NothingBeatsBaseball

My eight year old liked the train. My three year old fell asleep (that was an expensive nap). We also did about half of this trail, this is within walking distance of the ship. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/alaska/lower-dewey-lake-trail

If you are morning people, then yeah, that will be tough. We rented a car from Turo and had a great day hitting many different spots. Even with a bunch of ships in port it felt like we got away from folks.

Who: Family of five, ages ranging from 4 to 72. Had two rooms. One obstructed view on 8 with two kids and two parents. One balcony on deck 9 for grandma. Thursday, June 6th We took the Amtrak to South Station in Boston and arrived at 8 PM. We stayed at the Homewood Suites right near the dock. Getting a suite allowed us five to have just one room the night before. We ordered some food to be delivered around 9 PM ish. The room was very nice and worked well for us. Friday, June 7th Free breakfast was good at the hotel… but woo boy, very busy. Not surprising since it is two hotels together. Checked out of the hotel at 11 AM. Walked to cruise terminal. Very convenient. I had read stories of taking hours to check in, we had none of that. We were on the ship before noon. Very easy process. Did muster drill. Had lunch in the dining room. 7 & 8 decks were busy, but the dining room was not. A very good choice for lunch. I found the recommendation to have lunch at the main dining room on these boards, so thank you for that. All guest rooms were ready at 2:30 PM. Some of us watched sail away, some didn’t. It was nice and sunny! We checked out the ship. Very similar size to the Sapphire Princess we were on last year in Alaska. Saw the piano show that night. It was fine. Saturday, June 8th Nice day at sea. I liked that the Freestyle Daily paper mentioned a few quiet places on the ship available during the day. It suggested Orchard Garden and we took the suggestion to play cards there for an hour or so before seeing the Deal or No Deal show. Watching the contestant play was fine to do once. Buying the card to match and play along wasn’t much fun. Played bingo later. Expensive, but our 9 year old had fun and liked the drama. He said almost winning the jackpot was his favorite part of the trip. It was crowded in the lounge on 12 for bingo. Played a few games in the arcade, also not cheap, but fine for once or twice for the kiddos. Had dinner at Cagney’s. It was fine, but wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t free in the promotion. The cheesecake was the big winner. Afterwards, we dropped the kids off at Splash Academy and worked out in the gym. It was our first and only time using a kids club on a ship. Folks running it seemed nice. Sunday, June 9th Bermuda! Did a tour with Bermuda Byways based on recommendations on these boards. It was well worth it. The six plus hours went quickly. Provided lunch was good. Lots of information and interesting stops. Would recommend. Kiddos stayed engaged and quoted information we learned later. Deployed some tricks like letting them bring one hot wheels car in the bus to fiddle with. Had dinner at the buffet. Overall, we had a good experience with the buffet. The opinion of our group was we thought NCL’s food was better than Princess’ last year. We took the kids to play Fun Golf in the port in the evening. It was challenging. The course is starting to show some age with some damaged signage, worn greens and some lightning not fixed. But fun to do with the kiddos. Very scenic at sunset. Monday, June 10th Went to Horseshoe Bay. Did the beach thing. Used the $7 shuttle. Bermuda really has the tourist thing down. Very easy to understand how to get places. Horseshoe Bay was great but got busy later in the afternoon when a second ship came in. But that is why we went in the morning on Monday. We ate at the buffet and then walked around the dockyards a bit. The sun from the beach kinda got me, so I was out of it in the evening. The kids and wife then went duck hunting. This proved to be how we’d end the rest of our evenings. Thanks to those who hid ducks. It was a big hit with the kiddos. Tuesday, June 11th Took the free NCL ferry to Saint George. This was a nice free bonus! Shopped a bit and then ate. Had a good lunch at White Horse Pub. We all liked our food. The staff suggested we throw our leftover pizza crust in the water off the deck to feed the fish. Kids liked that. Took the ferry back. Played AC/DC pinball at the Frog & Onion Pub at the Dockyards. The only pinball game in Bermuda listed on the Pinball Map app. We have a kid trying to play pinball in as many states/countries as he can. Arcade is in rough shape overall. Restaurant was busy. Then the wife took the kids to the pool. It was really warm they said. Played some Uno later on as a family. Uno was a big activity for us all on this trip. Wednesday, June 12th Sea day. Lunch at main dining room then more Uno and more swimming. Saw the show “Get Down Tonight”. We all liked it. More duck hunting. By now the kids were constantly quoting “Washy, washy. Happy, happy. Smiley, smiley” by the hand sanitizer worker at the buffet. Also, by this time the kids had tried pretty much every ice cream flavor. Thursday, June 13th I knew the process of getting to Bar Harbor was going to be tough from reading these boards. My mother struggled with the long line for immigration and tender. I can’t believe they didn’t have another