BlessedAgain

11 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

Isn't it expensive?

At least trains in the US are costly and they suck for long travel

12 hours ago, kaykayozzie said:

I'm having a battle with reply to Blessed. Why not take the train from Sydney to Brisbane? You could probably stop off at towns along the way. It would be a way of taking more luggage too. Good luck. Kay

I’m sorry you had trouble responding….not sure what the problem is.  We did look into the train, but the only  daytime trai. We could find us actually train and bus and takes over 4 hours.  The reviews we read were not to favorable.  I appreciate the suggestion, though!  Do you know if the airlines weigh your carryon bags?

18 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

Not sure if you saw earlier, I found decent flights to Australia out of Orlando 

Emirates can get you there in one stop in Dubai

MCO>DXB>BNE (Brisbane)

We have been in Hawaii since the middle of February.  We are flying to Sydney on 3/25 to take a cruise to New Zealand.  We return to Sydney on 4/7.  I've been trying to figure out how to spend the 6 days before the 2nd cruise.  Trying to figure out flights to Brisbane with all our luggage....yikes!   Are Australian airlines fussy about the weight of carryon luggage?  Are you allowed to have a roller board and a backpack as a personal item?   

10 hours ago, pipparh63 said:

 

Hi,

This is what is on the Australia Carnival Have Fun. Be Safe page

TESTING

..........All guests aged two years and above, regardless of vaccination status, are required to take a self-administered Rapid-Antigen Test (RAT) within 24 hours of boarding or a PCR test within 48 hours prior to boarding. Evidence of a negative result is required to cruise. If you receive a positive result, you will not be able to travel and can contact our customer service team on 13 31 94.

Please note there may be voyages when mandatory onboard testing may be necessary. This is more likely to occur on longer voyages...............

Makes it a lot easier.......I plan to travel with a couple self-tests anyway.

Seems you just take a pic of it and add name/date............

 

- Pippa

I spoke with a Carnival up sell agent today (for the purpose of upselllling our 10 day New Zealand Splendor prior to Luminosa) and she also said you can use a home test and snap a picture of the negative test with a paper with the date.  This will save us money on the 2 cruises to pay for the successful upsell call!  Lol

On 3/13/2023 at 3:46 AM, wastewateral said:

We love games, and people. Not only will we have plenty of cards but also Mexican Train Dominoes. Also, if anyone is interested, I would like to see a Sunday worship time. Royal Caribbean puts it on some of their longer cruises, but I don't think Carnival does. Maybe we can organize one ourselves. We have plenty of upbeat songs to enjoy.

We too would love a Sunday Worship!   We  are Fred and Diane  and also from Florida!  We booked this cruise a week before we headed for Hawaii on Feb 11years.  I have never been so ill prepared for such a major vacation!    We are flying to Sydney and taking the 10 day New Zealand cruise on the splendor.  I still have to book hotels, flight to Brisbane and all excursions...yikes!!

We too love cards, games and people and would love to meet you!  

On June 23, 2019 at 6:59 AM, SuperCrewBear said:

I have been to both (Glacier Bay, twice) and that is a difficult decision.  My gut is to say pick Glacier Bay.  I had two different Glacier Bay experiences.  Our first time we were on a 10 day cruise where the day after Glacier Bay was Hoonah/Icy Strait, which is RIGHT THERE by Glacier Bay.  We were in Glacier Bay from maybe 7 AM until 5-6 PM and it was awesome.  We cruised very slowly and, like I said, we were there all day.  We also had crystal clear, perfect weather.  Our next time (last year) we were there probably about the same time in the morning but it felt very rushed and we were out of there by early afternoon - the next morning was Ketchikan, a good distance away so I understand why our visit was shorter.  But, I still felt cheated.  The weather was overcast, misty and a lot colder than the previous trip which gave us an entirely different experience - still very interesting.  Sitka was on that first cruise too and we loved it also.  We basically rented a car for the day so we could visit The Fortress of the Bear and The Raptor Center then parked downtown to walk around and see the sites there.  We did a little random driving around to see what we might stumble onto, which we find interesting too.  I've been wanting to go back for another visit but haven't had the opportunity.  You are going to need to make a difficult decision...

Do you recall who you rented your car from?  I have been trying to reach Sitka Car rental for days to no avail.  It was the only non airport option I could locate.  Any help would be appreciated!

