High C's

Wonderful review and fabulous pictures!  Huge thank you for taking the time to do this 🙂

25 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@High C's, Coral's post gave me a thought --- when is the exact date of your Hubbard visit?  Another reason that the excursion is not showing could be due to the fact that it is too late in the season to offer it. 

August 30th. Yes that’s likely the reason :(

3 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Hubbard Glacier:  We have visited Hubbard Glacier many times and always enjoyed our visits.  A few years back, Allen Marine began offering cruise lines an excursion that would allow their passengers to board an Allen Marine vessel for the purpose of getting a closer look at the glacier.  Princess lists the excursion as “Hubbard Glacier & Wilderness Exploration.”  We did this excursion last year and it was amazing, so we decided to repeat the experience again.  The cost of the tour was $299.95 each (less 10% Elite status discount).  

 

 

We are on the same itinerary starting Aug 25.  This tour at the Hubbard Glacier is not offered.  Is it something you can book on board the ship?  It sounds fabulous!

Thanks for doing this review!!! 🙂

Just booked a tour for the end of August.  So glad I read this post!  Thank you, OP, and everyone else that contributed! 🙂

37 minutes ago, Coral said:

Glacier Wind is amazing! https://www.g-wind.com

 

They have a 6 passenger and 13 passenger boat. 

 

Such a great family! Very caring. One of my friends had to cancel the trip and Teresa went out of her way to ask me how he was doing and how sorry she was that he couldn't go on the trip.

 

We also had Capt Casey and he is a wealth of knowledge. Very nice guy as well. All around great experience! One of my favorite whale watching experiences and I have done a ton of them. They will always be my first choice.

 

I posted this thread after my excursion with them:

 

 

@coral - have you been on both of their boats?  The day we are looking at has their earlier tour (9 am) still available.  The 9:45 is sold out.  I am going to assume the 9 am is the smaller of the two?

New to HAL so please pardon my lack of knowledge.  I want to book a cruise for this summer, and a $1 deposit sounds almost too good to be true!!!!  I also want to book Club Orange, and take advantage of being bumped up within the category.  Is it possible to do that on line as well at the same time?  Or do I make the reservation, and then call in to add CO and select my new cabin?  Many thanks in advance.

21 hours ago, winncruiser said:

Is Godwin still onboard a Princess ship?

He was on the Emerald on our recent cruise in August.  He is the BEST!

1 hour ago, Coral said:

So glad to hear this! I know some that were on your cruise also.

Hope they enjoyed it like we did.  This is the 2nd time we've done BI, and I could easily do it again (and likely will!!!!).  We thoroughly enjoyed the Emerald.  Thought the staff were stellar.  We didn't allow the little "first world problems" (ie not having the wine we wanted, etc) to bother us.  Recognized  that the crew worked VERY hard to make it as enjoyable as it was, and accepted things as they came.  

We disembarked this morning.  LOVED this cruise!  The crew was one of the best we've ever had.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did! 🙂

If it helps, we sailed from Southampton on Emerald Princess Aug 13.  All we had to do was attest that we had taken a test within the past 3 days and that it was negative, as well as show proof of vaccination.  Our friends who boarded also experienced the same.  

I agree the wording pertaining to voyages beyond Sep 6 is confusing.  We will also be on the Enchanted crossing, and we are very glad we leave before the 6th! 🙂 

22 hours ago, Ombud said:

Request: if boarding in SOUTHAMPTON between now & August 30th, can you please let me know if the port authorities (or check in personnel if done by Princess) requested a copy of your covid test results?? Princess is all over the board:

Website -> not needed, attest only

Chat -> added ArriveCAN.  I don't go anywhere near Alaska

CVP -> medically assisted test needed

We boarded the Emerald Aug 13 in Southampton, and were asked VERBALLY if we had taken the test.  And had to show proof of vaccination.  That is all.  We got the email sometime between Aug 5-12 (didn't notice date, but we were "off the grid" on the QM2 without internet, so it came as a delightful surprise!!)

1 hour ago, North West Newbie said:

 

Here's a link Flexible booking terms.

Thanks.  Tried to connect via the link.  Took me Cunard's page but told me "the page cannot be found".  Do you recall what it said?

