Live from Royal Princess sailing May 2, 2022 for 12 nights rountrip from Vancouver to Alaska

[CruzeQueen2]

15 minutes ago, Senga said:

@mrsskyhook and her hubby also did us all a great service by providing lots of useful information.

@mrsskyhookYES! oops. I have read so many threads, I didn't give the credit to the OP. mrsskyhook - THANK YOU for taking time to post the live thread. Sorry, I erred. Thank you to both posters.

Edited May 17, 2022 by CruzeQueen2

[lks]

We are now home and back at work. Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Although MG and I had a cough and a stuffed up nose after we got off the ship we only ended up with a cold. We tested many times for covid but they were all negative. We really enjoyed this cruise and the people and staff we met. Overall the food and entertainment were good with a few misses. Thanks for coming along, it was great to cruise again! 

[dgc2861]

On 5/5/2022 at 2:22 AM, Wulfwyn said:

Arrived a hourl late in Juneau  due to rough seas.  All ship excursions  were updated  to new times and some were canceled.   We had to change  our excursion  due to timing.  Ended up  with a whale watching and did see whales.   We only had less than 50 people on excursion. 

 

Service is improving.  

Wulfwyn 

We were on the cruise too. It was disappointing that they made a ships announcement about the delays/cancellations and we happened to be in our cabin and missed it. Walked all around in the rain trying to find our Princess excursion until a Private company said all were either delayed or cancelled. We tried to get back on the ship to see what was going on with our excursion and had to wait 20 minutes in the rain to get back on until everyone got off. They were letting everyone off. We got back on and went directly to Shore Excursions to talk with someone. I asked if you know that ships announcements that are not an emergency don't go into the cabins, then why wasn't there some other way of getting the information out to your passengers? Someone standing at the gang way making announcements for instance. She said they had a list that were given out to each cabin....guess when we got that list? Two days later when in Icy Strait Point!!! Our cabin steward handed it to us.

[karatemom2]

58 minutes ago, lks said:

We are now home and back at work. Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Although MG and I had a cough and a stuffed up nose after we got off the ship we only ended up with a cold. We tested many times for covid but they were all negative. We really enjoyed this cruise and the people and staff we met. Overall the food and entertainment were good with a few misses. Thanks for coming along, it was great to cruise again! 

 You  might want to test again if you continue to have symptoms. We also got negative test after negative test the past three days despite having mild cold symptoms. Guess what - this morning it was positive for both my daughter and I. My doctor said that since we are both vaccinated and as such our bodies are more efficient in putting up a fight, it may delay the viral load from getting strong enough to register on an antigen test. He basically said if you have symptoms - especially following a vacation where it appears there was significant spread - it is probably best to assume you are more then likely positive even if the antigen is saying negative. It sure turned positive today!

[Coral]

1 hour ago, lks said:

We are now home and back at work. Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Although MG and I had a cough and a stuffed up nose after we got off the ship we only ended up with a cold. We tested many times for covid but they were all negative. We really enjoyed this cruise and the people and staff we met. Overall the food and entertainment were good with a few misses. Thanks for coming along, it was great to cruise again! 

I would probably recommend testing again in a few days. A friend felt crappy for 5 days after returning from a cruise. She tested every day using a home test and on the 5th day, she tested positive. I have several friends who have similar stories. Some tested negative on an antigen test and positive on a PCR test.

 

Or sometimes a cold is simply a cold.

Edited May 18, 2022 by Coral

[Coral]

On 5/16/2022 at 5:54 PM, pamps2801 said:

Well, 3 out 4 tested positive you say.... curios to know, if you are aware if they wore Masks, and tried to adhere to social distancing ? If they didn’t, they gambled and lost. No pity in that case. Now if they did, well, that really sucks, and hopefully the symptoms weren’t to severe.

I know several who have gotten COVID on ships. Some said they only removed their masks to eat - sort of impossible to mask up when eating. The current strain is pretty contagious. 

[mrsskyhook]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I would probably recommend testing again in a few days. A friend felt crappy for 5 days after returning from a cruise. She tested every day using a home test and on the 5th day, she tested positive. I have several friends who have similar stories. Some tested negative on an antigen test and positive on a PCR test.

 

Or sometimes a cold is simply a cold.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments, LKS and I appreciate it very much.

