Sccrkeepr

I am a loyal Royal cruiser, but i have been on NCL in the last 6 months and I must say I enjoyed myself. I think the food and service is pretty even, though I think that Royal is more creative and innovative with their pay restaurants. NCL has some new ships out that have great perks, but so does RCCL. I enjoyed all of NCL's entertainment, from "Priscilla queen of the dessert" to their comedians. Royal's entertainment i have been dissapointed as of late. I did NOT like their take on "grease" and I thought their entertainers were kinds of lazy. Are you diamond or above on RCCL? Are you planning on a suite? if so I would go with Royal, i think their rooms are better, especially their suites and balconies. I also like their butler service over NCL's haven staff. 

1 minute ago, kennicott said:

For many years, HAL booked cruise guests to Skagway, then by coach and train up through the Yukon, Dawson City, Klondike, Whitehorse, etc and then over to Fairbanks. From Fairbanks they could travel south by train or coach through Denali to Anchorage or Seward or Whittier then catch another vessel south. But I believe due to negative reviews concerning so much coach travel they now fly them with a chartered Yukon aircraft over to Fairbanks.    

Hmm, that is interesting. I bet the ride was beautiful, though. We live in an "on demand" society, they need to get somewhere or see something right away is apparently the norm. No one wants to stop, relax and smell the so-called roses, these days.

3 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

There just isn't a Greyhound bus type service, and I doubt an attempt would be economically viable.  There are escorted motor coach tours, with some actually out of the upper midwest.  But even those escorted motor coach tours generally include air travel (i.e., flying into Anchorage or Fairbanks to pick up the tour, or flying out of Anchorage or Fairbanks at the end of the tour).  As someone who lives in Alaska we fly everywhere.  There are few roads in this state, and there isn't even a highway to our state capital (you fly or go in by sea).  I am always amazed when we periodically meet non-flyers and find them rather curious oddities.

I find my in-laws to be quite odd and not just because of the non-flying...LOL. I seriously google mapped a route and it basically told me to take a cruise or swim......

Thanks for your help, everyone!

5 minutes ago, martincath said:

Boohoo, you just HAVE to come to Vancouver then, sniffle;-) Unless they want to drive from Seward back home (which they could - it's over 3000 miles but in a surprisingly-straight line!!!)

 

Since they're both tooled up with land-and-sea-border documentation and at least FIL has experience crossing the border, taking the train all the way here by themselves should hopefully be within their comfort zone (I know Amtrak cross-country routes tend to have major delays at times, much more so than our lovely short coastal Cascades route, but that does mean Amtrak are used to having to deal with passengers who miss connections - but I'd definitely pad their pre-cruise time by at least a full day in case they end up overnighting in a Seattle hotel as there are only 2 Cascades a day to Vancouver and less than a handful of thruway buses). The rest of you can fly up here in advance and just go meet them at Pacific Central station when they arrive so they're not wandering a foreign land by themselves!

Ha! No offense intended. I have actually never been to Vancouver and I am VERY excited to see that amazing city, finally. I have been to tiny countries in remote parts of the world, but not to Vancouver, whistler, alaska or Hawaii.

With that being said, I think we are going to  do the Eclipse out of Vancouver leaving on a friday. Just in rudimentary planning stages, but i think we'll all arrive in seattle on sunday and spend the day there, since they have never been. Then all take the Cascades to Vancouver either late monday evening or the early tuesday morning. Spend late tues - through friday exploring Vancouver. Possibility of staying one or two more days in Vancouver after the cruise too. 

I see you might also live in PDX, that is quite possibly one of my favorite cities in this country. I have nearly moved there 3 separate times, but the jobs fell through.....so bay area, i stay! 

3 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

When I read the first post my response also was to consider a B2B to get them back to Seattle or Vancouver without flying (and that B2B wouldn't even need to be on the same cruise line).  

