Tahoe Boater

8 hours ago, cbachell said:

Here is the letter I got this afternoon. 

Thank you for sharing this information as our sailing is scheduled to transit the same area northbound in March.  Its a terrible situation and ee all feel so bad for you all on board. 

Where did you stop to see the sled dog puppies. I believe there are two possibilities. One was at the kennel of a former musher and the other is at more of a touristy area.

Thanks.

We ended up at Caribou Crossing to see the dogs.Some of best pics of our trip was my wife with the dogs. The first time we arrived there were tour buses on site. We kept driving and stopped in the afternoon on our way back to Skagway. There was hardly anyone there when we returned. We much prefer to arrive at any attraction after the mass of people on the tours have departed.

The Caribe balcony cabins on the Ruby have reclining chairs and a footrest.

If you do rent a car in Skagway, show up early at the rental car counter as you are able before the lines form. We were able to get off the ship early and got our car relatively fast. Carry passports with you as you will have to cross the border into Canada on the way up to Carcross, Emerald Lake and of course to the sled dog puppies. We made such good time avoiding the crowds that we drove all of the way into Whitehorse for lunch. Lots of exploring to do in the area between the attractions. We also visited the slide cemetery area on the way back into Skagway. It was a great time on our own.

iT'S ALWAYS WINDY AND CHILLY THE first 2 days going out.

We have done this sailing three times and all in December. It is always cooler the first two days and the final two days prior to the port of Ensenada. We have had great trips every time.

That being said, two of the trips were very calm and one not at all calm. That other trip was real rough for the first three days of that sailing and the rest of the trip was less rough than the first part. We like motion on our cruises, but water leaving the swimming pool and heading toward the elevators was a little on the too rough side for us.

We had our absolute worst conditions in the Caribbean quite a few years back. Huge seas on that sailing made us late arriving into port. Rough seas can occur at any time in any ocean. Don't let the thought of a rough crossing keep you from booking the Hawaii sailing. It is a great trip especially if you like sea days.

Not only are kids allowed, I believe that kids are charged half price. At least that used to be the case.

Hi Everyone,

Does anybody know how wide the sofa sleeper is on a Vista Class ship is? We are considering a quad (we know.... But, 3/4 are priced at $199 for this voyage on the Oosterdam) and would we would rather have the two small kids on the sofa sleeper than on the Pullman down from the ceiling over the queen bed.

Does anyone have experience with this quad layout?

Thanks!

We had a port side mini suite on the Emerald deck only once. The morning Zoomba class woke us up every day with the music coming through the floor. If I had a choice I'd go with the starboard side to that reason. However, if my only choices were between a port side and the Dolphin deck.... I'll bring ear plugs. Emerald deck every time. Have a great trip.

Yes, you will need a wet suit for Catalina. The winter months in particular. The water is warmer than usual right now, however it is still cool and the viability is fantastic with lots of fish to see. One of the best and easiest places to snorkel or dive is right at the dive park located at Casino Point. You can rent gear at any of the local shops or bring your own. The dive park has a set of stairs which leads you tight into the water. It's located right on the edge of town and I've been diving and snorkeling there many times.

Have a great visit to the island.

NCL charges the 18% per beverage on top of the drink package purchase price. Fortunately, Princess does not. We had the package on our last cruise and really enjoyed the freedom of having it. We really liked the ability to try new drinks on the menu without the financial risk involved.

You indeed do receive two credits for having a suite, even in an upsell. Enjoy your suite.

We just dove with Nauitilus Dive in Cabo San Lucas a week ago. Casey, the owner was great to work with. We had a very short port call on April 2nd. We were only in CSL from 7:00 am to 1:30 pm. Casey had one of his representatives meet us at the tender pier at 7:15. He was on time and easy to find. From there we went off to the boat ramp to meet the dive boat and we had time to get two tanks in and back to the ship by a little after 12:00.

No cattle call on this trip. Three divers and a guide. Saw sharks, seahorses......good trip.

Fond memories of skeet shooting off of the NCL ships in the 90's. I remember looking around just before one of my turns for someone to hold my drink while I shot. And for only $5...

Good to know! May I ask the vehicle rental place?

Check the latest on a search, but I believe that both Budget and Avis had locations right at the dock just outside the gates of the port. If I remember correctly , we rented from Budget. A little bit more $$ than a taxi to and from the other side of the island, but so much more convenient.

Remember to drive on the left.

We rented a Jeep from the agency right in from of the cruise port and snorkleed at Sapphire Beach. It wasn't very crowded at Sapphire the day we were there even though there were two ships in port that day. There was plenty enough to see in the water and conditions were good.

The Jeep allowed us flexability to change locations if conditions were not good, if it got crowded and a place to store our gear while we were in the water.

We will be in Cabo San Lucas on April 2 arriving on the Crown Princess. We are booking a scuba dive with a local operator and he is asking us if we know what local time we are scheduled to port. We have been in a few ports where local time and ships time are different.

Does anyone know for sure if the ships time and the local Cabo San Lucas time are the same on April 2?

Congratulations on your upsell to a suite. You are on the same sailing that we are on. We did not receive the upsell offer, but we are glad others received them. Definitely take the owners suite if it is still available. The balcony on that room is huge. If that one is no longer available work your way down the list. Sabatinis is still the best perk for a suite IMHO.

BTW- what was the upsell offer? If you don't mind sharing?

Like I said. In a heartbeat. Grab it before someone else does.

As a upgrade I would on a heartbeat. If it was an upsell offer it would depend on the offer. What did they offer you?

I have a huge issue if I am ever asked for a pat down. However, that aside. I have never been asked in my 30 or so cruises. Including San Francisco last October and last Friday in San Pedro.

Thanks all for the feedback. I was hoping to skirt the system and park at the departure port. Oh well.... It looks like that will not be happening.

The Crown Princess starts the trip at the usual Berth 91 area on January 30 and ends at Berth 46 on February 2nd. We are trying to determine if we have any options on where we park. Princess is telling us to park at Berth 91 area and take the shuttle from Berth 46 back to our car the day we get off. I know that getting off and shuttling that many people is going to be problematic.

Are there parking options at Berth 46? I would rather try to drop off our luggage at the ship, park near Berth 46 and walk or taxi it back to the ship at the beginning of the trip instead of dealing with the madhouse scene at the end.

We rented a Jeep there one time a couple of years ago. I do not remember which agency we rented through, but they were located right on the pier area. We did not wait long at all there. We got off the ship before the masses and headed over to get our Jeep. Much prefer renting a car and exploring on our own. We are not much into crowds. The whole rental process only took us about 10-15 minutes.

My wife owns a nice prescription mask for diving. It really helps her underwater vision as you well know. She can dive with a standard dive mask, but she much prefers her prescription mask.

Check out this site for prescription masks. Your own mask and snorkle is nice to have even if you don't need the vision correction.

http://www.houseofscuba.com/traditional-masks/msk115.html?utm_campaign=Nextag&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=nextag

You will love Cabo... We have dove and snorkeled there before.

We used to bring our own snorkle gear on cruises, now we bring our own scuba gear. Same reasons as above. Germs, quality, performance, comfort and of course.....price.

We dive some days when we are able and we snorkle when we are unable to arrange a dive trip.

I would also bring a few spare parts with you if you travel with your own gear. An extra mask and fins strap are good to carry. We had a mask issue on a trip one time first day in port and were unable to find a replacement.