MudbugsTherapist

Exactly. This is the new way... Cruise lines will not just have their own private islands... they will have their own ports and port buildings. And as long as NCL has 3-5 regular ships during the Alaska season, they will be full. People with kids, older millennials, and even some younger Gen Xers are willing to give up the convenience of randomly walking through a city for souvenirs and junk. They want ships with things to do and excursions that are worth the money. Princess and HAL will always have their demographic, especially for Alaska. But NCL, Royal, and Carnival will build docks that don't have to follow a city council decision on pax limits. And all they have to do for local support is to promise JOBS.

NCL Jewel: On my way up, I have 7am - 4pm. On my way down, I will have 1pm - 8 pm. What are you doing in port that you need more than 7-9 hours? Or are you just assuming that the 6-hour early port times from the Bliss apply to all NCL ships because those people have complained the most? A return-to-ship time of 1pm makes people believe that they are in port for fewer hours than other ships. But that ship arrives at 6am, instead of 10am. I can't help people who can't do basic math, or think that ships should only port after brunch. There are MANY ships who port early and leave early, especially on higher-end ships and smaller ports, but the masses don't know that if they only cruise the same cruiselines (Princess and HAL) and the same 10 ports.

There is a website for you to get a military id card as a surviving spouse, if you don't already have one. Sometimes it helps for when the travel discounts want you to enroll in "ID Me" to provide proof. https://www.militaryonesource.mil/military-basics/new-to-the-military/military-id-and-cac-cards-for-military-community/

The same thing was said when they added the 2nd port in Cozumel. Now, nobody even notices. The NCL Hawaiian ships don't port in any downtowns or beaches, except for the tender into Kona. The complainers are the people who want to get off the ship and be surrounded by crap to purchase, like in the Caribbean. Hawaii and Alaska aren't like that - they are excursion-heavy cruises. Even if the Bliss has 3000 on excursions and 1000 complainers on a shuttle bus to downtown, it is still counted as a win for NCL. The complainers come on CC because "someone moved their cheese." Change is hard for people that are set in their ways about what a cruise port should look like. Ketchikan is LOVING the fact that the bulk of NCL pax are leaving from Ward Cove for excursions, hiking, etc., because the city still benefits from those excursion dollars and jobs created in Ward Cove.

Bar Harbor is only 3200 people, with almost 80% depending on hospitality/tourism for their income. They are now getting rocked with 20% increases on property taxes to fund local infrastructure and programs. Juneau is 32,000 people, with 1100+ millionaires and an average household income of 90k. If Juneau limits ships to 5 per day, or maybe 15000 pax per day, it won't change a thing for them. They already have the infrastructure to support that with three docks. The 6k ships can build a dock in Auke Bay or Thane, put a little shopping area like NCL's place in Ketchikan, and shuttle excursions straight from that point. I think the major cruise lines will start doing this instead of battling with local city councils about pax limits. It costs the cruise lines more in fees and legal than if they just buy a plot and develop it. https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/04/04/hancock/hancock-police-courts/bar-harbor-resident-sues-town-cruise-ship-visits-n6hjn1me0n/

I also recommend breaking up the flights. Long Beach airport flies to Honolulu direct, and you can avoid the LAX nightmare. It is a fantastic little airport. Parking/Drop off to the TSA is about 40 feet, and there are only 10-12 gates. Sometimes you only have a couple of Hawaii flights each day to choose from, but it is nice to break up the flight to Hawaii. Stay in Long Beach, see the Queen Mary, etc., and then fly out to HNL the next morning. 🙂

From what I have read in local Juneau sites, there was a handshake agreement with CLIA to not have more than 5 ships in port. This has gone well until the ships became Monster of the Seas and 6000 pax. Now, when they squeeze in a 6th or sometimes 7th ship (which was just looked over in the past) it is crowded like a 90s rave through the streets in port. So the immediate ask from Juneau is to formally limit the port to 5 ships ASAP. Then, there are smaller groups that are arguing back and forth locally in Juneau on whether there should be a pax limit in addition to the 5-ship limit. But many businesses seeing what has happened in Bar Harbor don't want to put a pax limit on Juneau for fear that some cruise lines will skip the port completely, especially when other ports are now being developed in a private, Coco Cay/Half Moon Cay/Castaway Cay/Great Stirrup Cay sort of fashion. NCL figured it out in Ketchikan... Other cruise lines will do the same and avoid the issues in Juneau.

My preference is NCL, but my parents' preference is Carnival. When I make them go on an NCL ship, my dad gets the military discount. He went to the veterans meet-up, and he LOVED it. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, since he was in the army in the late 60s/early 70s and he rarely talks about it. But after hanging out with a few older veterans on the Bliss in 2022, he always attends these events now. It motivated him to go to the VA by his house and get a Veterans ID Card.

YES! This. The spa pass is just my "excursion" on each cruise, because I don't go on any ship excursions. So I use my excursion money for my daily trip to the spa. I plan my mornings to start in the spa, and my evenings to end in the spa. I never use the tiny cabin bathroom to get ready for the day, or to get ready for bed. You know how the balcony people will say that they can't go back to an interior cabin? I can't go back to just having a cruise without a spa pass.

Kaj works for Viking now.