marx

Our stop in Ponta Delgada is from 8am-3pm on a Sunday. I realize many shops will be closed.

We would like to tour the town as reviews here have been positive. Given that, is there really time to take a tour? If we do take a tour, I am looking at a private one that includes Sete Cidades Lake & village (and runs about 4 hours - leaving 2 hours to tour Ponta Delgada)

I am on a cruise (Carnival Magic) that arrives into San Juan at 3:30pm this Summer.  I've visited both Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristóbal many years ago, but due to the late arrival I won't be able to visit both again on this trip.

My plan is to head directly from the ship to Castillo San Cristóbal after we are cleared.  The posted hours of the fort have it closing at 4:30pm.  But, on the national park website under "Plan Your Day" the stated closing is 5pm.  Does this mean the final entry is at 4:30 and the park closes at 5?

Also, what time are most shops in Old San Juan open until?  (According to the Frommer's guide, when cruise ships are in port many shops stay open late).  

15 hours ago, 5waldos said:

Oops- Chilkoot is able to offer their excursions. 

They are still only taking requests.  I was just put on their waitlist yesterday for a May 25th tour.

I just rented a car from Avis for May 25th.  Current restrictions will not allow us to drive into Canada without a COVID test.  If these restrictions are still in place two months from now, I will likely order a home proctored test to take a day or two in advance.

14 hours ago, Ashland said:

Check with Chilkoot Tours....they'll have the info you need. We've done a tour with them and they were great...van up train down. 

Due to the current restrictions in place (COVID test required within 72 hours for those vaccinated) Chilkoot Tours are only taking waitlist requests.

Horizon November 3rd port switched from Bonaire to Curacao

2 hours ago, JandC_Cruising said:

At some point they do have to assign all the “sail away” and “guaranteed” cabins. 

It is possible that they had so many of those booked that they had to allocate those early and that explains the big drop in cabin counts. 

This makes a lot of sense based on the trend I saw of whole categories disappearing (with quite a bit of cabin choice) from one day to the next 

12 hours ago, macandlucy said:

Did you notice an increase in available inside and ocean view cabins at about the same time?  If yes, then I'd be inclined to think they did indeed do upgrades early. And if no, I have no idea why all those cabins would disappear so suddenly.

 

I did not look at the number of cabins available for Inside (or Oceanview) - only the categories I was bidding for.  I did notice price increases for categories that were available.  Inside cost when I checked yesterday was higher than it was for Mini Suites on 5/31/19.  (And today, the cruise appears sold out).  So, I guess there were lots of late bookings.

I'm sailing on the Jade August 22nd in an outside cabin and received an upgrade offer about 80 days out.  I performed a mock booking and saw many (about 15) Mini Suites available but only a few Balcony rooms (3).  These were cabins for four.  If I looked at Balcony rooms for two there was wide availability.

I checked inventory nearly every day and at about 60 days out, availability disappeared.  Mini Suites were totally gone and there were no Balcony cabins for four.  The availability did not decrease day by day, but were all gone at once.

As time has passed, categories have become sold out leaving only inside cabins available today (22 days out).

Could this be due to upgrades being processed early?   I am still getting offers to submit a upgrade bid when I log in.  

We cruised on the Jewel from Vancouver to Seward last August.  Overall, we loved the ship.  So many outdoor places to view the glaciers (we cruised by Hubbard and Glacier Bay).  The shows were okay and the food generally very good.

This company has been around for years and has been reviewd on this forum.

https://www.denalioutdoorcenter.com/raft-tours/

 

Other companies are listed in the Denali Chamber site:

http://www.a1cms.com/_dcc/activities/

Thanks! What’s odd is that pricing is different on each site. It is more per child on the link you provided.

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I'm looking into rafting in the Healy area with two kids ages 12 and 14. Denali Park Village offers rafting with a discount to kids up to 15 years old ($99 for me, $50 each for kids). Other companies do not.

I realize that this is a hotel, but don't know if they run a rafting program or book on their site for another company. (I haven't found another company in the Healy area with these rates). I called, but reached a reservation agent who was not helpful. The reason for this post is that I can't seem to find any reviews for Denali Park Village Rafting - only another person asking this same question. So, is anyone familiar with the company and have an opinion to share? Thx!

Posted some but not all photos

 

Thanks for the great review (and dallies)! We are doing the same itinerary in August, and your review is very helpful.

One question about dinners and shows; You mentioned that the meals in the MDR’s were about two hours, but what about the specialty restaurants? I’m trying to figure out the best time to schedule meals in the specialty restaurants if we want to see the evening shows.

Thx

The booking window opened a week ago. Book quickly, else prime time slots will be sold out.

I was able to get Cagney's at 7 on 2 different nights and Moderno at 7 on a third night. I'm guessing a lot of passengers are unaware of the change.

The booking window is now 120 days.

 

 

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Wow, thanks! I'm glad I was able to book what I wanted (except Le Bistro, which doesn't seem to have any openings before 8:00 on any day of the cruise).

