karatemom2

Sitka is entirely doable on your own. We have never booked a ship tour on our visits. There are taxis and private tours that will take you to Fortress of the Bear. Most other sites are walkable if you are in good shape. It is an absolutely stunning town - one of our very favorite ports in AK. You might want to do some research via the local tourism website or TripAdvisor for ideas on planning your own day there.

So sorry you were disappointed. Food can be very subjective and we have found it varies from ship to ship in terms of overall quality. We are just off the Sky and the food was exceptionally good for the most part. However, the worst meal I had was the chicken parmigiana. Your description is spot on. It was almost inedible. They definitely need to reimagine that dish. Hope otherwise your time in Alaska was enjoyable - it is one if our favorite destinations!

Usually unless you are a back to back cruise the shows are one and done and don’t repeat.

Yes, you are most definitely charged for any medical treatment you receive on the ship and it isn't inexpensive. Do you have a health plan that will reimburse you for onboard medical expenses should you need them? Just to give you an example - my DH unfortunately got a kidney stone on a cruise earlier this year. He has had it happen twice before, so we knew that was likely the case when the pain hit. He was treated in medical with intravenous drip to help flush his system and also deliver pain medicine. They did a diagnostic work up to rule out anything more severe, but given his history, they felt confident of the diagnosis and after a few hours of treatment in the med center allowed him to go back to our cabin with a prescription pain killer and another med to help encourage the stone to pass. Thankfully it passed quickly and within a day he was feeling better. All in all, it was equivalent to an ER visit. The bill for this was nearly $4000 which was added to our onboard account. I had to submit a claim to our health insurance when we returned home and they did reimburse us within about 6 weeks. So you might want to see if your health plan covers you when you are traveling, and if not, buy some insurance that does.

It was pretty amazing! We were so lucky to get tickets as it happened to be in LA last year and being such big fans of Pat and Neil we decided to see if we could go and it all worked out. But the other inductees were incredible as well - Duran Duran, Lionel Ritchie, Carly Simon, Judas Priest, Eminem and Dolly Parton. To say it was a star studded event is an understatement! The show was over 5 hours long - don't know how they managed to edit it down for the three hour TV version. All I can say is that I felt like I was 21 again and it was one of the best nights of my life!! My DH and I rocked out and didn't even worry if our backs would be sore in the morning! : )

OK, going way off topic here but I have to chime in and defend my girl, because my husband and I are huge fans of Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldo. They are amazing performers. She is still vibrant and sounds and looks amazing. They are not hurting for money and if she wanted to hang it up and retire, she certainly could. Why would she when she still wants to do what she enjoys? If you see them in concert like we have several times over the past few years, you can tell that they LOVE to perform. But of course she is not filling stadiums anymore and they tend to perform in smaller venues. We were thrilled to be in the audience at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction last year and see them perform there. That honor was way overdue. Pink was also there as a presenter and it was from that interaction that the opportunity for them to join her concert materialized. Why wouldn't they want to be a part of that? I don't think they have any ego around being an opening act - especially for an artist like Pink that they clearly admire. These are huge stadium shows and will expose them to an entirely new audience. It is a great thing and as a super fan I'm thrilled for them. Hardly sad!!

I would encourage you to print them and put them on yourself if possible. We also put them on at our hotel as we were leaving, borrowing a stapler from the front desk. My daughter and her new husband relied on the flimsy tags that the porters put on at the dock and one of them ended up coming off and her bag was delayed because she had to go searching for it with the unidentified bags placed out on embarkation evening by Guest Services. Luckily it was there, but it caused unneeded stress. We have found the folded paper tags to be very sturdy and if stapled on well, very reliable in making sure our bags arrive without problems.

