CHSGrl

Has anyone recently booked a room at CSPI to get day passes to Atlantis? If so, were you able to get checked in before 3PM to get your wristbands? Arriving in port at 8AM and Atlantis opens at 9AM.

Has anyone recently booked a room at CSPI to get day passes to Atlantis? If so, were you able to get checked in before 3PM to get your wristbands? Arriving in port at 8AM and Atlantis opens at 9AM.

My now 17 year old son has been on Norwegian, Princess, HAL and Carnival. He much prefers HAL and always has met kids his age. Alaska cruises will have a lot of kids and they will definitely not be the only teens on board. While off-season HAL cruises have an older clientele, cruises during vacations times are much more multi-generational regardless of destination.

Currently have a forward facing balcony on the Regal thanksgiving cruise. Just noticed a mini-suite became available. Is it possible to change reservation after final payment?

My 13 year old son LOVED The Loft during our 14 day Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam. We hardly saw him during sea days other than when they closed for lunch and dinner

Where did you rent a car in Victoria? We want to see the gardens, and a one-day rental would likely be cheaper than a taxi both ways.

The overall ship experience was good. As mentioned before, check in was a breeze. Service in MDR was great and food was good. Portions were fine and did not leave us feeling stuffed after dinner. Tua (assistant MDR manager) and Dwi (server) were wonderful. They brought us freshly-made sambal from the crew galley every night. We had dinner at the Pinnacle Grill one night and it was awesome. Portions are large! The Lido deck was standard. Dont miss the French crepe station as I did for the first half of the cruise (on the side with the waffles). Ice machine was broken on one side for the entire cruise.

DS loved The Loft. Did not see much of him on the ship as he was always hanging out with the Teen group. We did some of the shows and enjoyed them. The juggler and magician shows were great. There no longer is a librarian available, so you can take books from the library as you wish. The Exploration Cafe always had great snacks. No need to purchase something to be able to get a snack.

Imho, the Unlimited Laundry package is the best kept HAL secret. $98 for the entire cruise and laundry picked up in the morning was back the same night most of the time.

The new Port Valet seems to work very well. Received boarding passes and luggage tags the night before disembarkation and according to Delta, my bag is on the plane with me. Port Valet disembarkation was broken up into 4 groups, with disembarkation times starting at 7:30AM for group A and ending at 8:30AM for group D.

A couple of negatives. The ship is in need of a major refit. The crew is doing their best to maintain it in the best condition possible, but they can only do so much. Dolphin deck (1) Port Aft had a water leak during the entire cruise which caused a less than pleasant odor in the hallways. When we boarded, they were already trying to dry the carpet, so it appears it may have been an issue during the previous cruise as well. Some of the equipment in the Lido did not work.

Be aware that the last bus back to the ship in Anchorage leaves at 9PM, even though all-aboard is not until 10:30PM. This caught a number of people by surprise.

I also wish that they would offer some food options (other than room service) on late port calls. When we returned to the ship at 9PM in Anchorage, nothing was available until the Lido opened back up at 10:30PM.

These were minor things in an overall great cruise.

Had to board airplane and was not able to edit original post within 30 minutes.

Kodiak was dreary and rainy. We had not plans so DH and DS stayed on board to relax and I walked around some in town and went for a hike in the park across the bridge. Hubbard Glacier was magnificent. As in Endicot Arm, the bow was opened up . Pea soup and hot chocolate was served on deck. We were able to get pretty close to the glacier and spent a good bit of time in front of it. The last Alaska stop in Sitka was the only time we did a shore excursion through the ship. Dry suit snorkeling was a great experience. DH decided to go into town, so it was DS and I with 4 others. Beautiful star fish, kelp beds and lots of fish, including a school of salmon. Victoria, BC was the last stop and we rented a car to visit Butchart Gardens (a must see) and to just drive around.

Where did you take the Tracy Arm excursion from?

Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight back home after 14 days of wonderful cruising on the Amsterdam. Overall it was a great cruise with an awesome itinerary. We stayed in Seattle for a few days pre-cruise and boarded around 1:30PM. The wait time was less than 10 minutes. one of my goals during this cruise was to see different native Alaska animals. During the first week of the cruise, the weather was fantastic and I ended up having to purchase sunscreen. You WILL burn on sunny days in AK. We rented a car in Ketchikan from First City Car Rental. Ended up seeing a black bear munching on a salmon as well as lots of bald eagles at Herring Cove. The captain decided to go to Endicot Arm instead of Tracy Arm, due to a lot of ice in Tracy Arm. This worked well for us as we had a Tracy Arm excursion booked through Adventure Bound. Their departure time lists 7:30am, but they will wait for cruise ship passengers. Call them ahead of time to let them know. It is a 10 hour excursion, but totally worth it. We saw humpback whales, orcas, mountain goats, seals on our way to South Sawyer Glacier. It is a totally different experience being close to a glacier in a 55ft boat! There was indeed a lot of ice and the crew used poles to push the ice away from the boat. In Icy Straight Point, was passed through the cruise center to meet up with our local guide Stu from Hoonah Travel Adventures to go on the Wilderness Tour and brown bear search. They can go much further into the park than the cruise ship tours. We only had 8 people in our van. Saw several Sitka Black Tail deer. There were signs of bears at every stop we made, but no bear sightings until we were about to give up at our very last stop. A brown bear appeared from the bushes about 50 years from where we were standing on the bridge and he proceeded to walk right underneath us! Highly recommend this tour. In Anchorage we again rented a car and decided to drive to Seward. Beautiful drive! Stopped at the Wildlife Conservation Center. Managed to see a Sea Otter at the Seward marina and hiked to the Exit Glacier. Quick trip to Homer for another car rental. This time with adventurealaskacars.com. An adventure indeed! The cars are old and beat-up. Good thin was that we did not have to worry about any scratches. $100 flat rate for cruise ship guests and they will pick you up from the Spit. Drove around some. Skyline Drive is totally worth the views.

Has anyone rented a car from them? If so, what was your experience? They will pickup from the Spit at no charge.

As a long-time Mariner fan, I couldn't agree more. But I would like to offer everyone a new place to get tickets...on your phone...anytime. It's an app called GameTime. I have it on my phone and I have scored some of the best seats ever with at phenomenal prices. We had friends here from Florida last week, post Solstice cruise and wanted to take them to a game. Went on GameTime looking for four seats. We wanted to really show off so I wanted the Club Level. Found four seats in section 234 (looking up the first baseline behind home plate) for $44 each. Regular price is in the $75 range. Yes these are resells but I have used the app for numerous games and never had a problem.

 

You buy the tickets online (I just checked and there are $7 tickets available for today's game against the Royals) and then you can text them to the people you are going with. Your phone is your ticket. It is the best way (and cheapest) I have found to get tickets to games.

 

They do all sports but I have only used them for the Mariners. Hawks tickets, even on resale, are way out of my price range.

 

Jim

 

PS: Here's the view from the seats we got on GameTime last week:

Thanks! Just downloaded the App

Looking at 2 possible tours:

Hoonah Travel Adventures: Wilderness Tour and Brown Bear Search

and

Icy Straight Point: Spasski River Valley Wildlife and Bear Search

Does any one have any experience with either one?

What time were you able to get of the ship in Juneau? It has port time from 8am-11pm, but I am wondering if you could actually get of the ship at 8am.

Thanks for all the info. We are going on an all day (10 hour) boat excursion to Tracy Arm. We will not have any time to get food on shore as we are already cutting it close time wise. While the excursion receives great reviews, the sandwiches you can purchase on board not so much.

Does anyone know the rules regarding this? Can you take a sandwich of the ship for an early departure all day shore excursion?

The boarding times show as 7:30am and 7:45am. Did you have to make special arrangements with an 8am arrival?

My 13 year old son plans to take his tux for formal nights. He owns one for his school choir, so not a big deal to him. Most of the time he wears dress shirts and slacks to regular dinner nights. Coming from Charleston, SC, coat and tie is normal church attire, so he may be packing his blazer as well. #momgetsthesmallsuitcase :D

Is the PG up-charge fee the same for kids and adults?

Are there any car rental agencies beside Juneau Car Rental Co? I recall renting a car in a hotel a long time ago, but cannot remember with whom.

Does the Amsterdam offer an unlimited laundry package? It looks like the have a laundromat, so I was not sure if they would offer it.

We will be in Anchorage from 8AM-11PM and are considering renting a car and driving to one of the accessible Glaciers. Would you recommend Byron Glacier or Matanuska Glacier?

I have a car booked for our September cruise and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for things to see, do, drink or eat, that is a bit different from the usual.

who are you renting with?

Would love to find out as well. We are on the same cruise

Going on Vancouver round trip cruise in early August, but will go to Vancouver Island for a couple of days beforehand. Want to do a whale watching excursion and trying to find out if Juneau or Victoria would be the better place to do this.