SoloAlaska

At 3 am on my TA on Gem it was a pretty decent offering. Pretty standard late night bar food really which is exactly what we wanted. Plus I will say the staff were pretty amazing considering our level of intoxication. 

eSIM is the way to go in Europe. Pay from 15-25 euros to get all the data I need for a trip. Much cheaper than using your home plan. We use WhatsApp when traveling for text, photos, video chat, and audio. I find 10G is plenty for a week plus but I don’t do a lot of video chat.

Ask almost any woman of the right age onboard and chances are she can help you out. I haven’t had my period in over 5 years (meds) and I still carry tampons in my first aid kit. They are great when dealing with large bleeds.

Ok so let’s ignore the right from wrong for a second. Does it happen… yes. I’ve never seen it in the MDR and wouldn’t recommend anyone be obvious about it. Don’t get the bartenders in trouble. If someone orders at the bar and walks away with two drinks the bartender probably won’t care what is happening out of his sightline.

Ok so I love travelling solo but even I got “homesick” on my last trip. I had made great cruise friends but was missing my bf terribly. Being able to reach out to home made all the difference. So get the wifi package if you need and know they are just a click away if you’re lonely.

Cruising solo is great but I will say celebrity isn’t the best for solo events. I never had an issue however and made friends on my celebrity cruises with couples or families who took me in.

Do what is right for you. I’m doing my third Alaskan cruise all have been interior cabins, one way, no cruise tours, still haven’t done Glacier Bay, and always in September. 
 

I don’t mind the rain. I like quieter port days.  I don’t spend time in my cabin other than to sleep. Spending 5 days on a tour bus sounds like torture. Glacier Bay wasn’t on my radar at first and just hasn’t worked out yet but I can always go to Alaska again and see it next time. 

So the nearest trail is much closer and can connect to other trails for longer hikes. It’s the Pipeline Trail to Connell Lake but it connects to a trail to Ward Lake or Perseverance Lake. I’ve added the beginning of the trail to show close it is to the port. It’s a bit of an uncomfortable walk at the beginning from what I’ve read but not long on the road.

I was browsing the NCL prohibited list last night and noticed bikes are now prohibited. Mike where are you, you are always cruising with one of your bikes. Is this a new rule? I don’t recall seeing it listed before.

I found one way on the train was plenty. The mini bus was a nice change of pace and our driver was hilarious. 

I like to collect specialty baking pans so I get this. No problem they aren’t forbidden.

I’ll also add a great attitude.

2 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Did you request a specific cabin/suite (or one of several you preferred) and they refused?

If so, that's a real surprise, unless they were sold out of what you preferred.

 

We've always been very specific about the suite we prefer, and we even specify NO upgrades.  That's because what "they" consider an "upgrade" may well not be an upgrade in our opinions.  For example, we love forward views.  If someone moved us from our selected forward-view suite to, say, a larger side-view suite, that would definitely *not* be an upgrade; it wouldn't even be equivalent.  (Well, I suppose if it were to something "super special", then perhaps, but we'd still want to make the decision in case it wasn't "super enough" for us to forgo the view. 😉 )

GC

I’ll trade you. I can’t do forward cabins since I get seasick. I’m all about the midship and nothing too high. 3 cruises so far and all have had atleast one day of rough seas. With my cabin placement and Emeterm and meds I’m not bothered however. Now I can happily cruise but I will avoid guaranteed cabins.

You should ask on the NCL board. Even ships without lounges usually have a meetup every evening before dinner and then people often go to dinner as a group. Pride of America however is a unique ship in the fleet so I would check with someone who has sailed solo on her.

I haven’t cruised RCI yet but the tap water on other cruise lines is fine to me. Yes there is a little chlorine in it but it’s better than most tap water on land and better than a lot of bottled water you find in the store.

is RCI different in some way that makes the water unsafe?

Easy trick for those who are bothered by chlorinated water. Fill a glass and leave it out for several hours, the chlorine taste and smell pretty much goes away.

8 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

It honestly depends on the embarkation port. When we did our Canada trip leaving out of NY we had a ton of stuff with us as we didn't have to fly anywhere. Had some in our checked bags, some in our carry on. Went through security and they didn't say a word to us.

 

At other ports we've had it in our checked bags and I usually wrap a note around the bottles saying "we've got the drink plan, please don't take my wine" partly as a joke, and partly being serious. They'll check for themselves anyway, but we've never had an issue or had to declare anything at embarkation. At the ports of call, when coming back on the ship they'll stop you to see your room key to confirm you have the package, and then you keep going on your way. Only the liquor bottles will be held at ports of call if you purchase any on land. Wine and beer are yours to take to the room.

Depends on the port of call. On my TA they couldn’t even be bothered in some ports. People just walking on with bags of bottles of port (the alcohol). I was ready to turn mine over but they weren’t even there to take it.

First time cruising NCL in Alaska and they use Ward Cove instead of downtown Ketchikan. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do that day and need some help.

Does anyone know if there are any taxis from Ward Cove? There’s a nice hike 2 miles away I’m thinking of going but don’t want to walk on the road or waste precious time on this short port visit.

With NCL 50$ excursion credit it’s free. I wouldn’t pay full price and I’ve gone twice on other cruises where I got it as part of a larger package or for free. This year I’m taking it just to get to a good hiking trail.

7 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

My experience is that on longer cruises they offer the laundry special at least twice, sometimes even 3 times.....

15 nights and they only offered it once sadly. I hear usually it’s twice but I only came across it once on my cruise. Not a big deal since most of my clothes I’ll hand wash.

Lots of great hiking of varying levels in Skagway. Honestly I could stay there for several days and not run out of free or nearly free things to do. Skagway is one of my favorite ports.

Juneau this year I am taking the tram up and hiking from there. 

Because the whales are incredible in Juneau. We saw 13 individual whales which we were able to identify during our tour. Some whales came within less than 10 feet of us. There is no place on a cruise ship where you can be that close to a whale. Yes it’s possible to see whales from the ship but the opportunity on a tour are much better. During my last Alaskan cruise while in port at Icy Straight there was a whale solo bubble net feeding off the stern which for those in the MDR at the time was incredible.

The bed was about the same as I have at home. Unfortunately NCL doesn’t have the best way to connect the beds, you feel the seam quite a bit if laying in the middle. As a solo traveller who likes taking up the whole bed this is unfortunate. 

Ok so when you’re on a week long cruise in the Caribbean the bag may seem large but on a 16 day TA it doesn’t. I did the plastic bag trick which was essential since I had a bulky fleece I wanted washed along with 20 or so items in total. My bag was slightly smaller than the paper one so I rolled everything I could and put it inside and then filled the gap between the plastic and paper bag with small items like socks and underwear. 

1 hour ago, ellie424 said:

 

Thank you! Are you able to share your TA with me? Or is that not allowed? I have contacted a few TAs already, and they only offer the higher cost refundable rates that are also available through Royal Caribbean. It would be great to find a TA with refundable rates because our deposit is going to be $1250 for 5 people, so it's a lot.

Can’t share that in CC but we are on a group rate.

My September cruise has already gone up in price over the last few weeks and the flights are up several hundred dollars for the date I wanted. 2 years ago I got a crazy good last minute deal but cruises especially in the summer are going to run full, don’t expect great deals.

The sensation the next morning after that late late night when you’re on a big coach bus. 
 

I have a very clear memory of a hungover hike I took to Mendenhall Glacier 2 years back. Now I try to plan my party nights to avoid early morning hikes. Woohoo for being a woman in her 30s and living her best life.