Just booked Royal Princess for Inner Passage….

[startedwithamouse]

Looks like the Royal has 4,100 passengers for this current sailing, which left yesterday for Alaska!  

Edited May 28, 2023 by startedwithamouse

[Sam.Seattle]

For those of you who want to experience the real inside passage, leave from Canada.  I live in the Seattle area, but prefer to drive to Canada for Alaska sailing. 2-weeks and multiple port options for a more in depth experience.

 

Some old news here, but may be valid today.

 

Alaska marine pilots concerned about Royal Princess megaship | AP News

 

[startedwithamouse]

52 minutes ago, Sam.Seattle said:

For those of you who want to experience the real inside passage, leave from Canada.  I live in the Seattle area, but prefer to drive to Canada for Alaska sailing. 2-weeks and multiple port options for a more in depth experience.

 

Some old news here, but may be valid today.

 

Alaska marine pilots concerned about Royal Princess megaship | AP News

 

This was published before our cruise in 2019. The Royal was fine on our sailing, other than a catastrophic incident, which was not ship related.

[SuzieQ521]

On 5/27/2023 at 5:33 PM, SSAtlantic said:

How was disembarkation timing?

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. 

 

Very smooth and efficient. We had a 9:10 timeslot and I think they called us a few minutes later. We got off quickly and our bags were already waiting for us. We then breezed through customs...no line at all for us. We already had Seattle Express shuttle lined up so the only waiting was for that.

Edited May 30, 2023 by SuzieQ521

[edub]

I'm sort of bummed to be discovering that, from what folks here are saying, my upcoming cruise - departing Seattle on the Royal Princess - evidentally barely goes through the inner passage? Isn't it disingenuous of the company to bill it as inner passage then? It's one of the reasons we booked it!

[moonjelly]

Thanks for asking the question, Boozy O Croozy. We are on Royal 8/26/23 for this same itinerary.

For those who have sailed her, what is the seating in the theater situation? That was my only downside to my last princess cruise, the competition for seats in the main theater and the "vibe" it caused between passengers. And I think it was an even smaller ship than this!

 

I am also wondering if people would recommend sitting in the same dining room each night and if so which one? Or if restaurant hopping worked for you🙂. I know it's different for everyone, but I'm interested in your advice.

 

One of the things that has distinguished Princess for me in the past was that they had a 24-hour pool and or hot tub open. It wasn't all of them, but there was at least one. Is that still the case? I remember sitting in the aft hot tub on Diamond at 1am, watching the full moon set into the ocean. Priceless.

 

 

 

 

[moonjelly]

On 5/27/2023 at 5:00 PM, SuzieQ521 said:

Just got off the Royal. We liked it overall. No promenade but still some great viewing areas Aft. MDR food was very good. International cafe was very convenient as well. Enclave at Lotus Spa was very nice. sea walk feature was very cool.

 

Happy to answer more specific questions.

Hi SuzieQ, I'm happy to hear a report that the main dining room food was very good. I have been reading a lot of extremely negative reviews on the food of late. I'm excited about the SeaWalk!

[moonjelly]

On 5/19/2023 at 9:30 AM, Sarnia 432 said:

The “true” inside passage runs between Vancouver Island and the mainland.  Royal ships do not do this, but sail round the outside of the Island (rougher seas and no scenery)

The map that Princess uses labels the area North of Vancouver Island as the inside passage, but this is only a tiny section and misses the best views.

To each his own 😁. My favorite view is when there is no land to get in the way of it. I love the "Sea nery"