ABQrobin

Our favorite excursion from our Alaska cruise last summer:

Right where you get off the ship, there will be a line of booths with people selling tours, buses, etc. I am sure you can get some sort of transportation to Mendenhall there. We took the Blue Bus last year and bought tickets there. I have no idea what other options are available. The tram station is right there in the town area, you can see it easily. Ride up is 15 minutes, I think. Easy to do. We LOVE Juneau. Here is my video from our day there, maybe it will help you see the layout and what's available.

I would recommend a tour there. We did 2... whale watching then the bear viewing. Both were great tours and would recommend them. The town is tiny, no fancy stores, only 1 restaurant as I recall. We had hoped to have lunch there but didn't happen as we were so rushed getting between excursions. To me, this is the one port that feels very "Alaska". I did a video:

Great food over there at alll the beach clubs. Here's what we got at Tropicante 4 yrs ago.

Money Bar.

WE have had Kyndall twice (Vista and then Conquest) and LOVE her. She is a ball of energy and fun.

We booked with them and trust them 100% to get us back on time. We were so impressed with our guide and how they let us determine how long we stayed at each site, too. We have a video on YT if interested. Would we use them again, absolutely!

Roatan has a lot of good dive ops. But the island is long and skinny, with dive ops all along the coastline, so look at a dive op online, their location, how to get there, and where they dive (usually near their dive op). They aren't going to send a boat to pick you up just to go all the way back to the dive op...too expensive. Plan on a shuttle or taxi. All the reefs are great, so you really can't go wrong.

The dive op that the cruise lines used is no longer doing it. Cozumel is different from most other destinations as the good reefs, that Cozumel is known for, are on the southern part of the island. Those reefs are 30-60 minute boat ride from any cruise docks. The boats in Cozumel, for that reason, usually leave to head south around 8am... which is too early for cruise passengers. So if a dive op wants to be contract with a cruise line, they have to hold back a boat for later, when the cruise passengers get there. This is a financial risk for them... not only does gas for boats cost $$$, but they run the risk of not having enough divers to cover that cost as well as staff pay. And if there are 4-6 cruise ships in ports, like most days, the dive op needs that many boats and crew available, as well as gear since most cruisers will be renting. So... in Cozumel, arrange your own diving now with a dive op by e-mail. There are at least 50+ independent dive ops, most own 1-2 boats, and will be glad to take cruisers if they have a minimum number so as to cover the gas and crew costs.

I highly recommend for Belize, that you use the cruise ship excursions. It is a tender port which adds to time delays, as well as the fact that Belize is really 'undeveloped" as far as roads, buses, cars and facilities. Yes, I have been there a dozen times, so I am speaking from first hand knowledge. The guarantee that the ship will not leave you, if your bus breaks down or gets delayed, it important to me. One time our excursion route had to be adjusted due to flooding from rains that week, a bridge access washed out, and we got back to the port passed sail away time. They held the ship for our whole group because it was a ship sponsored excursion. No worries.

Ditto.... wish they would bring that itinerary back!!!! Hubby and I had planned to do it but could never get it worked out, then they quit offering it. Bummer. Bring it back Carnival!!!

UPDATE...... I have been checking daily and sure enough, excursions opened up in a few ports. One port we had hoped to do something suddenly had 20 open spots on 1 excursion when it was sold out before. So I did go ahead and book it, yeah. The other ports are fine for us, we booked with private companies for 4, and can just walk around port in the other two, no biggie. Thanks everyone!!!

Thanks everybody! Will do.

First time on Princess, booked recently for a European cruise.... and all the port excursions we wanted to do are already booked. So... my question is, do they ever hold back some seats for after boarding the ship? We have found independent excursions in all other ports that interested us but two... and we can't find any independent excursions available for those two ports. We don't have to do an excursion at every port (there are 7 on this sailing), but.... just wondering if the ship opens up excursions once everyone is onboard. Thanks!

YIKES.... I meant NOT natural at it. Thanks for catching that.

We have done the VISTA 3 times now. We love it and hate it... I know, that's crazy but. LOVE all the restaurants, entertainment, Cruise directors, etc. Hate the main theatre, its a mess and unless you get there an hour before shows you won't get a decent seat, especially if you're short like me. Hate that the Comedy Club is so popular, and again you need to stand in line for awhile to get in to shows 9pm and later.

For a beginner..... Roatan is the best diving in the Caribbean. Cozumel is fantastic diving (I have a few hundred dives there, so yeah, we love it) BUT it is drift diving and most newbies are natural at it, it is a learned skill.

Bodden Tours! I have a video of the one we did, loved it, very good in all respects.

yes

YOU aren't getting the point.... their taxi driver (he is the one the dive op sent for us, by name) demanded $120 after driving them around for 15 minutes.

We did it this past Aug, there are multiple booths to buy tickets, the pickup is right at the parking lot for the tram. We got right on a bus, no wait. On way back we stood at bus stop maybe 10 minutes, no problems. That was around lunchtime. Buses come and go constantly. I am sure if you wait to last minute, it will be an issue but they have buses running every 20 minutes from what we were told.

Thanks! You know, it must vary by season. We have never had a problem so I guess we got lucky. We take bug spray with us, just never had any need for it.

As you ca see in our video, my hubby is freediving most of the time, and the uninflated vest does not interfere.

Yes, the snorkel vests are mandatory to wear but as you see my hubby does not inflate his at all. It is a safety requirement (insurance reasons) for all the snorkel boats so good luck finding an excursion that doesn't require them.

We loved this excursion! Tons of fish and SQUID. Both reefs are shallow, 10-20' deep max so easy to see stuff from surface but hubby was free diving down to get close ups of everything with the GoPro10. Check it out.