kcmo74

Not sailing til next December but figured I'd ask a question as I want to book some things sooner rather than later. Nachi-Cocum sounds right up my groups alley, so I'd really like to make it the spot we spend the day. However, my wife is dead set on doing a swim with Dolphin experience in Cozumel so I'm wondering about the logistics of doing both. I know one dolphin spot is in Chankanaab so I'm guessing you have to pay park entrance fee on top of dolphin costs, which seems like a waste if we aren't staying in Chankanaab. The other option seems to be Dolphinaris, but I have no idea if it's easy to just go there and do the hour experience and then move on to Nachi-Cocum. Or would it be better to go to Nachi-Cocum first for most of the day, and then head to a dolphin experience within the last 2-3 hrs before we have to be back onboard? Our group has 11 and not sure if anybody else besides her is wanting to do Dolphins or not. Thanks for the insight!

Yes that is the info I mentioned above that I didn't have a link for. For anyone entering Canada they must submit within 72 hours of entering, except for those entering on a cruise, they must submit within 72 hours of boarding the cruise ship that will eventually dock in Canada.

We did the basic ArriveCan setup with scanning our passports and entering our vaccine info maybe a month before our cruise. Then the night before our cruise in the hotel we completed the process through the app. It is a set of several questions about how, where, and when you are entering Canada; all in all it took less than 5 minutes to complete. It expressly says (somewhere on the ArriveCAN site, but I don't have a link) that for cruises you are to complete the process before your sailing even if you don't enter a Canadian port until a later date in the cruise. So upon filling out the ArriveCAN on June 9th we entered that we would be arriving at Victoria - Ogden Point Pier on June 16th. Upon completion we got our QR codes. Upon check-in at the cruise terminal we were never asked for our ArriveCAN code or any type of verification, and at Victoria we were not asked to show or scan our code. So in summation, for us, nothing happened pertaining to ArriveCAN during the boarding process. All in all if you ask me it is just a measure the Canadian government is requiring and cruise lines are agreeing with, as a cover their butt type move in case something should happen. The info won't be needed unless there is some sort of Covid issue that occurs while on Canadian soil, or as a tracing measure later on. The process is very quick to complete so I recommend just doing it as Celebrity and Canada has asked us to, but the likelihood that it is actually needed or scanned is small. I can't speak for cruises out of Vancouver as it seems that they may actually be asking for the receipt at airports in Canada.

Yes we did it, it is very easy, but like I mentioned nobody ever asked to see or scan our QR code.

I’m sorry to hear about your wife and I sincerely hope her case is not severe and she fully recovers. This case unfortunately shows that if you’re going to get it, you’re going to get it. No matter what you do to prevent it, this is an unpredictable virus with a mind of its own. You two took every precaution in the book and still ended up with a positive case, while my party took no precautionary measures and have no reported cases so far. This to me shows that everybody should get back to normal and know that you may or may not get it, but I would never want to spend my vacation the way you did and then still end up sick and it all being for naught. As I said before, I respect everybody’s decision and I was respectful of the required rules on the ship and courteous to those who were masked or seemed like they wanted space, but I would hope others respect my choice to be unmasked and that I’m able to assess my own personal risk. You may not think it, but judging the “Florida and Texas” people makes you just like them. I paid the money to go on a vacation and I would hate for anybody to dictate how I spent that time, and I think most would agree. You wouldn’t want somebody telling you that you had to go maskless and weren’t allowed to use the stairs. If everybody could worry about themselves and stop worrying or blaming others the world could get back to being a better place.

Masks were only required in the Theater and Casino, otherwise it was optional with the majority of people choosing not to wear them. There is no mid-cruise testing or any mandatory testing other than the test you get done yourself before the cruise. No explanations are given about how cases are discovered or any specifics, just a brief mention from the captain in his morning announcements about the general case count and status. We didn’t notice increased coughing or anything of the sort as the cruise went on, as others have mentioned. We were unmasked the entire time unless required and the elevators were routinely packed full with both masked and unmasked pax alike. So far nobody in our group is feeling anything other than normal and I think the less than 1% numbers reflect the way cases are everywhere not just cruise ships. Everybody’s choice is there own and we are moving on with life as normal.