I'm booked on the Jewel sailing August 20th. Today (113 days out), I paid my balance and noticed that dining reservations were being accepted - so I booked them. I am in an outside room. Has the booking window changed (or maybe it was a glitch)?

Your itinerary is very similar to mine - including staying at Homestead and doing a zipline while in the Deanli area. For what it's worth, we decided on driving from Seward to the Matanuska Glacier area with a stop in Anchorage to switch cars. We plan on making many stops along the way.

We also are taking a guided tour on the Matanuska Glacier, but that is the only activity we plan for the area. I see you are doing a glacier float - instead, we are rafting the same day of the zipline tour.

We've removed Exit Glacier and the Dog Sled Demo from our plans, but can fit them in if we have the energy.

Last week I started a thread about Major Marines running a Cyber Monday sale. I think it would help if anyone who finds a deal post it here to help others. I did find another deal that runs through Monday for Zip-lining in the Denali area. @foggyphils posted elsewhere about a Cyber Monday deal that Millers Landing is running in Seward (deals vary on different excursions). The deals so far are:

• Major Marines 40% off all tours. Use code CBM
  
• Denali Park Zip-line 40% off per person. Use code BLACKFRIDAY17
  
• Millers Landing (deals vary based on excursion). Use this link: http://mailchi.mp/alaska/its-the-big...s?e=b6fbcd376f
  

What promo code are you using to book? I tried the Cyber Monday code on the specials page and it comes back as invalid when I try to make the booking.

According to this page https://majormarine.com/specials-packages/ the code is CBM. However, I just tried to use it and got an error stating the code was invalid. The promotion page states that it must be booked on November 27th, so I assume you need to wait until Monday.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Most of you confirmed what I was leaning towards doing. I just upgraded to the Take 5.

I currently have Take 2 with Specialty Dining and Kids Free. I can upgrade to Take 5 for the cost of the Unlimited Open Bar gratuity, but I would loose $60 in on board credit. So, that's about a $280 difference.

I anticipate that my wife and I would have about 10 bar drinks during the cruise - though if we upgraded to the package it would likely double. We also would have about 1 or 2 non alcoholic drinks a day that would be covered by the package.

I don't think we'd use the Internet much - but then again, maybe it's good to have so we can check on independent excursions we've booked.

We won't use the Excursion credit.

I am inclined to upgrade to the Take 5 even though it might cost me a bit more in the end. Any opinions :) ?

Major Marines web site now includes a banner mentioning 40% off for Cyber Monday. I called and was told that the discount could not used until Cyber Monday, November 27th, and will be valid on any tour booked. I've already booked many of my tours and excursions for August, but held back on this hoping for a Black Friday sale. (Looking at the 6 hour tour as the 7.5 hour tour is not offered on the day we have planned).

I see that in the past Kenai Fjords had a Cyber Monday deal for the for 10am tour with Fox Island. I think I would prefer that tour, so fingers crossed that it becomes available. I know I would enjoy either tour.

There are countless opportunities and I'd suggest allowing some unplanned time. Alaska is difficult to be on a tight schedule. It does require you to be on the move, if you aren't there with a more extended time. I don't advocate wearing the "same clothes" for days on end, but, instead - do laundry. :) I travel out of a "walmart" bag and don't bother bringing in/out suitcases with 1 or 2 night stays. Last month traveled through 9 lodgings in Ireland, with this working again, very well for my traveling preferences.

I believe in unplanned time too. We have days with very light touring, and days where we are touring morning to night. It's hard though since there is so much we want to do :)

I highly recommend the flightseeing tour in Talkeetna. We chose Talkeetna Air Taxi. How many people will be with you? There is a coupon in the Northern Lights coupon book for 25% off a group of 4. We did the Grand Denali Tour with Glacier Landing. The glacier that we landed on happened to be base camp for the climbers attempting to summit the mountain. Standing there on that glacier, surrounded by some of the most beautiful mountains in the world was the most surreal experience of my life! It is something I will never forget.

I'm ordering the Northern Lights book for discounts offered in the Denali area for rafting and a Zipline. I originally was going to order it solely for the Talkeetna Air discount you mention. Right now we can't budget in the flightseeing tour - but our plans are still in flux and we hope to add it in. We have already made some reservations for August, but held back on the Denali raft and zipline tours as if we do the flightseeing, it will replace those.

Unless you are planning to do flight-seeing out of Talkeetna and you are obviously aware that the flight is totally weather dependent, I would skip Talkeetna. Talkeetna is about 15 miles off AK3. When we did AK, I did not feel that the drive to Talkketna was worth the half hour drive it took to get there. Eliminate the restaurants and souvenir shops and there was nothing at all of interest in the town. I just can't figure out what gets people so excited about the place. We stayed there maybe 1 hour max. Take a look at the listing for Talkeetna in TripAdvisor and you will see that there is nothing there.

 

 

 

DON

My plan has evolved to where I'll be leaving Matanuska Glacier in the early afternoon (heading for Denali), and we are no longer considering a stop in Talkeetna. Mainly based on reviews and opinions such as yours :)