line option for folks with limited mobility. I should have anticipated this… but I didn’t realize most people would ignore the times for specific decks to go through immigration and just get in line immediately. This meant we didn’t get on a tender until 12:30. I wish they just listed port time at noon or even 11 AM instead of 10 AM because unless you buy an excursion through NCL, it is a long line going the length of the ship to get off the ship. We rented an electric vehicle to get to Acadia. Good experience. The view at the top of Cadillac Mountain was worth the wait to get off the ship. It wasn’t too busy either. The stop in Bar Harbor is so short (I knew that going in) but spending an hour or so at the top of Cadillac Mountain and then driving around the park was worth it. Got in a pinball game at Pizzeria 131, the only game listed on Pinball Map in Bar Harbor. We took the last tender at 6 PM back to the ship. I was surprised there wasn’t a big line for the last tender. I figured most people would make the most of their time and take the last tender. But, nope, we had empty seats on it. More searching for ducks back on the ship at night. Friday, June 14th We waited until the absolute latest, 9:30 AM ish, when they were calling last call to leave and it was still a bit of wait to walk off the ship. I had read getting off the ship wasn’t the quickest, so we were prepared. It wasn’t bad, but if you were trying to get off at a certain time I could see the line being frustrating. We walked to Boston Seaport Hotel. They had our rooms ready at 10:45 AM when we arrived. Fantastic. It was great. We rested and then did the WNDR museum in Boston, Tony C’s for big meal of the day and saw Inside Out 2 at night as a family. Dodged young people out and about anticipating a Celtics title. They would have to wait until Monday. Saturday, June 15th Walked to Trader Joe’s for breakfast items. Early morning trip to State Park restaurant in Cambridge to play pinball. Boston Duck Tour at 1:30 PM. Neat to do once. Don’t need to do it again. Cheesecake Factory for lunch. You have to join their rewards club to get a reservation. I didn’t want to do that so we ended up waiting 40 minutes for a table. Good meal since it was our one big meal of the day. Red Sox game at night for some of us. Swimming and a walk to ice cream for kiddos for others. A very touristy day in Boston. Sunday, June 16th Concluded a nice stay at Boston Seaport hotel. Would recommend! They had gift bags for the kiddos and it had a scavenger hunt for them too that they got very excited for. Amtrak back home. Cabin review: I had done my research and knew the four-person setup for the cabin had one Pullman bed and one mini bed. The mini bed was fine for our four-year old. But yeah, we could probably only do it for another year or two space wise with the four of us. But for this trip it was fine for a week. The obstructed window view cabin has been a good choice for us the last two cruises. Saves a few bucks and can still see out enough to get light and view where we are. The other cabin in our party, a balcony, was nice. Except for other people who kept smoking outside on their balconies. Random thought on water bottle filling. NCL has accepted that folks will take their beach towels to the beaches so they have a tub to take them back when you get back on the ship on Bermuda port days. So… with that in mind, it’s probably time to just accept people are going to fill their water bottles up in the buffet and have a dedicated spot for it. Yes, there is money to be made there in selling bottled water, but in the mornings it was a long wait for drinks due to so many people filling water bottles. Random thoughts comparing NCL to Princess. We did an Alaska Princess cruise last year. I knew NCL didn’t have some features we had included on Princess last year. We did miss the no-fee room service that Princess had. Though I guess Princess has gotten rid of that too. I kinda missed the medallions too. Princess’ tech wasn’t perfect (far from it) but being able to use the app to find where folks were on the ship was really nice for us. This time the NCL app was pretty useless. I was the only one in our group able to figure out the free 250 wifi minutes. But I thought it was really helpful. 250 was more than enough to check in a few times. So that was a plus. I had read NCL tries to sell you lots of things. I didn’t really think it was more than Princess did. Oh, one thing we did miss on Princess was the larger TVs and the free on-demand movies. We had kiddos get sick last time, so those movies were clutch. NCL’s movie channels had some kids movies sometimes but you never knew when they’d come up. One mistake I made was assuming NCL also had self service laundry. Whoops! I was wrong. So we had to pay for laundry once. Final Thoughts Overall we enjoyed the trip and the cruise. We aren’t a group looking for nice restaurants or bars or lots of activities on a cruise. It’s about the ease of traveling to multiple places and having space to move and walk around or play cards, etc. A nice library is a big plus too. And the ease of always having food handy whenever. Plus, just the fun on being a big ship, listening to the waves, waking up to fog, sunsets or whatever the weather brings. Bermuda was about as warm as we’d go do. We really aren’t super beach people. So, I don’t know where we’d cruise to next after doing Alaska already. Canada perhaps? We'll see.

