Walt fan

Thank you neptuno - we like to snorkel as well; I will have to look into this when we go; thank you for the information, especially about Hertz; I have a lot of ideas put away in my Trip Advisor wish list; thanks again

For neptuno - when you rented a car - did you follow a map from the rental agency or how did you know where to go? There is quite a lot to see and do. I know the drive to the rainforest is beautiful. And, I have heard traffic is horrible at times there. Just curious, as I know I want to return one day soon and I would like to spend some time on our own. Thank you!

I thought of that last night; I could switch to an assigned cabin if one does happen to open you; thank you all for your posts!

I think I may have made a mistake; but, I am hoping it will end up okay in the long run; I called my TA this afternoon who called Princess; they told my TA yes, they could guarantee a balcony, Category BA, booking, but they would not release the cabin location/number until the day of sailing; has anyone gambled and done this? My TA went ahead and changed it, she thought it was a good deal and it moved my cost down $200; so, I have balcony, just don't know where! Yikes! I cannot stand feeling this unsettled; but, I have an extra $200 to spend. Please tell me if you think I made a mistake.

Guys and gals - you would know when I didn't have a minute to spare this morning, by the time I looked at 2:11 p.m. CST to be precise, both balcony and mini-suites ARE ALL SOLD OUT; at least I have a place to rest my head, and I am, sad to say, spoiled and cannot have a balcony, even one without a covering; I cannot believe both levels are all sold out; what gives on this particular cruise? Anyone have a guess?

Thank you for the encouraging words; I can at least find some of the good in an uncovered balcony; DH, on the other hand, will find everything he can to complain; oh well, I am not that concerned; I will keep an eye out though, morning, afternoon and evening.

thank you posters - I think personally I am going to feel so exposed on this type of balcony - I am going to have to keep an eagle eye for something else - I would rather have half a overhang than nothing

I posted this question on cabin selection forum, and was given the advice I should ask around the Princess boards; so, to all of you Princess cruisers, help please; I had to move our Star Princess/Alaska cruise from May 30 to June 13 due to other family member's commitments that are cruising with us; I changed everything around early December; well, low and behold all balcony cabins for DH and I were gone by then; I had to go with a mini-suite, as the June 13th date is the only one good on our schedule; I have always cruised with RC, and this is my first time on Princess. As I understand it, all mini suites do not have any covering over the balcony area, which is not making me happy. I am looking at the Princess web site every day to see if any balcony rooms come open; no luck so far. Am I correct in understanding that the balcony rooms do have at least some covering? Or this is based on which deck you are on? So confused by Princess and this ship. Thank you for your input.

Thank you; I will post there as well.

Hello all; I had to move our Star Princess/Alaska cruise from May 30 to June 13 due to other family member's commitments that are cruising with us; I changed everything around early December; well, low and behold all balcony cabins for DH and I were gone by then; I had to go with a mini-suite, as the June 13th date is the only one good on our schedule; I have always cruised with RC, and this is my first time on Princess. As I understand it, all mini suites do not have any covering over the balcony area, which is not making me happy. I am looking at the Princess web site every day to see if any balcony rooms come open; no luck so far. Am I correct in understanding that the balcony rooms do have at least some covering? Or this is based on which deck you are on? So confused by Princess and this ship. Thank you for your input.

Awesome review kwbound - I see you are a fellow Texan! We are right smack in the middle of New Braunfels and Boerne. I loved all of your info on Hawaii - I read it when you first posted, but now I am going to have to go back and re-read a lot and gather new info, as I have now decided I don't want to do a cruise through Hawaii, I would rather do a land trip and take our time, I wanted to do it last year for our 25th anniversary but life got in the way - which leads me to my question - are you going to do a blog anywhere about your recent land trip in Hawaii? You have such a wonderful way of writing I would love to see your land trip details somewhere. Its like reading an amazing travel journal. I have jotted notes here and there from The Travel Channel, but its rather sporadic. Your cruise post gave me a lot more ideas.

Thank you again for taking the time to give all of us fellow cruisers and travelers such amazing details! Take care

I too am a complete OCD planner - we have been to Alaska once - on a 7 day cruise - and we felt it was a just a taste and need to go back - so here I am planning a 2015 trip and scouring the boards again - this thread is amazing - please don't close it! I have printed everything off that people mentioned as I hope to discovery new adventures. It is going to be a little more challenging this time as we had 5 in our group last time - and it looks like it will be 6-7 this time around - yikes. I will continue to read this thread as more people post - thanks everyone!

Thank you so much for popping in! Let me know if you have any questions; we are already planning a 2015 return to Alaska cruise.

just curious, since we plan on going back some day, which rental car company did you use and where do you pick it up? Thanks!

Yes, I had the same response from him, I checked my emails and his reply was in September 2012 for our March 2013 trip. I booked with someone else. He follows a very different calendar than ours.

Britney- sorry it took so long to reply, I was out of town over the weekend. I don't know what you consider young adults:) but I had two 22-year olds and one 17-year old young men with us on the Alaska cruise; it was a very different cruise age wise for sure; they made the comment there wasn't hardly anyone their age to hang around with like on the Caribbean cruises; but, they said Alaska made up for it; they were as in awe of everything as we were; they loved, loved, loved Alaska, loved the port stops, loved the tours, and they made the comment they want to go back; so, there aren't as many people their age and not as much entertainment; but they still had a blast; and yes, packing was HORRIBLE; I pack too much as it is and you never know what weather you are going to have; our weather was unexpectedly warm and I had too much cold gear; but people said the week before it was rainy and much colder; so you have to pack your suitcases with a variety; please let me know if you have any other questions; I will try to help

Italy52 - second formal night was Thursday

I did not have any problems with booking our private shore excursions; I just kept up with the time changes posted in our Compass; there was the one main time change sherry mentioned; the times requested for meeting at the ports coincided with the time change; does that make sense?

