🛳️ Live (hopefully) from Crown Princess May 12 - 23

[wolfie11]

9 hours ago, SeaCBear said:

I think Theobroma chocolate is actually Canadian, made in Quebec.

https://theobromachocolate.com/

[NitaBcruising]

On 6/2/2023 at 5:50 PM, Coral said:

@thesmiths took this gorgeous picture of the Crown Princess in Juneau on May 18th and shared it with our roll call. They were on the Miracle! Excellent photo.

 

Wow! Nice of them to share!

Theresa, thanks again for this thread! I finally got through reading all the pages!

I found it interesting that you went to Whistler pre-cruise! From WA, we did a road trip there, then to Harrison Hot Springs, a few years ago. It was an awesome trip! We hiked to 2 or 3 waterfalls, trails, loved it! Near Whistler is Nita Lake, which we had to go to! LOL!

I appreciate all your advice! Much of it I can use for my upcoming Crown Alaska sailing. 

Thank you for taking the time to share your great pics and experiences!

Nita

[Coral]

1 hour ago, NitaBcruising said:

Wow! Nice of them to share!

Theresa, thanks again for this thread! I finally got through reading all the pages!

I found it interesting that you went to Whistler pre-cruise! From WA, we did a road trip there, then to Harrison Hot Springs, a few years ago. It was an awesome trip! We hiked to 2 or 3 waterfalls, trails, loved it! Near Whistler is Nita Lake, which we had to go to! LOL!

I appreciate all your advice! Much of it I can use for my upcoming Crown Alaska sailing. 

Thank you for taking the time to share your great pics and experiences!

Nita

I knew of a Nita Lake Lodge there (obviously named after the lake) - it came up several times in my hotel search. Of course you had to visit!!!! I would love to go there with a car and spend more time up there. I did prefer fall to spring.

 

I had done a YVR to LA cruise several years ago (2008 or so) and a friend had just been to Whistler (Sept time frame) and recommended it. I only spent 2 days there back then but I have always wanted to return and this was the perfect time to do so. I absolutely love Whistler and wish I was in B.C. right now. It is hot where I live. Though I love the Pacific NW part of the US. So obviously I would love British Columbia. I have been to Vancouver many times so it made since to do this and hotels were cheaper in Whistler compared to Vancouver.

 

I can't wait to hear about your Crown cruise. Have a great time!

Edited June 4, 2023 by Coral

[NitaBcruising]

34 minutes ago, Coral said:

I knew of a Nita Lake Lodge there (obviously named after the lake) - it came up several times in my hotel search. Of course you had to visit!!!! I would love to go there with a car and spend more time up there. I did prefer fall to spring.

 

I had done a YVR to LA cruise several years ago (2008 or so) and a friend had just been to Whistler (Sept time frame) and recommended it. I only spent 2 days there back then but I have always wanted to return and this was the perfect time to do so. I absolutely love Whistler and wish I was in B.C. right now. It is hot where I live. Though I love the Pacific NW part of the US. So obviously I would love British Columbia. I have been to Vancouver many times so it made since to do this and hotels were cheaper in Whistler compared to Vancouver.

 

I can't wait to hear about your Crown cruise. Have a great time!

After seeing your pics, and remembering our time there, I'm thinking a road trip there in September might be a great idea! 

I've also done the Capilano Suspension Bridge a couple of times, but many years ago! Your pics show stuff I don't remember seeing!

Larry used to be a speaker at a Bigfoot event  at Harrison Hot Springs, years ago,  so he wanted to take me there, after Whistler.  

It was a great road trip! And only about a 6 hour, or so, drive to Whistler.  

And thanks,  sure looking forward to Alaska,  especially the new, to me, ports! 

[Coral]

1 minute ago, NitaBcruising said:

After seeing your pics, and remembering our time there, I'm thinking a road trip there in September might be a great idea! 

I've also done the Capilano Suspension Bridge a couple of times, but many years ago! Your pics show stuff I don't remember seeing!

