SiliconCruiser

On the second formal night we were greeted in the MDR (immediately after being seated) that there would be a $19 upcharge if you ordered more than one helping of the beef tenderloin and lobster (they didn't even call it "surf & turf". The waitress was very kind and accommodating (20 year veteran of Princess) and thought it best to give us fair warning. We do not fault the wait staff, only new Princess penny pinchers.

"The Alaska Cruise Companion: A Naturalist's Guide to Alaska's Inside Passage" by Rachel Cartwright is owned by Princess. It is being sold on the Princess ships in Alaska for $25 plus change, they often have it posted for $22.99, but they'll still ring it up at the $25 price unless you challenge them on the posted price.

Say away, far far away.

Wow! The last time we saw crab (of any kind) on the menu was on an Alaskan cruise on the Grand in 2016. I think we had about 11 orders for our table of 6 (I had the beef offering and only one order of King crab.)

Just occurred to me that we'll be on that cruise as well.

[What ship are you on? I thought Princess normally docked at Pier 91. Need to confirm as we will also have friends meeting us at the port.] Please disregard. Just found out that Pier 66 is used for port calls (makes sense, they dump the tourist near the downtown area.) They use Pier 91 for ships that are ported in Seattle.

Yup, often there is beef tenderloin on the MDR menu, along with the surcharged 6oz Filet Mignon ... go figure!

That's just one of the beef tenderloin presentations and it's usually on a Formal night (used to be on Lobster night.) It is also usually on the menu for lunch in the MDR on turnaround days

But in the Crown Grill, you can get filet mignon. All you get in the MDR is beef tenderloin ... 🤣

#20 bus goes from HNL to Pier 2, $3. Like all public transit, the buses are equipped with ADA ramps, and you can roll your luggage on board. Since it is an airport bus, it may also be equipped with luggage racks.

The mattress is a foam mattress, without a box spring. The bed frames are constructed to accommodate 2 pullman suitcases under each bed (the queen is actually two singles pushed together with a strip to mask the separation of the two mattresses.) This applies to all of the Princess ships.

If everyone shows a disinterest in the China produced Stanley Bears, they'll probably show up as clearance items. I don't really know, just spent a few years in corporate marketing, and this is something at the retail level.

In response to the title of the thread No response from Princess C/S or senior management Were you actually expecting a response? I think it is commonplace logic these days to expect that companies are grasping at survival threads, rather than being sensitive to existing customers. I know that it isn't the way that established businesses operated in the 20th Century, but there appears to be a new breed in town who thinks that screwing the customer will get brand acceptance. (I think it is from the school of business from the University of Beijing.)

But packing my tuxedo, the appropriate accompaniments, along with the shoes and jewelry ... just so that I can stand out like the proverbial sore thumb made think twice.

I plan on using the laundromats on turnaround days or the last/first days since we're on a B2B2B and another B2B later. If they're free, or if they'll give us tokens at the guest dis-service desk so much the better. I'm a little leary of the free laundry service, biggest fear is that they'll toss a suit or tux into hot water.

Where did you hear of this? Granted I think he's done a bit of damage to the brand, but any idiot in the business world knows you shouldn't hire a politician where they can make decisions that will influence actual operations. You put them in powerless positions and pay them for political favors ...

I usually pack a 27" to under 50#. It just ends up that way. But you should have no problems getting on a public transit bus with it. We took a 20" and a 27" on Muni to CalTrain a couple of months ago (experiment to see if we had any issue with using public transit.)

My experience is that they issue the credit quickly (within hours), but I've never received any kind of acknowledgement that the credit had been issued.

Shouldn't be a problem, all public transit has to be ADA accessible (for federal funding). The bus should have an ADA ramp for wheelchairs and other mobility issues. You can just ask them to deploy the ramp (anyone can make that request).

Probably before 7AM for disembarking passengers. For embarkation, usually around 10:30 unless they have a problem with the zero count.

As others have stated, on an Alaskan cruise, you'll only need it if you take the Skagway to Whitehorse train excursion (book off the ship, it will be much cheaper.) US CBP will want to see the passport when you cross back into the U.S. You won't need the passport when the ship ports for the PVSA port, as the ship will transmit all that information to CBSA prior to docking. The next time you'll need it is after you disembark and go back into the U.S. If you're flying out of YVR, US CBP will be at the airport, your flight will be treated as a domestic flight when it arrives at your destination.

It's okay to me, the company was originally founded on ethical business practices and has a reputation for treating their employees fairly while providing a living wage, something that cannot be attributed to most retailers. But I do have concerns with their new management and the path that they are pursuing, since I've seen it before with so many membership stores over the past 50+ years (none of those stores are around anymore.) More recently Costco Travel has gone to bat for me twice in trying to get a refund for a transfer that I had cancelled. They tried twice to get it refunded and it sounded like they were getting a run-around. I finally just disputed the amount with the credit card company and it was suddenly resolved quickly. There was also another transfer that I canceled and realized they had charged me an additionally $25, but they did actually refund the inflated amount (took 24 hours with that one.)

It is indeed more common on the European cruises, but bear in mind that there are also a lot of non-Europeans on those cruises as well. That said, a Baltic cruise was the last time I packed a tuxedo.

I suspect that is one of the reasons why Costco now gives Cash cards directly to the client rather than fooling around with OBC. Besides, it means that the amount would have to be spent at Costco rather than on board the ship 😉. That said though, Princess' own OBC seems to be posted correctly pre-cruise.

A natural born U.S. citizen can travel on a closed loop cruise with a photo ID and an certified copy of their birth certificate, though it could become an issue if they had to stay at a PVSA port due to an illness or other emergency. Those credentials cannot be used to return to the U.S. by a conveyance other than a cruise ship. Also, please note (again) that this is only applicable to natural born U.S. citizens and is not applicable to naturalized citizens that immigrated from another country.