Alaskan Cruise Ship Tips Embarcation First Evening on Ship

It used to be that when you signed up for the cruise you had a packet of tagboard punched recipts. No now. The tickets can be printed by you. Even the luggage tickets can and should be printed by you. Climbing on board is simple because you have gone on line and filled in all of the blanks that are required by the ship to let you on. This used to be a laborious task and took over an hour to complete.

Some of these blanks include emergency contact people, home addresses and phone numbers, passport numbers... you will need one since the ship travels to Canada.There are also chances online to book excursions. Excursions are activities you will want to do when the ship arrives at the various ports. More excursions latter in this entry.

Don't miss the view

Getting to the ship in San Francisco is pretty exciting. As you travel across the Oakland Bay Bridge, you will see your ship stand out on the skyline of the city.  It is a white 17 story whale docked along the pier. It is decked out in its flags and is a beautiful piece of anticipation. You are going to get on that ship and go to Alaska.  How fun?

Getting On the Ship - Embarkation

Traveling along the Embarcadero, drivers should pull to the bay side lanes. As they approach the docking area a set of police officers is directing traffic into the passenger drop off area.  As you are dropped off luggage is stacked on the curb and a dockworker, stevedore,  will load your bags up and get them on the ship for you. A 20 dollar tip is in order for this service. The passengers will head to the lines where travel documents are examined and you provide your credit card and the cruise line will provide you with the cruise card. It will have all the information needed for you to get into your cabin and will be your source of payment while you are on the ship. All tips, ship store purchases, spa treatments, wine and drinks, casino card and excursions will be entered on this card's account as the trip progresses. You may request a running total at anytime at the pursers desk.  Replacement cards can be made but it is a good idea to bring a lanyard to keep the cruise card handy. We always hang our lanyards with the cruise card on them in the same place as we go into the cabin. Lock you wallets in the safe. Each room has a safe to store your valuables.  As you board the ship, an electronic photo is taken so that your card can be matched with your face as you leave the ship or enter the ship.

San Francisco has a great parking set for the ships. Just 3 blocks away is the parking garage. The driver (if you come this way) can drive the car up to the vallet parking and walk the 3 blocks back to join the people waiting in line to get on the ship. Usually, the lines go rather quickly and there is not much of a delay... maybe 10 to 20 minutes to get processed and headed for the ship. The big deal here is to get the bags out and into the fray before you go to park. Parking can be paid for with a credit card at the end of the trip.

Stay Away from the First Ship Food

Plan on eating in Livermore or somewhere before you get to the ship.  The first afternoon buffet on the is ship is usually the worst. The entire ship thinks that it has to go eat the minute they arrive on the ship. The worst food, the biggest crowds for eating this food will occur at this time. I always suspect that the crew that dose not get to go ashore is not happy about cooking up for the afternoon buffet.

Part of processing your entry on the ship will include a map of the ship. Usually only one map is provided for each family. It will be the only time that you will see these maps. It might be a good idea to request two of these maps as finding places on the ship at first is difficult even with one of these maps.

As you enter the ship, there are people assigned to point you to your cabin. Elevators can be pretty full here too.  Some of the passenger elevators are disabled so that the ship can use the power to bring up all of the luggage. Ideally your luggage will meet you at the same time you arrive at your room. If not, it will not be long before you get all the pieces. Your room steward (the person who will keep you cabin tidy) will meet you and make sure that you have a plastic protector on top of your bed.

On the Ship Yeah!

As a tip from my daughter... we always wipe down all surfaces with haniwipes. This includes all countertops and TV remotes and all bathroom surfaces. So since starting a cruise with an issue. It has got to help.. right?

Sue, my wife always packs a rolled up waffle foam back support and a yoga mat for the mattress. Some of the mattresses on these beds are not particularly comfortable. Carrying your own helps this out. When she meets the room steward she shows the person the waffle support and asks if it could be used on her side of the bed. We usually tip ahead here as a exta 20 or a prepaid phone card will do wonders for their attitude.

