wolfie11

NCL - Master baiters and switchers!

You must be on NCL. Be aware that when they advertise sailing by Glacier Bay it means you sail past the entrance like every other ship transiting Icy Strait. You do not see anything but Gustavus Flats and some mountains in the distance. The actual glaciers are 65 miles up the bay.

The ship’s lights greatly diminish both the possibility of seeing the aurora and the quality of viewing. Balconies are the best place because the glare is diminished but neighboring cabins leaving their lights on is a problem. If you don’t have a balcony, try to find a dark corner somewhere you can also get a good view of the sky.

WOW! You don’t have a lot of time in port on this cruise. In Sitka you need to get in line to get off as early as you can. The dock is a 7 mile bus ride into town. With 3000 to 4000 people on board it can take a couple of hours to get everyone into town. Either that or sign up for an excursion that leaves from the dock area. It’s early in the season so some shops may not be open and some excursions may not be operating. The same situation applies in Ketchikan, where you will be around 11 miles from town with a shuttle ride back and forth. I believe the last shuttle back to Ward Cove leaves around 11 am. Juneau is a tender port so also get in line as early as possible. It takes longer to tender people in than bus them. the weather can be nice in late April but it’s still pretty chilly. Expect highs in the 40‘s and lows in the 30‘s. There will likely still be plenty of snow around and the mountains are beautiful, although the trees may not have leaves on them yet depending on how cold it is next spring. I’ve done several cruises in late April and early May and I love the fact that there aren’t crowds that time of year.

Regent and Oceania also dock there.

It’s a $100 tour by boat.

It would be a very long day. Odds are good that you’ll see whales on the Tracy Arm excursion as well.

I looked it up. It’s 13,500nm from Athens to Singapore around the Cape. At 18 knots, that’s around 32 days at sea. The time between the end of the Med cruise and the start of the Singapore cruise is 35 days.

I’m on the Singapore to Bali cruise on November 25th on Venus.

I find the dining room annoyingly noisy when it fills up. Bad acoustics.

Three ships in Sitka? That’s 10,000 people in that little dock area, which is insane. You have to take a shuttle bus from the dock seven miles into Sitka and the lines for the buses will be crazy long. Don’t worry about tendering. Book an excursion that leaves from the dock area so you don’t have to go to town.

The discounted fares have always been a way to fill the ship so as many people as possible are on board. Based on my experience from my last few cruises, the cruise lines are now using casino comps to fill the ships rather than potential last minute passengers.

You’re in Sitka with the Eurodam which means 7000 people that will be getting on shuttles to Sitka, so it might take a while. All of the places you’re looking at are fairly close to the downtown area except for the Raptor Center, which I’d skip as it will be full of excursion groups. Harry Race drug store is near the castle. Stop in for a milkshake or ice cream at the soda fountain and pick up several of the very scrumptious locally-made chocolate bars by Theobroma. Also check the alley just down from Race’s for the local fisherman who sells smoked salmon and halibut along with the local specialty smoked sablefish. Sitka is only 8000 people and the main downtown area is fairly small, so it will likely be super crowded. Head for the totem park and enjoy the trails through the rainforest. The local ravens are a hoot with all their different calls.

That’s what the cruise ships and politicians who take money from the cruise lines would like you to believe. There’s a big difference between the cruise line rhetoric and what the average Juneau or Sitka resident, who has a well-paying year-round job and is raising a family, will tell you. A very small percentage of Alaskans are dependent on the cruise ships for a living. The rest of the population has to put up with up to 20,000 people invading their town every single day of the short summer season we get in Alaska and they are getting fed up.

It’s a four lane highway out to the valley with no bike lane. You would have to find back roads to take you there.

Likely not much in the way of shopping that late in the year.

Wraparound promenade deck, nice layout, only 2000 pax, and a good ship to get into the inside passage. My favorite ship now that Pacific is gone.

Cunard because it’s like a vacation in England but you get to stop in cool places every day.

South because Hubbard Glacier.

Hint for Ruby: Use the Promenade Deck to get forward and aft without the crowds. The starboard side has handicap doors and all the elevators are where the doors are.

Coral. Still a great ship and perfect for Alaska. My friend went on Caribbean a few months ago and hated it.

I bring my cloth Trader Joe’s bag.

Alaska Dream is awful with old boats and surly crew. Linblad/National Geographic is the best. Uncruise is good. These are not cruises as you would think of them, but expeditions. There is a dining room and a lounge and everyone hangs out there or in their room. The guides give lectures but entertainment is non-existent. Bring cards or a board game. When the weather is good, these boats are paradise, hanging out on deck, kayaking, zodiac cruises, and hikes. But when it’s rainy and windy all week, they get a little claustrophobic. I will freely admit that I have no desire to go on a zodiac ride or a hike in the pouring rain anymore, but I would cruise with Linblad or Uncruise in a heartbeat just to be in such a small ship.

Look at Viking. Internet, WiFi, wine and beer, and one excursion in each port are included. No casino, lots of quiet nooks and great viewing areas, heavy on lectures and “edutainment,” great food, including an amazing afternoon tea in the Wintergarden, and a great 10 day itinerary that hits most ports. Each ship holds 930 people.

I’m not too worried about morning or evening. I actually like the evening whale watch in Juneau a lot, as there’s only one or two boats out. I’m hearing about people unhappy with whale watching this year because of the large number of boats. A couple of people have told me that there were 8-10 boats around a group of whales and they never got a good view. There are 72 boats registered for whale-watching in Juneau. This is alarming because not only are the whales impacted by the boats, but NOAA has initiated research into whether the numbers and times of boats observing the whales should be reduced. Another concern is tendering. It seems like when I’m in Juneau these days there is frequently a ship tendering. As ships per day increase to 7 or 8 over the next few years, tendering may become commonplace. The loss of another couple of hours in an already short day in port leaves passengers with little time to do a longer excursion.