Nhsaltshaker

Hoping things work out for you. I was considering EZ Air, now I'm not so sure.

The Blue Horizon is awesome! My husband and I stayed there the night before our Alaskan cruise a few weeks ago; I wouldn't have known about the place without Cruise Critic! We liked it so much that we reserved a night for our next trip in September when we were checking out. It's a lovely hotel - great service, super comfy rooms, amazing views, and so many things are within walking distance (harbourfront, convention center, Stanley Park, just to name a few). The attached restaurant, Abode, is amazing, too - we had breakfast and lunch there and both meals were fantastic. There is a liquor store just a few minutes walk from the hotel on Bute Street in case you want to pick up some wine or whatever for your trip, and there are a couple of drug stores and grocery stores within walking distance as well in case you want to buy water for the cruise or need to pick up any last minute items. Highly recommend this place!

Thanks for the input! I'll check that out.

I wasn't familiar with this option and I don't see it listed as a package option on my Cruise Personalizer. Is this something one orders on board? Or only available on certain ships?

You can order it to have it delivered to your stateroom by using the link above before your cruise.

It is my understanding you cannot order it on the ship but you can obtain it on a can by can basis at certain bars or in your mini-bar.

Hopefully somebody will correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't been on Princess for a couple of years.

I was in Ketchikan in 2009 and a can of Coke was more than $7 in port.

For what it's worth, I usually buy/use the internet package.

I let a few select, trusted, family members know I am only available by email. They will contact my elderly mother, who is at home, by telephone and check on her. If there is a problem, depending on the emergency, they can email me or call the phone number of the ship.

Both parties understand the cost of that call and will adjust accordingly.

Of course, I send mom updates of the trip, as well as my family members. She normally does not reply, yet my family does...telling me they talked to her today and everything is fine.

Now, if you want to go into the details about how to use your internet minutes wisely and carefully...I think we need to start a new thread. :D:D

Have a great cruise!

Why not pre-order and have them waiting in your cabin when you board? http://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-gifts-celebrations/gifts-and-services/culinary-delights-wine/

Hello!! Just disembarked this morning from Star Princess. Spent 32 days on her, ending with the 7 day Alaska voyage. Loved everything about the Star. The crew are amazing and the Captain is still Stefano Ravera. Last night, he took the ship along the most scenic passage, past Alert Bay... the sun was shining and the views from Skywalkers were simply amazing.

 

The Star does not have the new mattress's.... if my memory serves me correctly, I believe the end of 2017.

 

Hated to leave the ship this morning, but hope to return real soon.

 

Anytime dining in Portofino and Capri was easy-breezy... no waits at all... I usually dined around 7:30 and later.

 

If anyone has other questions, please ask! :)

Did you go to the Casino? Any luck? I'm curious what the table minimums are.

Will try to remember!

 

 

 

Not much traffic on that roll call, is there? I signed on a couple weeks back. This is a present to my granddaughter...no big excursions planned (the cruise is enough!) Normally when DH and I cruise it's all about the ports of call, but for this cruise, it's about being on a cruise ship. We'll see what the weather is as we get to port, but we'll probably just walk around each town.

That's a great present!

I've done the same land tour and cruise tour in 2009 and am going to try some different excursions. Roll call will probably pick up once things open up for booking.

Hope to meet you and nanabanana on board!

We are doing a land-cruise Southbound next May 23, 2017. Will board the Star in Whittier, AK May 27th

 

What date is your cruise?

Arriving in Fairbanks on the 18th, but we will see you on the ship. Come on over to roll call. Would love to hear your plans for excursions. :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=48536403#post48536403

I asked for someone else..when I did Alaska 2 years ago there wasn't a meal plan option. They're doing tour KB6

 

:)

Oh, ok. I thought you might have meant the Connoisseur tour which also includes all gratuities/tips except for the tour guide (who does everything for you), bus/train travel, some excursions, most meals, lodging, luggage handling, etc.

I'm not familiar with the add-on meal plan, sorry.

Can I ask what tour you are looking at?

Anyone have any experience with it?

Not sure if it's decent cost or not.

Meal plan? Do you mean a particular tour? I've had meal's on a Princess cruise tour, but it included a heck of a lot more than meals.

