no1racefan1

Decided to post an update on this topic based on my current experience... this morning I noticed the price of our current booking is down $109pp. We would lose $50pp OBC but all in after fee/insurance adjustments should still net gain about $144. I contacted Princess via Live Chat. The agent was willing to do the re-fare but she quoted me more than what was online. After asking her twice to give me a cost breakdown, I realized she was adding transfers to the total cost, which we do not have booked nor do we want. So, I asked her to remove the transfers. After she removed the transfers, she quoted me a total price LESS than what was on the website, and I realized she was including standard protection instead of platinum protection, which is what we currently have booked. She said she couldn't guarantee the protection plan wouldn't change when she did the re-fare. So, I said forget it and left it as is. I will probably call and talk to another agent and see if they can get this done for me, because $144 is still $144! But it is a lot of work. And I do wonder if she was just going to make an all new booking rather than just adjusting the price. That's what it sounded like.

I have a coworker who rents out her house one week a year during a very large, local event. Her and her husband plan that week as their vacation and go cruise around in their RV. I don't know what all she has to do to get the house prepared but they have rented it to the same group of people for several years now so I don't think she uses any kind of rental agency.

Funny/not funny story, one time our bags got sent to BLI (Bellingham) instead of BIL (Billings) and they had to ship them to our house because we live 1 1/2 hours away from Billings and were long gone by the time they arrived. I would be scared to book a ticket that included both those airport codes 😂

This could depend on the airline but yes, some do restrict this. United requires you to collect your bag if your layover is going to be more than 12 hours long.

We are going in mid-May 2024. Not only will the road most likely still be closed, but the park may not be fully operational for the season yet when we are there. For those of you familiar with the park--how much time would you allow just to drive the first 15 miles and do some of the hikes near the entrance? We're going to do a DIY land tour before our cruise, and I'm trying to figure out timing. I'm disappointed about the road closure, but this will be our 2nd cruise to Alaska and being we have a lot of other places on our bucket list, I don't know if/when we will go back. I want to be able to say I visited Denali NP, even if we just do a hike. (We're from Wyoming, and have had the pleasure of lots of wildlife viewing in our travels, so I'm not *as* disappointed as some others may be about the road closure.)

Thank you for posting a real, honest review! Actually, knowing gelato can count as a premium dessert makes it much more appealing. DH would definitely take advantage of that!

Man, I would totally pay $3 for GOOD, movie-theater style popcorn. That's one of the few extras on the ship I would spend money on! Not for the popcorn they are currently offering though...

I think this is MUCH less common...I've seen it mentioned occasionally on these boards but doubt it happens on a regular basis. I called Carnival on one of our cruises that dropped after final payment (I've never used a TA, just book direct) and they didn't give me the lower price, but they DID upgrade me to an aft balcony. So it was worth the call regardless. Worst they can do is say no!

449 days, if we can make it work!

Sorry, yes, I live in WY so my final destination will be Billings, MT before driving the rest of the way home. United is the ONLY airline that flies locally and since their prices are ridiculous right now, I'm going to plan for an Alaskan Airlines companion fare, which means we'll have to drive to MT to fly out. Thanks for the helpful replies, I honestly just didn't understand what the benefit would be of getting shuttled to Seattle just to fly from there. Sounds like it will mostly come down to pricing. I've only flown internationally once (Jamaica) and have only flown less than once/year and only as an adult, so I'm trying to become a more educated traveler!

TBH, I was trying to figure out what kind of spa service this entailed for DW! Glad you clarified 😄

It still doesn't make sense, it's no benefit to Princess...but I guess if they want to make everybody do twice the work, fine. I've only been on a handful of cruises (different lines) but every time I've been able to re-fare. Yes, understandably, if you re-fare, you have to accept whatever the new terms are regarding OBC, promos, etc. I've just never had to completely cancel and rebook a new cruise and new shore excursions. Hopefully I won't have to do this with the cruise I have booked for next year! (wishful thinking the price will come down)

That doesn't make any sense, as one could easily just cancel their current booking and rebook at the lower rate (as long as it's before final payment). I know you don't want to do that. I would probably try again with a different person.

I've just started researching and put a deposit down on a 2024 Alaskan cruise, departing from Whittier and ending in Vancouver. I've seen that Princess offers a bus (at $79pp) from Vancouver to Seattle for people who choose to fly home from Seattle. What is the advantage of this? Is it because it is often cheaper to fly out of Seattle? Is it because it would save time going through customs? Would you even have to go through customs in this case? I'm honestly just not super fluent in making these types of travel arrangements and wanted to know if I am missing an opportunity to save time and/or money. We will most likely have to stay the night in either Vancouver, Seattle, or our final destination, as it is still a 1 1/2 hour drive home, so I'm trying to gauge every angle to see what options might be available once it's time to book.

