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For those who haven't sailed yet (like me) there are some great videos on YouTube. The one I really enjoyed and found very informative is this one. Enjoy!

On 7/29/2022 at 1:50 PM, haven001 said:

Pub lunch is back on the ruby , it started 3 cruises ago

Wish they had started earlier. Was on the Ruby June 29 to July 9 and no pub lunch at that time.

20 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

My doctor turned me down.  I have Kaiser and they are very conservative and follow rules.   He said that Paxlovid was under emergency approval from the FDC which requires a positive test to prescribe.   He said they do not permit off label use.

Interesting to hear. I am 68 and had very mild covid. I do have a few mild health issues too. I was given Paxlovid by Kaiser right away.  And there was no co-pay or cost involved.

But - I did have covid rebound from the Paxlovid so I had covid twice in 3 weeks. Tons of fun.

Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Sprite Zero, orange soda, tonic water, club soda, and Barq's Root Beer.

As far as weather goes it would be good to look on a weather app. I use "The Weather Channel" here in the US to check the average weather at any time of year for any US city. Check your ports and you will see what to expect.

On 7/18/2022 at 4:31 AM, Esprit said:

Tried to locate my wife on board Regal now. It said she was in a specific place on deck 17.

The deck was correct but no where near where she actually was.

The app’ is crap!

On my last cruise the app said I was in my room for hours yet I was probably in Explorers on Deck 7. My daughter had to look for me the old fashioned way.

23 hours ago, Fjord4Fun said:

Be careful though.  If they count 3 days as 72 hours before departure.  I have read reports (not princess) of people being turned away at the ship because they had tested 74 hours before departure even though it was still 'three days'.  W e probably need to find out what Princess policy is for definite.

If you look at the information on their webpage you will see they count days not hours. We tested on a Wednesday for a Saturday departure. That would be the 3 day max. Day of departure doesn't count in the 3 days.

19 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

0. There are no washing machines on board.

 

1.  We got one bag for free.  They are large bags and it is amazing how much you can stuff into the bag.  Also you are on an expedition cruise so nobody will notice or care if your clothes are wrinkled.   There are no formal or even country club casual (whatever that means) on the cruise.

 

2. You will only be gone for 2 weeks.  How much stuff can you need for 2 weeks.

 

DON

Thanks for the info.

And personally, I need one set of clean clothes every day. That's how much stuff I need.

New question (have so many!)

We booked the jet boat in Wrangell. It's also available in Petersburg.

Is there a reason to book one over the other? They both seem to go to the same place.

I have to ask the dreaded question. Are there guest use washing and drying machines on board?

I know, I know. If you're going to pay this much for a cruise then pay to have your wash done too.

Ok then - what are the prices to have laundry done? Does it come back quickly and done nicely?

I paid on the American Queen to have laundry done. They said it would be back the next day. Took 2 more days to get it back. They stuffed our clean laundry into bags so it was all wrinkled and crammed in. Needless to say I did NOT pay for it. I had to take the time to go to the dryer and toss it all before I folded it.

Overall we will be gone almost 2 weeks and will be flying so I can't bring my whole wardrobe (I am one of those who think "but what if I need this?")

Thanks for any info.

15 hours ago, Princess18 said:

My flight & cruise is next week.  With so many canceled flights lately, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  But, in case my flight would be canceled, I’m trying to understand who I should call to quickly try for another flight.

EZair emergency number to call for in route flight issues (USA)  1-800-545-0008

Does anyone know what hotel is the host hotel for the Ocean Victory cruises starting in Vancouver? We get in late in the afternoon (3:15 arrival at airport) and I need to research how to get to the hotel the quickest. I'm presuming we need to do a COVID test that afternoon at the hotel so trying to get there asap.

Thanks.

(Sailing on the August 20 Vancouver to Sitka)

20 hours ago, NMCruiser55 said:

Just got back from our Ocean Victory cruise. Once on the ship had a great time. We only received one water bottle after asking. Food was fine, but I'm not too fussy. DH didn't find out you could ask for a hamburger at lunch until late in the cruise. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.

 

Doing the zodiacs was the best. We got close the glaciers and saw lots of animals. One group saw a bear. They also have kayaks, but we decided we aren't very good kayakers. lol

We only did the pre-cruise tour in Sitka and saw bears at Fortress of the Bears (a sanctuary). It was still too early for bear excursions to see wild bears. Some people went on a fishing excursion and caught some salmon. Everyone that took the jet boats really enjoyed them.

 

Now for the not so nice.

Sitka taxi situation sucks. There were ten of us at the airport looking for a ride. One person was trying to call the taxi service but couldn't get an answer. Someone saw an idle hotel van. He talked to the driver and he agreed to take us to his hotel which was across the street from ours.

The ship is docked away from town and not where the other cruise ships dock for their port stops. Not a big deal as they have shuttles. The big deal was a mis-communication as to what was required to embark. (Hint: not just the covid test results.) We had our paper ticket but some had packed theirs in their suitcase. If that wasn't enough, bags were manual searched and every one was wanded. Needless to say we left a bit late. 😕 

Disembarkation turned into another fiasco. We were almost at the dock when we went back out into the harbor. After 2 hours we had 2 tugboats push us to the dock. Once we actually left we didn't have too much problem. The port terminal was a madhouse. Once we pushed through that we made it to the train and zipped to the airport and  through their lines. 

