AZDuck

If this is the Ketchikan fishing with beach cookout afterwards, I'm sure there will be fish to catch. May is a little bit early for good salmon, and although there are a few kings around targeting them would be a slow fishing. But there's plenty of rockfish and sea bass to catch. I'm on this trip in early June because I know they'll put us on the fish. We have to catch something for the dinner afterall!

New app has been working fine until I just opened it up out of boredom and my June 1 cruise is gone and when I search by booking number it says Booking Not Found. LOL!

We're doing the same cruise in 1/2025 for the same reason. The cruise visits 7 ports in 7 days with 8 to 10 hours in each port so all I can think about is what activities to do each day on the islands, plus pre and post cruise time in Puerto Rico. With no sea days the ship is just the vehicle to the destinations, and as my wife and I don't enjoy public pools or buffets those areas of concern aren't as important to us as they might be to others. People seem to think the MDR is great for dinner. We've never been to the Caribbean so hopping 7 islands in 7 days sounds pretty amazing! We're stoked for this cruise and wish we were going this year instead of next year.

Check out Princess's one-way southbound itineraries from Anchorage (Whittier) to Vancouver. You'll cruise Hubbard Glacier, then spend all day in Glacier Bay N.P. with park rangers onboard, then 8 to 10 hours in port at Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. I did a lot of research and found this to be the ideal 7 day scenic AK cruise. We'll be on the Sapphire Princess in June. Whichever you choose, you’ll have a great trip!

I was looking into this and found there are charters out of Jolly Harbor. They have 4 and 6 hour trips. fishingantigua.com

I live in Camp Verde...we're practically neighbors! Wife and I will be on the Sapphire in Alaska June 1 2024 Whittier to Vancouver for our first ever cruise. We've heard good things about the ship layout for scenic cruising and the award winning Sapphire staff. Looking forward to your updates. Enjoy your cruise!

They have a website with some positive google reviews.

Our first Alaska cruise is in June 2024. After much research we went with a one way Whittier to Vancouver Southbound on Princess to get to see both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay NP. We chose Princess over HAL because they had the longer times in each port, and went Southbound because most flights returning home from Anchorage are red-eye which we're not fans of. Plus we get any potential for rough seas in the Gulf of Alaska out of the way on Day1. We booked on the older but smaller Sapphire Princess because it has a wrap around covered promenade deck, and it sails inside Vancouver Island rather than outside like the bigger ships. Hope that helps.

I've been researching this for a future cruise as well. From what I can tell the beach just past Resorts World is now called Pablo's Bimini Tropical Experience. There's an IG page for it. It looks like they have a beach bar and loungers. I'm not sure if there's a cost if you just show up, however it's listed as a beach day excursion on Celebrity's website for $55.

I apologize for my poor choice of words in the heat of the moment. I meant no disrespect and certainly am not making light of impaired driving. I respect the Canadian rule of law, but I'm also a firm believer in redemption and second chances for those that have demonstrated they are worthy. To me, the passage of 20 plus years without infractions is a good indication of being low risk and I tend to think most judicious CBSA agents feel the same way or we'd be hearing a lot more stories of people being denied entry with one decades old DUI. But the law is what it is and I intend to apply and be approved for rehabilitation so that this isn't a worry for me moving forward. The forms and procedures are clearly spelled out on the Canadian immigration website. No need to hire an attorney. I don't drink anymore (14 years) and haven't had as much as a traffic ticket in over 20 years. I've flown to Vancouver BC twice in the past few years and CBSA didn't even bat an eye at me so this is probably a lot of fuss and worry over nothing. But I'm going to deal with it anyway just to be safe. Peace and Love

That's dumb too. But that's not the topic of this thread unless you're goal is to turn this into USA vs. Canada post, in which case I'm out.

After my erroneous comment yesterday I was curious about this myself and it appears the excursion is offered when Juneau port is the same day as Endicott Arm Scenic Cruising. It looks like for your Ruby Princess cruise Juneau is two days before Endicott Arm. However, if you look at the excursions offered out of Juneau on that trip there's an all day Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer Cruise. The description is of a similar experience. Hope that helps more than my first comment 🙂

I stand corrected. I looked up a Princess itinerary that has the small boat trip to Endicott Arm. That's good to know! Thanks!

I don't have any experience on that itinerary, my statement is just based on my own researching the different itineraries. Thanks for clarifying for the OP. I know they offer that in Hubbard Glacier so it makes sense there would be companies offering it in in Endicott Arm. I just haven't seen it listed.

I don't think there's an off ship excursion in the fjord, it's sightseeing from the ship.

