dmwnc1959

Meaning as a unique separate charge or unless you've purchased the Unlimited Starbucks Package?

I'll be in Juneau twice next year (April 25th and May 1st) and the snow might still be fresh on the ground. 😉 Several shore excursions have already popped up, the one heading out to Mendenhall Glacier is $39 and gives 2hrs for self-exploration. Was thinking about booking that one just for the convenience.

Not that this will make much difference, but I wonder if the picture was taken from the visitors center or from the pavilion, the latter which would be further over to the right of this and would give a better view of the glacier. I was still thinking of going out there next year to enjoy the area and walk up to Nugget Falls. Something definitely to look forward to.

Looks like some of my pictures. Amazing the difference! I cruised Alaska five times between 1998 and 2003. It'll be interesting to see this change that's happened in just over 20 years when I return in April 2025.

Comparisons between a picture on cruise lines advertisement for shore excursions and the new one (cropped to better show the same area).

This thread and the point/counter-point comments within have really dampened my enthusiasm for specialty dining, and maybe that's a good thing? Otherwise I'd gone in with some pretty high expectations and may have been sadly disappointed. I was jumping in with both feet without breaking down the per meal costs. But when I did the math @ $50 a pop 😳 for dinner it sort of killed it. 🥸

Looks like the other half of the day after Juneau was spent in Endicott Arm, a few screenshots and Marine Traffic locaters... Juneau in the upper left and Norwegian Bliss below and right of center N.Bliss near the end of Endicott Arm

It'll be exactly the same for N.Jade on the first SB next year from Whittier, no other ships but us and it's a long walk into the center city area. I'm hoping for the repositioning next year, and the SB from Whittier that follows, when we get into the Inside Passage cities during the fourth week of April and first week of May that the weather will be slightly better (warmer). 😁

What's crazy is that a lot of these drastically opposing viewpoints of the exact same venue are making me wonder if it's worth paying $50 for a meal. I've got the two FAS meals, and debating on whether or not I should just wait on booking a specialty dining package for when I get on board.

😁

Grabbed a couple of screenshots from the Juneau WebCams...

Money talks. It's just that the art gallery is probably the most mocked space on a cruise ship, and more often than not viewed as wasted space. The art is nice to look at, but in all likelihood that space could be better used to serve passengers.

From the video that I watched - which was a really great walk-through tour - the library looks pretty amazing. Not so much for the books, but just the space itself. I agree that it would be a very bad decision on the part of Princess Cruises if they ever considered replacing it. But they've been known to make some really bad decisions (i.e. the Island Princess refit). I did email Princess Cruises Special Services, and actually got a phone call back. The representative sounded quite knowledgeable and was very professional. But it was a wasted phone call since he really didn't/couldn't offer any information. Since my final payment for the January 2025 Panama Canal cruise would have been due before the ship came out of the shipyard, and there were issues important to me that were unresolved, I decided to cancel and book with a different cruise line. Really sucks, because I was looking forward to cruising back with Princess again.

I’m about 75% carnicore, but I’m not even a big fan of steaks, never have been. So connective tissue - while doing its job - is just cow floss. 😆

It’s even worse if you are trying to do speech-to-text on an iPhone! It’s pretty sure I’m not even speaking English sometimes. 😂

OK, that’s just gross. 🤢😂 I’m a big seafood guy and that’s mainly what I would’ve gone to Cagney’s for, those options look fairly safe.

I know, right! Me, the self-proclaimed ‘world traveler’, and never have had tapioca pudding. 🤣

It’s probably the best walkabout video (love the fact that it has no running commentary) that I’ve scene of Norwegian Jade, and I’ve been watching it for a couple of months now. The Grand Pacific is gorgeous, and I’d even be happy with one of the side windows too. 😉 This video and one other (can’t post it here because it’s by a travel agency) is all it took to make me fall in love with this ship.

So here’s the video I’m watching. If you look just at the 29 minute mark he enters the Grand Pacific, looks to the side, and then proceeds toward the back along the starboard side. Crosses across the back, and then goes back up to port side. This is why I am thinking those windows that I screenshot are the aft windows. Maybe you can verify that for me based on what I’m seeing in the video.

The NCL half-day port stop at Ward’s Cove on their big ships, long lines for shuttles into town and back, and the earlier ‘last shuttle back’ to make sure everyone is on board in time for departure have definitely spawned some dissatisfied comments in quite a few concerning Cruise Critic posts. Next year my cruise on the smaller Norwegian Jade is scheduled at Ward’s Cove from 6a-4p on the first leg (sharing the dock with 🙄 Norwegian Bliss), and 10a-6p on the second half (with no other ships). Plenty of time to see things and get’r done. 🤞 😁

Noooooooooooo! 😢 I love Italian food having lived in Naples, Italy for two years. I know it’s probably not even close to being the same, but the La Cucina menu looked amazing!

I’ll put’r on the back burner for a while. I’m very happy with the idea of La Cucina and Jasmines filling up several days with Cagney’s and Le Bistro taking up a couple of slots. I had originally thought of buying the 7-night specialty dining package, plus the two FAS, but that turned out to be too many for my planning right now. Another screenshot added to my dining planning page. 👍 👍 👍

Just watched a video of Moderno on the Norwegian Star. Are the Dawn-class ships that much different? This looks really good.

This is going be some late night reading for a few days! Maybe go to bed with delicious food to dream on. 😁