Sitting in SEATAC now waiting for our flight I’ll give some final thoughts as the last 2 days weren’t near as event filled as the first 5. Finally asked yesterday and there are 2089 pax aboard. The captain (Charis not Harris btw) finally mentioned some Covid cases on day 6 but said they were all asymptomatic, and on day 7 he reported some more cases but that we were still under 1% or less than 20. I would highly recommend Camp if you have a younger child that loves arts and crafts and netting new kids, our daughter enjoyed every session she attended. The service on the boat was phenomenal and my daughter (and the rest of us) made a special connection with our assistant waiter and buffet attendant Radha from Mauritius. Our family enjoyed the Passport Bar a lot as it was a great place to play cards and was never busy so bar/waiter service was always fast and good. There have been differing things across the board about getting off in Canada, but for us it was the smoothest port of them all. All we needed was our seapass cards to get off and to pass back through to get on. We didn’t need our passports, and even though we completed it as required before our sailing, we never needed the ArriveCAN code at any point. As for Victoria, since we stop there in the evening 90% of the stores are closed, so it’s really only nice to get off if you are planning to eat in town. I also heard from others that the whale watching trips in Victoria didn’t see any whales, so definitely do your whale watching in Juneau if it’s on your list. To conclude, we had a fantastic trip and would definitely sail on Celebrity and the Solstice again. I think it made cruising fans out of my wife and daughter who were on their first cruise ever. I think Disney may be our next cruise though because the 4 year old won’t stop talking about it, and she’s the real boss of the family.

There were only the 2 outlets in the vanity area and 1 in the bathroom. We got an extension cord from our room attendant because we have cpap machines and I plugged a small 3 outlet strip into that so we had 4 outlets in our room and still could have used 2 more at times. I definitely recommend a power strip and even asking for an extension cord if you want the plugs nearer the bed, our room attendant even ran it behind the sofa so it was as out of the way as it could be.

You just check them in at the Camp at Sea area on Deck 15 by swiping your card. They have 1.5 hr sessions in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and some other events at night. They also have a teen lounge with video and arcade games. They didn’t hand out champagne as we boarded, but we boarded later so they may have to earlier boarders. They handed out hot chocolate and chicken bouillon when we got back on at ports.

There has been a lot of snow still on the mountains on our current cruise.

Yes they do.

They were on your doors/by your room number placard upon boarding. We boarded within an hour and a half of sail away and were able to access our rooms immediately, not sure when earlier boarders were able to get into theirs.

We arrived in Juneau on time at 1:30pm yesterday and it was mid-50’s with on and off most/spitting rain all day. We had a whale watching and Mendenhall glacier combo tour scheduled with Juneau Tours and Whale Watching. They shuttled us to the harbor and we started our 2+ hours on the water. The boat was fantastic as was all the crew, we saw 15-20 humpback whales and multiple sea lions and eagles. After we returned they shuttled us to the Mendenhall glacier where we stayed for about an hour taking in the views and the visitor center. If we would have had time my brother and I would have loved to make the hike to nugget falls, as it looked like a great experience, but we were short on time and our group isn’t much for hiking. We shuttled back to the docks and got cleaned up in time to make it to the MDR, we didn’t have a res but there were no lines and we were seated at our normal table. The highlights were the Crispy Thai Beef Spring Roll (so good that half of us asked for a second one), the Prime Rib (fantastic), and the Banana Blueberry Crumble (the people who have ordered the crumbles this trip have loved all of them and say they are the best desert). We all retired to our rooms as we were wiped after the early glacier wake up and afternoon excursion. This morning we awoke already docked in Skagway and we decided to try the MDR for breakfast. The food was pretty much the same as they were serving in the OV cafe and the service was almost too much hovering as there wasn’t very many people eating there that morning. We probably won’t eat breakfast there again as our group has enjoyed both room service and the OV cafe. We had an excursion this morning with Alaska Excursions (big green X) for the Sled Dog and Mushers Camp experience. It’s a bit of a drive to reach the camp but the tour guide gives a guided ride the whole way. We then boarded a unimog, which is like a WWII style vehicle they’ve modified with seats in the back, and it takes you on a 10 min ride 2000ft up the mountain to the sled dog teams. Here you board a 6 person cart pulled by a team of sled dogs around a mile long track while the musher explains how the team operates. After the ride the musher introduces you to the team and let’s you pet all of the dogs that just pulled you. You then ride the unimog back down stopping at an outlook for super scenic pictures of the area. Once down you have a 15 min presentation about sled dog history and the Iditarod dog race. Then you get to spend time petting and cuddling 1 month old and 4 month old puppies. Then they shuttled us back to town where we did a bit of shopping and had lunch at the Skagway Brewing Co where the hand breaded popcorn shrimp was delicious. We then ventured over and got a couple of Klondike Doughboys and it’s safe to say the hype is real, best thing we’ve eaten on the trip. Back on board now and we’re headed to the Sunset Bar for the sailing out of port this afternoon.

