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MississippiMom

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. No final decision made, yet. I definitely appreciate you sharing the details on how your selection was made to book with Carnival. We are pretty confident that HAL and Princess are definitely not our thing.
  2. Hello to my fellow Mississippian!!! It sounds like “you get me.” Life got in the way, but we are now back to researching what might work best for us. We would like to put down refundable deposits for an August/September 2025 cruise, before all of our family’s 2024 summertime activities get into full swing. (For us Southerners, that could potentially be as early as the second week in April.) By complete coincidence, I was looking at RC and NCL last night. I know most cruisers on this board will cringe at that, but we would like to have a port stop in Sitka and/or Haines, which REALLY limits our cruise ship choices. We had almost convinced ourselves to try HAL’s Eurodam, but that’s a whole lot of vacation money to spend on a cruise line that doesn’t sound like the right fit for us, so we are still thinking on that one. Celebrity is a consideration, but their ridiculous pricing strategy with non-refundable deposits vs refundable deposits means we wait to see if that big box warehouse club offers a special deal on them one day. Cunard feels very over-the-top for this casual family, but I do enjoy looking at their website. Let the research continue . . .
  3. I could "kiss you" for posting this. 🙃 Off/on, we have been looking at the mid-August through mid-September 2025 sailings, and the number of times we have changed what we want to prioritize is comical at this point. Like you two, we live too far away to ever go a second time to Alaska, but we also want to enjoy that dining/entertainment/other you reference. We have tossed around the combination of land & sea, as well as the longer 10 day cruise options, with no final decision made. I keep thinking we have plenty of time to book for 2025, but our preferred balcony cabin locations definitely decrease as the weeks go by. @Ajg601 - What made you rule out Holland America? We are concerned it might be too quiet in the evenings and we might still be too young for HA. But their ships look beautiful, and we like their itineraries.
  4. Thanks for the quick breakdown. That side-by-side number crunching is something that we need to definitely review.
  5. I have never cruised Holland America before, but have been looking a lot on their website at possible 2025 options. Yes, I registered, but I don't think that makes me an official "Mariner." However, just yesterday, I got an email from HA advising of the $400 onboard credit and the Have it All offer for many sailings. Am I now considered a "Mariner" or are they marketing to me as a Carnival VIFP (only gold, not platinum)?
  6. Thanks for posting the link, and for the detailed review. Much appreciated!
  7. Old thread, but excited to find it. I am on the opposite quest as the original poster. NO BATHTUBS for us. We cannot step over that bathtub edge on a moving ship every day. One, and possibly both of us, would most definitely bruise a leg and/or fall. I had completely taken HAL off of our possible 2025 cruise wish list because of the dreaded bathtubs, but now it looks like I need to dig further into each specific ship floor plan.
  8. We have not sailed Alaska, but are researching it for a 2025. Pay LOTS of attention to number of passengers on a ship, if you prefer to not be on a megaship, because those will definitely pop up when you do your search. I don't know enough about this cruiseline, but I encourage you to read about and watch online videos about Celebrity. It might not have enough bells & whistles, but it sure looks like it might have a bit of a resort feel for your friend.
  9. I appreciate you sharing this, especially when so many on the board are insistent that it must be about the itinerary, only. We are struggling tremendously with "the right fit" in Alaska for our family. We are looking for the balance of itinerary, ship AND price point in 2025. I am positive that doesn't exist, so now we have to decide where we are willing to compromise, and we are limited on when we can sail (must be between mid-August to mid-September). Oh, and for us, the ship experience also includes the formality or lack thereof. My husband is VERY clear that he has zero interest in paying all of that money and then being expected to dress up. Neither of us are eating dinner in the buffet area, so that means casual in the main dining room. The amount of research has been time-consuming, but thoroughly enjoyable. We have learned a lot about cruise lines we have never even considered before - Celebrity, Holland America, Cunard, Oceania. We know more about balcony sizes and shower sizes than I thought was possible. (We are bathtub HATERS, because, repeatedly, stepping over one to shower sounds like a fantastic way to get injured.) There is definitely LOTS to consider.
  10. While I understand that the cruise lines make money off of the casinos, it seems so odd to me that a casino needs to be bigger. You can definitely tell it is NOT an area that I care to visit. To each his own, though.
  11. So glad you asked. I have been reading about Sitka and it looks like a lovely port to stop at, but the sailings there are definitely limited.
  12. Sorry to piggy-back, but I have never even looked at Celebrity cruise options until recently. Do they ever offer refundable deposit specials? There's an additional $759 for me to book our possible cruise with a refundable deposit, but I'll wait if Celebrity has certain times of the year where they offer actual refundable deposit sales. I can't risk a non-refundable deposit ($500) booking for 2025, because that's way too far away. Thanks!
  13. So fun!!! I like all of the excursion ideas. Not necessarily all of them for me, since I have limitations due to previous back surgery, but a nice list for other family members, if they decide to travel with us. I will make one of those "to each his own" comments. Whale watching . . . been there (in Hawaii, not Alaska), done that, don't need to do it again. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but it's a "one & done" for me. I'm sure there are others who would go every time they get a chance, though.
  14. @cynt , THANK YOU! First of all, we have only cruised on Royal Caribbean once and it was because of the various ages. The special needs folks were AMAZING helping us navigate all things related to my senior parents. Do not hesitate to ask them for recommendations on the ship and at the ports. And if you can convince those seniors to take walkers and/or rent scooters, they are such a huge help. I am realizing that I need a more realistic idea of who is really going on this Alaskan cruise with us in 2025. If it's just the two of us (late 50s), then I'm pretty certain we will select a northbound route on Princess, and if we determine that we have available funds, we will take the opportunity to visit Denali pre-cruise. If several of our (in our age range) family members really decide to join us, then the airfare situation will make a Seattle roundtrip (Princess, HAL or Celebrity) the more likely scenario. There is a slim possibility that we could try a Vancouver roundtrip, but not certain, since I don't know the passport situations for everyone. But if it becomes a multi-generational trip, like our past two sailings, then the ship matters a whole lot more, because like you stated, "my group would maybe spend 15 minutes looking at it." At that point, I think NCL, RCCL or Carnival become the front-runners.
  15. @TraderSam - Your photos are incredible! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip with us.
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