SUNNY D

Just curious, is there a need to link cabins if we have YTD?  Ive cruised carnival before but no experience with the YTD.  It shows you can use the HUB app to get a table and I'm wondering how that works, if one person can request a table for 6 or if someone from each cabin has to request a table?

Thanks Bob.

Just booked 8220 on Oasis for cruise next year. I asked for deck 8 mid ship not realizing this is between the "humps". Any up/down side to this location? The only other deck 8 availability for same cabin is aft so just wondering if I should consider switching. Thanks!

Thanks so much everyone. Lower deck in the aft it is! :)

I'm inclined to agree that a lower deck may be the better option. Deck 12 for a mid ship location is pretty high. We sailed aft on our last cruise although it was one of the smallest ships we have been on so not sure how that compares. I did fine on the aft though but we did have calm waters.

So, there aren't any noise issues on deck 6 to be concerned with? I was thinking with the boardwalk around the corner and so much above and below it might be an issue.

Really appreciate everyones point of view. I was thinking mid ship first but now I think Im leaning towards the lower deck aft. Now I just gotta figure out which deck...6,7 or 9 so I can book this thing once and for all :)

Okay so consensus is mid ship should be priority over deck? I just looked again and these are my options...I should have posted these before (sorry) -

AFT, deck 6, 7, 9 or 11

MID, deck 12, 14 (theres only 1 cabin on 11 and I need 2 so that deck is out I guess)

FRONT, deck 6, 7, or 9

Thoughts with these options? Mid deck 12 the best for me?

We are looking at sailing Oasis next October and I'm trying to choose a cabin to reserve the booking. We are not new to cruising but this will be our first time on such a large ship. I do my best to prepare for possible motion sickness ahead of time which includes cabin choice.

We prefer ocean view balcony cabins and have generally stayed mid ship on a mid deck to help with the motion on previous cruises. Is it an issue on such a large ship as Oasis or is aft, mid, front pretty much the same as motion goes?

The only mid ship, ocean view balcony cabins available are on decks 11 or 12. I can get a lower deck but then I'm aft or front. I'm just trying to figure out what I should prioritize...ship location, deck location or does it even matter?

Out of decks 11 or 12, 11 looks like its under more cabins on 12 so probably a good choice. I don't know what is above the cabins on 12 and I don't want to be in a noisy area listening to chairs moving around above my head either. Any advice for an ideal location for someone who gets motion sick would be appreciated. :) Thanks everyone.

Sailing with NCL for the first time in June To Alaska. We have sailed RC and Carnival in the past and only went with NCL this time due to itinerary. Ever since making final payment there has been one increase after another. Had we not already booked nonrefundable airfares we would have canceled if it was possible. We plan to enjoy our cruise in June but feel strongly we will not book another cruise with NCL given all of the recent changes and how they have been implemented. So for us it's hello and goodbye NCL.

Thanks for the suggestions. We were looking for a small whale tour (under 10 people). Harv and Marvs latest was 2:30 (we checked them first). We ended up booking with Captain Jack on the Scania (Adventures in Alaska) who had a later tour and a max of 9 passengers.

Hi!

 

We are planing our first cruise as a family (hubs has cruised before). It's going to be 2 adults and 2 kids (4 &2). We are planing a trip to Alaska sometime in 2016.

 

1- Is it worth to pay the price for a Disney cruise? They haven't released their prices for 2016 Alaska bound but from the prices for 2015 I think we are looking anywhere around $5.5 to $6 K for the cruise.

 

2- There is an offer right now through Norwegian where 3rd and 4th passengers are free if you book a balcony. Do these types of offer come around every so often or should I jump on it? I wanted to buy our cruise sometime in August since we are taking a week long vacation at beginning of June.

 

3- What is the best time to go to Alaska? Is June better than end of August? I'm going specifically to see the whales.

 

4- Would you recommend a balcony for a family with kids under 5? I've never been on a ship and I have no idea what the balcony is like (in terms of safety). I am not against oceanview.

 

Thank you :)

#1 - No, I personally do not think its worth the cost to sail disney. I'd rather save money to put towards the things I would like to do which is where I feel I get the most memories on vacation. Like MCC_Retired replied above, I agree in the thinking that Alaska is about itinerary first and ship/line second.

#2 - I would at least put a deposit down (fully refundable later) and secure that deal, even if your still deciding. You have kids so that deal would seem to benefit you the most.

#3 - We are going in June. If you are going for the whales I suggest a whale tour in Juneau where it seems whales are seen on most every outing. Most vendors give a refund if they dont find whales and it seems they are comfortable to offer this because they almost always find the whales.

