Jiml60

Your pictures are amazing !

I have a question and doing excursions in Juneau. I would like to do the Mount Roberts Tram / Mendenhall Glacier excursion. I would also like to do a Whale Watch excursion. Is there enough time to do all three ?

Excellent review, we're going next May, and have a mini suite aft also, 10168, I would love to see the pictures of that sometime, In Juneau we plan on doing Mendenhall Glacier and Mount Roberts Tram, and then the same train ride that you did in Skagway. Can't wait for next year !

Background: We are in our mid to late 40s. This is our 5th cruise with NCL and 10th overall. We cruised with the in laws.

Our cabin was an aft facing balcony (#10668). I would definitely recommend an AFB for Alaska ... we were able to see whales from the balcony and avoid the wind. Plus, it was a great view of Glacier Bay.

We thought there was not enough storage in the cabin for our two full size suitcases. I think we overpacked.

Random bits:

We did the "fill the bag" laundry special for $20 and received a 50% discount using out Latitudes Gold coupon. The laundry was returned around 6 pm the next night.

The Summer Palace requires long pants for supper - I forgot one night so we shifted to Indigo - same menu.

With the dinner package, we ate at Cagneys, Le Bistro, and Modernos. In hindsight, we would have eaten all three at Cagneys ... the fillet at Le Bistro was the same as you get at Cagneys.

The Spring Garden aka the "trough" was decent, but crowded at times - not surprisingly.

The bar service was great. Some of the more popular drinks (LIIT) were premixed.

Entertainment was very good - the comedian was excellent and the acrobatic show was very well done - a bit like cirque. We didn't care that much for the juggler. The washy washy guys were a hit! Get to the shows 15 minutes early - seats seemed to fill

We did Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching in Juneau - perfect weather. At the Glacier, if you want to walk to the falls, then do so directly - I think you get 60 minutes at the stop and it takes about 45 minutes to walk to and from the falls. However, there was very little time for shopping afterward.

We took the train and suspension bridge excursion in Skagway. The town is very small - 8 blocks along the main road full of shops. Very friendly. We shopped before and after the excursion. Sit on the left side of the train on the way up. The suspension bridge was just OK. We bought several Ulu knives and were able to take them back to the cabin with us.

Glacier Bay was awesome. We entered around 0600 and when directly to Marjori Glacier (on the way back, the ship will ponder at two other glaciers). A ranger was giving commentary on the way in ... DW went to the presentation and found it informative. At Marjori, the ship does a couple of circles so you can remain stationary and see the glaciers without moving about. We also saw a bunch of sea otters in the Bay.

PS - the ranger is broadcast on TV, but it was difficult to hear while on the aft balcony due to engines and wake noise.

In Ketchikan , DW's seaplane excursion was cancelled due to weather. I went on the cold water snorkeling excursion - very cool!! Shopping was plentiful in Ketchikan and prices seemed reasonable. I wish we had more time in that port. It rained like cats and dogs in the afternoon.

Concerning the weather, we were told in Juneau, Skagway, and at the Bay that the weather was exceptionally good on those days ... we were told it rains often in the AK ports. I wore shorts or pants and a light jacket throughout the cruise. PS - pack a rain jacket and forget the umbrella. Also, there are blankets in the room for sitting on the balcony. You will want to bring binoculars, too.

We did not take an excursion in Victoria, BC. Instead, we opted for the $22 round trip coach from the pier to downtown. The town is very clean, quaint, and ... well, Canadian! We walked around the inner harbor and poked around the shops on Government Street. The challenge with this port is that we arrived at 6 pm and left at midnight on the last night of the cruise - we were pretty tired by then and focused on packing.

The casino was smokey - no surprise. It was shut down by 2 pm on Saturday and stayed shut down through disembarkation. We lost, we won, we lost ... same story.

AK is PST minus 1 hour. BC is PST.

Seattle was fun - we did the Space Needle on the day we arrived (1 day pre-cruise) and walked down to Pike's Market the morning of embarkation - we woke up early because we were still on EST.

 

The ship never seemed crowded. People were a little older than a Caribbean cruise.

Thank you all for the useful answers, and agreed that it has to be a genuine authentic Alaskan Knife, I figured they would just confiscate it when you get back on board. I told my wife the best bet is to mail them home, or UPS them back. Yes, it is silly that they do give a steak knife in the dining room. The people that just got off the last cruise, was it as amazing as you expected ? Did you get to see whales, bears and Bald eagles and glaciers calving ? Thank you all once again ! :)

We're going to Alaska and wondering if you can buy Ulu Knives and bring them on board coming back from Alaska ? Thank you in advance