You do know that Seattle is a four hour drive from Vancouver? Can be more depending on the border.

 

 

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Thanks for the heads up. The last thing I want to do is drive.

We are cruising August of 2017. Wow. Your trip sure is ambitious. We are sailing out of Seattle though. Just seemed a lot less stressful.

 

I am going to read about the Alaska Air cc.

 

Good luck planning

Not sure what you mean by less stressful. Is it because a land tour from Fairbanks causes the extra flight leg?

Thanks so much, vibeguy! I don't mind paying for convenience. Your advice makes sense!

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Well, the cruisetour is definitely more expensive than a DIY, but it is manageable. I had decided on driving mostly because I thought it would be easiest on Mom, but it seems I was wrong. Won't be the last time, I'm sure. ;)

 

Thanks for the information on Cokes (we are actually liking the Cherry Coke Zeros now though plain Coke Zero is good too; maybe I'll be able to wean myself off by then but probably not). I was planning on picking some up in ANC when we were going to do the DIY tour for the ship, but that's changed now. Did you get to take the cokes with you in 2009 on the land portion of the tour, or did you ship them to the ship directly?

 

I will eventually join the roll call, but I will wait until we've booked our tour and it's a little closer to our travel. It gives me something else to look forward to. Thanks for the help. Mom is actually in charge of picking which tour we take. After all, this trip is for her.

No Cokes provided on the land tour, unless you choose the C Tour, then, they are provided with the free meals (which you already paid for).

I've decided to rent a car, and, purchase a 'day before'...at the lodge, in Fairbanks, before Day 1, then do some shopping at a local grocery store the next day (when everyone else is arriving). The last time, I relied on their vending machines at the lodges for soda.

The ship, to my knowledge, doesn't carry all the different Coke flavors you seem to like. It maybe worthwhile to see how much it costs to transport your own ahead of time?

I'll agree with onespot.

Since I live faraway, the must-do's outweigh the costs. It depends on where you live and what you want from Alaska.

The expense just to fly, for me, made me make the decisions I did as well as the excursions I took. Telling myself I would never be able to afford to go to Alaska again, it was important to cross off all things Alaska on my 'bucket list'.

Well, after fulfilling the bucket list, I have found there is much more to do and see in Alaska. For that reason, I've decided that doing it right the first time, requires me to do it even better the second time.

My flight to the top of Denali, dogsledding on a glacier via helicopter, humpbacks on my photo safari, flight over Misty Fjords etc. cost a lot of money. It took me 3 years to save for it and was worth every penny.

Decide how important it is to you to enjoy all you can with the budget you have without denying yourself the things you 'wish you had done'.

You will be surprised at how little time you have to experience all you want to do...once you're there.

Since there aren't any nonstops from Boston to Fairbanks or Vancouver, you're going to have to suck it up and endure a plane change in each direction.

 

It's an ideal open-jaw routing, and my recommendation would be to use Alaska Airlines, which flies nonstop from/to Boston to/from Seattle, and connects to nonstops to Fairbanks and Vancouver as well.

 

On the money saving front, I'd apply for an Alaska Airlines Visa card (Bank of America) which will not only get you 25,000 Alaska frequent flyer miles as a signup bonus, but which will also give you an annual "companion certificate" with which one passenger pays the going price and the other pays $99 plus taxes for the whole trip. All the flights have to be operated by Alaska Airlines, but for example, if an open-jaw ticket cost, say, $500 for BOS-FAI//YVR-BOS, then the total for two would be something like $620 after taxes, or $310 per person, a savings of almost $400. The companion also earns full FF miles on the ticket, so one person would have over 30,000 miles in his/her account (more than enough for a free round trip) and the other would have almost 7,000 in his/hers. You can redeem Alaska miles on numerous partner airlines, including American, Delta, British Airways, KLM/Air France, Emirates and others.

 

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/credit-card/visa-signature.aspx

I realize there is no actual "nonstop". Your information is exactly what I was looking for. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I just wanted to say thank you for all of the great replies and information! It's been very very helpful. Mom and I talked about it this evening, and we went through the pros and cons of both styles of travel. She'd been under the impression that: 1. I wanted to drive and 2: a cruisetour was too expensive. Neither was the case. She picked doing a cruisetour, and I admit I am somewhat relieved. Now she just has to decide which one. It will come down to what she wants to see/do.

