hrt4girls

Restaurant suggestions, please. Our Fairbanks hotel is Pikes Waterfront Lodge, near the airport. We will pick up our rental car around 11 am. So we will be able to drive to find lunch and will not return it until after we eat dinner. Is there a pub/tavern place that is good for lunch. We don't need anything fancy and not interested in Thai food. And any suggestions for dinner? Is there a restaurant with the hotel? Perhaps we could return the rental car and walk there for dinner since we won't have any luggage with us. I appreciate all the local advice

Wow. Thanks for all the local input. It will make our afternoon in Fairbanks so much more enjoyable.

We might be on the same trip. We arrive in Fairbanks on the 20th of May and then cruise on Royal Princess to Vancouver starting on the 25th. Your plan sounds very interesting. We would like to do something similar. Gold Dredge 8 is definitely something we would like to see. I checked our itinerary and our hotel is Pikes Waterfront Lodge. So when you arrive are you dropping off your luggage at the welcome desk and then picking up your rental car before you leave the airport? Or is one of you going to the hotel with your luggage and another person getting the car and meeting at the hotel? I am assuming there are taxis or Ubers to get you back to your hotel when you drop off the car that night. I am just trying to wrap my brain around the logistics of getting a rental car. Thanks so much for your input

Thanks for all your suggestions. We haven't been assigned a hotel yet. I think we have decided to use the bus and the university shuttle to explore the museum, the animal research center and perhaps figure out how to get a look at the pipeline. We will only have the rest of the arrival day for exploring, so there isn't enough time to get the use out of a rental car.

Hello all, we are seasoned cruisers but have never been to Alaska. We have a cruise tour this May/June and are working on our plans. We fly into Fairbanks and arrive at 11:00 am. Our plan is to drop our luggage at the hotel and then go out exploring. We aren't sure if we want to schedule an excursion through the hotel or go off on our own. I have found the city bus webpage and it looks helpful. Are there things that we shouldn't miss? If we decide we would like a tour excursion are there tour operators available? Is it like the Caribbean where they are just waiting for the non planners to arrive? We have the afternoon and the evening to ourselves and don't want to miss something big. Are there things at the University that we should see? Thanks for your advice.

never mind, I just figured it out. The travel agent included the service charges for both people free so that must be what it means.

Does anyone know what the code AFREESC2 means?

We have finally booked the Alaska cruise that we have been wanting to take for 25 years. I would like to purchase binoculars to take along. I have no experience buying them. The web searches that I have done suggest that we should have 8x30. Looking on Amazon, there are so many choices, ranging from $20 to $300. I am thinking that you get what you pay for at some degree. We will not be using them much after the cruise, so I don't want to overpay for something to sit on the shelf, but I want them to work on the cruise. Does anyone have specific suggestions about what to buy? My husband and I both wear glasses and I don't know if that affects how they will work for us. Your advice would be appreciated.

We are stopping in Seattle for one night on our way to Fairbanks. Rather than arrive in Alaska at 2am, we opted to fly a day early into Seattle and then fly the last connecting leg the next morning and arrive in Fairbanks at a more convenient time. So we booked a hotel near the airport for convenience. Now I am realizing that there isn't much to do around the airport. Our flight will arrive around 5 pm. I was hoping we could see a bit of the area and have dinner that evening. The Pikes Place Market will be closed and we don't need to go up into the Space Needle. Are there things that we shouldn't miss? Is there an area that we should go to for the evening other than downtown? We don't intend to stay out late, but would like to have a fun evening before turning in. We are leaning towards using public transportation or uber to get around. Any suggestions would be great.

But aren't the Platinum Latitudes coupons different names for the same one? How are they different from the Free at Sea coupons? The Platinum Latitude ones include the 4 courses and the Free at Sea include 3?

