nicoleinwi

I believe if you want any filters you have to go with the super suit.  The color has improved a lot starting at the 6 though so you might be fine without it. The 7 black is waterproof for up to 33' so you will be fine with the camera if you decide not to do any additional housing.   

The only accessory I'd recommend is what they call The Handler on GoPro's website.  It is really a pain to snorkel and just hold the camera as is.  I have an off brand from Amazon, pasting link below.  I started with the original GoPro and back then GoPro didn't make such a handle so I had to go to off brand. 

 https://www.amazon.com/SHOOT-Floating-Handheld-Crosstour-Accessories/dp/B00MCA17MG/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=gopro+handle+yellow&qid=1582422823&sr=8-5

I would carry it if you are going off just your own group.  You are in bear country.  Sucks to spend $50 on a can when you arrive (if you aren't driving to the port and could bring your own with you) but better to be safe then sorry.  

We aren't cruising until late May but we booked just a RT from Seattle vs a one way with land portion on one end of the trip.  

The main reason is we want to cruise and of May but touring land based we'd want later in the season.  

Also for cost once we figure in the two one-way ticket upcharge form the midwest we would be looking at roughly the same cost doing a land/sea tour through the cruise line or just doing the cruise we booked and going back again and doing a weeklong DIY land tour.  But we travel like this multiple times a year so the cost, planning, time off work, etc is not an issue.  If this is your once in a lifetime trip and don't travel like this often then I would say do the land/sea tour.  

We are in WI so we have cold weather gear.  We plan on bringing our winter coats.  But they are Eddie Bauer poofer style jackets that pack inside a pocket so they will not take up much space in the room or out in town to throw in a backpack.  We will also bring a fleece and a rain jacket so we should be set for a variety of temps (our winter jackets are also rain resistant).  We are traveling with my in-laws who only have bulky winter jackets so they will plan on layering a fleece and a rain jacket.  Then depending on how cold they might have a heavier shirt on.  

Great points Cruise Suzy!  We have not sailed Alaska before but we plan on doing most of our viewing from our balcony.  When we did our Norway Fjords cruise, it was just so peaceful (as in quiet) to sit on our balcony undisturbed.  Some days were very cold so nice to just leave the shades open and sit on the couch and get up and go outside if needed.  

I plan on living in my hiking boots on land in AK.  But DH and I visit National Parks and do a lot of hiking so the investment for good waterproof ones for us is something that we will get lots of use out of.  

I'd check out REI as they will have a variety of footwear both lower and midrise (and high) hiking boots.  For women they make some that look a little more girlie depending on your style such as darker colored ones such as purple or blue.  Or even black or grey with some accent colors like a yellow or pink.  

Or as others said, waterproof a pair of sneakers.  We are going late May so it might still be a little cool that's why I want my hiking boots as it'll provide a little more warmth. 

It says the fee may apply.  Do you think this is just during certain hours?  If I recall last time we were on NCL they charged the fee from like 8pm - 2am or something like that.  Really liked getting breakfast in the room for early port days. 

Thanks for posting.  We are on the Bliss in May.  I saw another review with photos where the person was very disappointed of the cruise and didn't think they were able to see the scenery like they thought.  Your video has it looking amazing and makes me excited for our upcoming sailing. 

DH & I are heading out on our first Alaska cruise in May.  We, as well, have mainly sailed warm climate (Caribbean and Med).  We cruised in Norway late May a few years back and the main thing over Caribbean was the chill in the air.  Even if the temperatures were in the 60's (which is still not warm) it felt a lot cooler then 60's.  Everything always seemed damp so that attributed to the cooler feeling.  Even when it wasn't raining just the overcast skies and fog added dampness to the air.  Be prepared with some warmer clothes.  DH bought a winter hat onboard so we will be packing that for our Alaska cruise. 

Even though I'm sure we will come across junk stores, I'm hoping AK will be like Norway shopping and not the junk you find all over the Caribbean (the markets).  I know some people may like that stuff, but not our thing.   

Also from what I read unless you are on Disney Cruise Line, you are probably going to have an older crowd.  

I've never had issues just fitting our purchases into our checked luggage or carry on.  I know I'm going to buy stuff so I just make sure there is room going out there. 

DH travels a lot to Japan and he ends up with so many purchases each time.  He packs a big duffel bag into his suitcase on the way to Japan.  Takes up about as much room as a lightweight jacket.  On the way home, he fills that duffel with a majority of his clothes (and brings a lock for the duffel) and checks it.  He uses other clothes to pack around the purchases in his suitcase.   We might start doing that for our travels together if we're pretty packed from the start.  

Booked the Westin June 2019 for late May 2020 cruise.  I think that was as soon as their booking window opened.  Where we wanted to stay and rate we thought so no reason not to book it then. But we’re planners.

