**Golden Princess May 14, 2011 - Vancouver To Seattle**

[deej696]

I didn't think about the Brits... you're right they'll be brutal.

 

The Captain has 2 picks, right?

 

Yup two picks...

[bellebaby]

Phil has dropped out of contention too :(

 

Mickelson crumbles, Woods remains No. 1

Lefty three-putts from four feet on ninth hole and shoots 41 on back nine

 

 

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.... Vintage Phil

[LEtue]

Mickelson crumbles, Woods remains No. 1

Lefty three-putts from four feet on ninth hole and shoots 41 on back nine

 

 

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.... Vintage Phil

 

Yes, another disappointing final round for Phil :(

[bellebaby]

When are excursions booked through Princess charged? When the reservation is made or upon embarkation? I can't remember. On HAL, your credit card is charged immediately.

 

Mary

[LEtue]

When are excursions booked through Princess charged? When the reservation is made or upon embarkation? I can't remember. On HAL, your credit card is charged immediately.

 

Mary

 

That is the great advantage of booking excursions through Princess. No charge until you board and you can make changes up until 2 weeks before sailing :D

[hmstins]

I have actually cancelled an excursion while onboard and not been charged for it. I have also been given a refund when the excursion turned out to be not so great. Princess has always been very easy to deal with, great customer service IMO.

[willysgrandma]

Wow, I see this roll call has a life of it's own! We booked this cruise a few months ago with a group and the group has just suddenly taken off - up to 22 people.

 

Now we are trying to find a hotel - has anyone booked anything yet?

[kath00]

Wow, congratulations! Who are the 22 people? Friends or relatives or both? My sister and family is THINKING about this cruise but have come up with about 500 reasons why they would not like it (ha) and only about 5 reasons why they would actually want to come. :rolleyes:

 

My parents may be interested too but who knows. With them, it's a last minute decision always. And they've never cruised before either so they too are looking for reasons that it won't work.

 

The funny thing is that I didn't really ask either my sis or parents to come along. I just let them know that we are going. ;)

 

Katherine

[LEtue]

I have actually cancelled an excursion while onboard and not been charged for it. I have also been given a refund when the excursion turned out to be not so great. Princess has always been very easy to deal with, great customer service IMO.

 

That is true too! Once on board you can still cancel up until the day before - I think. You just can't make any additional changes on line.

 

Last year we were late getting to Turks & Caicos and I assumed our excursion would be cancelled automatically. Later I found out that we were supposed to show up anyway in the lounge. Well, I fought for a refund on that one and won. No annoucements were made and it was not obvious to us that we should have shown up for a excursion departure when we were still 1 1/2 hours from arrival :confused:

[LEtue]

Wow, I see this roll call has a life of it's own! We booked this cruise a few months ago with a group and the group has just suddenly taken off - up to 22 people.

 

Now we are trying to find a hotel - has anyone booked anything yet?

 

We haven't booked anything in Seattle yet. Are you staying there before heading to Vancouver?

[bellebaby]

Wow, I see this roll call has a life of it's own! We booked this cruise a few months ago with a group and the group has just suddenly taken off - up to 22 people.

 

Now we are trying to find a hotel - has anyone booked anything yet?

 

Hello and Good Morning.

 

Yes, this Roll Call is quite friendly! Welcome. Bring on your 22 members!

 

I am booked at the Hyatt Vancouver pre-cruise with frequent guest points. deej found pricing he likes and is booked at the St. Regis in Vancouver, pre-cruise. Kath00 is taking the Sapphire Princess coastal sailing prior to this, so all she'll be doing is switching ships. Margie and Linda are keeping an eye on pricing for a hotel in Seattle for a few days before they take the train to Vancouver. I'm not sure what Ginger is doing.

 

I did see something unique for a hotel in Vancouver. The Hotel Indigo is a mid-range boutique hotel in the Holiday Inn chain. We stayed at one in Buffalo, New York. It's not the Four Seasons or even a Westin, but is certainly comfortable. They are opening a brand new hotel in downtown Vancouver on May 13. If you only need 1 night, and have 22 people, this might be an option for you. AAA pricing starts at $116 Canadian. Location seems good too. Again, I don't know that much about it, but staying at a brand new spot could be fun. You can check it out on their website.

 

Where are you guys from?

