Posts tagged Travel
Top 5 MedallionClass Experiences on Majestic Princess

Sponsored by Princess Cruises.

Every time I have the extraordinary opportunity to experience a new voyage with Princess Cruises, it seems like each trip gets better and better. Why? Because, somehow, they do. The genius teams at Princess are constantly expanding the horizon of what can be done on a cruise vacation. After watching most of The Love Boat at this point in my life, I would love to sit down with the cast and ask if they can even imagine what the show would be like on modern cruise ships today. Life at sea is historically understood to be notoriously challenging, and the fact that Princess can make ship life such a luxurious and enchanting experience says it all. MedallionClass ships are in a class of their own, and I am lucky to be able to share five of my favorite ways they’re able to accomplish this:

  1. Keyless Stateroom Entry

    Can I get Princess to install keyless stateroom entry at my house? This element of the OceanMedallion technology always blows my mind. At home in Seattle, it’s always a winter drag to be digging through my purse for my keys in the dark and rain after coming home from work, and it’s a pain to be digging for a key or a card after dancing the night away onboard Majestic Princess! The screen outside your stateroom identifies you by name and photo as you walk up so you know you’re ending up at the right place completely hands-free. It’s the convenience, health, and safety trifecta.

2. One-Tap Dinner Reservations

Every cruiser has their favorite restaurants onboard MedallionClass ships, and now it’s easier than ever to make sure you don’t miss out on your favorite meals. With the MedallionClass app, you can easily see what seating times are available at restaurants like Crown Grill or Harmony on any given day. OceanMedallion technology made it easy for me to get my favorite meal at Crown Grill (ironically, the steakhouse, but let this pescatarian tell you about the seafood and sides!) on one of our last nights at sea. For whatever reason, creamed spinach is one of my favorite things to eat and every time I get home, I try to recreate the Crown Grill recipe…maybe my fellow cruiser and foodie Courtney can help?!

3. OceanNow

As someone who is always ready for a snack or for sips, OceanNow has become my number one travel companion while cruising. Waking up to a lightly cloudy morning on the Majestic Princess as we sailed cozily along through Alaska’s Inside Passage, there was nothing I wanted more than an extra-hot vanilla latte as soon as I opened my eyes, and that’s exactly what I got via OceanNow. Sometimes the stewards would knock before I’d even kicked off the covers and found my slippers. Talk about speedy delivery service.

4. OceanReady

Setting sail during the COVID-19 pandemic, I was a little antsy about getting onboard a cruise ship. Our cruise required all able passengers to be fully vaccinated and have a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last 72 hours, and I was conveniently able to confirm I had both directly through the MedallionClass app. It’s incredible how zippy the lines to get on board flow when each travel party just has to tap their OceanMedallions and move right along!

5. The Best Wi-Fi at Sea

As someone who is constantly connected to Spotify and social media, having the best Wi-Fi at sea is one of the myriad reasons I always cruise with Princess. It’s amazing to me that with a few taps, I can have high-speed Internet for the entire duration of my cruise even when out in the open waters of the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Strait. I could stream Frasier if I wanted to, which I don’t need to anymore because it’s now one of the shows they stream directly on your stateroom TV! Sometimes, it feels like Princess is too good of a fit for me to even be true.

Honestly, I plan to live on a Princess Cruises ship one day…World Cruise 2050, here I come. There’s nothing I need on land that I can’t find on a MedallionClass cruise! I heard once—was me who said it?—that once you cruise MedallionClass, you’ll never go back. With this many effortless and personalized experiences, why would you want to?

Princess Cruises' Return to Service: Cruise with Confidence

Sponsored by Princess Cruises.

I’m someone who has a hard time coming out of their shell, especially in crowds or among strangers. In fact, I used to be someone who looked at the stereotypical “cruiser” and thought, “Noooo way, that is not the group for me.” That is, until I went on my first cruise hosted by Princess! I fell in love with the cruise community because even though a ship is literally a crowd of strangers, no one cares where you come from, knows what your flaws may be, or judges your appearance. Two thousand cruise passengers are joined together by a singular mission—to find joy and to have new experiences and do it all on the ocean blue.

It turned out that the cruise community was eager enough to get back on board a MedallionClass ship that no one minded how different the scene looked—we cared that we were there at all. We all checked the “Terms and Conditions” box that said we’ll do anything to enjoy a cruise vacation again, even if that means wearing face masks indoors and in crowds or taking turns in maxed-capacity areas or getting two shots (considering some of us still cry getting poked with a needle, even in our 30s).

Embarking on an Alaskan cruise aboard Majestic Princess was something we all wanted—even needed.

I’m not shy about saying that I was hesitant to get on a cruise ship after all that we’ve been through over the last couple of years, but in addition to the rejuvenation and replenishment that I found embarking on a Princess Cruises voyage after such a long break, I was surprised by how safe and comfortable I felt with the thorough guidelines Princess put in place to keep cruisers’ health at the top of their priority list.

The safety protocols begin long before you board. At the time of our cruise in August 2021, the requirements for passengers were to a) be fully vaccinated, and b) have received a negative COVID test within 72 hours of embarkation day. This double layer of protection did a lot for my mental security about being in enclosed spaces with large groups of people while spending seven days at sea. I’m happy to report we didn’t have any reported COVID cases on our 7-day Inside Passage itinerary!

