biker1972

What do you want to see and do? I assume this is a DIY trip with a rental car since you have already booked the cruise. If Fairbanks is an important stop then it makes sense to start there and work back to Anchorage and Whittier. But if you are only interested in Denali and points south, working round trip from Anchorage making stops for overnights in both directions works. No one says you have to drive from Denali to Anchorage in one day when it is DIY. If you are thinking about a Princess cruise tour, again think about what you want to see and do. They have many to choose from.

The KB6 tour includes a catamaran trip across Prince William sound, a stay at the much smaller Copper River Princess lodge, a bus trip across the Denali highway, as well as 2 nights at Denali but not Fairbanks. Few people get to Wrangell-St Elias National Park so I would opt for the KB6.

Depending on who you like to fly with, another possible airport is Seattle and then either a train or bus transfer to Vancouver. Southwest flys to Seattle but not to YVR.

The real issue is compensation for expenses while in Bermuda. Princess stepped up and did the right thing by refunding the cruise cost and the Hamilton couple is happy with that. They were just trying to be made whole by getting the Bermuda expenses back. It is doubtful that insurance would have covered those expenses if they had insurance. ( Had they gotten recovery from insurance they would not be asking Princess for that money) The question should be what they did with their time in Bermuda, perhaps a day or two of vacation before flying home. And WestJet giving them a voucher was completely unexpected. Does a weather event require Princess to make a refund to someone trying to get to a cruise? Getting from NY to Miami for a cruise in the middle of a January blizzard might be comparable. Princess does not think they owe a refund for shore expenses and I agree.

Asking these questions here gets anecdotal answers while a call or two made to your TA or the cruise line will get you answers that you can actually work with.

Cruising is popular. Affinity groups like getting together. These two things go hand in hand and make charters happen. Fares offered by affinity groups are higher than than those offered by the cruise line since the cruise line chartered their ship for more than they could from a sold out cruise. With charters there are no drink packages so all of the booze sold means profit. The problem really comes down to scheduling. Cruise lines often establish their various cruises from 2 to 3 years ahead while the affinity groups are working a little more than a year ahead. If charters could be arranged 2 or more years in advance, the cruise lines would be far happier. And charters are such big business that most of the cruise lines accept charters. How the cruise line treats their affected clients becomes the real story behind loyalty to "regular" customers.

Princess has now updated their pricing for the cruise tour that I have booked for June 2016. After a careful check I find that I can re-book with included gratuities and a "free" specialty meal for an additional $648. Think I will pass on this "sale".

Start with ITA software where you can check fares for many flights. Decide what "best" means to you, whether it is lowest price, fewest stops, or perfect arrival or departure times. Decide if you are going to fly in 1 or more days early and when you are going to leave after debarkation. Where is debarkation? Once you have thought about what you want to do go to the Cruise Air forum under Cruise Discussion Topics and ask your questions of he expert flyers here at Cruise Critic.

Just had a mental picture of an orange life preserver with yellow mustard neatly spread over it. ;)

And next to impossible to find out the necessary information to make an INFORMED decision.

As FlyerTalker keeps saying, there are so many unseen restrictions on most of the tickets supplied by the cruise lines, it is impossible to know what either the cruise line or the airline will do for you if things go South. When there are no problems there is no difference in the tickets other than price and if that is your only worry then you have no problem. I doubt if the cruise line will do anything for you if you foolishly book a ticket for a cheap flight leaving an hour after you dock on disembarkation day. If the ship is late they might (weasel word) try to get you on a later flight. The issue might be that the highly restricted ticket is only good on airline X and must go through city Z, so the cruise line can only re-book you on that particular itinerary. Would you like to know if this is what the cruise line is selling you? Don't expect them to tell you because they are not very transparent. :(

Sometimes when you book can be just as important as what you book. I have an AQ booked for Alaska in 2016 which was reserved shortly after bookings opened. By booking early the AQ offered the drink package, paid gratuities, $300 obc as well as my elite benefits of 90 minutes of free internet (+90 for my spouse) and a bag of laundry (+ a bag for spouse as well as getting an A1 for the price of an A2. Price was less than a C1 (aft) and included Blu. No brainer!

