Sigyn

They will offer a special, usually deeply discounted deposits and perhaps something else, for the week of Black Friday.

Not everybody gets the offer. I have an AmEx Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card and I get a lot of offers, but not this one.

I'd do Orlando, since you do have one flight after that that would get you to the port on time for sure, and even the second if you really push it, and your arrival time is better, giving you more time to get to Port Canaveral if there's traffic. There are more flights going into Orlando so you have a better chance of getting on another flight if there's a problem.

I checked out those links from rafinmd, and the excursion, and it looks really interesting. I have some decisions to make, and some cruises to research. Thanks for all of the information!

what is the Tracy Arm excursion of which you speak? Sounds interesting

I looked at the size and while it is large, it's far smaller than RCL and others. I like that. Even the Prima that we're sailing on in December is a brand new ship and is "only" 3,000 passengers. I simply do not want to be on a ship with 4,000 or 6,000 passengers.

I chose them because of Vancouver. I left out the Seattle departures on purpose since you don't get the real Inside Passage. I have seen College Fjord before, on my one-day cruise 23 years ago. It was impressive. I saw a lot of calving that day. Whittier was a bunch of nothing. I remember a tunnel and that's about it. I'm leaning toward K'dam, too. I'm also looking at a Celebrity cruise out of Vancouver on the Eclipse that does the Inside Passage, Icy Strait Point, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, Inside Passage and then Vancouver, but doesn't give me Glacier Bay, or one of the many Princess cruises.

The two cruises I'm considering on HAL are: July 8-15 - Koningsdam - 7-day RT out of Vancouver Itinerary: Inside Passage, Tracy Arm Inlet, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, Inside Passage, Vancouver July 9-16 - Noordam - 7-day Vancouver to Whittier Itinerary: Inside Passage, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Whittier

I'm thinking I'll possibly wait on Denali until the road is open past mile 43, in 2024. There's so much more to see past that point. I do remember that from my trip in 1999.

I see both sides. At the time, I lived in Southern California, and was very used to warm temperatures, so 50 degrees was quite chilly. I rolled the window up and down to take hundreds of photos, but he wanted it constantly down in order to ensure no photos were missed. However, he never said that at the time, so I didn't know. Five weeks after the vacation, he broke up with me, after a year and a half of dating, saying that I clearly liked being comfortable more than I liked getting good photos and he needed someone more adventurous. It's been 23 years and other than those first few months of missing him, I pretty much forgot about the whole thing, so it was clearly the right call. Hopefully he found someone else who was into crisper weather than me. 🙂 The best relationships are those that can withstand such simple disagreements and differences of opinion. When you can't get past something that minor, you are not meant to be together for the long haul.

I've never sailed HAL before, and haven't considered it until today when I saw someone talking about how much they enjoyed the Koningsdam. The idea of a ship made just for Alaskan cruises with a covered pool and a crow's nest appeals to me. My husband and I are looking at Alaskan cruises for July 2023. I've done a 3-week land tour in Alaska two decades ago, but never a cruise. We've cruised other places, but we are not seasoned cruisers by any means. Which HAL ship would be the best for a couple (ages 51 and 54) who are leaving the kids at home and who like to be fairly low-key and watch the scenery, cocktail in hand, and enjoy occasional on-board entertainment, but are more into excursions and the culture of Alaska? We are active, fit adults, and also love great food and wine. Our idea of a relaxing vacation is driving up the coast of Northern California, spending several days in Napa, visiting our favorite wineries, discovering a few new ones, strolling down the streets of Yountville and St. Helena to well-reviewed restaurants, taking a wine tasting class at the CIA, doing a cave tour at Schramsberg, an outdoor tasting on Spring Mountain, followed by a couple of days in San Francisco. We like nice hotels, delicious restaurants, beautiful scenery, gorgeous sunsets and good conversation. How this translates to an Alaskan cruise, well, I'm not sure. But this is how we do vacations, so it seemed like a good thing to share.

Very good point. On my trip many years ago we took the bus to Wonder Lake and back in a day. It was amazing. It was a clear day in September, the last day the park was open to traffic for the season, and we were able to see three peaks, which the bus driver said was something that happens only a few times a summer.

I did a three-week land vacation in Alaska in 1999 with a boyfriend who was soon an ex-boyfriend after the vacation. Due in part to arguments on the road trip! He did most of the driving and was annoyed that I didn't want to drive with my window down in 50-degree temps for all 900 miles in order to get the best pictures. Actually said that "I seemed to value my comfort over good photos." Well, yes, yes, I did. 🙂 That said, with age comes wisdom. Having someone else do the driving so you can both see the sights makes a lot of sense to me now, in my 50s. I would like to do the land tour after the cruise, myself, so that I'd still have something to look forward to. There's always that post-cruise letdown. This way, you'd still have the magnificence of the interior of Alaska to do post-cruise!