Great news! It never dawned on me to do a MDR and buffet is always so crazy. Plus a pain with our backpacks of carry on stuff.

I just wanted to touch on the clothing portion a bit as you have so many responses on the other aspects.  We live in WI so the temp for us will be fine when we cruise in May but it's not going to be warm for us either. 

DH & I both have Eddie Bauer down jackets that pack up into a pocket on the jacket.  Check out their Storm Down series.  We love them because they aren't bulky.  They're rated for like 40 degrees with no activity but down to -15 with activity.  They're great because we will wear them on the plane as not bulky to too warm for that as just sitting and if get too warm just stuff them into our carryon.  They have wind spoof and water repellent (we'll still take an actual rain jacket though for a downpour).  It's the wind that is going to get you.  Right now in WI we're in a bad cold snap, it's been upper 30's and 25mph winds.  I went for a walk the other day in this jacket and my top part was comfortable with just a long sleeve t-shirt it was my legs that got cold.  And, I think with how "warm" this jacket goes to it might not be a one time use as in FL if a cold snap it could be good.  

You could also look for hiking pants that have wind protection in them (and will usually beed off the rain if light enough).  They look almost like casual dress pants.  Kuhl, Eddie Bauer and Outdoor Research make some decent ones.  

You'll probably want a lightweight pair of gloves.  And, if you don't get a jacket with a hood, maybe a hat.  

Lastly wool socks to keep your feet toasty.  If you aren't doing hiking boots then they will sure help if wearing sneakers.  I think though we'll be living in our hiking boots for all the excursions.  Ours have goretex in them to keep them waterproof.  If you don't have already, I wouldn't spend the extra money to get winter insulted ones.  We are fine in winter in our regular ones with wool socks.  

Good luck in all your clothes shopping :)

Thank you both for your reply!  I have checked out that Sun world cruise thread, very good info, and just makes me more excited for when our day comes.

Thanks or the info on the overland trips, that does sound nice.  

@Heidi13 I came across your breakdown when we were looking at different options.  That was one of the reasons, I would rather pay more upfront with Viking and not be as surprised at the end with all the add-ons.  Plus we like to gamble so no casino is a huge bonus so we are not adding a gambling budget into the already pricey trip. 

I would like to do a transatlantic in the next couple years so even though that cruise is not too long, it would get us a good feel of so many sea days in a row.  Right now I think we've only had 2 and while we loved them, a week straight of sea might give me a better idea.  I want to retrace our ancestors path into NYC.  

Good point on incidentals like hair cuts.  I'm sure a lot pricer then at home.  Especially with DH and his every 3 week cut at $15 US, looking at probably 3x the price.  Well maybe we purchase a pair of clippers and I learn how to do his military cut. 

And, eating, good point.  I can shed the extra pounds pretty easy from a week long cruise, but couldn't keep up that eating for months.  

Well I don't want to read through all your posts as I want to be surprised as we are on the bliss end of May.  But I did read the Glacier Bay post and I feel disappointed now too.  It did look beautiful!  But yeah I was expecting all the icebergs as well....

DH and I are about 5 years away from our first world cruise  I'm trying to get a handle around extra costs.  We have already narrowed down to Viking due to all their inclusions compared to other lines and the opportunity for an included excursion in each port.  But in looking at the included excursions many appear to just be walking tours which is fine in some ports but we'd likely want to do a little more then just a walking tour in ports, so we'd be looking at that as an add on.  I can't find on Viking's website the costs for excursions so that is where we're really in a sticking point on estimating the true cost of the trip.  

I see right now for the 2021 Viking world cruises they are offering $2k per person shore exc credit and $1k per person OBC.  Assume this is pretty common at some point to pull in the credits.  So not counting all the pre-trip purchases (such as all the extra toiletries and medications) and not including air (as either free with Viking or too variable based on our different locations) what sort of costs are people experiencing at the end of their cruise?  

We have only done week long cruises; most of the Caribbean, Norway and Med.  Each cruise not counting airfare or cruise fare we spent about $3k (for 2 of us) during the weeklong cruise.  I'm thinking it's not realistic on a 140 day cruise to use the same rationale and looking at $60K in extras.  But on a weeklong cruise we are doing full day expensive excursions each day and I also don't think that is realistic on a world cruise.  We are going to want some down days even on a port call day so I can't image expensive full day excursions at each port.  

Has anyone ever went just a 7 night cruise to a 140 day cruise?  Is that too crazy of an option?  We can occupy our down time with the various activities, socializing with other passengers, reading, playing on iPad, etc.  DH was in the Navy and did some 180 day deployments on a submarine, one time they were even underwater for about 90 days straight so the boredom factor definitely isn't there for him.  No children or pets for us.  And, our parents as of right now are still healthy as of now.  I think the parent thing and if their health fails would be the only consideration with going that long.  

