happy_trees

One thing you might want to consider is how many ships will be in port on the day you embark. Traffic was a mess the day we embarked with three ships in port. Someone on our ship said they spent over $40 on their taxi from within the city because of the time spent waiting in traffic.

Tmobile does not have any towers in Alaska. They partner with GCI to provide service to Tmobile customers on postpaid plans -- I.e. Monthly plans. If you have one of their simple choice plans, you'll also get free data and texting in Canada.

I've found in Icy Strait Point/Glacier Bay, you'll be forced onto ATT instead of GCI because the signal strength is much better.

You mention buying certain GB of data, which makes me think you might not be on a monthly plan, but a paygo customer? In which case, chances are your plan isn't one that transfers to Canada/AK. You can log on to the Tmobile account, see your plan type, and it will list what data and where you have it.

You can bring the powders along. The small bottles of drops are a bit more convenient to adjust to the size of a glass, so you might think about that.

Last cruise we were on, two women at the table next to our had their bottles of Mio every night at dinner. They'd squirt a drop or two into their water glass every time it got refilled.

You should plan on about the same, plus some degrees cooler for the wind as the boat moves.

Yes, it will be cool/cold. You can actually google the historic weather for any moth in any location to get an idea of what to expect.

Also, wearing layers is a good idea in case you are traveling and encounter warmer or cooler weather than you expect ... allows you to adapt.

A lot of people mention the weather. Another angle is the wildlife. You'll see that different animals are more visible/less visible in various places at different times. So if you want to see salmon climbing the ladder in Ketchikan, aim for July. Whales ar also easier/harder to see in some port and passages at various times. A good guide book will cover all the wildlife you'll see at the various times, so if you ally want to see salmon, for instance, you'll be able to plan accordingly.

Whale watching excursions are most available in Icy Strait Point and in Juneau. One thing to keep in mind: law prevents any boat from getting closer than 100 yards to a humpback. Of course, if they stop and the whale gets closer, that is fine. But all excursions no matter the size of the boat have to follow that law. Bring binoculars and a long lens for your camera.

I took one in ISP last year. And a Major Marine tour this year in Seward. Both were good. All the whale watching boats are in constant communication to tell where sightings are. So it's doubtful one tour provider or another will have a radically different experience of how many whales you see, just the type of ship/number of passengers/other extras.

That said, it's always a gamble. While I was happy seeing humpbacks partially breach on the excursion, this year when the Radiance was sitting in ISP, there were three pods of humpbacks bubble net feeding right alongside the cruise ship. I spent a couple hours watching them breach as a group. It was far more amazing than anything I'd ever be able to see on an excursion, because they were literally below my balcony. We were all outside, listening to the seabirds get agitated, then the low groan of the whales right before they breached. Otherworldly. So all that's to say, go into any whale watching excursion knowing it's luck and chance, and that the operators are all working for everyone to have the best experience they can.

A common excursion out of Skagway is the Yukon Pass train. It's great, although if you wanted something different, I'd consider the Kroschel Animal Sanctuary. It's north of Haines, but you can get excusions out of Skagway for it -- they take the water taxi to Haines. Steve the owner is a hoot, and you'll see lynx, brown bear, moose, reindeer, foxes, mink, wolves, wolverines and other animals.

Juneau has three great options: whale watching, Mendenhall glacier, just north of town, and the the Mt Roberts Tramway, which takes you to hiking trails and a visitors center on the top of the mountain overlooking the town.

Today we had the opportunity to take a tour of the bridge. The tour is just 15 minutes and security checks you out will the metal detection wand.

 

That makes for a funny story. Our tour was to start soon so security was doing the wand thing to each of us by the elevators on deck 10. Other people were passing and slowing down like they did at car wrecks.

 

I yelled out " this is what happens when you steal silverware from Windjammer".

 

 

:loudcry: That's awesome!

Wow. Such blue water in that last post! You're getting me really excited to be on Radiance next week!

Great pictures! You have such a good eye behind the camera!

Sorry to hear Radiance's voom is still a PITA. It was bad last year in Alaska, was really hoping they'd got the kinks out this year.

Weird thing was, while most of us had trouble, some people could FaceTime from their phones and iPads just fine. Never did figure out how they got so lucky.

Gorgeous! And yes, as soon as I saw the photo I said, "Fantasy Island!" :-)

So glad you got to see Kilauea at night!

