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I read somewhere or you can bring a case of water on board a ship? I’m cruising royal Caribbean tomorrow was wondering how to pack it? I read you just put a luggage tag on it but wasn’t sure if it needed to be packed a certain way ?

On HAL I found the price of average quality bottled water to be expensive. So I used the one empty bottle I used from HAL to refill, but the only place I found excellent quality water was in the Fitness center, there is a filter on the water fountain their. Found it difficult to fit the long bottle into the bathroom sink to get water, but managed and the water didn't taste bad, and I didn;t get sick.

Like ESSIESMOM's suggestion of storing the boarding pass on a computer pad or smart phone. Has anyone done this and have it accepted, rather than a printed boarding pass? Sometimes my printer is out of ink or not working properly and the smart phone display is the way most business is being done.

Maybe I should stop doing all my own printing of my boading pass and luggage tags and hire a free Travel Agent?

Carnival a couple of weeks ago offered an upgrade to the 7th deck of the legend from the 5th deck for the same type of Balcony and I turned it down. Now they have offered the 8th deck with a 60 sq feet balcony instead of the 40 sf on the 5th deck for 50 dollars more.

I returned the email stating that I would upgrade for free. The Cruise is in August to Alaska and the Seas should be fairly calm. Any suggestions on dealing with Carnival?

First I did a partial Booking on the HAL online site, but was unable to finish the deal due to a computer line outage, so then I called HAL and Ellen said that there was a SNAP fare available and I saved about 600 dollars off a 5240 dollar cruise. The online site did not offer the SNAP fare..

Thanks all responders!

Seattle is finally getting at least one Season of a Larger Ship the Ovation of the Seas. We like to walk the Promenade deck on Hal, does the Ovation have a wooden Promenade deck or any walkable outside deck besides the running track. Where is the Buffet and Hamburger stand? What is the dress code on those tux nights for the rest of the ship? tx

Not that I'm aware of. The basic breakdown of available vessels goes from 'huge' (anything sold by the cruise ship except as noted below) - Allen Marine use up to 150 pax boats, with disabled-accessible toilets. If you're worried about seasickness, wheelchair or other mobility challenges, and don't mind being with a horde of other pax (i.e. fighting for window/rail space if the whales are all on one side) these are your best bet.

 

'6 pack' - most independent tours sell only 6 seats, even if their boats in theory have enough space for a few more folks.

 

14-pax vessels - Gastineau Guiding seem to be the biggest user of this size, and the ship's tour described as a 'whale/wildlife photosafari' uses Gastineau as the tour operator. To me these are the optimal boat - unlike the 6-packs they are designed for touring & photography, with large fully-opening windows at every seat plus small front & back open decks, so every seat can use their own window or go outside. Stable ride for a small boat, especially when under propulsion, but still rocks around more than the bigguns when stopped.

 

There are also a few odd-sized boats here & there - IIRC one of the ISP providers has a 20-pax for example.

 

 

We've done everything from a small speedboat with just us 2 + guide to the big 150pax vessels - and if you can tolerate the motion, small is always better for quality of the actual watching experience. But if you have to have easily accessible loos then it's not like the big boats are much worse - at times being higher up from the water even gives you better angles. It's really just about the fact that you cannot see anything on the far side due to the width of the big boats, so you have to move - and so does everyone else making rail space a premium...

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Exactly the info I was looking for. Thanks!

Is there an Internet site with the Alaska Whale Watching excursions listed with photos of their vessel. We would want to sail on a large vessel with space to move around and a head.

We have made our first cruise to Alaska and are now ready to do a few Whale Watching excursions from Juneau, Ketchikan, or Icy Strait. We

are looking for a large substantial.

boat with a Head for the tour.

How is the Sauna set up on the Legend? Is there a free dry sauna? What is the price of the pay sauna per day or week?

First time Carnival Cruisers. Where is the Sauna and is it easy to find?

Thanks everyone for exactly what I was looking for. If other Cruisers have additional info for the Westerdam or any other ship please chime on.

Looking forward to a 17 day Cruise on the Westerdam from Vancouver to Hawaii and back. By the last week I will probably looking forward to a Sauna after walking round the Promenade deck. How do I find the public Sauna, how crowded is it and how does it compare to the Pay Sauna?

