milesstandish

The best "hack" I've found in the Horizon Court when the breakfast bacon is all whimpy & floppy ... to ASK for "crispy bacon".  Either they cook some special for me OR, more often, there is crisp bacon hidden underneath just waiting to be handed out..

I will say that we took the train from Seattle to Vancouver in June 2017. A sink hole opened up underneath the train tracks ahead of our train, so we were stopped. No movement. Very little communication for HOURS. Luckily my family was traveling a day ahead of our sailing BUT the train was FULL of travelers who missed their ships that fateful day. What are the odds that something like that would happen? But it did.

Long time lurker here. I've learned a ton of very useful information from all of you.

I have back to back cruises reserved for later this summer. Wondering what I can expect IF I turn the reservation over to a travel agent before final payment? My husband phoned a large agency (a friend recommended) and was told $25 OBC per person. That doesn't seem like a good enough incentive to "lose control" of my reservation.

So, we are wondering what has been your experience when turning a reservation over to a travel agent before final payment??

Just watch out for that refundable on board credit. Once, just once, we had refundable OBC left over. I waited and waited knowing it could be weeks before it arrived. I finally called and was told it was sent back to the original form of payment ... which happened to have been from my travel agent. Wasn't returned to me. So since then we purposely don't have any OBC left over. If need be, we hit the casino after dinner the final night to use it up.

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There was reports a few years ago about a mid-September trip where the winds were so bad, the ship stayed at the dock in Whittier for a few days as it was unsafe to leave.

 

I would not pay to do that last cruise of the season.

My husband & I were on the Sapphire Princess in September 2012 when she spent three days docked in Whittier due to a typhoon. While it was an unexpected adventure, we never were in any danger. The worst of it was we missed our Glacier Bay day because the ship was still docked that entire day. Didn’t let it ruin our vacation though.

We are booked to return to Alaska in September 2018 for 14 days, doing the final back to back of the season Northbound & Southbound. There is still plenty to do and see regardless of the lateness of the season. 👍🏻

Interesting! I spent much time over the weekend trying to firm up my Juneau Avis plans. I wondered what happened when at first the only option was the airport location ... Then, somehow I got in to a local Juneau Avis website but it listed EVERY car, suv, and van as sold out.

I didn't know what was wrong.

But then I found the Juneau Car Rental Company. A quick form filled out and a fast phone call and voila, made my reservations to rent cars for my group.:)

I did this accidentally. Had researched and planned an Alaskan cruise for our 25th anniversary. Bought airfare, was about to book the cruise when DH phoned to say his vacation days were denied!! (after initially being approved).

We were 7 months out at that point, I did not cancel airfare hoping he would be able to sort it all out at work. Months went by, plans were forgotten.

3 WEEKS before anniversary, everything fell into place. At the 11 th hour he was granted leave from work for that time frame, I remembered that I forgot to cancel airfare and upon checking the cruise fare, discovered it had dropped drastically.

We had a great cruise in an amazing balcony cabin. Wouldn't plan that way on purpose, though.

If you are sailing with someone who is platinum/elite and has free internet minutes but doesn't "do" computers, it is VERY easy to share. Just remember to watch the minutes left on the plan. I used up my free minutes then went over by 2 minutes and paid $1.50 for that .... before I switched to my DH's plan which had 150 free minutes. Each user has their own sign in and makes a password.

Be careful drinking diet anything IF you don't actually SEE the drink come out of the "gun" nozzle yourself.

My DH's glucoses were out of control for the first few days of our cruise ... It was confusing because I saw exactly what he was eating and the portion sizes.

THEN at dinner, I noticed the table next to our request a refill of their "cokes". It came out of a pitcher. When my DH requested a refill of his "diet coke" , his refill came out of the same pitcher. I immediately pointed this out to both DH and the serving team.

Assistant waiter insisted he did not mix up the drinks, however from that point forward DH only drank diet coke when he saw it come from the drink gun himself. His glucoses were back in his normal range thereafter.

Be careful!

The last time we cruised (2yrs ago) we were Platinum for the first time. I recollect that when we got to the terminal we were directed to the Elite/Platinum lounge and after a while we were called to checkin. For the life of me,however, I can't remember if we went through security before we went to the Platinum lounge or after we were called out of the lounge. Could someone refresh my memory. In the title I meant PORT evergaldes. They won't let you edit the Title.

You go through security when you enter the building, before check in and the lounge.:)

I have to stop lurking and comment.

My husband WON $500 plus an IPad on that machine last September! He was using a free pass given to him by the internet manager! We were on the Coral on the 3 day repositioning cruise From Vancouver to LA after the final Southbound Alaska cruise.

He had to take me to the casino so I could see what all the fuss was about...

btw, even after he won, we put no $ into that machine. It sure LOOKS easy yet he was supposedly the first winner in many cruises. A real money maker for them!