And I thought it was always there. [emoji3]

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

We took the first southbound from Alaska last year, and I could swear they said that it was put up to start the Alaska season and taken down on the last Alaska cruise each year ... in fact, we were so sure of it, we were thinking when we see the boat in VAN in just over a week for the northbound, they'd be putting it up on our cruise.

Now I'm curious and off to look at Radiance pics from when she was in Australia if the totem was up then, too!

Last flight I took to a cruise port involved an aborted takeoff and everyone having to be reaccomodated on later flights, then being told our luggage wasn't on the plane (mine somehow got an earlier, direct flight that I didn't get a seat on). I'd rather not have the stress of dealing with that AND having to deal with worrying about making the cruise or not.

In the case of a bad snowstorm, twice I've just turned up at the airport and said "hey, I'm supposed to fly out in the middle of that snowstorm ..." and both times I got accommodated on flights the day before. If there's room, they'd rather have a person get to their destination and not need reaccommodation when everything's about to turn to chaos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Interesting. It already has the totem pole up. I thought they'd add that when it docked in Vancouver to start the Alaska season.

Also, we are going on holland america - is a nice skirt and lace top going to be dressy enough for gala night? Thank you so much for your help!

I was on RCCL, so I'm not sure what is the vibe on HAL -- you could ask someone in one of the roll calls for a cruise that goes before you to get a sense.

assuming you are nto flying because if you are most of those toiletries are not going to make it in a carry on.

just got back from a week-long carry-on-only trip via airplane ... in my ziploc bag I had deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, perfume (small sampler tubes), face cream, lipstick, chapstick, hand cream, eye bag remover cream, and sanitizer. only the liquids and cremes.

wipes and tissues weren't in the baggie. nor was the toothbrush or tylenol.

as long as everything is 3 oz/100ml or less, it's fine.

toiletries are also easy enough to pick up anywhere, in case you forget ... even after security in the airport.

IRA weren't targeting Americans. ISIS is.

Not even vaguely true. ISIL's main civilian targets are other Muslims, primarily Shia Muslims and other non-Sunni sects. That's based on their religious beliefs. And that's their primary goal. Where there have been attacks in the west, it's been mainly in response to perceived social threats (Mohammad cartoons, for instance) or to create chaos around festivities (Christmas markets, Bastille Day). Not against Americans. Almost all of these have been in Europe. Again, not against Americans.

Not saying they're to be ignored. I'm saying that being accurate allows you to be more accurate in how you assess situations and protect yourself.

We arrive at the airport at 6 am. I love me some cocktails but that's even a little early for me. Lol.

Celebratory coffee and muffin? :)

I think just having a rendezvous spot in the airport with the friends would suffice.

Are you sure that the infection or virus is from the cruise? Most people take airplanes to get to cruise ports, are in busses on excursions, etc etc ... plenty of close-quarters transportation situations to make it easy to swap airborn germs. Not to mention the fact you're exposed to people from other locations, with their own germs that might not have been circulating in your home town.

I've seen it as low as 30% extra for a single. In the day it took me to decide, it went up to 400%, though a few people on here who had mentioned the fare got it at the reduced single fare.

There's a solo cruiser board here. Check that out, and they can also direct you to sites that will help you track current single supplements on various cruises.

I can understand the desire to want to find a quality plant, although I've had some from box stores grow quite well. But if it's quality you want, the simplest solution would be to go to your local nursery that handles landscaping orders and can order specialty plants. Everywhere I've lived has several of these, and because so many of them have large orders, they can usually tack on an order for one or two plants at no extra charge, so you can get your plants in a week or less from specialist growers.

The power strip will probably be confiscated, as they have problems with the electrics systems in ships. So save that space.

Don't forget chargers for kindle and phone.

Depending on what line you're on, you might not really need a formal outfit. Last year on RCCL, Alaska formal nights were sweater and dress pants nights for a lot of people on our cruise.

I was fine with just the deep woods off towelettes.

If you have an Ikea near you, they make fabulous ziplock bags in all sizes, big enough for wet clothes and swimsuits, as well as 1 litre ones for toiletries. And they're thick plastic and quite strong.

I brought my LL Bean mini binoculars on an Alaska cruise last year. The closest they have now is the $60 Discovery (8x25) ones. There was a wide range of what people had ... from very mini ones to very fancy ones. And a lot of people were swapping and offering to let others use them when we were out on decks looking at animals, glaciers,e tc.