tetleytea

That's no-brainer. RCL is the better cruise line.

The bus trips are usually all-day, whereas the flight is over in 90 minutes. While the flight is good, you still have the rest of the day to plan (and pay) for. Fortunately, you can:. the flights are not really from out of Denali--they are out of Talkeetna. Talkeetna has its own small set of stuff to do. Museums, rafting, $20 individual pizzas....

I'm a bit confused, since the OP title "visit Alaska on a budget" doesn't jibe with "take a tour flight over Denali". When I flew Denali from Talkeetna and landed on Ruth Glacier, I used a Toursaver coupon, which singlehandedly paid for the whole book. But gas wasn't $4 a gallon at the time, either.

This doesn't sound so much like a can't-get-OBC-back problem as it is a business-office-not-getting-it-done problem and a why-am-I-on-hold-90-minutes problem. That's Princess for you as of late, regardless of what your original problem was. Don't be afraid to shop other cruise lines.

Bering Sea Crab is definitely understandable if that's your favorite. The reason i like it was because of the photo shots of eagles swooping in salmon that you got to take (had nothing to do with sea crab, ironically enough), My favorite was driving some Zodiacs out of Ward Cove, and the reason was because we found ourselves right on top of a pod of orcas. Their dorsal fins were higher than we were.

We sailed Endicott at the very end of July on a big ship, and did not make it particularly close to Dawes. We did see it, though--the ship did a 540-degree spin, and we were out of there.

This "Greenland" cruise is rapidly sounding like an At-Sea cruise. I can't believe you missed Nuuk.

I remember walking around Anchorage at 10pm and having a hard time finding an open restaurant. I was like, what is up with these people? Why are they all closed? It's broad daylight!

The marketing folks at Carnival are informing me, that yes, the cabin is haunted. In fact, the whole ship is.

At Warnemunde we rented a brand new German-made car with Sixt and uh...drove a little bit further than you would expect for a port day, since we were on the autobahn.

I think that's it: people are terrified. I see that in people not wanting to book rental cars at port stops and go DIY, too. I will give this much: there is an element of stress to going DIY, that gets lifted when you are tour guided. When you are in a tour group, you just go with it. Do we have enough time left? Not your problem. The thing is, that whole time you were stressing, you were also learning. Learning where things are, learning how things tick in that place. If I'm abroad where the language is different and things are a bit TOO different (particularly, the traffic. ohmigosh the traffic...), i realize I need a tour group, since there is simply too much to take in at once. But Alaska simply does not fit that category: there is usually only one road to take, wherever you go. Anchorage to Seward or Denali? One road. Skagway to Carcross? One road. Juneau or Ketchikan car rental? One road. Within Anchorage: okay, not so much. You have to navigate there. But you also get cell phone reception there.

This is an amazingly good thread for binocular advice. Whenever I help people plan their Alaska trips, I always say, if there is one thing you actually remember from all this, it's this: remember to pack binoculars. Where we were not so successful was in getting the cell phone camera magnifying lenses. I wish we could make that work out.

I wait to book last minute, too, and if prices go up then I'm okay with just not going.

Thank you for educating us inexperienced people that gambling is a game of chance. I had no idea.

Not just the train, but the rental cars. Which judging by the size of the rental car agencies in Skagway, people just aren't renting cars. And that's my #1 tour in Skagway: renting the car, bringing your passports, and going to Carcross. Murray's Guide. It's true that the fog can really destroy the train trip (because it's not just White Pass you need to see, but the mountain goats), but one key difference is that the rental car tends to be an all-day trip. The train is what, 3 hours? I've had pretty good luck with the fog lifting on the return trip if it's an all-day trip. I don't see the Sitka Raptor Center, the Orthodox church, the Fortress of the Bear, and the totem poles in the park beating out a successful first trip to Carcross. Although seeing all the salmon leaping out of the water in Sitka was pretty cool.

i have only DIY'ed and have never cruisetoured. I figured I was just the DIY type. You just don't really learn the area when a tour guide is leading you around. My strategy is to sail up into Whittier, back from Seward (or vice-versa), take non-back-to-back sailings with probably two different cruise lines. The days get much longer north of Anchorage, so what I do is stagger a hard day next to an easy day. In other words I might schedule 15 hours' worth of stuff one day, but if I do that then I'm not going to schedule 15 hours' worth the following day. It may sound like a stamina-fest on your vacation, but we're trying to have the most fun in our limited vacation time, too.

Note that by Skagway I don't mean literally Skagway. I mean going up past the White Pass and into the Yukon--an excursion one would normally do when first visiting Skagway (or at least, the White Pass part). If we were to compare literally the two towns, sure, Sitka is better. But I'm comparing the port visits; not the towns. And assuming the railroad dock and the WP railroad stuff is all worked out.

If this is your only trip to Alaska, then pick Skagway over Sitka. If you take many trips to Alaska, then it's Sitka over Skagway. Sailing on a newer cruise ship matters. And Hubbard glacier is better than Dawes. I'd go with Discovery Princess.

I don't think I'm tied to any line--even a luxury line, if it's an inside. However, I think Carnival is the one line my DW doesn't want. This idea of a floor-to-ceiling webcam is fascinating. Or insides that are not 100% insides (like the Oasis that the article mentions).

I just read CC's article on inside cabins: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2419&et_cid=3593426&et_rid=16812602&et_referrer=SiteAd2009&address=IXdnMzByxUElSyQ%2bKvZHUkPc2quU8EiQ So...quirky inside cabins? Count us in! Where are they? Non-solo traveller.

It's a great idea. I don't think the train drops you off on the other side of the checkpoint? I think you would have to clear going both ways anyway.

There's the DIY Rome excursion where you go to the Colosseum after hours and be your own gladiator. Finally face your father-in-law head-to-head.

Now for the million-dollar question we need to know: what if you have the soda package and try to smuggle on board Pepsi?

Canada has all kinds of things that actually make sense. Their $1 and $2 bills are actually coins. And their bills, you cannot tear up because they're made of plastic. But their postal service and cable/internet are simply awful.

Non-hangover pills? Is this Milk Thistle? I take that, and I don't drink. People are known to take a bomb of about 5 of those, and anecdotally avoid the hangover. It works by helping your liver. Hijack underway, we are holding you all hostage for ransom. We want free Havens.