 

I am still barking like a sea lion, so I will continue to test daily until I feel better.  (I have tested negative daily since we got home on Saturday) .  Hubby is doing much better. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by mrsskyhook

[Thrak]

We were on this cruise and, overall, it was pretty good. Excellent steward and the CD staff were great. We masked part of the time but didn't mask much of the time. We were flying home the day after the cruise ended so didn't get the free Covid test onboard. However, when we disembarked we picked up our luggage and went across to the hotel where we were provided free testing that worked for our flights the next day. We were both negative.

 

The house orchestra did several Jazz sessions and we enjoyed each of them although they were fairly sparsely attended.Corey in Crooner's could make one crazy. I don't need to "participate". The Latin band (at least the singer was Latina) were hit and miss. The singer murdered maybe 40% of the songs. Not all songs are meant to be "melodic". Sweet Home Chicago for instance shouldn't "flow along melodically". Nope, nope, nope. Also, when singing Route 66 the singer really ought to know that the song pronounces route as "root" rather than "rout".  GAH!!!

 

Our dinner in CG was good but we didn't order the steak this time. We ate there on the night of our 50th anniversary and shared dinner with friends. Hard to believe it's been 50 years.

 

Like others, we found the Internet and the intranet both to be pathetic. No way could we have done proctored tests with the lousy connection. The intranet was so poor that the waiters often had to stand around apologizing that their devices were taking so long to connect and they couldn't take orders without having to wait. Some just gave up and asked for our cabin number.

 

We had to be reimbursed for 3 excursions. One was closed, one was a disaster (Sitka) and the third was cancelled and a different one that we didn't want was automagically substituted. Nope, got my money back. We didn't get the message that the casino would be closed the final night. Normally that is the time I cash out. We were bummed to find the casino closed. Hopefully they will send a check for the $750 we had in the account. Sadly, this was to be the source of funds for end of cruise tips to the steward and a few others who stood out. I had almost zero cash and was unable to tip extra.

 

Crew were fantastic. CD staff was really excellent. Hated the setup of Princess Live. Liked having the Princess Live Cafe next door though as my wife could grab a morning coffee without having to go to IC. Not sure why it's called a "Cafe" though as it's just a bar that also does fancy coffee. The bartender Rout (yep, pronounced "root" like the song title above) was great.

 

The casino never seemed to have much business so the smoke was at a minimum. We did encounter some heavy cigarette smoke on our balcony a couple of times though. Bleh...

 

The shows were good with the exception of e shows. First, the Mentalist act. That was pathetic and boring and not at all suited to a cruise ship theater. It might work better in a much smaller venue. Nobody seemed impressed and we saw some folks walking out. The second show that was a miss for us was Colors of the World. We were totally unimpressed. The songs performed didn't even seem to have anything to do with the various cultures that were being appropriated. I have no desire to see this show again. We were pleasantly surprised by the comedian. He seemed to connect with the majority of the audience and got a lot more laughs than a number of others we have seen on previous cruises.

 

We managed to avoid Covid on the cruise but when we got home our daughter had decided to stay in our house for a week and she had a horrible cold. It's not real cool to come home to a filthy house, an unmowed lawn, and germs throughout the house. We had her do a Covid test but she was negative. Naturally, I got the cold and it was nasty. It's still hanging on. My wife avoided it for a few days but now has it as well. Ah, kids. The gift that keeps on giving (and taking).

 

There is one other issue with this cruise and I have no idea how it happened. We totally forgot to buy more Future Cruise Deposits! It was something that we definitely talked about doing and planned on doing but it seems we both had old people brain farts. We are looking to book a B2B2B in Australia/New Zealand and only have one FCD each. D'Oh! 

[XBGuy]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

Our dinner in CG was good but we didn't order the steak this time. We ate there on the night of our 50th anniversary and shared dinner with friends. Hard to believe it's been 50 years.

 

 

WOW!!!

 

Congratulations to you and Mrs. Thrak.

[Thrak]

 

2 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

WOW!!!

 

Congratulations to you and Mrs. Thrak.

 

I'm pretty sure that her folks and siblings would have given us maybe 6 months max. Guess we fooled them all. 😀  (I also got lucky and won the Mother-In Law-Lottery.)

