can and decide where you wish to fly fish from.  No one can predict the weather, so don't count on that working perfectly.

 

good luck and enjoy!