cruisequeen4ever

I can also confirm that this can be done as we didn’t think my hubby could go at first and then added him later.

We absolutely love Take 5, and on both ships that have it, it was full every night of our sailings! I can’t believe they’d remove it. I say this as a slot player who’s never had trouble finding a machine in the existing casinos onboard.

Thank you for sharing your experience! When people say that Princess does Alaska better, I think it really is the ships that come all the way to Whittier because they go to Glacier Bay plus an extra day of glaciers and then offer the land tours at Princess lodges.

They have been popular since they were launched because they’re a semi affordable way to experience a suite. We sailed in one to Alaska years ago and really enjoyed it. There was no noise from Promenade above. We loved having a free embarkation day dinner at Crown Grill, lobster delivered to our room on formal night, breakfast in Sabatini’s (absolute favorite suite perk!), a fantastic bathroom, and lots of space. The location is convenient, too, if you like to gamble. The only downsides to me are having to open a heavy door each time you enter and exit the window suite hallway and not having a balcony.

Yes! Every day at 8:00 AM, if I remember correctly, they aired a video on MUTS, and people spread out across the pool deck to do Tai Chi.

For the train, you can definitely do that, but you need to book it directly through the Alaska Railroad. Princess used to offer it, but it’s been years. I haven’t sailed NCL, but I can say that Princess is one of the original cruise lines to sail Alaska and really knows how to do it. There’s a lot of infrastructure here that other cruise lines (excepting Holland America) don’t have. I know NCL does go to Glacier Bay, so that’s the same. The Sapphire does not have a forward indoor viewing area, but it does have an aft one, Skywalkers Nightclub. That ship is the most beloved of the older ships; it consistently has outstanding crew and has a somewhat unique layout.

The Emerald is my favorite of that class of ship! The afts are fantastic. You may be able to swim. We enjoyed swimming many days in the Med but didn’t much in the British Isles. Cruising Europe is all about it the ports, so watch YouTubes, study the excursions, and book them early. If you’re used to doing lots of onboard activities, you may find you don’t do as many on this cruise because you can be pretty worn out after the long port days. Europe cruises are awesome, happy planning!

Ok, thank you. Yeah, dungeness just isn’t the same. I think we’ll go to Tracy’s.

Darn; ok, thank you.

In 2019, crab was served on the Royal instead of lobster on the second formal night of our Alaska cruise. Prior to that, we saw it on the special insert at Crown Grill for Alaska a few times and had it in the dining room at least once.

I know about the Crab Shack; I meant free crab, like pre-Covid.

Is Princess serving crab on Alaska cruises this year? If so, is it in the dining room or in Crown Grill?

I just checked the Royal’s scheduled arrivals times into Vancouver for the summer, and it’s interesting how much they fluctuate. It used to be that they’d be consistent, but this season, she’s arriving in at 9:30 AM on Saturday, 6:30 AM another, etc.

Thank you all; I have been on an Alaska cruise on the Royal, and we arrived in at the expected time, so this was surprising to me.

Oh interesting. I’m familiar with the tides being an issue in Vancouver, but in all my Alaska cruises, we’ve never arrived the night before into Vancouver.

I haven’t head that problem in the past, but on our recent cruise, I noticed that the clothing manufacturer has changed, and the sizing is quite different/off.

That’s excellent news! Kudos to Princess for taking care of this while at sea!

I think the Royal is in excellent shape. In fact, she seemed like she was being better maintained than the Sky was.

Congratulations! Spending Christmas and New Year’s at Sea on Princess is the very best! It’s so magical with crew wearing Santa hats, Christmas music piped throughout the ship, the crew and passengers in extra jovial spirits, Christmas carols sung by the crew and passengers in the Piazza, a special menu for Christmas and New Year’s, Party favors for New Year’s, a big party for New Year’s, Gingerbread house making other Christmas crafts, and passengers dressed up in fun Christmas attire, with some even in Christmas jammies. Have a blast!

If I see a server and can get their attention, I order through them. If not, though, I order via the app. If a server then comes up to me while I’m waiting for the drink and it has been a while, I let them know. If I ordered on the app, and a server ends up coming by, they usually very kindly offer to go check on the status and then bring me the drink. I also sometimes just go up to the bar because that’s generally the very fastest way of getting a drink. as for the theater, though, like others have said, drinks have not been delivered there since before Covid. If I want one for the show, I go get it somewhere else and take it into the theater with me.

I have always said that Crown Grill is my favorite restaurant in the world. I love their steaks and the whole experience. Our last experience was extremely mediocre, though, and we even gave it a second try on the same cruise. I am hoping it was just an anomaly though and I’m looking forward to having it on a different ship next week.

Vancouver is very easy to navigate on foot and very easy to get transportation to the airport. You can either take the skytrain for a very cheap price from close to the cruise terminal or you can get a taxi.

I am so disappointed that I didn’t happen to log into Princess on that day. Congrats to you all who were able to take advantage of this glitch! I know you were downgraded, but it’s still an awesome deal!

Boarding begins between 12 and 12:15. Definitely don’t risk flying into Anchorage in the afternoon. Anchorage is a 1.25-1.5 hr drive from Whittier where you board.

I wouldn’t base it off Hubbard vs College Fjord; they’re both beautiful, just different. I’d base it off which setup would make you happiest. Would you rather get the longest flight over with first? Do Southbound. Do you plan on doing a land tour, too? If so, get that busy traveling done first, and then sail Southbound. Are the glaciers the highlight for you? If so, do Northbound to finish with the high. Beyond all that, you could alway pick based on price.