LIVE FROM Royal Princess Alaska September 17-24

[ceilidh1]

Tomorrow’s patter

[ceilidh1]

Today was an odd day. Last full sea day but kind of “meh” in terms of activities. We did bingo followed by Deal or No Deal (won two $5 scratch cards). Packed some of our clothing 😪 Sampled all the hot tubs - upper pool deck has HOT tubs but no bubbles. Lower pool deck has tepid tubs with bubbles. I went to captain circle party (normally don’t do this) which lasted all of 15 minutes. Free drinks but kind of irrelevant if you have the drink package. Afterwards attended trivia and marriage match game show before calling it a night..

[ceilidh1]

Princess Prizes

[ceilidh1]

Caught up with my friends again at Princess Live and, once again, we closed the ship down! Lol. 3:40 and just heading to bed

[TravelGirlinDallas]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Caught up with my friends again at Princess Live and, once again, we closed the ship down! Lol. 3:40 and just heading to bed

I'm impressed!! 

[ceilidh1]

Princess prizes was a bit “meh”. There were 4 prizes of $25, one $50 and one $100 along with the grand prize of $5000. They made it sound like everyone was entered and no mention of having to “buy” into it. You did not need to be present to win. 

[ceilidh1]

Someone asked for pictures of gym machines

[latterdayesther]

Thank-you ceilidh1 for your comprehensive live posting! We appreciate it so much! We will be on Royal Princess Oct 16-23, and were booked right in the middle of the Covid Deck (9)!! We called and changed staterooms and moved to Deck 10. 

[mina]

Thank you so much for the gym pics!!!  

[ceilidh1]

Update on cruise director situation- Natalie is meant to still be CD but she fell and injured her knee so is currently on medical leave. There was no CD this sailing or the prior one and no one seems to know if/when the next CD will join

[ceilidh1]

Voice of the Ocean time

[ceilidh1]

Few things I forgot to mention over the course of the week:

 

Laundry: I sent out two batches of laundry and both were returned within 36 hours. As usual, the laundry charge appeared on room bill and then was credited back overnight for the elite perk

 

Wifi: pleasantly surprised at how well wifi has functioned all week. All four devices connected the whole time. Only in Endicott Arm was the signal spotty, but that’s to be expected. The app itself seemed to glitch and malfunction at times, but even when that wasn’t working wifi was d fine.

 

Photos: you may recall I upgraded to premiere package as I wanted to get the unlimited photo package. There were ample opportunities for casual and formal portraits and they did have embarkation shots. However, no pictures getting off in port and I never saw anyone taking pictures in the dining rooms. We ended up with 72 digital pictures (could have got more but we were all smiled out) and you choose 3 to have printed. Initially, pictures of the kids that didn’t have me were not available for me to download but there is a station at the photo gallery where you pull up a QR code and scan it and download the picture that way. The staff were very helpful there

 

Crew Chat: hands down one of the best features of the app. I never stood in line at guest services once - everything needed was taken care of through crew chat. I had lots of drink charges that needed to be removed and I would just send a message each day and it would be taken care of pretty much right away 

[Coral]

Thanks for a great "live"!

[cr8tiv1]

27 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Few things I forgot to mention over the course of the week:

 

Laundry: I sent out two batches of laundry and both were returned within 36 hours. As usual, the laundry charge appeared on room bill and then was credited back overnight for the elite perk

 

Wifi: pleasantly surprised at how well wifi has functioned all week. All four devices connected the whole time. Only in Endicott Arm was the signal spotty, but that’s to be expected. The app itself seemed to glitch and malfunction at times, but even when that wasn’t working wifi was d fine.