Not sure as this is our first Celebrity sailing but if I had to guess I would say no they haven’t been. They haven’t been uncomfortable or anything, but they don’t look new either.

OV cafe is 6pm to 9:15pm. Late night selection is 10pm to 1am.

The check in is up at the lawn club area where the glass blowing is located, they fill up fast so if you want a particular time go as soon as possible. There isn’t a way to know vaccination status as far as I know, our daughter is required to wear a bracelet the whole trip but that is part of the Camp at Sea program and because she is a kid, not because of being unvaccinated.

They start taking people back as soon as mass is over and it’s only a 5 min drive so approximately 10:40ish back to port, however they use 2 minivans so if there are lots of mass goers you may have to wait for them to come back if you aren’t on the first trip. And yes he was willing to drop us off wherever we needed to go, everything is pretty central there but he can take you to creek street if need be.

So far mosquitos have been non-existent on our trip, but we are doing our most inland excursion today, so we’ll see if our luck continues. Thanks for all the replies.

This is coming one day late because the internet wasn’t cooperating yesterday, hope it’s helpful. Ship: Celebrity Solstice Cruise: 7 night Alaska Dawes Glacier Captain: Captain Harris CD: Kelly Rose Cabin: 8259 Veranda on the hump Embarkation: Arrived at our scheduled arrival time of 1pm, the lines for Solstice weren’t much further than the last set of ropes before entering the terminal. Ovation of the Seas line was all the way to the end of the covered walkways outside, so glad we weren’t in that line. The entire check in process went fairly smoothly and quick, even including my 4 year old’s Covid test at the port which took about 20 min to get the results from. We were on the ship by 2:15, dropped our bags at our room and went to check in at muster, which is such a better process than the old days and we were able to watch the safety videos that morning before we got to port. My wife then went and checked in to get an appointment for her glass blowing experience we had reserved before the cruise, she got the first appt of the day on day 3 at 4pm after we boarded at Ketchikan. We then made our way around the ship and got acquainted with our new home for the next week, everybody got their first drinks of the trip and we made our way to guest relations to clear up some cabin/seapass card issues, the line was long but they kept it moving pretty quickly and we’re able to take care of all of our issues. We have anytime dining but I still decided to make reservations for most nights just in case there were lines, however there haven’t been any lines any nights and we’ve walked right up to the hostess and been seated right away. We have eaten in the MDR all 3 nights so far and the food has been generally excellent and there haven’t been any long waits or noticeable staffing issues in the MDR or Oceanview Cafe. Finished night 1 by putting my daughter to bed while my wife tried the casino for the first time, and she came out $800 ahead. An aside here: To us this ship isn’t showing its age at all, you have to look really hard to be able to see some of the aging aspects. We have loved our time on the Solstice and would travel on her again in a heartbeat. There haven’t been any noticeable staffing issues anywhere on the ship and the service all around has been great. There has also been no mention of Covid or any noticeable issues with Covid that we’ve seen. 2 members of our party were supposed to be on deck 6 but they moved them to deck 9 upon checkin, so the person that mentioned deck 6 being the quarantine deck might be right, but we haven’t seen anything to confirm that for sure. The captain has made no announcements about anything Covid related. There have also been no observed supply chain issues on the Solstice, Decoy and other regular wines are onboard and all the drinks that we’ve had have been very good. Day 2, Sea Day: We ate breakfast at the OV buffet and everything was good for a buffet, the omelette station was very good. We made another trip to the casino and came out about even this time. We went to buy some Deal or No Deal cards with the OBC our TA had provided as a gift upon boarding. None of us ended up winning much more than a little bit of slot match play but it was a good time. We then hung out in the Passport Bar playing cards for a good part of the afternoon, this has become our favorite bar for a quick drink as there is hardly ever a wait. The Martini Bar has definitely been the busiest but none of our party are martini drinkers so we haven’t spent any time there. My brother enjoys World Class Bar as they have some liquors he’s tried in other parts of the world before. Our daughter also went to a session of Camp at Sea and had a great time. Dinner in the MDR where Steak Diane was the favorite of the night, but the 2 of us who had the Shrimp Scampi thought it was excellent as well. After dinner we went to the Solarium for our first try at swimming and they told us it was no problem for my daughter to be in there swimming with us and no other swimmers had any issue with it, even though there weren’t many other swimmers and it was a perfect time to go. We turned in for the night while my brother went to watch a movie on the lawn (I think he was the only one to watch it). Day 3, Ketchikan: We were headed into Ketchikan as we woke and hit up the OV buffet again for breakfast before disembarking. It was in the mid 50’s and no rain so about as good as we good ask for. This was Sunday and we are Catholic so we took their free shuttle pickup at the pier to the church for mass. After that we returned to the pier and then spent some time walking around town and souvenir shopping. We then went to lunch at the Ketchikan Crab and Grille where we tried Halibut & Chips, Crab Fries, Crab Mac n Cheese, and Clam Chowder. The Clam Chowder was the crowd favorite as was the Denali Brewing Co Red Ale. After lunch we returned to the ship about 2 hrs before all aboard to get in a quick nap before glass blowing. The glass blowing experience was great, my wife loved it. You get to be very hands on and help a lot and the different things you get to do depends on the piece you are making. My aunt’s vase required her to do some blowing but my wife did more rolling and tweezer work. The cost of the session was rolled into the piece you make so my wife chose something that was $120 and didn’t have to pay any extra as that is what the session reservation cost. Then we spent some time at the Sunset Bar as we pulled out of Ketchikan. Next up was dinner in the MDR where tiramisu and a special cake for my parents 40th anniversary were the highlights. We turned in early tonight as tomorrow is an early riser for glacier watch. Day 4 morning, Dawes Glacier: We woke up at 6am as we were making our way down the Endicott Arm Fjord. This will for sure go down as the highlight of the trip as the scenery was absolutely phenomenal. They said it turned out to be an extremely lucky morning as we were able to get within 2-3 nautical miles of the glacier, this was the closest they’ve gotten this season and we had spectacular views as the captain turned the boat. We then headed back out of the fjord towards Juneau, which has to be some of the best cruising on the trip with the green blue water and floating ice along the whole trip. We are now steaming towards Juneau and have a whale watching trip planned for this afternoon.

