jsquaredfl

If you are worried about safety issues, thing about this. If a helicopter looses power at altitude, it is a brick and you will crash. If a small plane looses power at altitude, it becomes a glider, albeit a bad one, and the pilot stands a good chance of finding a place to put it down.

 

DON

 

as a helicopter and fixed wing pilot this is definitely not true.

 

In regards to what is better think of the view and how many people you will have with you. Most sightseeing planes would have two side by side seats, potentially with an aisle in the middle (like a cessna caravan). However some helicopters like A-Stars, Jet rangers etc will have 3 seats so someone will be in the middle, and with a much poorer view if you're in the back seat. Offsetting that is that the helicopter can stop and hover/land almost anywhere to see wildlife and other awesome things and if i have a choice between gliding to a landing in the mountains with an airplane at 60 mph plus or auto-rotating a helicopter, id take the helicopter any day. I know i can put mine down in the size of a parking spot with no roll out like a plane.

 

Either way, flying is by far the safest way to get around including driving. Its a great time, put the phobia aside (my wife always gets mad when i say that to her) and get lost in the moment and you'll be fine. Have a great flight

wow, thank you for all the information. I think for now the tentative plan is to fly into fairbanks. Take the train to Anchorage. Take a tour for a day or two in Denali, then rent the RV and maybe head to seward to hang out by the water. Head back to anchorage and then meet the parents. I do want to make some time for Homer though, i haven't been there since i was a teenager and i remember being very fond of it. I also went to an area, i think its called soldova, and we went to a trail, got baskets and picked berries and things, then the store we got the baskets from made them into fresh jams, jellies and other things based on what we picked off the bushes and was in our baskets. Need to find that place again.

 

Keep all the good info coming :D

We flew into Anchorage 7 yrs ago (hard to believe!) and rented a motorhome from ABC Motorhome Rental. We also did a cruise afterwards but had to fly down to Vancouver due to our vacation schedule. We had our 3 kids with us and it worked out wonderful! I would never recommend a person to just do a cruise to Alaska without also doing some kind of land portion!

My husband will never forget pulling into a camp area right near the water with eagles flying all over and seeing the seals in the water!

My inlaws are headed there this summer and also plan on renting a motorhome.

Just a word of advice make sure you stock up on some groceries while you can and keep your tank filled with gas when you have the opportunity as there are times places are few and far between.

 

I am almost certain that is what we will do. My wife loves to camp and I was thinking of spending all of the time in denali, where did you stay by the water because that sounds awefully enticing to me as well :D

 

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Thank you everyone for the tips and information.. We will be booking the train independently as everyone is suggesting. We will most likely do the upgraded seats for the best view. Probably going to book this tomorrow. I will say that their website is not the best I've ever seen

 

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Book the train on your own, We rented a motorhome for a week before and booked the train for the morning of the cruise and we had a few hours to walk around Seward before cruise can't remember the time but it was a early departure plus we stayed within walking distance to the train depot.

 

Would you mind sharing where you rented the motorhome from? my wife and i were thinking of doing the same exact thing. Maybe fly into Anchorage, rent the motorhome, drive around Denali and up to Fairbanks, then take the train from Fairbanks, down to Anchorage, meet the parents and then take that train to Seward.

 

 

The RCI cars are pulled by the Alaska Railroad. You can buy your own tickets ahead of time for a transfer. You would be on an Alaska RR car, not in the RCI cars. They have different levels from standard to domed, just depends on what you'd like to spend. Just click on fares & schedules in the far right windowpane.

 

Here is the website: http://alaskarailway.com/

 

There is a set schedule. We did Alaska in June 2013 and several friends flew in to Anchorage and took the train the following morning to Seward to board the ship.

 

PS..

 

If you are interested I did a very extensive review on Alaska that may answer a few of your questions if you have time to take a look. The link is in my signature below.

 

Thanks very much, ill look at that when i get home tonight.

 

I had friends who did the Alaska cruise last May. They flew into Anchorage a couple days early. They took the Alaska Railroad (alaskarailroad.com) from Anchorage to Seward and absolutely loved it. I believe the train was the Coastal Classic. I know they selected the Gold Star service. You can book it directly online. Hope this helps.

 

perfect, thanks very much

Hi all

 

complicated search to try so i couldn't really find anything.

 

Long story short, we are going to Alaska Summer 2015. Wife and I are flying in a week ahead to go see Denali and things like that, Parents are coming in day before the cruise. Called RCCL and they are telling me that unless we arrive the same day, we can't do the train from Anchorage to Seward which i was really looking forward to. We would have to go to the airport and book the transfer there when we arrive, which to me seems like its hit or miss as they may be full with the thousands of others arriving and going to Seward.

 

Any truth to this? I should state that the person i spoke with said hes never booked the train before and isn't really sure how it works and had to do some research

 

Is there any way to get around this so i can book the transfer now so i don't miss out on this train trip that we have all been looking forward to? Any help is appreciated

 

Thanks in advance

 

Edit - Spoke to my smarter half (my wife) she indicated that its probable that the train does not run exclusively for RCCL. This seems logical to me. If this is the case, who operates it?

