goin'toalaska

Does anyone know -- if you decline the free at sea drink package, can you still get free cocktails and sodas in the Haven lounge and Haven pool?  This was true at the Disney Concierge lounge.  My spouse is not happy about paying the gratuities on the "free" drink package as we really rarely drink and it seems like the gratuities cost more than what we would pay just buying drinks.  But with paying so much for Haven, it's irritating to then have to shell out $10 for a cocktail in the lounge.

Trying to decide on a Galapagos cruise for spring 2019.  We are looking at the National Geographic Lindblad 10 day Northern Loop on the Endeavor II, or Celebrity Expedition Northern Loop 7-day.  Which would you recommend for a family with kids ranging from 8 to 14 years old?  The National Geographic seems much more expensive, even taking into account the longer trip, so. I guess I’m slightly leaning towards Cellebrity, but would be willing to pay more if the Nat Geo would be a better experience?  Any feedback?

We have about an hour between 2 excursions in Juneau (I know, overbooked). I assume that both drop off and pickup will be close to the ship docking area. Any suggestions on where we can get something quick for lunch that won't be terrible? Thanks!

We don't have any excursions currently planed for our stop in Icy Strait Point next week. I was sort of hoping we could play it by ear a little bit. I was thinking we would look at the old cannery museum, walk around the nature trails a bit, and take what I heard is a shuttle bus to the Tlingit town where there are performances. Are the shuttle and performances limited to people on pre-booked excursions? I heard that it's about a mile from the cruise dock down to the Tlingit town (Hoona?) -- about half of our group could easily walk the mile, but the other half would have difficulty with a mile.

For the ship excursions, they seem to have either a "forest tram and tribal dance" or a "hoonah sightseeing and tribal dance" -- I can't really tell what the difference is, and if anyone has any insights, I'd appreciate it.

We're doing that cruise with kids about that age next month. Can you let me know if any of the shows (comedy or otherwise) were enjoyable and appropriate for your kids? My kids have really liked the "family" comedy shows on other cruises. Thanks! Also any other recommendations for the older kid/tween age group would be greatly appreciated.

Any suggestions for something to do in Skagway? We've got elderly people and elemtary school aged kids in our group (although we could split up and do 2 different things). A portion of the group took the train up White Pass some years ago, and so there's not a lot of enthusiasm for that. We're spending a lot on our excursions in Juneau and Ketchikan, so would like something a little cheaper or at least reasonable for Skagway. Thanks!

Sorry to post two "X or Y?" threads..but I need advice! We'd like to do a helicopter trip to a glacier and then dog sled. I did this a decade ago and it was awesome -- I think we went out of Skagway to the Denver glacier. I see there is also a trip offered out of Juneau to the Mendenhall Glacier. Does anyone know anything about which might be better? Including views from the copter, time with dogs, time on sled, etc.

I'd also love advice on whether we're safer booking for the morning or afternoon. Last time I know we went in the afternoon, and we did get fog on the way back that slowed our return a bit. Are we more likely to have fog problems in the morning or afternoon?

Thanks so much for any advice.

I'm getting a little overwhelmed with choices -- please help! One of my kids has especially requested a ziplining excursion.

RCL offers two in Skagway: (1) "Grizzly Falls" (says 11 ziplines and 4 suspension bridges); or (2) Adventure Park (six ziplines). Seems like Grizzy Falls would be better..any thoughts?

Online, I've also found recommendations for the Beer Creek Zipline by Alaskan Canopy Adventures out of Ketchikan, and I think we could do it there instead possibly.

It also looks like there is one out of Juneau, but I thought there might be too much else to do in Juneau.

Any suggestions for which is best? We have an extensive ziplining place not far from our house, so I guess the premium would be on a ziplining experience that is unique to Alaska.

Thanks!

We did a cruise on getaway with our kids, and they loved it, but they also loved the Carnival cruise we did. I think the rockwall, bungee trampoline and ropes course might make the balance tip slightly to Getaway, but on Carnival they really liked the kids' comedy show, and they really liked having the same waiter every night. Water slides were great on both ships. I think I did like that NCL had a separate kids' pool, but some people might find that irritating (as you're segregated from the adults, and it is small). I find it kind of a pain to be switching restaurants every night -- the service was slow and inconsistent (more like a land restaurant, rather than a cruise). I would likely pick based on individual ship, itinerary, etc.

Thanks! I'll bring my own -- it won't be the first time I've traveled with syrup in tow. I thought I remembered that HAL had real maple syrup on request on the MDR (I might be mis-remembering that) so I thought it was worth asking.

I do think it's funny that maple syrup is the one thing that is not "real" unless it specifically says it is ... The maple lobby needs to get on that!

Hi there,

I'm travelling with kids who are big dog fans. We're going to Denali before the cruise and will likely visit the dog kennels outside Denali, but my understanding is that there is no sled or wagon ride there. We did the helicopter to sled ride on Denver glacier years ago (pre-kids) and it was awesome, but the price is daunting with all the kids included. Does anyone have a recommendation for which of the various sled or mushing options is the best? Thank you!

Is the "maple syrup" onboard real pure maple syrup, or is it the maple flavored corn syrup that is more typically served in American restaurants?

We're on the Radiance of the Seas, Alaska, if that makes a difference (but I would guess it's probably the same across the whole line).

Thanks.

Hi folks,

Two questions:

1) How are the temps in the restaurants and other indoor venues? I'm wondering if I need to bring jackets and sweaters for dinner because of the a/c.

