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LIVE FROM Royal Princess Alaska September 17-24

ceilidh1

By ceilidh1,
in Princess Cruises

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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Just now, mkcurran said:

Well that could make for an interesting cruise....

Hmmm...not really the kind of excitement that I'm looking for!

The ONLY time I have ever been seasick was on an Alaska cruise on Tahitian Princess (600 passenger ship). We were making the crossing to Kodiak and that open water was a beast! We had a balcony on deck 6 and the waves were literally washing right up over it. The plates, etc in the buffet had to be Saran-Wrapped in place and there were little sick bags everywhere. I was actually afraid I was going to be tossed right out of bed!

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cr8tiv1 Holiday Sharing Rare

cr8tiv1

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On the Pacific crossings,  you can always tell when we were "going" to hit rough seas.  There would be white barf bags taped to the walls and trash cans everywhere.  Otherwise, you can never find a trash can.  Ha Ha.

 

I hope the storm stays far enough away.  Unfortunately, it may churn up the seas.

Edited by cr8tiv1
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FoxKitchen

FoxKitchen

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Posted this query on another thread, but thought I would try this one as well …

 

We’re traveling with our disabled son on this sailing and are wondering if anyone has experience with getting a heavy (64 pound) piece of equipment (manual patient lift) on board? Ideally, we would like to leave it curb side, with a porter, and have them hand deliver it to his cabin, so it’s in there when he arrives. Our biggest concern is that if we drop it off with our luggage, it might not arrive until much later in theday/evening.

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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The countdown is on and I am in official Zombie Apocalypse mode, so named because I have certain rituals prior to every vacation that my kids insist is akin to preparing for said Zombie Apocalypse!

 

#1 - My house must be SPOTLESS prior to us leaving. This evening, I came home from work and literally blitzed the entire place. It is cleaner for us to be away from home than it is when we are in it! My kids say that all I'm doing is making it easy for anyone that might decide to break in to find whatever they are looking for. They might have a point. I just refuse to come home to a messy/dirty house after being looked after and treated like a Queen for a week.

 

#2 - I insist on eating pretty much every scrap of food in the house. I'm not talking just perishables, I'm talking EVERYTHING! I refuse to grocery shop for about a week before we leave, and we make our way through the contents of fridge, freezer, and pantry. It often makes for interesting meals - popcorn for breakfast this morning. My kids say I do this so that when I get on the ship, the food is ALL amazing as we have been eating weird meals. They may have a point. I actually do it because I'm too cheap to spend money on peasant food when I've just spent a fortune to be eating at restaurants on ship!

 

#3 - I become OCD over lists. I mean, I'm always pretty organized, but this is taking things to a whole other level. I first make a master list and check off things as I go. A week or so before sailing, I condense the things not checked on the master into a smaller list, which I then separate out into "Things To Buy" "Things To Do" "Things To Pack" and check these off as I get them achieved. Three days before leaving, I further condense the three lists into one more list. At this point, it could go one of two ways - full freaking out mode as there is still so much on the list, or full freaking out mode as there is nothing on the list, so I MUST have forgotten something. My kids say I do this so that if something is forgotten I can absolve myself of responsibility as it wasn't on the list. They may have a point. I actually do it because rounding up teens and pre teens and just kids in general is like herding cats. They would take either the entire house with them, or absolutely nothing at all. If I'm not on top of it, we may end up with no clean underwear (spoiler - we once had to go underwear shopping in Vegas when "someone" forgot to pack underwear...)

 

And so, with all three above complete. Covid tests taken and negative. Bags packed. We are ready for vacation to begin...

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2 cruises a year

2 cruises a year

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2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

The countdown is on and I am in official Zombie Apocalypse mode, so named because I have certain rituals prior to every vacation that my kids insist is akin to preparing for said Zombie Apocalypse!

 

#1 - My house must be SPOTLESS prior to us leaving. This evening, I came home from work and literally blitzed the entire place. It is cleaner for us to be away from home than it is when we are in it! My kids say that all I'm doing is making it easy for anyone that might decide to break in to find whatever they are looking for. They might have a point. I just refuse to come home to a messy/dirty house after being looked after and treated like a Queen for a week.

 

#2 - I insist on eating pretty much every scrap of food in the house. I'm not talking just perishables, I'm talking EVERYTHING! I refuse to grocery shop for about a week before we leave, and we make our way through the contents of fridge, freezer, and pantry. It often makes for interesting meals - popcorn for breakfast this morning. My kids say I do this so that when I get on the ship, the food is ALL amazing as we have been eating weird meals. They may have a point. I actually do it because I'm too cheap to spend money on peasant food when I've just spent a fortune to be eating at restaurants on ship!

 

#3 - I become OCD over lists. I mean, I'm always pretty organized, but this is taking things to a whole other level. I first make a master list and check off things as I go. A week or so before sailing, I condense the things not checked on the master into a smaller list, which I then separate out into "Things To Buy" "Things To Do" "Things To Pack" and check these off as I get them achieved. Three days before leaving, I further condense the three lists into one more list. At this point, it could go one of two ways - full freaking out mode as there is still so much on the list, or full freaking out mode as there is nothing on the list, so I MUST have forgotten something. My kids say I do this so that if something is forgotten I can absolve myself of responsibility as it wasn't on the list. They may have a point. I actually do it because rounding up teens and pre teens and just kids in general is like herding cats. They would take either the entire house with them, or absolutely nothing at all. If I'm not on top of it, we may end up with no clean underwear (spoiler - we once had to go underwear shopping in Vegas when "someone" forgot to pack underwear...)