Prior to 2018 it was punishable by up to 5 years in prison, then it became 10 years which also affected immigration law. My point is prior to the 2018 ruling you were deemed rehabilitated if 10 years had passed with no other convictions and would be admissible to Canada and it appears CBSA are still following that general guideline. I don't want to debate Canadian law I'm just tryin to help out my fellow Americans who are concerned about cruising Alaska with 15+ year old DUIs.

I've looked into this more, even spoke to CBSA and a Canadian Immigration lawyer. The law changed in late 2018 making DUI a serious crime in Canada, the equivalent of a felony in the US. The result of Bill -C46 essentially made it so you're barred for life from ever entering Canada if you ever had a DUI in your lifetime, no matter how long ago. Prior to this 2018 rule you were automatically deemed rehabilitated if more than 10 years had passed since completing the sentencing requirements of the DUI. After the December 18th, 2018 rule change, overnight tens of millions of people were no longer allowed to travel to Canada for business, pleasure or seeking refuge causing enormous unintended consequences. CBSA did not immediately enforce the rule changes. Then in early 2019 Canada's Immigration Minister made a public statement in the media that anyone deemed rehabilitated for an impaired driving offense outside Canada before December 2018 would not need to formally apply for rehabilitation. They would be "grandfathered" to the previous rule of being automatically "deemed rehabilitated" if the sentencing requirements had been completed more than 10 years prior to December 2018. A conviction less than 10 years before 2018 would be inadmissible and require applying for rehabilitation after waiting 5 years since sentencing completion. This seems to be a relatively easy filing one could do themselves without a lawyer, but costs $200 and takes about 8 months to process. However, once approved it permanently resolves the issue. It seems that if the DUI occurred within the last 5 years you're SOL and best to not attempt any travel to or through Canada to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation. To summarize: Legally the 2018 rule bans you from admission to Canada for life if you ever had a DUI conviction. However, as policy the current administration is following the pre-2018 rule of automatic eligibility for entry with an old DUI if 10 years have passed since the sentencing requirements were completed. This is grandfathered to convictions prior to the December 18th, 2018 rule change. This means if your DUI sentencing requirements were completed prior to 2008 and you've had no other criminal convictions you should have no issues travelling to or through Canada. This policy could change if there is an administrative change of thinking so it's best to consult with a Canadian immigration attorney if you feel this may affect you personally. Hope this helps anyone who is losing sleep over this.

Thanks. We've flown into BC for ski trips twice in the past 5 years and never had an issue with Canadian immigration. I guess cruising is different since they have time to study the passenger list in advance of arrival. We spoke to CBSA today and were told that if you haven't been convicted in the last 10 years and bring your state police background check and FBI rap sheet showing no arrests for anything since the original offense 25 years ago, it shows you put some effort into proving that you're rehabilitated and the Canadian Border agent will in all likelihood let you pass since you're going straight to the airport to fly home anyway as evidenced by your plane tickets. Deported or allowed to pass through, it sounds like you end up on a plane heading home after your cruise regardless. Mission accomplished.

What would happen if an American cruise passenger with a DUI conviction 25 years ago was on a one way SB cruise from Whittier to Vancouver BC and taking the cruise ship transfer directly to the airport to fly home to the US the same day they disembarked in Vancouver BC? Would they be detained by CBSA at disembarkation or allowed to go straight home as planned? Asking for a friend.

My wife and I are going on our first Alaskan cruise June 2024. So although I have no experience I did do a ton of research that might be of help to you. We narrowed it down to HAL and Princess for their years of Alaskan cruising expertise. From what I researched, you can't go wrong with either of those cruise lines. We ultimately decided on a one-way southbound Princess cruise primarily due to the longer days in each port and stops at both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. We chose SB because most of the retuning flights from Anchorage to the lower 48 are red-eye and flying home from Vancouver BC gave us more options. At Hubbard Glacier we booked the small boat excursion to get up close to the glacier so we can really experience the sights and sounds of the active glacier. We then spend a full day in Glacier Bay with a park ranger on board. It seems like Princess really tries to enrich the overall experience with on board naturalists and lectures during the whole itinerary which we really liked. We chose the Sapphire Princess, an older but much smaller ship than the Royal class Princess ships that also run that itinerary. My reasons were that the Sapphire has a nice wide Promenade deck that runs up to the bow for better viewing, and it also cruises inside Vancouver Island rather than outside in the ocean where the Royal class ships run. It seems to me like that would be more scenic and smoother sailing. We're happy with our decision and looking forward to the cruise but I think we would be equally happy with HAL. You can't go wrong with wither one of those cruise lines in Alaska and there's still plenty of cabins open for 2024 so it may just come down to who has the best sales. Pick one and go for it!