 

Mary

[karenannie]

Hi Mary and Linda. My DH and I will also be on the Golden next May. This is our first ever cruise, and we're doing it in celebration of our 35th anniversary which is in December 2011. I am SO grateful for the CruiseCritic boards, and all the advice and information I have found, not the least of which was choosing a cabin (ugh... scary for a first time cruiser). We have a mini suite on the Emerald deck... keeping my fingers crossed that it was a good choice. Bringing some friends with us also, so it's sure to be a fun trip. Next stop is researching the excursions. Can't WAIT for the cruise! karen

[bellebaby]

Hi Mary and Linda. My DH and I will also be on the Golden next May. This is our first ever cruise, and we're doing it in celebration of our 35th anniversary which is in December 2011. I am SO grateful for the CruiseCritic boards, and all the advice and information I have found, not the least of which was choosing a cabin (ugh... scary for a first time cruiser). We have a mini suite on the Emerald deck... keeping my fingers crossed that it was a good choice. Bringing some friends with us also, so it's sure to be a fun trip. Next stop is researching the excursions. Can't WAIT for the cruise! karen

 

Hi, Karen

 

1st cruises are wonderful, but stressful at the same time. You've made great choices so far. 35 years is quite a milestone.

 

I think Katherine is doing extensive excursion research. Maybe she'll share some of her information! :D Some of us have been to Alaska multiple times, so if you have questions, just ask. Someone should know the answer.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Mary

[LEtue]

Hi Karen & DH! Welcome to the group. As mentioned if you have any questions about cruising Alaska - just ask :D

[deej696]

Sweet...two new roll callers in a day, that's definitely a record:D

 

As for hotel in Vancouver, we are staying at the St. Regis. Got a pretty good rate there of $150, and great reviews on Trip Advisor. Although Mary makes a good suggestion in the Indigo. I've stayed in a couple of their properties, and my parents are staying in their Asheville location next week. Nothing over the top, but a great value nonetheless. I'm still holding out hope for a drop at the Shangri La;)

 

Still trying to figure out where to stay in Seattle after....

 

Edited to add....somehow I managed to miss the line where Mary pointed out most of the info above...guess I should read slower:)

[kath00]

I don't know about extensive excursion research but I did get an 83 page PDF document from Princess about the excursion options from them for 2010 including age cut offs and detailed descriptions. If anyone wants it, I am happy to email it! Just email me at: crystal by the cove at hotmail dot com.

 

Katherine

[karenannie]

Thanks Linda and Mary for the welcomes. I think that we are just going to make a concerted effort to try and relax and not stress about this trip. I've got the cruise booked, and paid for an insurance policy with Travelex (thanks to the recommendations on other boards pointing me to the Travel Insurance store -- very helpful people there). We're planning on flying into Vancouver the day before so we don't need to worry about missing the ship. I guess the rest is mostly just the sometimes challenge of getting our bee-hinds on the ship the day of the sailing, and I suppose that just means being patient (DH is missing a gene in that department, so we may need to give him an extra bloody Mary before we get in line). For excursions I'm looking at doing Harv & Marv's whale watching in Juneau, and the White Pass Railway in Skagway. I'd also like to do a helicopter tour of the glaciers in Skagway... there should be enough time to do both, given the 15 hours in port there. In Victoria it would have been nice to be able to hit Butchart Gardens, but according to the website, the gardens close at 6pm (wahhhhh). We'll just hotfoot it around Ketchikan, I think, and soak up the local color. How am I doing so far? karen. P.S. Please let me know if I am doing any no-no's on this board... I'm new at this. k

[bellebaby]

Hi, Everyone

 

This is kind of strange, but I now think of you as my friends.

 

We received a call this morning that my husband's mother had a major stroke. She is unresponsive. The family has instructed the doctor not to administer extreme life prolonging procedures. We don't know what the future holds. We will be leaving for Buffalo either tonight or very early tomorrow.

 

Will you please keep his mother and his family in your thoughts? I would really appreciate your prayers, if you are so inclined.

 

Thanks.

 

Mary

[deej696]

Mary, so sorry to hear that news. You'll be in mine and Megan's thoughts. Safe travels, and all the best to you and your husband and the family...

[jbeb]

Hi Ginger!

