catr13

I think they are probably stricter with your booking (and also European bookings) as they get to keep your deposit if you cancel and re-book. Here in the U.S. if someone cancels, the passenger loses nothing (unless their TA charges a cancellation fee), so RCCL is much more willing to work with us.

Yeh that makes sense! If I was over 150 day out I wouldn't have had pay anything. So even under 150 days you still pay nothing to cancel that's alright!!

I rang RCL today to try and get them to adjust my price as I noticed the price had significantly dropped. They wouldn't do it, said with the current promotion it was for new bookings only. Funny how when I booked I had the same promo but now the promo is heaps cheaper. It could be that I am from Australia as it does seem we have different rules here? Anyways I cancelled and rebooked. Lost my $400 deposit but still ended up saving $850 total.

Such an awesome review! Your pics are amazing! Can't wait to sail on her in Jan!

Thanks for the awesome review!!

If you're a C&A member, do you have your preferences set for automatic upgrade? Sometimes what Royal considers an "upgrade" may not be what most people would agree with (such as going from an aft to a side cabin :eek:). Just to be safe, any time I pick a cabin for a particular reason I also call C&A and make sure they note "no upgrade" on that reservation.

Aww right I did change my preferences to allow for upgrades, so maybe it was that! But what they changed me to wasn't an upgrade it was the exact same category and the room wasn't any better so maybe a glitch in the system! Thanks I have now unticked the box don't want to chance it changing on me again!

If you booked for 2 passengers, could you have originally booked a cabin that has a minimum of more than 2? RCI takes reservations but doesn't inform you that there is a minimum at the time of booking. This taken from another thread on CC.

 

Hope you get to keep your cabin of choice.

Hmm just read that D5-D8 balconies all have a max occupancy of 2, so not likely to be that, the mystery remains.

If you booked for 2 passengers, could you have originally booked a cabin that has a minimum of more than 2? RCI takes reservations but doesn't inform you that there is a minimum at the time of booking. This taken from another thread on CC.

 

Hope you get to keep your cabin of choice.

How do you know what rooms have a minimum of 3? If they have like a triangle on the deck plan for a sofa bed etc.? You would have thought the agent on the phone could have told me that if that was the case.

Thank you fingers crossed it doesn't change again on me.

It could have been a glitch or is the room a handicap room?

Once nice thing about booking direct is that I found you can put in first dibs for another room and they will call and email you if it comes up. I was able to move to an angle cabin that I was hoping for on my upcoming cruise using this.

Hopefully just a glitch, only time will tell if it happens again. Def not a handicapped room.

Wow that is cool didn't know that! I am pretty happy where I am atm as long as it stays that way.

A little over a week ago I booked a room on the Oasis of the Seas through the official website. 4 days later I got an email notifying me of a room change. I was very puzzled and quite upset as that was the room I really wanted and a great deal of research had gone into it. They allocated me one in the exact same category but I didn't like the location. I rang them up and they had no idea why it had all happened and of course my room was gone so I had to take what was left. So today two days after my phone call I had a look online and there and behold my room was now available. I couldn't change my room fast enough. Now I am concerned the whole thing is going to happen all over again!

Has anyone had this happen to them? I could understand if maybe I had booked a connecting room and they wanted it for someone else so they could connect with their room but even then you would think a common courtesy of a phone call would apply.

Nice review!!! Can't wait to sail on her!!!

Think I met you! You stayed Wed 1st July at Silver Salmon creek? We arrived the next day! Fantastic review!!! Silver Salmon Creek was the best, so want to go back!!!!

We just did one in June with Island Wings. Like the others can highly recommend!!!

We never got to go to Hubbard a couple of weeks ago. Got so far in and had to turn around due to poor visability. Very disappointing. Didn't get to see any of it. Just prpepare yourself that there is a chance of missing it.

Another Aussie here! Bizziecruzer your itinerary sounds awesome!

Pushka I am doing the Norwegian Sun Northbound this year, followed by 8 days in Alaska in an RV. Then before that I am touring the Rocky Mountains for a week as well as seeing Yellowstone NP/ Grand Tetons for the first time. 3 years ago I did a very similar trip. Rockies, then I sailed on the Island Princess which is the sister ship to the Coral Princess northbound followed by 7 day RV around Alaska. It was so good that I am back to do it all over again. I would highly recommend at least a cpl of days in Alaska thus the Sun/Coral Princess combo. I can recommend a wildlife cruise out of Seaward which will get you far more up close to wildlife than on the cruise ship. Seaward is lovely.

I have an 8am flight booked with Island Wings too and I was a little concerned with it being so early in the day. That's all I was offered so not sure if there were other times have available. I have just left it it's it is.

I heard the same comment from my sister. The sharpness and color of the Tamron lens are not close to Canon lenses she has. I was going to buy the Tamron 16-300mm, but changed my mind after seeing her pictures.

