knbcruisers

We are booked for June Northbound cruise. I booked westbound and home trip separately as we are doing 5 day land tour post cruise. Westbound was orginally on American, but they changed the 2nd leg which would have resulted in an 8 hour layover in LAX:eek: I was able to get moved to a USAir flight Tampa/Phoenix/Vancouver, which gets us to Vancouver earlier than original schedule. The merger is in process so know that things can change if you book on either of these airlines. The return trip is booked on Sun Country, Anchorage/Minneapolis/Orlando.

Unless we are flying, DH never travels without Fan(its not just a fan but Fan). We have been on 3 Princess and 1 NCL and took it on board with no problems. We are FL residents so have driven to all our ports. Next June when we land in Vancouver to board the Coral we will need to buy a fan! He can't sleep without it.

Another compulsive researcher here....I have a year old laptop and MicroSoft Office 2013.. I am very impressed with MS One Note, it is very easy to create project folders with tabs for each topic. It lets you just type anywhere on the blank tab, insert an excel worksheet, or cut and paste from anywhere. So I have tabs for each port, air travel, cruise info, and land tour info. I cut and pasted all of the email reservations/confirmations I have (printed of course for back up). Its very easy to update and expand or delete as your trip evolves.

Trying to get to SeaWorld would be a waste of money. You would spend 1 hr minimum in transit each way. Sea world is not cheap and none of the Orlando parks offer half day admissions. Kennedy space center would be my first pick although your son is young. Also the Brevard County Zoo is quite nice, small but very good for kids.

You would need to have a rental car and check hours open.

I am very glad to hear that not many people use these decks. We are booked for Alaska next June in the last mini suite on Caribe, C728. This is an uncovered balcony and has a wrap towards the aft of the ship. The extra viewing area is a big plus, but I figured if it rained we could quickly move to the aft deck. From the pictures I have seen, I could hand DH a drink from our balcony to the adjacent aft deck :)

I am surprised that someone hasn't mentioned this, but check the CC thread on traveling with kids. You will likely find some good ideas there on how to make the most of out of the ship and your trip. We traveled with our DD and grandson when he was 1 and had a great time.

Thank you to Steve for his input. Understanding the timing of when to book has been a challenge. I posted about 2 weeks ago with a preliminary itinerary, but I have done a lot of finalizing since then. I will post my update soon so anyone else can learn from what I have dpne. Thanks to all the CC posters about itinerary choices, especially those who shared the "why" of their choice. It is super helpful.

I am planning to rent a car. I got an excellent suggestion on another thread to download the usda trail guide. It is free and has several short walks that show the beach areas or rainforest terrain. Very good maps in it also.

Thank you for those links. They are very helpful I am going to download the usda trail guide to take with us. I think it will be fun and fairly budget minded.

It looks like there are many 1 hour hikes to choose from, some giving beach access to look for whales and seals.

I am most likely going to rent a car in Ketchikan as DH is not big fan of bus travel. It looks like it could be a nice drive past the park, and then to the harbor. The online city map shows a hiking trail at end of the road. In the opposite direction from town the road ends at the cannery and another trail.

Has anyone done this and could provide details on this drive?

Putterdude,

Thanks for confirming that I am not crazy based on what I have planned. Right now our EZ air flight gets us to YVR after 8 pm so I have fully refundable reservation at the airport Radisson, so we can take rail to port in the AM. If however I can change to an earlier arrival to allow for evening tours, I also have a cancellable (is that a word?) reservation for a downtown hotel, which is $80 more than the Radisson. I was planning to try my luck with Priceline etc once the air was finalized.

Oops see you haven't booked yet :) somewhere there is a website that gives the college break calendar. You will also see lots of families during winter vacation for Northeast usually week of Presidents day.

The best way to avoid spring break crowd is on a 10 day like you have booked. The cost and length of a cruise like that doesn't fit with the schedule of college students. Our cruises have always been 7 days during school vacations usually Easter week . The ship is crowded then with families not college kids.

ATD was one of the reasons we started cruising with Princess. We are the opposite of most of the other posts. We typically get a snack or pizza when returning to the ship (around 4:30 on Caribbean trips) then rest and eat dinner around 8 pm. Usually little to no wait, and we dine just the 2 of us. Next trip is to Alaska so the schedule may be different since each port day varies so much.

I have the structure of our trip but not the daily activities yet. All of the bookings so far are flexible and can be cancelled or refunded. When final payment time comes I want to be sure that we can add the planned 5 days after the cruise for interior tour.

June 9-Depart Orlando, currently using Princess EZ air flexible fares. Arrive Vancouver 8 pm, and have reservation at Radisson Airport. Since we arrive late , dinner and drinks at hotel and then bed. If an earlier arrival becomes available at better price, I have back up reservation at Best Western Chateau Granville so we can tour Vancouver in the afternoon/evening. Both booked through Hotels dot com.

June 10--Rail line to Canada Place, drop bags and do some touring, pick up wine/drinks and snacks for room. Board ship by 2 pm and start enjoying our mini-suite, D726 last port side cabin

6/10--6/17---Cruising, do not have any port plans yet. Top of list is Skagway train, and Misty Fjords flight tour or boat tour.