[quote name='Theredofshaw']according to RCI's homepage on the up to $1K deal, it applies to 7 night or longer Alaska, Europe, or Australia cruises as long as you have a balcony or suite.

[url]http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithGallery.do?icid=chc_gs_tctclp_thr_hm_cntntr_3586&pagename=august2014_three_ways_save#choiceair[/url]

(click the get details button)[/QUOTE]



yeah, the issue though is that they jacked up the price so much that it costs me $90 after it because each fare went up $545. Then if you do the buy one get one free offer the second ticket is only a net of $40 cheaper. There is literally no benefit to this "sale" at all from what i see.

just got off the phone with them, turns out during the phone conversation the price of our cruise fare went up by $540 making it a $90 loss to go to the choice air offer..........seems awfully convenient to me. right now im paying $4k total for two people in a balcony cabin, when i price it out online i get about the same price, but on the phone its 1k more so i can't take advantage of this offer?

Really kinda pissed about this right now:mad:

[quote name='Theredofshaw']wouldn't hurt to call RCI and ask. there has been success in the past with them doing this. If all else fails, couldn't you cancel your cruise and rebook without any monetary loss if not past final payment date?[/QUOTE]

yeah, im on the phone with them right now, they are telling me that the deal for a 7 night alaska cruise is only $500? When i called earlier the rep didn't even know about the promotions going on. Im on hold while she gets clarification, its just frustrating when you have to go in circles like this. If they rebook my entire reservation it will save me a whopping $40 as of now..........

talked to TA today regarding the $1000 off when booking choice air on our europe cruise next year and was told I'd have to cancel current reservation and rebook utilizing full current prices to get the deal (not including cancellation fees from TA). That would put me at nearly $700 more even with the $1000 off.

 

If you booked without a TA can you get that deal now from booking the airline travel with choice air? We booked onboard our last cruise back in April for a cruise in 2015 but i want to combine this airfare deal.

Have someone get in the house and fax it to the cruise line or him and have it printed

150 Central Park hands down. The food, the service and the cucumber martini are all the best on the ship in my opinion

For the Caribbean

Suntan lotion

Sunglasses

Magnetic dry erase board (sticks to the wall which is metal) so the wife can put out schedule for the next day on it for shows and dinner reservations etc etc

 

Cash

Bottles of water

Copies of ship layout from RCCL website to help us get around

Copies of reservations we made prior to the cruise

Guides for ports we are stopping at if we don't have cruise tours booked and we are self navigating

I print mine in color. Then I buy clear packing tape, after I fold to the tag shape I put the tape on front and back so it's durable and then staple it around the handle. Never had one come back even slightly damaged so it works pretty well. Also makes it waterproof in case it's raining or someone spills something on it.

Hmmm good to know. I have a definite cruise in booking on my next cruise in a few weeks and someone at RCCL told me it's not. Not the first time I got bad info from RCCL and prob not the last :-)

I thought you get all money back but not the $100 deposit if you cancel, is this incorrect?

Thank You both, I will be cruising before may 1st. Wish I would have seen these before hand

So here is my issue. I am going on Allure shortly and I just found out about the dining packages they offer. We have specialty dining booked every night and i paid for each individually. If I call RCCL and ask them to swap it out for the package for 3 of the nights, would they do that? Is there any chance I would lose my reservation time if i do so? Im concerned that when they release that dining time, in the time it takes them to rebook it, someone else snags it. We have all of the dining planned out at specific times to avoid conflicts between shows and other events. Is there any other difference between getting the dining package and just paying for it individually? Does it include the same stuff, just with a volume discount?

Ok cool thx vm

a few questions on Maho

 

We have to be back on the ship at 4 (wife wants a nice buffer).

 

I have the simpson bridge schedule downloaded, but which way is considered inbound vs outbound? I dont want to get stuck on the bridge as i hear it can take a long long time for it to go up.

 

If we were to get stuck at the bridge for an extended period of time, can we walk a ways down from the bridge and then catch a cab on the side of the road? (i know how that sounds, wife is making me ask)

 

and finally, their website (sunset bar and grill) says there are cabs waiting right outside the bar, is this correct? So at any time we want to head back we can just jump in one? Plan B if this isn't the case is to offer my driver an extra $20 or so if he picks us up at the beach right at 3pm (after the 747's come in of course)

 

Thanks for the help in advance. Bucket list item number 1 right here :D

So some people stayed on ship, enjoyed full service everything, still get to cruise for at least a few days, then get full refund plus 25% on top for a future cruise?? How do I sign up for this program??!! I would do this in a heartbeat. Sad though that it came with an environmental cost

Was it more than $100 previously for a balcony? How much was it out of curiosity? I never really looked into it previously

Sweet!!!! Thx vm

Can I book Onboard for a future cruise to get the $100 obc and then transfer the booking to my TA when I get home to get my additional $200 obc and free specialty restaurant certificates or do I have to choose one or the other?

oh yeah, i heard about that on the news today. Thanks for the info