I was on the Gem last week. The library smelled of smoke for some reason. Not sure if it had another use at some point, but it no doubt smelled of smoke.

We sailed June 7-14. We arrived 11:30-ish and it wasn't much of a wait at all. We were on before noon. No wait for a table in the main dining room. Rooms were ready at 2:30 PM.

We had a family of five and stayed here. Not super close to Canada Place, but nice to have a few bedrooms and a kitchen for two days before we left. A grocery store across the street was nice to save a few bucks on a meal. https://www.timessquaresuites.com/ We did a precruise tour that picked us up from the hotel and dropped us off at Canada Place. We were happy with the experience. https://vancouvertours.com/cruise-tour/pre-post-cruise-vancouver-highlights-tour/

We enjoyed renting the car for the drive when we did it 10 years ago or so. Really enjoyed it. Stopping whenever we wanted was nice.

Tammy, you can message the Turo owner in the app and make those arrangements to see if they will drop off, etc. It is really up to them as to what they're willing to do. Turo allows you to cancel up to 24 hours before, but you do pay when you book. So if you are worried about who booked with based on their dialogue with you, you can cancel. I booked about five months out and then kept an eye on the reviews of the car I had to make sure they were still positive. Then a week or so out sent a message to the owner to confirm, because who knows what could happen to a car in an Alaskan winter. Sounds like your husband will have his wheelchair, but the Shrine has wheelchairs you can borrow. So if you have anyone else in your party who may like one, they are available.

We did the Sapphire Princess one way from Vancouver last year with an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old. For them never having been on a cruise before, being on the ship and that whole experience itself was mostly enough to keep them entertained. They liked exploring the ship and we had a few bundled up late night walks on the promenade deck where they flopped on the deck ala SpongeBob. But we packed some surprise gifts (croc charms, small legos sets, hot wheels, etc) that that helped give them something to look forward to. The Glacier Bay day we made sure they saw the glaciers, but we didn't force them to watch the whole time. We stayed on our balcony for a decent time and let them watch movies in the room. We got room service pizzas and ate them on the balcony as a family, which was nice. It was a challenge as a parent to juggle "hey kids appreciate this nature!" with "what is realistic kids this age would appreciate?" but also "how can I relax and enjoy the trip while keeping them busy?". We didn't do any of the kid clubs. Both kiddos enjoyed the two magic shows we saw on board. We swam once, but the pool was too deep and too crowded for them to enjoy it much. In port, we did the train in Skagway (the 8-year-old enjoyed more than we expected... the 4-year-old slept through it as little did we know but he'd feel sick that night). Renting a car in Juneau was fantastic. We were going to do a float plane trip in Ketchikan but it was canceled due to wind.

