Ken the cruiser

If anyone is interested, I’ve started my Live From thread and will be heading to Vancouver on Monday!

Here’s what the excursions look like on our upcoming May 8 Alaska cruise. Now I will say we have had excursions booked at each port since we booked this cruise well over a year ago, and most of them have gone up in price, some over $100 pp. But there was one excursion with the discount that saved us $10 pp. We originally booked it at $179 pp and the new price was $169 pp. So we canceled and rebooked the excursion.

We definitely enjoyed getting those double Mariner points when we would book a VS on the smaller HAL ships like the Zaandam, which definitely helped to get us to 4-star quicker. That and booking HAL excursions! But then we do like the option of having free laundry when we're on one of their longer cruises! 😉

I just checked the weather forecast for our arrival at Sitka on May 4th. Without a doubt, we're definitely glad we're bringing our cold weather clothing, as it will probably feel even chillier with the forecasted 15 mph winds from the northwest! 🥶

Thanks. On the Koningsdam, there appears to be both Vista Suites and smaller veranda cabins, with the VS being sold at the same price as the VS on the Zaandam cruise.

I realize it's been a while since we have cruised with HAL. But the last time we were on the Zaandam in 2018 in one of their Vista Suites, they were basically just regular verandas located on decks 6 or 7, other than you get double Loyalty cruise day points. Has something changed?

FWIW in most cases Princess excursion prices usually go up, sometimes quite significantly, the closer you get to cruise time. I know, who knew!! In our case 9 of the 10 PCL excursions we have booked had gone up. However, there was one that dropped $10 per person (from $279 to $269 pp) and there were seats still available. So we cancelled the existing 2 reservations and immediately rebooked them saving a whopping $20! 🕺💃 The nice part is when we initially cancelled the original reservations, the refunded funds were immediately provided in OBC which we subsequently used to rebook the same excursions moments later rather than having to pay the "new" excursion fees with our credit card. I'm also guessing since we're so close to going on the cruise, the extra $20 will be made available as refundable OBC in our shipboard account once we board the May 8th leg of our cruise where the excursion is booked. Just thought I'd pass this experience along in case someone was curious what happens when you cancel and rebook a PCL excursion to take advantage of a drop in price.

So true. Just like when someone pays $75 pp/day for Celebrity's cheaper Basic Internet and the Classic Drink packages when they book one of their cruises with the All Included package. 🙂

I seem to be missing what this thread is suggesting. When I did a mock booking today on the NCL website, it still says "Excl. taxes, fees and port expenses, they will be added at checkout." after the Subtotal entry. Where should I be looking to see the taxes/fees?

Thanks for the heads-up, as knowing the estimated times when we might pass through Johnstone Strait helps. Now, whether we see any wildlife or awesome scenery as we pass through is another story. But then for us it's all about the "hunt" for memorable photos as well as having a great time while on a cruise! On our recent Antarctica/SA cruise, I was surprised when I woke up briefly to see we were cruising through Beagle Channel's Glacier Alley around 5:30 am with no pre-notification from the ship. Another time as we were cruising from Iceland to Greenland, we went out on the balcony just before midnight where we watched some Northern Lights for about 10-15 minutes.

No problem. We will definitely be attending all of the lectures and will provide a brief summary of who was the lecturer and what was discussed.

I was just reading about Johnstone Strait. Pretty fascinating, especially with the potential of seeing so much wildlife on our first day after leaving Vancouver. Luckily, we’ll be cruising through this narrow passage 3 times! 😁 Johnstone Strait is a deep and narrow glacier-carved passage located between the east coast of Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, extending roughly from Telegraph Cove in the north to Rock Bay in the south. Johnstone Strait serves as an important thoroughfare for marine vessels that include cargo freighters and cruise ships bound for Alaska in the summer months. Johnstone Strait is home to the largest resident pod of killer whales (orcas) in the world, with a population of approximately 200 whales. There is no better place to view these amazing marine mammals. In addition to the orcas that can be viewed around Robson Bight, Johnstone Strait offers up a wide variety of other marine life, including minke, humpback and grey whales, Pacific white sided dolphins, harbour porpoises, Dall’s porpoises, harbour seals and Steller’s sea lions. Bald eagles and an abundance of seabirds will also be encountered in the area. https://vancouverisland.com/plan-your-trip/regions-and-towns/vancouver-island-bc-islands/johnstone-strait/

I just took a sneak peek at the NOAA Northern Lights forecast for the next 2 nights and wouldn't it be awesome if there was a similar forecast while we were on the cruise! NOAA Aurora Viewline for Tonight and Tomorrow Night

We are Elite+ and my DW will be so excited when she hears hot chocolate is free at Al Bacio, as we will no longer book a cabin with the All Included package and get our bottled water and glasses of wine during Happy Hour!

That's a very good point on the theater seating, especially if you go to the early show. We usually arrive 20-30 minutes early to get the seats we want and play gin while waiting for the show to begin. However, if you happen to arrive only 5-10 minutes early, especially if it's a good show, most of the good seats are usually pretty much gone.