WorldCruiseForMe

Just wanted to say thank you to all who posted in this thread. It was great reliving the NB cruise I was on (I even got caught in one of the pictures s2m took) and getting some different perspectives...most of the opinions I agreed with. Couple of thoughts - most of all enjoy your upcoming adventure! 1. I found the food to be sub-par, with the exceptional table service trying to make up for it. Lunch was slow in Windows on Day 2 despite the place being practically empty; the wait staff went over and above to make up for it for the next few days. The quality of the buffet wasn't great, particularly one dinner. With the long days in port for me I expected to do a quick dash through the buffet at night; instead we ended up in Windows a lot and were glad the service was great and the food quite adequate if not above average. Taste is a better option for many but I like the light in Windows. Lines were either short or moved very quickly. 2. You'll love your Seward tour, even if the weather isn't perfect. I chose Kenai Fjords 6-hour and the captain was absolutely outstanding. Most of the ships went to many of the same wildlife viewing spots, so I suspect you'll end up seeing lots of everything...so long as the wind is OK. Rain (more like mist) may be an annoyance but won't ruin your trip. Dress warmly but in layers to move from inside to outside frequently. If you figure out what the rest of the crew do on the tour (except serve the sandwich) let me know - my captain did all the driving and all the narration. - For those who have done the whale watching excursions further south and the Seward day tour, I'm curious if it's worth doing both on the same cruise sailing? My father says Yes, but he lucked into the deal-of-a-lifetime in Juneau for whale watching and saw "over 30" whales. If you only do one I'd strongly recommend Seward if you have time and enjoy wildlife other than whales (plus glaciers!!!) 3. I'm envious of all the bucket-list excursions available on this cruise. I'll mention the White Pass train (now that they've settled the strike) combined with a bike trip return. The bike ride isn't awesome - it's on a highway so single-file and slow, not like wandering the streets of Coronado. But how often can you bike on a highway checking out the bald eagles in Alaska? And the bike is 98.5% downhill; they even shuttle you to the pass to avoid a little uphill run. Just a note - you may not travel with people doing the round-trip train excursion as there were/are multiple train departures at about the same time. 4. I'd also recommend the Alaska Railroad to travel to/from Seward. It's comfortable (but very slow), and scenery should be absolutely fantastic...if it wasn't socked in on my evening trip to Anchorage. The 10:15 PM train arrival in Anchorage means it's daylight the entire trip, at least until late August. Conductor/narrator calls out wildlife sightings and the observation car is a great place to watch the mountains roll by. Nothing against the bus, but the train was a nice (and could have been absolutely outstanding) finish to my cruise. Note: No free shuttle to/from the airport and the train depot unless arranged through the cruise line. $20 cab one-way. - For those wondering about getting around in Seward, I got off the ship absolutely last and took the free town shuttle to the railroad depot, dropped all our luggage, then walked to the tour office to check-in, walked over to the National Park Service office for their minimal displays and useful movie, then walked back to board my tour boat. Walked to Alaska Seafood Grill (a small shack) for a fresh fish dinner instead of eating on board the train; the fast service and earlier check-in for the train meant 30 minutes was more than enough time to grab dinner. My 81-year-old father had no complaints about the very short walking distances. 5. For hikers, there's no must-do day hike IMHO. Unless Chilkoot Pass is open, although you won't cover the best parts in a single day. I did the west side of Mendenhall Lake with the hope of stepping on the glacier. I was 2 years too late - the glacier has receded behind a 100' sheer rock wall or a 200 yd. swim and neither are recommended. The hike is OK but not worth the effort - take a kayak tour instead. Same with Upper Dewey Lake - too much climb for not enough reward. Wandering around Lower Dewey Lake with the free kayak boat and surrounded by 150 cruise ship staff seems like the better bet. (BTW: The staff keep saying "Sir" and letting passengers go first even when off the ship.) I was hoping to hike in Valdez; thankfully I can do that when I drive to Alaska. If someone has done Mt. Verstovia in Sitka in the 5 hours available, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the hike/tour. Or fill me in on a great day hike you know. If you do a hill climb, remember to wear knee braces. 🙂 I probably won't cruise Norwegian again, due solely to the outright avoidance of Hubbard Glacier. I'm an itinerary guy, mostly with RCCL and this was my first Norwegian cruise. Norwegian is fine, but skipping the highlight of the cruise TWICE when their competitors sailed into the bay both days shows a lack of respect for its customers. Especially annoying was the NB 7 AM departure (I was in Spinnaker @ 5AM scoping out those elevated corner seating positions) on the Tuesday, rather than waiting for a couple of hours to see if the fog lifted as it often does during the day. This was caused by the need to get to Seward (we arrived 4 hours early FWIW) for disembarkation...a direct result of dropping Valdez 2 weeks before the cruise. Valdez allows for an afternoon visit to Hubbard (if needed); Seward has a hard arrival time to connect to the outbound Anchorage flights. I wrote in a complaint; nothing more than a "weather happens" canned response. I accept weather-caused missed ports; I don't accept one ship (and one cruise line) making decisions that strongly contribute to those missed ports. P.S. Did anyone get the authoritative answer on why Spirit doesn't do Johnstone Strait? Was it the regulations on water treatment?

