catgirl411

Just got off the same cruise. We are experienced cruises with over 25 so far. In the last ten years or so we’ve narrowed it down to Princess, Celebrity and Oceania. Every cruise has its pluses and minuses. Our three post Covid cruises have been 1 on Oceania and 2 on Princess. I have to say that I agree with most of megaphone84’s observations about EmeraldPrincess. The staff were wonderful, the food in the buffet and the MDR are mediocre at best (terrible at worst) and the specialty dining was great. We actually loved the musical entertainment (didn’t do the comedians)…Rock Opera is one of best production shows we’ve ever seen at sea, Jared Freiburg and the Vagabonds were awesome, really enjoyed the CompanyMen. It was disappointing to have some dining options unavailable. I totally agree about the public area washrooms…almost everyone I was in had at least one stall out of order and what is that grey stuff in the toilets? I was worried that a Holiday cruise would be full of kids and families but it was a nice mix and fellow passengers were really quite nice (unlike the flight on the way home!) All in all the overall experience for us was quite good and despite the food issues we will still include Princess on our list of cruise options. Next up for us an October TA on Celebrity.

Btw, hubby and I share the disappointment of not having the Bills game broadcast yesterday. We brought our Bills stuff hoping to see the game. But at least they won! Unfortunately the next game is Monday night and our flight doesn’t get back to Toronto until after 8 pm.it’s a 2 hour drive home so we will have to listen toWGR on the way home.

Yep, I have been in a regular balcony cabin on Coral Princess and it had the same “dressing” area closet but the horrible shower that JamieLogical has described. In the mini suite you get a tub/shower that is pretty narrow but significantly better. And yes, the shelving where the tvs used to be is great.

It might be because we are in a mini suite but I love the closet hallway outside the bathroom. We also have a lot of shelf storage in the room across from the sofa. Storage in this room in general is better than any of our Celebrity or even Oceania cabins.

Correction… staff shortage is in play there not “okay”

Don’t forget that one of the three MDRs is also closed! We had dinner in Crown Grill last night. Food was very good but service could have been more attentive. Seemed like the staff shortage is in okay there too.

Glad to hear the library still exists. We are booked on a TA Oct 2023 on Reflection. Currently on Emerald Princess and their library is a joke. No comfy chairs…just a big long table with chairs on either side…looks like a place to do research not have a nice quiet read. Best library we’ve seen so far is Oceania Riviera…big comfy chairs and sofas in quiet nooks.

We are currently on Emerald Princess. Our last cruise was Alaska on Regal Princess in August. We were spoiled because our FCCs allowed us to upgrade to a suite which was amazing. This time we are in a mini suite which is quite spacious and definitely solves the shower problem. Last night was the first formal night and I was actually pleased with the number of people who were dressed up. The Alaska cruise was super disappointing from that perspective. The food so far in the MDR is pretty sad. Last night my appetizer was a very mushy crab cake. The other night my husband had scallops with no evidence of searing at all. The staff are all great however and very accommodating. Mind you some their time with us involved fixing problems with our dining reservations that had been arbitrarily changed by the app.

I have to say that I found the wine listing by varietal only to be frustrating. I don’t want to have to interrogate the server every time I want a glass of wine. I wonder if it’s done that way because they’ve had supply challenges this summer?

We were in the Torino aft suite R731 on the August 20th sailing. Loved it. Make sure (weather permitting of course) to have your breakfast served on your amazing balcony. For us it was an unforgettable experience. Maribeth, the Concierge is so sweet and helpful and be sure to avail yourself of the pre-dinner drinks and snacks in the Concierge Lounge between 5 and 7. Enjoy your cruise!

Just finished our stay at Mt McKinley Lodge. IMHO it is nicer than the Denali Lodge. Bigger room, very nice grounds, good food and the amazing deck off the main lodge which (if you are lucky) affords great views of Mt Denali. We were very lucky on our first day and saw incredible views of the mountain on our bus trip down and could still see much of it from the hotel.

We are currently at the Denali Wilderness Lodge. The one big thing is that there doesn’t appear to be housekeeping service for a two night stay. Not a problem for us but I think they should let you know in the welcome package. One of the restaurants (Grizzly Bear) is closed but the others are open. The food is very good, particularly in the Wild Salmon. Service was slow there but not terrible. We also ate in Fannie Qs our first night and the service was good. We are off to McKinley Lodge this morning so we will see how that goes.

Just off Royal Princess Northbound Alaska. Stayed in R731Torino Suite. Fabulous! We spent all day on the balcony on the Glacier Bay cruising day. Started with room service breakfast and relaxed all day. The balcony is huge. We only saw a very very small amount of soot on the chairs one day but otherwise not a problem. Highly recommend!

Just received notification from Princess that our northbound August 20th sale on Royal Princess will still be in Skagway as scheduled on the 24th but will have passengers tendered in from the real railway dock.

I also liked Icy Strait Point. It is a beautiful setting and just nice for walking around and enjoying the fresh Alaskan air but what I liked most is that I believe the port is operated by the local indigenous people. I think they had a role to play in developing it also

Scheduled for a cruise tour on Aug 20 (cruise followed by land tour). We are currently sitting here at home with Covid despite being triple vaxxed. After successfully dodging Covid until now (including a cruise back in late January), we have it now after my husband attended his first in person meeting/conference since Feb 2020. And I was also exposed to it the week before at my first in person meetings …but I dodged it then. What that taught us is that it is still everywhere and you can’t be too careful. While our symptoms aren’t too awful, I don’t want to3xperience this again.