It is important to make the muster meeting. This occurs very soon as you get on the ship. You find the life perserver, do not put it on and arrive at the muster station. This is the place you meet if the ship gets in trouble. Do not use the whistle as these are not sanitized between cruises. Yeah, I know you knew that. If you do not go they will know and pester you about a make up session.

Coming out the muster station meeting, everyone tries to use the elevators to get back to their cabins. This is a mistake, as luggage is still coming up from the storage area and few elevators work. The stairs are tough and steep but will yeild you a more pleasant condition than waiting for the elevator in this case.

Eat Before you Arrive

Plan on eating at your first dinning room meal. You will meet your dinner mates and will get to meet your waiter and his assistant. This meal is usually pretty good. The first night show is short but will give you a chance to see the cruise director an listen to the rundown on the cruise's entertainment menus.

While it is important to get your stuff stored away, it is hard not to be a part of the sail a way. Dress warmly and head out on the top deck to watch as the ship pulls out into the Bay and watch as everyone cheers as it passes Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Sailing under the bridge in this size of ship is something to behold. Coming home will be much less memorable as it is usually dark and foggy and very early in the morning.

Alaskan Cruise Tips: Where?

One of my friends is headed up to Alaska this summer via a Princess Cruise Ship. It will leave San Francisco and stop in the normal South East Alaska Ports. It is a 10 day round trip on one of Princess Cruise Lines bigger ships,the Golden Princess. Sue, my wife, and I have taken this cruise ship to Hawaii a couple times out of the port of LA, San Pedro. We have been to Alaska 5 times on the pretty much the same Alaskan itinerary. We are also thinking about doing it again this summer.  In this blog entry, I hope to provide my friend and my other readers some helpful and interesting tips regarding this adventure.

History

The trip from San Francisco is 10 days on the ship. It is important to get a great room so that the trip will not be insufferable. Our first Alaskan cruise adventure from San Francisco included passage on a very small ship. The company was not sure that there would be a significant demand for tickets and the small ship was a shot across the bow. Princess had purchased a couple of ships from companies that had gone out of business. One of them was a former Renaissance  Cruise Line that they dubbed the new Pacific Princess. The Alaskan adventure exceeded expectations and the 10 day cruise replaced a 665 passenger ship with one that could take 2500 passengers. It was the Regal Princesses. Our last cruise from San Francisco was on the Star Princess.  Princess has embarked on a policy to leave a ship at these "home ports" and allow all cruises from that port to be from that ship. As San Francisco has developed their cruise ship facilities, bigger ships are now docked there as their "home" port. The Golden Princess is one of the bigger ships in their fleet and reflects the both the increased market of San Francisco and its accommodations at the peir. The Golden Princess is a really spectacular ship. It can move 3500 passengers 28 miles an hour with complete comfort. It has wonderful stabilizers to keep the ship from swaying back and forth too much and amazing passenger amenities.  We have taken this ship twice to Hawaii from LA and back in 15 day cruises.

Planning

Cruising is as big a time commitment as it is a financial commitment. 10 days of your life will be spent away from your ordinary existence. Really, no cell phones no significant internet... just you and 3100 new friends on the open ocean. A few timely tips may make it more comfortable and enjoyable.

An Alaskan trip is lots of fun and can be enjoyed on many different levels. Some people see it as a big party time. They are living the life large in a moveable Las Vegas. There are amazing ways to enjoy the ship as a mini Las Vegas. These is a large casino on every ship (except for Disney). There are nightly shows that you may not want to miss. If you plan to use this trip with this as your major plan you are probably on the wrong cruise line and should play to fly to Vancover and get on the Carnival cruise which is centered on this agenda. Carnival is less expensive than Princess and tends to attract a younger crowd which includes many more families with kids.

An Alaskan cruise with the crowd that is very modulated will enjoy themselves more on the Holland America cruises. My friends who have taken both support this thought and have had a great time on Holland but understand that the energy for daily activity is more centered on personal service rather than shipboard activities.

