nparmelee

For some 47 minutes is too short, for others its fine. Usually 45 minutes is the minimum scheduling layover. How many more flights later that day SEA to YVR? If lots, just call and see if they can shift you or keep a list of the other flights in case you have any delays getting to Seattle.

There are ship shore excursions for fishing and there are also charters in each of the towns. We've been looking at the charters for our trip, some are half day salmon (4 hours), some are all day salmon (6-8 hours), halibut ones tend to be at least 6 hours and there are some halibut and salmon combo trips that tend to be 6-8 hours as well. The charters will arrange to have anything you caught processed and shipped home (add'l expense of course). Almost every highlight tour in every town will describe themselves as "a small drinking town with a fishing problem" so there is fishing everywhere.

What type of reactions do you have if you ingest it? I have a ton of food allergies. Some I react a little to and is worth suffering through and some I react a ton to and really avoid. Also know that food allergies constantly evolve so what you may be allergic to now you may not be allergic to in 10 years. I haven't had crab in years because it started causing me to break out in hives and itch from head to toe. We are doing Alaska next year and I am hoping my allergies have changed because I really want some Alaskan crab. I'm planning on having my seafood allergies retested before we sail.

This! My allergy tests have me allergic to every grain, tomatoes, egg yellows (not whites), etc. I do know that the only reactions I have are to soy in certain forms and to coconut. Soy is easier to avoid, at least in the forms that cause me stomach aches, coconut is more difficult these days but luckily it is the only food I truly despise so I tend to taste it early enough and am able to get away from it before the headache and swollen tongue start. Talk with your allergist not only about what to avoid, but how much to avoid and about the alternatives. Sure glad I grew out of the strawberry allergy I had as a baby... Also monitor the food issues every few years because food allergies to change.

the hotel we are staying at in Anchorage has a shuttle that will take us to the train station. We're visiting with family for a few days so staying near them at the Dimond Center. Many of the hotels have shuttles and those that don't can easily call you a cab.

We're taking the Alaska Railroad train at 6:45 am, we figure we'll walk the luggage down to the pier, drop it off and then go to the Alaska Sealife Center for a while.

LOL! Good luck with that! We've done 2 Oceania cruises and even with no formal nights and "country club casual" every evening there are still multiple dress code threads. Sine our next Celebrity cruise is Alaska after a week with family, we're very happy not to have to drag the formal wear with us. There will always be chair hogging threads, clothing threads, beverage package threads....

Is 7 AM reasonable? My boss wants me to come in at 6 AM.. it doesn't sound reasonable to ME, but I still do it...... as much as I want to sleep in ;)

The difference is that your boss pays you to be there, you aren't paying your boss to be there... ;)

i think the 7:00am for out of the cabin is ridiculous, and we're morning people who are usually getting going so for us it would not be a problem, but still ridiculous. Unlike the early birds on E-Day, we don't show up at the crack of dawn and start a queue to get on the ship. We look at our vacation as a whole and are usually exploring whatever port city we are in before getting to the ship some time in the afternoon. As many have said, there is no way they can start cleaning all the cabins at one time anyway and there is a certain amount of natural emptying based on flights and tours already. I hope Celebrity listens to those who are adamant about this and figures out something more reasonable. For us, we like to leave our things in the cabin too, have breakfast, come back and brush teeth and do a final check to make sure we got everything. If people are being asked to vacate cabins by 7 and then still have to hang around in some location on the ship for a few hours, that is just crazy, more people and carry-ons to trip over just trying to get around.

We're doing the Anchorage to Seward train in June ourselves. Since the drive time between the two places is only a few hours, I think Alaska Railroad would still be able to get you there even if they had some major issue.

We've decide the extra $100 is not worth it for us. It's only a 4 hour or so train ride and with just a breakfast meal, we can bring our own of pay the ala carte price if we decide to eat on the train. I don't necessarily want two drinks that early in the morning (bloody mary's and mimosas come to mind), but if I change my mind, I cant see the price difference being worth it.

Nadine

YMMV

To the OP, glad it worked out for you. Booking cruise line tours vs private tours or DIY is a personal choice and everyone should base it on their own comfort level. A reminder, people on cruise line tours have been left behind, especially when they broke away from the group as they were dropped off, either on purpose or accidentally. Some ports can be confusing and if you get distracted you can lose track of where your group went. No matter which method you choose for your shore excursion, always have a plan b.

