georgetheblue

When I used the Princess transfer from LAX there was a person at the baggage claim wearing a Princess logo shirt. She retrieved my bags and brought them to the curb. She had my hotel voucher (and hotel to ship transfer) and brought me to the correct hotel van. It was very easy.

Finally the excursions for tours for McKinley were available today. Again though each tour only had 9 slots open, and early and late were already sold out.

I’d be on the phone to a Princess cruise planner demanding the excursions I want. If I am unable to book the excursions I want this cruise tour will be history. I don’t live for the 7 day inside passage. It’s okay but it’s more important to see what I want inland because of the small fortune I’m spending. .

Excursions opened today for some of my land portions. Was able to book Copper River and Fairbanks. Still waiting for Denali to be posted. There were only several openings on each and they just got posted ttoday.

Thanks for the info. That’s the page I’ve been using and alas, it’s still only 5% discount for my cruise. I’m good at 10%, I’m done bitching now. LOL

This whole drinks package upgrade thing just doesn’t make much sense. I booked the AI back in June. I kept receiving email offers to upgrade from the classic to premium bev pkg at a 20% discount. Well, to only upgrade, they will not give the 20%. I ordered and cancelled and reordered several times in the past months still trying for the 20% because it would only give me 5% discount. Last week they email that because I had joined the Captains Club, call this # and receive 10%. So I cancel the premium pkg again, wait for the OBC to go back into my account and call the # they gave me. No problem at all, finally saved 10% on that premium package. I know I will be using it because the martini bar martinis are $17 and the classic pkg only covers $10 and under. I know it’s not much $$ but don’t offer it to me if I can’t have it.

Thanks for the heads up Paula. It does seem odd they pop up on a Sunday and only for Kenai. The river float was the only one I would like and it had 9 slots for the afternoon time, the early and late were sold out. This would not be my first choice but at least I have something booked. It’s not a great feeling that I’m almost desperate to book any excursion rather than nothing. Maybe Princess will be adding more options and I can always cancel and rebook. I also reserved Jayleens Whale watching in Juneau. I found her tour on you tube a few weeks ago and it looked great. I am lucky that’s she has an opening for my port date. The pic is of the two ladies I did the river float with in May 2018, all the gear plus boots then climb onto a zodiac raft. Yes, I’ll do it again. The river is beautiful.

I have my cruise port excursions covered but I’m waiting for Princess to put up the excursions for Copper River, Kenai, McKinley. They have me booked for the gold dredge 8 and the sternwheeler in Fairbanks but I would love to get out of those and book something else. I’ve already done them. I would consider something to the Artic circle perhaps. Does anyone know if you have the National Park Pass does Princess still refund the $10 fee for the TWT? I think last time my tour guide had to hassle it out of the hotel manager in Denali.

Unable to open the RCL land destinations for excursions

WOW - That information is very disappointing to hear. It explains why they were there for awhile but now gone. Princess better get their act together on this problem. FYI, my TA has a partnership with shore excursions group.com and they do have a few excursions for interior Alaska, so that’s something to look at. We’ll now I will be researching RCL to see if they are offering interior excursions on their landtours

No land excursions are available for booking for my august 24 cruise tour. When will they be available? I have t wo nights in Cooper River, two nights in Kenai, two nights in McKinley that i want to choose an excursion. The excursions are included in Denali and Fairbanks. Right now the only excursion availibilty is for the cruise portion. Is there time limit before princess releases the land excursions?

As a solo traveler I need the moving pieces to fit together easily. As such I pay the price. I want the Princess rep to meet me at baggage claim and get me to my hotel, room key and vouchers in hand. Of course i also want a transfer from the hotel to the ship. As for the per person charge, in most cases I already pay double.

Good advice to snap a pic from tv. Have to say I liked the Princess medallion. Easy to scan, no swiping, no paper receipts, no mis charges, super easy to wear. I’m not looking forward to wearing a lanyard all week. If I have to wear it, they better be swiping it.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I want to be in port before the ship because we all know how stuff happens. I will go back to my TA, they do need to work for their $$. Last time (2018) I stayed at the Pinnacle which was beautiful and very close to Canada Place. I began my cruise tour in Fairbanks, ended in Vancouver and added a Trafalgar tour 9 days to Banff. Loved the tour, hated the bus. I get it, post pandemic businesses are still trying to catch up, so all prices are up.

Westin must not be available through Princess at this time. They attached a note that the prices can change at the cruiselines descretion

My TA just presented me with the precruise hotels choices for two nights(with transfers) next August. My choices - both Fairmonts run $850 to $900 USD. I guess i will just have to add it to my overall Alaska cruise tour experience. But-YIKES, it’s just a hotel.

2023. Update to the question of TA OBC refundable. My TA just emailed me the answer. Their onboard credit is non refundable but check when onboard. Each cruise line may treat it differently.

The OBC from my TA doesn’t show up until I board. It’s the process they use to purchase it. Pre covid, the unused portion was refunded by check from Princess a few weeks after the cruise. I just asked my TA if it is still refundable, answer NO but depends on the cruise line. It can’t be used until onboard and by then the speciality restaurants are already booked solid as are most excursions. My fare is AI anyway so there’s not much to add when already onboard. I use the cruise line OBC to upgrade the excursions, Wi-Fi, drinks, speciality dinners etc. Theirs gets used first anyway. I don’t really need a trip to EFFY to spend $700 on a 6 night cruise but Im not leaving anything $$ on the table. I might need to learn the casino trick this trip.

That is exactly what happened on my last Princess cruise. Sky Princess B2B late January 2020. There were different large groups on each leg. To begin with Princess gave them the 5pm assigned dining room forcing the assigned time passengers into the anytime DR. Everyone outside of these groups were forced to wait. Only found this out when on our first night we waited 1 1/2 hours to get in. PIMA. Princess closed various venues both weeks for these groups and everyone else was out of luck. The groups took over most of the pool areas and bars. Trying to get seats in the theater was near impossible. Ruined the brand new Sky experience for me. I made many visits to guest services. Believe me getting an assigned dining time and chocolate covered strawberries didn’t take the bad taste out of my mouth. I travel solo and have elite status and I still hold a grudge. So much so I’m booked on Celebrity in November.

It is available on my Alaska cruise tour. $100 OBC and $50 cruise tour cash. not near enough but better than nothing. MY TA had applied it but I wanted to know for sure. Just saying, you can’t always get the correct answers from Princess reps, even PVP.

Finally Princess is offering something back. This brochure just came by snail mail so this offer has been out there more than this week. I wouldn’t be upset except for the fact that before I booked on Wednesday, I spoke with two princess vacation planners and neither offered this (up to) $200 per stateroom excursion credit, in fact they offered zero in the way of perks which is why I booked with my TA. I hope my TA can snag this credit for my 17 day Alaska cruisetour. Maybe someone can use this info. Here are the promotion codes ULO/UPO/URO. Campaign Code PD3MD018A/Z_418A/Z.