 

There is a surprisingly common misconception that the Alaska Railroad somehow goes through Canada from somewhere in the contiguous 48 states to Alaska.  The Alaska Railroad track is only within Alaska.  The daughter of good friends worked several summers while in college for the ARR, and it was really surprising how many times they would receive e-mails and phone calls complaining about the ARR website as the person could see the in-state schedule but not the route through Canada.  Some callers were rather nasty when they were told that there is no route through Canada, while others were just surprised about their misperception.

Yup, i don't doubt it. I obviously thought that there was maybe a train that went to the border and then possibly a bus transfer or something....Actually, I'm quite surprised something like that doesn't exist. I get that there are a lot of miles to be covered, but there have to be other people who don't fly or who prefer train travel. Oh well! 

27 minutes ago, martincath said:

... what about booking 2 one-way cruises B2B? I'm assuming that the fact they are willing to travel over this far on Amtrak means they do have time available, so assuming you can also score enough time off work you could all go Vancouver-AK and back (heck, they could sandwich a land tour of AK in there too). Even if you can't but they can, nothing to stop you all doing a one-way and some of you flying home while leaving the cruiseline to bring your in-laws back down to 'civilization' again;-)

 

But more realistically, since they're already used to regular Amtrak trains taking them up to Vancouver on the Cascades should be considered - you would have to take a regular train from SF (well, Oakland IIRC) partway as the Cascades only starts in Eugene OR, and for a Seattle cruise you could just stay on the Coast Starlight all the way, but since it sounds like they're used to Amtrakking by themselves already the obvious thing is to have them take the Empire Builder and meet you in Portland or Seattle (sounds like they live in Minnesota, but drive to Iowa where they have family and I guess leave their car there when they come across to SF on the Zephyr?) unless they are going to come stay with you for an extended time and the cruise is only a part of the whole period.

 

If they would travel to meet you, personally I'd recommend Portland for the precruise meetup and then the Cascades up to Vancouver to cruise - but I am biased toward both those cities;-) You flying and them Amtrakking to Seattle then sharing an RT cruise is probably the simplest way to get a choice of cruises other than the 10day SF one (especially if, as non-flyers, they have no passports and will resist acquiring them due to the low chance of leaving the country again in the future... although come to think of it, Minnesota issues Enhanced Driving Licenses so they could absolutely use those to get over the Canadian border by land, making a cruise from Vancouver quite possible even without passports).

HI Martincath,

Thanks for responding! You have pegged them, they live in Minnesota and they drop their car in Osceola after seeing relatives and hop on the zephyr out to see us. While we do have the time to do a B2B, i had a hard enough time convincing them to be on a boat for 7 days, I don't think 14 is gonna fly, no pun intended. My FIL has a passport, as he likes to go ice fishing in canada with his friends, but they drive over several days. My MIL has a passport card, JIC she might ever want to go to canada.....

unfortunately or fortunately however you want to see it, vancouver to vancouver is going to have to be the journey. I was hoping others had seen a route from Seward/anchorage that could get them home by train, that I wasn't seeing. I guess it doesn't really exist.....But i do appreciate your excellent Amtrak knowledge! 

Hi there!

looking for some advice, but first a little background

Me and my partner have decided to take both sets of parents on a cruise, to celebrate their 70th Birthdays. While me and my family have always been travelers, flying, driving, cruising, we've done it all. Meanwhile, my partner's parents are small-town midwesterners, who are afraid to fly. Their only travels are in a car from Minnesota to Iowa to visit family and they take the amtrak 3 times a year from Iowa to visit us and the grandkids in SF Bay.  My mother in law really only wants to go to places where there are people she knows, she doesnt think travel is important, but we've talked her into Alaska. We've told her seeing nature/glaciers/whales in their natural habitats are must sees in life. She's agreed. So here we are! 

