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Princess Cruises - Star Princess to Alaska - Pre Cruise Ticketing Princess Cruise Website vs Costco Travel Website | App | Checklist | Excursions

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Star Princess to Alaska

Seattle, Day at Sea, Ketchikan Seaplane, Juneau Whale Watching, Skagway Gold Panning, Day at Sea, and Victoria, BC Canada.

Amazing cruise and new ship from Princess.

Alaska is the best cruise since Paul Gauguin in Bora Bora. I've now been on about 39 cruises around the world.

If you take one cruise, this should be it.

Star Princess to Alaska - Pre Cruise Seattle Port of Embarkation

Star Princess to Alaska - Embarkation Day in Seattle - Day One

Star Princess to Alaska - At Sea - Day Two

Star Princess to Alaska - Ketchikan - Day Three

Star Princess to Alaska - Endicott Arm Glacier and Juneau - Day Four

Star Princess to Alaska - Skagway - Day Five

Star Princess to Alaska - At Sea Outside Passage - Day Six

Star Princess to Alaska - At Sea Outside Passage and Victoria Canada Late Day Port Visit - Day Seven

Star Princess to Alaska - Disembarkation at Port of Seattle - Summary of Alaska Cruise

Star Princess to Alaska - Ship Info

Booking a Cruise with Princess

Via website: Easy to do, but cannot book a group of cabins, all must be booked separately. Each cabin has to have it's own credit card for booking payment and onboard ship charges. Even if you are booking for a family with multiple cabins, you have to use different credit cards (seems to be a problem with their software - which also exists on the App when doing the checklist).

This is light years better than the awful MSC booking experience.

The travel checklist is easy to complete, and fast. Take a photo of your passport and it automatically lists all the information (but double check).

For this one reservation, I had to make multiple calls into Princess, all due to trying to manage multiple cabins for the same family group. Pay for another cabin with your credit card will not result in a confirmation (for excursions).

Booked flights to embarkation separately.

Ordered Medallions (only get what they offer for free - do not buy extra holders, etc. which is a waste of money). I found in 2019 that you only need the provided Medallion on a lanyard, nothing else. Princess has this system mastered and is the best in the industry (again, MSC has no clue what is going on for the same type system).

The Medallion is like a Apple Tag, and is used to open your cabin door, location, and paying for items. It's a brilliant system when it works, and a disaster when it doesn't (MSC Cruise Line).

Instead - Book with Costco - More User Friendly Booking Experience

While I've looked at Costco before, for some reason I thought I would have a better experience with the Princess Cruise website. I was wrong.

1. You are not able to book multiple cabins with the Princess Cruise website.

2. With Costco, you can book with multiple cabins (but only two).

3. With Costco, you get the same price.

4. Selecting available cabins on available decks is the same layout.

5. With Costco, you get some type of in-store credit.

6. With either method, you can pre-select buying drink packages, etc.

7. With Costco, you skip all the ads and junk that Princess Cruises throws at you while booking (which is very distracting).

8. The UX with Costco is user friendly, and lets you get down to business - which is booking the cruise.

9. Save time and headaches with Costco Travel.

10. While Princess Cruise website is not as bad as MSC (which I rank the worst of any cruise site), they should fire their UX design coders and get someone who knows what they're doing.

Summary: I can understand the reasons for booking cabins under separate reservations, but it's a hassle for a family booking two cabins for one family, since the same credit card cannot be used for both cabins (when on the App doing pre-cruise registration, an error occurs when you try to use the same credit card). Additionally, I found that when trying to book excursions for two separate cabins, if the same credit card is used (which is difficult), you will not receive a email confirmation for the other cabin. You have to physically call in to Princess to request a receipt by email to confirm a booking. Just a waste of time. For my booking, I ended up calling Princess support at least 4 times. Keep in mind that this will be my 38th cruise, so I've seen the evolution of cruises since the beginning of the cruising review website in 2001.

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