LadyMac72

I haven't gone yet, so I can't recommend the private tour I chose (yet) but I booked with Harv & Marv based on the very positive reviews I've read here and on TripAdvisor.  That's out of Juneau.  I know others here recommend Jayleen's (also out of Juneau).

BTW - I love your picture!  I adore pugs.  Lost mine in October 2017 and the world is not the same without her.  

Depends on what kind of traveler you are.  My mother (gosh I love her) is a neurotic mess when it comes to travelling as she lives in constant fear of being late.  To anything.  Did I mention that to her "late" is anything less than 3 hours EARLY?  FTTF was worth it for us because it gave her peace of mind, which made the whole cruise more enjoyable and less stressful for both of us.   

I think if I were driving to the port, I'd throw in a 12 pack of soda to save the money, but for my next cruise I am flying from east coast to west coast, so with a night flight, huge time change, fatigue and not having a car to get to a store or to the pier, I'm going to go with a drink package.   Plus I'm a Pepsi drinker so the change is good news for me.

Is it possible to borrow a fan on the ship instead of bringing one?  

Or can anyone recommend a fairly noisy 12" fan to bring in my luggage?  BF needs to air and the noise.

7 hours ago, Joe817 said:

That's odd. We booked our Freedom cruise back in August of last year for our Freedom cruise to depart 09/13/2020 and they had it then. Maybe it's ship dependent when they release FTTF. What ship are you sailing? 

Carnival Spirit (Alaska)

I've been wondering about fishing in ISP too. Carnival (which is the line I am on) offers a halibut fishing excursion which I was thinking about.  I've been looking at Tok River Outfitters and Hooked Adventures for non-cruise ship excursions - but they do mostly talk about halibut and not salmon.  I don't know if my BF will want to come fishing with me.... so that's why I haven't booked anything yet. 

If you learn of a salmon fishing excursion in ISP, please post it!  I did salmon fishing about 10 years ago in Seward and loved it!

My September 2020 cruise does not have FTTF yet.  I keep checking!

17 hours ago, Davis2010 said:

Our TA has had our cruise and flights booked since August. We are flying to Seattle the day of our cruise embarkation. It has us arriving at the air port around 11:15AM and embarkation is from 1:00-3:00pm. That seems like sufficient time to me. We live in Florida and have always drove to our cruises on the day of, even the ones that were 4-5 hours away. I understand with flying (our first time) there are a lot more factors.

 

Ultimately, will we be ok?

Is there a red-eye flight you could make?  I'm flying from Virginia to Seattle in September and am looking at a flight that leaves at 7 p.m. the day before (after BF and I get off work) and gets to Seattle at an ungodly hour (LOL) but we shouldn't miss the ship!  Good luck to you.  

I couldn't get on either.

18 minutes ago, rukkian said:

It has also been said, there is nothing stopping you from going multiple times for YTD.  If you go early, and your BF goes but either does not eat, just just has an app.  Then later when he goes, you could go with and do the opposite.

Or multiple desserts.  I really like how you think!  🙂 

I have selected YTD for our (not soon enough) upcoming cruise.  

BF and I like to eat at different times.  I'm an early eater, he prefers right before bed.  Do we have to both eat at the same time?  If I'm hungry at 6, can I eat (with or without him present with me in the dining room) and then he come back later in evening (with or without me present with him) to eat?  Or is one of us going to have to haunt the Lido deck?  

And just to further muddy the waters a bit, starting in October 2020, you will not be able to fly domestically unless your drivers license is REAL ID compliant.  I think different states have different requirements for this, but if you don't have a REAL ID, you can still board with a passport for identification.  All the more reason to have a passport!

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

Just as a reminder, that US passengers on a cruise that ends in a foreign port, in this case Vancouver, BC, you will need a US Passport to fly home.  You may have been able to board your cruise in Seattle with just a birth certificate and gov't issued photo ID, but that is not enough to get you onto an international flight home to the US.

 

I work at Pier 91in Seattle, and in 2019 the final Carnival Legend cruise to Alaska did end in Vancouver, BC.  We had to ask each passenger traveling with a birth certificate how they were planning to return to the US.  If they said 'flying home from Vancouver' we had to tell them that they would not be able to get onto the plane without a passport.  We told them to begin to make alternative travel plans now while they were still 7/8 days from the return date.  This included ground transportation (bus/train) to a US city (mostly back to Seattle), and changing their return flight back from Vancouver to a US city so that their gov't issued photo ID was all that was needed to get on a US domestic flight. 