#4 - every balcony we have been on is perfectly safe for children. As a parent I would always keep a close eye on my kids and I would never hesitate to stay in a balcony room.

Have you tried Dolphin Jetboat Tours? They have 4pm tour that ends at 7pm. That'll give you an hour before the Norwegian Sun leaves port. You can check their website for availability.

Thanks for this suggestion. You are right, they do offer a 4pm tour...even a 5pm tour... but that one gets back too late for our ship. At any rate, the 4pm tour is a good option and if one of the smaller tours hadnt worked out we would have considered them for sure. Their tours are slightly larger than the smaller tour experience we were looking for but probably still better than the cruise ship tours. Good info. Thanks again!

I think we worked it out! Have to say the customer service and communication from Coastal and Capt Jack at Adventures in Alaska (whale tour) have been stellar. They are going to work together to provide us a whale tour in the morning and the helicopter/airboat tour in the afternoon. Capt Jack is also going to pick us up some sandwiches so we can eat between our tours :) If all goes as planned we will be back to port by 6pm.

If ship leaves at 8pm and we are back to port at 6pm...is there enough time to have dinner in town before heading back to the ship? If so, any recommendations? We could have Coastal drop off right at the restaurant if we can pick one out ahead of time but would prefer something close to the ship so we can easily make it back on board in time. We are open to food choices. Thank you! :)

I see your posts inquiring about alternative whale watch times. Have YOU contacted vendors and inquired about a later whale watch?

 

I have flown out of Seward, and it certainly is just as scenic as Juneau and Skagway glacier flights. Everyone is unique and changing. I believe there are two vendors there. I have flown with Godwins.

Yes I have contacted whale vendors in regards to finding a later whale watch and have been unsuccessful, thus my post asking others if they knew of some to try that I havent yet. Harv and Marv also noted that they believe they have the latest tour which is the 2:45 option and that leaves little wiggle room if we were late with the coastal tour. I'm currently corresponding with Adventures in Alaska in Juneau and he might have a less stress free option to get in the coastal helicopter tour and a whale watch on the Scania so keeping my fingers crossed there.

I have looked into the Seward helicopter options and with the ample time we have one of those does seem best, downside is their flight times are much shorter AND ofcourse my husband will have to say goodbye to the airboat experience in Juneau which was part of that tour.

Anyway, I appreciate "talking it out" with others on here and getting your opinions. Thank you!

We had wanted to do the helicopter airboat tour in Juneau but also want to do a whale tour. We hoped to do both but its proving just too tight on time to accomplish. So since Juneau is the place to whale watch, it makes the most sense to drop the helicopter from juneau. We want to do the train in skagway. We heard the longer bennett option is worthwhile so that would leave no time for helicopter either unless we did the shorter train option which many say is far less superior than the longer ones. Maybe the shorter train coupled with the helicopter tour would make up for taking the long train instead? Lastly we disembark in seward and have 3 days there. They also offer a helicopter tour but shorter compared to the other ports. Im not sure what option seems best at this point? Anyone done the tour in Seward or should we opt for the shorter train in skagway and do it there? in juneau the helicopter tour company says we would be back at their location at 2:45 and one whale tour company said they will pick us up from the helicopter location but we must be there AT 2:45. Theres no wiggle room for the juneau option so my gut says abandon that option :(

Thanks for any input!

We are in port 10am - 8pm in June. Would like to do the airboat helicopter tour which does not get back till 2:45pm. We also wanted to book a whale tour after but having some difficulty finding a tour that leaves that late. 2:30 is the latest I have found. Any ideas?

Also, if our port time shows 10-8pm, what time do we have to be back on the ship...7? 8? Thanks!

Either Chicago or Denver. The airlines won't sell you a ticket if the connection falls below the published minimum connection time, and MCTs are predicated on the bags making the switch along with the passengers.

 

Dulles, DFW, Phoenix and LAX only serve to lengthen the trip significantly, and LAX would also involve a terminal change since American doesn't fly LAX-SEA, they use Alaska Airlines as a code-share partner instead. LAX would be my last choice.

Good to know info in regards to LAX option. Like I said I really like the depart and arrival times for the Denver airport but wasn't sure the 45 min was sufficient. It does seem to be an efficient airport when we were there last month. I suppose even if our bags were delayed we could make do without them for day. We are in Seattle 2 days before we take the train to Vancouver. So much to consider. I've never had to deal with a layover before. Thanks for all your advice!

We're on the UDP, I've booked all 7 nights at all 5 restaurants on the Sun, just a phone call away! I know that is counter to the "Freestyle" however you might have problems with a good time for you if you wait too late to book.

