Royal, Alaska Northbound, Onboard Exp questions

[Learningtocruise1]

I know Royal is just now on its first trip Northbound this week.  Would love to know the following from anyone who could share this when finished with the cruise:

 

1. Which nights are the formal nights?

2  How formal are the formal nights?

3. Do they serve King crab or lobster in the MDR?

4. Are there set times for the evening shows, or do the times change daily?

5. Any tenders at the ports, or are they all berth?

6. Pictures of Patters and Menus would be awesome!!!

 

We are on 6/22 Royal Northbound.  This is my (new) husband's FIRST cruise and I want to set expectations correctly so he has an amazing experience.  I love cruising and hope to see many more in our future!   He just wants to make sure he eats amazing food but doesn't have to dress up too much while on vacation (we're not slobs, he wears suits, ties, etc. all the time for work, just doesn't want to do that when on vacation).  lol

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by Learningtocruise1

[fishywood]

• For northbound Alaska sailings the formal nights are always night 2 (at sea) and night 6 (Glacier Bay).
• As for "how formal": your husband won't be excluded from the MDR without a suit. But there also won't be as many people trying to gain entry dressed sub-smart-casual as you find on warm weather cruises. (The concept that Alaska cruises are the least casual of those in all parts of the world is a ridiculous myth based on all my cruises there).
• There were both King Crab and Lobster tail served in the MDR on different nights (not necessarily formal nights) last year, I can't speak for Royal Princess this year.
• On the Northbound sailings show times will vary based on sailaway time in port. In Juneau there may only be a single showtime due to the late sailaway. Both Juneau and Skagway will probably have a presentation by a local speaker (e.g. Libby Riddles, one of the 'Deadliest Catch' boat operators) in the hour before sailaway. You may have to eat dinner earlier or later than accustomed to catch those--or if you have early fixed seating be on time and finish quickly.
• Any tender ports would be noted on your itinerary. Only if there are more than four ships that day in Ketchikan, or more than five or six in Juneau, would tendering be necessary. And unlikely a ship the size of Royal would draw the short straw.

 

Hopefully someone disembarking from Royal Princess shortly will take on the task of posting menus or Patters. But know that any Northbound patters from last year will be remarkably similar (other than ones from sailings that subbed Icy Strait Point for Ketchikan).

 

The best expectations for a first time cruiser in Alaska is that the onboard experience is unimportant compared to just being in Alaska. I know you don't want this to be his last cruise so maybe a little less micro-planning and more preparation to take things as they come will go a long way. (Just my $0.02)

Edited May 14, 2019 by fishywood

[fishywood]

Oh man do I wish I never responded. With the news already breaking that there have been multiple passenger deaths on an excursion from Royal Princess' maiden Alaska sailing, this OP starts a thread looking for someone onboard to post menus and patters. 

 

Yes just as much my fault for posting without thinking. But just once I wish the hosts would make an exception and delete a non-violative post simply at the member's request.

[gkthorn]

My wife doesn't like formal nights either, which is why when we were on the Royal we booked the Crown Grill and Sabatini's for the formal nights and since they served us faster it got us out early to enjoy the entertainment.

[lstone19]

Despite the unfortunate events involving Royal Princess this week, people still need to do their planning.

 

Regarding formal nights, despite what people think, ship's officers do not schedule formal nights on a whim when on standard itineraries. Presumably there is a product planning group at HQ that decides these things. To the best of my knowledge, on the one-way Voyage of the Glaciers, NB formal nights have been night 2 (at sea) and night 6 (Glacier Bay) since forever. And SB they are night 2 (Hubbard Glacier) and night 5 (Juneau). And this applies to all ships on the itinerary - there is nothing ship specific about it so no need to wait and see what Royal does on its first trip (not that ships, being just metal and machinery, decide anything - rather, the officers and staff do so the decisions on a ship are a reflection of its people, not the ship itself).

 

Regarding tenders, unless your itinerary in the personalizer says it's a tender port, you are scheduled to dock. Of course a last minute issue could make a dock unavailable and you end up tendering but normally, all Alaska ports are dock ports.