I have seen lots of posts about Free at Sea Dinners and what they include or used to include. I think I have that figured out. What I am confused about is how are the Free At Sea Dinner coupons different from the Platinum Latitudes dinners. On our upcoming fall cruise we will have 2 Platinum dinners and 1 Free at Sea dinner. We are sailing on Sky. The specialty restaurants are limited to Cagney's, LeBistro and La Cucina. Does it matter which coupon I use at which restaurant. The other couple sailing with us does not have the Platinum dinners, but has purchased to extra specialty dining upgrades to be able to go to dinner with us. I know this shouldn't be so confusing but it seems each time I try to figure it out different answers are posted. Thanks

I just realized that our cruise on Norwegian Sky in October will stop at Key West during Fantasy Fest. I had to look it up to see what it was all about. So now that I know it has lots of people in costumes or body paint in place of costumes, I have a few questions for anyone who has been there during the Festival. Our ship is there from 7am to 2pm. I would expect that some of the party people will be sleeping off the fun from the night before. We will probably not be bringing along costumes. If we go ashore to do the normal tourist things like take a tour on the Conch Train and stand in line for the Southernmost Point will we be out of place? The schedule of events for the Festival has things listed for later in the day and nothing at all in the morning. We don't have any problem with the party goers, but we probably will not be dressed (or not dressed) like them. Just looking for advice about what to expect. This sounds like a fun adventure.

We are flying on Delta from Athens to the US at the beginning of June. I wear a medical device similar to an insulin pump. It is clipped to my belt and attached to my body with thin plastic tubing and a port. It has a battery. In my carryon will be the medical supplies that go with it including a small vial if medication, some syringes, extra batteries and charger and an extra pump and remote. My question is will there be a problem getting through security at Athens airport? I checked with Delta and they told me they know nothing about security issues. TSA guidelines are not applicable in Greece. Any suggestions of where I can find information? Has anyone been in a similar situation? Thanks for your insight!

We will be on a 9 night cruise visiting Italy, Croatia, and Greece in late May. I plan to order Euros from our bank so we aren't scrambling to find an ATM on the first day. The night before the cruise we are staying in Venice, so technically it will be 10 nights. All of our shore excursions and paid in advance, as well as our first night hotel and transfers to the ship. We basically need spending money for on shore meals, tips and shopping. We are not big shoppers and only buy a few things for ourselves or our grandkids. We have credit cards with no fees that we can use as well. Based on your experiences, how much should we take along in Euros? We were thinking we could purchase with $500 American dollars and if we need more, find an ATM when needed. Does that sound reasonable or am I figuring this incorrectly. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thanks to everyone for the detailed suggestions. We have decided to book a room near Piazzalle Roma. The prices are high in late May but busy season will do that. We booked a room at Hotel Popadopoli and we are crossing our fingers that we can handle the jet lag well enough to see some of the city. Your suggestions were all very helpful

We are arriving in Venice one day prior to a cruise. The flight arrives at 9 am and we have the day to explore the city. The next morning we need to be at the bus station for our transfer to Ravenna for our cruise. My first thought was to stay at a hotel near St Marks Square so we would be in the middle of the city and it would be easy to get around. I planned for us to take a water taxi, either shared or private to the hotel and then another in the morning back to the bus station. We have booked Hotel Saturnia International for $325 for that night. But these plans are tentative and can be cancelled and changed. My questions are this.....if we follow this plan, is this hotel a good choice? The review ratings are good but that doesn't always tell the whole story. My second question is......would we be better off staying at a hotel closer to the bus station and be able to go off sightseeing without worrying about our luggage and a longer trip back to the bus station in the morning? If so, please suggest a hotel in a similar price range. We have never been to Venice and want to enjoy the one day we have there. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

For our cruise in May, our ship will be in port in Ravenna for the day of boarding and not leave until the following evening. That gives us time to see the area around Ravenna. There are a couple of ship excursions but I was wondering if anyone has experience with using a local tour guide or doing it on your own. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

This looks so interesting. Our ship doesn't arrive until noon. The food tours that I found have a starting time earlier than that. Does anyone know of a food tour that starts later? We are in port from noon to 8pm. Thanks

Hey Cruisers, We are boarding Breakaway on Sunday. So excited! We chose the 9am boarding time. I've never boarded so early and really didn't think passengers were allowed on until 11ish. I am assuming that the port will be busy with passengers leaving. A few questions....... Will we be held in the waiting room for an extended time period for the passengers to exit the ship? We will have all of our paperwork completed and our covid vax and tests ready to present. How long does the actual check-in take? When we cruised on Celebrity post-covid, we were instructed to go to our cabins to get our sea pass cards and drop off our carry ons, but we could not stay in the cabin since it wasn't ready yet. Is that the same with Norwegian? When will the lunch venues open? Will the dinner reservation desk be open for us to update our choices? Anything else that we should do when we board, considering the lines should be shorter? thanks