Our air fare was going to be a deal killer for us too; from San Antonio to Seattle; but, I registered for alerts at airfarewatchdog.com, kayak and trip advisor; for this trip it helped a little, but we just had to bite the bullet, book it and not look back; I really wanted to cruise Alaska, and now that we have we are trying to figure out when we can go back! We want to do an Inside Passage next time. It is worth all cost involved. Any questions anyone has I will try and answer! Now I am starting to think about the delicious brew I had at the Skagway Brew Pub:) And the burger and brew in Victoria:) Okay, I will go eat my boring lunch now.

Hi there Italy52 and MomtoCCC: We had some unusually warm weather when we went to Alaska early June, the high's were in the mid to upper 50's and one day in the low 60's, layers are definitely recommended; the ship was small, but still with plenty to do; we never ate in the specialty restaurants, the food in the Windjammer and main dining room is always delicious in our opinion; we went to a few shows but our main time was spent on our balcony; so much to see and ogle at; definitely worth the expense

We were with Gray's Tours Spring Break week in March, but with his brother, Sackville Gray. It seems like from what I have read he takes people to different beaches, and I cannot tell you what the name of the beach was where we were. I would have preferred a more remote beach, but this was a resort type, with monkeys and mongoose on the side of resort. The resort had umbrellas and chairs you paid for, and the hottest sand you ever stepped foot on. We had our own snorkel gear, but the snorkeling was just so-so. It also had a bar you could purchase drinks.

Sorry everyone, that I did not get to post that I heard back from Thenford Grey right before our trip; his brother, Sackville Grey, met our group of six and two other couples; he was delightful, and Thenford came and introduced himself at Romney Manor and made sure everything was good on our end; we loved the tour, but the beach stop at the end was less than desirable; for the life of me I cannot remember the name, but it was more of a beach resort, with black sand, which was the hottest sand I have ever stepped foot on, and monkeys were wandering around on the side; the snorkeling was only so-so and no shells to speak of; but the tour of St. Kitts was wonderful; we had a great day with Sackville and would highly recommend this tour

Just wanted to fill you in on our stop during our Spring Break cruise on the Brilliance. We had a wonderful port stop, and were quite impressed by the beauty of this country. We did a ship excursion, to the Waterfalls and Longeteau Distillery. Our bus tour guide was a local, who spoke a delightful mix of French and English. I spoke to him afterwards about his country and he was so nice. We then wandered into town since we had plenty of time, and browsed through the marketplaces. We wanted to find the church everyone mentioned but we were hungry and tired. The vendors at the marketplaces were not any more pushy than all of other ports we have been to. We never felt threatened at any time, and really enjoyed our day. I know some people had complained about their ship excursions, but to our personal group, we had a great time.

I am going to join in on this thread as I am having a problem I thought maybe you posters could help with; after reading all the reviews, about 3 months ago I booked a tour with Thenford Gray for our party of 6 for our upcoming St. Kitts stop on March 12th; I always check in with any tours I book before a trip to ensure everything is a go, if I have not heard from the tour guide; well, I have e-mailed Thenford February 18th, 23rd and today, the 28th, to confirm our tour, but I have received no response from him; has anyone ever had this problem? His prior e-mails with me were very prompt. Has anyone had any tours with him lately, or heard from him via e-mail? Your help is appreciated.

I do not post a whole lot on CC; I feel if I have something to share then I will post, or I will throw questions out there for my fellow posters, but I read quite a bit here on the boards and take everything with a grain of salt and then do my own research. There are too many people willing to bad mouth a port that they have never tried, but are willing to share what second hand information they have. Yes, there are many bad experiences out there, you have to be aware of your surroundings and use your gut and common sense wherever you go. But, I personally know of one port we have been to where almost everyone had a tale of horror to share, but they had not been there personally. We did not do a ship excursion at that port, but used a very well researched local tour company. Yes, there was a lot of poverty there, but we never felt unsafe; my family, including my sons, had their eyes opened and count that port experience as one not to forget for many reasons, including all the wonderful local people we met and did our best to communicate with. This port, Guadaloupe, yes, we did book a ship excursion, but only because at the time I could find very little to do on my own and the excursion sounded interesting. I will also venture into town afterwards and report back on CC. Wassup reported a first hand experience, as others have, which should be taken into consideration more than second hand accounts. My two cents.

Thank you wassup! I am really looking to our port time now. Your posts have helped bring the best to this stop.

Wassup4565 - great review - I too was a little intimidated by this port - from the start of this post I wasn't sure what to do, so I booked a ship excursion which I normally don't do; our cruise is on the Brilliance Spring Break week; the excursion is only approx 3 hours, so I had heard this is a great port stop for buying spices; I bought a book on ebay which included Pointe a Pitre, and found a map and a description of a popular market - Marche` Couvert, on the corner of Rues Peynier & Schoelcher - which intrigued me with the description "a good place to buy island handicrafts, straw dolls, straw hats, primitive African style wood carvings, locally grown coffee and a wide array of fragrant spices" - is this one of the markets you went to? If so, do you know the name of the other one you happened on? I would like to do both the ship excursion and then take a walk to a local market - your review has bolstered my confidence! Thank you for taking the time to post