Qcruise

Beware of far forward cabins as we discovered the ONE TIME we booked a "guarantee" balcony aboard the Crown last year.  We were assigned on Caribe deck which we were thrilled about,  however the cabin was second behind the bridge and the first two days we got rough seas to the point where my wife did not want to walk up the our cabin one evening.  Imagine your floor rising up some 40' under your feet then dropping out from under you again.....not fun.  Learned our lesson that time,  we book the cabin we want......and midship or at least front midship works better.

It's a fifteen minute walk from the ship......

On 6/3/2019 at 6:43 AM, fyree39 said:

I remember the first time we drove to LA in the late '70s.  We arrived in the early evening when it was still light out and settled in at a family member's house for the night.  The next morning the smog had cleared enough for me to see the mountains to the east.  The smog was so bad the day before the mountains weren't visible.

 

I love the California Coastal cruises, prices be damned. Why do people love to hate on California?  What have we done to you, anyway?

 

Agreed for sure about the "smog"....I grew up against those mountains by days end we'd all have what we called "smog throat" where our lungs hurt so bad to inhale.  I't s environmental strides aside,  the cost of living is driving us Cali born folks away.

There is a Chart House just down from your pier where your ship will be docked.......at least it's walkable for you....it's on the pier where all the restaurants and carrosell is.......we love it and are Landry's members.....just another option.

We just took that Amtrak train from Portland to Tacoma and while it was maybe 15 minutes late per their schedule, as far as reliability I would be quite comfortable with your timeline.  While we always arrive a day early your plan seems reasonable.....enjoy your cruise.

Temps for Long Beach in October can be roasting or cool......we get "Santa Ana" wind conditions that can get quite warm.  Ocean temps will be in the sixties.

Anytime dining begins around 515pm and you'll need to get there by 530 to get your 2 top without a wait.  After the room fills up you can't get in until 715 to 730 as the tables open up.  You can call the dining line at 8am each morning to reserve a table but your choices will be 515,  530 or 730......they do not reserve any other times.  If you need a 2 top you'll need to wait sometimes.

Do you have set traditional dining or anytime dining for your cruise......?

We were a group of six one couple elite one platinum and one blue.....they let all of us board with our elite friends......first group.  This was early April aboard the Royal.......pier 91.

It seems to be totally random as to when and which ships are changed out.  On the Ruby this year back in February we had a new bed.....it was fabulous.  In April on the Royal no new bed......but we heard some had new beds.  Sailing the Star in September and although we know they're selling her in 2021 and are not installing medallion on her I would hope it will have a new bed.  We're working towards Elite are platinum now so would hope they will update the fleet at least.....as you say three years is just stupid.

Now that I'm thinking of it.....yes....I just had to correct our personalizer for the second time.  Thought is was weird.....interesting it's happening to more than just me.  I need to check again......how odd.  

13 hours ago, lx200gps said:

'fraid not. We're currently on the Royal, and the card came with the room and Stewart doe not touch it. It stays in the slot at all times and you don't have to remove, and in fact aren't supposed to remove it. The card says "Please keep card inserted. Stateroom upgrades include low energy environmentally friendly lighting and TV". If you do remove it, the lights do go off.

That's correct.....we were aboard the Royal in April ....the card stays in the slot as you said.....however OUR steward would pull it up and set it half out of slot so it would not activate the lighting,  thus saving power.  When we returned to our stateroom we would need to set it into slot correctly to activate the lights.  Maybe YOUR steward does not do this.

I can tell you they're not all changed out on the Royal as of April.......ours was old and lumpy.....but I heard some were new.

4 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

That's interesting because having the electricity "on" all the time defeats the original purpose of why those slots were installed.

He will take it out and angle it in the socket so the lights go off.....when you come in you must put it in correctly to get lights on

there is one in the slot at all times now taken care of by your room steward.......

Standard practice.....not manditory .......we usually arrive around 11am and are on by noon or so.......they try to stagger people to better manage crowds.

Our first cruise ever was a spring break to Mexico.....took the entire family including gramma......it was way less $$$ than a land based Hawaii which I was researching at the time.  The year was 2005 on the Diamond and there were 800 children on board with our then 10 year old twin sons.  So yes,  Princess does get folks on board for spring break......I would think more families and not the college crowd......they would go with other lines for obvious reasons.

Got the text from my wife......she sees it.....yes, I'm sure it's out now......we were just aboard her two weeks ago.

Princess Facebook reporting a fire on the Royal in the incinerator room......anyone have information......??

Our experience was not good the one time we booked a "guarantee" balcony on Princess.  While they assigned us a Caribe deck balcony which has the larger balconies,  this one was directly behind the bridge starboard side on the Crown.  It was a Caribbean cruise and the first two days happened to be high seas.....being that far forward made our life in that cabin challenging at best.  Imagine your floor dropping out from under you some forty feet,  then pushing back upward that far.  Never again ....we pay for a cabin in midship area we want.  Good luck.

Actually I heard RCI does not do West Coast any more due to high costs incurred by California port fees.  Leave it to California to drive away tourist income and business.....it's how they operate.....and I live here.....but not for much longer.

You will have a wait at that time slot......it fills up when it first opens at 5-530 then tables don't open up until around 7 to 730.  After your first night you can call the dining line at 8am in the morning and get reservations.....what we always heard two weeks ago for our party of six was ....."do you want 5,  5:15 or 7:30"......that's just how it is.  Traditional dining is 5:30 or 7:45pm.....or pay at Crown Grill or Sabatini's.......or buffet.

Some great things about Alaska in September......we saw the Northern Lights off our balcony at midnight out of Skagway because it's so late in the season better chance to see it.  Our sailing was the LAST sailing that year by that ship the next week it was going to Hawaii so everything on board for Alaska was being sold at 30% off regular price so we bought lots of great stuff to bring home,  we could have not packed any cold weather clothes and purchased it all then,  and all shops on land were selling cheap to close for the season.  We had two nice warm sunny days to have pool time as well.

On our last cruise two weeks ago we had one of our party missing his luggage.....it arrived late with a note that is was randomly inspected......be aware just like the airport your bags are suseptable to random search even if nothing suspected after xray.

Our overnight stay on board the Infinity in San Francisco is our favorite cruise.  We did it in October and weather was fabulous.....sailing under the GG bridge at around 4pm was wonderful,  and waking up to a view of Alcatraz and a shrouded GG bridge in the morning was the best.....hope you have a balcony.  We did this cruise in 2017 and at that time did not find a homeless/ pan handler problem in that area,  we had dinner on board then got off to walk the pier area at night.  The ship was open all night to come and go.  The next day we walked up the stairs to Coit tower as the ship is right below it.....thank God their is an elevator to get you to the top of the tower.....and I did it with a 5 month new right hip.  You'll enjoy it.