Norwegian is another cruise line that haunts the Alaskan waters. It sends some nice sized ships up into the same area as Princess. They do not have any seating times for dinner and this allows for passengers to come into the dinning room anytime during the hours they are open and eat. They also promote more outside dinning in their specialty restaurants. These are all for an additional charge. All the other cruise lines have these too and have modified their choices so that you may also do some dining with other friends then ones selected by the company. A smaller dining room is selected for this and there may be a wait of 10 to 20 minutes to be seated. There are also alternative choices  or at a steakhouse, an Italian or French restaurant for an additional charge of 15 to 25 dollars per person. These require a reservation sometimes a couple of days ahead. Since you have already spent a good fee for the nightly dinner and they are amazing in every respect, these places are not entirely required unless you are celebrating a particular occasion or you have a particular interest. One of my daughters and I shared a saddle of veal in the French bistro one night on board a Norwegian ship headed for Mexico that was certainly spectacular. Norwegian was lacking however, in its menu for lunch.  It served the same lunch entrees throughout the cruise in its dinning room. Norwegian cruises out of Vancouver, British Columbia this summer.

My wife and I have always chosen Princess for our Alaskan trips because leaving out of San Francisco is so much less of a hassle than to get to an airport and get on a plane two hours early and then get to a ship from a plane after flying a couple of hours. I know people do this all this time... but there has to be more compelling reason than more choice to make this happen. Princess and Celeberty curise lines are only viable options out of San Francisco and this year. Celebrity is a bit more expensive and offers fewer trips overall. Princess Cruises as  the choice  is very palatable. You get three more days on the ship leaving from San Francisco. As my father said, any day on the ship is a luxury. He is right.

Where on the Ship?

On our Alaskan trips Sue and I have always with the exception of the first one have chosen an interior room. One of the reasons is that they usually are more handicapped accessible. They are also cheaper. If you are even a little claustrophobic, you may consider an obstructed view cabin. These cabins are generally on the level that the tenders are hung and include a porthole. The porthole does not open but is does provide light and most of the view out of the porthole is not obstructed by the tenders in our experience. Most of your time you will spend in public areas.

Many people like to use a travel agent to get a cruise booked. They are sponsored by the cruise lines to make sure that you have someone to explain all the different booking options. They are also the agents for added services. A cruise consultant, another name for an agent that knows their way around the booking process, may be able to add on a bus link up from your home city to the dock and back so that you will not have to use your car to get you to the dock. One of my friends who is cruising this summer is using this service with an additional cost of 80 dollars each to do just that. He and his wife will be picked up in Merced and dropped off on time at the dock in San Francisco to catch their Alaskan cruise.

If your departure date is within 90days of your investigation, you may be best served in the ticker section of Vacations to Go.com on the web. Things get a little desperate in the cruise industry when the departure is close at hand an a certain percentage of cabins have not been sold. Prices for cabin often drop significantly at this time. It can be sort of a risk too. Some people sign on early for a cruise and hope that they will be upgraded before this rush occurs within the last 90 days.

The following paragraphs relate to the Golden Princess and other sister ships such as the Grand Princess:  

Our favorite stateroom location is on the Lido Deck. It is on the same deck as the pools and the buffet. The Buffet is located on the other side of the ship and passengers with staterooms on this deck need to consider that they must walk to the other side of the ship for food service.  For some this is no small task as the ship is pretty long. Our pathway extended past both pools, the outdoor pool and the indoor pool before coming into the buffet doors. With all the excitement you would expect, this stateroom is fairly quiet. At times when exercise classes are in progress you may hear some thumping on the ceiling but outside of that it is fairly quiet.

A big part of the ship's entertainment occurs in the center plaza area on this ship. The center plaza areas have a 24hour European style small plate serving area and bakery. The Starbucks style coffee is located there. Service is provided at your table for the fancy coffee. The wine cellar/tasking is there also. Access to the internet and the library is located in this hub. Our cabin had access to this area through the elevator that dropped five floors to the art gallery. an easy walk through the art gallery opened to the plaza. Mini concerts and trio type entertainment was programed often at the plaza too. Our assigned dining area was a little problematic. It was across the ship and down 6 decks. The last deck could only be accessed by going the the 5th deck down and changing to a particular elevator that was for special needs. Everyone else spread across the staircase prior to dinner between the 5th deck down the the 6th.