karatemom2

My response was based on the thought that you would be doing the round trip out of Juneau as we are which is quite a lengthy excursion. If as Budget Queen points out you are doing the excursion directly from your ship in Tracy Arm you would likely have time and energy for both excursions since that Tracy Arm excursion requires a smaller time commitment since you don't have as much transit time.

We are doing the Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer Cruise with Allen Marine roundtrip from Juneau on our upcoming cruise and I know it is a full 7 hour excursion. Even with a very long day in Juneau I would probably be hesitant to add anything additional because you would likely be on overload. I have done the similar excursion with Adventure Bound a couple of years ago and honestly we were exhausted (in a good way!) when we got back to town and just wanted to kick back and have a relaxing dinner. I don't know if I would have been up to jumping on another excursion, especially a physically demanding one. And I am usually the one who pushes our little group the hardest!

Can you please comment on the activities in Ketchikan and Sitka that you enjoyed?

 

Sitka has an amazing history and the Russian influence is fascinating. It is a lovely, walkable town with much to see. We visited the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, enjoyed the New Archangel Dancers, visited the Raptor Center and walked through the rainforest park. We also visited a Brown Bear sanctuary which was very enjoyable. On another visit we took a boat tour out to the Silver Bay Salmon hatchery and saw lots of wildlife. It's a stunning place.

 

Ketchikan is an incredibly fun port with plenty to do. We have gone salmon fishing, watched black bear fishing salmon out of the creek at Herring Cove, hiked at Ward Lake and the rainforest trail. We have explored the town and Creek Street and enjoyed the totem poles at Saxman Village and Totem Bight park. It's always a favorite stop for us.

We cruised on the HAL Amsterdam a couple of summers ago and it definitely is a more sedate experience then say Princess or Carnival. But the itinerary offered on HAL seems much better to me. I would not want to miss out on Ketchikan and while Skagway is a wonderful port, Sitka is just as amazing in its own right and if I were to choose I would probably say I prefer Sitka.

But looking on the bright side, there's an In-N-Out Burger right there.

 

Getting hunnnngry...

 

But have you seen the traffic in the In-N-Out Line!! Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time!! :D

We have had really great tours with both Orca Enterprises and Weather Permitting. The advantage of Weather Permitting like Harv and Marv is that it is a small boat experience.

Can you buy the cards for just certain days, or do you have to buy it for each day you are on the cruise? I am thinking we will not use it to its full potential on days we are on excursions.

 

You must purchase it for the full length of your cruise so you need to weigh if it will be cost effective for you. We used to purchase the Unlimited Soda and More package for our kids, but our son rarely used it for much other than soda which you could get with a regular soda card. And our daughter used it more as a tween, but now she has become more of a tea and coffee drinker and doesn't drink soda at all so we get her the coffee card which still covers the hot chocolate she enjoys. And DS gets a regular soda card and both just order an occasional mocktail or milkshake if they like. My take is that if you aren't ordering at least a couple of the extra specialty drinks it covers per day, it really isn't worth the added cost.

I can't comment on the ziplining as we have not done that yet. Some height fearing people in my family!! But I would imagine that a teenage boy would love it.

 

As far as Mendenhall Glacier, Whale Watching and White Pass/Yukon train - we have done all of those with our teenage son and daughter and they had a great time. A key at Mendenhall was doing the hike to Nugget Falls. And the White Pass/Yukon we did a combined train/van tour so we were able to make lots of stops on the way back including one where they got to play with Husky pups. I'm not sure they would have loved doing the train back.

 

I can't really comment on the horse drawn buggy tour in Victoria since we have never done it, but I must say I don't think my son would really enjoy that. Victoria is fun on foot and there is a great IMAX theatre at the Royal British Columbian Museum.

In terms of the cruise itself? I wouldn't worry much about it. It's likely that your particular cruise is just very light on CC participants, maybe many first time cruisers that haven't discovered this board. We have met some wonderful friends through our roll calls, but others have not yielded much interest or participation. Either way, it has never reflected on our overall enjoyment of a cruise. If it's great and we meet nice people I consider it a bonus. If it's slow and we don't even do a meet and greet, no big deal.

We cruise out of San Pedro quite a lot and live about an hour and a half away. In all my years driving the LA Freeways on a nearly weekly basis for work or entertainment, I have rarely ever encountered a traffic free ride. Truly heavy traffic, delays and often stop and go with an emphasis on STOP is the rule, not the exception. It gets especially bad around LAX, no matter what day of the week. And once you even get into LAX, the lines through security can be daunting. I would never book a flight before Noon in any city that I was cruising to, but I really wouldn't chance it with LAX. It's a crapshoot at best. And debarkation delays at San Pedro are quite common too.

 

Do yourself a favor and book a later flight so you don't have to end your vacation on a stressful note!

In our experience we have rarely seen salmon in those ports prior to mid-July and beyond. One year when we cruised over the July 4th holiday there were a handful starting to show up by the end of our cruise, but we have had the best luck seeing salmon on our cruises in late July and August.

Some of the independent tour operators we have used in those ports include:

 

Skagway: Chilkoot Charters

Juneau: Orca Enterprises, Weather Permitting and Adventure Bound

Ketchikan: Ketchikan Taxicab Tours

 

In addition, we have rented cars in each of the ports which is an excellent and very cost effective way of touring.

 

Really, the best idea is to decide what exactly you want to do or see in each port and then look for tours that match your preferences.