 

I am especially grateful for the personal stories and details on the differences between a regular cruisetour and connoisseur tours and the tip about finding prices for meals. We already have a cruise booked and will probably stick with that same one unless we find it would be better to go a little later. I would like to see some green in Denali after all.

 

SO MUCH GRATITUDE for all of you. It's really helped ease my mind.:D

Remembering your prior posts, I was under the same impression as your mom. So glad you changed your mind. You won't regret it. Come on over to roll call if you want to learn specifics as I have done the C Tour a few years ago and am doing it again the same time you might, land first/sea second...with the ship departing the same day.

I've learned now to fly in the day before to help with the jet lag (East Coast here) and get some rest before the hustle and bustle of the land tour, as well as taking advantage of some free time to do things I wanted to do the last time but couldn't, because of the tour schedule.

In 2009, I found Cokes on land for about $7. Expect to pay more than what you're used to, for most necessities.(?) All goods are trucked, shipped, or flown to Alaska and that costs $$$.

Although it's early yet to purchase, Princess has packages where you can buy cans of soda to be delivered to your cabin on the ship. Last check, and it was awhile ago, averaged $2.60 per can. So, trying to get ahead money-wise is worth the search.

I'm guessing it's easier/cheaper to just skip the train from Seattle and fly straight through.

Also curious. :)

Hi all,

We have booked a land/cruise tour through Princess for May 2017. It's early yet, but, it doesn't hurt to plan ahead.

We're flying from Boston, Mass to Fairbanks, Alaska to start the land portion of the tour. Then we get on the ship at Whittier and debark in Vancouver the first week of June. We would like to spend a day or two post-cruise in Vancouver, possibly the Westin Bayshore.

My question to all you wonderful readers is...

What are my cost-effective options for travel?

Buy round trip tix to/from Seattle, buy a one-way to Fairbanks pre-cruise, then a post-cruise Amtrak ride to Seattle, then getting a flight from Seattle to Boston?

Or, is it better to book open jaw BOS to FAI... then YVR to BOS?

Saving a buck or two isn't really a priority but blowing the whole budget is. We prefer non-stops (best we can). I would rather shoot myself in the foot twice rather than spend more than four hours waiting at an airport for a flight.

Does anyone see a cost-effective option for efficient travel without wasting 48 hours of travel time?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

The 10 passengers at our Winemaker's dinner on the Royal in October were unanimous in saying that it should be expanded throughout the fleet and offered more frequently on cruises. My DH was willing to pay for it every night if they varied the menu :).

 

We have experienced the Chef's Table 3 times and enjoyed each of them but have no desire to do it again, especially at the current prices. That said, we'll be on the Crown for a month in December with my DS and BIL who have never experienced a Chef's Table dinner so maybe we will change our minds.

Besides the price, can you describe what the difference is between the two dinners? Much appreciated.

We did the Chilkoot Tour August 2015 and took the train up and then got on the bus. The clouds were a little settled in still when we took the train up but it was still beautiful so I'm not sure it matters which you do first. I am on the Crown tomorrow and plan on doing this same excursion through Chilkoot but this time taking the bus up and train down. I don't know if it really matters and I don't think you can go wrong going with Chilkoot.

 

This was our favorite excursion and it was great to have a smaller group, our own car on the train, a smaller 12 person charter bus and an awesome guide that would stop whenever we wanted to stop. Her name was "Stanley" and I hope that she might be up there again this year.

Have a great trip! I would love to hear your comparison between the two trips.

Sprint has fantastic global roaming rates that are free in Canada!

Is that with an International Plan?

I am not really happy about this. This is our first Princess cruise and first to Alaska. We are arriving the night before and were scheduled to be at the Captain Cook (#3 TripAdvisor) which I understand is very nice. We have been moved to Anchorage Hilton (#16).

 

I have called Princess and they have offered $50 onboard credit but somehow I feel this is not equal compensation.

 

Have any of you had this happen before? Any positive comments about the Hilton to make me feel better? :>(

 

Still excited about our cruise but a bit of a damper...

 

Thanks to all.

I hear this happens in Fairbanks too.