Larry used to be a speaker at a Bigfoot event  at Harrison Hot Springs, years ago,  so he wanted to take me there, after Whistler.  

It was a great road trip! And only about a 6 hour, or so, drive to Whistler.  

And thanks,  sure looking forward to Alaska,  especially the new, to me, ports! 

I had never been to Capilano bridge before and am afraid of heights but I have had to face a lot of my fears recently so decided to try it. There are still things I wouldn't do there such as the tree forts!!!!! 

 

Sitka and Icy Strait Point were new to me 🙂  and I have been to Alaska a ton.

[NitaBcruising]

35 minutes ago, Coral said:

I had never been to Capilano bridge before and am afraid of heights but I have had to face a lot of my fears recently so decided to try it. There are still things I wouldn't do there such as the tree forts!!!!! 

 

Sitka and Icy Strait Point were new to me 🙂  and I have been to Alaska a ton.

The bridge is fine, I'm not afraid,  but it's not fun if kids, or unkind adults,  make it sway too much!  One of my friends did this, the brat! Many years ago, we were young,  so it wasn't too scary!

I'm looking forward to Icy Strait Point, Sitka and Haines. 

Oh, last time I  was in Juneau,  we took a local shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier.  I kept thinking it was the green bus. I found a shuttle called the blue bus. I  wonder if I've remembered wrong, or it's a different one. 

Anyone know about this?

I almost never do a ship's tour, so I  try to find a way to get where I want to go!

[Coral]

33 minutes ago, NitaBcruising said:

The bridge is fine, I'm not afraid,  but it's not fun if kids, or unkind adults,  make it sway too much!  One of my friends did this, the brat! Many years ago, we were young,  so it wasn't too scary!

I'm looking forward to Icy Strait Point, Sitka and Haines. 

Oh, last time I  was in Juneau,  we took a local shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier.  I kept thinking it was the green bus. I found a shuttle called the blue bus. I  wonder if I've remembered wrong, or it's a different one. 

Anyone know about this?

I almost never do a ship's tour, so I  try to find a way to get where I want to go!

The original (and current) company is called M & M and they have been around since I started going to Alaska in 2002 (so probably way before that). They run old blue school buses. Though they have new green buses that they use for their whale watching tours.

 

Yes - there were kids/adults making the bridge sway. It seemed to sway less in the center and was worse on the ends (I thought). Yes, they were brats for those of us who were trying to be brave! 👿

[SeaCBear]

Thanks so much for a wonderful trip report. My son and I are doing almost exactly the same cruise in a couple of weeks. I've been to Alaska three times before, but every trip to Alaska is different then the one before. My son went once and it was foggy the whole time, so he didn't really see very much unfortunately. 

 

We live about half an hour from Victoria and I'm wondering if you cleared immigration in Victoria or Vancouver? We're hoping we can just leave the ship in Victoria and then we won't have to take the ferry back to the island.

[NitaBcruising]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

The original (and current) company is called M & M and they have been around since I started going to Alaska in 2002 (so probably way before that). They run old blue school buses. Though they have new green buses that they use for their whale watching tours.

 

Yes - there were kids/adults making the bridge sway. It seemed to sway less in the center and was worse on the ends (I thought). Yes, they were brats for those of us who were trying to be brave! 👿

 

Again, thank you! It must be the blue bus. Bad recall on my part! 

[Coral]

42 minutes ago, SeaCBear said:

Thanks so much for a wonderful trip report. My son and I are doing almost exactly the same cruise in a couple of weeks. I've been to Alaska three times before, but every trip to Alaska is different then the one before. My son went once and it was foggy the whole time, so he didn't really see very much unfortunately. 

 

We live about half an hour from Victoria and I'm wondering if you cleared immigration in Victoria or Vancouver? We're hoping we can just leave the ship in Victoria and then we won't have to take the ferry back to the island.