We went to Mendenhall Glacier, ate lunch, and then headed to the National Shrine of St. Thérèse. As we drove back to the main part of the city we stopped on the side of the road a few times. We pulled into Lena Beach but didn't stay long. Then we headed over the bridge to Douglas Island. There are lots of trails there. Our kids had a good time running around Sandy Beach. We took some of our favorite photos there. We spent more time there than I expected. There is a trail in the Treadwill Mine there, but we didn't get to it. There are other trails on Douglas Island. We tried the Outer Point Loop Trail.... but it was flooded halfway or so. We saw some beavers which was neat. On Douglas Island, there were multiple places we pulled off on the side of the road to just take photos and enjoy the view. We had perfect weather so it was one of our best days of the trip.

https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/juneau-ak/jeep/cherokee/1376008?endDate=01%2F25%2F2024&endTime=10%3A00&startDate=01%2F22%2F2024&startTime=10%3A00 This was the car we rented.

I did this tour with them last June. https://vancouvertours.com/cruise-tour/pre-post-cruise-vancouver-highlights-tour/ We did it as a pre-cruise tour. They picked us up at our hotel, on time and exactly where they said they would. The guide was good. The bus was fine and bout what you'd expect. Our luggage was handled fine. We were dropped off on time at Canada Place at the bus offloading zone. Overall, very happy with it. The actual tour didn't see a ton of Vancouver. But covered what it said it would. It served as a great way to use more time in the city and not have to worry about an Uber or train ride to Canada Place with luggage. For what we saw, was it worth it on that price alone... probably not. But we had ages 4-70 with us, so the ease of not having to worry about traffic, etc and still experiencing more of the city made it worth it. Our group was glad we did it. (Edit to answer your specific qusetion) Yes, we had other guests with us. Some were on different "tours", so they dropped some off to go to an observatory when we were taken to Canada Place. Seemed fine to me and they seemed organized about it. They had lots of space in the back of the bus for luggage. As far as enough time. Perhaps your tour is longer, what we had wasn't enough at Granville Island but we knew that going in. It was walk around a bit, eat, find the bus. Stanley Park, I mean it's huge, but it spent the time it said at the various spots.

We rented a Turo. I understand the hesitation with it. I had some too, but ours worked out great. The owner met us across the street from the port. We had all day to go whenever we wanted. We too wanted a larger vehicle and were able to find what we needed.

I did the Sapphire Princess inside passage with Glacier Bay last June. I think if you had a balcony you'd be happy with what you can see from the balcony if you couldn't move to other spots on the ship the easiest. My only suggestion would be to get a balcony that has cover above it so if it is raining, it feels like you can still use the balcony. I traveled with someone who couldn't walk long distances and we found Princess' help getting them on and off the ship in a wheelchair was very considerate and helpful. I will add this, Princess' port locations in Ketchikan and Skagway were great. I can't speak to what they are for cruises you are looking at. But in Ketchikan, we were right in the city steps off the ship. Skagway.... not as much... BUT if you book the train through them, the train nearly pulls up to the ship.

In Juneau, if you can swing a Turo rental car there are lots of trails. Douglas Island has some awesome views. The beach there is really cool. The Turo we rental worked out great. We met the person across the street from the dock and drove off from there.

Customs is very easy in Vancouver. I've done it at the airport and train station. No problems. The Amtrak ride from Seattle to Vancouver is very scenic and worth the trip alone for the views. If you can swing it, sailing out of Vancouver is the most recommended option on these boards.

An obstructed view can be a good choice too. This was our view on the Sapphire Princess. The natural light was nice to keep our body clocks normal. We also used the view to check the weather, see how close we were to port, etc. I don't remember the price difference but everyone in our party was happy with the choice. I think the balcony is only a must if you or your party have mobility issues. Then it is nice to have that dedicated space to view Glacier Bay, College Fjord, etc.

We had room E731 on the Sapphire last summer. It was big and was fully covered. It was great for a few foggy/drizzly days. Extra space and it being completely covered a a huge plus. I didn't wander down to the bow in Glacier Bay ... but I do think it was open. I can't remember now. Someone else could speak to it better than I.

We rented a Turo in Jueneau and went to multiple places. There are some nice hikes across the bridge on Douglas Island, a few were flooded when we went through. We went to the shrine as well. Packed a lot into a day.

