JimP1903

We were just on the Jewel last week, on deck 11. You could occasionally hear chairs being moved at night and sometimes kids running. Another thing to take in consideration is that deck 12 overhangs a bit, so the view is blocked at bit at the sky. We still had a great time and the room was really nice.

Thanks for the info. We are usually pretty generous with the cruise staff and appreciate their hustle.

If you are on the free at sea package, and already prepaying beverage tips, does anyone still tip the wait staff and/or bar staff? Asking because we have never done the beverage packages.

*DW here using DH’s login with a detailed question* NCL cruise disembarks early a.m. in Seward. We have a flight out of Anchorage the next day at 2pm. We are trying to figure out if it’s better to take the 6am cruise offered train and head directly to Anchorage for the day (staying at a downtown hotel close to siteseeing) OR spend the day siteseeing in Seward and take the 6pm train (staying at an airport hotel in Anchorage) . I understand the 2 trains drop in the exact opposite location for either scenario, but that’s the least of my worries at the moment. We have never been to Alaska so we have no point of reference. All of our research as been online and we’re torn. For you seasoned Alaska travelers which scenario would you recommend? Do we disembark, drop our bags (where?), spend the day in Seward and take the later 6pm train to stay at an airport hotel in Anchorage OR do you recommend we disembark, hop on the early 6am train, check-in to a downtown hotel, and spend the day in Anchorage. (Again, I realize the trains will drop at the opposite depots, but I’m more concerned with how to spend our day. We’ll worry about how to get from the depot to the hotel once we know what we’re doing). DH is concerned we will be tired after the cruise and staying in Seward for the day might be more of a hassle since we won’t have access to our bags or a hotel to rest; he is leaning towards the earlier train and spending the day in Anchorage where we have our luggage and a hotel room. My concern is there’s more to see and do in Seward (based on my illustrious google searching) and I have FOMO of not seeing Seward. Are my concerns real or is there plenty of siteseeing in Anchorage? If you only had 1 day where would you spend it? We are a family of 4 with 2 teenage boys and we will not have a car. What would you do?

So, I am bit confused. Is there a charter train that the cruise lines use and then a public train in town? The reason I ask is that we were looking at just taking the NCL listed train, that is $120 pp. But, my wife saw on the ARR site that if you want the dome car its about $240 pp. We want to make sure, (1) we have the right train and (2) that we have a dome car.

I know on the NCL web site and under excursions for Seward, it says the train leaves about 6:00am and you shouldn't have a flight before 2:00 pm. So I think you should be alright.

We are taking a NCL cruise is June 23, ending in Seward. I see they have a transfer/excursion to date the train to Anchorage airport, however it looks like it leaves at 6:00 am. Is there a later train that you can take, so you can look around Seward? And if so, has anyone done that? What did you do with your luggage?