limoncello07

Thank you very much for all the replies, including the photos! The comments are definitely helping me to get a better picture in my head of what we'd be seeing (or not seeing). Alas, I don't think a helicopter is in the cards for us on this trip. And I think we'll want to be on dry land for a while before going on a whale watch later in the evening. However, maybe as epixx suggests I'll consider Mendenhall as a potential location to do some hiking with distant glacier views as a bonus, rather than going to "see" the glacier per se. It also makes me think we can leave this as a "wait and see" activity, depending on how we're feeling after the boat excursion, what the weather's like, etc. Many thanks again to all!

Hi all: We're taking a 7-day RT cruise onboard the Ruby Princess in late July. For the Juneau portion of the cruise, we are booked on this 6-hour small boat excursion that goes up the Tracy Arm Fjord to see the Twin Sawyer Glaciers, and then continues onward to Juneau. For purposes of trying to allocate the rest of our day in Juneau (as discussed in greater detail here), I'm trying to figure out to whether a visit to Mendenhall Glacier should be a priority for us. I'm specifically wondering whether it will seem repetitive after the morning excursion, in which case we might want balance out our time in Juneau with other types of activities.

From people who have done both -- whether on the same day or at different times -- I'd love to hear how the two experiences compare. Do these seem like two totally different activities to you? Apart from the fact that we'll be seeing the Sawyer Glaciers from a boat, and be viewing Mendenhall Glacier on foot, are the glacier views significantly different? My impression is that we will be seeing the Sawyer Glaciers fairly close up and from below; would hiking in the vicinity of Mendenhall Glacier give us a more "wide screen" perspective on a glacier? It's hard to get a good sense of this from the images I've seen online.

Part of my concern with having variety in our day stems from the fact that two of my traveling companions are 14-year old boys; I'm wondering if, e.g., taking the Mt. Roberts tramway and walking some of the trails up there might be a better alternative for us then 2 glacier experiences on the same day.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions!

Thanks very much for the replies! Yes, carefully planned logistics, including pre-arranged taxi would definitely have to be part of the plan if we try to do all three. We certainly do not need any kind of formal "meal," but I know that after an afternoon of activities we'll by hungry by 8 pm and will at least need some kind of snack. Being a first-time cruiser, I don't have a good sense of how long it will take us to check back into the ship, or to grab something like a sandwich once onboard -- I've assumed there will likely be lines for both but perhaps I've overestimated the time required.

Your replies have helped me realize that I think my "dilemma" really boils down to whether we should try to squeeze in Mendenhall Glacier after having spent part of the morning at Sawyer Glacier. I'm sure they are both striking in different ways, but perhaps one glacier is "enough" given that we have just one day in Juneau? (E.g., there is a large number of amazing museums in Paris but I wouldn't try to see them all in one day). I'd love to hear from anyone who has done both as to how the experiences compare, and whether you'd recommend trying to do both in one day. I know that's a decision we'll ultimately have to make for ourselves, but information and perspectives from those who have already made these visits would be help me in choosing what to prioritize. Perhaps if I don't hear back from folks here I will try rephrasing my question into a more simple query about the Sawyer and Mendenhall glacier experiences.

Many thanks again!

Hi all: I'm a first-time cruiser traveling on a 7-day RT with my sister and two 14-year old boys at the end of July. It will also be the first time in Alaska for all of us, and I am doing my best to maximize our shore time with a variety of activities. Ketchikan and Skagway are now planned out. On our Juneau day, we will be taking the Tracy Arm catamaran excursion offered through the ship (the Ruby Princess), which has us arriving in Juneau at approximately 1:30 p.m. I’m trying to figure out a plan for next 8 hours or so, prior to the ship’s departure at 10:15 pm.

