cynt

I thought I was the only one still dealing with this. SMH

Thx for this thread. I couldn't log into my account. I came straight to CC. 

I love solo cruising. I had just gotten into it before I got married.  So now I cruise with my DH or I go alone. I can't imagine sharing my cabin with anyone besides my DH. 

Thx @Ferry_Watcher We board the Quantum in a few months. Can we come and crash at your house a couple of nights before our cruise?  

On 1/10/2024 at 8:55 PM, txjim09 said:

It's 1.2 miles without a direct sidewalk, as shown here.  Certainly possible but pretty tough with any sort of baggage.  I know it's a tough to consider an uber or taxi for such a short distance but these are probably your best option.

On 1/13/2024 at 3:08 PM, IceChick said:

We are doing the same thing leaving Jan 21 on Regal and still not certain how we will get between ships.  If you sail later I can post what we end up doing.

 

@IceChick and @txjim09 how did you manage transferring between the two terminals?

I co-sign what everyone else has said.  Ship - Celebration. Itinerary - Magic. 

Magic will be like going to your great aunts home. Nice and worn, clean, comfy and good bones.

Whereas the Celebration will be like visiting your single, affluent uncle's high rise condo on the top floor. 

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Ah, bummer.  Were lots of dates available, and were any available for 4th quarter this year?

Look at @UGACamper post above. They listed the ULTRA cruises. 

My DH received the ULTRA offer and we can book today. Unfortunately the dates don't seem to work for us. 

We're cruising on Quantum out of pier 91 in July. Are the downtown hotels usually around $400ish during the summer?  That's what we are seeing on downtown hotels. Near SeaTac we can find a few in the mid $250s. We reserved a hotel near SeaTac because the prices were freaking us out, just in case the prices increased. 

Voyager was my first too. The beginning of a great addiction!

@PhillyFan33579 thanks for posting. We love new ships! Icon had us pumping the breaks. It is more expensive than our week in Maui before the fire!  We just can't wrap our minds around $10K for a balcony on Icon. We were going to just do it but the accountant in us said wait it out. The price will fall eventually. We hope.

@RCCL Fan thanks for the excellent recap. OMG how cool to be invited to this special naming ceremony. ICON is on my radar once the crazy cruise prices fall. $8K+ for a balcony. NOPE! I'll wait. 

You have me all in my feelings with your grandmother stories and your daughter and future grandkids stories. Love it! My DF passed away 2022. Thank God for 52 years with him. I introduced him to cruising and he fell in love with it too. He was my cruising buddy. His last cruise was Alaska before covid. He was 3 months from our Symphony cruise before he passed away. Symphony was a tough cruise but I knew he would want me to go so we did.

Enjoy every moment with your daughters. 

23 hours ago, UGACamper said:

I'm heading to Alaska in July on Carnival because of price - casino offering for free balcony.  BUT because of the "free" offer (I know, let's not discuss the meaning of free), it affords us to be able to do more excursions, fly first class, etc. It is a bucket list item that we are crossing off. CANT WAIT!

FREE is always good!!! More excursions for you!!

July 2024 will be my 3rd Alaskan cruise. The first time I did all the research and cruised with my BFF aboard a Princess ship round trip from Seattle. The best of the best. It was fabulous. We did all the things, long time in each of the ports and viewed the Glacier up close.

2nd Alaskan cruise was with my husband and my dad. Northern bound, Vancouver to Seward. We got a heck of a price for a June 2019 sailing aboard the Celebrity Millennium. Absolutely would book this again in a heartbeat. Close view of the Glacier, ship was great and the food in the buffet was delicious to the point we didn't go back to the dining room. Lamb stew to die for. We had long periods in each port and I enjoyed this cruise more than my Princess cruise.

3rd cruise July 2024 is booked with Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas. Group cruise 5 Sr citizens, 7 adults, 2 teens and one tween. First time Alaska cruise for 13 of them. I would of loved to do a southern or northern route but due to logistics and airfare we elected to do round trip from Seattle. Moving 15 people around, including 7 Seniors can be challenging so I decided to error on the side of convenience. We landed on Quantum because of the age dynamic and we are diamond on Royal. We are most familiar with Royal ships so I know what to expect sailing on a Royal ship. I can answer Royal Caribbean questions in my sleep. There will be plenty to do aboard the ship to entertain everyone. I've decided to do Mendenhall Glacier to make sure they see a glacier up close since we know we will not see the Dawes Glacier. I still don't understand why they even go there. I would rather skip it altogether and spend that time in Juneau. So mentally I have adjusted my expectations. I'm still excited to show them Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau and Victoria. My husband keeps reminding me that they do not know what they are missing because it is their first Alaskan cruise. 

If it was just 4-6 of us, I would have definitely did another southern or northern route. I believe that is the best if you are looking to take advantage of the time in each port. I'm bummed about not seeing a big glacier up close but I'm OK with it because it's just a glacier at the end of the day and my group would maybe spend 15 minutes looking at it. LOL! I know we will have an excellent experience aboard the Quantum. 

I'm cruising on RCCL Quantum OTS. For thus who have sailed with Royal, Do they really stay at Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier for 5 hours?  