If you're getting the rental cars, instead of making Anchorage your base for a few days, I'd suggest staying in or near Palme for a few days. It is on your way to Manatuska Glacier anyway. Hatcher Pass near Palmer is fantastic for hikes. There are grocery stores and restaurants in Palmer. The drive to Manatuska is awesome.

I took advantage of the Major Marine Cyber Monday discount last year (December 2022) for a six-hour cruise in June 2023. Well worth it as it's an expensive trip. It was a very well run cruise. We had a foggy day, which meant we didn't end up with some of the great sights that others have shared photos of. So saving some money on the booking with the discount was nice. It seemed like they had lots of boats going out the day we went as our dock was right by Kenai's offices. We ended up buying some souveniers there instead of Major Marine since we were much closer to it.

We had an eight year old and a four year old on a Princess cruise to Alaska in June. We couldn't get them to go to the kids club, so I can't speak to that. We brought some cars and legos and let them play in the room as we enjoyed Glacier Bay on the balcony. Made them come out for some photos, etc. But it didn't hold their attention. But just being on a ship, the buffet and free ice cream!, the magic show and stuff like that held their attention for a week. The swimming pool was too deep and busy for their liking. In port we had our float plane canceled due to wind in Ketchikan. Juneau, we rented a car and made stops in various places. They did like playing at the beach at the falls at the end of the Mendenhall Glacier. Skagway we did the train. 8 year old said he liked it but the 4 year old fell asleep for an expensive nap. But, what can ya do. We did five days on our own in Alaska after. The kids still talk about the trip in a positive manner and want to do another cruise. The 8 year old has talked about it at school. So all in all it was a win. Both kids did get sick by the end, so more hand sanitizer next time!

We took an 8 year old and 3 year old on the train this last summer. My 8 year old enjoyed it enough to make it worth it. We went out on the little outside area a few times. I got one of my old digital cameras for him so he could take some photos and video. My 3 year old fell asleep. So, do with that info what you will. 10 years ago on my honeymoon we rented a jeep and drove to Emerald Lake and it was a nice calm day of scenery and snackings on food in the jeep and pulling off whenever we wanted to for photos, etc. If we ever go back on an Alaskan cruise, I'd do this again instead of the train. But the train was the best option for us this time with kiddos.

With the group you say you have, DIY is the way to go. We had five days on land so we did Seward and then drove up to the Palmer area and Hatcher Pass. It would be lots of driving to do that much in three days, but it can be done. My family liked Hatcher Pass and the drive on the Glenn Highway east of Palmer more than the Seward area. We did the boat tour in Seward but my family had the vibe of "we just got off a boat and now we're on another" But that was just our family. Seward and boat tours have glowing reviews and it is great, but our family just liked Hatcher Pass more. So knowing what I know now, if I only had three days, I would... ... take the bus to Anchorage (I'd do the train if I had more extra money). Rent a car in Anchorage. Drive to the Palmer area and make that my base for three days. Plenty of scenic VRBOs in the are. Do a full day at Hatcher Pass doing multiple hikes. Palmer has grocery stores and restaurants so I would get snacks/lunches/etc for food for a day. Then another day I'd drive east down the Glen Highway and do a glacier walk on the Matanuska Glacier. You have to pay for a guide now. We didn't do the glacier walk (kids were too young), but your ages would be perfect. Our family did do the Glen Highway drive and took our time, stopped multiple times, saw a moose on the side of the road. It was great for the wide range of ages we had in our Turo minivan. Plus we had some kids a bit sick by the end of the trip so a scenic drive with stops was enough adventure. That's my two cents.

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted the car we were going to use for the rest of the trip as soon as possible. I don't remember the quote from PJs but I was still going to need to get a one-way rental in Seward to Anchorage even if I took PJs to Seward. So if I recall the math was breaking down. Plus driving is one of my favorite parts of a trip. I guess if I only had a few days on the mainland I could've done PJs to Seward and then a bus/train from Seward to Anchorage to fly out, but we were going to head to Hatcher Pass after Seward so a car was going to be a necessity to get there.