westcoaster

I've done several 28-30 day cruises in inside cabins. I really like them: they are quite, stay cool, and stay dark for sleeping. I always sleep really well in inside cabins. If you want to see the scenery, I would much rather use the open public decks where I can move around for different views.

Everyone is going to have their own experiences with the weather, but if you look at averages, then May is much drier in Alaska than September. Compared with May, average September rainfall is 65% higher in Ketchikan, more than 2.5 times higher in Juneau, and nearly 5 times higher in Anchorage. As others have noted, May also has much longer hours of daylight. And the Coral Princess is a much better ship for Alaska than Caribbean Princess.

Cabin type and location is not important to us, so we always book an IF guarantee (30+ cruises). We used to occasionally get an upgrade to an outside or balcony cabin, but since Princess started charging for upgrades, we've nearly always got the same or very similar category to what we booked. Prior to Covid, we would often get a category IE or ID cabin in the aft. For the last few cruises since Covid, we have been given a category IF cabin near the front of the ship.

I've taken the 2 x 7 = 14 day RT from Vancouver a couple of times. The entertainment has mostly been the same, but both times there were some differences. Most recently, on the Grand in 2022, there were 2 production shows during the first 7 days, but 3 production shows on the return cruise Whittier to Vancouver (2 of which were the same as going up). On the Crown Princess in 2014, there were 3 production shows on each leg, but one of the shows on the second leg was different, so we saw 4 different shows over the 14 days.

I have found the opposite. When using Princess' self-serve buffets, I like to take small amounts of a wide variety of things. When using the HAL crew-served buffets, I always end up with portions that are way too big, despite asking for very small amounts. I also find the crew-served buffets take a lot more time to get your food.

I would still take the promenade deck on the Island any day over the Royal Class ships, which only have a few disjointed sections of promenade deck. The promenade deck on the Island Princess goes almost completely around, except for the aft section. And even there, you can complete an outdoor circuit by walking up a short flight of stairs to the aft outdoor section of the Emerald deck - it's really no different from having to go up the stairs to the forward Emerald deck section on the Grand Class ships. Island also has a wider promenade deck with full loungers compared with the Grand Class ships.

In addition to having fewer passengers and the covered pool, the Sapphire also has a wider Promenade deck than the Caribbean, which allows for full loungers.

I always book inside cabins. I'm a light sleeper, so I find that I sleep much better in the darker and quieter inside cabins. It's also easier to control the temperature of inside cabins. I've been upgraded to a balcony a few times, and it has only reconfirmed for me that I'm not a balcony person. I found the layout of the balcony cabins to be less efficient compared with inside cabins since you lose the back wall. I also found that I rarely used the balcony. When I'm outside on a cruise, I like to roam around on the open deck and view things from different angles. I don't like being confined to one spot on a balcony.

I'm not too worried either. Just curious about how this is handled. My dining times are different on different days, but I'm less concerned about sea days. Nice timing that you get to have 2 anniversaries!

I'm going on a 22-night trans-Pacific cruise that crosses the International Dateline heading east. As a result, we have two days with the same date. However, when I try to book dining on the app, it only shows one day for that date, and only shows 21 nights to book dining overall, even though the cruise is 22 nights. I'm just wondering if others have experienced this issue and how was it resolved?

It's pretty common in parts of the northern U.S. and in Canada Pop vs. soda

I was on a cruise from Auckland to New Zealand earlier this year, and instead of the usual $250 US for the Shareholder obc, it was only $250 AUD. Same thing for the Future Cruise Deposit obc.

I've had a similar problem to the OP, where the App doesn't recognize my Elite status and doesn't give the 50% discount. On my last cruise, I spoke to one of the agents who are supposed to help with Medallion app issues. They said to go ahead and purchase at full price, and I would get the 50% discount once on board as OBC. I did that, but I had a hard time convincing the person at passenger services that I should be getting a discount. She was adamant that I shouldn't get it. I did eventually get it, but only after going to passenger services a couple of times and arguing with them. For my next cruise, I'm going to wait and purchase the internet while on board!

Here are a couple of photos of the Crown Princess passing by Victoria this morning.

I asked my server at Alfredos on the Majestic, and he said they supplied the pizza for the buffet. I guess it's just not as fresh out of the oven when it's at the buffet.