jeromep

I'd advise bringing on the chips you wish at embarkation. You won't find much packaged food on board. My daughter has a very limited pallet and we can keep her fed on board no problem. She like chips and crackers, but any bread product is usually a winner. Deserts are easy. Dinner doesn't have much variety, but she is happy with any type of crispy chicken, plain burgers, hot dogs, and most potato products, but especially fries. Princess makes all their baked goods on board every day, their breads and dinner rolls are excellent. They also make their own breadsticks, the crispy ones, and a number of home made crackers. When we were on Discovery last year we went to the Suite/Elite reception in Take Five most evenings and they had huge displays of their home made breadsticks and crackers and they were far better than anything you can get at the grocery store. Fresher, tastier. In just about any dining venue all you have to do is ask and they will do their best to find something for you. I suspect that if he likes chips, the crispy crackers and breadstics they make on board will be a hit. Princess has good french fries, they do vary from the dining room to the grill up on Lido, but they are good nonetheless. If you want them extra crisp, they will give it a try. We are also on the Majestic this year. We are on the sailing immediately after yours. I hope you have a great time.

I think I started a roll call for an Alaska cruise this summer. There was no existing roll call as early as February, and the roll call has been pretty quiet. This sure has surprised me because almost all of the roll calls I've been part of in the past have been pretty active. Well, you have nearly 2 years to think about this cruise. Have fun.

We were in Alaska last year and in Ketchikan we were at one of those trinket shops on Creek Street. They had a cooler with individual cans of pop made by 49th State Brewing for sale. https://www.49thstatebrewing.com/sodas/ They sold them cold and loose, but they had the plastic rings to make a 4 pack (or was it a 6 pack) at a small discount, and we did so. I was concerned about bringing them back on board. We showed them to security and they just nodded and we put them on the belt of the scanner and they made their way to the fridge in our cabin. While this is very different than how much you can board the ship with at embarkation, I would say you are safe with a 12-pack per person. I bet you could push it, but I'm not sure I would. The pop from 49th State Brewing is excellent, worth looking for if you are on an Alaska cruise.

There was another thread on here talking about the value of Plus and Premier, and my takeaway from it (and it was a good takeaway), was that if you try to do the math to justify the daily cost of Plus or Premier, most cruisers would not be able to justify it, although Plus is mathematically pretty solid in terms of the value to the average cruiser. On the other hand, if you view it beyond the transactional aspect of number of beverages purchased, cost of standard gratuities, cost of Internet and such, and move toward thinking about how you will actually enjoy your cruise more knowing that you aren't going to be billed for every beverage you drink, that you can try that fruity drink you'd never order at your local townie bar, and not feel guilty if you don't like it, or that you can freely connect your phone and iPad and any other devices to the Internet and not worry about logging them out when you are done using them, that has a benefit, too. When we are out there living life and buying the things we need we all do so understanding that every transaction we enter into, the seller is attempting to make a profit, and is likely doing so. If I'm selling something to sustain my life and I'm not making a profit doing so, I won't be selling things for very long and will be shuttering my doors and moving onto something else. At least on a subconscious level we understand that businesses exist, and products and services come to market, because the seller believes they can make a profit and improve their standard of living. Therefore, I find it quite odd that folks approach things like a feature or benefits package, or some kind of upgrade, and expect that what is included in the package is going to be valued at par or greater than the price paid for the package. There is no difference between a cruise package and a frozen pizza, the cost to make or supply either is quite a bit less than what is being charged. Nobody seems to mind the price of frozen pizza, and those that do, just don't buy it. Same with cruise add-on packages, those of us that purchase them understand that somebody is making a profit, but psychologically we get benefits from the purchase beyond the number of beverages we consume or the daily gratuity that isn't showing up on our folio. I guess my summary is that choosing to buy a package is a good deal to some, not such a good deal to others, and the way we decide which way to go is as subjective as our opinions on cruise food.