 

We are doing the B2B with the Sapphire Coastal. It is such an awesome itiniary. Here is our 14 day supertrip:

 

Saturday, May 7, 2011 Los Angeles, California -- 04:00 PM

Sunday, May 8, 2011 Santa Barbara, California 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

Monday, May 9, 2011 San Francisco, California 10:00 AM 08:00 PM

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 At Sea -- --

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Astoria, Oregon 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

Thursday, May 12, 2011 Seattle, Washington 10:00 AM 11:00 PM

Friday, May 13, 2011 Victoria, British Columbia 08:00 AM 11:59 PM

Saturday, May 14, 2011 Vancouver, British Columbia 07:30 AM --

 

then...

Saturday, May 14, 2011 Vancouver, British Columbia -- 04:30 PM

Sunday, May 15, 2011 At Sea -- --

Monday, May 16, 2011 Juneau, Alaska, Usa 01:00 PM 10:00 PM

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 Skagway, Alaska, Usa 06:00 AM 08:15 PM

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Glacier Bay Cruising, Alaska, Usa Scenic Cruising 06:00 AM 03:00 PM

Thursday, May 19, 2011 Ketchikan, Alaska, Usa 07:00 AM 12:30 PM

Friday, May 20, 2011 Victoria, British Columbia 07:00 PM 11:59 PM

Saturday, May 21, 2011 Seattle, Washington 07:00 AM -

 

Talk about a perfect cruise! I looked at Royal Caribbean's 14 day "ultimate Alaska cruise" but I think the combo of these 2 cruiseships is just way better. Victoria will be a repeat but that's ok because we LOVE it there! We'll probably just go out to dinner on the 2nd stop. The time is terrible (7pm to MN) and I think most things will be closed (like the Gardens) so I am glad we get a full day on the Sapphire.

 

The only downside is having to clear customs and change ships. But oh well, it can't be more than a 3-4 hour ordeal, right? Well worth 2 wonderful weeks of vacation!

 

Katherine

Hello all!

Ed and I are also joining your merry group on the Golden. We share your enthusiasm for the Sapphire coastal BTB with this Golden itinerary.

 

We sailed in May 2010 on the Sapphire and found it to be wonderful. We tried to book the Sapphire Coastal to Vancouver with a one day cruise Vancouver to Seattle to catch the Sapphire 7 day Seattle to Seattle inside passage..... Maritime laws prohibit that 15 day combo which lent us to this 14 day combo.

 

Sure looks like we are blessed with great travel companions and an interesting port selection. We look forward to meeting up on a meet and greet!

 

We are Ed and Jan from Nevada

[jbeb]

Today I booked us on the Noordam, Oct. 5, 2011. Greek Isles R/T from Rome. Hope to stay several days in Rome pre-cruise.

 

It's a LONG way off and don't know if we'll really get to go, but it's one of my "must do" trips...

 

Here's hoping....:D

Hi Mary, I know you will totally love that ship and the itinerary. Let me know if you will have some stay over time in Rome.... I know and excellent Limo driver service with personalized options. I look forward to swapping tales...

Jan

[LEtue]

Hi, Everyone

 

This is kind of strange, but I now think of you as my friends.

 

We received a call this morning that my husband's mother had a major stroke. She is unresponsive. The family has instructed the doctor not to administer extreme life prolonging procedures. We don't know what the future holds. We will be leaving for Buffalo either tonight or very early tomorrow.

 

Will you please keep his mother and his family in your thoughts? I would really appreciate your prayers, if you are so inclined.

 

Thanks.

 

Mary

 

I am so sorry to hear this :(

 

Prayers are headed your way! Know that I will be thinking about you and your family and please travel safe.....

[LEtue]

Hello Ed and Jan! Welcome to this fun little group and I look forward to meeting you both on the Golden :D

[deej696]

It seems our little group is getting a lot less little with each day. Welcome Ed and Jan! Looking forward to several months of sharing in the anticipation:)

[jbeb]

When are excursions booked through Princess charged? When the reservation is made or upon embarkation? I can't remember. On HAL, your credit card is charged immediately.

 

Mary

Hi Mary,

Princess does not charge until you are on the ship. We heard you can charge ship board credits to you credit cards ahead of time and those are like buying yourself gift certificates. You can then board with prepayments of your tours booked online ready for you to apply. It helps me pay for the cruise ahead. We had over $1500.00 in tours last Feb in New Zealand and they were prepayed as part of our trip planning strategy using our Capital One Card to avoid exchange rate charges.

 

I am thrifty rarely but do not like to travel with a debt.

Jan