[idahospud]

I'm on the Royal right now, and despite the tragedy and heavy-heartedness we are experiencing on the ship, I do understand other wanting to get their planning started. I've been posting all the Patters and have been doing a "live from" during the voyage. While I'd like to share the blog link, Cruise Critic rules prevent me from doing so and it would be a bit difficult to go back and copy and paste everything I've written so far onto here. (Plus we are focusing on some bigger pressing issues onboard right now.) If you email me at cruisingandcrafting at gmail dot com I'd be more than happy to send you a link to everything I have.

 

(Mods...if I'm not allowed to share my email for them to get the info, I understand you needing to pull this post.)

[foggyphils]

11 hours ago, idahospud said:

I'm on the Royal right now, and despite the tragedy and heavy-heartedness we are experiencing on the ship, I do understand other wanting to get their planning started. I've been posting all the Patters and have been doing a "live from" during the voyage. While I'd like to share the blog link, Cruise Critic rules prevent me from doing so and it would be a bit difficult to go back and copy and paste everything I've written so far onto here. (Plus we are focusing on some bigger pressing issues onboard right now.) If you email me at cruisingandcrafting at gmail dot com I'd be more than happy to send you a link to everything I have.

 

(Mods...if I'm not allowed to share my email for them to get the info, I understand you needing to pull this post.)

I’ve been following your blog and appreciate you posting the patters. I think you are the only one doing that “live”.

I feel like I’ve seen people put their blog links In their signature area (but don’t quote me on that!) so maybe that’s an option for people to find you. 

If I read the patters correctly, it looks like they haven’t offered the $10/$20 Royal tea yet? Trying to figure out when that happens so I don’t make specialty restaurant reservations the same day. 

Have a wonderful trip. I’ll be getting on when you get back off in Vancouver. 😉

[Idahoan58]

I am on the Royal right now. We had king crab last night for dinner in the MDR. The first formal night was on Sunday. I not sure when the next one is. The show times have been pretty consistent with 7:30 and 9:30pm every night. One of the shows in the princess live was changed yesterday due to the tragic event that happened in Ketchikan yesterday. 

 

My only complaint is there is long lines getting on and off the ship. Getting on the ship in Vancouver was the longest embarkation process I have ever experienced. This is my 5th cruise I have never had to wait in customs that long to get on a ship. Our plane landed in Canada at 11am we were on the shuttle at 12pm, got to Canada place at 1pm and wasn’t on board until 3pm. We got our medallions ahead of time and thought it would be quicker but it wasn’t. 

 

Getting on and off in the ports there have been had long lines. I feel like carnival and rci are way more efficient when it come to getting people on and off the ship.

 

One awesome thing is there is on demand movies in the stateroom that don’t cost anything and most of them are new releases!

 

Its been a great cruise so far, but sad. It was difficult yesterday watching the crew unload the luggage of the passengers involved in the float plane accident. 

[idahospud]

1 hour ago, foggyphils said:

I’ve been following your blog and appreciate you posting the patters. I think you are the only one doing that “live”.

I feel like I’ve seen people put their blog links In their signature area (but don’t quote me on that!) so maybe that’s an option for people to find you. 

If I read the patters correctly, it looks like they haven’t offered the $10/$20 Royal tea yet? Trying to figure out when that happens so I don’t make specialty restaurant reservations the same day. 

Have a wonderful trip. I’ll be getting on when you get back off in Vancouver. 😉

The $10/$20 tea is being held on the 16th. You can find the info on the back page of the Juneau day's Patter.

I'm unable to post my blog link in my signature because I'm both a cruiser and a crafter and my blog reflects both those topics. Only travel blogs can be posted. Thanks, though.

[idahospud]

1 hour ago, Idahoan58 said:

Getting on the ship in Vancouver was the longest embarkation process I have ever experienced. This is my 5th cruise I have never had to wait in customs that long to get on a ship. Our plane landed in Canada at 11am we were on the shuttle at 12pm, got to Canada place at 1pm and wasn’t on board until 3pm. We got our medallions ahead of time and thought it would be quicker but it wasn’t. 