We really need an archived thread about using mobile devices on WiFi. I contributed to a thread some weeks back asking the same thing and would reference it here, but can't find it. So I'll do this again. I'll try to make this logical so you can have a really good experience being connected while on a cruise. 1. Does your cellular plan have access to WiFi calling? Most respectable plans do these days, and it is in the best interest of the cellular provider to allow WiFi calling because it offloads cellular traffic to the Internet, which frees up resources for those that have to be on cellular instead of being on the much higher capacity terrestrial Internet. That said, if you turn on WiFi calling, when your phone is connected to a WiFi network, all your phone calls and cellular bound text messages will be routed over the Internet. You can be anywhere in the world, connected to WiFi and you'll make and receive calls and send SMS text messages just as if you were on your domestic cellular plan with your regular provider. Your phone might even be ready to turn on WiFi calling. Generally WiFi calling can be set up in the Cellular settings on your phone. Set it up now, and it will be waiting for you when you cruise. 2. When on board the ship you need to do two things to ensure that you do not use or connect to any "cellular at sea" services. First off, once on board, turn your phone to airplane mode. This turns off all the wireless antennas, except for Bluetooth. Then go into your WiFi settings and manually turn WiFi back on. This ensures that you will not connect to anything cellular while at the same time allowing you to connect to the ship's on board network. Verizon offers their customers some calling plans that include cellular at sea service for a fee, and it isn't terribly uncompetitive, but it isn't a bargain either. I'm with AT&T and their cellular at sea is terribly expensive and there are no bundles or plans. But with WiFi calling plus unlimited Internet, there is no need for cellular at sea. 3. If you are on iPhone, all the Apple services, so iMessage and FaceTime will want to haul their messaging over data networks, so WiFi. Any time you have messages in blue, you are on Apple's network and the messages are being hauled over the Internet. So, iMessages will go over data with or without WiFi calling... same goes for FaceTime calls. I hope this helps.

Skagway is in a National Park. Part of that National Park is in a building in Pioneer Square in Seattle, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the rest surrounds Skagway. I believe it is the only park in the NPS where it operates in multiple locations. As for the people of Skagway, the permanent population is quite small. Most of the folks you encountered there, either as tour guides, or restaurant and retail workers, are all seasonal workers. They love the place, they love the subject matter, they like interacting with the public and tourists, they like working part of the year and then not working and living off savings the rest of the year. I suspect a number of the folks you met are winter sports nuts, making all their money during the spring/summer/fall, and then turning around, leaving Skagway, and going someplace to couch surf or #vanlife and spending every day on the slopes. I had a friend from high school that became a heavy equipment operator and skilled construction worker and that is exactly how he lived life. Made a ton of money for about 6 months of the year, then meandered around for a few months, settled down for a month or so or meandered around a cold state from ski resort to ski resort spending the days on the slopes and the evenings involved in extracurricular activities. It's not my idea of a good life, but it worked for him. He easily afforded his lifestyle and was not a burden on anyone.

Correct, but that is mostly marketing and placing the onus on the tour operator to follow the ship's port schedule to a "T". However, consider this; tour operators in many ports live and die by having good working relationships with cruise operators. It isn't hard for a cruise line to freeze out an operator that doesn't do their job well or repeatedly misses getting passengers back to a ship by boarding time. If a cruise line gets tired of a bad operator's behavior, they just won't resell their tours. Now also consider that most tour operators in ports sell tours direct or through other tour agencies. So, on any given day, a tour operator is running tours that have been sold through a cruise line, and sold by a third-party agency, or they direct sell. First off, they know the ship schedule at the port. In fact port schedules are set up very early and long before the cruise season in a region starts. Second, in most instances tour operators have a relationship with the port agent, and if not a relationship, have access to the port schedule and know who the port agent is. In fact us groundlings can easily find the port schedule for just about any location in the world thanks to the Internet and a little time with a search engine. With just a little bit of effort you can have the same ship schedule information that tour operators have. About the only time that a cruise line "guarantee" associated with a shore excursion being useful is if there is a weather event in the port that forces the ship to get underway to avoid the weather event before the all aboard time. This is an incredibly rare occurrence. So, do not be afraid to book excursions through third-party agents, or even at a shore excursion kiosk once you are in port. Note your all aboard time, note the times for shore excursions sold by third-party agents or at the kiosk in port, and behave accordingly.

