Tapi

The weather in Alaska can vary wildly. When we sailed (early June), temperatures were pretty mild. 50’s-60’s. On Glacer Bay day, we had clear skies and we were on deck wearing jeans and a sweater.

The most dramatic day of the day is when you actually make it to the glacier. My recommendation is to get up early and head out to an open deck. Take in the sights. The ship moves very slowly as it works its way into Glacier Bay so that should give you time to plan your moves. Grab breakfast lunch or dinner somewhere where you can still watch beautiful views while you eat (grab something from the buffet and then sit outside). On our particular sailing, the cruise line offered a salmon bake on the pool deck so that people could eat and not miss out on the views. 7-8 hours may seem long, but believe me, it will go by very fast. It will be over before you know it. 😀

With the excitement of going to Glacier Bay, and the long daylight hours, it won’t be an issue being up and about at 6:00am (at least it wasn’t for us). We were ready to go! Even though the most dramatic scenery doesn’t happen until later in the day, there’s still plenty of amazing things to see starting early in the day as the ship weaves its way into Glacier Bay. On our particular sailing, the park ranger that gave commentary over the PA system started talking early in the day. When we were finally at Glacier Bay, she was out and about answering questions in person and posing for photo ops. Even though we had a balcony, we were out on deck as early as possible.in order to catch a 360 degree view of our surroundings. Completely worth it.

My son’s passport had a little less than 6 months to go when we did a cruise that included the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas. I didn’t realize it until it was too late to get it renewed in time. I called the cruise line and the agent I spoke to swore that we’d be denied boarding at the port. With not much more to loose at that point in time, we decided to go to the port anyway, mentally prepared to get turned away. Long story short, it wasn’t an issue. Besides the check-in agent gently reminding us that his passport had less than 6 months to go, we didn’t have any problems checking in, getting on the ship, or clearing customs upon our return. What we’ve learned since then after further research is that, unless an itinerary or country you’re visiting has specific passport requirements, your passport only needs to be valid at the time of travel.

Anything that I wouldn’t mind washing in industrial strength detergent in hot water, and drying in high heat. As a side note, my wife sent out a brand new green top, and when we got it back, it was gray and shriveled. It looked like it had been washed 20 times. We asked at guest relations if they could do anything to fix it and, the next day, they returned it looking brand new. I guess they dyed it and pressed it. Long story short, if you send something out and they mess it up, don’t be shy about letting them know. They’ll try to rectify it.

I don’t think that the OP’s post is necessarily indicative that they made the wrong choice, but more of an attempt in their part to set realistic expectations. Their post reminds me of when we I booked a Holland America cruise when the kids were 9 and 11. I “impulse booked” it without thinking twice because I found a killer deal (way cheaper than the family friendly cruise lines). The excitement was followed by the “oh crap” thoughts, thinking that, not only the kids would kill me, but my wife would kill me for booking “an old people” cruise. Like the OP, I posted on the HAL board to know what to expect. Long story short, it all worked out and we had a great cruise. But part of it was because we prepared ourselves for what we could expect. Hopefully it will be the same way for the OP and their upcoming Celebrity cruise. 😀

I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve taken a similar approach with my kids. Their first cruises were easy, Caribbean/Bahamas cruises close to home, but a few years back, we started expanding our horizons to new destinations. It’s been a wonderful and eye opening journey for the whole family. They still take the occasional Caribbean/Bahamas cruise, but they most look forward to the next big vacation where we get to explore something new.

My kids (now 14 and 12) started cruising when they were both infants. For context, they’ve sailed on most major cruise lines including some family favorites like Royal, Disney, Carnival, and MSC in different regions of the World. We’ve also taken our kids on more “adult oriented” cruise lines like Celebrity and Holland America, and on every single cruise, they’ve had an absolute blast. Before each cruise, I tell the kids where we’re going and what the ship is going to be like. That way, they know what to expect and there are no disappointments when “this cruise isn’t like the last one”. We did Celebrity Solstice to the Mexican Riviera when the kids were 10 and 12. Kids still rave about that cruise and say that it was one of their favorite.They were BUSY most of the time, and when they had some down time, it was a welcome change. They loved hanging out at the pool and participated in every scheduled activity or game that they could squeeze in. Loved the silent disco and ABBA parties at night. They’re not that interested in kids clubs anymore so they didn’t attend. For down time, they often enjoyed just laying on the grass at the Lawn Club and watching a movie or game. Ashore, I made sure to book fun activities to get their adrenaline flowing like off-roading in ATV’s. Even though there were no flow riders, zip lines, ice skating rinks or water slides like on other ships they’ve sailed on, they had a great time. My son has repeatedly said that it’s nice to sail on a ship that is “simpler” (although he does miss the flow rider). He’s learned that cruising is about more than all the gimmicky stuff.

