4 Nights Alaska Sampler Cruise

Pleasant South Pacific cruise

Thoroughly enjoyed the cruise on Royal. Staff always pleasant, efficient and many with a sense of fun. Beds are extremely comfortable though I wish for my own pillow as one too soft, and two too many. Food choices varied sufficiently and we particularly liked the pizza on deck and the soft serve ice-cream. Hard to resist. We had a deluxe obstructed balcony - photo below - but deluxe worth it as two-seater sofa included. We did not mind the obstructed view as balcony still usable and visibility not greatly hampered. The entertainment provided was exceptional though one production show was cancelled due to problems with puppets. Wonderful to see Australian talent of such high calibre entertaining us. Having cruised this area before, we did not take any excursions. Thoroughly enjoyed Mystery Island and Dravuni Island, but would give Lautoka a miss. Arriving on a Sunday with most shops and cafes closed, did not help.

Fun on the Royal Princess

It was a great cruise. We met with several people from the cruise critic board, which made the cruise even better. We purchased the Premier package. It seems excessive; however, we won a seven-day balcony cabin cruise anywhere in the world during our cruise. This package also gives you unlimited specialty dining, drinks (coffee, soda, water, and alcohol), specialty desserts, and the ice cream parlor. Oh, it also covers the staff gratuities. This is worth every penny. We did a few things together - plan a cabin crawl with the people on your board. It is a great way to see different types of rooms. We were surprised by the side configured inside the room. I was so much roomier than expected. Or the mini-suite at the back of the ship that had a double-deep balcony. Each room is decorated with things from home. In your decorations, show your favorite thing about your town, city, or country. Also, bring a small token of your home to give to your fellow guests. On this cruise, I decorated with hot air balloons and roadrunners. Being from Albuquerque, NM, USA, we host the international balloon fiesta annually. We are also in the southwest part of the USA. Our state bird is the Roadrunner. I made hot air balloons and Zia symbol earrings and Route 66 shot glasses for the men. Food products can only be brought from the home deportation, so green or red chili cannot be transported. These are just some ideas for some extra fun. We also met for high tea a couple of times on the ship. Every cruise is what you make of it.

Happy we did it!!

We just did the 7 day portion of this cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles(wish it had been longer). This was our first Princess cruise and we were very happy with our choice!! Embarktion in Vancouver was good except for the security portion at Vancouver port, absolutely horrible!! We have a daughter with Autism that was traveling with us and lines and crowds are issues for her(not a great way to start our vacation) and no special line for her or any other seniors or people with special requirements?? Oh but there was an employee that kept singing and encouraging everyone in line to have a great day and no there are no special lines( this was beyond annoying, think of being stuck in a long line outside It's a Small World at Disney listening to song over and over again). We finally made it on to ship and have to say it was beautiful, fun, clean and the food was very good. We ran into a couple that said everything was great except they thought food was horrible, we were honestly shocked by this. I know everyone has different tastes and expectations but could not have been more different for us. First afternoon on ship and we were tired as long day and as we walked past Alfredo's(this is one of the casual dining options that are included with plus package, if you don't have package still very worth the extra cost) it was empty so asked if they were open yet(it was still early afternoon) and got a table right away, they could not have been more inviting and friendly. I had a pizza(amazing), hubby had veal stuffed ravioli(he loved it and he can be a bit picky). My daughter and her friend also had great meals(just can't remember what they had). We ate at the buffet most mornings for breakfast, lots of choices and everything was great, loved the little glasses of smoothies. We did learn that there is also the Bistro side of buffet which is also very good but dose not have all the same choices(Pancakes/Waffles and omelette station where on the Horizon side). We loved the International Cafe, great coffee, teas, coffee and Baileys' and pastries and little sandwiches available 24 hours. We ate at the MDR twice and both times very good!! We did order sandwiches on our last night via room service, they were horrible, seriously dried out bread, one bite and could not eat them. We had great drinks through out the trip, never short poured. Our daughter and her friend had a great time dancing and going to show's. Our room steward Denis was great!! All other staff(except for one waiter in bar but everyone can't be perfect) were always smiling and saying hello. The only thing that would have made this trip a 10 out of 10 would have been to have more time in San Diego, way to much to see and do there in time we had there. We are booked with Princess again on the Discovery in March and really look forward to it.