The only time my DH got free drinks in the casino was on one of the special VIP cruises when it was included as one of the special perks. It was only in the casino and you had to be wearing the badge that identified you as one of the VIP casino group members. On our other regular cruises, some of the perks the host has provided include free dinners in the specialty restaurants, free bottles of water, chocolate covered strawberries, box of chocolates, champagne and flowers. They usually arrange some nice things like that while you are onboard. And then of course your come back offer for your next cruise at the end. DH loved to throw those dice and it has come with some nice cruising benefits! 😊

It may have seemed more clear to you since you had seen it on a previous sailing, but for those of us who hadn’t it was not. He referred to it as a “premier performance” and how “lucky we were to be there for the first show”. I know for a fact many others who were not familiar with this show thought the same. We talked to one of our new friends we met on the ship and he and his party were so excited to be privileged to see a new show they went to both performances. So, it was misleading to a lot of us who didn’t realize he was just talking about a new cast performing.

Your time there I believe is 7 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. which is a pretty short day especially given the transfer time between Ward Cove and Ketchikan. You will need to be planning to shuttle back to the ship by around Noon. Not sure what time your excursion is, but given that it sounds like it involves beer tasting and food, it is likely not at 7 a.m., so I'm guessing it leaves the ship mid morning which probably means you would need to go directly back to the ship when it is over. Maybe you could find out from NCL if you could meet your tour in town and try to take an early shuttle so you can see some of Ketchikan before your tour?

No, that is not Glacier Bay, but another scenic cruising area with a glacier. It is very pretty, but in my estimation not as impressive as Glacier Bay which is a National Park where you see more than just one glacier, not to mention the other scenery and abundant wildlife. Also, we have been on cruises with Endicott Arm as the only scenic day where they ship has been unable to get to the glacier due to ice in the water - we have never missed our day in Glacier Bay. I think for a first time Alaska cruiser, Glacier Bay is a must see.

NCL Bliss Alaska itinerary is practically worthless if your goal is to get to spend time in Alaska and see the ports. We have cruised on NCL and in general had good experiences, but would never, ever choose them for Alaska with an itinerary like this, and with their remote port location in Ketchikan which we experienced once - never again! We have cruised primarily on Princess in Alaska - they offer the best overall experience and itineraries in our estimation. Holland America has some good options as well, but skews a bit elderly for our family. I don't believe RCI is allowed to go to Glacier Bay which is a deal breaker for many, especially if it is a first Alaska cruise. But whatever you choose - do not choose this! The port times are absurd!

Sorry for the delay in replying. We just got back from our cruise. it was a company called City Airport Taxis. Here is the link: https://city-airport-taxis.com/airporttransfers/reservations/taxi-from-Marseille-Port-to-Aix-en-Provence

Dan France

Yes, it is confusing. The CD made a giant production of the fact that this was the big premier of a brand new show! I mean he seriously kept saying how lucky we were to be the first to see it?? I had never heard of it so it seemed plausible. I can only assume it was a first for that particular cast? Or first this season? I don’t know. Or he was just trying to make us excited. I’m perplexed.

Interesting. I see from your comment that it has been out for awhile then. I'm wondering why they presented it to us like it was a brand new premier - maybe it was a new cast or a new show for this group of performers? But regardless, I found it entertaining, but I can see why some might not enjoy it as much. The songs were more contemporary and as I said, not necessarily a storyline that is aligned with an older audience. We thought it was fun and upbeat!

We just returned from a 14 day Med cruise from Southampton on the Sky Princess. We had the best time - gorgeous ship, fantastic ports, excellent food and service, great balcony cabin and wonderful steward, beautiful weather, and plenty of good entertainment - just about as perfect as a cruise can get. But a real added treat was getting to see the premier performance of a brand new production show called "Five Skies". It was so fun and creative! It was based on following a gamer through his virtual gaming experience on his quest to rescue a princess. Now, at first I thought perhaps they had forgotten who their core audience is given there likely weren't many virtual reality video game players in the audience - maybe their grandkids? : ) However, it was really well done, the production values, set, costumes and staging were next level for Princess and the dancing and performances were great. So energetic with good music and overall good singers as well. It was just so nice to see something new and see Princess pushing the boundaries a bit on their production shows. It was a nice addition to Rock Opera and Spotlight Bar, the other two shows running during our cruise which we enjoy, but have seen before. And it was very cool getting to be in the audience for their very first show. Hope this is a trend and we get to see more new shows!