There's no shortage of activities in Juneau that I think would be fun for our group, just too little time (and money) to do it all! I know for certain we will want to do a whale watch tour; the other things that leap off the page as most interesting – and combinable with the whale watching tour -- are Mendenhall Glacier, and an expected presentation by Iditarod champion Libby Riddles onboard our ship. (I’m currently assuming that presentation begin around 8:00 p.m., as indicated in recent patters from the same cruise, though checking to see if I can confirm the schedule for our specific date in port.) I _think_ I’ve figured out a way that we could conceivably do all three things with some reasonable cushion between activities, but worry that we will still be a little rushed. I’m wondering if instead we should give up either on Mendenhall Glacier or Libby Riddles, and allow ourselves a bit more “down time” in Juneau between activities.

I’d welcome general thoughts and suggestions for planning our afternoon in Juneau, as well as any reactions to the specific questions below:

• I will definitely want to spend some time on land after getting off the catamaran, and the idea of walking on some of the trails near Mendenhall Glacier is appealing in that regard. However, I don’t know whether the views will seem repetitive or even anticlimactic after our morning excursion to the Sawyer Glacier, where I think we will actually be getting much closer to the glacier itself. Are these two experiences like apples and oranges? Or would you give a lower priority to Mendenhall having done the Tracy Arm excursion the same day?
  

• With respect to Libby Riddles, I’ve heard the presentation is great and something I think we’d all enjoy. Assuming it begins at 8 pm however, I think this means we’d need to be back in port by 7 pm to allow time for boarding the ship, grabbing some dinner, and then getting to the auditorium early enough to get seats (which is apparently a common issue with onboard entertainment). And that in turn cuts into a couple of evening hours that would otherwise be available for other activities. I’ll make queries about this on the Princess board as well, but if anyone here has attended one of these presentations, I’d appreciate hearing whether my assumption about needing to be back at the ship by 7:00 is accurate, and whether you think the lecture might be worth skipping Mendenhall Glacier, given the rest of our itinerary.
  

• If we did drop either one of these things, what would your suggestions be for a more unstructured activity after we disembark in Juneau, and prior to a whale watch excursion? Are two 14-year old boys likely to enjoy ambling around downtown Juneau? Are the walking trails on top of Mt. Roberts interesting? Something else you'd recommend that doesn’t require advance reservations?
  

Many thanks in advance for any assistance!

I have read this many times when there was a flight problem booked via Princess or other cruise air programs. Each blames the other. Given that your parents never had ticket numbers, my guess is that it's highly likely a Princess problem. I'd be going after them, rather than Delta. Good luck. Be persistent.

In my view it's not an either/or situation; both companies are to blame for different reasons, irrespective of what the other did, and each should be held responsible for their own actions or lack thereof.

I agree with epixx that the OP probably has a better argument for obtaining recourse from Princess, which is the company that promised and collected money for the "EZ" flight experience, but did not deliver. The travelers have a contractual relationship with Princess, and Princess in turn has a contractual relationship with Delta. Even if the problem turns out to be Delta's "fault" as a technical matter, that's a problem for Princess, rather than the travelers, to be taking up with Delta; in the meantime it is Princess who should be making the travelers whole. I note that there are a lot of smart preventative and troubleshooting tips contained in this thread about checking ticket numbers, who should be called when, etc.,. While the advice is all good, frankly this shouldn't be something that "EZ Air" travelers are required to research or guess about. Rather, Princess should provide clear and prominent instructions to EZ Air passengers about exactly what to do and who to contact if there is a last-minute glitch with your flight, or advising people when and how to double-check that their tickets have actually been purchased.

That said, while the travelers' legal relationship was with Princess, their immediate "relationship" on the ground at the airport was with Delta. While Delta does not have a legal obligation to take passengers whose tickets have not been paid for, if the Delta rep could see in the system that the tickets had been booked but not yet paid for by Princess, Delta could have engaged Princess directly to straighten out the matter. In other words, even if Delta was not originally responsible for the problem, Delta could have taken steps to _solve_ the problem. If the Delta rep at the gate was too busy or not knowledgeable enough to handle this issue, it could been referred to Delta's customer service office. Perhaps there would not have been enough time to resolve the problem prior to the booked flight, but at least the effort should have been made.

Shame on both companies. OP, I too would be very frustrated in your position, and hope this gets resolved for you and your parents swiftly and with appropriate recompense.