Because of the large number of offerings that Princess has for various cruise tours I elected to let them take the lead for my Alaska cruise in 2016. Princess seems to be the only line that offers tours that include Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Since this will most likely be a one and done trip I have backed the Princess itinerary with a Celebrity southbound cruise which will include Hubbard Glacier. This will allow 2 days at each of the Alaska ports so I will have the option of doing different excursions as well as including all of the differences in north and south bound glacier viewing. And for me the icing is that I don't have to fly all the way to/from Anchorage or Fairbanks.

My solution for this type of cruise (cruise, land tour, cruise) is to book a North bound cruise tour from Vancouver with Princess that ends in Anchorage and follow it with a South bound Celebrity cruise that ends in Vancouver. My current bookings dovetail perfectly with a 6 day land tour stuck between 2 cruises. Air is booked round trip from Vancouver thus avoiding that long, uncomfortable flight from Fairbanks or Anchorage. The land tour ends in Anchorage with an overnight at the Captain Cook Hotel and the Celebrity cruise starts with a transfer from Anchorage to Seward the morning the Princess program ends. By carefully looking at the schedules of all of the Alaska cruises available, there are probably many such pairings. Being Elite with X, I started there but am not excited about their land options; liking Princess better. Thus my hybrid b2b.

Delta, Air France, and KLM are all Sky Team partners. You are on a code share flight that will be a Delta plane (operated by). Since you used Air France to sell you the tickets you have their flight number as your primary flight information. You will also be able to find everything through the Delta web site. Had you purchased through Delta your primary flight information would exist only on the Delta site. You should have one free checked bag per ticket since it is an international flight. Make sure when you check in that your checked bag is ticketed to PHX. Most likely you will have to claim your bags in Atlanta prior to going through customs and then immediately recheck luggage to PHX. You will also be leaving a secure area to do this so you will have to go through security again. It is a very simple process but make sure your luggage is tagged with PHX when you check in in Rome.

Since you have a group, one option that might be worth exploring is one couple getting a C1 aft cabin ( M class only). These have huge verandas that the whole group could share. They are partially covered and offer spectacular views of the wake. There are 4 of these cabins listed for your cruise and with the available perks can be highly additive. The only cabins with better verandas are the FV's or a Penthouse Suite.

One thing to remember about airfare that the cruise lines pay; it is highly discounted from what a normal ticket costs, even economy. All cruise lines offering air are working with concealed costs so even if they tell you that airfare to Europe will be $XXX they have built in profit. The tricky part about using cruise line discounted air are the many restrictions that are placed on those tickets. And since we, the consumer, cannot see the restrictions we have no way of evaluating the risks we are taking. If flights go as planned there are no differences in tickets purchased from the airline or the cruise line, but if things go South the differences can show up quickly. Check the Cruise Air forum under Cruise Discussion Topics for a better understanding of these risks.

We are winding down. On last day before disembarkation. Overall impressions of Viking are that they are trying to please their guests while on board. Their ads like most cruise line ads give the best picture they can. Truth is always somewhere below that. Beds are NOT luxurious, food not always tasty or even properly cooked, but I can see a real effort being made to satisfy through hard work and a caring staff. Based on these impressions I would cruise with them again but it would be based on price and itinerary. I would certainly consider others. This is not ocean cruising by any comparison so I am working from one experience. Overall worth doing but won't repeat for several seasons. Full review later.

When I talked to Tony about this in the presence of the cruise director Tony said it was possible to use the vouchers on a booked cruise where final payment had not been made. The CD stepped in and said no, new bookings only. Apparently Tony was working from old or faulty information. He now knows the current policy. Hopefully corporate will honor what their employee told you in good faith. I sincerely believe Tony was shocked to find he had misinformed people.

We made the transfer from the Skirnir to the Modi in very easy fashion. The only bad thing was having to pack. Luggage was brought directly to the room after arriving at the boat by truck. Only low point was the rest room stop about halfway to Vilshofen. The entrance and exits use the same turnstiles and the crowd going in gave no room to those exiting. A real bottleneck.