Very likely to be the same for a cruise ship as an individual subscriber, since telecom is heavily regulated (and often very tightly controlled with serious punishment) on a per nation basis. How far that control extends into the sea (12/24/200 miles) I don't know. Just as you can't gamble on a cruise ship while in port in Qatar, you won't get Starlink while in port in Shanghai. Other places...I don't know. I'm guessing Starlink has such high authorization in Caribbean countries precisely to support cruise companies? If anyone has sailed the Eastern Caribbean w/ Starlink on board I'd love to hear your experience. Although most RCI ports appear to have Starlink authorized - it's St. Lucia or Antigua or Barbados that would be instructive. FWIW: 71% of days on the current LifeatSea itinerary are in port. With plenty of 10PM departures listed.

The one review of the ship on a sea cruise a couple years ago suggested that the main (and only one of two I think?) restaurant was set up as a larger buffet, not table service. Whether that applies to the refurbished ship on the 3-year cruise is unknown...but as John said the FAQ didn't inspire confidence in there being multiple specialty restaurants offering fine dining. Nothing mentioned in the refurb info about additional restaurants. If I was booking today, I'd assume the open-air "Lida" buffet and the more traditional open seating "Dining Room" with a higher-end buffet offering. Then hope to be pleasantly surprised once on-board. Definitely not expecting a Johnny Rockets to grab a milkshake, or a separate steakhouse for intimate dining - the deck plans show just the two restaurants, and a couple of bars/lounges. Again...subject to change I'd suspect.

Thanks for the warm welcome. A few concerns about Starlink maritime: The number of concurrent connections to satellites ("downlinks") to support 800 people trying to stream their favourite shows. On a 1-week cruise, who bothers to watch TV? On a 36-month cruise...I expect different patterns of internet use. What I don't know is how that will play out IRL. Hopefully easily fixed if they find the internet slow during the first few weeks. (350Mb/s peak download doesn't go very far any more. And voice may be a challenge when congestion occurs - anyone w/ experience?) The onboard network ("access points") is easier to understand, but quite costly to implement well. They speak about remote work, but it's not clear if they expect everyone to shoehorn into their office space area or if work-from-room (or much better - work-from-pool-deck) is being engineered for. And no one will know until the first reviews start coming in. And definitely not an easy fix at sea unless planned for in advance. Starlink needs to be authorized per-country. Many nations have not been authorized. I'm not concerned about the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific (ocean, land, all the same to a satellite). I am concerned about port days in China. Or weeks sailing the African coast. I'm not familiar enough with their maritime offering to know all the rules; perhaps days-at-sea (12-mile rule? 24? 200?) won't be an issue. And maybe all-but-China get authorized over the next 12 months?

Google was friendlier to me than it was to you. Maybe I should try ChatGPT? 😁 I found it difficult to source information - about Miray, about the cruise ship, about...well, anything except their brand-spanking-new website. Although the FAQs on their website do help. Well over an hour of seeking...while watching basketball, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. I did find one rather short review of a Miray cruise from...2021? But how much or little that will apply to the new cruise is total speculation on my part.

There are many things worth questioning about Life at Sea and Miray. Turkish language websites (given their target audience and staff in their 3 years of existence in cruising) isn't one of them. This isn't a 7-day Aegean sailing marketed primarily to Turkish residents. Their sales agents for Life at Sea are Philippines-based, compared with Turkish agents for Miray in the past. FWIW. Some things I'm concerned about: A newly refurbished ship (30 years old) that no one will see (I presume) prior to the 3-year cruise. Especially as a smaller ship with minimal amenities, promising space to be reassigned for offices and meeting rooms. They're installing Starlink - how well will it work on this ship (especially for "work") vs. how it works on other ships/lines, plus which geographies won't it be permitted? Food options that get repetitive very quickly, especially for a rather new cruise operation with no experience in multi-month itineraries. Especially on nights in port when I'm sure they're hoping guests dine on land (precisely to avoid the weekly meal routine on ship.) The two restaurants - a buffet and...a bigger buffet? - don't inspire either. Good news: Bring all the alcohol you want on board so you mask your meal. lol Ports in the itinerary seem very impressive. Almost too good to be true. Labadee and Cayo Coco - does this company have a signed agreement with RCI? I would understand if the itinerary changes between now and 2026. My fear is that it could change month-to-month. Or change dramatically based on revenue. No track record to judge the operation by. If you're going to live in a small village (800-1000 residents & ~800 service workers) for 3 years you'd like some idea of where you're moving to. While Miray has been around for quite awhile, it has a very short record as a cruise operator (and just as much as a disaster relief ship as a tourist cruise ship) and is undertaking a completely different itinerary. Not sure where I'd get insurance against the company going under. Not as much an issue for a 7-night cruise booked 2 months in advance. $300K booked effectively 3.5 years in advance of disembarking would be worth some insurance, although there might be a monthly payment plan to mitigate this. Lots of pros including the price ($165 USD/night inside cabin ($140 single occupancy), $205 outside, $420 suite and $550 for a verandah), itinerary, mostly all-inclusive pricing (BYOB at no additional cost if one drink at supper isn't enough for you), free weekly wash/fold laundry (presumably sufficient for a very casual cruise environment), free wifi (if it's reliable). But that's all on paper - not much experience to go on. If it was a veteran company putting this on, I imagine there'd be a lot of interest. Instead, it sounds like they've already dropped the prices from a soft launch a couple of months back (if I'm reading it correctly.) If anyone is considering booking one or more segments, I'd be happy to compare notes in PM.