Since you asked about baggage, I'll try and explain how the bags are handled ... Tom

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation Tom -- super helpful!

The one exception for that is if a longshoreman has taken your bags back to the luggage area. Tom

Any idea approximately how early that service would be available? (I will, alas, be arriving at the pier with an unavoidably large load of luggage, and am looking to have it out of my hands as soon as possible). And just to clarify for this newbie cruiser -- when they "take your bags back to the luggage area," does this mean your luggage is now checked and will be loaded on the ship? Or is this merely temporary storage until the check-in lines open.

This thread has provided me with a lot of useful information -- many thanks both to the OP and those who have replied!

Wow, thanks for all of the replies, including the beautiful photos. peety3 I really appreciate your time in reviewing and summarizing your notes. The information is very helpful not only for thinking about our afternoon in Juneau, but for managing the expectations of the two teenagers with whom I'm sailing -- forewarned is forearmed in those circumstances! Ginnyfyr and Near PDX, it's great to hear/see how much you enjoyed the excursion as well.

With respect to the issue of multiple boats, interestingly my cruise has 2 separate departure times for purchase, one at 7:30 and one at 7:35. I originally assumed this was a meaningless distinction; however, the travel agent pointed out that the 7:30 departure is actually priced $10 more per person than the 7:35 departure. On the hope that means the 7:30 departure will get priority for disembarkation, I bit the bullet and paid the extra $10. We'll see if that proves to be a wise investment -- I'll try to remember to report back on that point. While I'm planning to allow some breathing room between excursions, I still want to make to most of every minute in port!

For Red Rock, I'm a first-time cruiser and don't know the answer to your question about the Grand, maybe someone else does.

Thanks again to all!

We are booked to do this on the Ruby Princess at the end of July; I'm wondering if someone who has previously booked this catamaran excursion through Princess could provide some details on logistics, particularly regarding disembarkation in Juneau. (Other tips welcome too!)

As I understand it, we will board the catamaran at Tracy Arm directly from the Ruby at approximately 7:30 am, and are scheduled to arrive in Juneau at approximately 1:30 pm. I know the excursion boat can run late, but once it does arrive in Juneau, I'm trying to get a better handle on how the disembarkation process works, and how long we can expect it to take. Certain language in the description suggests that we will disembark from catamaran back onto the Ruby Princess in order to get into port (which sounds like a long process). Other language and online reports suggest that passengers disembark directly from the catamaran without a need to return to the ship.

I'm seeking this information to try to establish a realistic sense of how much remaining time we are likely to have in Juneau for sightseeing before our “all aboard.” Many thanks in advance for your assistance!

The transfer people won't be in the baggage area when you arrive the day before. If they are there it would be for the wrong ship!

Thanks to everyone for the clarifications! I will be unavoidably travelling with a large amount of luggage, and wish I could figure out a way to get it straight from the airport to the ship. But sounds like I'll just have to muddle my way through with some assistance from skycaps and porters.

The best thing about Princess transfers is that once you give them your suitcase when it comes off the baggage carousel, you do not see it again until it arrives in your cabin.

This is music to my ears, but does it also hold true if my flight arrives a day prior to my cruise, and I'm going to a hotel for the evening? Or just on same-day transfers?

Excellent! Thanks so much for the additional recommendations!

Thanks for all the ongoing suggestions! Sherryf, you make a good point about the YouTube generation! I will say that one advantage of being an aunt is that my gaggle will often put up with "retro" suggestions from me that they would otherwise reject outright if they came from their parents -- go figure. But your point is well taken, and the graphic novel version of Call of the Wild suggested by Alaskanb looks will probably be a much better way to pique their interest -- it's pretty cool!

The other thing I have going for me is that summer vacation just started, and they will need ways to look productively "busy" around the house if they want to avoid having their parents assign them 40 hours of chores a week. ;)

Thanks again!