Yes NBT we like to chat with TA's, but often Time is Money to TA's, especially at the local Military Base here. I always look at all the options and start evaluating Cruises two to three years in advance...CC is an excellent source.

Thanks everyone. I too think that TA's are good, but often in a hurry and don't take the time a retiree has to checkout all ports, ships, lines, and details such as saunas, restaurants, buffets, entertainment and excursions.

We would like to Cruise from the West Coast U.S. through the Panama Canal to anywhere in the Southern U..S. then back to the West Coast on the same ship or a different Cruise ship leaving the South. Is this possible in 2019-2020?

Favorite Ports on the West Coast... Seattle, Vanouver, San Francisco, San Diego.

The partial canal cruise goes into Gatun Lake and back out, not all the way through and definitely not to California. Here is the January, 2019 itinerary:

 

Saturday, January 19 Galveston, TX 6:00pm

Sunday, January 20 At Sea

Monday, January 21 At Sea

Tuesday, January 22 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 8:00am 4:00pm

Wednesday, January 23 At Sea

Thursday, January 24 Aruba Noon 10:00pm

Friday, January 25 Bonaire 8:00am 5:00pm

Saturday, January 26 At Sea

Sunday, January 27 Cartagena, Colombia 8:00am 4:00pm

Monday, January 28 Panama Canal (Partial Transit) (Cruising)

Tuesday, January 29 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica 7:00am 3:00pm

Wednesday, January 30 At Sea

Thursday, January 31 Cozumel, Mexico 9:00am 5:00pm

Friday, February 1 At Sea

Saturday, February 2 Galveston, TX 8:00am

Thanks...

Does Puget Sound need more Cruise Ship docks?

I am not sure I understand the question. If you are looking for a round trip cruise from Galveston to Seattle, I am pretty sure you won't find it. If you only want a Panama Canal cruise, Carnival Freedom is scheduled for 14 day partial canal transits from Galveston on October 28, 2017, October 27, 2018, and January 19, 2019.

Not sure what a partial Panama Canal Cruise is? Does the Freedom's cruise disembark in California?

Doing Cruise planning for 2019 and would like to do a Panama Canal. Cruise. Prefer RT Cruises, but will settle for one way.

Typically this route would be a repositioning cruise. This ship does not turn around. Rather it stays in Miami and offers Caribbean itineraries.

Thanks for the info. Well it looks like the Seattle to Galveston might be a possibility on Hal.

If the Norwegian Cruise is still available in 2019 from Seattle to Miami could we take it RT back to Seattle?

Thanks all. Will still be PLANNING a trip from SEA to Panama Canal and Florida.

We have always liked HAL Cusine with the Dutch style pies and am wonder if there are any Norwegian foods on the menu at the Buffet on Norwegian Cruise ships?

While looking for help in getting good driving instructions for Vancouver Canada Place with all the map changes showing different one-way streets I gave up and asked for help here. I soon received several very detailed driving instructions with google maps and other map sites from mainly friendly Canadians. Some Canadians sail out of Seattle and will try to get some help from a Canadian cruise site for my search for Pier 66 Seattle detailed instructions.:confused:

No! No! No! Discouraging you from considering such a NCL cruise due to potential traffic issues near Pier 66 was NEVER the intent of my comments. I apologize since you seem to have taken them as such. The comment that I made was meant "to inform", nothing more. Arriving in the vicinity of the Pier's parking garage in a timely manner will reduce your stress and prevent issues.

 

Getting the precise directions for how to get into the Parking Garage from wherever you are driving will be helpful. I cannot help you with that. How to get to the Sky Bridge from there, I don't know. Accessing the Port of Seattle's web site ought to help you.

 

Be aware that you should be able to drop luggage and people off in front of Pier 66 prior to finding the parking garage.

Last week I visited the Port of Seattle's Web site and found little information on directions. The advantage of parking in the Parking garage across the street from Pier 66 is that there is a shuttle that will take our luggage, in that case I wouldn't need to use the Sky Bridge.

tx sir.