cruisingrob21

I found it worse on aft deck outside the lido where I ate almost all my meals. It reminded me of the music piped into just about every vegas casino. As I was trying to take a few work calls, the background sound made it pretty bad. Unfortunately my cabin was kind of a dead spot for wifi so while the calls worked great in the area aft of the lido, it was too loud to stay focused.

In my past experience, they leave when they are full - there are several in the Vancouver cruise terminal that will be waiting near the luggage collection area. Yes, the trip is commonly that long - sometimes a bit shorter if the border wait isn't long - sometimes a bit longer if it is or there is traffic. Maybe look on the Princess boards as more people have probably discussed it there as well.

Agree with everything you said. After sailing on 3 royal class ships as my last 3 cruises, I think I may be done with those Princess ships. I'll sail on some of the smaller ones or on HAL. There are really no climate controlled viewing areas on upper decks on the Royal class (sans the Majestic), other than the lido. Since I don't use the elevator, the hoofing from main public areas to the upper level public areas is quite a trek. The biggest recent dissapointment for me is how Princess is now piping in top 40 music into pretty much all public areas, at all times of the day (except for perhaps the lido area where its typically loud anyways). My last HAL trips on the Eurodam and Amsterdam were nice in that I could always find a quiet place to read (tamarind bar during the day is a favorite). Princess used to play some more instrumental music that was at least pleasant, if unremarkable. I also continue to appreciate the minimal passenger interaction in the buffet on HAL - especially in this age of covid/noro - I'd rather have a crew member serve my plate rather than share utensils with 3600 people (I'm exaggerating of course). One thing Princess has stepped up are some of its interactive games and shows - the Deal or No Deal show was pretty fun even if you weren't participating with the card from the casino to "play along" and some of the other less prop heavy contests and games were very enjoyable. The next class of princess ships will be 4k passengers - pass.

I cruised the Alaskan sampler in early may on the discovery. As I was going solo, I ate almost entirely on deck 16 and nearly always outside by the main pool or aft pool deck. I wore a mask in all public areas that was not N95, but a double layer cloth mask with a microfiber layer. Not sure if that's worth anything at all. I never ride the elevator on ships, and this was no exception, but it really makes me detest how large the royal class ships are. I had booked a cabin on deck 16 but was upgraded to a balcony on deck 8. It was very nice to have a balcony but with pretty minimal outdoor areas on deck 7, I spent most of my time on the upper decks. Since the incubation period is about 5 days it seems, I think the odds of contracting covid while enroute are higher than when onboard. For most, that would align with showing symptoms on days 4 or 5 of your trip.

Just received notice that our Jul 9th voyage on the Eurodam has a 3pm departure from Seattle. Also, Alaskan sampler on the Crown in Sept also has a 3pm departure. I think some of these adjustments must be due to reduce speeds and save fuel when sailing to Juneau because as far as I know the Eurodam has no issues currently and has a higher top speed.

Princess really needs to come clean on this issue - convert the Crown to 10 day voyages so she can reliably make her stops and let any passengers who can't make that work go to the Discovery. It's wishful thinking if Princess thinks they are selling full ships this summer. Alternatively, re-brand the crown to just sail a PNW itinerary with visits in Vancouver, Victoria, Astoria, Nanaimo, and perhaps Prince Rupert. Give passengers who want "ALASKA" the chance to go to the Discovery Aren't the Diamond and Sapphire still crew-only - both are sailing around in the eastern med? They should be getting one of those ships ready very quickly and bringing it over to replace the crown for the remainder of the season. Summer Alaska bookings aren't great this year - and most ships are not sailing full, hence the really impressive last minute drop and go fares we are seeing. There are simply too many ships there this summer with only tepid demand. I feel bad for people who are coming to Alaska for the first time on Princess - they are not getting a "great" experience that Princess normally provides in Alaska.

Seeing has how thats a "coastal" voyage, part of a longer voyage, in years past. HAL usually only sells "GTY" on those voyages. After the covid restart they seemed to be selling specific cabins on those voyages but perhaps that has now changed. It provides them maximum flexibility when selling the longer voyage. In that case, it looks like its a 6 day voyage, an 18 day voyage, and a 17 day voyage.

I think the CDC/cruise lines missed a golden opportunity early last year to get some volunteers on a ship for 7 days with daily testing and observe how the virus transmits itself among a mixed group of vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated passengers. They'd get a good picture of asymptomatic vs symptomatic passengers. As many like the paint cruise ships as "floating petri dishes", we may as well as embrace it and learn from it. It seems like a perfect living laboratory to study.

We had it in a minisuite on the Sky in Feb 2020. The kids slept on it and they didn't complain - I didn't try it for more than a few minutes so I can't comment on if it was comfortable for an adult for a full night. Note that the "pullout" is basically another twin bed - maybe a bit wider? But its not the full couch. You might be better off switching to two obstructed view cabins that connect.