beg3yrs

It's the venerable EssiesMom. 🤣

We completed the 17 day Connoisseur Escorted tour from Fairbanks to Vancouver this year and it was wonderful (probably one of the last groups to see Copper River this year - but I digress). Now considering the Heart of the Rockies land tour for 2024, hoping it will be offered. Your post is especially useful, THANKS! Plan to do the land first, take a ship doing the inside passage if available and then return back to Vancouver (7 days just isn't enough).

Like this?

She was scheduled to call in Victoria on June 10 but due to a temporary engine exhaust leak problem coming out of Juneau along with some rough seas for a bit, she had to slow down and missed Victoria going directly to Vancouver ...

Before COVID I believe the prevailing wisdom was to do the land tour first followed by the cruise. The reasoning was that the land tour can, at times, be a little hectic with alternating travel and then days at a lodge. We just did that this May and found it to be a good way to go. That said, our group was tested upon arrival at the last lodge before ship embarkation. One person test positive (spouse was negative) and off they went to Anchorage for quarantine while missing their cruise. We kept in touch and it turns out they did their five days and then hired a rental car for a spur-of-the-moment driving trip which they enjoyed. Subsequently, it is my understanding that Princess started testing land tour groups at the beginning of their tours so I'm not sure which option is better. Someone testing positive after a cruise would then miss the land tour. I suppose one has to balance which part of the journey they feel is more important to them.

Most reports are that you'll get a ticket number about 30 days before departure. Your mileage may vary a bit. Princess uses the 45 day number to not allow you to make any more changes although I've seen at least one report that indicates changes have been made by some up until actual ticketing.

We know a couple who also like those cabins. While sailing with them we were invited to "check out" the place. It was so close to the bridge you could see into the bridge wing from their balcony. They had made a sign that the placed on their balcony. It said "We want to see whales". Then, taped to the window of the bridge wing was a piece of paper with a hand-drawn picture of a couple of whales. Hilarious!

1) I have never seen an automatic price drop nor have I seen a feature like that mentioned in the EZair documentation. I've always had to monitor it myself and do the rebook via the EZair interface. 2) My TA is almost never involved in this process other than to forward emails from Princess (if he gets them). I suppose if you're after final payment but before 45 days from departure, your TA might have to get involved if funds are to be returned. 3) The only time I ever had to make a change via phone (it wasn't a price drop but a rebooking of flights due to an airline cancellation) I saw the change on the website immediately.

The train's domed cars will provide you a much more panoramic view of the horizon which often helps with motion sickness. Curves are much more gentle on the train as well. There can be a gentle rocking on the train but IMHO is much smoother than on a bus. There's no forward and back motion like there would be on a bus.

Just a musing about restarting the ships after being out of service for so long. Seems to me that it would have done Princess well to have a couple of short "dress rehearsal" sailings out of the home port before starting full itineraries. Maybe only two nights each but they could load up the ship with experienced past passengers for a very low price (if not free) and have a trip to nowhere. A requirement would be the passengers must provide critical feedback. In this manner the cabins get used, the crew gets to practice with actual passengers and even the shoreside staff gets a couple of run-throughs for embarkation and disembarkation procedures.

Another important takeaway I got from the article is: "allowing the ship to safely maintain critical services". This indicates to me there's a level where it's determined that there aren't enough uninfected crew to safely maintain critical services. What happens then I don't know but it could be a cruise would be canceled as passengers and the ship wouldn't be safe.

We were on a Princess cruise RT Southampton into the Mediterranean a few years ago. It was June and loaded with teens. With all the warm weather and sun they congregated together on the open decks. They were well behaved but of course the socializing at those ages was intense. The energy and excitement they brought to the rest of the passengers was a great experience as we were remembering how it was to be those ages (and of course wishing we could do it all over but knowing what we know now). It was good to see the next generation of adults is going to do well.

Been there done that. Another personal travel rule of mine is avoid flying through France, especially Paris, at all costs. More than once have my travel plans been blown up because the unions there will go on strike if someone accidentally looks cross-eyed at a member. It could be a simple one-hour work stoppage, intentional baggage delays or a multi-day event. You never know...

Interesting to read the authorities believe most passengers brought the disease on board with them. The tests found it and the passengers were isolated. Now, think about this: If these people hadn't cruised and taken the tests, they likely would still have COVID and may not be aware. They wouldn't be isolating on shore and could spread it further. One could argue that taking the cruise with the testing could actually REDUCE the spread of COVID. Not really sure this is true but it's interesting (to me at least) to think about...

No mention of just how many cases constitutes an outbreak. Seems business as usual for everyone. The media is scaremongering while Princess and the health authorities are going about their business in a calm professional manner. As another poster said, there's nothing to see here.

We're booked on a 2023 Caribbean cruise, with Princess - its June on the Caribbean Princess.

Buy One Get One free

So it may not be the performers having COVID but a shortage of stagehands or similar, maybe due to COVID?

But will they realize that every one of those displays at the cabin doors are tablets mounted in a frame. I believe they are Samsung tablets as well. If you look closely you will see there is a camera facing out, Don't think for a minute Princess security wouldn't be able to get the video of each and every person going into and out of a cabin. Not only will they have to wipe the medallion or wear gloves, they'll need a mask to disguise themselves. Oh wait! That's yet another topic that's been beaten to death and probably will still be flogged for some time go come! 😉

Why carry the Medallion and be tracked? Real situation where it would have been absolutely useful: Several years ago off the coast of New Zealand on the Dawn Princess (yes, several years ago) smoke in the theater during a production show. Not theatrical smoke but from a fire in a nearby battery locker. Suddenly the show stops, the performers run off the stage and all passengers are instructed to return to their cabins. Soon the captain decides we all are to muster, i.e. go to the muster stations with their necessary items, check in and wait. During a real muster, which this was, all passengers and crew have to be accounted for. Even though the fire had been contained hours earlier, we were all waiting for the last passenger to be located. Finally found him in the casino muster location. Oblivious to his surroundings he never checked in and ignored all calls with his name. If he had a Medallion, the whole process would have been over quickly. Take that one step further: a passenger in an isolated area on the way to a muster station has a medical emergency and is unable to ask for help. The passenger can be found quickly and assistance rendered in a timely manner. There's a good reason to be tracked.

Been out and about since this morning, Still have the problem with my account. Like others, I'm not feeling I should provide information Princess already has.

Not sure that's it. DW's account is fine and I've seen that request in the past. They certainly don't need my address and phone numbers again...

I can't complete my login this morning unless I re-enter my address, phone number and so on. They have had this information for many years now and certainly haven't lost it, or did they? Decided that in this age of spoofing web-sites and so on, I'll wait it out and see if the issue gets corrected. Anyone else seeing this or is it just me? Edit: Just logged in on DW's account. No problem there...

The biggest, baddest and meanest person with the most tattoos of course! Who's gonna say anything?

We had a similar experience on the Emerald Princess back in December. Suddenly all the production shows were either canceled or reworked with just the singers, no dancers. Cruise staff would not say why, just that everyone was fine. You could tell they were thinking something else. Finally got one member to admit they were all quarantined. Don't expect anything else. Princess hides lots of information they'd rather not have anyone know.