fishiecrackers

I will tell you that as a teacher and mom to teenagers here in Anchorage, I have seen Crocs worn for any and everything you could imagine, from basketball on an icy day to an intense bouldering mountain hike (that didn't go well). It wouldn't be my personal choice due to weather and stability. You're probably fine if you have wool socks and you're mostly shopping and walking around town for your port days. If you're doing any sort of physical excursion, I'd bring hiking boots or at least a tennis shoe.

The train to Seward really is an amazing experience. It is one of my top splurge activities I recommend to friends coming into town.

Try to hit Talkeetna for lunch - they have surprisingly great food. We like the pizza place best. Walk all the way down to the river and if it's clear you can see Denali (the mountain). Make sure to stop in the general store, as it's very random and charming. For Denali, try the Horseshoe Lake Loop right at the entrance - it's very pretty. We also hiked Savage River and did a whitewater rafting trip. Also, be aware you may be without cell coverage for much of the way to Denali, so download some podcasts or something, or you can get very bored. And know that between car accidents, RVs, and construction, none of the driving time Google shows you will be anywhere close to accurate. Plan on 20-30% longer than stated. When we drove to Denali, they were doing some construction, so routing traffic one way at a time with a pilot car, and I think we sat there for at least 45 minutes to an hour before we got through, and multi-hour delays are not unheard of, so don't leave any of your driving or bathroom stops for the last minute, and always have food and water in your car with you. Two-lane highways, tired/distracted tourists, a short construction season, and 800-lb. animals make for some pretty nasty road incidents from time to time. This goes for the other direction from Anchorage out to Seward as well. Have a great trip!

The Mt. McKinley Lodge is near Talkeetna, where you can do some river tours. I've heard a lot of good things about Mahay's. But we usually just walk around the town of Talkeetna, checking out all the shops and eating at the pizza place. If you have a clear day, walk all the way down to the river and you can see Denali/Mt. McKinley (the mountain itself). My teens and I went to Denali in 2020 during Covid so everything was closed and we just hiked. We did the out-and-back at Savage River and the Horseshoe Lake loop right at the park entrance. We actually saw more wildlife at the lake loop tour than Savage River - beavers, a lynx, a momma and baby moose, etc. Make sure if you hike on your own you are appropriately knowledgeable about and prepared for bear and moose sightings. Oh, we did also do a rafting trip as well, which was fun. Many years ago when I was in my 20's, I did a horseback tour in Denali and that was amazing. Have a great trip!

As others have said, most of the popular places in Anchorage get pretty busy, and reservations are helpful. But I wouldn't hinge an entire guided tour on just Anchorage meal reservations. If you decide to do it on your own, it would be pretty easy just to get restaurant recommendations and make the reservation ahead of time online on your own.

How many days are you planning on for each city?

Thanks, all! This is exactly the type of info I'm looking for. @cruisemom42 If you can believe it, we live in ALASKA, home to some of the best fish on earth, and I'm the ONLY one in my family who likes it. I can't wait to eat a TON on this trip!

Thanks, guys! Appreciate being able to get input from others on the logistics! I'll report back how it went!

We have a scheduled port in Kusadasi, and I am suuuuuuuper unfamiliar with Turkish food! I'm looking for dishes more than restaurants, though I'd be open to suggestions. We'll be going to Ephesus and then either a market or the beach, so I'm not sure exactly where we'll be eating. I'll have my husband, who will be very excited and adventurous about local cuisine, and my teens, who will be decidedly NON-adventurous and not wanting much spice, with me somewhere in the middle. Would love any suggestions! Thanks!

OP here - okay, I think this is the plan I've settled on. 7:30-10:30 - Royal Caribbean excursion to Oia, ending in Fira 10:30-1:00 - Explore Fira and have a leisurely lunch (this also gives us additional time to stay in Oia and take a bus back if we are just really not ready to leave after 90 mins) 1:00-5:00 - 4-hour private tour to see the south side of the island The two previous ships should have left at 3pm and 4pm, and the next not until 8pm (my ship), so hoping that arriving back to Fira at 5 will give us a lull in the cable car crowds to get back on the ship. If not, maybe we'll eat dinner in Fira and then just walk down. This will be an expensive day, but I think it's worth the $250 for my family for the RC excursion to get us off the ship and get Oia out of the way nice and early. The biggest downside at this point is the risk of us all sleeping through parts of the private tour bc of the incredibly early morning, haha. Might keep this day's itinerary a secret from my teenagers until the last possible moment! Luckily the next day is Mykonos and that should be much more chill.

Glad I'm not the only one going round and round on this. You could do what we're doing - an excursion to get off the ship, and then a private tour after that.