Thank you. I have had foggy trips to Alaska as well and on my first trip there, I barely saw anything. I completely understand.

 

Victoria - so half way through the trip, we received a Canada customs form that we had to turn into the ship by a certain date. When we walked off the ship in Victoria, we did not have to do anything. I think I brought my passport but we didn't need it. When we walked off the ship in Vancouver, we had already cleared in Victoria so we didn't have to do anything either.

 

We were delayed 30-40 minutes leaving the ship in Victoria and I heard it was a Customs issue though never really heard what it was.

 

I do believe we had people who did leave the ship in Victoria. We had a lot of Canadians on our sailing. I would be curious if there were more Canadians than those of us from the States.

 

If you are interested in doing such - I think you need to contact Princess. I would also have a backup plan in case the ship can't dock in Victoria and you have to to disembark in Vancouver instead.

 

BTW - you live in a very beautiful area!

 

Theresa

Edited June 4, 2023 by Coral

[baybeach11]

19 hours ago, NitaBcruising said:

The bridge is fine, I'm not afraid,  but it's not fun if kids, or unkind adults,  make it sway too much!  One of my friends did this, the brat! Many years ago, we were young,  so it wasn't too scary!

I'm looking forward to Icy Strait Point, Sitka and Haines. 

Oh, last time I  was in Juneau,  we took a local shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier.  I kept thinking it was the green bus. I found a shuttle called the blue bus. I  wonder if I've remembered wrong, or it's a different one. 

Anyone know about this?

I almost never do a ship's tour, so I  try to find a way to get where I want to go!

We didn't want to take the excursion from the ship to Mendenhall because the time there was very limited.  We found that when you walk off the ship in Juneau, there's a row of excursion stands on the dock.  There's a couple options to purchase roundtrip tickets for buses to the glacier and all the prices were the same, regulated by the tourist industry there.  I think we paid $45 rt. We chose the white "Glacier Shuttle" buses instead of the blue buses.  They were less crowded since they don't advertise as heavily as the blue bus company and we were so right about that.  Go early!  We were on the second bus to the glacier and it was magnificent to not have noisy tourists in our photos or videos.  No crowds at the Visitor's Center so we were able to see the movie and not be crowded into that snall room.  Do not use the city bus.  It drops you off about 1.5 miles away from the Visitor's Center!  

[baybeach11]

18 hours ago, SeaCBear said:

Thanks so much for a wonderful trip report. My son and I are doing almost exactly the same cruise in a couple of weeks. I've been to Alaska three times before, but every trip to Alaska is different then the one before. My son went once and it was foggy the whole time, so he didn't really see very much unfortunately. 

 

We live about half an hour from Victoria and I'm wondering if you cleared immigration in Victoria or Vancouver? We're hoping we can just leave the ship in Victoria and then we won't have to take the ferry back to the island.

Someone on our cruise also lived on Victoria (Dominic)  and asked to disembark there with his father but was denied due to the Jones Law requirement.  Maybe he can fill you in on details if he's still checking this site.  Sorry!

[NitaBcruising]

20 minutes ago, baybeach11 said:

We didn't want to take the excursion from the ship to Mendenhall because the time there was very limited.  We found that when you walk off the ship in Juneau, there's a row of excursion stands on the dock.  There's a couple options to purchase roundtrip tickets for buses to the glacier and all the prices were the same, regulated by the tourist industry there.  I think we paid $45 rt. We chose the white "Glacier Shuttle" buses instead of the blue buses.  They were less crowded since they don't advertise as heavily as the blue bus company and we were so right about that.  Go early!  We were on the second bus to the glacier and it was magnificent to not have noisy tourists in our photos or videos.  No crowds at the Visitor's Center so we were able to see the movie and not be crowded into that snall room.  Do not use the city bus.  It drops you off about 1.5 miles away from the Visitor's Center!  

Thanks!