Maybe it's a cold weather state thing....lol. Drive thru coffee huts are normal here in WY and I've seen them in MT too.

@Anita LatteI remember reading your review a few years ago and just went back and re-read the whole thing (while it snows all day outside and I dream of being on vacation). I think we have very similar styles in terms of how we want to spend our time and money while traveling! I've got a lot of ideas now... thank you!

Thanks for all the replies so far! Our cruise departs May 18th so our DIY land portion would be prior to that. From the initial research I've done, it looks like we may be on the cusp of some NP services/areas being open. The kayaking sounds awesome and I'll definitely look into that! We are from Wyoming so we definitely have experience with long driving days and love to be outdoors. DH mentioned camping, but I'm more of a fair weather camper, so I don't know if that's something I want to do mid-May. But we are comfortable with rustic, no frills lodging if it saves us money to use on tours. We haven't made any decisions regarding rental car vs. train vs. other travel options. This will most likely be dictated by cost and availability to get where we want. I've definitely already got some good ideas here!

DH and I are in the early stages of planning an Alaska trip mid-May 2024. It's a Southbound on Princess, beginning in Whittier and ending in Vancouver. I'm thinking of flying into Anchorage 4-5 days early and doing some touring on our own. I'm looking for recommendations on visiting 1-2 national parks, if that would be possible. DH and I have a goal of visiting as many national parks as possible in our lifetimes, so I want to take advantage of our time in Alaska to cross a couple of our list. We'll sail through GB on our cruise. Wondering if anybody could give me information or insight into visiting 1 or 2 of the following: Lake Clark NP Katmai NP Kenai Fjords NP--maybe a Major Marine tour? Wrangell-St. Elias NP Denali NP--I was originally planning to definitely go here, but given time/budget constraints and the fact that it will be mid-May and also the fact that the road may still be closed...I don't know if it will be worth the time on this trip. I know we can't visit all of these in the short amount of time we have and I'm not looking to do that. Just looking for itinerary suggestions on how we could maybe visit one or two. We don't have to stay in Anchorage the whole time (although, I can get a few nights free at Hyatt, which is appealing). Budget is a consideration, i.e. we can't afford to do a flightseeing trip to every place....we'll have to save some of them for another trip 🙂

This is fun! I've never gone on a long cruise. But, I've seen people mention that they can get a discount from their auto insurance since their vehicle is parked in their garage for a period of time. This might apply more to even longer cruises, but maybe it's an option for cost savings. Gym membership or really any kind of auto memberships that can be paused (Netflix, etc.) Laundry/dry cleaning--unless you are paying for those on the cruise

This sounds awesome!

This is great, thanks! I was looking at that Chilkoot hike and you've sold me on it.

DH and I are thinking of booking Alaska in 2024 for our 15th anniversary. I'm wondering what is everybody's favorite Princess sponsored shore excursion in each of the Alaskan ports? I know a lot of people on these boards prefer independent excursions, and that's fine, but we have enjoyed every ship-sponsored excursion we've done and prefer to book that way for the convenience. Thus, I'm only looking for Princess shore excursion recommendations 🙂 Our very first cruise was to Alaska and we did helicopter/glacier dogsledding in Juneau, white pass railway in Skagway, and no excursion in Ketchikan. Looking for things that are different than those, and a bonus if they include being outside hiking, exploring, etc. We would probably be going end of May so I don't know if some excursions only operate certain time of year?

I was able to get tortilla chips on the buffet at lunch one day on my last cruise (4 years ago, mind you). I don't know if they were there all the time since that's the only time I visited the buffet, but I was pretty excited to find chips on the ship!

Which ships/cabins have bathtubs? What is the lowest category (i.e. cheapest) that I can book with a bathtub? Alternatively, which categories have jetted tubs and/or hot tubs for when I'm feeling rich some day? 😄 Not needed for accessibility reasons, DH just really likes baths and I'm sure would be delighted if I booked a cabin with a tub on our next cruise, whenever that is.

I live in Wyoming and the furthest I have flown to a departure port is Miami, approximately 2,400 miles. I have only driven to one (Seattle, approx. 950 miles). Haven't got to start checking off our non-North American bucket list yet.