bonvoyagie

Just keep watching and as something comes up that is of interest to you then book it. You can change you mind and get a refund if you cancel within 48 hours of the tour.

i have to agree with the captain in that the Jewel goes to Ketchikan first which is a much shorter sail that ISP and things like the Seymore Narrows and Johnstone Strait limit the overall speed. In looking at their track, they stay in Canadian waters so that blows the emissions theory.

On the Jewel class ships decks 8,9 and 10 have aft suites and balconies. The outermost suites have the largest ones followed by the two inner suites and then there are two balcony rooms inbetween. Decks 8, and 9 have similar but smaller balconies. NCL actually put the suites on deck 10 in a separate category and made them more expensive than those on decks 8 and 9, The Sun is different as they have two penthouse suites on the corners on decks 8,9 and 10 these are large suites with a separate bedrooms and extra large balconies. Club Balconies are similar to balcony rooms but are just slightly larger. I can't speak for the Encore or Bliss.

The wife and I have been cruising with NCL since 2002 and we both have our own latitudes numbers. I have the account in my name and she is listed as my second passenger. I can check us in, make reservations, book excursions etc. Her points accrue just like mine. A couple of times we cruised with her mother and I was even able to add her as a third pax to the account. Actually she can also us the ap and the account using my login and password.

Yes and no - I do know about NCL "sales" but well I got to looking at some of our bucket list cruises and just fell into the trap:)

Well I booked another bucket list cruise - this time for Antarctica in January of 2025 - a nice looking 14 day cruise on the Star in an Aft Suite. Now we have to wait almost 600 days but that is almost too far out to even start getting excited about it:) Something about the latest sale I could not resist.

We are doing a cruisetour that starts on land in Fairbanks, the scheduled arrival day is indeed the day priior to the tour starting but since we do not know which hotel we will be staying at, it does not make sense to come in any earlier than expected. I do agree that whenever possible you should arrive early to the port. The only times we have not done this is when the cruise leaves from the same coast and time zone as we live in. We have driven to Seattle once, but for other cruises we take the train and spend a day or two in Seattle prior to the cruise. For our Panama Canal cruise that left from SFO we flew in the day of the cruise - we purposely booked the earliest flight from PDX just to ensure we made it - yes we spent about an hour or so waiting for the NCL bus but there were lots of us all in the same place and same boat and we were all just excited for the cruise.

Yes the limit for making any air changes/deviations is 75 days. You are correct that you probably can't beat the price, however you may also find yourself locked into flights that are not right for you. That was also my concern when I booked they on my own. However in the end, the airline canceled the flights I chose and rebooked me on different ones that I really didn't want but were also the ones that NCL might have chosen. Instead of flying from Portland to Anchorage then on to Fairbanks, I am now flying to Seattle with a 2hr layover then on to Fairbanks. Yes I now have to get up earlier to make this new flight. I also had to change my return flights from Vancouver to Portland which are also leaving earlier than I wanted - the good news is that we also arrive home earlier.

I also dropped my NCL air prior to final payment no problem they also removed the port to airport transfer as well.

Some of it depends on the length of the tour, we are doing a SB 14 day cruise tour this June, We chose it for two reasons - the SB cruise visits a new port for us - Icy Strait Point and the tour portion is comprised of jam packed days of getting up early to meet the bus/train for the days adventure. The only down time we have is spending the last day in Homer as a DIY day. The following day we head from there to Seward and the Jewel. From there we unpack once and relax for the next 7 days enjoying the cruise. NB tours have the relaxing part first and the frantic part second for instance on the NB version of our tour the first two days are spent in Homer and the last day in Fairbanks then off to the airport for home. Perhaps a shorter tour would not be as rushed - at least for so many days.

Keep checking the excursions for your cruise. I believe they have added a city tour with airport drop off.

Allen Marine is the primary vendor for most all the cruise lines and if I remember correctly they only offer it during the summer when there is enough light. We did a similar tour in late June of 2012 and we got back around 9:00 PM and it was getting dark.

I understand there is a white water rafting place in Denali.

way back in 2002 we went to Tracy Arm on the NCL Sky. we got fairly close but the captain decided to send the ship's photographer in the zodiac to get even closer, he came back with some great photos that we all purchased. We returned on the same ship the following year and did not get close at all. Next in 2012 on the Pearl we did Glacier Bay but were offered a small boat excursion that began and ended in Junau but went up Tracy Arm to both glaciers - it was fantastic. To the poster who showed the great photos, we were within 1/2 mile of the face - she was at least 2mi from it as we were inside the rocks in the midground of her photo. During that trip we encountered the NCL Sun as well as a HAL ship in the fjord. Seeing it from water level is way different than from the cruise ship. BTW the only calving we saw was at South Sawyer - none in Glacier Bay. Each cruise line offers different small boat tours into both Endicott Arm and/or Tracy Arm - mainly depending on if the the ship visits Juneau before or after the glacier cruising, If the OP has their timing correct, the small boat tour leaves the ship prior to it entering the fjord and ending up in Juneau after the ship arrives. The ship will also enter the fjord for glacier veiwing and end up in Juneau at or around 1:00 The small boat tour may arrive around 2:00 or so.

the AKRR has a station at both downtown Anchorage and at the airport. I believe that NCL offers stops at either location based on if you are continuing with a land tour or just want to stay a few days on your own.

