no1racefan1

Here's a link to the Chase/United rules: https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/baggage/free-bags-for-cardmembers.html#:~:text=You must be a Cardmember,for the free bag benefit.

Under the Terms and Conditions, it states "Unpublished fares, such as those purchased on priceline.com and Hotwire, are not eligible for the free bag benefit." I'm thinking EZAir flights would be treated the same way.

Yes. I cancelled prepaid water and it was refunded to my credit card in about a week. I didn't get any kind of notification so I just kept checking my card statement.

Weather forecast is all over the place! This is pretty similar to what our local weather has been doing, so at least we'll be used to it!

Anchorage: 

Seward:

They will tell you when and where to meet, just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.

6 hours ago, beachbuff9 said:

Thanks for this info.  You have helped solve my packing crisis!  I suspected that an Alaska cruise might be more casual, but I like the idea of "dressing for dinner"!  We just won't get too formal! 

I'm planning to bring two dresses to AK, one I would consider 'dressier' because it's sparkly, lol. They are both cocktail dresses. I wanted to bring a more formal look but didn't want to take up space for it. These two dresses are taking up very little room in my suitcase and, more importantly, won't require much ironing! For dinner other nights I plan to bring maybe a couple sweaters/tops that will look nicer than our day look, which will mostly be thermal layers/hiking gear.

I like to dress for dinner as well and will have fun with it, with zero judgement for what anybody else is wearing!

Well this could put Princess in the running for my next cruise, whenever that is. I've always planned on sailing out of SJ next time we visit the Caribbean.

Spotted this on the forum that shall not be named today:

We're taking the Glacier Discovery train from Anchorage to Whittier on the 18th so I don't think this will affect us--but might affect some of our non-Princess friends traveling next week.

Only 1 week to go!!

10 days to go!! Only 6 more work days counting today....

DH had his series of cardiology appts on Wednesday (first since his emergency pacemaker surgery last spring) and got a clean bill of health!

We're just working on our list of things to do before vacation:

-Lawn care & getting our drip irrigation going

-Finishing spring cleaning the house

-Setting up the ring cam so we can keep an eye on our pup

-Buying travel snacks

-Meal planning to use everything perishable

-Starting to pack!!

I've still been checking excursions, cruise prices, etc. every day even though it's unlikely anything will change at this point. The price of balconies has gone down so it would now be cheaper to call and rebook than it would be to bid on an upgrade. It's still about $500pp more so haven't jumped on that. 

Photo of our precious spoiled girl we'll be leaving alone for two weeks 😭

Oooh, sounds interesting!

It seems to be ship and/or staff dependent. We sail in 22 days. I've seen people who've said they can already see their ship's schedule and they are sailing after us. The only thing I see so far is 4pm Let's Get Quizzical every day, lol.

But hey, it used to be part of the fun to not know the schedule until it was delivered to your stateroom the night before, so I'm not too worried about it!

I don't think it's a scam or bogus, it just depends on when you booked your excursions or if you've already booked them.

If you didn't book them super early, you may be more likely to get a cheaper price under this promo than you would without the sale. If you booked them a long time ago, prices have gone up considerably, so even the sales price is more expensive. 

Basically if you're booking now, under the 'up to 20%' sale, you might be able to get a cheaper price than if you booked full price NOW. But the BEST time to book excursions seems to be as early as you know what you want!

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You all got us to looking at the excursion details a little more closely as we initially thought it was a train ride up followed by a bus ride back down the mountain. To our surprise, it’s a roundtrip train ride, which makes us kind of wonder why we would need to change seats.
 

But we will definitely also go outside between the cars to take pictures if the windows are too dirty. 😁

 

We took this excursion on our first cruise in 2006. I spent so much time out on the platform taking pictures! You're supposed to take turns so everybody has a chance to be outside (it's small) but hardly anybody else ever wanted to go out there, so DH and I spent about half the ride out there. It's so cool!

Two weeks!!!!!!

Somebody posted this in another group:

#2 definitely. Also, I believe Anchorage has Walmart, Sam's Club, etc. so probably plenty of options--although I can understand not wanting to use time grocery shopping.

Not sure about #1 and #3. I'm not even sure what #3 is referring to. First I was picturing like ramen soup cups or something like that, which would be okay.

