_rusty_shackleford

1 minute ago, Italy52 said:

@_rusty_shacklefordThanks for the quick response, I appreciate it. 

 

With regard to the shortage of a few buffet items, we think the fruit and cereal were due to the ship using up supplies from the prior cruise and ours was not fully stocked for our cruise.  We had Rice Krispies that were shaped like little pellets, Ginger Ale from China, minimal fruit offerings at times and lots of dedicated Asian dishes.  We are very light eaters so we tend to gravitate towards the buffet; glad to hear things are looking up in the buffet.

They've still got some Asian things like sodas on board. Funny you mention the supply issue- I heard from staff they had started to run out of things like water bottles on the voyage before ours and we were late out of Vancouver to load extra supplies. Hopefully that issue has been resolved going forward. No noticable shortages the first 7 days for us.

Just now, KarmaCruisers said:

To interject on the fresh fruit selection on Royal class buffet (World Fresh MarketPlace)

it is among the best I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship! It’s literally the reason I almost only sail Royal class; the food choices (including fresh fruit) are amazing.

We've only ever sailed the Royal class but I've never found myself lacking for fruit, even during the pandemic. Apples, bananas, oranges, melons, and pineapples have always been easily accessible. If you come expecting unlimited berries all the time I suppose you'd be disappointed but we've always been really happy with the buffet quality on Princess. I personally believe it to be consistently better than the MDR on Carnival ships.

5 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@_rusty_shackleford, thank you for your post, I appreciate you answering questions.  We just got off the Royal May 18-June1st cruise. We will be returning on the Royal August 10-24th, same itinerary.  If you don't mind, can you post if you got an Immigration/Customs form PRIOR to debarkation in Vancouver.  We were handed ours after debarking the ship and in line for our clearance.  It was quite hectic for all trying to move along luggage, fill out a form and then present it to the authorities.  Also, our disembarkation time was delayed to 9:30 AM from 6:30AM like our original itinerary showed -- no word as to why.  So, if you could, please verify when you will be getting off the ship when you have the final notification time shown on the disembarkation form.  If you have eaten in the buffet, did you notice that fresh cut fruit was scarce and that American cold cereal options were very minimal?  Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

I've had no issues getting the standard fruit offerings (watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, etc.) in the buffet. I think I recall like 4-5 cereal offerings like granola, raisin bran, frosted flakes, etc. every morning as well. I've never noticed a shortage of anything in the buffet.

Will be happy to update you on debark. We're supposed to be off around 9-9:30am. I remember getting customs forms/ArriveCAN the night before in the past so I'm not sure what the issue was with your cruise. Hopefully it's smooth again this time but I'll let you know.

18 hours ago, mattR said:

Thanks so much for this info if you happen to be up bright and early tomorrow can you take a look and see if this is true in reality:)  

6:30ish for first debark was about right. Most people will not be doing self-assist in Whittier so you should be able to get off with ease if you're ready.

Just now, mattR said:

Thanks so much for this info if you happen to be up bright and early tomorrow can you take a look and see if this is true in reality:)  

Shouldn't be an issue. I believe that's about when we've been able to get off in the past. My wife and I are going to hike to Portage Pass Glacier while everyone else is trading places, and we typically leave fairly early in the morning this time of year so the snow is still mostly compacted. I'll let you know what I see for debark.

Just now, Fishbone said:

 

@_rusty_shackleford Very helpful! Thank you so much! I just checked my travel itinerary & it lists 7:30AM next to Vancouver. Do you think that is subject to change, or would the tides have already been considered? Again, thank you so much. That is not something that was on my radar!

That should be pretty well a set time as long as there aren't any mechanical or immigration issues.

You should be fine with making that 9:10 departure as long as you're ready to go as soon as they announce they're ready for walk-offs. I think last year when we arrived around 7 we were off at like 7:20ish.