I know what you mean. I think if we had the UDP I'd probably book them all ahead and not chance it. But since we dont have the UDP we will probably chance it. Just hate locking ourselves into a time not knowing how we will feel or what we will be doing on any particular day. Since we plan to eat in port at least 2 nights, there is no cost savings to buying the UDP for us, otherwise I was going to purchase it.

There is a Cagney's on the Sun. For one reason or the other it is not listed for making online reservations. You can however call and make the reservations by phone.

Thank you for the info! Is this one you would recommend reserving now or is it possible to get in after we are on the ship? I reserved Teppenyaki now only because of advice that its hard to get in to but seems the consensus was I could wait on the others and decide when we are there....but didnt know there was a Cagneys so didnt ask about that!

Re-booked with Motif Seattle. They had a bay view room with king bed available for less than what Courtyard wants to charge me to add the extra night. They are also convenient to the light rail transportation so we can still plan to take it from the airport. :)

We had the ultimate dining package in February 2015.

We originally booked Teppanyaki for 3 nights. The food was too salty so we switched to Cagneys. Service was disorganized and food not that great.

Another onboard switch to LeBistro which was the best of all.

We had lobster tails (excellent) and stayed eating there for the remainder of the cruise.

We did see people trying to book Teppanyaki on board and that was not easy as the seats are limited and they get booked up. We were not tuned into LaCucina; did not like the menu.

All menus are on the NCL site but you can ask for variations.

We booked Teppanyaki for 8pm our first night. We plan to hopefully go to each restaurant during our cruise. I have heard mention of Cagneys....is this on the Sun as its not listed online under my dining options?

We will be checking bags and I'm not sure what is our safest connection and layover time. We are flying out of Pittsburgh to final destination Seattle June 3rd. We have the connection options below:

IAD Washington Dulles Layover: 1hr 10min (united)

ORD Chicago Layover: 1hr 15min (united)

LAX Los Angeles Layover: 1hr 45min (american airlines)

DFW Dallas Layover: 2hr 9min (american airlines)

DEN Denver Layover: 45min (united)

PHX Phoenix Layover: 1hr 26min (us airways)

I like the departure/arrival time of the Denver flight the best but it is also the shortest layover. I think we can make our connection but not sure our bags will in that time frame. Seems like it might be close? Pricing is pretty much the same with the Chicago and Dallas options costing $40 more per ticket. I have been to Denver airport before but dont know anything about these other airports so any advice from those more experienced in flying would be great. What would you choose? Thank you!

We have also never cruised NCL. We have done RC and Carnival. Had fun on both but give the edge to RC overall. Like you, I wasnt sure where to book our alaska cruise. I researched and read and researched more. In the end I agreed with others in that in Alaska the itinerary was more important to us than the ship or line to get there. When I took the ship and line out of the equation and focused on what I wanted out of itinerary it pointed me to the ship and line. We ended up booking with NCL Sun. Its the oldest smallest ship we have ever sailed but we loved the northbound itinerary out of Vancouver with good time in the ports we wanted to see and sailing both Hubbard and Glacier Bay. So, maybe if you compare the itineraries of RC and NCL, it will help make the choice for you. Good luck! :)

What time does the ship sailaway? There's typically a sailaway party, if that interests you. The Muster Drill has always been in the afternoon when we've sailed, but could vary if it's a late departure. Otherwise it's totally personal preference- most of the shows are shown twice a might- around 7:00 and around 9:00- so you could likely make one or the other with either reservation.

Itinerary shows departure at 4pm. Never sailed NCL before so dont know when they typically handle the muster drill. We would possibly attend a sailaway party if they had one :)

Thanks for the info....I'm thinking of booking Teppanaki our first night. Ship departs at 4pm, I'm looking at a reservation at 6:30 or 8pm ....is there one that would be better over the other in regards to shows or activities that might be going on? Not sure what the drill is first day and how much will even be happening. Thanks!

So we will be on the Sun in June NB to Alaska Mon-Mon. We plan to eat in port 2, maybe 3 nights. We determined it wouldnt be cost savings to pay the $119 per person for the UDP so we will be paying seperately for each. We plan to try all four restaurants, La Cucina, Le Bistro, Moderno and Teppanyaki. We can make reservations now online. Ive read Teppanyaki is difficult to get into so I assume it would benefit us to book at least that one now. Otherwise, what do the experienced cruisers recommend? Should we book them all ahead of time or are there any that are safe to get into on the ship without reservations. Another CC member told me none of these restaurants are open for lunch so we reservations for dinners only.

Also, is there lobster served in the MDR on any nights?

Thanks for any advice!