We're looking at late July, early August and we'll have 10 people, including 3 kids under 8. I have personally been on over 50 cruises, I do like newer ships, but we really don't care, we just want to enjoy Alaska. With their aversion to flying, I see we are really limited to the 10 day out of SF on princess or the Vancouver/Seattle RT (which i'm leaning toward on celebrity eclipse, because we'd like to spend a few days in vancouver).  I really like the Celebrity Millennium's itinerary, but I don't see a way for them to get home from Seward or to get to Seward without flying. Am I missing something? Anyone have any ideas, that I am not seeing?

Thanks,

Michelle

Dang, no one, huh? Well hopefully there will be a meeting the first or 2nd night and we'll find some folks.

Hi all!

hopefully there are other FODs cruising. It's me and my partner (michelle and sacha), both 40 yr olds. We are from northern california, Celebrating our 15th anniversary onboard. Hoping to meet some new people.

We're flying in from Greece, the morning of, arriving at 11 am for the April 22 cruise. Customs in spain in my experience has been a breeze when flying in from another EU country. You should be fine.

I get it. Sorry I misread your post. It is not cheap for just two people. One last glimmer of hope. look on this website shoretrips; my travel agent booked some tours for me when I was in the med in 2015, you just plug in your cruiseline, ship, name, and date of cruise and the have all the excursions. Good luck

I wasn't trying to be overly-agro - sorry if i came off that way. People keep suggesting Italy tours and tour italy, but I really have tried them. To give you an idea - a whole day Amalfi and Herculaneum with just two of us, I was quoted by 3 different companies from 500 - 700 euros. That's like my whole budget for all the ports. I think i found a tour in Rome by City Wonders, now I just have to work with some others for the Naples and Livorno ports. (i dont know if I'm allowed to say this, but I'm a TA, so i have resources, but i have only worked with those resources with bigger client groups. Those resources were of course willing to help, waiving fees and such, but they still were pretty expensive)

I'll try shoretrips and one other one that some one recommended. I'm running out of time....30 or so days and counting.:p

Rome In Limo for one; like I mentioned above have used them twice. They will do any excursion in Italy

You're NOT paying attention --- I have contacted them, they want 6 - 8 people for the trip, no one on my roll is wanting to do that or they already have other plans and I can't personally put out 400 - 600 bucks for a private or semi private tour. I wanted them to advertise the tour I wanted to do, but they are unwilling to add other people and that's certainly their prerogative, and I dont blame them for not wanting to do it. But, like i have said before, i have done this particular itinerary before so I've seen Florence and Pisa and Pompeii and the vatican. Im looking for something different that won't cost a small fortune. Unfortunately because I want wine tasting or amalfi with Herculaneum included, instead of Pompeii, i am SOL and either pay big bucks or not do it and join the rest of the herd doing things i have already done.

I was simply trying to figure out what people do for small group or tours just for 2 - do they use a consortium or suck it up and pay big bucks.

Thanks for your suggestion!

No thanks. I much prefer being in control of my own reservation.

This is a MYTH -- travel agents or not, you have rights to your reservation. The only thing you cannot do is cancel the cruise without your TA. They have to do that. Other than that, you can book anything you want, and TA's offer extras, look for price reductions and deal with minutia you dont want to or have time to.

Yu can almost always do better w/o a TA stuck in the middle of your reservation. Plus a lot less hassle if something dos do wrong.

Actually, a TA isn't stuck in the middle of your reservation. You can still book all your tours/food/whatever you want, without having to deal with them, or they can do it for you. Also, if there is a problem, a TA can advocate for you, spend hours on the phone with customer service, that you don't have to do. They can help fill out forms or not, they can help plan your pre/post cruise or not. TA's will most likely be worth your while, they almost always can match or beat a cruise line's price, they often can see rooms/cabin inventory you can't always see, they spend time looking for price reductions for you and they can all throw in some fancy extras.

Oh and they do all this for free......

we're always able to book independents with just two people.

with which companies and where?

Hi Everyone-

 

Can someone point me to a TA? I keep reading about all the extras that TA's can help with...