Just off the Sky Princess for our Med cruise out of Southampton and I must say the Internet was fantastic. Best connectivity and speed we have ever had on any Princess ship. I was able to stay connected to work as needed and manage my emails with great ease as opposed to last year on the Emerald for our British Isles cruise when it was much more difficult. It seems a big improvement!

We just returned from a Med cruise on the Sky out of Southampton and had the same impression. It was one of the dressiest groups we have experienced on any of our cruises. Lots of tuxes, very nice suits, long gowns and even some very impressive kilts. People really seemed to love the formal nights and went all out. It was nice and I was glad we made the effort to dress up too, albeit not to the extent of many others. We have tended to go a bit more casual on some of our recent cruises but I am glad we lugged the suit along in this one!

Well let's hope that we just made poor choices on the menu and yours will be a much better experience! Honestly, most people we talked to onboard loved their meal there. So maybe we are just the outliers. I hope you have a wonderful meal there!

We just returned from a 14 day cruise on the Sky Princess and I will start by saying that, overall, the food in the main dining room and buffet was above par - truly not a single bad meal, with maybe one or two less than outstanding but still very good. And our waiter in the main dining room was absolutely fantastic. It was one of the best dining experiences we have had on any of our many Princess cruises across the board - with one exception, which was Catch. We received a complimentary meal there courtesy of the Casino thanks to my husband - the degenerate gambler. ; ) We had our choice of specialty restaurants and would normally go to Crown Grill, but chose Catch this time as we had heard such wonderful things about it. We went in with great enthusiasm and were quite disappointed. Our crab cake appetizers were overcooked, dry and quite fishy. Our mains were just good, but not great. And dessert was very disappointing - the puff pastry was dry and impossible to cut with just a fork and the meringue was hard and tasteless. It all looked fabulous - but it felt like the emphasis was all on presentation and not actual taste. Every meal we had in the main dining room was better than our meal at Catch, including our sea food selections. Had it not been comped, I would have felt very let down. I found it ludicrous at the price charged that you are limited to a single appetizer and can't even get a salad or soup. I was anticipating some kind of delicious bisque or sea food salad. And the service was dreadfully slow. All in all, we would never choose to eat there again and would go to Crown Grill or Sabatini's instead. To each his or her own, and I'm glad that most people seem to love it, but in our estimation it was way overhyped and didn't deliver.

It was actually quite reasonable compared to ships tour which would have been more than twice as much and given then less time. They felt the price of 65 each way well worth it for a 40 minute drive.

My daughter and her husband just visited on their honeymoon cruise and were able to book a round trip taxi transfer in advance for $139. They were picked up at the ship and dropped off in Marseille and spent the day doing their own touring. The taxi came back and picked them up promptly at the appointed time and returned then to the ship. It worked out great for them.

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback. They went back to Guest Services this morning and were able to get everything reflected appropriately. Thankfully they had the email from the travel agency from time of booking that showed their OBC and the staff was able to confirm with the main office that the shareholder's credit had been sent and confirmed, so all is well and they are back to having their full amount of credits applied to their onboard account. But it is a lesson learned for me going forward - I will always take a screen shot of our credits prior to the cruise personalizer closing a few days prior to the cruise just in case I need some back up!

I could use some advice for my daughter and her husband who are currently on the Enchanted. Prior to leaving, their cruise personalizer reflected $700 in onboard credit. Some was casino dollars, some was a credit from their travel agency, and there was a $250 credit for my son-in-law's Carnival Shareholder benefit. It was all there in black and white! But now that they are onboard, it has mysteriously disappeared and they are only showing the casino credit. This is very frustrating as they were counting on this credit to cover their gratuities! My daughter is going back to speak to Guest Services tomorrow - any suggestions? I wish we had taken a screen shot or photo because now that they are onboard all of that info that was on their cruise personalizer prior is gone. I'm going to help her reach out to her TA about that credit if needed so they can call Princess, and I have the confirmed fax to the Shareholder department showing it was received. But it is really frustrating that they have to try to hassle on their honeymoon to get back the onboard credits that were clearly all there before they left. Has this happened to anyone else?