Also important to note that 13 Coins runs a different menu on venue nights; they don't offer their full menu when there is something going on at Lumen or T-Mobile. If it is just a normal night in SODO, then there will be a full menu. And yes, this is another vote for 13 Coins. It is about the most convenient real food near King Street Station. Flatstick Pub, is nearby also, a bit north of the station, and is good, too. Out west, Amtrak is notorious for not being able to maintain their schedule. A lot of this has to do with the track being owned by freight lines. Now, strictly speaking, passenger service is supposed to take priority over freight service, however the freight lines have conveniently made most freight trains super long, miles and miles long, which means that they can't be moved onto a siding to allow the passenger train to go through. Since the passenger train is much shorter, and fits easily into nearly all sidings, the freight trains get priority by default. And that leads to most of the delays on the Amtrak system. Back east Amtrack owns more of their track, however a lot of that owned track is also specialized service (electrified, or higher speed), and the east coast relies on the train for commuting a lot more. Amtrak works much better in the east than the west and a lot of it has to do with distances between places, convenience of track relative to places, and the demand for service. But I'm sure glad that @acct1975 is using the train to get to Vancouver. Cascades is a good service, even if it might not run totally on time. I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip up. Some of the scenery is spectacular.

Grand class ship cabins have predominately U.S. 110v outlets. There are some European 220v outlets in the cabins, but they seem to be reserved for ship utility needs and are not generally located in convenient locations. If you visit the thread that @reedprincess shared there are pictures of a number of outlet locations. I think I saw one European outlet on a wall, and if you have a mini-suite on a Grand class ship you'll have quite a few U.S. outlets in that central alcove between the bedroom and sitting area where TVs used to be mounted. Now, on the Royal class ships, there are more European outlets in convenient places, like at the top of desks, right next to U.S. outlets than I'm used to seeing. The flip side of this is that there seem to be fewer U.S. outlets than on similar cabins on Grand class ships. I carry a travel power adapter with us. It has the standard Euro plug on it and it ends in a transformer box with two U.S. plugs on it and 4 USB A ports. I only use it for powering and charging our USB powered devices and phones. I've never used it for running a 120v U.S. device. That way I can use one of the Euro desk outlets for my USB powered stuff, don't have to contend with all the U.S. power to USB adapters, and free up a U.S. outlet for something more important. This is the exact one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QLCKW6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 But there may be others that are better and newer. Biggest recommendation is to get a travel transformer that has a cord that goes from the transformer to the outlet. Don't get the wall wart versions because you never know if you'll have sufficient space for the wall wart when it is plugged in.

I'm sorry, the whole "casual dining" thing feels so much like a cash grab. This seems to be the new Princess M.O. Was on the Discovery last July and had pizza at GiGi's one afternoon. It was always busy there and you almost always had to be given a pager and wait to be seated. At the time it was included in your cruise fare. And based on what we were served, that was justifiable. So here are my complaints. Location feels cramped and is very loud. There is a lot of foot traffic outside, and if you are seated on the outside divider you get the "noise" of the Piazza along with lots of people milling by. It is much nicer to be seated by the windows or middle of the venue or even up at the kitchen. Would have rather been seated outside, but our itinerary wasn't such that they did that, potentially too cold or wet, but we were lucky and it was neither on our cruise. I'm pretty familiar with Neapolitan pizza, have had a lot of different types of Neapolitan and wood fired pizzas in a lot of different eateries. Some of it authentic, some of if inspired, some of it a far cry. My impression of Gigi's is about middle of the road. They are doing their best to be authentic, but the quantity of toppings feels too reserved, and the crust was a bit too dry and chewy for me. I've had a lot of really great Neapolitan pizza that had just enough crust on the edge to hold the pizza by, and more than enough toppings for there to be lots of flavor. I found what I ordered to be a lot of crust, some of pretty heavily burnt, and not enough toppings to give it a lot of flavor. So, as an included dining option, it was perfectly passable for a sea day lunch, but it wasn't worth a cover charge to me. Salty Dog was disappointing because it was never open for the type of meal I would have at a pub... lunch, maybe a mid day snack, pop in for a beer and a snack, late night beer and snack, 4th meal (al la Taco Bell). There is no way I'd go to Salty Dog (or any other gastropub concept) for dinner on a cruise, that is the territory of the MDR and specialty venues. The space sat unused most of the day on board, and when it was open was only lightly attended. And this venue, unlike Gigi's did have a cover charge. So if Princesses new M.O. is all about on board food sales, they really did miss an opportunity here by not having it open more. I thought the Salty Dog menu looked good, but it isn't a dinner menu, it is a lunch/snack menu.