 

I was 19 and she was 20. Wow. She made her dress and my shirt. I had on brand new Levis.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by Thrak

[Buckeye10640]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

We were on this cruise and, overall, it was pretty good. Excellent steward and the CD staff were great. We masked part of the time but didn't mask much of the time. We were flying home the day after the cruise ended so didn't get the free Covid test onboard. However, when we disembarked we picked up our luggage and went across to the hotel where we were provided free testing that worked for our flights the next day. We were both negative.

 

The house orchestra did several Jazz sessions and we enjoyed each of them although they were fairly sparsely attended.Corey in Crooner's could make one crazy. I don't need to "participate". The Latin band (at least the singer was Latina) were hit and miss. The singer murdered maybe 40% of the songs. Not all songs are meant to be "melodic". Sweet Home Chicago for instance shouldn't "flow along melodically". Nope, nope, nope. Also, when singing Route 66 the singer really ought to know that the song pronounces route as "root" rather than "rout".  GAH!!!

 

Our dinner in CG was good but we didn't order the steak this time. We ate there on the night of our 50th anniversary and shared dinner with friends. Hard to believe it's been 50 years.

 

Like others, we found the Internet and the intranet both to be pathetic. No way could we have done proctored tests with the lousy connection. The intranet was so poor that the waiters often had to stand around apologizing that their devices were taking so long to connect and they couldn't take orders without having to wait. Some just gave up and asked for our cabin number.

 

We had to be reimbursed for 3 excursions. One was closed, one was a disaster (Sitka) and the third was cancelled and a different one that we didn't want was automagically substituted. Nope, got my money back. We didn't get the message that the casino would be closed the final night. Normally that is the time I cash out. We were bummed to find the casino closed. Hopefully they will send a check for the $750 we had in the account. Sadly, this was to be the source of funds for end of cruise tips to the steward and a few others who stood out. I had almost zero cash and was unable to tip extra.

 

Crew were fantastic. CD staff was really excellent. Hated the setup of Princess Live. Liked having the Princess Live Cafe next door though as my wife could grab a morning coffee without having to go to IC. Not sure why it's called a "Cafe" though as it's just a bar that also does fancy coffee. The bartender Rout (yep, pronounced "root" like the song title above) was great.

 

The casino never seemed to have much business so the smoke was at a minimum. We did encounter some heavy cigarette smoke on our balcony a couple of times though. Bleh...

 

The shows were good with the exception of e shows. First, the Mentalist act. That was pathetic and boring and not at all suited to a cruise ship theater. It might work better in a much smaller venue. Nobody seemed impressed and we saw some folks walking out. The second show that was a miss for us was Colors of the World. We were totally unimpressed. The songs performed didn't even seem to have anything to do with the various cultures that were being appropriated. I have no desire to see this show again. We were pleasantly surprised by the comedian. He seemed to connect with the majority of the audience and got a lot more laughs than a number of others we have seen on previous cruises.

 

We managed to avoid Covid on the cruise but when we got home our daughter had decided to stay in our house for a week and she had a horrible cold. It's not real cool to come home to a filthy house, an unmowed lawn, and germs throughout the house. We had her do a Covid test but she was negative. Naturally, I got the cold and it was nasty. It's still hanging on. My wife avoided it for a few days but now has it as well. Ah, kids. The gift that keeps on giving (and taking).

 

There is one other issue with this cruise and I have no idea how it happened. We totally forgot to buy more Future Cruise Deposits! It was something that we definitely talked about doing and planned on doing but it seems we both had old people brain farts. We are looking to book a B2B2B in Australia/New Zealand and only have one FCD each. D'Oh! 

Congrats on your anniversary! Curious why the casino was closed, I would not have expected that.  We also forgot to buy FCDs last week, I got caught up in the ' try to get a wifi connnection so we can Covid  test' drama on our last day.  Is it at all still possible if just off a sailing?

Edited May 25, 2022 by Buckeye10640

[Thrak]

7 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Congrats on your anniversary! Curious why the casino was closed, I would not have expected that.  We also forgot to buy FCDs last week, I got caught up in the ' try to get a wifi connnection so we can Covid  test' drama on our last day.  Is it at all still possible if just off a sailing?

 

If you held your head just right, turned thrice widershins, stood on one leg, and then recited the Greek alphabet backward you might just... Naw. No way would I expect to be able to use that crummy Internet connection for a proctored test.

