Island Princess May 8 Voyage of Glaciers lazy live

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, 603NHcruiseAlaska said:

You're pictures are amazing (my binoculars are packed)!  Can't wait to cruise on the Island in 7 days!  If you see any advertisements on board for the new MedallionNet internet, can you post it?  Princess is currently only selling the old internet plans (240 minutes and up) on the Island cruise leaving May 22 . . . trying to decide if I should prebuy internet or wait until we board.  Thanks.

I’ll look today and post 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

This is the advantage of an aft cabin. We had this view for 3 hours as we sailed out of college fjord last night. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Here’s the preliminary information on the cost of medallion net. It says there’s a 50% embarkation discount. There’s also an additional 25% discount for platinum/elite. They open at 3 today. So I’ll find out what the list prices are.  

Edited May 15, 2019 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

The top picture is the elite/platinum discount. $69.99 is the 7 day discounter first day price. 

Weird that it says I get 250 free minutes. I’m only supposed to get 150. 

Spent 40 minutes at the IT bar and while they seem to have gotten Ocean (something......it’s not princess @ sea anymore)  to work intermittently (it keeps dropping me and they don’t know why) they can’t actually get me onto the internet. And don’t know why. Can you say ZOO????? I am sure this is an IT workers dream job. Lol. 

Good news is we have good cell phone coverage so I was able to complete a online form air Canada needed to escalate the search for my lost luggage. Then a nice woman called me and seemed to be on the ball. I’m no longer talking to the call center in India where they read from a script and never do anything. 

Heres hoping I get my luggage in time for the last formal night in 3 days!  

 

Today is is our first rainy, cold day. We were going to walk around Whittier but decided not to. 

 

Since medallion net is too frustrating to use I won’t be online unless I get good phone coverage again that happens to coincide with down time. 

 

For those of you getting on soon, kelvin at crooners & Theodora at bayou are our favorite bartenders. In club class Olesky (sp) our waiter,  Reynoldo (asst) and Adrian (head waiter) are our favorites. 

In Sabatinos Uros and Able & Jayson are just wonderful. 

The food was good in Bayou but didn’t connect with any crew there. 

 

Looking forward to the next 7 days. 

[cmerun]

On 5/9/2019 at 9:42 AM, HaveDogWillTravel said:

I’m not one to use the internet at all on vacation but since I had to check in on the dogs about some meds they are on I couldn’t resist sharing a few tidbits. 

1.  When air canada loses your luggage with all your evening wear for the MDR, there is a great store called Winners in downtown Vancouver. It’s across the street from Nordstrom and is the Canadian version of our Marshall’s.  We got a sport jacket, white dress shirt, dark slacks and one dress for $180 US. The front desk will pursue trying to get our luggage from AC delivered to the ship. We are not going to give it another thought. Happy to have something that fell into the budget amount we will get reimbursed for to wear to MDR. The other stuff in the bag we will just do with out. 

 

2.  I am so happy to say that the soft, thick, cozy shawl collar terry robes are back in the full suites after having gone MIA for the better part of a year or more. 

 

3. The Island is really looking sharp. We haven’t been on her for 2 years. They still have the big wide promenade deck lined with cushioned teak loungers. There’s new red thick cushioned loungers in the covered lotus pool area. I now remember that I am always annoyed a bit by the blue “windshields “ in the front open decks. 

 

4 dinner in Bayou was excellent last night. Had the lobster (large sweet and tender) and filet (large tender and cooked to perfection) 

 

5. And the new wine list imho is fabulous. My husband has the bev package. I asked about the wine package and was told they did not have it but I didn’t need it. DH can order bottles at 25% off and I can drink them anywhere I want. The price of several favorite after the discount is not too much more than the price of the wine plus $15 corkage and I don’t have to shlep it onboard. For example my Whispering Angel cost $38 including tip. Vive cliquot (sp?) is $79. That’s not too bad considering it costs $60 including corkage to carry on. Yes I brought it on wo corkage as we get the first two free. 

 

Anyway the the weather is perfect! Crisp and there’s snow capped mountains everywhere. Off to Sabatini’s for breakfast 

 

[cmerun]

Curious about ordering the wine with beverage package.

Do you order from room service or can you purchase at bar?

if you order a bottle at dinner in mdo do you get the discount?

 

Sorry for all the questions - this will be our first time with the beverage package.

Thanks 

[603NHcruiseAlaska]

Thank you so much for the real internet info.  The Princess website is still selling the old internet plans for next week.  We'll wait and buy a plan when we board (if they get it to work lol).  We'll look for your staff favorites next week!  Really hope you get your suitcase soon!  Enjoy part 2 of your cruise!

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, cmerun said:

Curious about ordering the wine with beverage package.

Do you order from room service or can you purchase at bar?

if you order a bottle at dinner in mdo do you get the discount?

 

Sorry for all the questions - this will be our first time with the beverage package.

Thanks 

I know you can order bottles of wine and get the discount at any bar and in any restaurant including MDR. You can either keep the wine at the bar or restaurant or you can take it to your room.

We bought 5 bottles on our last day yesterday with the discount and will use them on the second leg. 

I also have a bottle kept at crooners bar and just swing in for a drink whenever I want. 

Glasses of wine are not available through room service. But any bar or restaurant will serve by the glass. 

 

I just called room service and they said they do not give the discount if you have the bev pkg. 

 

Update on buying liquor on a B2B. We just found out that they won’t deliver the makers mark we bought on our first keg. Id read on CC that they would and when we bought it the sales person said it would be delivered. However the reality is no. 