 

Thanks!

unfortunately we're not allowed to say on here, but if you try to reach out on facebook to your friends, someone will undoubtedly have used one before. Mine goes by referrals, so they are eager to do a great job.

will be very interested n your feedback on tour

very sceptical

ahhh me too me too, but it's a bit cheaper than private tours, a lot cheaper than ship tours and to be honest i dont have to deal with the stress of trying to find people to fill the tour with us. So even if we can't customize, the lack of stress involved is worth the booking.

I'm puzzled why you think Viator can tweak some tours

they are a third party operator who book local tour operators you could go with directly

therefore they have no control over the tour itself

 

if you really have specific sites and needs in mind you need to reach out to local operators yourself and if you want to attract tour mates ask for them on your roll call-

 

as to what the other 3000 people on board do I can only speculate that most do ships tours or DIY if they don't go private tours with others on roll call

because i wrote emails to viator re: some tours I found online, they responded with the tour operator info and then i emailed them directly. Some Viator reviews even note that people were able to ask their driver to make stops not on the list or remove things. I'm not saying that happens on a regular basis or it doesn't happen at all, but the tour operators were able to confirm this for me.

Check for your sailing on the face page! I've had roll calls there that were quite active. Also, a reach out on Reddit may work too, though it's not as popular.

 

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i hadn't thought of reddit - thank you!

Thanks to all your responses, since the most people I've ever had on a roll call (in 20 or so cruises) has been like 100, and generally, all those people on the roll call are looking for travel excursion partners, I am truly interested in what the other 3000 or so people who are on the ship do for excursions.

The last time i went to the Med we did only ship tours, but mostly spent time waiting for people who were late back to the bus. With such a port intensive cruise, such little time and places i have already seen major sites in, I really have specific sites and needs in mind. I have decided to try Viatour as it seems you can tweak some tours they have listed, they can't really cancel them and they mostly guarantee that you get back to your ship on time.

Aren't you on the April 22 Epic Med cruise? There are 79 listed on the roll call (not 45). Looking at the spreadsheet for our cruise, there are several group excursions that are full, but I do see openings for Naples (Joe Bananas), Rome (Italy Tours and Joe Bananas) and Livorno/Florence (Rome in Limo). Don't you want to join any of these shared tours? Certainly you can go with shore excursioneers or viator as have been suggested here.

those tours are all doing things we've done before, I tried to get some more unique tours, but no one was interested. I contacted the above listed tour groups, but if the max number is not reached, they won't do the tour, or it will cost more than booking through viator. Also, of the 79 people in there, about 20 are just the canned response "hi i'm on your cruise, nice to meet you", and about 15 are introduction and out type of people. There are a number of tours listed on the spreadsheet, but again, they aren't unique enough and most are already closed. Thanks for your response, appreciate the help.

There's a website I've used my last two cruises. Not sure if I can post it here, but there wasn't a minimum. My friend and I booked separately. One time there were only two other picked up with us. Another it was us and our four friends.

 

So it's private in that it's not the ship, but it's possible other people could book it with you.

 

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feel free to email me at point6seconds gmail

Thanks, Im cruising Mediterranean, - barcelona, rome, naples, livorno, cannes and palma. I have been looking at a lot of companies, most want you to have 6, i contacted italytours and some others i;ve seen on here, but I've struck out with timing so far.

Anyone have experience with using Viator? Ill do a search on the CC board too.

Your roll call is kind of a dud, only 45 participants and no one seem interested. We're coming up fast on the sailing and most tour companies want you to have at least 6 people, if not 8.

Do you just suck it up and pay the ship prices?

hello!

 

I see that you are in the same situation as my family. We will be arriving with our 13 and 15 year olds to civitavecchia via ship and plan to spend the day in rome. Although i have never been to rome, i figured that i'd reply and share this map that i found while looking to plan our day. Check this out:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8986241,12.461387,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1s1nmdsslmj5h7xnppvj6sucxdpime?hl=en

 

we are working to modify it to suit our taste.

 

Good luck and hopefully someone might come along with additional thoughts.

 

Ciao!

thank you for this!