Ken the cruiser

If anyone is interested, I’ve started my Live From thread and will be heading to Vancouver on Monday!

Here’s what the excursions look like on our upcoming May 8 Alaska cruise. Now I will say we have had excursions booked at each port since we booked this cruise well over a year ago, and most of them have gone up in price, some over $100 pp. But there was one excursion with the discount that saved us $10 pp. We originally booked it at $179 pp and the new price was $169 pp. So we canceled and rebooked the excursion.

We definitely enjoyed getting those double Mariner points when we would book a VS on the smaller HAL ships like the Zaandam, which definitely helped to get us to 4-star quicker. That and booking HAL excursions! But then we do like the option of having free laundry when we're on one of their longer cruises! 😉

I just checked the weather forecast for our arrival at Sitka on May 4th. Without a doubt, we're definitely glad we're bringing our cold weather clothing, as it will probably feel even chillier with the forecasted 15 mph winds from the northwest! 🥶

Thanks. On the Koningsdam, there appears to be both Vista Suites and smaller veranda cabins, with the VS being sold at the same price as the VS on the Zaandam cruise.

I realize it's been a while since we have cruised with HAL. But the last time we were on the Zaandam in 2018 in one of their Vista Suites, they were basically just regular verandas located on decks 6 or 7, other than you get double Loyalty cruise day points. Has something changed?

FWIW in most cases Princess excursion prices usually go up, sometimes quite significantly, the closer you get to cruise time. I know, who knew!! In our case 9 of the 10 PCL excursions we have booked had gone up. However, there was one that dropped $10 per person (from $279 to $269 pp) and there were seats still available. So we cancelled the existing 2 reservations and immediately rebooked them saving a whopping $20! 🕺💃 The nice part is when we initially cancelled the original reservations, the refunded funds were immediately provided in OBC which we subsequently used to rebook the same excursions moments later rather than having to pay the "new" excursion fees with our credit card. I'm also guessing since we're so close to going on the cruise, the extra $20 will be made available as refundable OBC in our shipboard account once we board the May 8th leg of our cruise where the excursion is booked. Just thought I'd pass this experience along in case someone was curious what happens when you cancel and rebook a PCL excursion to take advantage of a drop in price.

So true. Just like when someone pays $75 pp/day for Celebrity's cheaper Basic Internet and the Classic Drink packages when they book one of their cruises with the All Included package. 🙂

I seem to be missing what this thread is suggesting. When I did a mock booking today on the NCL website, it still says "Excl. taxes, fees and port expenses, they will be added at checkout." after the Subtotal entry. Where should I be looking to see the taxes/fees?

Thanks for the heads-up, as knowing the estimated times when we might pass through Johnstone Strait helps. Now, whether we see any wildlife or awesome scenery as we pass through is another story. But then for us it's all about the "hunt" for memorable photos as well as having a great time while on a cruise! On our recent Antarctica/SA cruise, I was surprised when I woke up briefly to see we were cruising through Beagle Channel's Glacier Alley around 5:30 am with no pre-notification from the ship. Another time as we were cruising from Iceland to Greenland, we went out on the balcony just before midnight where we watched some Northern Lights for about 10-15 minutes.

No problem. We will definitely be attending all of the lectures and will provide a brief summary of who was the lecturer and what was discussed.

I was just reading about Johnstone Strait. Pretty fascinating, especially with the potential of seeing so much wildlife on our first day after leaving Vancouver. Luckily, we’ll be cruising through this narrow passage 3 times! 😁 Johnstone Strait is a deep and narrow glacier-carved passage located between the east coast of Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, extending roughly from Telegraph Cove in the north to Rock Bay in the south. Johnstone Strait serves as an important thoroughfare for marine vessels that include cargo freighters and cruise ships bound for Alaska in the summer months. Johnstone Strait is home to the largest resident pod of killer whales (orcas) in the world, with a population of approximately 200 whales. There is no better place to view these amazing marine mammals. In addition to the orcas that can be viewed around Robson Bight, Johnstone Strait offers up a wide variety of other marine life, including minke, humpback and grey whales, Pacific white sided dolphins, harbour porpoises, Dall’s porpoises, harbour seals and Steller’s sea lions. Bald eagles and an abundance of seabirds will also be encountered in the area. https://vancouverisland.com/plan-your-trip/regions-and-towns/vancouver-island-bc-islands/johnstone-strait/

I just took a sneak peek at the NOAA Northern Lights forecast for the next 2 nights and wouldn't it be awesome if there was a similar forecast while we were on the cruise! NOAA Aurora Viewline for Tonight and Tomorrow Night

We are Elite+ and my DW will be so excited when she hears hot chocolate is free at Al Bacio, as we will no longer book a cabin with the All Included package and get our bottled water and glasses of wine during Happy Hour!

