LuvBotswana

Lindblad/ National Geo. Their naturalists are simply amazing & mostly Ecuadorian...(at least they were on our adventure.) Their respect for the surroundings is awe inspiring. We were so fortunate on our trip several years ago to have a small alumni group from a major university on board who opened their lectures by environmental professors to all passengers.... it was incredible.

Are you by chance referring to the MIT alum?

1. price

2. you can customize it to do w/e you want. I cruise with my family, and we are VERY different people. so we can all go and do our own stuff w/o dragging someone who doesn't wan to go along. But we do pair up a lot though as there are overlap in interests.

#1&2 make sense.

How do you explain people repeatedly going to the same destinations time after time? There's only so much one can see or do on a tiny island before one gets bored.

I am so tired of friends/family or even just random people whom always feel the need to say or ask "How can you cruise so much?"

Interesting, my initial thought about the intention behind the question was "How can you cruise so much? Doesn't it get boring?". I didn't realize it was a cost question.

As someone who doesn't get the hype about cruising, can you guys explain what draws you back time and time again. I'm very curious.

Cool pic of the bear!

Thanks for the heads up. We will definitely spend the bulk of our time topside looking out for wildlife.

Where did you hear that we would be returned to ship? I talked to Allen Marine yesterday and they indicated that they drop us off at Seadrome dock. I was calling to see how I would make 2:15 Mendenhall and Wildlife excursion (I am on July 7 Soltice) and it didn't sound like I would make it back to ship/AJ dock in time with old arrival time for Tracy Arm excursion(yesterday they said arrival time was 1:45).

I just got off the phone with Allen Marine and was told we will be brought back to the ship to clear customs, and then debark from the ship for our afternoon excursions.

We just got the same early 7:15 update for our September 1 cruise on Solstice. It will be an awfully early start and also early return to Juneau as the ship doesn't arrive until 1:30. My understanding is Allen Marine is required to return us to the ship instead of letting us roam.

I wonder if the earlier time is to allow us to get back on the ship in time so that we can make our afternoon excursions out of Juneau. I've read that people have missed their afternoon excursions because the catamaran didn't make it back to the ship in time.

Way cool! Thanks for sharing.

We're faced with the same situation. Ideally we'd want to do both, but given the choice we easily opted for the glacier kayak and trek. Ultimately it's up to you to decide whether you want an active vs passive experience.

Our two times doing this with Princess, the excursion did run 30-50 minutes later than anticipated. You'll be OK, and you have excellent grounds to get a refund if you miss the second excursion because the first excursion brought you back late (assuming both were booked through the ship)

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That's my main concern. Our excursion is not through the cruise line, and its not one I want to miss. I may have to take a pass on the TAF glacier exploration. Thanks for the info.

You will be taken back to the ship, we arrived right when the ship docked and the boat gets right next to the ship and you get on the ship directly from the boat. Hope this makes sense.

Yes, that makes sense. Thank you.

Solstice arrives Tracy Arm @ 6am and cruises through, leaves Tracy Arm by 10am, and arrives in Juneau @1:30pm. The TAF glacier exploration starts at 8am and ends 1pm. I already have an excursion arranged at Juneau for 2:30pm. The question is - will I have time to do the glacier exploration and still make it to my Juneau excursion? Does the Glacier exploration bring pax back to Solstice or straight to Juneau?. I'm so confused 😖