We will get a refund tonight.  

Edited May 16, 2019 by HaveDogWillTravel

[Lucky TGO]

Wow!! Great photos and good luck with your luggage problem 🤞

Tony

 

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

For those of you who understand how to interpret these measurements of Internet speed here are two screen shots. One before medallion net and one after. 

The one with the upload  speed of 1.92 is the new medallion net. Apparently it’s not my imagination that the internet speed has significantly decreased. 

So in short the user interface is awkward and inconvenient at best and it is glacially slow (pun intended). 

[SETexaslady]

😮Ugh!   Hopefully they are still working out a few kinks & it gets better soon.  I hope!   Did you say you were able to make phone calls easily with MedallionNet?

[Katwoman007]

On 5/15/2019 at 8:49 AM, HaveDogWillTravel said:

This is the advantage of an aft cabin. We had this view for 3 hours as we sailed out of college fjord last night. 

Freaking amazing. We have a corner aft and I CANNOT wait any longer. ALMOST a week away haha I will be saying almost for a few more days 😉 I hope to get some pretty photos during our cruise.

 

[momK]

Thanks so much for all the beautiful pictures (especially from the aft!!) and the great descriptions. We will be boarding for the same 2-week itinerary the day you (sadly, I'm sure) disembark. We will be in L726 and are excited to start our 6th Alaskan cruise. 🙂

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by momK

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 5/16/2019 at 11:13 AM, SETexaslady said:

😮Ugh!   Hopefully they are still working out a few kinks & it gets better soon.  I hope!   Did you say you were able to make phone calls easily with MedallionNet?

No phone that I know of on medallion net. I went back to the internet desk to get my minutes back today. They were drained because medallion net does not log off well. It just twirls and doesn’t log off. Then it won’t tell you that it hasn’t logged off. Princess @sea would keep popping up an icon that said “Disconnect  from internet “ until you were actually disconnected. 

MN is set up to only be convenient for those who pay for unlimited access. It is really horrible if you just want to use your free elite minutes. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 5/16/2019 at 1:50 PM, momK said:

Thanks so much for all the beautiful pictures (especially from the aft!!) and the great descriptions. We will be boarding for the same 2-week itinerary the day you (sadly, I'm sure) disembark. We will be in L726 and are excited to start our 6th Alaskan cruise. 🙂

 

You will really love this itinerary and your suite.  We paid for the Sanctuary on our second glacier bay day yesterday and it was really worth it. They really pamper you and the 270 degree vistas are amazing. We walked up along the side to the rangers desk in lotus pool area and it was really windy, while in the Sanctuary it was wind free. 

 

We booked a cabana for $220 (8am to 5:30pm) on the last day of our first leg. Regular chairs were $60. While on the northbound leg it was sunny and warm in GB on the southbound leg it was cold, rainy and overcast. Those in chairs were under sun sails and they put big umbrellas on the chairs. The cabana was great though. I’ll post pictures. 

Edited May 18, 2019 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

The chairs are $60 per person. The cabana  is $220 for two. You get two mini bar set ups. We chose a bottle of red and a bottle of white. I had pictures of the MDR wine menu and they let me pick what I wanted up to $35.  Also since we are full suite pax and can order MDR food in our suite they were nice enough to get the MDR menu for me when I didn’t find anything on the sanctuary menu I wanted. The last two pics were taken when we booked the cabana. I’ll post more later. We are off to hike around Skagway. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Glacier bay yesterday 

Edited May 18, 2019 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Glacier bay last week. May 14

[HaveDogWillTravel]

A perfectly relaxing afternoon on our deck after a 5.4 mile walk to lower Reid falls and the Gold rush cemetery. There’s a city bus that gets you close but we enjoyed the exercise.  

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Glacier bay last week. May 14

[Safety Squirrel]

"The chairs are $60 per person. The cabana  is $220 for two. You get two mini bar set ups"

 

Thank you for your great pictures and information.  I will be on Island in September for Panama Canal full transit.  Regarding the cabanas in the sanctuary -- were there any cabanas for only one person or all they all for two persons?  Some of the chairs do not look to have much shade and I am assuming it will be hot and humid.  Also, would you be able to ask if I could rent a cabana for two, although I would be the only one using it.  Thanks very much.

[momK]

How has Club Class dining been for you on this trip?

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I’ll go up to the sanctuary today and ask for you. 

Here are pics of walk to and at Reid falls and the cemetery in Skagway. 

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

17 hours ago, Safety Squirrel said:

"The chairs are $60 per person. The cabana  is $220 for two. You get two mini bar set ups"

 

Thank you for your great pictures and information.  I will be on Island in September for Panama Canal full transit.  Regarding the cabanas in the sanctuary -- were there any cabanas for only one person or all they all for two persons?  Some of the chairs do not look to have much shade and I am assuming it will be hot and humid.  Also, would you be able to ask if I could rent a cabana for two, although I would be the only one using it.  Thanks very much.

Yes you can rent the cabana even if you are the only one using it. The price stays the same. Some chairs have better shade than others. We took the Island on the full transit in the same suite we have now. We went from LA to Ft lauderdale. In hindsight if I did it again I’d only go from Ft lauderdale to LA. One, because you’d gain an hour everyday instead of losing one. Two, because the aft balconies would perhaps have shade whereas we were blasted by the sun that whole day. The aft balconies are simply phenomenal for watching the locks open and close, ships rise and fall so I’d definitely do that again. 

 

The cabana has a ceiling fan and the sanctuary has an outdoor shower to cool off too. I think the cabana would be great just for the shade.