We're attending an outdoor dog training event this weekend and it's supposed to be chilly (40's) and raining all day. DH says we can practice dressing for Alaska! 🤣

17 days to go...

3 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

I doubt that it is going to be so cold that you need the chemical hand warmers.  If you get cold hands just take a pair of gloves.  I am sure that you have checked the long range weather forecasts for the posts you will be visiting at least once,  If not there are many good sites that have long range forecasts.

 

DON

You're right, I probably won't need them. I'm bringing gloves and I'm not too worried about weather. So far it seems pretty comparable to what we're used to in WY.

I'm thinking the places that might get cold are when we're out on the water on small boats. And since DH has a big pack of these that he uses for hunting, I just grabbed a couple. Definitely wouldn't have bought them special for the trip though! 

Have I mentioned I'm a terrible millennial? I posted those last two posts (with pics!) from my phone so I could practice before our trip 😅

I hate typing on my phone. And sideways pics? Yep, get ready for those!!

I've never considered myself an overpreparer when it comes to medicine-y stuff but after the last four years, you just never know. I put together this little kit and hopefully having it means we won't need it. (Not pictured: zicam nasal spray and thermacare heat wraps)

Gathering has begun! I've started making a pile of the things from around the house that I want to bring but might be easy to forget. 

On 4/24/2024 at 7:13 PM, SirTomster said:

49 days until we fly to Anchorage to start our Vacation.  I am almost to the "printing out everything stage".  I got the folders.   Next week starts the "ordering the misc cruise items" I have on my wish list.  I keep reviewing items to look for any updates I want to make.  We are still just winging it in Ketchikan at this point.  But Skagway and Juneau are set.

 

Let the adventure begin!  I want it to be tomorrow but then also do not want it to be over either.

I printed everything out today! I had to search CC to figure out where to go to print luggage tags. 

2 hours ago, yesornocruising said:

What stops are each of these excursions in?

Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, in that order.

I've been reading about Princess doing Alaska shore excursion 'sales' the last few weeks and I finally got the offer! Up to 20% off shore excursions. @Ken the cruiser mentioned in his Live review that one of his excursions actually became cheaper than when he booked it (yeah!!) so of course I had to check 'em out:

Chilkoot Trail Hike & Float--originally booked at 164.95, was 239.95 before sale and currently 189.95 with the sale

Bike & Brew Glacier View--originally booked at 139.95, was 169.95 before sale and currently 154.95 with the sale

Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining--originally booked at 369.95, was 504.95 before sale and currently 419.95 with the sale

So, no deals for me yet, but happy for Ken that he saved some cash and a reminder to all of us to periodically check on reservations. Deals can be sneaky!

1 hour ago, yesornocruising said:

How did you get the gift cards from AARP? I just checked my app and didn't find gift cards.

They are through AARP Rewards, which is free to sign up for. Don't know about an app, I just use their website. https://www.aarp.org/rewards/?intcmp=GLOBAL-HDR-LNK-CLK-AARP_REWARDS-UXDIA

If you search CC boards for AARP gift cards you'll find lots of threads about them.

Part of the reason I started this thread was to help people (and myself!) figure out how to budget for Alaska. This will be my last pre-cruise budget update! All the other categories are estimates that I won't really know until we get there. No, I will NOT be tracking every expense as we go during vacation, but I will do an accounting when we get back.

Column on the left is with estimates, column on the right is what we've actually spent so far. I copied/pasted this from Google Sheets and I'm sorry I can't figure out how to make it less ugly!

My original goal was to do the trip for under $7,000 and it doesn't look like we'll make that. However, when I first started planning I thought we were looking at around $10K so I'm pleased with the areas we've been able to save.

Splurges: our only real splurge so far was upgrading the 2 longest flights to economy plus for extra legroom

Saves: booked cheapest cruise cabin possible, DIY land tour instead of cruisetour, AARP gift cards to pay off the cruise, early bird promos on most of our land tour excursions, credit card points to book hotels

3 hours ago, Incredimom said:

 

I have 15 days until we board the plain for Vancouver and I am so excited! It can't get here soon enough. Thank you for sharing your planning and started this thread. It has helped me so much. I do so love rubbing shoulders with planners like me! Have so much fun - wish we were on the same cruise but I'll be boarding a week earlier than you but still on the Sapphire!

I'm so excited for you and can't wait to hear about your trip! Thanks for delivering the ship to Whittier for us 😉