LIVE FROM Royal Princess Alaska September 17-24

[ceilidh1]

Dinner: Crab cake, lamb, chicken, hazelnut bar, pecan cheesecake, banana sundae

[ceilidh1]

Champagne waterfall

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, twprincessfirsties said:

There was no cruise director on the way down from Whittier either. Ruth did all of the entertainment announcements. 

Same. I don’t love her. I miss having a cruise director.

[ceilidh1]

[ceilidh1]

Sofa bed and bunk set up

[ceilidh1]

Tomorrow’s patter

[ceilidh1]

Room observation: Thus far, I have only been able to find two outlets in our mini suite. I have sailed in balconies on Royal Princess previously and they have had the USB on the lamps. This mini does not have them. Anyone have any inside knowledge If I’m missing an outlet somewhere? For four guests, two outlets is nowhere near enough 

[cr8tiv1]

48 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Room observation: Thus far, I have only been able to find two outlets in our mini suite. I have sailed in balconies on Royal Princess previously and they have had the USB on the lamps. This mini does not have them. Anyone have any inside knowledge If I’m missing an outlet somewhere? For four guests, two outlets is nowhere near enough 

 

I am surprised that the Royal mini does not have lamps with USB ports.  If I am not mistaken, the tv is "glued" to the wall.  Usually you can find a hidden outlet there.  Did you bring any adapters/batteries/power strips?  All Apple devices are dual voltage.  You may have to resort to pulling straws for charging rights.  There are outlets around the ship that the crew uses to plug in vacuum cleaners.  

Edited September 19, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[caribill]

10 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Upgraded beverage package is a bust thus far. If, like me, you don’t really care about wine the package is worthless. The handful of cocktails listed higher than the $12 are not available. I have tried to order 3 of the higher charged ones so far, just to test it out, but each time been told that the higher end alcohol is not available 

 

10 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Tried to order Mermaid Mimosa. Canceled as none of the more expensive sparkling wine available. Tried to order watermelon margarita but canceled as none of the more expensive tequila available. 

 

 

Should you ask for a partial refund of the Premier package price?

[twprincessfirsties]

8 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I am surprised that the Royal mini does not have lamps with USB ports.  If I am not mistaken, the tv is "glued" to the wall.  Usually you can find a hidden outlet there.  Did you bring any adapters/batteries/power strips?  All Apple devices are dual voltage.  You may have to resort to pulling straws for charging rights.  There are outlets around the ship that the crew uses to plug in vacuum cleaners.  

 

I guess you should find a power strip or at least a couple of adaptors in Ketchikan - make sure that they don't have a surge protector on them - they are not allowed in rooms. 

[rocklinmom]

Thank you for the bed set up photos! I wanted to see how they do it in Royal's mini suites. It looks fine for my adult children size-wise compared to the smaller sofa bed in the deluxe balcony cabins. And I like how it is against the wall vs. spread out across the balcony door area. It is always so helpful to see how the beds actually look at night time for those of us who need quad or triple cabins. 

[ceilidh1]

40 minutes ago, rocklinmom said:

Thank you for the bed set up photos! I wanted to see how they do it in Royal's mini suites. It looks fine for my adult children size-wise compared to the smaller sofa bed in the deluxe balcony cabins. And I like how it is against the wall vs. spread out across the balcony door area. It is always so helpful to see how the beds actually look at night time for those of us who need quad or triple cabins. 

I found the mattresses on both sofa bed and bunk a little hard for my liking (I tried them out) but both teens find them very comfortable.