6/17--arrive Whittier, take bus transfer to airport to get rental car. Booked Hertz with coupon code found on line, $42/day for full size (Chev Impala or similar), fully cancellable.

Depart Anchorage north to Denali, stopping at Walmart or other store for supplies, small cooler/drinks/snacks/sandwich items/breakfast items. 3 nights at Carlo Creek Cabins which is south of park. DH wanted a cabin with private bathroom, so booked the $120/night small cabin. Did have to pay this in full to get 5% discount, but can cancel with small fee. Found this from Denali Chamber of Commerce site. Since we will arrive later, dinner at restaurant near Carlo Creek, Creekside or The Perch.

6/18--Exploring: visit access center, Husky homestead tour, maybe a rafting tour in afternoon. Would like to have drinks on the deck at Princess Lodge since I can't afford to stay there even if there were openings!

6/19--Denali Park bus to Wonder Lake, then maybe visit Healy or a little walk around Carlo Creek property, they have 13 acres along the creek.

6/20--Depart Denali, and take our time driving stopping at Talkeetna for coffee and pastry, and anywhere else we want on the way back to Anchorage. Depending on traffic and weather will try to drive Turnagain Arm, need to figure out where to overnight--Girdwood or Anchorage??? Would like to see Wildlife Center

6/21--Last day, more free form touring, Wildlife center, Alyeska Tram ride, Anchorage museum? Right now, flight scheduled to depart 9 PM so have a good amount of time.

6/22--arrive home, interestingly we got better price on airfare and better flight schedule by leaving from Orlando but returning to Tampa. This let me get one stop flights on both ways. We are lucky that Tampa is only 20 minutes farther in the other direction so we can take advantage of different schedules and prices from either.

Last thought: DH and I splurged on vow renewal package. It was done on formal night on a family and friends cruise so it made it special. We paid for everyone to eat at Sabatini's afterward which was memorable.

Budget: Avoid the casino, bingo, horse racing (do they still do that?); Do your own shore planning; Do not let my husband anywhere near the spa, he can't say no to the sales pitch :); don't buy trinkets on the ship

Splurge: I always buy a bottle of good perfume--the price is great and I won't buy it otherwise; the biggest balcony I can afford; wine tasting events on sea days

I really agree with AryMay's comments (She has a spectacular trip review also) I have splurged on a Coral mini for our Northbound next June 10th, as with the current sale I got a mini for about $200 more than a regular balcony on the other dates we were considering. I was able to get the last aft mini with the curved balcony and next to aft viewing deck. We have cruised 4 times and always had a balcony. I could do it happily in an OV or inside, and spend my time in public rooms/decks. However not DH, he wants privacy on vacations, and really enjoys watching the scenery go by even if it was just the open water on our Caribbean cruises. He wakes up during the night, and is usually up early. He loves those private times on the balcony. If we didn't have a balcony I don't think I could get him to go :D. We can't do every high end excursion on our wish list but that is okay there is plenty to see and do and experience.

Thank you, you folks are the best!!!!! The photo link helped immensely. I just got off the phone with Princess and moved up one deck to C728 to avoid the equipment showing attached to the aft viewing deck. I think I will take my chances with the uncovered, since we have the sofa space to sit on in the mini, or go out the door to the covered aft deck. Rain jackets and umbrellas just in case!

I have been searching for pictures of Coral aft balcony/minis and see many references to this website: http://www.verizon.net/central/mysite/index.html

However, it now comes up that verizon has deleted this page. I am booked on the Coral northbound D726, which is last aft mini with curved balcony which is uncovered. The last cabin on Caribe is also available and I have seen notes that there is some equipment that would interfere with our view from balcony on Dolphin, but that wouldn't be there on Caribe? Any CCer out there have a photo? or have seen these?

I am also stuck whether to move to a partial or full covered balcony as these 2 are fully uncovered.

All thoughts on this are appreciated.

I am pretty sure that is the cabin DD had on the Crown(so it should be just like Ruby) She was there with her husband and 1 year old. It was not noisy, and they loved it. If you can go to mini from ov for $300 DO IT!!!! Since this is a lower deck you should not have motion problems unless it's very rough. We have stayed in the aft end on 3 of 4 cruises and loved that section of the boat.

Excellent suggestions thanks everyone!

I am in early stages of planning for June 2016 Alaska. I am looking for info from anyone whose taken a Princess cruise tour that doesn't go to Denali. I am leaning heavily towards DIY for Kenai Peninsula but haven't seen any reviews or feedback on how well princess does the non Denali tours.

When this info is released next month will it have full schedules? How detailed with the information be? Or will that not be available until March/April next year? I am in the beginning stages of planning for June 2016, with Princess as first choice but I would cruise Celebrity for right price/itinerary.

I love the Crown, have sailed her twice. Is that aft pool still adult-only? I was a favourite place for me and DH. On my last trip on her, the people there policed it themselves, politely telling 2 10 year old girls that they couldn't swim there. ;) The atrum is great, and don't miss Pub Lunch in the Wheelhouse bar, usually on sea days.