no1racefan1

I just don't see the benefit in spending who knows what amount of time on the phone trying to get it fixed. What would we gain by having him recognized as sailing once previously? Unless we are trying for elite or platinum or whatever it is...which we're not.

Yes, he should be. For some reason their system isn't recognizing him.

Hmm, can you try and speak to somebody else? We haven't sailed Princess since 2006, and mine came right up when I signed in to the Princess website to book our cruise for next year. I was actually able to sign in using my same email address, I just had to reset the password since I hadn't been on the site in years. It's not recognizing my DH as a returning cruiser but since I don't see any benefit to him being gold instead of blue (or whatever the colors are) I decided not to pursue it.

I logged on yesterday via Chrome with no issues.

Of course 🙄 Pretty sure I've made it clear that I fly in economy and I'm not even a frequent flyer at that so I didn't even really know we were talking about $100+ headphones here.... I'm also not the first one that said I wouldn't want to re-use them either.

If it helps, most of the ship excursions I've looked at for AK have been the same price or within $10 of the price of independent tour operators. And remember most of the tour operators the cruise lines hire are still local; they just happen to have made a deal/contract.

I am in the US and I see the same prices as you.

Oh, I see. I wasn't aware that they 'recycle' the noise cancelling ones. That would freak me out too. I've only had the cheapies in economy 😄

Stickers are pretty popular right now, maybe you could find some AK stickers? I have no idea if this would work but our local chamber of commerce has some fun items that can be requested to give out to guests. Maybe you could contact the chambers in the ports you'll be stopping at.

You are restricted to leaving until after they have tied up, cleared passengers, and done all the 'things'.... I have read around 6am but others can probably share first-hand experience.

Sounds like a great deal! You just inspired me to check our flights, but we used miles and they are the same from Vancouver or Seattle. Switching to Seattle would save about $300 if we had paid for them though! Great heads up for people to consider.

I just stumbled upon this article while browsing Tripadvisor. It lists possible Black Friday sales on Alaska hotels, tours, etc. I don't know if any of these are still going on (I know Alyeska Resort is because I was checking it out!) but worth taking a look! https://www.valisemag.com/alaska-black-friday-deals/

Well if the options involve flying in the same day vs. flying in the day before, I'd start there and eliminate anything that involves flying in the same day. I haven't been on HAL but have read that HAL and Princess are pretty comparable. I believe the Northbound or Southbound spend more time in ports than a round-trip--which you didn't mention as an option but in case it is...that's something to consider too. You're going to all that trouble to visit Alaska, might as well spend as much time there as you can.

I've been able to chat with no issues. Although it did take me a couple of tries to not get the 'we're too busy, try again later' message.

I have been provide headphones/earbuds on United in economy class. A few years ago I had to pay $4 but when I flew earlier this year they were free. Both times they were individually wrapped.

You are not mistaken. This thread covers more than just the Blue Bus.

I always feel like it's better to book earlier than later but then I'm not a frequent flyer or anything like that so other people might feel differently. I see Alaska Airlines has some Cyber Monday deals out there. I booked our flights the day they were available, lol. We're flying Alaska Airlines to Anchorage and United Airlines home from Vancouver. You might also be interested in looking into the Alaska Airlines credit card; you get a $99 companion fare which can save quite a bit, plus free checked bags. Everything I've read says don't book a flight before noon out of Vancouver, but maybe some of the more experienced Alaska cruisers can help answer that.

There were issues with not enough permits to visit the glacier or something like that... for this reason, I think the best bet might be to book the ship excursion to go to Mendenhall. I didn't hear of any ship excursions getting cancelled this summer (I could be wrong though).

LOL of course it's over planning, I fully admit to this 🤣 Truthfully though I love that this thread has turned into a place to bounce ideas off each other and it has made it that much more exciting to look forward to. DH and I have had a rough 3 1/2 years and this trip will be our 'revenge' trip, if you will. It's been such great fun for me to interact with everybody here while planning and I can't wait to share how everything turns out!

Glacier Discovery Train is finally available to book for 2024! This is the train from Anchorage to Whittier. Crossing that off my list today 😄

Thank you! All great suggestions. I do want to go watch the seaplanes for a little bit if we have time. We're going to rent bikes in Anchorage and ride the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

Anchorage

Wow, only 173 days until we are in Alaska! The days seemed to go by faster when I wasn't logging in to Princess every day 😂 Things I still have left to do: Book Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Whittier. This particular route is not available to book for next year yet. Reserve bike rentals at Pablo's in Anchorage Prepay crew appreciation Order bottled water for our cabin Possibly book a massage in Ketchikan Dinner reservations for our nights on land Anybody finding any good Black Friday travel deals??

Ours was February 2018 so it will be over six years by the time we sail next May. I wouldn't exactly call us frequent cruisers.

I don't see why not--I'm a major introvert and I've survived all 4 of my cruises 😆 We almost never go to the buffet, preferring to get a table for 2 in the MDR for breakfasts and dinners. We've only used the pools when there were very few other people in them--one time we got back early on a port day and had the pool to ourselves. We can usually find loungers in less populated areas and just lay there reading or sunbathing in peace (except one time there was a loud family group that kind of ruined it) We mostly do our own thing and participate in activities that sound fun, but mostly just as observers. The cabin is great for de-peopling.