Not surprisingly, there were folks that were traveling on this cruise with just their birth certificate and photo ID that didn't realize that they needed a passport to fly from Canada back to the US.  While is was not a fun way to begin their cruise, they were appreciative to have this information early on.

I have my passport and it's all ready to be used again....  Gotta get one for BF but we will do that after I give him the cruise (it's his birthday gift).

We are going in September too.  BF is a big fan of (believe it or not) cold temperatures and rain.  I have literally zero chance of ever getting him to the Caribbean!  Looking forward to trying to see whales and bears.  Debating on the train in Skagway or a rental car... I may let him make that decision! 

13 hours ago, Coral said:

If you are interested in bear watching and Island Wings, I would sign up ASAP as that company books up very quickly.

We have reservations with Island Wings for Traitor's Cove.... they are going to invoice for a deposit in January so they will be hard at work very soon.  

19 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Carnival has the option to sail anchorage to Vancouver? I didn’t see any sailings listed like that for Carnival. 

My mistake... I misread the Anchorage part.  Sorry!

1 hour ago, nybumpkin said:

I have sailed to Alaska only once, on Carnival. It was fine - we enjoyed it very much. Tracy Arm was gorgeous. However, our very good friends (we're doing a river cruise with them this summer) sailed Alaska on Princess and I think I'd prefer the Princess itinerary. Carnival's Alaska cruises generally are 7-8 day closed-loop cruises from Seattle. Our friends were able to sail Anchorage-Vancouver and added on a few days in Denali; Carnival doesn't have that option.

It does have that option now.  I have a September cruise to Alaska (Spirit) and it departs from Seattle and ends in Vancouver.  The amount in time in each port is great... better than many of the other lines I researched.

Obviously not an endorsement as we haven't traveled yet, but right now our plans are:

Juneau - whale watching (small boat - 6 passengers) 

ISP - halibut fishing

Ketchikan - bear trip to Traitors Cove (via float plane)

I booked all of these through independent companies.  My times in port are about 10-12 hours each.  If you check out Tripadvisor they give you some good reviews of excursions and companies (if you're inclined to do independent).  

The only one I booked through the cruise was the excursion in Tracy Arm Fjord that meets the ship and gets closer to the glaciers.  The rest of the ports (Juneau, Skagway, ISP and Ketchikan) I booked independently.  Much cheaper and I got the ones I really wanted (like Traitors Cove).

I just got an upgrade offer for my 8 day Alaska cruise.... from 5th level balcony to 8th level extended balcony for $80 (total).  Thoughts?

BF is a big beer drinker and I don't drink so I've been wondering the same thing.  I do like my Pepsi though... and coffees.  If I had a magic wand, I would get him Cheers and me Bottomless Bubbles.  But it occurs to me - if I *have* to get Cheers, because BF does, can I get Pepsi?  We're going to Alaska on our cruise so me drinking a number of specialty coffees.  (Cruising Tracy Arm Fjord on my balcony with a hot coffee sounds amazing).  It might work.  

I booked ours in September 2020 (Seattle to Vancouver, starting the 17th) because the price was great, there would be fewer kids on board and the weather cool (BF is a bit heat intolerant).  What I am seeing is that I've been booking private excursions and a couple stop running their tours the week or so before we go.  Couldn't book Jayleen's so went with Harv and Marv in Juneau.  But I am confident we will have a great time - we'll bundle up, bring rain gear and pack our flexibility.  

I would check reviews on TripAdvisor.  Some people on here recommended Jayleen's, which has real small boats (6 people).  I checked with her and she's closing up for the season the week before I get there (mid September) so I went with Harv and Marv (who also got great reviews).  

This thread is awesome... I've been wondering what to do in Icy Stait Point.  Thanks everyone for the suggestions/information.

I used it to purchase a trip.  I had most of the money set aside to pay for a cruise but then an escrow debacle with my mortgage company necessitated that I wait (just in case I needed to have those funds available - I didn't but I needed to be sure)... I wasn't going to book the cruise but the deal I got was too good to pass up.  Cost me a little extra but I got a great deal at a good price.