Guindalf

Just to add to the fun of the flights, I forgot to add that we had a free trial of Clear, so e were expecting an easier time going through security. All was fine until the machine asked for a payment of $260 to continue! For a free trial? I don't think so! We had to get in the regular line and, until I was pulled out to a shorter queue due to my scooter. It all added to the frustration, but thankfully we were in plenty of time. This was when I found out that Alaska Air doesn't have a lounge in ATL! Day Two: Anyway, Day two was a sea day. I always seek out the Trivia and the first was at 10:00am (same time every day) and there were several throughout the say. Some were general knowledge and others were themed, like Friends, Harry Potter, Disney. etc., all with generic names (House of Mouse, for example) for copyright reasons. We won a few, lost a few and came close with others. We gave our prizes away when we won - anything from bottles of champagne to wine stoppers, water bottles and notebooks and we actually came dead last in the How I Met Your Mother quiz (we've never watched and were only there because it followed a different quiz). We scored zero and even then, we got losers prizes!

I would have made it that, were it true! We often sail in a balcony cabin, but since I use a mobility scooter, it gives us a little extra room!

I agree with every word! I haven't gotten as far as Bradley, our concierge, yet.

Pre-Cruise and Embarkation: We flew in on Saturday and stayed in the Baymont Hotel by the airport. The room was fine (an accessible one) and it was just fine. As Amazon Prime members, we get a free year of GrubHub plus, so we ordered my favorite Indian food. For those that know about food from this Asian sub-continent, we ordered very basic dishes, Chicken Korma and Shrimp vindaloo, along with rice and garlic naan. Now, where we live, it's impossible to get Indian food. The closet I can get is one very good Thai restaurant, which gets frequented regularly. The heat ratings were offered in six settings, going from one to six. We ordered a one for the Korma (for the DW) and a six for the Vindaloo for me. I was really drooling at the mouth, looking forward to my first Indian curry sine we sailed to the Mexican Riviera in February! $54 and almost an hour later, the order arrived - the driver had difficulty in reading a room number from the order. DW went to the restroom, so I opened the containers for both curries (for two reasons - one to see how they taste and two to make sure it wasn't too spicy for her). I kept quiet, so she could give her opinion, but I found both to be disgusting and, in fact for me, inedible. The chicken in the Korma was stewed and the shrimp in the vindaloo was so overcooked that I reckon it would bounce! Her opinion was the same and even the naan failed the edible test. So, we went hungry. Not a good start! Embarkation: We absolutely LOVE the medallions! Once we got used to people knowing who we were when we walked up to them (yes, I'm looking at you, Crown Grill host! Everything was smooth and easy, but there was no recognition that we were auite guests. No-one welcomed us or showed us to our cabin, which was ready-ish when we got there - well, ready enough to drop our carry-ons and go for lunch in the Reserve dining room on the starboard side of Skagway dining room. The food was OK. One suite perk is to eat in a specialty restaurant on the first night, so we chose the aforementioned Crown Grill. Our mains were fairly straightforward - Ribeye for her and Lobster for me. Both were OK, but not spectacular, a theme you'll notice throughout the cruise!

Let me start with a little background. This was our 23rd cruise - on Celebrity since I quit smoking in 2015 and their casinos are smoke free! We're not snobs and most of our cruises have been in a balcony room. Our previous two were in a Sky Suite on Apex and Solstice. For this reason, we booked an accessible Penthouse Suite, costing a similar amount. The last Celebrity cruise was the Mexican Riviera in early February (shadowing Discovery all the way, by coincidence)! For the TL:DR brigade, here is my conclusion, with more details to come... The whole cruise can be described as 'OK, but not great! We'll be going back to Celebrity, here they know how to treat suite guests. I'll try to and answer any questions if I can.

That's a rather personal question! 😉 Yes, it was supplied by our TA as a perk I believe it's the Plus - 50 package.

We sail on Sunday on the Discovery in an accessible Penthouse suite, so I'll be able to report back then.

We're on the Discovery Princess next week. Third trip to Alaska and the last two were 65-75 and warm every day. Expecting a little liquid sunshine next week!

Yes.

We leave on Princess next week, which will be our third trip to Alaska. The first was in 2009 with NCL and the second, in 2019, with Celebrity. The best advice I can give is choose by itinerary, always get a balcony or better and be prepared to pay a lot for excursions! Each trip we've done so far has been a 'bucket list' vacation that we never thought we'd repeat, but we fell in love with Alaska and may even book another trip up there!

