UVaWiseGuy

On 4/4/2018 at 3:49 PM, johnmik1 said:

Tony Draper is now aboard as Captain on Royal.

He is still here on Royal as of June 2019.

@steamboats Thanks for the reply!

Further question on the usage of the apps.  Do you have to purchase wifi on the ship to use them or is that free?  Same question regarding using WhatsApp while on the ships net.  Does it incur data charges or go against some type of minutes plan?  I wasn't planning on using email, texting, or phone the first few days of our cruise when we are at Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.  However, I'd like to be able to have the functionality working for the purposes of learning what medallion cruising can do. I've never purchased wifi and don't know if it is worth it on an itinerary with three American ports in it.

@fishywood I think you may have received some misinformation about getting Ocean Ready "at least" 60 days out.  For most I've read on other threads, it is the other way around.  You cannot *start* getting Ocean Ready until after final payment processes which is usually 60-75 days out.  I booked our upcoming cruise on Royal Princess last week Tuesday (5/28/2019) through an online TA I have used several times for booking cruises.  Our sailing date is a week from this Saturday (6/15/2019).  I had to pay the full amount when I booked since the sailing was only 18 days away.  I was immediately able to start getting us Ocean Ready as soon as my receipt from Princess came in my email.  I completed that process on Thursday 5/30/2019 and our medallions arrived via FedEx on Tuesday 6/4/2019.  The logo in the medallion is Ruby for us as it is our 4th Princess Cruise.  They do have our names, ship and sailing date on them.  It is a very fast process to get the medallions once you have completed the Ocean Ready screens and uploaded all the right documentation. 

In hindsight, I wish I had downloaded the apps to both of our phones and gotten my wife Ocean Ready on her phone rather than setting us both up on mine.  When I finally got around to getting the apps on her phone, it "undid" her Ocean Ready status and I had to re-take the passport snapshot into the Ocean Ready account on her phone.  Once I did that, we both went back to green circle status (complete).  We can now see each other are complete on both phones.

Happy cruising!

Bryan 

1. Re the patch: Yes, some dryness of the mouth. However, my DW always has a bottle of water with her because other things dry out her mouth as well. She did not find it bothersome or worse than she has otherwise had in the past.

2. Re the open booking on RCCI: We are toying with the idea of an Australian / South Pacific cruise to use that one up in January 2013. We have applied to attend a convention in New Zealand or Costa Rica at that time, but haven't heard if we have been chosen to attend. If we do get chosen to attend in NZ, it will be a much higher likelihood we use that cruise while we are in that neck of the woods. Otherwise we've been toying with the idea of cruising to Hawaii with my in-laws. My father in law is 88 years old and has been to 49 of the 50 states, with Hawaii the only exception. We may do that in the year ahead, but likely using the open booking on Princess since it sails round trip out of SFO and they'd prefer not to fly.

I'll let you all know what we think of HAL when we get back. I heard two positive reviews from people I met at a work conference this week that enjoyed their HAL cruises in the past year.

UVaWiseGuy

Well, fellow Nor-Cal'ers, we are in San Diego preparing to set sail on a little 4-day repositioning heading up the coast to Vancouver, with a stop in Port Angeles on the way. This will be our first time on Holland America. We are on the Oosterdam. Any tips from anyone who has been on HAL or docked in Port Angeles, Washington?

UVaWiseGuy

@barnismom - I have to concur with timetraveler. The Golden Princess is a nice ship and we had a wonderful time when we sailed her to Mexico. We got uberfortunate in that the ACD at the time, Brett, had been the line dance instructor and the first CD staff member to greet us on our first cruise ; and the Captain's Circle hostess, Chrissy, had been on the CD staff on our Dawn Princess cruise. Having a couple familiar faces made it extra special. (and we got invited to lunch with the captain, the two of them and several others on one of our sea days, awesome!)

Hope you have a great cruise. Our next will be our first time on Holland America, the Oosterdam. Anybody been on that ship already and have hints to share?

Bryan from Pitt

My wife, who is subject to seasickness, swears by the patch. We live in the Bay Area and we have sailed out of San Francisco a couple of times, and it is wonderful. Don't let fear of potential seasickness cause you to miss it. I hope we have a clear day for your sailing. Enjoy your trip!

I didn't realize northern cal had its own thread. Looks like we have cruising neighbors.