[ceilidh1]

Today is Ketchikan, which means we put our clocks back one hour. Trouble is, I’m not sure if our devices automatically set themselves back or if I need to do it manually so no idea if it’s 7am or 8am right now. Everyone else is still sleeping so I can’t turn on the tv to check. Another reason I hate the lack of outlets is not being able to have my phone next to the bed (if it’s charging) to check the time…

 

Our plans fir Ketchikan are to walk around Creek Street and check out the shops, look for spawning salmon and then walk over to our favourite bar/restaurant for lunch - The Asylum and Burger Queen

[ceilidh1]

So far we have gotten good value from the photo portion of the premiere package. You can view and download the digital pictures in the app - I think we have around 30 already. I have been able to easily download most of them but a few that are of the kids without me in them are available to view but not download. I was worried that might happen since it works with facial recognition but hopefully the photo department people will still let me have them…

[HBCcruiser]

12 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Today is Ketchikan, which means we put our clocks back one hour. Trouble is, I’m not sure if our devices automatically set themselves back or if I need to do it manually

It depends upon how you set your phone time. If you are using ship wifi you will need to change it. If you are hooked up to your cellular, unless you have your phone locked on a certain time zone, it should adjust to the new time zone. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by HBCcruiser

[swanhaven]

I live in the Yukon and it's 8:35 here - 7:35 AK time

 

[BohJang]

@ceilidh1I'm following along and enjoying your commentary and pictures.  Have a great time.

[redroses]

@ceilidh1 are the smoothies on intl cafe free?

[ceilidh1]

6 minutes ago, redroses said:

@ceilidh1 are the smoothies on intl cafe free?

Yes!

[ceilidh1]

Looks like a beautiful morning in Ketchikan 

[LImom]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

Today is Ketchikan, which means we put our clocks back one hour. Trouble is, I’m not sure if our devices automatically set themselves back or if I need to do it manually so no idea if it’s 7am or 8am right now. Everyone else is still sleeping so I can’t turn on the tv to check. Another reason I hate the lack of outlets is not being able to have my phone next to the bed (if it’s charging) to check the time…

 

Our plans fir Ketchikan are to walk around Creek Street and check out the shops, look for spawning salmon and then walk over to our favourite bar/restaurant for lunch - The Asylum and Burger Queen

If you have an iPhone I use the world clock in my clock app to set my destinations so that way I am aware of the actual time because sometimes my phone updates to correct time and sometimes it doesnt. Hope this makes sense.

[ceilidh1]

Headed up to buffet for a quick breakfast. They keep a big portion of it closed off, which means the portion that is open is pretty packed. They have the usual offerings- no pictures as there were just too many people jostling for food. I grabbed a waffle and got out of there.

 

One thing that has changed is that the specialty coffee area in the Pastry Shop of the buffet now has a server that stands at the counter. Instead of ordering at the counter from the coffee guy, you order from the server standing at the counter and then wait for it to be made so the server can hand it to you. It’s really odd and causes a line up of confused people not knowing where to go or what to do.

[ceilidh1]

Ketchikan plans got scuppered since my beloved Burger Queen is closed on Mondays. We ended up just walking around and enjoying the glorious sunshine. As I mentioned at the start of this thread, you never know what you will get weather wise in Alaska. It’s mid September and we had the best weather we have ever had in Ketchikan 

[ceilidh1]

DS didn’t want to get off the ship today so I took him to kids club. It’s always been the policy that kids could stay there all day so that parents could leave the ship. I guess something changed since the last time I sailed in April as when we got there I was told that they would close between 12 and 2 so I would need to collect him before 12 as there are no sign in/ out privileges in port. Obviously that wouldn’t work, as it was already after 10 and we had been planning on eating lunch in port. The manager explained that they could only accommodate kids if parents were taking princess excursions. However, just like all staff on this ship, she went the extra mile and said that for today she would make an exception and let him stay. Turns out we were back on before lunch anyways since our lunch spot was closed, but I really appreciated the gesture. On the way back we picked up Jellyfish Donuts for the kids club staff as a thank you

[ceilidh1]

Alfredo’s for lunch. It was slammed. The waiter warned us the the pizza might take up to 30 minutes. It was actually a longer wait to get our drinks. I had been rejoicing as all drink charges had been removed when I checked this morning. Now it seems I’ve been charged the upcharge for the wine I ordered at Alfredo’s. Or maybe it’s tax. But if you order on the app, no tax is charged. It’s only $4 and change so not going to stress about it as long as it’s a one off!