We were informed Tuesday evening that we would be diverted to Rotterdam to end the cruise. With the Sail Amsterdam events starting Monday 17 Aug, there is no dock space available. Viking is arranging the transfers for everyone including the 48 people who had DIY arrangements for the after cruise time. Wonder if any other cruises have run into this problem.

All of the included tours have been well done. The guides all seem tobe well prepared and able to converse in English quite well. Their ages have run from early twenties to mid forties. In most if not all cases they have had to take classes and exams to become licensed as guides. Most of the tours have included bus transfers and lots of free time. Shops are open other than on Sunday.

Yes you get a bite sized taste when you are seated, gift from the chef. Last night a chicken wing.

Monday will be the transfer day to the Modi. Have yet to find out how it will be doe. Suspect Sunday will be a bus trip to Regensberg and then Monday bus to somewhere near Nuremberg followed by the shorex at Nuremberg. We are at Passau now and some boats are embarking for trips to Budapest from here. The CD will go with us as well as the concierge. Tips will be split between the 2 crews.

Arriving in Melk at this time. Weather for the Wachau Valley really very nice. Staff brought out glasses of ice water to those of us on top deck. CD gave information over PA to public viewing areas about the high points. Nothing into the cabins and not a constant chat, TYVM.

Melk Abbey tour this afternoon. We are devided into 5 groups because of size. Viking changes meal times depending on the day´ activities. Yesterday because of the Vienna Mozart concert, there were 2 dinner seatings. Concert was very worthwhile and I would highly recommend it. If it is hot when you go wear light clothes and don't think about dressing up. Today lunch is early because of the afternoon tours.

Tours in Vienna give a lot of free time to shop. St. Stephen's square seems to be where almost companies' to pause. Lots of coffee houses and shopping in that area.

I continue to be impressed by the service Viking gives.

Viking fell a little last night ( 5AUG). A great squash soup was followed by a dismally overcooked and tasteless salmon fillet. Actually one of worst entreés I have encountered on a cruise. Then they had a wonderful group of Slovakian musicians perform in the lounge. So the mood of disappointment from dinner was lifted. I like the fact that Viking has a camera in the lounge so that talks or events in the lounge can be viewed in the cabin. Running a little late for the daily briefing is not a problem now.

The muster drill was scheduled just as we were entering a lock. Accident or not, it was perfect timing. Bratislava tour was enjoyable but I was on a bus where the AC worked. Two did not. Everyone was apologetic, but on the hottest day of the summer, not good. On the walk back to the boat we passed thru a riverside park. All of the benches had little signs saying "free WiFi". I did not check to see if I could log on but it is worth remembering. We left late for Vienna. More to come.

Last night one of the people I ate dinner with ordered one item from the first course as I ordered two. We both ate the appetizer and then my wonderful soup arrived. She was astonished that you could do that said that she too had wanted the soup. By Viking arranging the menu in such a way it discourages people from getting more than one item for course one. They never say that you can't and the wait staff is very good at clearing immediately and bringing the second item. I suspect that this is a subtle way of controlling costs since many people only choose one item from each section.

My last ocean cruise I noticed that X had eliminated a course from their previous menus but with the same items (they combined soup and salad into one course). This gives the impression that there are fewer course options while in reality they are all there. Hope this clears up my meaning.

Wed . 5 AUG The included shorex was a bus and walking tour of Buda and Pest.The walking portion was easy but the heat really made it difficult. The funicular is an easy walk across the chain bridge and worth the effort. Great views of the parliament building from the top of castle hill. On leaving Budapest the captain backed up some distance so that we could have some nice viewing as we finished dinner. Many building are lighted for some of the evening.

Dinner again very well done. Did notice that most guests only doing one item from the first course list. I know hat if they had the menu marked first, second and entreé there would be more doing so. Perhaps a way Viking is able to hold down costs.:confused: More later, muster nearing.