That's a very good point on the theater seating, especially if you go to the early show. We usually arrive 20-30 minutes early to get the seats we want and play gin while waiting for the show to begin. However, if you happen to arrive only 5-10 minutes early, especially if it's a good show, most of the good seats are usually pretty much gone.

Nope. Well, they have a separate Reserve Dining area and get to have breakfast in Sabatini’s, and if you optionally purchase their Princess Plus package for $60 pp/day, you get free drinks, gratuities and unlimited internet. But Princess does have awesome Vista Suite cabins, with huge fully-covered aft-facing balconies on their Grand-class ships, with some pretty cool perks, for a lot less than a Sky Suite cabin on a similar itinerary. For example, with the Princess Plus package included, the Alaska cruise we’re getting ready to go on runs around $425 pp/day (with the Plus package) whereas a similar cruise in an S2 Sky Suite costs around $645 pp/day with a refundable deposit.. And best of all, you don’t have to pay extra for butler service! 😁

FWIW for those that may not have noticed on my initial post, I added a link to some of the entries to provide more information (e.g., detailed wildlife information, excursion description, etc.) regarding that particular underlined entry.

Understand. The comments on this thread just reminded me of this unusual moment in time. Funny thing was, there were still slots available to book a ship transfer to the airport when we arrived that day in Reykjavik. I'm sure there are plenty of private means of getting to the Seattle airport at a reasonable price.

This is not meant to sway you in either direction. The above examples of taking a taxi or Uber to the airport reminded me of when we arrived at Reykjavik, Iceland back in August 2022 on transition day of our B2B. As we were headed out on a ship excursion, this was the line of folks disembarking the ship that we’re waiting for a taxi or any other private means of transportation to the airport. Unfortunately, there were two other ships in port that day disembarking passengers as well.

Here's a fun Alaska memory to look back on. While I was stationed there in the early 70s, a small amount of marijuana in your home became legalized through the court system because in Alaska "your home is considered your castle", which includes your personal space such as the clothes you are wearing, and you can pretty much do what you want in "your castle". What triggered it was a lawyer purposely got pulled over for speeding with an ounce of MJ on his person and wouldn't sign the ticket causing him to be searched and subsequently arrested. Like I said, the memories have come rushing back, especially when we tested that law in my barracks room! 🤣 Ravin v. State - Wikipedia

OTOH we are low stress cruisers. We usually book the ship-to-airport transfer in advance and then just head to the bus after disembarking the ship, have the driver stow our luggage, find a seat in the back of the bus, and kick back and enjoy the ride. Now, if there is enough time for an excursion on the way to the airport, we will usually book one of their enhanced transfers as the cost is usually pretty reasonable. Princess Cruises - Port - Seattle, Washington

Ah yes. The memories coming rushing back, especially when driving around in sub-zero temperatures waiting for the air-cooled engine to start producing warm air through the heat vents! 🤣

Thanks! FWIW I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB back in the early 70s when there was only around 100,000 people living in Anchorage. Now there is almost 300,000 and homes are starting to be built on the nearby mountain sides. But I still remember seeing the underbelly of a moose walking along the streetside as I was "slowly" driving by in my VW minivan. Ah yes, Alaska can definitely leave some lasting impressions, that's for sure! 😊

Thanks! We like both Princess and Celebrity, but for different reasons. It also helps that we’re now Elite on Princess, Elite+ on Celebrity, and 4-star on HAL, as we love free laundry! In the case of Alaska cruises like the one we're getting ready to embark on, Princess was our number one choice not only for the variety of cruising destinations, but also because of the reasonable fare we paid for one of their aft-facing Vista Suites. However, HAL has a new Alaska 28-day “single-itinerary” cruise that includes going up the Bering Strait to Nome as well as a bunch of other stops at ports off the normal beaten path! But I will say our first Alaska cruise back in 2013 was on the Celebrity Solstice, and we had an awesome time on their 7-day RT cruise out of Seattle. We’ve also been on Disney and HAL cruises to Alaska, and had a great time on their 7-day cruises as well. But this time we’ll be cruising around up there for 22 days and are super excited, even though it’s forecasted to be a little chilly on embarkation day in Vancouver as well as for most of the cruise! 🥶

For those interested in following along on our upcoming 22-day Alaska cruise on the Grand Princess, I just started the following Live From thread.