On July 1, 2019 at 10:20 PM, AZ Deb said:

My group would like to get over to Herring Cove to (hopefully) see some bears while we're in Ketchikan on Sept. 6 (our ship is in port 2pm-8:30pm). What are our options? We prefer NOT to do an organized tour,  just find a way to and from. Depending on who from our group goes with us, we'll have anywhere from 4-14 people, most likely. Thanks in advance!

We rented a car from Alaska Car Rental and drove there.  We loved the drive all the way to the end of the road....going both ways out of Ketchikan.   No success on our first stop at Herring Cove, but after enjoying beautiful views and even waterfalls, we stopped on the way back and were blessed with some great bear viewing.  Also if you head all the way to the other side of Ketchikan we ended up in a beautiful park that had some nice short hiking trails.

We have cruised Alaska 3 times. First time we booked S.E. Kayak's Orca tour-the guide was very nice, but I have to admit I was quite disappointed in the tour. With a name like Orca I was hoping for larger sea life than a starfish! It is very much a beginners tour. If you are content with sea anemones and starfish then book....if you are expecting more I would skip this one. The other 2 visits we had book the Misty Fjiords Float plane-unsuccessfully! The first time we skipped the port due to bad weather, the second time we got as far as the safety briefing when it was called off. So hopefully, you are more successful than we were!

In 2011 we booked a Sept 18th cruise on HAL out of Seward. We had a beautiful DIY trip in Denali, Fairbanks, and Girdwood before heading for the Statendam. It was ALL downhill from there. It started raining as we approached Seward on the train and then poured as we boarded the ship. It was 2 1/2 days before we left port due to bad weather. We had to skip the 2 scheduled glaciers, Skagway, and Ketchikan. The only port we ended up visiting was Juneau. No one was allowed to use their balconies, the pools never opened up, and we could not use the outdoor decks due to 35 ft seas. This was as close to being a prisoner as I ever been! We were told the weather was a result of a typhoon off of Japan. I figured this must have been a rare occurrence, but was surprised to hear from tour operators on our cruise last August, that ports are skipped often later in the season due to weather.

We have taken 4 Alaskan cruises:

2 in early June-loved the long days and great prices

1 in late August-loved the bears munching on salmon in Haines, but we did run into many streams with dead/dying and rotting salmon, wonderful calving in Glacier bay, but daylight hours much shorter than June which really cut into scenery/wildlife watching from ship

1 in mid September (the last sailing of the season) which we chose in hopes of catching the Northern Lights. Living in Florida, I know better than to risk a September cruise because of hurricanes....little did I know that the same can apply to Alaskan cruises! We will NEVER risk another mid September Alaskan cruise. We learned our lesson the hard way!! :mad:

Just found a wonderful code and got an intermediate for $51.00 with taxes and that's with it only being a week until our cruise :)

That's amazing! What company is that with? I would love to find one....and find the coupon code too! We are also on HAL...maybe on the same ship!

We will be in Haines the last week in August. Will there be any salmon running then? Where would be our best bet for spotting bears along our drive? I'm so familiar with Skagway, but Haines is a whole new world for me! How far can you expect to travel up the highway and back in one day, stopping for views of course?

We have used the guide 2 times for trips up to Emerald Lake and loved it! This time we will be stopping in Haines and would like to explore the roads out of Haines. Does anyone know of a similar guide for Haines? Or could you suggest where we should go to view scenery and wildlife? Thanks!

I would highly suggest that you reserve a rental car from Avis and head up the Klondike Highway....all the way to Emerald Lake. From your description of what you are looking for, this is the perfect thing to do. My husband and I have done this trip twice and love it for the beauty and the quietness that you can enjoy. There is a guide that has been around for years that you can print out (google Murray's Guide) to guide you as you travel along the Klondike Hwy. The views are phenomenal and on each of our trips we had an amazing bear encounter on the side of the road-once a grizzly and the other time a black bear. One trip we turned down a dirt road and ended up at an old log cabin in the middle of nowhere. It made for some beautiful rustic pictures. Another time we found a beautiful lake surrounded by nothing but mountains and trees-not a single building or human being around. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Congratulations on your anniversary and enjoy your trip-Alaska truly is an amazing place!