I get seasick just remembering the halibut fishing trip I went on out of Homer. Ack...take your seasickness treatment, if you are susceptible. It is rough.

This is our opportunity to be more adult focused since our teenager will be at summer camp. It's why we're quite limited in our available dates - we will do our cruise while he's away for three weeks - but it also means we can indulge ourselves in a fancier cabin and a more serene cruise and not worry about a bored 15-year-old.

I've rented an Ocean Villa on GSC for our trip in December. It is the smallest one that they have, for couples and small families. Looking at the map, it seems to be a bit off to the right from the lagoon. I'm just wondering about placement, and the view. Does anyone have photos? I have found a lot of videos online for the lagoon villas and one bedroom lagoon villas, but not the ocean villa. only the NCL video that was produced. What is the main difference between a lagoon villa and an ocean villa, for instance?

What rules require a stop in Mexico? I'm curious and learning. 🙂

I'm considering NCL, Princess and Celebrity. I looked at HAL, but I am not finding HAL particularly appealing. One reason is because a dear friend who worked for the cruise industry for 25 years and who has very similar tastes to me said that she does not like HAL at all, and thinks I will not like it either. She finds it staid and boring and does not like the food quality. She highly recommends NCL and Celebrity. And my other friend really likes Princess, as you noted. This post is just about NCL. I have another out there about Princess, and one about Celebrity. I am trying to break down specific questions I have about each cruise line and what I want to know about them and their Alaskan itineraries. I rushed into picking a holiday cruise this year, and changed my mind two weeks later and lost a $750 deposit since it was already less than 90 days to sailing. So I'm trying to be much more mindful in choosing a summer Alaskan cruise.

I read that they get priority in parking at the ports and they get priority to visit Glacier Bay since only two ships a day are allowed into Glacier Bay and they were the first cruise lines to go to Alaska, or something like that.

These photos are amazing! I'll have to look up that excursion. Pretty wild to have the ship take off without you and yet still be on a sanctioned excursion.

Thank you so much! I appreciate this very much!

I had Covid for the first time ever three weeks ago and it was on a weekend and I didn't want to wait until Monday to get Paxlovid. I went to Plushcare online and reported my positive case over FaceTime to a doctor, and they prescribed Paxlovid to me. I only had to pay $69 for the online visit. More than my usual $35 co-pay, but worth it to get Paxlovid quickly. And Paxlovid has a $0 co-pay. I didn't have to show any proof of my positive status to the doctor to get Paxlovid, so you could just do that if you're comfortable lying for the purpose of saving $800 if you contract it on the cruise, and get the backup prescription.

The Glory and the Triumph.

Ooooh, bashing my previous Carnival trips. I should expect such a dig from a University of Arizona fan. 🤣 ( I say that in jest - I'm an ASU grad!) Seriously, you're absolutely right. Carnival is tacky. I went on those first two Carnival cruises because friends were with us who were longtime Carnival customers, and I hated those ships. And the third one because the Vista was brand new that summer and it was the Mediterranean. It was actually quite nice. But then, can you really have a bad time when you're visiting Italy, France and Spain? We're switching to NCL's newest ship for a cruise in December when our 15-year-old will be with us, and because we don't want to do Carnival ever again, that's why we're looking at Celebrity or something nicer when it's just my husband and myself. Oh yes, definitely a huge step up from Carnival! That's why I like it. I looked at Oceania, too, but then I read that Oceania is a much older crowd because that's who mostly can afford Oceania. We're in our early 50's, so I don't want to be surrounded only by people two decades older than us. I'm fine with older people, and definitely enjoy meeting people of all ages and having great conversations, but I'd like a solid mix of ages on a ship. Very good point!

Alaska because we're not really beach people, and we'll have just done the Caribbean anyway in December with our son, who is a beach person. He won't be with us for this one. I absolutely loved Alaska when I went there in 1999 for three weeks and I'd love to show it to my husband. The wildlife, the scenery, the culture. It was simply breathtaking and amazing. I want to see things on sea days if possible. I don't need announcements. I like tours, I like shopping. I am not into big entertainment on ships, but I'll go if it's there a couple of times per cruise. We like to get a drink, sit on our balcony or a deck, enjoy the view, talk, meet other passengers, relax. That's our vibe. We're in our early 50's, and we like to enjoy ourselves in a low key way. We are physically fit, we like to hike, do tours, explore a new area, etc.