We did the train/van excursion with Chilkoot Charters on our first trip to Alaska in 2008 and it was a wonderful trip. We are booked again with them this summer for train trip to Bennett Lake and van ride back to Skagway. Can't wait!!

We rented our gear last summer from the vendor next to Dolly's. I think they are connected to the small store right next to Dolly's place there on Creek Street. We rented poles, tackle and purchased our fishing licenses from them. You can fish off the bridge or the docks. We opted to walk down and fish from the docks and caught plenty of salmon. We were catching Pinks and Chums which really aren't considered great eating, so we caught and released. Lots of fun to catch though! We are going to go back again this summer on our day in Ketchikan, but this year we are bringing a couple of our own poles and tackle and will purchase our licenses online ahead of time.

We just flew from Vancouver to LAX after a repo cruise and it was so easy at the airport. We checked our luggage and got our boarding passes as soon as we entered the terminal. Then we proceeded through Security which was very quick even though my daughter and I were randomly selected to have our carry on bags swabbed. The customs was almost completely handled at a kiosk where you checked in and then scanned each passport. Upon completion it printed out a receipt for each of us that we then handed to the agent that checked us through. He took our receipts, asked a couple of standard questions and waived us on. It was a breeze!

We also rented a minivan from National and we were very pleased with the vehicle and their service. It was very convenient.

Just an addendum, I do think an inside with a mini suite for four might work or a balcony for four that just had one bunk and a rollaway. With these options the twins could be either in the foldout sofa bed or rollaway with the older child in the bunk and you could still have a single bed for you and your husband. A tight fit, especially with the rollaway option but at least safer for the twins.

The program is very secure and the staff has always been wonderful in our experience. You can ask for a pager if it makes you feel more comfortable and you will need to sign your kids in and out. In our experience photo ID has been required when signing our kids out if that makes you feel more secure. We have found the program to be safe and well run on all of our Princess cruises.

You should definitely enroll them in the kids' program. You can do it the first afternoon you board and then they can use the program as much or as little as your family prefers. You will receive a schedule the first day with a full menu of the activities during your cruise, so you can look at it with your kids and decide which things interest them and plan their time in the club accordingly. And there are also things outside the club you can do as a family such as family friendly games like scavenger hunts, pictionary, board games from the library, etc. Often there are family friendly shows and activities going on in the Atrium every day. These are all listed in the Patter. Also in the evening, the production shows and certain lounge shows are appropriate for the entire family. If it is not appropriate, it will be billed as adults only so you know. One of the things we have loved about Princess as our children have grown up cruising with them is that there are plenty of activities for us to do as a family, but also a great program for them to enjoy on their own while we have adult time. Best of both worlds!!

Being very familiar with these bunk beds I would be very nervous letting two 4 year olds sleep together in the one bed, even with the the bar. The minimum recommended age per instructions on the bed is 5 years old. While it might be OK for one mature 4 year old I wouldn't put two young children together in that small bed. The bar does not extend the full length of the bed and with two to a bunk I could see the potential for a fall, especially if there is any extra motion. Also, since this is an anniversary cruise I'm assuming Mom and Dad would like to sleep in the same bed, but with a cabin set up for four the lower beds must remain in a twin configuration.

Thank you. My insomnia drives me crazy, but the Alaska itinerary is going to be totally different than any of our past cruises. Perhaps this will help.

 

Honestly we are usually so exhausted after really full port days in Alaska that I fall asleep the minute my head hits the pillow! And the nice thing about an inside is that it is cozy and dark, just perfect for promoting a good night's sleep. Don't worry, you will be fine.

We just returned from the repo cruise on the Island and had two inside cabins on the Plaza deck. They were great and we experienced absolutely no noise from above at all. You will love the Island!

I'm going to answer with my Mom hat on. We have done the side by side balcony cabins with the balcony opened between and also an inside across the hall for our family and it worked well, but our kids were teenagers. I think with children as young as yours I would feel very uncomfortable with any set up that puts the kids in a different room that did not connect or were connected only by an open balcony unless an adult was sleeping in each room. As this is something you don't want to do (and I don't blame you!) I would either go with a suite where you can book all of you in one room or consider a different cruise line that either offers a room where you could accommodate 5 (Disney staterooms are an example) or where you could get actual connecting rooms with a door that could remain opened between rooms.

Sorry about the problem with your Anchorage tour. Perhaps you could check with Avis in Whittier and see if they have any cars still available for the day. We rented a car on our turnaround day and drove to Anchorage. It was really nice to have our own wheels and be on our own schedule. Since you have such a long day there you have plenty of time to explore and having your own vehicle makes that possible. Maybe it would offer an alternative for you. Hope things get better for you. Enjoy your cruise!

So sorry that this happened to you! I have been a victim of theft and it is such a horrible feeling. And you do tend to beat yourself up afterwards thinking of all the things you might have done differently.

But I too am very uncomfortable with the blame the victim mentality that I see in many of the posts here. While I agree it is wise to lock up your valuables and we also use the safe in our cabin, I do feel that no one should be blamed for being the victim of a crime. Perhaps it was not the best idea to leave your wallets out, but that by no means should equate to the idea that you are at fault or deserved to be robbed! I can understand the feeling of security you might have leaving things locked up in your cabin. I guess I'm just very sensitive about anyone other than the criminal being blamed for a crime as it seems terribly misplaced. Being too trusting is not a moral lapse but stealing is!