LeeW

If you get a chance, visit the Kon Tiki Museum in Oslo. Especially if you have read the Thor Heyerdahl books about the Pacific Islands. And Oslo Pass gives you a lot of places to see for one price.

We did the North Cape Express last year. Quick stop at a town and native trading post, then a lot of time at North Cape. Waffles! Kind of weird that bus leaves you there, gets another group, and then picks you up but your guide stays behind at North Cape to organize things. https://northcapetours.com/en/northcapeexpress Don't trust the packaged T-shirt sizes at North Cape. Adult XL might fit an adult S.

Yup. Liberty was at the middle terminal, 19. Return was to 18. Easy walk to either, provided not raining. The real catch for the OP is where the Apex is. Terminal 25 is great, 29 not so great.

Took this a couple of weeks ago. Great trip and lots of whales: https://alaskashoretours.com/tours/juneau/wildlife_whale-watching/whale-watching-tour They do 3 1/2 hour trips and were doing three trips a day when we were there. Suggest you call them.

Did trip to Seward a couple of weeks ago. You drop your luggage in the tent outside the Anchorage station and if it has tags for a hotel they deliver there or tags for cruise ship deliver there. No charge (can tip if you like). If you don't tag it, you MUST pick luggage up at the station. Whittier pier is adjacent to the train stop so very easy for them to handle luggage. Seward pier is around 1/2 mile, so they have to truck luggage to the ship. They had signs in the luggage tent about Holland America and Princess, so no reason to believe they wouldn't transfer stuff to the ship in Whittier. But even if they didn't, your walk between the train and cruise terminal is only around 100'. No station in Whittier, so they would have to throw luggage on racks and have a couple hundred people milling around trying to find theirs. I'm not convinced that luggage actually went on the train. We saw them loading a luggage car with a forklift, but we also saw them loading a truck. When we did train to Princess Lodges a few years ago luggage went by truck (but that was a Princess land tour).

Note that the White Pass railcars are restored antiques. Narrow wood seats not particularly comfortable on the incline. Historic. Have done it a couple of times but now prefer Dyea Dave tour to Emerald Lake.

Direct train leaves Anchorage at 0645 (checkin 0545). They haul your luggage directly to the ship in Seward and you have about 1/2 mile walk or shuttle ride. Arrive in Seward at 1120. We booked the Goldstar Service. Includes food, two adult drinks, soda, and dedicated outdoor platform. Kids loved dome views. We considered this an excursion - pretty expensive. You do get to the ship before the cruise line transfers and most of the private buses. Hilton hotel is 3/4 block up gentle hill from train station. Decent food, near to shopping and small indoor pool. Anchorage had a really great 4th July party with parade, carnival rides, and a ton of food trucks.

Glacier Discovery rail leaves Anchorage station at 945 and arrives just after noon in Whittier. Think the Phillips 26 Glacier cruise leaves at 1230 (it is possible that they coordinate their departure to the rail arrival, contact them). The cruise gets back at around 6, so easy to get on a ship in time for dinner. Note that rail stop, Phillips and cruise docs are within a few hundred feet of each other and easy to drop luggage there. When we took the train to Seward, we checked our luggage in Anchorage and they delivered it to the ship. That train leaves at 645 am, so we walked downhill from the Hilton to the rail station. Highly recommend Hilton - food good, nice swimming pool, easy access to rail and downtown.

The biggest problem folks have renting a car in Whittier or Seward is massive dropoff charges. You won't have this, so should be pretty easy. We just did B2B in both locations and took glacier watch cruises on turnaround day. Lots of hotels in Talkeetna, Denali and Fairbanks.

Kids did zipline about a month ago.

Sail mid-September. Most of the ships are gone by then and shops have lots of sales.

Aquacar. If things go like last August, buses run to Heathrow with tags between 0750 and 0805. So your will be on a bus by 9, arriving at Heathrow before 11. Of course that assumes that ship arrives on time and departures are normal.

Booking engine is Radio Taxis. My Visa cards want to do some kind of authentication, so I have to use Master Card. These take on the first try. Just paid for my my next trip this morning. If you have a problem, Jake Doherty at Radio Taxi has been really helpful setting up our booking. corporate@radtax.co.uk Responds promptly (weekdays, UK times). Unless you have a lot of luggage two person rate is 125L in advance for Heathrow to hotel/port in Southampton. They meet you in front of Smith store to your right as you leave the international luggage area.

Orlando is a long way from the port. You might want to also look into cruises out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami. As I understand it, you could even fly to Barbados and take a Windstar cruise out of there (although Windstar is more expensive). Carnival is kind of a party-type vibe. And shorter cruises on other lines can be as well. You really need to talk to a travel agent that specializes in cruises to match your style with the line. We started on balconies and now most cruises are on those. Minisuites don't really give you much more, except slightly more space. And cost a lot more. Depending on weather a balcony can be a nice place to relax. Flight bookings won't open until 330 days before the flight (use the return date for this). But usually you can look at the cruise line booking engines (like EZAir) and they may list flights for your dates. On those you don't pay until the cruise final payment, and can change your flights if you see a lower price.