1 minute ago, Fishbone said:

@_rusty_shackleford 

 

We board the Royal on July 20, sailing from Whittier to Vancouver. We completed the same itinerary last year on the Majestic, but I can't remember what time we were able to disembark in Vancouver. If you would be kind enough to post the disembarkation times for Vancouver, I would greatly appreciate it! I'm trying to book the Quick Shuttle, which departs directly from the cruise level of Canada Place at 9:10AM. I think we can make that, but I wanted to double check. I think the earliest "express walk off is 7:30AM"? Safe travels! Enjoy your cruise!

You'd need to look up your itinerary unfortunately. The way the tides work in Vancouver can make arrival and departure times vary. For example, we were on the Majestic last May and walked off at about 7:30am, but we're not even due back in Vancouver until 9am this time due to the tide schedule.

3 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

I would be interested in actual numbers (download speed and latency)

One test, but I'd guess this is pretty consistent with my experience all cruise.

4.95 Mbps down, 1.73 Mbps up, 118ms ping, 88ms jitter. I have not tried a VPN connection to see if it works/speeds because I didn't bring any work technology with me.

Just now, memoak said:

Your app should show dining hours when you click on the menu area

They do for the main restaurants/specialty dining. I was referring to lack of hours availability for things like sushi, Alfredo's, Lido restaurants, etc.

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Yeah but restaurant hours don’t really change you can keep the first days patter in the cabin if you need to refresh

I understand what you're saying. I just think it's far more convenient to have electronically, especially if your party splits up for the day. Yes of course you could ask for more Patters, but then again you also used to have to walk past the dining room to see what that night's dinner menu would be before the miracle of technology made the entire voyage's menu available to plan around.

A couple of other general notes and observations:

-Starlink has been nothing short of excellent. Enough bandwidth to stream Netflix/other apps. Occasional spotty ~10 second lags/buffers but very strong service in places where other satellite has struggled in the past like Skagway and Glacier Bay. I'd be happy to provide up/down/latency numbers if anyone is interested in more detail.

-This may surprise a lot of you (tongue, meet cheek) but the app has shortcomings onboard that aren't apparent on land. It does not display opening or closing times of bars or restaurants, and does not display any menus beyond the main dining room and specialty restaurants. I'd highly recommend taking a picture of the Patter every day for reference or bringing it with you. It's a minor inconvenience but would be a major quality of life improvement.

On 6/4/2024 at 2:41 AM, debrajean said:

If you happen to see bar servers IGuste and or Joseph in Crooners Bar, tell them Deb and Gayle from (March New Zealand/Australia Cruise) say hello!  Crooners has the best bar staff! Thanks

 

enjoy your cruise!

I have not seen them so far but we also have not spent much time in Crooners. I will keep an eye out and deliver the message if I see them though!

On 6/2/2024 at 6:49 PM, Nelsj099 said:

I will be joining you for the Whittier to Vancouver and continuing on to Whittier.  I am just wondering if all is good on board.  I see that Royal was late into Vancouver on Saturday, and is now going to be late into Ketchikan?  Do you know what is causing the delay?  

 

See you soon! 

All is still good. I’ve seen a couple of crew wearing masks, including one bartender who told us she has a slight cough and was doing so out of an abundance of caution. Have not seen anyone physically sick nor heard any rumors. Weather has been very typical SE Alaska so far but today on our way to College Fjord is a very nice partly sunny day. Light rain just about every day, but not all day and definitely not any washouts. Juneau actually had a clap of thunder and at least one lightning bolt I saw on Wednesday which is not common at all.

On 6/3/2024 at 6:24 PM, mattR said:

If you happen to be an early riser, can you see what time they let people start self-disembarking in Whittier.

On 6/5/2024 at 11:53 PM, mattR said:

If possible can you ask at the excursion desk what is the earliest Princess bus departing time for Anchorage on your Whittier day. 