I read about one bus dropping you off 1 1/2 miles away, but didn't know which one. I'll watch for the white "G;acier" shuttle! 

We have to tender into Juneau, but will try to get an early one. 

I've been a couple times, but I want my friend to see it. 

[Coral]

27 minutes ago, baybeach11 said:

Someone on our cruise also lived on Victoria (Dominic)  and asked to disembark there with his father but was denied due to the Jones Law requirement.  Maybe he can fill you in on details if he's still checking this site.  Sorry!

I didn’t know he was denied. I wonder if it similar in the US as far as getting on in one Canadian port and off in another Canadian port with out a distant port. I know it has worked for LA to Vancouver with a stop in Victoria. I guess it makes sense. Thanks for posting!

[sunviking90]

19 minutes ago, Coral said:

I didn’t know he was denied. I wonder if it similar in the US as far as getting on in one Canadian port and off in another Canadian port with out a distant port. I know it has worked for LA to Vancouver with a stop in Victoria. I guess it makes sense. Thanks for posting!

I think probably because it’s a closed loop cruise? We know of people who have disembarked in Victoria on one way cruises too, particularly Hawaii to Vancouver itineraries.

[Coral]

30 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

I think probably because it’s a closed loop cruise? We know of people who have disembarked in Victoria on one way cruises too, particularly Hawaii to Vancouver itineraries.

I think you are right.

[SeaCBear]

3 hours ago, baybeach11 said:

Someone on our cruise also lived on Victoria (Dominic)  and asked to disembark there with his father but was denied due to the Jones Law requirement.  Maybe he can fill you in on details if he's still checking this site.  Sorry!

Thanks baybeach11! 

 

But our cruise departs from and ends in Canada, so I don't think the Jones Act would apply

[baybeach11]

6 minutes ago, SeaCBear said:

Thanks baybeach11! 

 

But our cruise departs from and ends in Canada, so I don't think the Jones Act would apply

Our cruise also started and ended in Canada.  Mimmo1/Dominic, do you have any more information to share about your experience of trying to get off the ship in Victoria instead of ending in Vancouver?  

[SeaCBear]

3 minutes ago, baybeach11 said:

Our cruise also started and ended in Canada.  Mimmo1/Dominic, do you have any more information to share about your experience of trying to get off the ship in Victoria instead of ending in Vancouver?  

That's so weird!  Whether you get off in Victoria or Vancouver, you're getting off in Canada. This is from RCL's website:

 

The Jones Act (also known as the Passenger Services Act) does not allow ships of Non-U.S registry to embark and debark guests at two different U.S ports, since travel between U.S. ports is prohibited on foreign flagged ships.

 

Any Jones Act experts out there? 

[Coral]

22 minutes ago, baybeach11 said:

Our cruise also started and ended in Canada.  Mimmo1/Dominic, do you have any more information to share about your experience of trying to get off the ship in Victoria instead of ending in Vancouver?  

 

31 minutes ago, SeaCBear said:

Thanks baybeach11! 

 

But our cruise departs from and ends in Canada, so I don't think the Jones Act would apply

I wonder if Canada has a similar law which prevents getting on the ship in one Canadian port and getting off in another (nearby) Canadian port.

 

@mimmo.l tagging so hopefully he stops by and comments.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Coral

[SeaCBear]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

 

I wonder if Canada has a similar law which prevents getting on the ship in one Canadian port and getting off in another (nearby).

We have the Coasting Trade Act, but it doesn't have the limitation that applies to cruise ships in the Jones Act. I think that restriction may be unique to the U.S.

 

If anyone has insomnia, they could read the act here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-33.3/page-1.html#:~:text=Coasting Trade Act ( S.C.  

 

🙂

 

 

[Coral]

3 hours ago, SeaCBear said:

We have the Coasting Trade Act, but it doesn't have the limitation that applies to cruise ships in the Jones Act. I think that restriction may be unique to the U.S.

 

If anyone has insomnia, they could read the act here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-33.3/page-1.html#:~:text=Coasting Trade Act ( S.C.  