8 hours ago, Tiki_Koro said:

You asked if the terrorist activities (bombings) were covered on our tour, and they were. Our tour guide explained that both the IRA and UDA have been proscribed by your government and designated as terrorists by my government.  I am sure the topic is much more sensitive to you and those who live in England and Northern Ireland who were impacted by the attacks, and I hope my coverage was respectful and did not downplay either side's violence or culpability. 

You are extremely articulate and very well spoken.  Thank you. 🙂

On 7/30/2022 at 11:21 AM, DrGonzo said:

I was speaking with someone at Cunard today and she said that there will be another announcement regarding pre-cruise testing on August 1st. She wouldn’t elaborate but I’m guessing it will be about departures from the USA, since all the other cruise lines have started to make USA-specific announcements recently.

I assume nothing was announced today?  Or have I missed something?

4 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

The pax is from the UK and claiming for a missed port is available on some cruise insurance policies over here. I know we can add it to our standard cruise policy for an additional charge.

Oh ok!  I did not realize that.  Many thanks for the clarification. 🙂

Just now, PacnGoNow said:

That really depends on your insurance. I have never filed for it, because PCL has always credited us.  I’ve had other cruise lines that did not reimburse, RCL for one.

.

Yes, I agree for reimbursement for costs you do NOT get reimbursed for.  But I was just clarifying that, as far as I know, you do not automatically get some kind of reimbursement simply for missing a port.

3 hours ago, Suite Susie said:

Everybody has also had their Port charges refunded on their accounts too and if you have Cruise Insurance you will also be able to claim for a missed port.  It was a win, win for us as we probably wouldn’t have got off anyway. 

Do you mean claim for any expenses that you cannot get a refund for?  Because I can't imagine insurance would pay out simply because you miss a port.  Its in every cruise contract that there is a likelihood that could happen, at the Captain's discretion.

Quick question - do we remain in our cabins until our level is called?  Or do we have to vacate the cabin and meet in an appointed common area to wait for our disembarkation time?

Just a guess here, but I think at the OP referenced the "unlimited Amex card" in an effort to explain that it wasn't lack of credit that caused her attempted purchase to be declined.  If you think about it, the staff would not have accepted the credit card in the first place, so it would never have reached the "declined" status in the first place.

And I'm all for understanding that cruise lines are currently under staffed and that we all have to be more patient than perhaps some may usually be, but for a Manager to knowingly close the kitchen while a customer still had not received their food is not a matter of being "understaffed" - it is incompetence.

Just my opinion.

@Jersey42 - THANK YOU!  Your summary, along with the input from others, really helps me.  I am going to paste it to my "notes" to refer to.  Again - many thanks to ALL 🙂

Just now, Steelers36 said:

Brilliant - as the Brits would say.

Thanks 🙂. As I get older, the head gets thicker.  Don't even get me started on the TV converter.......

Just now, Adventures ahead said:

The exception is 'texting' using 'iMessage'. With cellular data turned off iMessage still works whenever you connect to Wi-Fi. To send iMessages when not on wifi, your phone would use cellular data.

Oh!  So I can still use iMessage on board, even if I'm in airplane mode?

6 minutes ago, Billish said:

Texts are nothing to do with wifi/ internet. They come through your mobile phone service provider.

 

Thank you.  So I got that part right at least!!!! 🙂 

18 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, the MC App is for various ship functionalities.  It does require Wifi and is connected to the ship's INTRAnet.  So, you are not using INTERnet services at that point.  As long as you do not login to INTERnet in your browser app, you could have a PC logged in to INTERnet and your smartphone just using INTRAnet for MC App.  For me, I just have my phone logged in so I have INTERnet all the time as well and when I go to use my PC, I login there and it bumps me off my phone until I am done and re-login to the phone.

OK, I "think" I've got it.  For the INTERnet on my phone - I turn off my data (put on airplane mode) and then turn on wifi, correct?  That way I will not incur any data charges for texts, etc?  And to that point, texts do NOT come through when on wifi only - only when my data is turned on.  But I can use WhatsApp to communicate with home.  Do I have that straight????  (God I'm bad!!!! lol)

25 minutes ago, Billish said:

The Medallio  has nothing to do with wifi. It is just the equivalent of a key card.

So, to use the medallion app does not require wifi?  I realize the actual medallion itself is our old "key card", but to maximize the functionality, we use the app, correct?