2) Did you have problems using Splash Academy due to capacity restrictions? I'm wondering if we need to get there at opening on sea days, or if we can play it by ear.

Thanks!

Well, I'm glad I didn't mention them to the kids. Kids get very fixated on things like this, and we're doing this cruise almost entirely for their benefit. I agree with a previous poster that it's very bad customer service to give basically no notice to changes in benefits. They should not change anything once you are past the penalty cancellation date, in my opinion. I don't know if this is all atypical for NCL, but the number of policy changes in the weeks leading up to my cruise is making me feel very uncomfortable about this particular line.

I think they changed our departure time for Tortola from 4 to 3. We booked an excursion through NCL that runs from 10 to 3 -- are they likely to shave time off our excursion in order to get us back to the ship before 3? It's already a short excursion, so I'm going to be a little irked if they are cutting it short. Has anyone had an excursion end time that = the departure time?

We specially reserved a shuttle in FLL that had a car seat for my little one...and it never showed up. (Actually, it was on its way 45 minutes late, then the booking person said there was no car seat, so they sent it back to central booking to get the car seat, which would have made it like 2 hours late.... so we gave up and took a shuttle with no car seat.) If I were you, I would have my husband drop me and the kids, or just park at the port.

In Cozumel, there's a really cute national park beach that has a free sea lion show, if your older is old enough to enjoy that. I can't recall the name,but if you google, you will find it. It is about a 15 minute cab ride from the port, though, so you may not be comfortable without car seats. I bought a portable car seat to use for my little one, but I don't think it would work for an infant.

It's hard to predict how they'll react at that age. We haven't done NCL yet, but other cruise lines will give you a pager to buzz you if there's a problem. I would let the counselors know if you want to be buzzed if she's crying for more than a specified period of time. I think some parents have the "don't bother us unless she's bleeding profusely" attitude, so they won't necessarily buzz you if she's just unhappy. I've also done the thing where I hide out of sight to listen to see if I can hear her stop crying. I've also come by and peeked in -- but that's more risky -- if they see you, you might not get away.

We did HAL with Alaska. I agree with others that the kids' clubs are slim, but because the boat is small, you can get some nice special treatment. My child was too young for the club, but the counselors were fine with me just bringing her in and sitting and playing with the toys. She also liked watching the older kids play! I don't think the bigger lines would have let me do that. I think they did have stuff like video games and crafts, so it's probably okay for a low-key way to occupy them for a few hours on a sea day.

One thing about Alaska is that the port excursions are very active -- you'll probably be out and about all day, and just want to eat a good meal and crash when you get back. I'd try to find a cruise with fewer sea days though -- I think ours only had one sea day, but left from Canada. Also, because it's a bit brisk in Alaska, even in the summer, you might not miss the things like water slides. There were some pre-teens using the pool when we were there, but I don't think that's the big draw of Alaska.

Another plus of HAL is that the boats are smaller, so can fit further into Glacier Bay than the mega ships can.

Finally. this may or not be a plus for you ... but you won't find any "Sexy Bod" competitions or anything like that on HAL. I was a little embarrassed to have my kids around the aging frat boy atmosphere on our last Carnival cruise -- I was disappointed that Carnival couldn't save the bumping and grinding contests for the evening crowd, when the little ones are headed to bed.

HAL also had some nice "cultural" events that might appeal to you with your kids -- like they had the rangers do a talk and show slides about the national parks; and I think the Indonesian staff members did a talent show of Indonesian dance and music (but I missed that due to nap times).

Can you report back on whether there was problem getting into Splash Academy for kids? (Not sure how old yours are...).

And how were the lines for the ropes course, rock wall, mini-golf, etc?

Sorry, I'm confused. I thought one could take the tram up and back down, right? So we would be walking back to the ship from the tram station, right? Does anyone know how long a walk it is?

Another poster on another thread said that the ride is only about 10 minutes (not sure if that was one way or two ways). Is the two hour assuming that you want to shop or eat at the top? I don't think we'd want to do either. Is there usually a long wait to get in the gondola to come back down?

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question. My understanding is that the NCL app that allows you to communicate/text on-ship does not run through your usual phone access. Does that mean that you can use it on an old phone that doesn't have a data plan? My kids don't have phones, but I wouldn't mind giving them an old out-of-use phone so that they can text me if they want me to pick them up from Splash Academy or something like that. Thanks for any advice!

I would love to hear from others that have been on cruises this summer, or updates from those of you that are going in the next few weeks.

I can pretty much guarantee that, if I have to stand in line with my kids for 30 minutes before camp opens 2 or 3 times a day, I will never cruise NCL again. That is not a vacation to me.

I saw some pics of the gondola lift that goes up the mountain in St. Thomas and think the kids would like it, so I"m trying to figure out if we can fit it in with our other plans.

1) How close is it to the pier? Could we have the cab drop us there on the way back from the beach, and then walk back from there to the ship?

2) How long would it take? So if our ship leaves at 5, and we have the cab drop us there at 4, would that be enough time to get tickets, wait in any line, and go up and down? I do NOT want to miss the ship!

3) I assume there's no age restrictions -- right?

Thanks!

Hi,

Sorry for all these Atlantis questions. I'm wondering how long the lines will be for the slides, etc., at Atlantis in mid-August on a weekday. I think there are either 1 or 2 ships in port, if that makes a difference. We'll only have about 4 hours at the park, and if the lines are really long for each thing, it might not be worth it.

Also, what are the absolute best things to do at the waterpark? I saw a video of a slide that goes through what looks like shark tanks -- which one is that?

Thanks!