RT cruises to Canada during the summer, basically the east coast equivalent of an Alaska cruise. Yes, yes, plenty of differences, but about the closest metaphor. The old adage in cruising is "if its cold, they're old". I don't think that is quite as true as it used to be, but it remains that way sometimes. That said, during the summer there are always multi-generational families on cruises. Princess also maintains kids clubs. The location of the teen club on the Island Princess isn't in a great location on ship compared to other ships, it is on Lido deck and close to the pools, and it is still a fair amount of space, but it is an inside space on the ship, no windows. There will be lots of different scheduled activities along with open hours. Typically they do one or maybe two teen group dinners, and their open hours and activities are also designed to give parents a break so they can do other things on the ship. I suspect that your kids will have a good time no matter what. Also note that the ship has one enclosed pool and one open pool, so there will be all weather water entertainment. My experience with Alaska cruises, as a basis of comparison, is that there are plenty of kids on board and lots of activity going on, so I wouldn't be too concerned about your teens enjoying themselves.

Do yourself a favor and use Google maps to map the transit directions from YVR to the Pan Pacific. Looks like you'll get off the train at the Vancouver City Centre Station and you'll walk about 5 blocks to the hotel. Google Maps will give you a really good idea of time distance and walking route. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ds5tkHSRNhZ4PHVG6

There is a lot of sales pitch and upsell in the spa, especially on the medspa side of things. If you have an acupuncturist at home and regularly seek these treatments, have found them to be beneficial, stick with getting them done, at home. Acupuncture is something I would want done by somebody who is licensed, and more importantly, bonded, and more importantly than that, somebody I'm familiar with and know their work. It is one thing entirely for me to get a massage or some other skin or body work done on a cruise, but something where they are inserting needles in your body; I would rather have that done by somebody I know and trust.

I'm not sure what the question is? If the questions is, do we think that $40 for an Uber XL to Pier 91 at $40 is acceptable, I would probably agree. Last year I took an UberXL from Pier 91 all the way down to a SeaTac hotel for $75 including the tip, so the price you are paying seems conceivable, although a bit higher than I might expect, but not totally unreasonable. Since this was dated 5/11, I presume you are already on your cruise. Enjoy!

It is streaming on pluto.tv, has its own "channel". It was a pretty revolutionary way of doing a TV show in its time, multiple story lines going at once, usually 3, recurring cast with notable guest stars on every episode. And yes, lots and lots of formal wear.

It is a good value if you tend to always have a beverage in your hand and are not drinking alcoholic drinks. Plus the NA beverages can really eat you alive in terms of "bar charges" that show up on your folio, if you are one to always need a beverage in hand. I think the smoothies are good, I can make a better one at home with fresh and frozen fruit, but they are making it for me and I don't have to clean the kitchen and my blender when I'm done, so that is a fair tradeoff for a smoothie made with commercial smoothie base, and some additional fruit. The mocktails are also nicely done, basically the same ingredients as would be used in a real cocktail minus the booze. I'm going to presume that by "double smoothie" you mean a double serving. I don't have first hand account, but the last time I had a smoothie on board they put it in a particular sized glass. I would say they could give you two at once, or you could ask for a double and they could put it in a large cup. All you have to do is ask. Plus if you can get a bit of a report with the bar crew that is putting up smoothies, they will get to know you and what you want and will just put it up as you have asked for it before.

Ewww! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Sounds like Sun Princess has a buffet where the food is served to you and the pax don't touch it. I suspect that as we see new builds, and maybe some drydocks, that the buffets will eventually be reconfigured to eliminate self-service.

