PoorBuoy

Thanks for all of the advice. I went ahead and booked this excursion.

I really want to take this excursion but it runs from 2:15 to 5:30 PM. If the boat is docking at 11 AM and leaves at 7 PM, does that realistically leave any time to see anything else in Ketchikan, like the totem pole park?

Thanks for all of the responses. I feel better that dining with others should be doable.  I am looking at Celebrity vs. Holland America for an Alaska cruise-tour. We don't cruise a lot so I'm probably overthinking everything. Even though we had a good Caribbean Christmas cruise with Celebrity, I think I'm going for Holland America just based on their land itinerary. 

A year ago when I made reservations for the Christmas cruise I was able to easily converse with the Celebrity phone representative. She was knowledgeable about the cabin, cabin locations, and all my other questions. This time around I've been frustrated with the phone representatives of both lines. Difficult to understand and not that knowledgeable about the ships or the cruises.

Thanks again. 

My wife and I are trying to make reservations for a cruise. One attraction to going on a cruise is to get to meet new people. The easiest way I know to do this is to get seated with other people (strangers) at dinner.  I've been frustrated dealing with the people at the cruise companies' reservation call center getting an answer as to whether we can get seated with other people at dinner. One company's 6 PM dinner seating is full, leaving us with any-time dining or a late night fixed seating time which is undesirable. The other company won't give us a dinner seating time until we commit to going with them on a cruise (pay the deposit). My impression from talking with the call center agents is that you are only guaranteed seating at a table with other people if you have dinner reservations at one of the set seating times. You can't get seating with other guests if you have the any-time dining option. 

Is my understanding correct? I'm thinking that I will have to take a risk, put a deposit on the cruise, and then get wait-listed for the 6 PM dinner seating and hope that we can get seated with other passengers. Is there much risk in this?

We sailed on Reflection the week ahead of APDMOM. On the ABBA night almost all of the glass elevators had people dancing in them, which made for a fun time. There was an elevator with a stoic Asian family looking somber, but with their small children, pressed up against the glass, enthusiastically dancing. 

Thanks for the inputs and the advice.

I loved the slide show of Tulum!

I posted in the general area rather than under the specific ports because I am deciding between activities in different ports; which stop does it make the most sense to do ruins vs snorkeling vs cave tubing.

In the end, I probably can't go wrong.

Our family of four (two 55 year olds and two 22 year olds) is going over Christmas to Roatan Island, Belize, and Cozumel. Any thoughts on which place is best for snorkeling vs which stop is best for seeing Mayan ruins. I really want at least one stop for Mayan ruins.

I was considering snorkeling in Roatan Island since there is nothing else to do there, cave tubing in Belize since it is a unique experience, and going to Tulum while in Cozumel. My uncertainty is that the trip to Tulum looks arduous and the snorkeling in Cozumel is supposed to be good and there is a ruin in Belize that is maybe easier to get to. Any thoughts?