Wondering about the crowds leaving the ship at 7am. The fiscally responsible part of me wants to just take my chances and cancel the RC excursion, and just take a longer private tour instead of paying for two separate things, but with the two anticipated 7am ship arrivals and two more at 8am, I keep having nightmare scenarios running through my head of insanely long lines for the cable car up, even early in the morning. Especially in June....

Lots of good points, thanks. Gives me more to think about. I thought only a few cruise excursions tendered to Athinios - is that ALL Royal Caribbean excursions?

That's kind of what I'm leaning towards if I keep the RC excursion. Thanks for the input.

I'm so sorry for this detailed post, but no one else in my traveling party really knows any of the details of Santorini, so I have no one else to run things by, and I would love some opinions. I'm traveling with my husband and 3 teenagers. We arrive in Santorini on Saturday, June 17. We are on Royal Caribbean, and according to current schedules online, we are one of two ships that arrive at 7am, with two more following shortly afterwards at 8am. We currently have the "Oia on Your Own" excursion booked through RC. The excursion says it leaves at 7:30am and lasts 3 hours, with about 90 minutes in Oia. I assume the plan is roughly 7:30-8:15 Get to Oia, 8:15-9:45 Oia, 9:45-10:30 Back to Fira. Since we're in port until 8pm, I'd like to book something else as well, and I'm looking at a private tour, probably 3-4 hours of driving around seeing other sights on Santorini, flexible on when/where it leaves. Two of the ships leave at 3pm and 4pm, so I'd like to avoid getting back to Fira around that time, and aim for maybe like 6pm. Options: A) Have the private tour meet us in Oia, don't come back with RC (obv tell them first). Benefit to this is that the tour guide could walk us around Oia and give us info or photo spots we missed. I would have no idea when to tell them to meet us. Maybe 11am? Is that too long in Oia? B) Come back to Fira with the group, and take private tour from there. Benefit to this is that we wouldn't be paying the private tour the time it takes to drive from Oia to Fira, and that would maybe be more optimal for lunch planning (we could get back to Fira, walk around and have lunch, then head out on the private tour). Downside is we'd be locked into the 90 minutes in Oia, but that might be fine given how early in the morning we will be there? C) Cancel the RC Excursion and just have the private tour person pick us up in Fira and include Oia. Downside is that then I feel like we'd be in cable car hell and I would have no idea when to tell them to meet us. D) Don't do a private tour at all and just go to Perissa and spend the afternoon at the beach after getting back from Oia. Benefit to this is we're not out any money if we decide we're exhausted and just want to get back on the ship. WWYD?

I would also love to know who you are using for your private tour! We have the RC "Oia On Your Own" excursion booked, and I'm not sure what to do with the rest of our day after that.

I actually emailed them, and the exact reply was, "Please note that your onboard credit for your downgrade will be applied to your SeaPass Account onboard the ship. It will not be available to use prior to sailing." I should check again how much it was and maybe call to try and get someone who will be nice and magically make it appear. That would be nice. I'm not sure what I would even want to spend it on once we're on board, as we're not planning on specialty dining or anything like that.

We got an OBC from them downgrading our room when we were switched to a smaller ship. I emailed them about it when I went to book excursions and they said I can't use it until we're on board. 🙄

It depends on where our ship comes in. I'm thinking either Agios Stephanos or Platis Gialos.

Thank you! I’m not sure how it would be faster, but that would be great if that’s the case! Spending 3 hours of a 5.5 hour excursion in a bus doesn’t seem fun, honestly. Is it enough time to take the tram down to Isola Bella, do you think? Did you feel it was worth the money as opposed to just exploring Ortigia?

Yes, we have ruled out doing it as a DIY, but thanks to the previous poster for the info! The options at this point are the RC excursion or a day in Ortigia.

Hi all! Maybe this would be better on the Italy board, but I'm curious specifically about RC's excursion which is now leaving from Siracusa instead of Messina, which seems to be the more common port. We wanted to do Taormina when the port was Messina, but rethinking now that the port is Siracusa. Royal Caribbean has this excursion at 5.5 hours, so I'm wondering once all the driving is done, how much time you actually had in Taormina, and if you felt it was worth the driving? From Google Maps, it looks like the drive can be at least 1.5 hours each way, if not longer, which seems like it wouldn't leave very much time to actually walk around Taormina. We're spending a week in Italy before the cruise, so at this point I feel like we'll be tired and I'm leaning toward sleeping in, having a leisurely morning, and just exploring Ortigia, but my husband really wants to do Taormina still, so I was hoping to get some personal experiences from people who have done this excursion. Thanks!

Thank you so much for posting!

😂 Would it help if the first stop was the Amalfi Coast? Yeah, we’re going a few days early to explore, but the more I look into Italy, the more I wish we had like three or four more days in each city we’re going to. Darn budget!

Thank you, I appreciate the advice. Do you happen to know where private transfers typically drop you off? Do you still have to catch a shuttle or a bus, or does it take you close to the ships? Thank you!