catspaw1

I never assume on any acronym! I booked 2 cruises- both with Celebrity with it. We cruised on HAL 30 years ago to AK & Carribean for 10 days once & really enjoyed both trips. We are thinking of either HAl or Princess to AK August 2 or 3 from Whitter southbound so have been lurking on the HAL site.

Costco insurance is from a third-party provider.

now I found it- cancel for any reason. It would help to spell out acronyms. Yes they had it but it was more money so we didn't get it.

CFAR?????? no idea what that is. Please clarify.

We have costco trip insurance for our upcoming celebrity cruise. As long as you are a costco member, you can purchase it even if you don't book with them. It's 6.5% of trip costs without booking through costco travel & 5% if you booked through them. You need to buy the insurance within 21 days of purchase to get preexisting medical conditions covered. For our Bermuda cruise I checked a bunch of policies & costco was at least $75 cheaper. Good coverage also. We have a chase sapphire reserve card but get insurance coverage for cruises & international trips. Our health coverage, even though Medicare is primary, covers us for emergency medical abroad

Enjoyed reading your very informative trip report. Glad you had a good time.

stoo bush you are incorrect- you do NOT need to book your cruise with Costco to get the insurance. How do I know? I just booked two cruises through a TA & got the Costco travel insurance! Costco had better medical evac & medical premiums coverage. If you book through Costco travel cost is 5% of trip; if not 6.5%. Our TA price was less than Costco as we got better OBC & choice of cabins. Also they have a 24/7 travel number while it's hard to get through to Costco travel. Hopefully we won't need it but we always take travel insurance for cruises & international travel.

We are PADI certified advanced diving certified. There is no way I would wear a full face mask. I have problems clearing my ears & always need to press on my nose to equalize. So no way I would wear a full face mask. We also do a lot of snorkeling.

Yes it was between the Niew Amsterdam & Sapphire Princess. We have been to AK before in August & agree that it rains more than. Once the first northerly cold front comes down, it brings heavy rain & wind. We hit a gale & missed a port of call! We are Bluewater sailors so didn't get sick but the dining room was almost empty! Fortunately we are looking at either the August 2 & 3 trip. We are doing a bear adventure into the Bush July 21 for 3 nights & will explor AK before & after the bear trip waiting for the cruise. We are retired so have the time.

Thanks everyone for your very helpful comments. We went on HAL to AK 30 years ago & loved it. Returning to Glacier Bay is a must for us! I'm watching both cruises now. My TA has been out so will talk with her again when she returns. Celebrity cruises does not have park privileges to go into Glacier bay & returning there is very important to us. We are leaning to HAL again.

Being retired government, I heard about the expansion & a grateful the government bought & preserved the land. I live near the "company" town so we hear a lot. BTW are you aware that the bridge that was destroyed In Denali NP won't be repaired till 2026? So you can only travel about 20 miles inland on the park shuttle bus. We traveled to wonder lake back in the 80's & got to see "the big one" - Denali. We loved Talkteena then also.

Ken I just finished your TR on the Galapagos last night & it was awesome. The pictures really added a lot to the blog. Thanks so much for posting! I will go back & read some of the other TR also. And I will follow your TR to AK. We went to AK in the 1980's so things also have changed a lot since then & not for the better with global warming & population increase. AK always holds a special place in our hearts. We are also staying at a bear lodge in Lake Clarke national park for 3 nights next late July, traveling inland on our own & then going on a cruise ship. Decided going over for a day was way too short & good possibility of canceling due to bad weather.

We are PADI certified advanced divers & also snorkel. I would never use a full face mask. Go to a good dive shop & buy your own face mask & snorkel & bring with you. They will fit a lot better. For the ladies, I use a special strap so my hair doesn't get caught up. We also have flippers that use dive booties that work great. We will bring all equipment to the Xploration next June. Bring your own gear that doesn't leak!

I'm retired DoD civilian. May stay at military housing if I can get it while in AK.

I will look forward to reading it then. AK, with global glacier warming, has changed a lot from 30 years ago. We went before the TV show northern exposure put Talkeetna on the map! It was a quirky town back then but we loved it. Keep in mind the Denali NP has limited park access from the bridge collapse but is still awesome I think.

Ken, I'm reading your TR on the Galapagos now & it's awesome. I really appreciate reading all your indepth reports! We usually go more budget- OV- as we take 4-6 trips a year. We are also going to Shenandoah park near where we leave for probably 5 nights & KY over the summer. & I'm currently in Rochester NY now staying at another Marriott as my husband is lifetime Titanium. I love your TR & will read all of them. Thanks for taking the time to post!

Ken, I'm reading your TR on the Galapagos now & it's awesome. I really appreciate reading all your indepth reports! We usually go more budget- OV- as we take 4-6 trips a year. We are also going to Shenandoah park near where we leave for probably 5 nights & KY over the summer. & I'm currently in Rochester NY now staying at another Marriott as my husband is lifetime Titanium. I love your TR & will read all of them. Thanks for taking the time to post!

Ken, I'm going to read your trip reports. We have wanted to go to Antarctica after going to AK 30 years ago. We also booked to go on the Celebrity Xploration to the Galapagos next year. We chose the Xploration even though its a smaller ship for more personalized experience with only 16 passengers & we are blue water sailors having logged around 15,000 blue water miles. We sailed full time for 7 years. The Flora looked great but was almost 9G higher. We are going back to AK next year- going into the bush to stay at a lodge for bear watching in Lake Clarke NP. Will also rent car & drive around AK again before we get on the cruise. We are going back to Great Smokey Park for 10 days late May, going to SD, WY & CO for 17 days late May & then Celebrity back to Bermuda in July. In late fall, back to Europe. We are very independent travelers & although we have cruised, my husband prefers when I do all the independent travel planning & he just comes along!!! Thanks for doing all the TR. I'm a big poster on TripAdvisor

We travel to Europe also but don't believe in the Rick Steves view of carryon baggage only. We do just fine with our Eagle Creek bags, PacSafe backpacks & bags. Has worked fine for us for years. Not changing anything. I always carry a change of clothes also after the airlines lost our baggage in Cuzco Peru for 5 days!

I understand- that's why I looked to see what the price would be for me to upgrade to retreat. It was double the cost we paid for our balcony so we are just keeping what we have. I would have liked an upgrade! Something we are used to at the Marriott as my husband is lifetime Titanium. One day.....

On our July 7 sailing, the suite is 6G- considerably much more expensive than our balcony. I'll keep watching though. Most other category is guarantee. We have a fixed cabin number.

Finally got through to celebrity after they hung up once & then on hold for over 30 minutes. Our request for early dining came in. We much prefer that as when we had select dining pre covid, & had a reservation, we still wound up waiting. They always wanted to fill a table for 8 & if you waited a table for two, you waited awhile & your table was physically almost on top of the people next to you.

I booked the upgrade premium pkg at $11 pp per day plus 20%. Today it's $2 pp per day plus Gratuities so an extra almost $35 for 2 people for the week.

I checked our cruise July 7 & no fares at that price! Our cruise seems to be almost sold out - guarantee only available & a lot higher than what we paid. What cruise date was the sale for? Also the upgrade to premium beverage pkg increased by $2 PP Per day! I booked when it was lower.