Can you provide a link because I'm unable to find it with a search of Amazon. Never mind. Found it with a general internet search. It's just not available.. https://www.amazon.com/Stepwise-Cane-Adjustable-Lightweight-Mobility/dp/B0BTWNGRLG

We have iPhones for ‘snaps’ and I have a Canon M200 with an 18-55 for general and 55-250 is for my long lens. The latter is on a conversion ring as it was for my XSi EOS Rebel I bought for my first Alaska cruise back in 2009.

Thanks, folks.

Not sure where to ask this, but I'll try here first. Our cruise starts and ends in Seattle (Discovery Princess if it makes a difference). The flight back to ATL doesn't take off until 4:10pm and we've booked Port Valet to take care of the luggage. My question is, would we have time to go to and explore MPoP and make our flight? The one thing that could slow us down a little is the face that I use a mobility scooter. If this is not doable, any other suggestions on how to fill a little time before our flight?

You pay the difference plus 20%, so a $12 drink will cost $2.40. Actually, I think it's still 18% so the above example would total $2.36.

We sail on the discovery on Sept 3rd and I got the email yesterday. We are in a Penthouse Suite and have the Plus package, supplied by our TA. We booked in December, so I don't know what's included, what isn't and what's the upgrade path. Surely if I don't have everything, Surely I can't be expected to pay $60 or $80 a day on top of what's already been paid?

Given the option, I would NEVER choose to eat in an airport. The quality won’t be the best and the prices are astronomical given the rents they have to pay to even be there! We’ll be there in three week and also arriving on Alaska air. We’ll go to the hotel and either out from there or just grubhub and have it delivered. We have Amazon prime, so we have free grubhub plus.

Great comparison. Shame it's completely useless! If you're going to compare two cruise ships, let alone two different lines, it's important to at least name the ships and itinerary! Alaska on the newest Princess ship, Discovery Princess, is NOT a direct comparison to the Reflection in the Caribbean!

Well, we're on Discovery in three weeks' time in a Penthouse Suite. We have the Plus package as a gift from our TA, so also confused as to what's included and what isn't. I guess the changes will be implemented for Sunday's sailing, so anxious to see what changes there will be. I'm guessing that if it's not the product I originally purchased, I have the right to cancel, even this close to sailing, but it may mean I have to sue rather than Princess just rolling over and accepting it. This will be our first Princess experience after being Celebrity cruisers since I quit smoking eight years ago. Prior to that to was mostly NCL with some RC thrown in. I know none of the lines are perfect, so we'll se what happens.

This is our third cruise in Alaska, so we are whale-watched out (plus we did it in Cabo earlier this year)! Majestic creatures, but I think all the whale watching we'll do is from the ship. We do have an excursion to the Misty Fjords, so taking a boat there. I own my scooter, so no need for any of the above.

Anyone tell me what excursions are scooter-friendly? We'll be in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria, BC. We're sailing on the Discovery Princess. My ability to walk with a cane is severely limited and as we're flying in from ATL, it's unlikely I can also bring my Rollator (although we may try). All of the wheelchair accessible tours are sold out or at least wait-listed, so we've reserved the non-accessible versions where possible. Our last visit, in 2019, I was able to walk relatively short distances, so we made it onto a whale-watching tour in Icy Strait Point, the Deadliest Catch tour in Ketchecan and even a float plane tour in Juneau. Does anyone have anything to add? (Post duplicated in 'Alaska Port Of Call')

Anyone tell me what excursions are scooter-friendly? We'll be in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria, BC. We're sailing on the Discovery Princess. My ability to walk with a cane is severely limited and as we're flying in from ATL, it's unlikely I can also bring my Rollator (although we may try). All of the wheelchair accessible tours are sold out or at least wait-listed, so we've reserved the non-accessible versions where possible. Our last visit, in 2019, I was able to walk relatively short distances, so we made it onto a whale-watching tour in Icy Strait Point, the Deadliest Catch tour in Ketchecan and even a float plane tour in Juneau. Does anyone have anything to add? (Post duplicated in 'Disabled Cruising')

Yep, me too. Booked three excursions for our upcoming Alaska cruise just this morning and was able to uncheck the OBC box.

We also have the Plus package, given as a gift from our TA. we're in a Penthouse Suite. I'm thinking we'll be grandfathered in and have all the new 'perks' included, but I intend to verify this when we get on board. If anyone finds it is different, then I would think it's grounds for cancellation, even after final payment!

The one time we rented (from Special Needs At Sea), the scooter was delivered to the room some time after we boarded. It was not there when we got there. I was, at least, able to ride it down to the door of the terminal when we left. This was at FLL. That experience caused me to buy our own after we got back and that makes things simpler. I have a GoGo Sport, which is now the go-to model of the rental companies.