We usually select late dining so we are just finishing dinner around 830/9pm. So we are not hungry or need a snack late at night. We are barely able to roll to whatever late show and hit the club or casino for a little bit. We make it back to our cabin around 12/1am and we are still full from dinner. We keep our water bottles full so no need for us to stop and get water. 

For those wanting late night snacks, are you normally a snacker? Just wondering. We are snackers but with late dinning we are too stuffed to snack late at night. We might have an adult beverage or two or three but that's about it. 

On 1/28/2023 at 7:44 AM, naturelovergirl said:

We are planning kayaking in Ketchikan: Specifically the Tatoosh Islands Sea Kayak Tour offered through our ship in the morning.

After we get back, we plan to walk through Creek Street and see what we see. I would like to go to some of the museums in Ketchikan… particularly the Totem Heritage Center and the Tongass Historical Museum.

@naturelovergirl how was your excursion?  I'm researching for my July 2024 cruise.  Thx

On 1/28/2023 at 7:20 AM, Sigyn said:

We have booked excursions in all of the ports for our July cruise, except Ketchikan. It's been the toughest one. We are doing a float plane over five glaciers and a salmon cookout at Taku Lodge in Juneau. We are doing a helicopter to a glacier and sled dogs in Skagway. We are doing a whale watching and bear sighting cruise in Icy Strait Point. We are doing the small boat cruise to see Hubbard Glacier up close, ahead of our ship. 

 

But in Ketchikan, I'm stumped. My husband doesn't want to do anything too athletic there, like a canoe trip across a lake and a 5-mile hike. He said, "we're not those people" (although apparently I still think we are, in my heart, since I keep trying to book stuff like that.) He's willing to do a 2-3 mile hike through the rainforest, but if it's raining, that would be kinda meh and I know it rains 300 days a year in Ketchikan. He said he'd be happy doing a pub crawl and eating in Ketchikan, but I read that people aren't happy any longer with the crab "feast" at George Inlet. Then I read that Misty Fjords is a must see. But we're already doing one float plane and one helicopter ride. That's expensive. And really, don't want to jump on a flying machine at every port. 

 

The lumberjack show holds zero appeal. As does the boat with the crab catch from the deadliest catch. Looking at the stadium seating on the boat and how it's kind of a show seems unappealing to me, particularly since Alaska has shut down crab fishing again this year. Would feel like we're doing something we're not supposed to and I wonder what they even do with the ban in place: https://www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/alaska-shuts-down-crab-seasons-after-dismal-survey-results I mean, the show will go on, with other crab caught, but it does dilute the whole experience https://www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/deadliest-catch-returns-in-2023-despite-closing-of-fisheries

 

I would like to see something more real, that feels like Alaska. But have zero idea what that would be in Ketchikan. It's our first port on our trip so that matters, too.

 

Anyway...thoughts? Experiences you really enjoyed that you'd like to share with me? 

 

@Sigyn so what did you decide to do? Did you enjoy it? 

That sounds great. Having planned many group cruises, I would encourage families to cruise with their daughters. It's a lot of responsibility cruising with kids.

You didn't mention how many girls are cruising? The more chaperones the better. 

I would make everyone get passports and travel insurance. You don't need them until you need them. 

Set ground rules and consequences prior to boarding ship.

Happy planning. What an awesome reward! YOU ROCK!

Thank God the little girl told her parents. This scum bag got caught in 4 months. Parents continue to communicate with your children and be a safe space for them to share EVERYTHING with you.

Simple, supply and demand. Every vacation destination has increased. Check out Disney World. Crazy insane ticket and hotel prices. But crazy me booked a quick trip the weekend leading to Christmas. Why? Well my twisted rational, we're off two weeks for Christmas and we're driving to Jacksonville FL from TX to see family. We'll be sooo close (2.5 hrs) to Orlando plus our niece will be with us, who has never been to WDW. So we have to go, right? SMH! NO! 

The money we're saving by driving, we're using to purchase WDW tickets. So we swapped transportation expenses for entertainment expenses. But we are also sacrificing a total of 28 hours round trip by driving. It sucks but it will be worth it when we surprise her. 

So everyone spends their money how they choose to based on their wants. I always say, People will spend their money on what they want to spend it on and you can't tell them what to spend it on.

I'm excited to follow along on this journey. This is the type of traveling I want to explore when I retire in 11 years and 6 months. 

Thanks for your LIVE.  I was O so missing her last week.  We just got off the Carnival Breeze. It just made me remember how much I enjoyed the Symphony in 2022. The oasis class is my all time favorite class of cruise ship. 

I'm grateful for my Mom. My dad passed last summer. So now my Mom gets extra hugs, time and kisses. 

We just got off the Breeze and we walked straight through thanks to the facial recognition machines. 5 minutes max to walk through zig zag lines, gangway and out of cruise terminal. 

Embarkation on the other hand, was terrible.  I'm going to chalk it up to a bad day at the cruise terminal. It usually isn't that bad. It took us 45 minutes to get through embarkation. 

After this last cruise and waiting for people to go to their muster station, I'm ok with suspending all purchases/services/bars until you check in at your muster station.