Rome Cabs at romecabs.com. Always accommodated our schedules including pickups in Rome at different locations.

Just be aware that traveller's checks can be very difficult to get cashed, many banks won't even help.

We're staying in Anchorage before our cruise too next May/June, but we decided to just take Alaska Railroad on our own down to Seward. About $100 per person for adventure class and $200 for the gold class.

If you are on the June 2nd southbound cruise, come join the roll call - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2355254

Alaska can surprise you! We had pretty warm weather there our first cruise and I have family in Anchorage and get daily weather updates... Plan on layers. Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway often get some rain every day, northern rain forest, so a light rain gear layer is also a good idea.

Our first cruise was to Alaska and we were lucky enough to have a balcony. We use the balcony all the time, morning coffee, break to just relax, glass of wine before going to dinner, after dinner and before bed time relaxing. We just add layers if its chilly out. This next trip we had started booking an OV but then found a deal on a balcony that was cheaper so opted for the balcony again. On that first cruise, we were with family and had 5 cabins total, 3 were balconies, 1 OV and 1 inside. 1 of the balcony cabins never used their balcony the other two did. It just depends on you. Many use their cabins only to sleep, shower and change clothes, they would never benefit from a balcony. I agree with looking at maybe one balcony for your group or just plan on deck time when on the ship.

When I played with Cruise Air for our trip (Millenium June 2), the earliest Vancouver flights they had were 11:00 am. I would try the same for your trip. I ended up booking separately, but good to know what they say they can do.

I see they have really cut down on the menu. Usually there is rack of lamb twice. (which happens to be my favorite food they make) Now it's not even there , only other variations of lamb. Not the same !

Menu B had a rack of lamb. One of my favorites.

We're spending a few days with Family in Anchorage before our cruise from Seward next year. We'll have a car in Anchorage for running around but decided to take the Alaska Railroad down to Seward the morning of our cruise. We priced Hertz for a one way and drop off in Seward ($$$ :eek:) and Midnight Sun Car Rental to pick up the car in Seward ($350 fee to pick up in Seward, still cheaper than Hertz) and the train and decided on the train. We enjoyed the train from Denali to Anchorage on our last Alaska trip so for us it made the decision easier. Many hotels have shuttles both to the airport and the train station.

We're using Midnight Sun rentals for Anchorage, they will let you drop the car in Whittier or Seward for a fee, depending on how many of you there are, it might be the same or cheaper than the train. I found these guys to be much more affordable than the usual car rental companies.

We did a northbound first followed by a land trip, this time we're doing a land part first and then the cruise. Just depends on your timing I think. In our case the land part is visiting with amity in Anchorage first. Either way is all good!

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With Alaska it's all about the itinerary! We did Princess on our first cruise which did Glacier Bay, our second will be Celebrity, it hits Icy Strait which we didn't get to last time. I have family in Anchorage though so we know we'll be back up there. Would try the get Glacier Bay as one of the "stops", you don't really stop but it is amazing to see!

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We last were on X in 2006, did a few Oceania since then and prefer the general country club casual now. For our Alaska trip next June, we won't be bringing the fancy stuff... Also spending a week with family before the cruise so less to pack is better for us. Times have changed and we do remember "dressing" just to fly somewhere. I don't really give a hoot what others wear, I assume they won't care what we wear. If they do, it won't bother me much. I'd be happy with just room service to avoid having to carry extra clothes on a 12 day vacation. If we can be out with others and comfortable, that's even better...

We're on the June 2nd Millennium cruise ending in Vancouver, plan on getting out to the suspension bridge before going to the airport. Working out which company I will do this with this weekend. Basically, you can either add the transfer to your cruise from the Celebrity site or through your TA or do it on your own. I go the DIY route these days.

Nadine

We've been on the concierge veranda cabins on Nautica and Regatta, the ones at the back of the ship with the longer verandas. For our upcoming Riviera cruise we have one of the b4 (b3 on future cruises) cabins as we really do like the bigger verandas. We won't be back from that trip until mid June though so we won't be able to tell you if we regret going "down" a level or not until then. I doubt we'll regret it though.

Just to clarify, it isn't that you are limited to only one reservation, it's that each cabin is guaranteed that number of reservations. Depending on the other passengers on your cruise and your flexibility, you may be able to get quite a few more reservations at each of the restaurants.