Thanks for the info about Sitka taxis. We disembark there and have a plane to catch at 11:55 am. I had hoped to be able to get a taxi for the short ride to the airport but I guess I will be taking the expensive short ride by using the cruise line shuttle. Already booked but was hoping to cancel.

On 6/9/2022 at 9:00 AM, NavyVeteran said:

Have you found a taxi company that will let you pre-schedule a pick-up? If so, which one? I've been calling taxi companies in Sitka, and they tell me they don't pre-schedule because of a shortage of drivers.

I was going to wait till early August to make those phone calls. Thought they would have a better idea of their availability by then. Might change by then or might not.

In the past the hours have been something like 8 am to 10 pm. They are also closed when in ecologically sensitive waters such as Glacier Bay. No grey water discharge allowed there.

The weather and temperature can be quite changeable. Early mornings could be cold. That said I have been to Denali twice. I would suggest a good sweatshirt and a windbreaker that has been sprayed with water repellent. We are heading to Alaska soon for our 7th trip there and that is what I always bring.  Have an umbrella in your backpack as it could rain briefly at any point. If you tend to get cold easily then stick a knit hat in your backpack too.

I always check the weather forecast for my destinations a few days before I leave home.

21 hours ago, Missouri travel girl said:

I made out flight for the next day after arriving in Sitka because they all left so early on arrival day. 

Our flight is 11:55 am. As the airport (small) is only about 4 or 5 miles away I figured I would pre order a taxi and walk off as early as possible. I had signed up for AQV transfer but I will cancel that. As we are going Sitka to Seattle to Santa Rosa we don't need to test.

1 hour ago, jy_cruisefan said:

So I just checked my Travel summary in my Princess Booking, and now we have booking numbers for all flights listed next to our names. Does this mean that our flights are ticketed and paid for?

Thanks again

Not necessarily. Booking number is not the same as ticket number. As I said in my previous post I had to scroll down pretty far on the travel summary to find the ticket numbers for my daughter's flights. The first part showed the flights with the booking numbers. Further down the page is where I found the flights listed with ticket numbers next to them.

3 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

No, not necessarily.

 

Go to the PCL website, manage my cruise, cruise personalizer,

look at your travel summary…

you’ll see at the top of the page..

luggage tags and travel summary

Click on print travel summary…

EZ Air booking:

You should see next to your name

ticket number…..

Once it’s ticketed.

 

The website for most airlines have a receipt button, where you can email

it to yourself, only if it’s ticketed.

 

You can also call the airline, ask if it’s been ticketed.  If you have a TA, they would know.

 

After final payment….EZ Air usually tickets about 45 to 30 days before

sailing.  You probably are too early to be ticketed, but check it out, so you’ll be prepared.

 

 

Thank you for this info. I had to scroll down pretty far to find the ticket numbers on her travel summary.

They are there for both flights. Big relief!

I can't even find this cruise on their website. No way to find out more info.

1 hour ago, Yardbob said:

Made reservations on United with EZAIR 290 days ago, no flight changes and United says ezair never paid for the reservation when do 44 days out. Its 20 days before our cruise Princess say they will get to it eventually. I'll never use EZAIR again.

My daughter used EZAir to book United for our cruise June 29. How do you know if it has been "ticketed" so I can have her check?

TIA

Please make sure you are  looking in the right place for your on board shareholders credit. I was mad they hadn't given it to me for my April cruise until I accidentally found it.

Go to Princess.com. Log in then click on My Account, then Upcoming Cruises. Find your cruise and click Manage this Cruise. Click on Payments on the far right. Scroll all the way down to credits.

Any shareholders credit or military credit will show there. We also have Travel Agent Group Promotion credit too.

Hope yours is there too!

1 hour ago, JAR said:

Testing must be completed before returning to the US & if you are taking arranged transportation from AQV to the airport there is no opportunity to go on your own for testing. This is especially important because of the current outbreak on the ship. A short while ago a plan was announced to guests regarding tomorrow's testing. They had no issues with testing before boarding the ship.

Please update us tomorrow. Would love to know that they actually do the testing. We get off in Sitka. No place to test nearby and the airport itself is very small. I am really hoping they will test us on the ship before we get off.

4 hours ago, NMCruiser55 said:

I don't expect them to test before getting off. They didn't want to test before boarding. The other lines are not testing on board before departure.  We have appointments at CVM near the pier.

We are getting off in Sitka. Absolutely no opportunity for testing there. 

Have been to Alaska many times and had virtually no problems with coverage. We were Verizon customers at that time. Verizon has a lot of cell towers in Alaska. That said we are now Xfinity Mobile customers and had no problems last time we were there either as they use Verizon towers for coverage.

However, I did find that Verizon charged an extra fee (maybe $5) for coverage while in Canada. You have to call them and tell them exactly what day(s) you will be there.

While on the ship you do want to be in airplane mode so you don't connect to the ship's cell tower (very expensive to use). You want to use their intranet (turn off wifi, turn on airplane mode, then turn on wifi again).

When you get on land just turn off airplane mode and you will be good to go.