Thank you for the live. I appreciated all your photos of the places you visited, and the menu and food photos. Someday we will be able to do something similar, a long cruise, but with school aged kids, jobs, household chores, and senior pets, that is a ways off for us. I look forward to your October sailing, I hope I am able to catch it in the forums. It was nice following the Majestic as she re-positioned to the Pacific coast. We will be on her at the end June for a 7-day Alaska cruise. I tend to fall off the forums for a while after a cruise as a coping mechanism, knowing that we won't be cruising for a while (due to the aforementioned kids, school, house, deaf and arthritic cat, etc.) always makes me a little sad. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Washington.

The television show. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Boat

For sure, there will be numerous reminders and announcements that food is not to be taken off ship in the ports you visit on your Alaska cruise. These will be on your daily printed one-sheet of events, along with notifications that may appear on the Princess app, and I'm certain I've seen the reminder cycle through the material that is on the touch screens in elevator lobbies and public areas the day of a port stop. I've read a number of threads here of folks taking food off without issue, however, there are laws against it; it is your neck, or rather a large fine, and you never know when you'll be inspected in port as you get off the ship. We bring on board a couple of boxes of packaged snacks just for this reason. We keep them in a daypack and they are with us when we go off the ship. If we are feeling peckish or need a boost and there is no food around or we don't like our options, then we hit the snacks we brought along. Also great for long excursions where the snack and food option isn't to our liking or really is insufficient. I'm glad you are looking ahead and attempting to prepare. First off, this is a vacation, so don't over pack and don't over plan. The goal is to have just enough of everything you need to live without being overburdened with luggage and stuff to keep track of. And remember, this is a vacation, not an exploration expedition, you are going to be well fed by the cruise line, you don't need to bring your own food. For those long excursion days, I'd recommend having a hearty breakfast in the morning on board, maybe something heavier than you are used to, and then head out on your excursions with the plan to get lunch as soon as the excursion ends. I'm also assuming that you have a morning excursion that will let you get free around lunch. For the snacks you do bring on board, I like some granola bars, some protein bars are great, plus they make you feel full pretty fast, and maybe some carbs, like individual pouches of goldfish crackers; they are tidy, don't make a mess of your hands. This is all just food for thought.

Any of the above will be just fine. Formal night isn't quite as formal as it used to be. Don't stress about it as enforcement of the official line on the Princess site and in all their materials isn't done by ships staff. Lots of threads here about formal nights, take most with a grain of salt, especially those that want everyone dressed up like they were on the "Love Boat"

Absolutely, spectacular! I was not up to see it last night, but a friend of mine that lives just a few miles away did capture it. It was not nearly as colorful as this in our location. This is the first time I can recall where those of us in Central Washington have been able to see this right from our back yards. It is very uncommon for the aurora borealis to be this far south.

Aw, just have a few more adult beverages while you work. Most of us can't do that at our regular jobs. This is a unique opportunity.

You bring up a good point. I know a couple who road trip travel quite a bit. More so now that they are both retired. The wife was an elementary school librarian so she had summers off and they found time to drive to many, many, distant destinations here in the west, and keep in mind that the distances between places out here are measured in hours of driving and hundreds of miles on the road. I asked the husband about their travels and someplace in the conversation they mentioned looking for Applebee's while on the road, and dining there most nights while in transit someplace. I was shocked. Why would they seek out Applebee's? Especially while traveling where you could experience new foods. Simple, consistency and a relative assurance that the food would be prepared reasonably well in a sanitary manner. And yes, they did like the food there. McDonald's fits into the same category, they are consistent, you basically know what you are getting when you order something while away from home, and it basically tastes the same as if you were at McDonalds at home. Plus kitchen procedures are wrote in all McDonalds, so are sanitary standards, which means that there is a good chance that the food is being prepared in a predictably sanitary kitchen.

I'd say most of the Pacific Northwest has had a great day today. It is the warmest day we have had all spring. Full sun and 80 degrees east of the Cascades. The coast appears similar, although cooler.