tinybiny

The blue bus and the white bus pick up and drop off in the same place. You can board right in front of Mount Roberts Tram. In fact, I paid round trip for blue bus, but the white bus offered to take us back.

I just google mapped Mount Roberts Tram to Tracy's crab shack and it says it is a 2 minute walk .1 mile.

My local YMCA does this in the outdoor children's pool. It's a ten minute break every hour. I've heard several reasons for it. I have no idea which one is correct. They want all children to have a break out of the water; the lifeguards need a break from watching the pool; the pool stays cleaner when they kick everyone out for a while; it's a health department requirement...

The Dream cruises are short and busy. I can see why your husband thinks you won't have any time to enjoy the balcony. However, how much time would be worth $300 is up to you.

For $50., I'd upgrade to a window.

I was recently on the train and plenty of people brought lunch and ate on the train.

The Sweet Tooth Cafe was selling boxed lunches for the train. They are just a couple blocks away from the train station.

I brought 4 pairs of shoes:

Flip flops - wore the first day

Walking/tennis type shoes - wore most of the time

Hiking Boots - wore on all my excursions which all consisted of hiking

Dress shoes - wore one night to dinner

When I drove from Portland to Seaside, it took an hour longer than what google maps showed because there were several stops due to logging and road work. There's no way around that type of stuff. I would never risk driving back and forth on a cruise ship stop.

I haven't been on either, but am interested in the southern. I prefer less sea days and more time exploring the ports.

Thanks for the info and I didn't think about it being a few thousand people all getting off at the same time. I'll just book through the cruise line and take the mystery out of it.

I haven't been to Catalina Island in 25 years, but went several times before then. Back then, it was easy to book activities for the day on the island. Is it still like that? I am thinking I'd be most interested in a back country tour, but the ones from my cruise ship seem overpriced. I could be wrong, though, since it has been 25 years since I've been there. I haven't found a lot through google. There are a few sites, but I don't see anything like what we used to do there.

I'd kind of like to wing it and just go there and decide what we feel like doing that day and book a tour when we get there. Is that still possible these days? Since the ship requires a tender, are we better off booking something from our ship since they will most likely make sure we get back in time?

That's great! Thank you both.:)

I have a cruise booked for March and I see the excursions are already available for booking. I have never sailed Princess before and not familiar with anything.

I've only paid $100 deposit, but it seems like I can book excursions. I haven't tried it all the way through, but it looks like I can book before paying off the cruise.

If I book stuff now, do I pay now or does it go to my on board account?

What happens if I need to cancel or change my cruise? Will my excursions auto cancel or do I need to do that?

Thanks for the review. I saw your ship while I was in Juneau on the Wonder. It looked wonderful from Mount Roberts Tramway and looked like it had more stuff to do on the decks than the Wonder did. Sounds like your sea days were a bit boring. Isn't there a covered outdoor area on the Grand? I get bored on sea days, but if there is a nice outdoor area, I could probably deal with it.

The bear excursions are not available in May or early June. They have them in July and August. I am not sure if there are any in later June, but you could probably find something if you check all the tour operators available.

I looked at the videos and it looks like the Serenity Bay cabanas don't have beach loungers. I see the ones on the cabana, but I was hoping for a couple in the sand, also. Do the family beach ones have loungers on the sand?

Since we are just adults, I was going to get one at Serenity Bay, but is there any benefit to getting one on the family beach? My husband has mobility issues and a closer walk to stuff would be better, although he will probably just sit in the cabana and drink all day.

If possible, please post some photos of the Juneau excursion. How much did it cost? How long was the entire excursion?

You can book the train for skagway directly through their website and not pay the extra that the cruise gets. It has a lot of great scenery.

For Juneau, you can take the tram up Mount Roberts. There are buses that regularly go to and from Mendenhall Glacier. Those are gorgeous areas. You can buy tickets for those when you get off the ship.

They have been using half of the Outlook Cafe for concierge in the evenings. Perhaps they will end up making that permanent.

The glacier walk looks amazing.

I know it is kind of a generic question, but how are the shows and entertainment on the Star? I'll be trying my first Princess cruise next year. My previous cruises have all been on DCL and I have found that I actually get bored easily on the ship.

For concierge, I wouldn't do Wonder because it doesn't have a concierge lounge. I've googled the concierge lounges and sun decks and without having stayed concierge, I'd choose Dream for a concierge sailing based on pictures and trip reports.

I just looked at the sale price for the cruise I booked about a week ago. It is higher on sale without taking into account the freebies. I have $150 OBC per person. The sale wouldn't have that but would have free gratuities. Overall, it would cost me over $200. more to book the sale deal and I also noticed the deposit is nonrefundable.

I would rather be sitting, but my hubby would rather be hiking. Also, we have never been to Juneau before.

Even though Tracy Arm is my favorite thing in an Alaskan cruise, you may enjoy a city tour of Juneau and a different bus to Mendenhall glacier. Mendenhall glacier is a beautiful area and there are easy hikes there. Should your husband want to hike more than you, he can do that and you can hang out in the visitor center.

Would you rather be out walking/hiking or sitting on a boat?

Since you like cooler climates, I'd go with Alaska. From trip reports I've read, it will be hot and sweaty in the caribbean during that time. I do love Castaway Cay, though.

There is more to do on Fantasy, being that it is a larger ship, but the Wonder is very nice. Maybe you could look at activities for each port on each cruise and see overall what will appeal to you the most. I wouldn't choose based on the ship because both ships will be excellent.

Did I see you guys on NCL Getaway in The Haven last year? Anyway, a nice shirt and jacket are fine and your dresses should be fine - I typically do a black maxi dress with flashy earrings on formal night. Don't worry at all.

Hi. Sorry, I overlooked this. We have not been on a NCL cruise. The Haven looks wonderful, though!