no1racefan1

None of the ships I've been on had glass above the railings...am I misunderstanding the question?

We see cruise ships as a floating hotel to transport us to places, rather than as the main experience, so it depends what your trip priorities are. We are sailing in an inside cabin in May 2024. We originally booked a balcony and then I called to change it. For me it was about budget and how I wanted to spend money in Alaska. I decided I wanted to have as much money as possible available for experiences in AK, rather than spending money on the cruise. By switching from the balcony to the inside cabin, we saved nearly $2K on the cost of the cruise, and I was able to allocate that to all sorts of activities and excursions. I know there will be places outside to view the scenery, and if an upgrade opportunity comes up later and it fits within our budget, I'll try for that, but will still be happy with our inside cabin otherwise!

I am none of these, and I was able to make dining reservations way before final payment, using the 'web version' as screenshotted above.

$139.95. I had to do a mock booking to get to the price. Seems like Celebrity's excursions are always more expensive!

aarp.org/rewards It's free to sign up.

I did book it! Our trip is May 2024, so it will be a while, but I will report back! There are mixed reviews on whether or not there will be time to walk to Nugget Falls, but I decided to go for it anyways. The price to book through Princess was identical as the price to book direct with Cycle Alaska.

Princess eliminated arrival times about a month ago.

Budget Update! Changes since last update: Rebooked flight using companion fare instead of points Paid off cruise fare. 8% discount on gift card from AARP helped save on that. Booked Matanuska Glacier hike. Added the glacier access fee to miscellaneous because I didn't realize that was additional. Reduced some discretionary categories to make up for the increases elsewhere I'm pretty happy with where we are so far. I was trying to get under $7K but there aren't a ton more things I can cut yet. Maybe as it gets closer some more things will change! I mean... probably.. LOL I started a wish list of things I'd like to splurge on if possible--upgrading plane seats with extra legroom, upgrading our cabin to a balcony, booking the thermal suite for DH. This will depend where we end up in a few months! $732.07 Plane tickets $732.07 Plane tickets $219.07 Rental car $219.07 Rental car $80.00 Gas in rental car Gas in rental car $1,161.74 Cruise fare+protection $1,161.74 Cruise fare+protection $85.59 Lodging in Glacier View $85.59 Lodging in Glacier View $192.00 Lodging in Anchorage $192.00 Lodging in Anchorage $512.94 Lodging in Seward $512.94 Lodging in Seward $259.70 Matanuska Glacier hike $259.70 Matanuska Glacier hike $100.00 Wifi on board Wifi on board $224.00 Onboard gratuities Onboard gratuities $888.55 Shore excursions $888.55 Shore excursions $80.00 Anchorage bike rentals Anchorage bike rentals $310.46 Orca quest tour $310.46 Orca quest tour $220.00 Seward kayak tour Seward kayak tour $200.00 Massages/spa Massages/spa $650.00 Dog sitting Dog sitting $100.00 Guide tips Guide tips $60.00 Extra ship tips Extra ship tips $650.00 Meals/groceries Meals/groceries $200.00 Train to Whittier Train to Whittier $80.00 Taxi/Ubers Taxi/Ubers $150.00 Miscellaneous Miscellaneous $90.00 M. Glacier access fee M. Glacier access fee $25.00 Fishing license Fishing license $30.00 Laundry Laundry $35.00 Bear spray Bear spray $400.00 Shopping Shopping $7,736.12 $4,362.12

Trip planning updates! I've been able to book a few of our independent tours and tweak a few things in our agenda. I switched out Mendenhall Glacier Explorer for the Bike and Brew Glacier View tour in Juneau. Thanks to a tip from @Arkiepig, I was able to look up the tour provide (Cycle Alaska) on TripAdvisor and confirm that there will likely be enough time to walk to Nugget Falls on this tour. This tour is more our style even though I don't drink--I'm sure DH will enjoy the beer sampling! This resulted in $180 increase spending on ship excursions. Oh, by the way--the tour price through Princess was EXACTLY the same as booking direct with Cycle Alaska! I booked through Princess because as I've said before, I like the ease of them making the arrangements for us. Side note, I ended up accidentally cancelling my lumberjack excursion while trying to cancel the Mendenhall Glacier excursion, because Princess's website is kind of terrible. So now I need to keep track and make sure I get refunded for both of those excursions (and I have no idea what payment I used sooooo I guess that'll give me something to do, haha). I did rebook the lumberjack show. I ended up cancelling and rebooking our flights from Denver to Anchorage because I had a companion fare on Alaska Air that needed to be used before next spring, and I wasn't sure where/when I would use it. That resulted in spending approximately $600 on flights, but I got 90,000 miles back that DON'T expire, so it seemed like a better idea to save those for future use and a better deal too. The only tour I haven't booked yet is our kayaking in Seward, because the company I want to use (Adventure 60 North) doesn't have next year open for booking yet. I'm trying to decide between a 3-hour or 5-hour kayak trip; the 5-hour would be $60pp more, but includes lunch, which would offset some of that cost. And it includes some hiking. Hmm, decisions, decisions.... And lastly, I paid off our cruise balance today! I bought a $500 gift card on AARP with 8% discount (bummer they changed it from 10% to 8%, but I'll take what I can get!) and applied that to our remaining balance. I do have about $100 left on the gift card that I will have GS apply once onboard. I had read that a few people have had luck being able to apply the extra as OBC ahead of their cruise, but I was NOT able to do that on the website. It only let me apply the exact amount that we owed. I'm not going to bother being on hold to try over the phone. YMMV.

Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. DH and I and MIL and her husband have all been to Alaska on a cruise, but DH's siblings have never been. DH and I are actually going to AK next year for a cruise/DIY land tour and will take the train from Anchorage to Whittier to board the ship. I did find information on the Alaska Railroad website about routes and such, and they list tour options, but they just give a very brief overview of what each tour consists of. You are correct, a brochure might help, I'm going to request one. For example, hotels are included? I think? Are tours/transportation/etc. included? What do they take care of, and what do we have to arrange ourselves? I'm still hoping somebody might have first-hand experience doing a multi-day tour via the railroad. MIL most definitely wants to experience Alaska via train since she's already done a cruise and her husband is a retired railroader.

Great tip, thank you!

Has anybody done a land tour through Alaska Railroad? There are several options on their website with most highlighted by a visit to Denali. MIL wants to do one of these with the family in 2025, and I can't find any reviews or way to research it--so I'm coming to my favorite travel peeps, even though it's not a cruise!

Has anybody done this excursion? If so, do you remember how much time there is at the visitor center/trail to Nugget Falls? https://www.princess.com/cruise-excursions/juneau-alaska-excursions/bike-and-brew-glacier-view?portCode=JNU&portDate=05222024

There's no way I would do it without a guide--I'm terrified of crevasses!

I just use the website. I'm a terrible millennial that hates doing things on my phone, lol. I ended up paying $260 for two people on the ice trek plus it says there's the $45pp access fee that we pay in cash upon arrival. So quite a bit more expensive, but I'm sooo excited about it!

Here's an article on CNN written just for us! 🤣 https://www.cnn.com/travel/summer-travel-early-planning-2024/index.html

oh.my.goodness. I can't wait to read all about it!!

I have the 15% off on my Amazon card right now. Too bad my next cruise is on Princess.....

We are going mid-May, and I've found during planning that a lot of places/tours either aren't open quite yet or are just opening up when we get there. I think it would depend on where you want to go and what you want to do. Ex: we booked a Matanuska Glacier hike for 5/13 and it is the first day they are open for the season.

We are booked! Actually ended up booking the very first glacier trek of the day on the very first day they are available in 2024. Phew!! I hope the weather cooperates!

@torybruno do you remember if there was a glacier access fee that you paid on top of booking your trip with MICA Guides? I'm getting ready to book our glacier trek--yay!!--and it sounds like on the website there is a $45pp access fee that is charged in person at check in, on top of what is paid online. Fine with me, but wanted to make sure I understand correctly for budgeting purposes 🙂

Haha. When we were in Mazatlan, we decided to have lunch in the town square. There are all sorts of restaurants there--Italian, American, French, etc. I wanted authentic Mexican food in Mexico, so we went to a Mexican restaurant. I now tell people I went to a Mexican Mexican restaurant because it's the only way to distinguish it amongst the other restaurants!

I think ship excursions get a bad rap on CC because there's an overgeneralization that they are overpriced, sitting on a bus, not interacting with locals, etc. etc. You really just need to do your research to determine if an excursion will meet your needs. On our four cruises we have done mostly ship excursions with a couple of DIY ports. This is our ship excursion experience: -Have never booked a tour bus excursion or any excursion that was more than a few people in a group. You should be able to see this in the excursion description. -Excursion companies contracted by cruise lines are still local companies, and all of our tour guides have been local. One of my favorite cruise memories is hanging out with our local tour guide in Hilo--it was a 8-passenger van but there were only 6 of us--three married couples who all booked the excursion that day to celebrate our anniversaries (all strangers, not booked together) and we had the best time. We had extra time so she drove us to see a black sand beach on the way back to the ship. -Comparing prices, most have been within $20 of booking the same independent excursion. It's worth that much to me to have tickets in advance, be told where to meet, get off the ship, and be on our way, without having to make any of those arrangements or worry about changing ship schedules. I make sure to read lots of reviews--a lot of cruise lines offer the same excursions, so if I can't find enough information on the line we're sailing, I'll go read reviews on other lines' websites. Also, some lines (Princess does this) list tour details that includes a timeline of how long traveling, how long at each stop, etc. If you put in the research, you should have a very good idea of what to expect. We have yet to have a ship excursion that was not a highlight of our trip!

It comes down to convenience for us. If it's a long day in port and the ship is right there, we'll run back on ship and grab something to eat if we're hungry, freshen up in our cabin, and then head back out. If it would be a hassle or take too much time, we'll find something to eat in port--preferably not a crowded tourist spot so it doesn't take a lot of time out of our day. We want to be touring, exploring, etc. If it's a tender port, no question we'll eat in port--I'm not interested in riding a tender multiple times a day. Edited to add: we're not world travelers by any means, but we've never been anywhere where I felt unsafe eating somewhere locally. Not usually a consideration for us.

I will almost certainly do nothing and say nothing while on the cruise. I hate spending vacation time standing in line at GS unless absolutely necessary. I will take it into account when I consider future cruise bookings.