Moby58

Thanks for the great review! You mentioned that you could provide contact info for Dwight in Barbados. Please do so. Thanks!

Eileen & Mapleleaves,

Thanks for your replies. We are doing a 3 night land tour that will take us to Denali (on the train) & Fairbanks before we board the cruise ship in Seward. Our starting point is in Anchorage, and we are arriving a day early, so I have from 4:00 pm onward on Day 1, then on Day 2 I have to check into the Anchorage Hilton some time after 3:00 pm, so virtually, I could sightsee most of Day 2 if we wanted.

http://www.claalaska.com for Port arrival information, all ships, and the order in which they dock.

 

Any other sources for that info, I'd love to do a cross-check.

Thanks! I noticed they have our port arrival in Ketchikan on June 20 mixed up with another ship, so looks like one mistake.

My ports are Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan on HAL Oosterdam. Does anyone know if they dock or tender at these ports?

We were just there last week and rented a car from Avis at the Goldbelt Hotel. We spent around 3 hours at Mendenhall Glacier (we were the first of 4 ships in port that day and went there first to beat the rush)..... I highly recommned the car rental option for the flexibility and independence. We also stopped at Walmart for some supplies, which was right on the way and very handy.

 

Have a great cruise!

Can you direct me to the website where you discovered you were the first of four ships in port that day?

Did you rent car through AVIS online?

Awesome photos! We booked a last minute land/cruise to Alaska (1st visit). We leave June 11, so I have had very limited time to plan anything, so I'm hoping I can pick your brain a bit.

We'll be in Anchorage approx. 24 hours (4:00 pm - 5:00 pm). Do you have a car rental recommendation? If we can only make one scenic drive, what highway do you recommend we explore? You mentioned seeing Byron Glacier and Matanuska Glacier. We'll be taking a motor coach from Anchorage to Seward to board cruise ship, so we'll be able enjoy the scenery from the bus.

In Juneau, we can book a ship excursion (HAL) to Tracy Arm or we can go to Mendenhall on our own. We will already have cruised through Glacier Bay, so I'm wondering if Tracy Arm will be worth it ($500), or should we go to Mendenhall instead?

Oh, how I wish I had more time for planning. This will definitely be a spontaneous trip which goes against my grain as I like to plan DIY excursions when possible, but no time to make that happen this trip.

As a followup I went with AVIS and one of the online codes. The rate for same day rental went from $94 to $44. We will be renting from the hotel which looked like a short walk from the port. Looking forward to seeing the sites on our own time and saving a few bucks.

Can you share the code you used with Avis?

Cartagena is one of the ports we will visit on our cruise. I was thinking of booking a "Highlight of the City Tour", but after learning about Friends for Columbia, I checked out their website, and it sounds fascinating. Can you share what the price is per person? Our family consists of myself, my husband and our 14 year old daughter. Did you bring items to donate to the people? If so, what type of items are recommended? Any other information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Great tips! :)