Any advice you could give would be appreciated.  And, if you don't feel comfortable giving an actual number, if you wanted to say ___% of the cruise fare is what we ended up spending also works great.  

1 hour ago, KG2019 said:

What cruise line does the round trip from Vancouver or Seattle?  Thanks

We’re doimg Norwegian Bliss, which goes into a Glacier Bay.  This is out of Seattle.

We are doing our first AK cruise (and first time in AK) next summer.  We chose RT from Seattle.  We would love to see Denali, Anchorage and Fairbanks.  If we just did a one-way cruise we really aren't saving that much money vs just going back to AK at another time.  The price of two one tickets is almost as much as a RT into Fairbanks or AK for a later time and our RT into Seattle for this cruise.  We also want to cruise late May and we'd want to see the other sights later summer. 

We thought of doing the cruise extension that did the land based, but again the cruise time vs land time of year didn't pan out.  Plus for the cost of the land excursion through the line, we could do it on our own for the same cost but be gone for a week vs the few days they give you (and be on our own schedule). 

Disclaimer though:  We travel about 5 weeks a year (as much vacation time we're given at work).  These types of trips aren't unrealistic for us to do each year so going back to land in 2021 is a very viable option.  If you don't travel like this normally I'd say just go all out and do cruise/land tour now as you never know if you will be back.  

Looking for some recommendations on the railroad trip.  We are going next summer and it looks like 3 tours; Summit, Bennett and Fraser.  We have seen the videos of the train tour and we basically just want to take the train journey and see the sights like you see in the promo videos.  Is that just the Summit tour?  I realize that is the shortest tour and doesn't go into Canada.  But that isn't the worst thing for us.  We hope to tour some of the museums that are part of the National Park in town.  Also it appears there are some relatively short hiking trails right near town so we'd like to do a couple trails and also hit up a brewery.  So the Bennett tour which is 8 hours probably wouldn't be an option for us.  I see Fraser goes into Canada and is a different train then Summit tour. 

Which one would you recommend and why?

Nice to hopefully see this thread revived.  I'm a navy wife (who also posts on her husbands behalf at times).  My husband was 5 years active duty as an Electronics Technician Radioman on submarines.  We were stationed at Pearl Harbor.  His enlistment was up and he was done with the Navy and sick of the BS.  He took an 8 year break and realized some of the best times of his life was in the Navy; along with meeting most of our lifelong friends.  He signed back up, but for the Navy Reserves this time.  We were established with our life in WI.  He has 3 years left until he has his 20 years in. 

The reserves aren't the same..... But now so close to retirement with a decent pension and medical benefits for retirement he is sticking it out, plus he feels it's his duty to serve our country.  He has had some great opportunities with the reserves; twice he spent 3 months in Thailand, did a summer on the east coast for the War of 1812 ceremony and this year he spent a month in Japan and will go back for another month yet this year. 

The travel benefits are also huge for us; traveling back to HI and staying at Hale Koa numerous times.  Staying in Germany at Edelweiss, Disney at Shades of Green.  Then even some of the Gateway Inns in places like Coronado Island or just a town we are driving through and need a decent cheap place to sleep for the night.  When we retire we'll hopefully take advance of the RV parks and possibly Space A flights if we could get on.  

Thank you all for your service and stay safe!

I got a pink sand necklace from Alexandra Mosher studio in Hamilton.  It is the triangle, but they had so many different options for the pendant.  The prices are significantly higher then you will find at a craft vendor but the quality looks so much nicer.  And, the cost isn't bad for something unique, I'd say $75-$150 was the price range of the necklaces. 

DH and I used the waterproof belt and I didn't care for it, DH didn't mind it.  It didn't go small enough for me and I was constantly messing with it.  I'm a size 4.  DH isn't "big", he's 32" waist but it fit him fine.  I guess it was fine for the amount of time we used it, we used at one beach for an hour.  But for extended periods mine would be too much of a pain. 

I like the neck pouch idea CanadianBear recommended; as both DH & I use rash guards so it'd stay nice in our shirts. 

Thanks for the info.  We want to go up there next year on our cruise.  Yeah the rate does seem high, but I think a car rental would be close to $100 then you have to mess around with getting the car and returning and filling with gas. 

Were taxis readily available when you wanted to leave?

Another option if you have a North Face outlet near you, we've picked up nice rain jackets there.  You could usually get for about 50% off so they are about $60-70. 

We are cruising end of May.  I have our flights book and pre-cruise hotel.  I'm waiting on excursions until our cruise (NCL Bliss) has them available as I usually take that as a starting point then decide if we do independent or with them as we have some OBC.  Hurry up NCL and get them out there!