Unfortunately when Vancouver has more than one ship in port (we had a two ship day) it is crazy. While each ship has their own check-in counters, passengers from all the ships are funneled through the same security screening and customs. It is always a pain in Vancouver.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, Idahoan58 said:

My only complaint is there is long lines getting on and off the ship. Getting on the ship in Vancouver was the longest embarkation process I have ever experienced. This is my 5th cruise I have never had to wait in customs that long to get on a ship. Our plane landed in Canada at 11am we were on the shuttle at 12pm, got to Canada place at 1pm and wasn’t on board until 3pm. We got our medallions ahead of time and thought it would be quicker but it wasn’t. 

 

Getting on and off in the ports there have been had long lines. I feel like carnival and rci are way more efficient when it come to getting people on and off the ship.

 

 

Princess has no control over immigration personnel and procedures. At this port Carnival and RCI passengers would have the same problems.

[Idahoan58]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Princess has no control over immigration personnel and procedures. At this port Carnival and RCI passengers would have the same problems.

It not just in Vancouver. In Ketchikan getting on and off the ship there was a long line. Getting off in Juneau was equally as long. I have been on several Carnival and RCI cruises and never had to stand in long lines getting on and off it ports unless it was a tender port. They are way more efficient than princess. I am enjoying the cruise just not lines getting on and off. 

[idahospud]

8 minutes ago, Idahoan58 said:

It not just in Vancouver. In Ketchikan getting on and off the ship there was a long line. Getting off in Juneau was equally as long. I have been on several Carnival and RCI cruises and never had to stand in long lines getting on and off it ports unless it was a tender port. They are way more efficient than princess. I am enjoying the cruise just not lines getting on and off. 

 

Having been to Alaska on Princess before, I can tell you the Medallion has really sped up our process. One of the big problems with Alaska is that with the quick shifting tides the ship has to change gangways and decks often. When they have to shut them down and put them in a new spot it backs up the line, sometime significantly. Just curious - how does Carnival and RCI deal with the tides differently in Alaska?

 

 

 

[foggyphils]

12 hours ago, Idahoan58 said:

Getting on and off in the ports there have been had long lines. I feel like carnival and rci are way more efficient when it come to getting people on and off the ship.

 

As for the ports, is it an all day long line thing or just first thing when you arrive?Our excursion in Juneau is asking us to be the first ones off for an 8:30 tour. I’m wondering how early we should line up. 🤪 We are on Royal in a couple weeks. 

[caribill]

12 hours ago, Idahoan58 said:

It not just in Vancouver. In Ketchikan getting on and off the ship there was a long line. Getting off in Juneau was equally as long. I have been on several Carnival and RCI cruises and never had to stand in long lines getting on and off it ports unless it was a tender port. They are way more efficient than princess. I am enjoying the cruise just not lines getting on and off. 

 

I guess this is one problem with bringing larger and larger ships to Alaska ports (or any port).

 

Certainly it is quicker to get off the Island Princess which has 2200 lower berth passengers than the Royal with 3560 lower berth passengers.

 

 

[milolii]

Idahospud,  I am enjoying your reports.  Looking forward to today’s blog entries.  If you get up by  the Sanctuary can you report if it is booked for today?  

 

Your posts are very helpful. 

[Coral]

21 hours ago, Idahoan58 said:

It not just in Vancouver. In Ketchikan getting on and off the ship there was a long line. Getting off in Juneau was equally as long. I have been on several Carnival and RCI cruises and never had to stand in long lines getting on and off it ports unless it was a tender port. They are way more efficient than princess. I am enjoying the cruise just not lines getting on and off. 

I know you are saying it is more than just Vancouver. I know May in Vancouver is just awful. It is like everyone is new every year.

[idahospud]

2 hours ago, milolii said:

Idahospud,  I am enjoying your reports.  Looking forward to today’s blog entries.  If you get up by  the Sanctuary can you report if it is booked for today?  

 

Your posts are very helpful. 

Actually I already know the answer. A Serenity Steward told me a couple days ago that Glacier Day was booked solid but the other days were empty. 

[milolii]

That was my guess as well.  We will need to head up there right after boarding.  Ty  enjoy your day.