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As much as a trip to the islands during the holidays is a fun cruise, if your ship arrives on Thanksgiving or Christmas (to any of the ports), you won't find much open. Fortunately, there are a lot of "free" activities to do on each island. Getting to them may be a problem. Have a back-up car rental plan.

These are the hours for the Polynesian Cultural Center. Polynesian Cultural Center: Monday-Saturday, 12:30 – 9:00 pm Closed Sundays, Wednesdays, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day Could this be the reason that your tour was cancelled? I knew about Sunday. Did not know about Wednesdays. Most of the employees are students from BYU (next door). Hawaii is having a difficult time with staffing, everywhere....My Hallmark store outside of town is closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Yes...three full days. I would imagine that the contracted busses are also having a difficult time getting restarted. And the Japanese are just starting to return to the islands. Hawaii was much like Princess at the start up. As long as the ships were sailing at 50% occupancy, everything was working well. Once tourism ramped up to 80%, it was hard to keep everyone serviced. And we are not up to 100% yet. https://labor.hawaii.gov/blog/news/hawaiis-unemployment-rate-at-new-record-2-0-in-november/

Thank you. I did do a search. You either have to buy it for a guest or have a current booking number. I should have/could have had someone buy it for me on the Sapphire. Oh well, not a meant to be. But fun thoughts.

@HBCcruiser Having reserved seats in the theater is the very best perk for the Sky Suite. Hope you are enjoying every minute of this cruise. Sounds like it. Do you get to pick the seats or are they pre-assigned?

I am so sorry to be catching up to you so late. If I was more on top of things (very long story), I would have made contact with you much sooner. I am picking up friends at 11 when the Sapphire arrives in HNL. It would have been so much fun finally getting to meet you and showing you around. Hope you get this message, anyway.

They did have a jacket that folded into the hood and "sort" of resembled a bear (stretch of your imagination). I have been on the Grand 5 times since the restart and haven't seen them since October. You would think (always my worst Princess mistake) that Princess would keep things that were in demand and stop things that didn't work.

I also prefer coffee with my meal. But no one else understood that. Thanks for letting me know that I wasn't the crazy one.

Yes, you can order decaf specialty coffees. They are very limited to decaf (free) teas. They used to a very low White Orchid tea and do have a chamomile also.

The Grand did not have any Stanley Bears (or entourage). I was told they are being discontinued. So get them while you can. I would have like the Chinese Stanley.

Beautiful first photos. I am going to enjoy cruising along. Wish I were there. Heck...wish I was IN YOUR Sky Suite!

The Royal Class ships (and newer) do not have a walk around full Promenade Deck. Many complaints. Princess didn’t listen to their “loyal” passengers and built a newer class without. Welcome to Cruise Critic.

I think (dangerous) that one of the criteria is: Does the ship return to the same port as embarkation? Were you considered an in-transit passenger? This is a broad generalization to determine if you got one or two credits. This will not be applicable to World Cruises since they don't return to the same port of embarkation until after they go around the world.

This was so very long ago that my memory does not recall all the details. What is clear is that I made Elite while on a back to back. I “knew” the Captain Circle rep (aka Loyalty and Events Planner). He gave me my card and pin before the end of the cruise. Of course I wanted to immediately try it out for the fabulous 10% off shopping. The cashier in the MDR sales room politely told me I had to wait until my next cruise. 😂 😊 🙃 Of course, I paraded around proudly displaying my pin. Silly me! Now, my medallion is tuck away, out of sight. Young and Foolish

Everything must have been okay. ELUA is back home and was very happy to be on the cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii. Made all the ports. In Victoria for the day and then on her way to LA.

oops, stand corrected….I didn’t take in to account that Elite status could be counted by days. See, I knew someone else would have the right answer. (Now, I remember that)

Bus fare has gone up….haha. But you still can get a senior fare by showing your Medicare care. https://www.thebus.org/Fare/FareTran_Brochure_English.pdf

Nice job. Yes, it would be nice to “see at a glance”.

I looked into the World Cruise on the Island. It was only being sold as 3 segments; each about +/- 30 days long. Example: if your friend booked a world cruise, they would earn 3 cruise credits (unless in a suite and/or solo) with or without booking each independently. I don’t know if any other ship is doing the WC. I hope a more experienced poster will have a better answer.

Very interesting itinerary. 14-Day Caribbean Islander

How can the internet/wifi be so bad on the same itinerary but a different ship? Shouldn't the Discovery have a better/improved system than the "oldER" Grand Princess? I guess I am just happy to have better internet/wifi than what I get at home (think DSL/step above dial up). Princess needs to get their act together if they want to attract the younger crowd who relies on high. speed internet for remote work or other social media.

Pre-paying is only applicable to the cruise portion.

Following along. Would loved to have joined you for your solo portion. I didn't have any issues with the internet doing Mexico cruises.

I feel the same way. Why not? Same for when I fly to Hawaii....I "technically" get 4 free bags. But there is no way I can maneuver all of that by myself (no porters available, hee hee). Hawaii needs to get a Traders Joe. Unfortunately, what gets unpacked has to get repacked when cruising. I could not manage Stanley Bear and his entourage.

I have "packed" a 22 inch suitcase with 49.5 pounds. Very easy to do. Of course, I did not try to carry it onboard. Overhead bins are restricted to 25 pounds.

If you are taking a holiday 2022 cruise to Hawaii on the.Crown Princess, ELUA will be on there for the Christmas run. I do not believe the Emerald has "cultural ambassadors". ELUA will have free hula and ukulele classes and Dave/Leialoha will do enrichment lectures. Since there are so many sea days, there will also be a naturalist or other lecturer onboard. December 20, 2021-January 4, 2022 January 4-19, 2022 January 19-February 3, 2022 I did not have any problems with the internet across the Pacific. At times it was a little slow. At times, it would not load a video. At times I could do FaceTime. None of Princess' pools are heated. I do not remember, but don't think the Crown (class) has an indoor/covered pool. Food is very subjective. The Medallion Class App (which has many functions) seems to be working more than not.