Very sorry for the delay. I just checked with guest services, and they told me approximately 6:30am for first debark and first bus to the airport leaves about 6:45am. This will of course depend on how fast the ship is cleared. I’m not sure if they start that process first thing in the morning or if they do when we arrive around 00:00 Friday/Saturday.

19 hours ago, eyesofgr said:

We got off that ship the day you got on.I hope they were late leaving due to extra sanitizing. There were so many people sick on that cruise, including my entire party. It was a walking Petrie dish. Someone threw up in the buffet restaurant and they cleaned it up and then it was business as usual.No announcement was made. Was never a follow up with the passenger. Never saw any extra cleaning or sanitizing. Everyone was coughing. Good Luck to you all!

So far so good. I've seen a few crew in high contact positions like the casino wearing masks but otherwise standard protocols. Have not seen or heard of any outbreaks.

5 hours ago, Rajona said:

Not sure if cabin category matters, but are there electrical outlets near or behind the bed? My husband uses a c-pap machine. We are in a mini suite if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance. Happy travels!

Yes, but it's not a traditional 110V American outlet. It powers the lamps. I've read in the past that Princess will provide an extension cord along with distilled water but we do not use CPAPs so I'd double check that before you go.

Hello! I'm not sure of the exact reason for departing Vancouver late, but they were still loading luggage and provisions well after the 6pm departure time. Apparently they ran out of several things on the previous leg like bottled water, so maybe that was the reason.

They weren't late per se into Vancouver- the tidal schedule meant they had to arrive later in the morning than we have in the past, but we watched her come in and she was on time arriving yesterday.

The captain announced this afternoon that we would be departing Ketchikan one hour earlier than normal (2pm vs 3pm) but did not say why beyond weather conditions. It looks like the wind will pick up in the afternoon, so perhaps that with visibility concerns is why. They did not tell us we would be getting in late, so we're still assuming a 7am arrival time.

Probably won't do a full blown review this time, but would be happy to answer questions as I can about the cruise or the ship (Vancouver -> Whittier -> Vancouver).

The last time we were on the Royal God forgot to save the Queen so hopefully we don't have a repeat of that experience.

It's really subjective isn't it? My wife and I like it because in general it's a calmer atmosphere than a Carnival cruise. Those can be fun too, but not always what we're looking for. We're towards the bottom of the traditional Princess demographic I'd wager as we're in our mid-30s, but we enjoy the quieter environment on Princess than a more family oriented cruise line offers.

3 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

Yes, you get stabbed with fancier cutlery

And they aren't fights on Princess, they're kerfuffles. We do have a standard of decorum to maintain.

You should be fine. My wife and I have grabbed some Filipino food from a stand popular with crew in Juneau to bring back to our steward and some for us as well. No one batted an eye.

On 4/19/2024 at 1:03 PM, coldweather said:

What sailing dates are changed?  Thanks.

Not OP but we just got notified that our sailing from Whittier as part of a B2B on 8 June has Glacier Bay shortened by about 1:15 (depart at 6:15pm rather than 7:30pm) and that we will be tendering at ISP.

I don't have anything specific but that category of cabins (DW) are the only ones we stay in on Royal class ships. Much bigger balconies, the nice sitting area/additional space of a deluxe room, and pretty quiet location other than anchoring noise. They're "obstructed" in the sense that there's a bulkhead where the glass typically is for a balcony but you have clear views everywhere else and no lifeboats in the way. You will be very happy with the choice. Part of the balcony is also covered by the cabin above you.

Sailing the Royal this coming June. Crown shows as $39pp in the old app, $35pp for Sabatini's. New app shows Crown for $63pp, $55pp Sabatini's. When you go to purchase, the new app's total updates and matches the old app/existing prices ($39 and $35). Not sure if the displayed price in the new app is a currency conversion error given where the ship is sailing now or what's going on.

3 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

Good to know. Thanks.

The couple of 14 day cruises in Alaska we've done in the last couple of years both gave us 2 credits each. They can also be booked as 2x7 which we're doing this coming year.