Book now at the lowest cabin category you’d be happy with. Watch for price drops until final payment. After that, if prices drop, ask for an upgrade. We’ve done that several times, where we book an ocean view cabin, but upgrade to a balcony if prices drop inside final payment, either for a modest up charge or sometimes at no extra charge. As others have said, it’s a gamble no matter what you decide to do. When we did Celebrity Solstice for Thanksgiving, we booked over a year in advance and locked in an amazing rate. Prices just kept going up and up after that and more than doubled. But then, a few weeks before sailing, there was still a lot of inventory left. We had friends who decided to join us and booked two weeks before sailing. They got a killer, last minute rate that was better than what we had locked in over a year prior. Free upgrade from inside to balcony and onboard credit. Still happy with the rate I got, but it just shows how prices can wildly fluctuate from one moment to the next.

I started cruising in the 80’s, so thanks for the trip down memory lane. Going to the travel agent, looking at a bunch of brochures, then sitting there (sometimes for what felt like hours) while the travel agent made some phone calls to get price quotes and reserve the cruise, selecting our cabin from a deck plan on a glossy brochure, then waiting for paper documents to arrive in the mail, were all super exciting. While I miss the simplicity of cruising 40 years ago, and the nostalgic and “old school” elements of cruise planning, I’ll take all the resources and options that we have today over what we had back then. Yes, the choices and amount of information today can be overwhelming at times (specially when sailing on some of the largest mega ships), but I feel like, at the same time, the whole process is much easier. What took weeks (or months) of researching, and countless hours in person with a travel agent, I can now do in a matter of minutes with a few clicks of a mouse.

If your itinerary is wholly contained in the Schengen Area, there’s no customs when you complete your cruise. You walk right off the ship. We were one of the very few passengers doing self assist so there were zero lines to disembark. Our ship was supposed to arrive at 7:00am but we didn’t dock until 8:00am. I was sweating bullets a bit since we had an 11:25am flight home. But the ship was cleared for debarkation within 5 minutes of docking and we were in our prearranged private transportation within 10 minutes after that. We were at the airport around 9:15am and we used all of those two hours to check in, and go through security and passport control (that’s were the long lines and a bit of chaos are). We got to our gate after boarding had begun but we made it. If you don’t already have it, I’d recommend a private service just for your group that can pick up right at the terminal (some means of transportation don’t do that). That made a world of a difference for us. No waiting, and our car was waiting right across the sidewalk as we exited the terminal.

I think that Holland America's Pinnacle class is the absolute best mix of ship size and age. At 99,000 tons, they're not too small, yet not too big. They're modern, tasteful ships with advanced technology, but with thoughtful, traditional maritime touches.

I have kids who've been sailing since they were infants (they're now teenagers). I have learned to steer clear of ANY cruise line that caters to families (Royal, Disney, Carnival, MSC, etc) during school breaks. What you describe has been our experience when we've taken any of those lines when schools are out. If sailing during school breaks, we've booked cruises on more adult-oriented lines, like Holland America and Celebrity. We had a great time, and the kids also had a great time. Less kids onboard, and the ones that do come onboard tend to be, in the most part, well traveled and aware of fellow cruisers and expected behavior. Granted, the kids clubs aren't as elaborate, or the number of kid-oriented activities and facilities aren't as extensive, but there's still plenty for kids to do both on the ship and ashore. One of the blessings in disguise about sailing on a ship with less kids is that they end up getting more personal attention at the kids club since they're not as packed.

If you can squeeze everything into one bag, I'd say do that. Makes life easier to have less bags to worry about. My philosophy has been that "if it doesn't fit in one carry-on, then I don't need it". That applies whether were doing a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas, or a 2 week land/sea vacation in the Mediterranean.

If you're interested in religious services, may I recommend looking into Holland America. Their ships are staffed with a Catholic priest who offers daily mass services. In addition, they schedule an interdenominational Protestant service on Sundays, as well as a Shabbat service on Fridays.