We walked from Equinox to Liberty earlier this year. Turned out Liberty was at 18, which is just the other side of the parking structure. Easy walk. Oasis will be at 17, so maybe 100 yds farther. The port parking structure for Apex should be 25, so walk out of 17, turn left and walk along the road through the Palm Garage to the terminal. They will likely have someone taking luggage as early as 930, but leave Oasis as late as possible and plan on getting to the new terminal around 10. No sidewalk around Palm - walk diagonally through the garage. Note - I wouldn't try this if new ship was at 29 - too far. And really hot or rainy weather might make it worthwhile to take a cab. They don't like terminal to terminal rides but offer them $20 for it.

Thought they just relabeled food for next day's buffet....

Assuming I am reading right, OP is flying in to Vancouver a couple of days early for cruisetour ending in Fairbanks. In Vancouver we either rent a car at airport or use public transportation. The Canada Line train goes from the airport to Waterfront Station (1 1/2 blocks from port) every 7 minutes. Just tag on and off with a touch credit card. We typically stay at Pan Pacific (at the port) or Fairmont Waterfront across the street. These are expensive, but the bellhops will take your luggage down to the port on embarkation morning. Do NOT book a hotel through the cruise line. It will cost double the rack rate. Have stayed at several other hotels - see the west coast departures board for recommendations. Lots of food and tour options in downtown. HOHO and Capilano bridge both leave from in front of the Pan Pacific. We were in Pan Pacific last week and got a super rate on one of the booking sites. Roughly half of current rack rate (but still over $700cn/night). Book any way you want, including checking the hotel's web site. Most people walk to the ship (at least 25 hotels within 7 blocks). A few take cabs. A lot with take the metro. Fairbanks flights mostly are overnight, especially direct ones. Ours flew down to Anchorage and we almost didn't get out because of fog. Most likely your last tour event will be a visit to the dredge or the riverboat. Probably the cruisetour will include that night at a hotel, so earliest you would leave is next morning. Recommend looking at flights on EZ-Air now, although actual flights won't be posted by airlines until 330 days before the flight. Booking EZ-Air has no commitment of funds until final payment so if you find a better flight on your own you can cancel at any time (or reselect a new flight at a lower price). Recommend renting a car in Fairbanks and driving around. Santa Claus is a few miles east, the pipeline is a bit north (or go as far on the pipeline highway as you want to drive), and a pretty neat hot spring 1 1/2 hours east of town. If military you can get on the base.

Radiance 8136 shows a triangle in the deck plan but had the same sofa as 8132 and 8134, which didn't. VERY tight for a small 9 year old. She didn't complain but her parents had hoped for at least a pullout bed or pullman. She sleeps with so many stuffies there is seldom enough room for her, and half the time she is on top of the stuffies so even the floor is probably fine. But would have been really uncomfortable for a 5'6" or larger person.

If you can book the tour locally (and ship hasn't bought all the slots), do so. Cheaper and smaller groups. All the locals in Hoonah are nice folks and really work for the tourist dollar. They also help "competing" companies - most are family operations. Last week mom Teresa drove the Glacier Winds van and delivered us to son Casey for our tour on their 14 passenger boat. All the small local boats saw a ton of whales - often surrounded by them. The cruise ship tour (over 100 guests) didn't go out as far and saw NOTHING.

New member, folks. (although I like the Star Trek references). Assuming Seattle Pier 91, the closest Enterprise location (from their web site) is 3 blocks uphill from Pike Market. It says no pickup service available, so you would need to Uber there, or take the bus up on the Magnolia overpass downtown. Buses run pretty regularly (24,27,33,124 each take around 12 minutes). One person in group does walkoff, gets car, and comes back to pick up the rests of the group. Can do the same thing dropping off people. King County Metro trip planner will give you all the details. https://app.tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/hiwire

Ken, we were on Radiance Alaska last week and had no problem using the app to get our arrival time for Jewel next month (didn't know I couldn't, so I tried it). Just selected the other cruise, went down to the checkin link, and selected a time like we do when off a ship. I filled in the rest of the information when I got home, although app did let me select the personal information page. Kind of weird doing this at 4 in the afternoon rather than late at night. I suppose it is possible I had a non-ship internet connection - we were docked in Juneau. I look up other cruises all the time while onboard.

Done this one several times but usually have to book through cruise line since it involves taking ferries from and to Skagway. You are already in Haines, so would be trivial (and a LOT cheaper): Great folks and good picnic lunch when done. https://alaskashoreexcursions.com/haines/chilkat-bald-eagle-preserve-rafting-tour

Checked the two Princess excursions I had booked and price is now higher than I paid. Obviously not going to cancel and rebook.

If you want a cushion for lounge chairs, try the Teton seat cushions sold on Amazon. Much cheaper than a casita and can go on any chair. Roll up for travel.

Easiest way is call. Don't even need booking number if you can identify several people in cabin, but easier if you know cabin in addition to ship and sail date.