Note NB Jewel cruises visit Glacier Bay so being able to do a small boat tour of either Tracy Arm or Endicott Arm RT out of Juneau would be a great add on to GB, like I said earlier, we did this on the Pearl in 2012 starting at 1:00 and ending around 9:00 in fact we were late getting back to the ship due to both a late start and a broken bus - but they waited for us. BTW this tour would also be available to SB Jewel pax because Juneau is after the Endicott Arm visit. It would give you the opportunity to see both fjords and glaciers. Also on our small boat tour we saw both the Sun and an HAL ship leaving the fjord as we were entering. And yes I believe they still offer the tour that starts in Juneau and ends in the fjord (or vise versa).

Our tour returned to Juneau. Also look closely at your itinerary the times overlap with the glacier touring from 6 to 10 and Juneau from 7 to 1:15. Also the NB and SB Jewel port times are different with the NB doing the glacier first followed by Juneau. This is also reflected on all of the port times websites I have found. We have not gone into Endicott Arm but understand that it is wider and less icy than Tracy Arm therefore more accessible.

This year there is only one bus ride into the park and it stops at MP42 due to a landslide that won't be fixed until 2024 at the earliest. As for add on excursions you will probably not see the listing until you get to the start of the tour.

They also offer a small boat tour that departs from Juneau - we did this on the Pearl back in 2012 and it was well worth it. BTW we also visited Glacier Bay on that cruise - we just missed doing anything else in Juneau. This summer we are also on a SB Jewel cruise and our port time in Juneau is in the early morning so I believe that we will be crusing Dawes Glacier afterwards before heading to Skagway - even though the NCL itinerary shows the reverse.

With regards to seeing excursions try viewing the website from a different browser without logging into My NCL, that way you can navigate the site incognito.

It could be many things from sold out online (they save back a few seats for onboard sales) to the tour company backed out. Try checking TripAdvisor to see if any tour companies are doing similar tours.

This is a hard question to answer as Valdez has just recently become a port call for NCL and the Spirit. You might try TripAdvsor to see what else might be available.

We are doing the Authentic Alaska SB in June this year. I have not seen an official itinerary however I found a general brochure from 2022 that covers all of the land tours NCL offers. Remember that NCL farms these tours out to a private company so we are at their mercy. NCL-AK-Cruisetour-Brochure-May2022-273026.pdf

We started cruising in 2002 on the Sky, Freestyle 1.0 was just getting started, DSC was also new, no drink packages - we went without soda for a week - big sacrifice! We went to Alaska for our 25th anniversary - got upgraded to a penthouse suite by our TA who is now semi-retired but still doing travel booking We did not see much activity on the pool deck so no chair hogs - the weather was way to cold. The MDR was more like a 5 star restaurant with excellent service and great food - our chef had worked in the White House for several presidents and had just written a cookbook - most all of the meals that week were from that book. While we have not been on that many cruises - they are a luxury for us so when we go we go big - our last three cruises have been in suites but they have also been either ones with my MIL in tow or long ones where the extra room was really nice. I have noticed a slight decline in the MDR offerings with more specialty dining areas, We have not cruised post COVID - but are going to AK again in June. We have not cruised on a large ship - the Jewel class is as big as we like. Just don't need a playground on a cruise ship - we cruise for the destination anyway. We have yet to have any issues with staff onboard - all are very friendly and attentive. Being in a suite may also help that. We also check our expectations at the gangplank and just go with the flow which also makes a ton of difference.

I was talking with my TA when making my final payment - after I removed the BOGO air from my reservation. He said that his customers who used cruise line airfare (not just NCL) seemed to have more issues with the airlines with being bumped to having delays. Yes I spent quite a bit more for my flights, but I am getting what I wanted with reasonable layovers and we are also spending an extra two days post cruise. I was also able to upgrade to first class for my flights home for not that much more - it is two short flights but on a small plane. I also upgraded to business class for my outbound flights. As for going to the port a day early, I have done this on most of my cruises so i can tour the city prior to the cruise. My only times not doing this were on my last cruise where we flew from PDX to SFO and once when we drove from PDX to SEA. I feel for the OP's friend but we are in the times when the cruise industry is trying to rebound from two years of not sailing so I don't expect them to bend over backwards.