 

🙂

 

 

Technically the Jones Act doesn't apply to cruise ship (it deals with commerce). It is the Passenger Services Vessel Act (PSVA) in the US that prevents a foreign flagged ship to go from Seward to Juneau (affects cruise ships).

 

Though - now we question what the Canadian version is. I will read you link later tonight! 🙂 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Coral

[martincath]

3 hours ago, SeaCBear said:

We have the Coasting Trade Act, but it doesn't have the limitation that applies to cruise ships in the Jones Act. I think that restriction may be unique to the U.S.

 

If anyone has insomnia, they could read the act here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-33.3/page-1.html#:~:text=Coasting Trade Act ( S.C. 

Our Coasting Trade act is fundamentally the same as a combo of Jones and PVSA - in that very similar rules apply to both passengers and goods in a single piece of legislation. We're efficient that way up here - since we have to write everything twice (French and English) it's already twice the work!!! We have different specific exemptions but similar 'common sense' exemptions in principle - e.g. many of the small coastal/island towns and villages need supplied by air or water, so if something happened to a regular Canadian-run 'lifeline route' a foreign vessel could step in they'd be allowed to until a Canadian boat was able to operate it again.

 

The same basic principles apply to the vast majority of developed countries - Nobody wants foreigners stealing their jobs basically, especially if there's a potential 'race to the bottom' on safety standards for passenger transportation!

 

Someone boarding a cruise ship in Van would absolutely be denied disembarking in Vic 100% of the time unless it was an unscheduled emergency, just like someone boarding in LA would not be allowed off in Seattle unless it was a trip that include a Distant Foreign Port; but cutting short a loop that started in the US by getting off in Vic is no problem legally - a cruise between two different countries is never the subject of coastwise trade, by definition!

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, martincath said:

Our Coasting Trade act is fundamentally the same as a combo of Jones and PVSA - in that very similar rules apply to both passengers and goods in a single piece of legislation. We're efficient that way up here - since we have to write everything twice (French and English) it's already twice the work!!! We have different specific exemptions but similar 'common sense' exemptions in principle - e.g. many of the small coastal/island towns and villages need supplied by air or water, so if something happened to a regular Canadian-run 'lifeline route' a foreign vessel could step in they'd be allowed to until a Canadian boat was able to operate it again.

 

The same basic principles apply to the vast majority of developed countries - Nobody wants foreigners stealing their jobs basically, especially if there's a potential 'race to the bottom' on safety standards for passenger transportation!

 

Someone boarding a cruise ship in Van would absolutely be denied disembarking in Vic 100% of the time unless it was an unscheduled emergency, just like someone boarding in LA would not be allowed off in Seattle unless it was a trip that include a Distant Foreign Port; but cutting short a loop that started in the US by getting off in Vic is no problem legally - a cruise between two different countries is never the subject of coastwise trade, by definition!

Thank you!!!! So glad someone who understands Canada laws can respond. And kudos to @SeaCBear for pointing it out. I hadn't had a chance to read their link.

 

Brilliant to have 1 piece of legislation! Though - 2 languages....

 

I believe Europe has "some" limitations as well. I can't site an example but I think I remember reading that.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Coral

[martincath]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

Thank you!!!! So glad someone who understands Canada laws can respond. And kudos to @SeaCBear for pointing it out. I hadn't had a chance to read their link.

 

I believe Europe has "some" limitations as well. I can't site an example but I think I remember reading that.

Europe is... complicated! Many 'European' routes incorporate countries that are not part of the EU, or are but are not part of Schengen, or are in Schengen-compatible EFTA but not in the EU, or used to be in the mix but threw a hissy fit and took their ball home (looking at you, my original home UK!!!!), or really hate seeing passport stamps from their "Evil Neighbours" once you get around to sailing the Asian/African sides of the Med... it all makes the WHTI rules look incredibly simple 😉