PurpleTraveller

Wonderful photos! Having never been to Alaska before we are really looking forward to our cruise. Hope you have a great cruise and thanks for your good wishes. 😊

The Hubbard excursion just became available for my cruise. Thanks for letting me know so that I could keep checking. Can look forward to the cruise now. 🛳️

Thanks for this. I'll keep checking regularly until it appears as I'm quite interested in doing this excursion. Thanks again. 😊

Thanks for letting me know. I just checked for my cruise and even though it has the box "View Excursions" for Hubbard when I click to go into the excursions it says that there are no excursions available. I'll keep watching. So pleased that you were able to book your Hubbard excursion.

Still nothing for Hubbard on my excursion list yet. I'm just so glad that I've been able to book the two excursions I wanted. I'll let you know when any excursion appears for Hubbard for my cruise. 😊

I was also able to book the two excursions that I wanted for my June 2, 2023 cruise. Glad you were also able to book your excursions. Happy sailing. 🛳️

Not so far for June 2 and I check every day. They have added excursions for Icy Strait Point but still can't book any.

This is very interesting as I've been told by numerous customer service representatives at Princess and my PVP that gratuities are not included and that I would have to pay them on board or prepay them. If I do decide to take the Princess Plus package I will definitely go to the service desk to get them to enter the code. I wonder what happens for anyone who doesn't know to go to the service desk? Thank you for reporting about your actual experience on board.

I just checked for my June 2 cruise and still can not book any excursions. Hopefully will be able to book soon. Pleased you have been able to book your excursions. Hope you have a great cruise! 🛳️

As an Australian with an Alaskan cruise booked I have been discussing this issue with my PVP and Princess. Australians do not get gratuities included in the Princess Plus or Premier packages. For $50.00 per person per day for Princess Plus we only get one internet device and drinks up to $12.00. No-one at Princess can tell me why gratuities are not included for Australians. Gratuities will still be added to my on board account for my Alaskan cruise and any other cruises outside of Australia and New Zealand. For myself as a none drinker the Princess Plus package is not worth while and I will simply buy an occasional drink, use my 50% off internet device and pay gratuities.

An update for my previous comment that I could book excursions for my Crown Princess June 2, 2023 cruise. I was incorrect as I have tried to book an excursion for Skagway and was unable to do so as I got an error message. I rang Princess and they are also unable to book the excursion. They do not know why. Quite annoying! I wonder if it is something to do with Crown Princess excursions or are other ships also having this problem with excursions?

I can't help with the Alaska side of your questions but I am booked on Crown Princess on June 2, 2023 from Vancouver which has a very similar itinerary except that it does not include Glacier Bay and includes Victoria. This could be another option for you. https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?s_tnt=471913%3A0%3A0&adobe_mc_sdid=SDID%3D2A3BBEED1EC15C17-2F091C3E82313141|MCORGID%3D21C91F2F575539D07F000101%40AdobeOrg|TS%3D1664918740&voyageCode=3313N

Well that's annoying! The excursions that have appeared on my cruise for Sitka and Juneau can be booked so maybe it is a glitch in the system for your cruise. Good luck and I hope you have a great cruise.

Another option would be to get the train from Circular Quay to Katoomba as FeeBeeH described and get the Blue Mountains Hop On Hop Off Explorer Bus at Katoomba train station. They also have a one hour bus tour option. https://www.explorerbus.com.au/

Glad to see that you are starting to see availability for some shore excursions starting to appear. Hopefully more excursions will appear soon. Hope you have a great cruise. 🛳️

Since posting earlier today a few shore excursions for Sitka and Juneau have just shown for my cruise. There is still nothing for Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan, Victoria or Vancouver. Maybe they are just starting to make shore excursions available now and will add more soon for mine and other cruises.

I am booked on Crown Princess for June 2, 2023 and can not book any shore excursions yet.

Thank you! I'm really pleased that you enjoyed the review. Reflection is a lovely ship and I hope you have a wonderful cruise if you book for December. 😊

Norris, your Celebrity reviews definitely didn't steer me wrong. I can't wait to book my next Celebrity cruise and I'm very interested in Iceland as I haven't been there yet. I'm a big fan of trying different ships even though I've been on Crown Princess before. Hope you have a wonderful cruise on Apex and enjoy seeing your family. I also do my reviews after my cruises as I'm too busy having a wonderful time while on the cruise. I'll look forward to your review and photos. Maybe you'll have to buy a new camera! 😀 Happy sailing. Allison 🛳️

Hi Norris, Lovely to hear from you! Thanks for reading my review and dropping in. I was encouraged to try Celebrity after reading your wonderful reviews of your Celebrity cruises and I am so glad that I did. It was a fantastic cruise and visited beautiful ports. I have booked my next cruise to go to Alaska in June 2023 on Crown Princess. We have never been on an Alaskan cruise before so are really looking forward to it. I just reread your Alaskan reviews to get some ideas and to enjoy your wonderful photos. I will look forward to reading your review of your Apex cruise. I have always wanted to go to Iceland and are looking for my next Celebrity cruise. Thanks again. Allison

Many Australian Travel Insurance policies do not cover Covid when on a cruise and particularly if there is a Smart Traveller travel warning. I used NIB Travel Insurance when in Europe on a cruise earlier this year and it did not cover for any destination with a "Do Not Travel" warning. Good luck with your search and please report back if you find a Travel Insurance policy that does cover Covid for destinations with a travel warning.

Or maybe many people are just giving up because they are sick and tired of ringing and getting nowhere or emailing and getting no response! I have rung numerous times to get "try again later" and emailed but received no reply. At this stage I have given up and I will not waste any more of my time trying to resolve this issue.

Thank you so much! I'm glad that you enjoyed the review and it is great that the review is helping with your planning. This is a wonderful itinerary and I'm sure that you'll enjoy the great ports. I hope you have a fantastic cruise next year!

We also did the 17 days on Regal in June 2014. That was our first cruise and had such a wonderful time we were hooked. We have cruised every year since then (well except for 2020 and 2021 due to Covid). It is so good to be cruising again! We are really excited to do an Alaskan cruise and we are combining it with some time in Canada and visiting friends near Seattle. So another great trip to plan and look forward to! Hope you have a wonderful cruise! 🛳️

Thanks! So glad you enjoyed the review and photos. We did have a wonderful time and would very happily sail again on Reflection in the future. Cabin 8106 is great but you will get noise and vibration when docking or mooring. Despite this we loved this cabin and would stay there again. Hope you have a wonderful cruise next year. 🛳️