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Not to go off topic, but chery4lbooks - I clicked on the link in your post, and now I can't delete USA Today from my internet page. Help!

For our Panama Canal, we stayed in D626 on the Coral (sister ship to the Island). Most of the rooms on Dolphin are suites and mini suites. D626 is a BD balcony category, fully covered with a larger balcony which had two chairs and foot rests. We loved our room. I would not recommend D624 since it is the first room on the bump out, but D626 was perfect.

As Pam recommended, find a good TA. In March, we booked our Feb 2015, 20-day cruise on the Royal. Our price is almost $1000 cheaper than the Princess price, and we received received a little shipboard credit and a bottle of wine from our TA. We also have FCC and shareholder credit, all combinable.

I check the Princess website from time to time and although their price is still almost $1000 higher, they were offering $200 per person shipboard credit. I called my TA, and she got us and our travel companions the extra $400. She said she would adjust the fares for all her customers. We are very pleased with her. Thank you P.

To guarantee everyone in your family ends up on the same group tour, have one person order the tickets on the Princess website for how many tickets you need. For most tours, you can order adult and/or child tickets.

On our last cruise, we reserved most tours online but waited to purchase another tour when we arrived on the ship. Unfortunately, the tickets for the tour we wanted were already sold out. If you need several tickets, order on the Princess website as soon as the tours become available.

Happy Thanksgiving! Great review. Read your other two reviews and enjoyed them too. Looking forward to more.

Re soda/pop - most Lower Peninsula Michiganders I know also drink pop, not soda. Can't speak for the UP folks.