fishin' musician

Can someone point out a room with 3 beds, I'm just not seeing them... THANKS

Tourists actually consume far more than locals, same for "mountain beef"... err horse meat.

I travel with a Leatherman with a 3" blade. I also travel with a portable fishing rod and various support gear. They always manage to detect it in my back pack when coming back from port. A conversation often ensues and after measuring the blade they invariably give it back to me, only to go through the same exercise at the next port of call. They say 3" is the limit and that I am good to go. I've done about 20 Princess cruises with no issue. I've done about 5 RCL cruises and did have it confiscated on one of them. It was returned at the gang plank when I disembarked. If I didn't have this with me I'd have to rename myself, "non-fishin' musician" as there are too many toothy fish out there. I've never had an issue with it being in my checked bag.

It's a crap shoot. If you have the luxury of booking last minute you MAY be able to take advantage of unfilled staterooms that often get severely discounted after the final payment deadline. The disadvantage may be the location of the stateroom and that air fares may be much higher. The price of my upcoming cruise was cut in half... the emotional side of me is a bit testy, but the logical side says the price was fair when I plunked down the dough, so it remains fair and the fact that I can swing vacations like this is an incredible blessing.

DW and I have had these rooms several times, I really like them but DW doesn't like the fact that while seated either inside or on the balcony you can't see the ocean due to the metal wall rather than the plexiglass wall on a side or aft balcony. Usually when under way the wind is only an issue on the front half of the balcony as it rolls up and over the ship. If you are in the rear half it is quite calm. And as mentioned, opening stateroom door with balcony door open will create an incredible force through the room!

While certainly affordable for many, most can only dream of such frivolity.

FWIW, I have stayed at the McKinley Lodge independently. It was quite reasonable.

The 26 Glacier Cruise could be the high point of your vacation. Highly recommended!

We once accepted an upgrade on the Legend to one of the balcony rooms... only thing was every evening at about 5pm we'd here thump thump thump thump thump. It would go on for a half hour or so. Sometimes it occured at other times. We finally figured out that the room was directly above the gym and we were hearing people on the treadmills. Next time I'll check the deck plans!

As could the customer service rep. SERVICE, right? Some folks simply are not wired with a servant's heart and thus the concept of grace is a vague, elusive concept. Perhaps Princess could recruit stateroom attendants for these positions.

I have no way to gauge whether the majority tip or not, nor do I care. As for me, I chose to tip.

FWIW, the Princess ships that have rolled out Ocean Medallion have very fast internet. We were able to do facebook video messaging from our stateroom while at sea. Technology marches on...

FLCruise7, thanks for the props. That was my first taste of what has become my favorite destination... since then we've done multiple northbound, southbound and covered much of the area to Fairbanks, down to Seward and my favorite area, Homer and the southwest region of the Kenai Peninsula.

If it is an aft cabin facing the wake it will have a huge balcony.

The Sapphire was DW and my first Princess experience; and to this day, after 20 or so Princess cruises it remains the brand that best fits us. That first trip was the Mexican Riviera and later that year we took the Sapphire to Alaska (see video in signature). We have and continue to cruise other mainstream lines (RCL, NCL, X, Costa, HAL, CCL) and have a few on Windstar as well. It remains a favorite ship, it is sad to hear of these issues. I wonder if the Diamond is falling into similar disrepair. These two are unique to the fleet, being manufactured in Japan... and one of them, I think Diamond, was decimated by a fire while still in the shipyard.