We are using Premier Airport Shuttle later this week for all of our transportation in Seattle. They are taking us from airport to downtown hotel, then from hotel to pier the next morning, then from pier to airport when we return to Seattle. For our group of 8 it is a 10 passenger van and the total cost was just over $400, and came out to $55 per person. I think someone would be hard pressed to find a better deal than that for those 3 trips in a taxi/uber/other.

We are using Premier Airport Shuttle by Capital Aeroporter for our 3 main transportation needs. They are taking us from the airport to our hotel, then the next morning from our hotel to the pier, and then from the pier to the airport when we return to Seattle. There are 8 of us and we have a van for *up to 10 passengers* reserved. It was just over $400 for all the transportation combined and equaled out to like $55 per person. That price per person seemed great to me considering what an Uber or Taxi would cost for those 3 trips for 8 people plus luggage, and add on tips.

Sure hope it won't!

Luckily we have a Bushnell Factory Outlet store here so I was able to get a quality product at a discounted price, and was able to test them in store. I didn't want to pay a ton as we just don't have that many opportunities to use binocs. Ended up buying a 10x42 pair for $50 that are really good, and we both wear glasses. They have many great pairs under $100 on their website.

Yeah I can't speak for RCI specifically but on Celebrity our unvaxed 4 year old is going to have to test within 24 hrs of coming back into port in Seattle, I think it is because technically the ship is going into international waters they want to make sure the unvaxed are checked upon re-entry, even though no test is required for the flight home. If you are vaccinated though, then you shouldn't have to test upon return to Seattle or for the flight home.

Are they a real problem in Alaska, or is it overblown? My wife has the kind of blood they feast on and she has been watching Tik Toks of people that live up there wearing nets around their heads. They don’t like to bite me so I’m not worried.