 

Photos: you may recall I upgraded to premiere package as I wanted to get the unlimited photo package. There were ample opportunities for casual and formal portraits and they did have embarkation shots. However, no pictures getting off in port and I never saw anyone taking pictures in the dining rooms. We ended up with 72 digital pictures (could have got more but we were all smiled out) and you choose 3 to have printed. Initially, pictures of the kids that didn’t have me were not available for me to download but there is a station at the photo gallery where you pull up a QR code and scan it and download the picture that way. The staff were very helpful there

 

Crew Chat: hands down one of the best features of the app. I never stood in line at guest services once - everything needed was taken care of through crew chat. I had lots of drink charges that needed to be removed and I would just send a message each day and it would be taken care of pretty much right away 

 

This is not my idea of unlimited photo package.  It really doesn't cost them much to print.  It will cost you an arm and a leg to print when you get home.  I guess you could make a ShutterBook instead.

 

Thanks for the ride.  It was most enjoyable.

[cnd crsr]

Thanks so much for a  very informative "live from..."   As we board tomorrow and will be aboard for 29 days, I have followed along daily and as we also  have not cruised since before covid this has helped me feel more comfortable going aboard! As a mom of now adult kids and former teacher, kudos to you cruising with teenage girls!

[sonomaphil]

On 9/17/2022 at 12:04 PM, ceilidh1 said:

12pm. On the ship. Stopped at guest services and got my medallion fixed. Now at Alfredo’s and about to have a glass of wine using the premiere package!

 

 

Trying real hard to find the Rose under the "White & Rose" section of the Plus package. 

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, cnd crsr said:

Thanks so much for a  very informative "live from..."   As we board tomorrow and will be aboard for 29 days, I have followed along daily and as we also  have not cruised since before covid this has helped me feel more comfortable going aboard! As a mom of now adult kids and former teacher, kudos to you cruising with teenage girls!

You will find it a little different from the pre Covid /pre app times. The crew are really run ragged and, while I’m not sure if they are short staffed or just struggling to keep up with everyone ordering on the app in addition to regular ordering, it is apparent that this system is much harder for them. The bar and wait staff have been fantastic but there is often a wait in drinks as the bars are swamped with customers (who all have drink packages) and orders from the app. It’s not the fault of the staff. I hope you get a cruise director in Vancouver- I really missed having that “face” of the ship. Assistant cruise director Guido from Italy is fabulous - the others are good, too, but he is the stand out for me!

 

Have an amazing time. Also, FYI only 3 confirmed positive cases on this sailing (that’s not to say there aren’t more that just haven’t told medical they are sick…)

[ceilidh1]

Ship pictures

[CruzeQueen2]

Im in the wheelhouse at the moment. Lustening to the Wesome pianisFor enquiring minds..here's some info. Most traveled guest luncheon tomorrow in Sabatini. Alaska cruises tend to have elite members with fewer days than usual,  to make the cut.. Top three guests have 648, 647 and 628 days each. I checked. 😉

See you there?

[CruzeQueen2]

Sorry if this message is a duplicate. I'm in the wheelhouse right now, listening to the most awesome pianust. Can't believe I get off tomorrow. Sad

[mrsskyhook]

Thanks for this "Live from",  Very informative. We are on the next two sailings, and I have started my own "Live from" for them (Sept 24 - 3 day from Vancouver and Sept 27, 12 Day Mexico from San Fransisco).  I hope I can do as good a job as you did.

 

Cheers!

[sfpd3000]

 ceilidh1  Thank you for taking us along for the ride.  Thanks for posting pics and answering our questions.  The seven days went by really quickly!

[ceilidh1]

Victoria 

We ended up arriving around an hour earlier but we opted not to get off. We were later joined in port by Eurodam and Bliss

[ceilidh1]

The last night onboard always feels sad. Everyone is trying to make the most of the time left but you can sense the mood has changed. DS commented “I can’t believe we have to wait three whole months until our next cruise”… I reminded him that most folks only do this once a year - he looked horrified 

[partybarbie]

Thank you for the excellent "Live From". Did you ever get a chance to check out Crooner's? I was wondering how the new piano man was.