 

Btw, Mercruiser, love your Africa pictures. May I ask which tour did you take? I would love to go there in the future.

I love my tamron 16-300mm. I am happy with quality so far. It's so good to not have to change lens, canon do no have the exact equivalent and even if they did it would be way more $ so I am happy with what I have the amount of $ spent. It's also quite light weight which makes it ideal for travelling

We only visited Hubbard Glacier southbound (Whittier to Vancouver). I didn't have my stopwatch on it, but I expect the ship was close to stationary very close to the glacier face for perhaps an hour. It was simply outstanding, and then you add the time required to cruise slowly into the bay and then back out again - it was sufficient time.

 

Apparently is is very weather dependent - we had a bright blue day that was dead calm, allowing the ship maximum flexibility and access to the glacier close-up. When we stopped right in front, it was the only time in the whole cruise when absolutely everybody actually kept quiet for 15 minutes - it was that good.

Thanks for that!! I guess I was just worried that it wouldn't be long. With princess cruises they actually state the times on their itineraries whereas NCL don't. Think they say 4 hours for Hubbard and 8 hours for glacier bay.

Great review!! Are you able to tell me what time is spent in Glacier Bay and at Hubbard? I know you mentioned the afternoons were basically free, I was hoping Glacier Bay was going to be for the good part of the day.

Does anyone know where I can watch the series?

Looks like someone uploaded these videos to youtube, here are the links...

 

NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY THE VOYAGE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4wBPuVwHs

 

NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY THE BUILD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fkG6BTW7DI

These have since been removed :( Does anyone know where i can watch? I am located in Australia so I have limitations.

You might want to budget for a zoom lens to get the wildlife.

 

I like 18-200mm which combines your wide and zoom. Image quality is not so great, but it makes it so much portable. This lens is a bargain until you can save up for the 70-200mm f/2.8.

I find 200mm not to be quite long enough for wildlife. I guess it depends on how much of a close up you want.

I bought this recently for my canon

http://www.eglobaldigitalcameras.com.au/tamron-16-300mm-f-3.5-6.3-di-ii-vc-pzd-macro-lenses.html

Tamron 16-300mm, it's great as I never have to change lens as it goes from wide angle to telephoto and it's very light weight. I would have loved a canon 400mm but they are well over twice as much and more cumbersome to lug around.

Thanks for the other options. I had apparently missed the ncl cruises. (Carnival has only a few shoulder season sailings to glacier bay this year) As far as the other lines, I used the word "mainsteam" trying to nicely indicate "cruises that I can afford". Some of the smaller ships look great, but not for those prices! we love celebrity, but they never go to glacier bay. Our last cruise was ncl, and just wasn't as nice as celebrity. So I'm trying to figure out if I can get the best Alaskan experience on my preferred line or if I'll have to switch to princess.

I have the Norwegian Sun booked for June next year. They were the cheapest for a balcony over Princess and Holland and includes Glacier Bay. My previous Alaskan cruise was with princess. I looked at Celebrity because I do love them but the itinerary for the Norwegian sun was hard to beat and with the right price won me over. I have never sailed NCL before so it will be interesting to compare.

Ooh the dreamliner sounds good! Maybe it will be in operation by next May! Hawaiian allows 2 suitcases but then there is the issue of internal flights which probably wouldn't. Although that much luggage could become a real pain in the neck to manage!

 

Yvette, sorry for interrupting your review - looking forward to the next installment!!

Internal flights allow two but you pay for each suitcase so it starts to add up. Yes lots of luggage can be a pain but what we do is we each have a large and medium suitcase. The medium goes inside the large on the way over and we break open the second on the last part of our trip when we have boughts so much that it will no longer fit in the one suitcase. So its only the last part of the trip where it gets a little tricky.

Yvette, loving your review so far!!

Loving your review Yvette - photos are fabulous! We have just booked for the same trip in reverse - Northbound on Millennium in May with a few days in Anchorage/Seward area at the end.

How did you find Hawaiian airlines? Better than Jetstar? We are tossing up between Jetstar and Hawaiian and trying to figure things out with frequent flyers, but want to fly via Honolulu and maybe stop there for a few days on the way back. Also not sure how to continue on with a codeshare flight (we will be flying Honolulu to Vancouver) but you've made me think I'd better look into it more carefully!

I have flown both with Jetstar and Hawaiian airlines to Hawaii. There is not a massive difference between the two. For me I usually go by whatever is the cheapest option. The problem is with jetstar you have to pay for the extras. By the time you add on meals and baggage sometimes you can often find the prices to be quite similiar! You cant beat Hawaiian's luggage allowance of 2 x 32 kg bags!!

Jetstar might start to fly their dreamliner to Hawaii in the not too distance future. I have heard they are a very nice experience. Will find out in a cpl of weeks time when I fly to Japan on one!