 

Apparently any time the final port stop is Victoria they sail on to Vancouver in waters that are too close to land to open the casino. I've checked the Patter that was put out for the day in Victoria and there is no mention in it about the casino being closed. I guess one just "has to know" this stuff. Apparently it was well announced on other cruises but we were totally caught off guard. I felt pretty bad about not being able to tip some of the folks who made our cruise so nice but all of my "cash" was tied up in the casino account. Lesson learned. I will never assume I can get the cash out late in the cruise. I'll get it out earlier and, if I want to put some back, I can use cash in the machine. (I'm not positive but I am "pretty sure" they still accept cash.)

Edited May 25, 2022 by Thrak

[compozer]

Congratulations on your Anniversary.   This year is also our 50th Anniversary.   Where did all the years go??

 

I forgot to buy them on our last cruise and tried to buy some FCD a couple days after we returned.  They said no.   I said I have bought them several times a week after we returned from cruises.  She said they just changed the rule.

[Buckeye10640]

1 hour ago, compozer said:

Congratulations on your Anniversary.   This year is also our 50th Anniversary.   Where did all the years go??

 

I forgot to buy them on our last cruise and tried to buy some FCD a couple days after we returned.  They said no.   I said I have bought them several times a week after we returned from cruises.  She said they just changed the rule.

Thanks, you just saved me the effort of trying. Maybe time to use my NCL FCDs. 😋

[compozer]

11 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Thanks, you just saved me the effort of trying. Maybe time to use my NCL FCDs. 😋

It might not hurt to call. That is if you have time to be on hold for 2 hours.    Maybe you will be connected to someone that would do them for you.  

[nini]

8 hours ago, Thrak said:

We were on this cruise and, overall, it was pretty good. Excellent steward and the CD staff were great. We masked part of the time but didn't mask much of the time. We were flying home the day after the cruise ended so didn't get the free Covid test onboard. However, when we disembarked we picked up our luggage and went across to the hotel where we were provided free testing that worked for our flights the next day. We were both negative.

 

The house orchestra did several Jazz sessions and we enjoyed each of them although they were fairly sparsely attended.Corey in Crooner's could make one crazy. I don't need to "participate". The Latin band (at least the singer was Latina) were hit and miss. The singer murdered maybe 40% of the songs. Not all songs are meant to be "melodic". Sweet Home Chicago for instance shouldn't "flow along melodically". Nope, nope, nope. Also, when singing Route 66 the singer really ought to know that the song pronounces route as "root" rather than "rout".  GAH!!!

 

Our dinner in CG was good but we didn't order the steak this time. We ate there on the night of our 50th anniversary and shared dinner with friends. Hard to believe it's been 50 years.

 

Like others, we found the Internet and the intranet both to be pathetic. No way could we have done proctored tests with the lousy connection. The intranet was so poor that the waiters often had to stand around apologizing that their devices were taking so long to connect and they couldn't take orders without having to wait. Some just gave up and asked for our cabin number.

 

We had to be reimbursed for 3 excursions. One was closed, one was a disaster (Sitka) and the third was cancelled and a different one that we didn't want was automagically substituted. Nope, got my money back. We didn't get the message that the casino would be closed the final night. Normally that is the time I cash out. We were bummed to find the casino closed. Hopefully they will send a check for the $750 we had in the account. Sadly, this was to be the source of funds for end of cruise tips to the steward and a few others who stood out. I had almost zero cash and was unable to tip extra.

 

Crew were fantastic. CD staff was really excellent. Hated the setup of Princess Live. Liked having the Princess Live Cafe next door though as my wife could grab a morning coffee without having to go to IC. Not sure why it's called a "Cafe" though as it's just a bar that also does fancy coffee. The bartender Rout (yep, pronounced "root" like the song title above) was great.

 

The casino never seemed to have much business so the smoke was at a minimum. We did encounter some heavy cigarette smoke on our balcony a couple of times though. Bleh...

 

The shows were good with the exception of e shows. First, the Mentalist act. That was pathetic and boring and not at all suited to a cruise ship theater. It might work better in a much smaller venue. Nobody seemed impressed and we saw some folks walking out. The second show that was a miss for us was Colors of the World. We were totally unimpressed. The songs performed didn't even seem to have anything to do with the various cultures that were being appropriated. I have no desire to see this show again. We were pleasantly surprised by the comedian. He seemed to connect with the majority of the audience and got a lot more laughs than a number of others we have seen on previous cruises.