 

And so, with all three above complete. Covid tests taken and negative. Bags packed. We are ready for vacation to begin...

I'm envious of your organizational skills.  I end up with so many lists, that I have a list of lists.  That is a true story!

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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Port of Vancouver at Canada Place: For anyone that has never sailed from this port, I plan on providing a step-by-step guide on the "how to'". This is a very unique port and one I am very familiar with. In addition to sailing from here a zillion times, I worked shoreside for Princess for several years, back in the day when cruiselines actually employed their own staff for shore operations. When this was contracted out to Destinations North America, I worked for them for a few years. Most recently, during the cruise shutdown, a mass vaccination clinic took over the check in hall and I worked there. Then, this season, I worked the first few months for Destinations North America again. I have literally seen it all at this port - but there are still always surprises!

 

Port of Vancouver was designed to accommodate up to four ships - but this was back in the day when the average ship didn't carry more than around 1000 passengers. Fast forward to today with ships getting bigger and bigger and passenger count getting higher and higher, and this port is really failing on every aspect. The vast majority of cruise days will see two ships in port - even with only two, it can be a total cluster, especially if they are the bigger ships, or if there is any kind of delay anywhere along the route. If there are three ships in port, prepare for an extremely long, frustrating day!

 

Vancouver is unique in the sense that 99% of sailings have a US port call as the first stop. This means that the vast majority of sailings are required to pre-clear US CBP right at the port. Imagine this - you fly into Canada and land in Vancouver at 12pm. You clear Canadian CBSA to legally enter Canada. You take a cab to the port to board your ship, and you now have to clear US CBP to leave Canada and enter the United States. Mind blowing. But it's how it works - the pro is that you don't need to waste time doing it at your first port (anyone that has been "lucky" enough to avoid pre-clearing in Canada and having San Francisco as a first stop can attest to the time that can take. NCL Bliss, I'm looking at you!). The con is that it can create a huge bottleneck and long lines to get to the ship.

 

So, here is the way Vancouver works. It's set up similar to an airport system. First stop is to drop off your "checked" bags - anything you are not planning to carry on to the ship with you. Bag drop off is down on the parking lot level/can drop off. If you walk to the port, like me, you can usually find a drop off on terminal level (depending on staff) but if not, you just take the elevator down to the parking level. Once the bags are dropped, you head upstairs to the Convention Centre - generally Hall C for Princess. This is where you check in for your cruise line, and where loyalty status/priority comes into play. The irony is, there is rarely any line at this point of the process. If there were, you would have a separate line for Platinum/Elite/Suite check in. Once checked in, with medallions in hand, you will go back downstairs to the terminal level. This is where the fun begins (not). All cruise lines are funneled through the same security and US CBP line (just like at the airport). It makes no difference is you are blue, black, purple, or rainbow status. You are still going through that same line with everyone else. The ONLY priority here is for those needing wheelchair assistance - I never advocate for anyone that doesn't need it to request it, BUT if you have any doubt about your ability to stand/walk for prolonged periods you should definitely request assistance. 

 

As you wind your way through security, you will quickly see that the hold up isn't the security screeners, but the passengers. Those passengers that have bags too big to fit through scanners. Passengers that have "forgotten" they packed their hunting knife in their bag. Passengers that think they have to remove their shoes (you don't). Passengers that walk through the metal detector with cell phones in their pockets. Yes, I've seen it all. The other hold up at this junction is that, often times, US CBP is backed up and there is no one to funnel passengers. In this instance, security scanning needs to completely shut down and stop until they get the green light to start sending guests through to CBP. The lines tend to build quickly - I have, at times, waited over two hours in line to get through security and CBP. be prepared for the worst.

 

Directly after security is US CBP. They do have the machines, such as at the airport, and have Nexus/Global Entry. It still seems to take an age to get through. I'm not sure why. Once through this, you once again branch off to you cruiseline/ship. Providing boarding has started, you simply walk right on board. If it hasn't started yet, you will be seated in a holding area - priority status once again comes into play at this point. If you have priority boarding, you will sit in a separate area and be called first once the ship is ready. The general boarding area is called once the priority area is clear. 

 

Bon Voyage

We plan on heading out to the port in half an hour. Hoping to be checked in and in line for security by 10:30am. Shall we take bets?

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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We left the house at 10:15am, a little later than planned. We are now sat, waiting to board at 11:15am. Longest line was to take the elevator down to bag drop. This was changed about 10 minutes after we dropped our bags and they had someone on terminal level to take them. Check in was pretty fast as we are elite and we’re able to bypass the line. First screw up - all our medallions are blue rather than black to indicate elite. Ordinarily I wouldn’t care, but knowing there will be a line to board, I want to make sure I get the priority boarding. Security had a line when we first arrived but by the time we got back down from check in, there was no line. Also no line for CBP machines but the little guy got a “black X” on his receipt and we had to wait to see an officer. Added about 5 minutes. When we got through to seating area there were already about 500 folks sitting there so I asked a staff where priority was and explained the wrong medallion colour was given and showed him my confirmation and travel summary that showed I was elite. He outright lied and said there was no priority and indicated we sit at the end of the line. Meanwhile, he is sending those with black medallions to the front of the seating area. I challenged him and he eventually waved us away to the front. I shouldn’t have to fight for the benefits I have earned and don’t expect to be lied to!

 

 

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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We haven’t even left Vancouver and the wifi is already acting up! My iPhone connected automatically without me needing to do anything but it refuses to load on other devices, despite having the upgraded 4 device plan. It also keeps dropping the connection. I’m going to stick to data right now and deal with it later!

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