A bit of give & take - ALaskan questions, AOS answers.

[sillylizzie]

Just got back on a Southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Adventure of the Seas which left from Puerto Rico.

Ports of call: St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados

So, let me know if you have any questions. I might be able to help.

 

Also, who here has been on an Alaskan cruise, and what line did you go with? Did you love it, hate it or want to change anything? Just curious as we're planning one for next summer.

Thanks in advance. :)

[tarheelmjfan]

We went to Alaska on Celebrity's Infinity in June. We took a one way, 10 night cruise from San Francisco to Vancouver. I highly recommend this itinerary, because we went to Sitka & Icy Strait Point, as well as the big 3 (Ketchikan, Juneau, & Skagway). Sitka was our favorite port, followed by Ketchikan & ISP. We didn't like Skagway at all. Make sure you choose an itinerary that visits a Glacier, & goes through the inside passage. We went to Hubbard Glacier & heard & saw constant calving. The inside passage gives you nonstop incredible views. We enjoyed our Celebrity experience so much that we have booked 3 cruises with them, since our return. I think the best advice I can give anyone is, go expecting to have a wonderful experience, but keep your expectations within reason. Don't get me wrong, we thought Alaska was amazing, but with all the things we'd heard about visiting there, nothing could have lived up to that. I.E. It didn't ruin every other destination for us, & we don't feel that we must return every year. :rolleyes: Enjoy it for what it is. Expect it to be amazing, but don't expect it to be the Garden of Eden. JMO

[sillylizzie]

Thanks for the info.

I will definitely have to look into that as I didn't even think about cruising from San Fran. Plus, what can beat a 10 night cruise? :)

[billiebob]

My DH and I will be on the AOS in October. Did you enjoy all the ports? I was wondering what tours you took on the islands as well. Glad to hear that you had a great trip!

 

Bobbie :)

[sillylizzie]

Did you enjoy all the ports? I was wondering what tours you took on the islands as well.

 

PUERTO RICO

I liked Puerto Rico, but not because it was particularly beautiful. There were just a lot of fun & different things to do. Plus, there was life on the streets after 10pm, so being out was relatively safe.

Puerto Rico – Bio Bay Kayaking Tour (booked through shoretrips): AMAZING excursion.

The other excursion we did was a tour of El Yunque Rainforest, which was also through shoretrips. This was also a great excursion, and our tour guide was wonderful. He changed the time of our tour twice because of problems getting off the ship.

We also visited the two forts (San Cristobal and El Morro) on our own as well as did the Bacardi Factory tour.

 

ST THOMAS & ST MAARTEN

St.Thomas and St.Maarten were ok. I'm not much of a shopper, so they didn't really float my boat.

St.Maarten was much more beautiful than I had thought it would be. We went out to Bikini Beach in St. Maarten and it was worth it. There were hardly any crowds, and it was amazing. The water was crystal clear.

St.Thomas, we went out to St. John and then headed fishing. It was probably my least favorite port, however there were (according to the people we were traveling with) some amazing bargains.

 

ANTIGUA

Antigua, I didn't get to see as I was in my room with 2nd degree sunburns (even w. wearing SPF 60).

 

ST LUCIA

Here we did an island tour, which was super. The island itself is stunning. The Pitons are jaw dropping and the drive through volcano in Soufriere was worth the trip.

 

BARBADOS

Barbados was also a lovely island, not as beautiful as St.Lucia however it seemed to be more populated. We went to Harrison's Caves and drove throughout the island. It was a great excursion. We booked it through shore trips, and they apparently work with Glory Tours. This was by far one of the best excursions we went on.

 

We basically booked all our tours through shoretrips.com with the exception of fishing and the Antigua island tour. The fishing was done through talking with the captain of the boat, and Antigua was booked through Tropical Adventures (http://tropicalad.com/).

 

I’d book them all again, with the exception of the wave runners. I think that it would have been just as easy to play it by ear and get the rentals when we got there, if we felt like it as opposed to having pre-rented them.

 

The other thing that I will say is that disembarkation from the ship was a pain in the butt. It took much longer than any of us had anticipated. We had to be in a public area by 8am, and didn’t clear customs until almost noon.

[jbond]

We were on the same cruise as sillylizzie, we met at M&M.

We also had a great time on AOS. I've posted our photo album at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/3 You can see some of the excursions we took. It has some narrative that will help explain what we did.

 

Liz, we did Alaska on Legend of the Seas. It was a southbound cruise from Seward to Vancouver. We enjoyed every port, even Skagway. We thought that the White Pass Railroad trip was outstanding. If you checkout my webshots pages, you'll find albums for Alaska that will also show and tell you about the tours we took.

[winterstar]

We went to Alaska in May on a Vision of the Seas cruisetour. We LOVED it!! It is so beautiful there. We will definately go back someday.

[frostypenguin]

We just got back from Diamond Princess. WE LOVED IT !!!!!!!!!!

 

Round trip from Seattle. For us this was the best cruise we had been on - smooth seas, big ship, great cabin (Caribe/Balcony), tons of stuff to do in Alaska - I could go on and on. In fact I wrote a long review on the Alaska board if you want some further details.

 

Have fun!

[sillylizzie]

We were on the same cruise as sillylizzie, we met at M&M.

We also had a great time on AOS. I've posted our photo album at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/3 You can see some of the excursions we took. It has some narrative that will help explain what we did.

 

Liz, we did Alaska on Legend of the Seas. It was a southbound cruise from Seward to Vancouver. We enjoyed every port, even Skagway. We thought that the White Pass Railroad trip was outstanding. If you checkout my webshots pages, you'll find albums for Alaska that will also show and tell you about the tours we took.

Great photos of the AOS, jbond. I'm planning on posting my online, as soon as I get the time.

 

Right now we're currently looking at Carnival and RCCL. The people we are traveling with axed the idea of Princess & Celebrity. So, I think it's going to come down to the itinerary.

I've got a Frommer's Guide to Alaskan Cruises and will be pouring over that every chance I get for the next few weeks.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded. :)

[caviargal]

Just got back on a Southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Adventure of the Seas which left from Puerto Rico.

Ports of call: St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados

So, let me know if you have any questions. I might be able to help.

 

Also, who here has been on an Alaskan cruise, and what line did you go with? Did you love it, hate it or want to change anything? Just curious as we're planning one for next summer.

Thanks in advance. :)

 

I sailed to Alaska five times so far: Vision of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, Norwegian Sun (three times and was working aboard).

 

I prefer the one way Seward to Vancouver itinerary and preferred the RCI cruises overall. I will choose Celebrity next trip or Radiance class as these are my preferred ships.

[billiebob]

Thanks, Sillylizzie for the wonderful reviews. Sorry to hear about your sunburn though!

We are looking so forward to our trip in 30 days! :)

 

Jbond - Your photo albumn is great! You've done a beautiful job on it! :D

[sillylizzie]

Thanks, Sillylizzie for the wonderful reviews. Sorry to hear about your sunburn though!

We are looking so forward to our trip in 30 days! :)

 

Thanks, and have fun!