Onboard, OceanMedallion technology shines as the number one way to keep passengers safe and healthy. By having keyless stateroom entry and touchless embarkation and disembarkation in place, Princess was already prepared for how the world would change following the pandemic in many ways. Other features highlighted in their new TrulyTouchless™ protocols are:

  • Completely contactless shopping onboard

  • Simplified safety training

  • On-demand food, beverages and retail items delivered anywhere on board

  • Guest service requests via mobile device chat

  • Entertainment content via smart devices

Hand sanitizer stations are ubiquitous in all the main areas like most public places these days, and current guidance and protocol is displayed via consistent signage and screens throughout the ship—all 1,083 feet of it. Surfaces and touchpoints are constantly being sanitized by dedicated staff—watching this happen regularly also did a lot to ease any worries I came in with. Princess is taking their return to service seriously, and their practices have paid off. As we sail into 2022, I wouldn’t hesitate before booking another cruise vacation—to be honest, I’d be happy doing this exact same itinerary in the spring. And summer. And fall. And on and on and on…

While 2021 has been as challenging as 2020 in many ways, it’s remarkable that Princess has been able to create such a special space out at sea for cruisers to enjoy despite the pandemic climate. Returning service to Alaska is quite literally a lifesaver for many of the towns up there that rely on cruise tourism to make their income. We met dozens of people absolutely thrilled to see the ship in port who had been unsure they’d be able to continue living in Alaska much longer.

For myself and for them, I want to give a huge thank you to Princess as well as the Alaskan government, the CDC, and the Port of Seattle for working so hard to continue bringing families memorable travel experiences exploring America’s Last Frontier.

However long we may have to get vaxxed and stay masked, this self-proclaimed cruiser can’t wait to get back out there.

Alaska's Glacier Bay Aboard Majestic Princess

Sponsored by Princess Cruises.

Waking up in Glacier Bay National Park in a five-star bed with incomparable views of Alaska’s iconic towers of ice feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience only Princess can provide. I count myself truly lucky to have seen this unbelievable national park and preserve up close and personal, and even more luxurious? The day began with hot coffee and a champagne breakfast on our private balcony, directly in front of the Margerie Glacier.

While the glaciers were the main course of our meal, I did get to try smoked salmon for the first time on a cream cheese bagel with dill and capers, and let me just say it was transformative. I’m usually not a fan of salmon (give me cod or halibut any day), but maybe I just needed to be in Alaska to get the full spectrum of delectability from this Pacific Northwest specialty.

We couldn’t help but toast to the gorgeous Margerie Glacier and the fortuitous opportunity we had to see it in our lifetime as we sat in awe of our surroundings. I got several messages while we were there from cruisers who visited Glacier Bay ten, twenty, and thirty years ago, commenting on how much smaller the glaciers are now. While many of the glaciers continue to regress, environmental factors like regularly heavy snowfall in the Fairweather Mountains are actually advancing others.

After breakfast, we headed aft to meet up with our group on the back deck for hot cocoa, which was truly the creamiest and dreamiest cocoa I’ve ever had (I do not mind telling you that I said yes to more than one refill). I wore a knit set by Rails Clothing that’s as close to pajamas as real clothes get—perfect for a cozy morning viewing Glacier Bay aboard Majestic Princess.

Sailing into Glacier Bay, I was lucky enough to have my first major wildlife sighting—a brown Kodiak bear. If you know me at all (or read my last post) you’ll know bears are my favorite animal, so even getting to see him wandering along the shore through my binoculars was an absolute treat. I wouldn’t have been able to spot him without the helpful guides making announcements on board the ship as we cruised toward the glaciers, which just adds to the list of dreams-come-true that Princess has given me over the last four years.

Speaking of bears, this was our biggest wildlife spotting day yet—puffins, otters, humpback whales, seals—I could never get my camera out fast enough!

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We learned a ton of history about the place from the park rangers Princess hosts on board during this impactful day at sea, which is part of their award-winning North to Alaska program that truly immerses you in the history and culture of this magnificent state. Glacier Bay’s 3.2 million acres of forests and mountains and waters are the ancestral homelands of the Tlingit nation, and were not discovered by western civilization until 1794. Back then, there were no individual glaciers—just an unfathomably large river of ice. When naturalist John Muir came to the area about a hundred years later with Tlingit guides, the ice had shifted and changed enough to reveal a bay of water surrounded by glaciers that we as cruisers now get to enjoy. In many areas, the bay drops down to over 1,000 feet deep.

The stillness you feel staring at these incredible walls of ice, listening to them move and change and waiting for them to calve is hard to capture with words, and of course, photos never do natural beauty justice. I was so moved by having the opportunity to see this magical place in real life that reviewing these photos is almost emotional!

The Glacier Bay “port” day on our 7-day Inside Passage Alaskan cruise was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Typically, you spend days at sea covering hundreds of miles to get to your next destination, or you are docked in that destination and spend the day off the ship. This unique day aboard Majestic Princess, where we kind of did both sightseeing and sailing, combined the best of both worlds to create memories that will stick with me forever—or at least until I plan my next Alaskan cruise.