bamm

Whats the best option if you just want to go to the beach and dont want to spend a bunch of time driving around first?

My wife and I are taking our 2nd Alaskan cruise for our 5 year wedding anniversary. The cruise is Sunday May 6 to Saturday May 12. I'm planning on taking a flight from SFO to Vancouver via Seattle. The flight is only about 2 hours each way. There are 2 flight options coming home and one is at 12:45pm and one is at 7:30pm.

My question is is 12:45pm enough time to get to the airport and get through customs and security to come back to the US? The airport website says 3 hours in advance but that seems excessive. The ship returns to port at and starts disembarking at 7am. In the past i have had cruises delayed upto a few hours so I'm hoping that i can get some good advice here. Can i book the 12:45pm flight home?

Here is what I found.

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I am contemplating booking the Noordam for an alaskan cruise out of Vancouver. 5 years ago for my honeymoon we took Princess out of San Francisco on the 11 day. I'm just wondering what is Holland America like? I have seen a few bad reviews of the Noordam but an wondering if its really that bad? I have been on 2 princess, 6 carnival and 1 royal carribean. I feel like the best food was on pricess, probably the best cruise was on Princess to Alaska. Right now HA is offering a 6 day for $1,000 with a balcony and a drink package. Sounds almost to good to be true. Any thoughts?

Hi, I had 11,400 ish points at the end of cruise.

Hello,

I just got off of the Miracle yesterday and the casino left me a letter offering me a free cruise upto 15 days. The terms of the offer are that I have two book within 2 weeks and sale within 6 months.

It's doubtful that I will be able to take advantage of this unless I do a 4 day and that seems like such a waste. My question is, has anyone ever received this offer and declined? If you declined did you get another similar offer a few months later?

Thanks,

I see with the new update to cheers that you may now include drinks with a cost of up to $50 in your 15 daily drinks. One question... What does Carnival serve that is around $50 a glass? Just wine or do I need to try some new cocktails?

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Hello,

Has anyone had a bad experience eating at the excursion Las Caletas Beach Hideaway on Carnival in Puerto Vallarta? Also has anyone had a bad experience on Stone Island in Mazatlán? I've heard Letty's is very good. I will be stopping at both of these places very soon and am looking for feedback on whether or not my group should avoid eating the food. I assume we should not drink anything that does not come out of a sealed container?

Thanks for the info.

oops! Mazatlan

Does anyone have insight on this excursion through Carnival? I'll be on the April 9th ship visiting on the 12th or 13th.

Thanks!

Hello All!

My wife and I are debting on taking the Crown Princess vs the Carnival Miracle for thanksgiving week to Mexico. I have been on the Carnival Inspiration, Grand Princess and the Saphire Princess. But I have not been on either of these cruise ships. I have seen the Miracle at several of the same ports I have been to though.

What I'm looking for is the following:

Who has better food in the dining room?

Who has the most comfortable bed?

We will be purchasing a balcony room if that makes a difference.

One more question.. what the chances of making an 11:50am flight going home after unloading from the ship and trying to get to the airport on time?

We are sailing out of Seattle on Holland America on May 3rd and flying in from SFO. I'm planning on purchasing my flight tomorrow. Would everyone recommend flying in the morning of or the night before? I'm planning on flying Virgin America and they have flights leaving Saturday morning at 9:00am and arriving at 11:05am

Should I just fly out the evening before and pay for the cost of a hotel room? I would be leaving at 8:25pm from SFO and arriving at 10:25pm. I didn't really want to do this as there is not really any time to explore Seattle and I thought if I was going to spend an extra day there I would do it Saturday the day we return from the cruise and then fly home Sunday afternoon.

What pier does Holland America leave from? Can someone recommend a decent hotel near the pier? Is the pier close to the touristy spots like the fish market?

Thanks!

I did the 10 day Alaska on Princess last May from San Francisco round trip. I booked a balcony and I can honestly say that the cruise would not have been the same without the balcony. So much in fact that when we go back in May 2014 we decided either we would have a balcony or not go at all.

We really enjoyed the aspect of sailing into port early in the morning and sitting on our balcony. There is really something to be said for sipping coffee in your pajamas and watching bald eagles pass you by.

We booked on the MS Westerdam May 3rd!!

Lerin, Can you share what cruise line goes farther north if you leave out of Vancouver? I don't see any that are not following the same itinerary of Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway. Except for Holland America which leaves out of Seattle still and goes to Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau.

Thanks!

Last year my wife and I took the 10 day Grand Princess cruise out of San Francisco returning to San Francisco. We enjoyed Alaska so much that for our anniversary we want to go back. Additionally this year we also took a 4 day cruise to Ensenada on the Carnival Inspiration...

I have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival. This time we want to do a 7 day out of Seattle. I'm looking for ship comparisons. The ship we took down to Ensenada was actually kinda nice and I liked the furniture on it a lot more than the furniture on the Grand Princess. However the environment on the Ensenada cruise was awful. I suppose that is because its more of a "party" ship. What I'm wondering is what is the atmosphere like on Carnival to Alaska as well as Holland America. Is there anybody out there that has taken more than one Cruise Line to Alaska and if so which did you prefer?