 

We managed to avoid Covid on the cruise but when we got home our daughter had decided to stay in our house for a week and she had a horrible cold. It's not real cool to come home to a filthy house, an unmowed lawn, and germs throughout the house. We had her do a Covid test but she was negative. Naturally, I got the cold and it was nasty. It's still hanging on. My wife avoided it for a few days but now has it as well. Ah, kids. The gift that keeps on giving (and taking).

 

There is one other issue with this cruise and I have no idea how it happened. We totally forgot to buy more Future Cruise Deposits! It was something that we definitely talked about doing and planned on doing but it seems we both had old people brain farts. We are looking to book a B2B2B in Australia/New Zealand and only have one FCD each. D'Oh! 

Congrats on your 50th!!! We are only at 46.

[cr8tiv1]

@Thrak  Congratulations on your anniversary.  My brother was in the same boat.  No one thought he would last a month, let alone 50 years.  

 

I always look forward to your posts.  Thank you for posting a review.  I hope you get back your casino funds.  And yes, they still take cash.  I rarely leave such a healthy sum for the casino.  $50 max, if at that.  I did learn that accounts do not carry over for b2bs.  

 

You will just have to go on a very short cruise to get your FCDs.  Unfortunately, it's the wrong time of the year.

[Thrak]

6 hours ago, compozer said:

Congratulations on your Anniversary.   This year is also our 50th Anniversary.   Where did all the years go??

 

I forgot to buy them on our last cruise and tried to buy some FCD a couple days after we returned.  They said no.   I said I have bought them several times a week after we returned from cruises.  She said they just changed the rule.

 

Yes, for a short while they changed the policy and allowed purchase of FCD for a brief period after a cruise. Of course the OBC was reduced with those FCD. It wasn't nearly as good but, if it was still possible to buy FCD after a cruise, it would actually be worth it to me. I checked cruises that are very soon and would actually be willing to take one of them but won't do so solo. I know many people cruise independent of their spouse but that is not me.

[VibeGuy]

You may get an email from Princess with the following Subjects:

 

”To say thanks for cruising with us...”

“Thanks again for sailing with us”

“Welcome Home Deposit Offer”

 

all of these have led to FCD with OBC offers valid for N days after returning from a sailing where we did not purchase an FCD. 

 

We have got these at both my and my DH’s email addresses for the six post-restart sailings. 
 

 

[Thrak]

16 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

You may get an email from Princess with the following Subjects:

 

”To say thanks for cruising with us...”

“Thanks again for sailing with us”

“Welcome Home Deposit Offer”

 

all of these have led to FCD with OBC offers valid for N days after returning from a sailing where we did not purchase an FCD. 

 

We have got these at both my and my DH’s email addresses for the six post-restart sailings. 
 

 

 

Thanks. I did just get the "To say thanks..." email. It says 60 days to redeem the offer.

 

I checked out a doc I had saved in the past regarding this sort of offer and it had a link to a pdf with the information.  Of course it's from 2013 but seems to be the same offer I got in the email. If it still works like it says in this doc (I didn't past the entire thing here) our TA should be able to take care of it on Polar.  We want to book a 32 day B2B2B in Australia & New Zealand and only have one FCD each. The post-cruise FCD purchase offers a lesser amount of OBC than the "regular" FCD one buys onboard but it's still better than nothing. For our first 14 day segment we will get $100 each for our regular FCD and only $60 each for the second 14 day segment. The 4 day "connector" cruise will only get $15 each instead of the normal $25. Still... an extra $150 OBC would be nice to have.

 

Here's a partial snip from the Princess doc:

 

[rpbanks]

Can anyone on the Royal say hi to Ron Goodman for me and tell him Ron Banks wishes him well and would like for him to contact me.

thanks

[senior lady]

On 5/24/2022 at 5:24 PM, Buckeye10640 said:

Congrats on your anniversary! Curious why the casino was closed, I would not have expected that.  We also forgot to buy FCDs last week, I got caught up in the ' try to get a wifi connnection so we can Covid  test' drama on our last day.  Is it at all still possible if just off a sailing?

The casino is always closed between Victoria and Vancouver.   It's only a 90 min ferry ride.  Local waters, so no casino