What a great mix of suggestions -- thank you all for posting! I'm a long-distance aunt (and not a parent), so the personal recommendations are particularly helpful. I was pretty good at selecting children's books that appealed to nieces and nephews when they were smaller, but it's been harder for me to gauge their interests and appropriate reading level for them as teens.

Coral, we are indeed going on Princess and I was aware that Libby Riddles would be on the ship, but I didn't even think about her book -- great idea!

Many thanks again for the prompt and intriging responses.

Hi all: I'm taking two 14-year old boys on an Inside Passage cruise in July, and I'm looking for recommendations of books or movies about Alaska/Southeast Alaska that they might enjoy reading/seeing ahead of time. This could include both fiction and nonfiction, as well as any travel guides or documentaries that are particularly well-suited for teens (and especially teenage boys). I've seen earlier threads with book recommendations in this forum -- and have already used them to create my own reading list -- but most of those recommendations seemed geared toward adults. Many thanks in advance for your assistance!

I'm going on the Ruby Princess - Tracy Arm itinerary later this summer. I also found the discussion of a Tracy Arm excursion confusing, but eventually figured out that people were talking about this (scroll to the bottom of the page). As I understand it, if you book this excursion -- which can only be done through Princess -- you will board (tender onto?) a smaller boat that will take you up the fjord to Juneau. I believe it is run by a company called Allen Marine. The reported advantage is that you can get much closer to the shore and to wildlife in a small boat. On our cruise it is scheduled to depart at 7:30 am and arrive in Juneau at 1:00 p.m, though I've read arrival is sometimes delayed. I've gone ahead and booked it for my dates.

I'm guessing, but not certain, this option may also be available on the Grand itinerary you mentioned. But I am a cruise newbie, so don't take my word for it!

Great tips again -- thanks to all!

Wowza -- thanks for all the great info as well as all the good wishes from everyone!

Hi all: As described in this thread I'm a first time cruiser planning a last-minute cruise to Alaska on Princess (for 4 people) in July 2016. This is in part a gift for my 14-year old nephew, and I've told him he can invite a friend. Because the pieces of this plan just came together today, he does not yet know which of his friends might be free and which of their parents might be willing. My sister is talking to one set of parents now but understandably, they may need a little time to consider this out-of-the-blue offer.

In the meantime, I've been looking at rates and cabin availability online all week and today started moving forward with trying to book. This afternoon I found a good deal on a pair of adjacent cabins in a location of the ship I like -- a better combination than anything I've seen all week -- and called to make the booking. The agent I spoke with was helpful, reserved the rooms, and took all the personal data of the three of us who I know for certain are going; however, she said that because this is a non-refundable fare, she would need the name of the 4th person before booking, because no changes would be permitted once the fare is paid for. She's also indicated that it is a "flash fare" from Princess which expires tonight.

I had such good response to my earlier question I thought I'd check here again -- does this sound right? She has no reason to make this up, since I would gladly go ahead and make the booking right now -- if anything, she's potentially losing business if I can't confirm the name of the 4th passenger in time. But I'm wondering if Princess is likely to be more flexible on this than the travel agency can be. I'd love to know if anyone had experience dealing with Princess in similar circusmtances, or has been able/unable to substitute one friend in a cabin when the original traveler has to cancel, etc. Rookie that I am, I had assumed that because I am booking an entire cabin (rather than a seat), the process would be similar to booking a hotel room, where the cruise line would not care who was in the cabin with me, as long as I have paid for the entire cabin and an accurate number of passengers (and their names have been corrected on the manifest prior to departure). But it's sounding like it's instead more like buying an airline ticket, and that I can't, e.g., book my niece into the room as a placeholder now, then expect to swap in the friend at a later date.

To be clear, I'm booking two rooms, and I'm not seeking to get a refund on any portion of the fare if I book now and it winds up just being three of us; I'm simply seeking the ability to add or substitute a fourth passenger into the second double cabin sometime between now and July. The delay in booking would not be such a big deal except that at this late date, the number of cabins that are next to or across from one another is pretty limited, at least in desirable areas of the ship. If I lose this pair I'm sure we can make something else work, but I'd hate to give them up unnecessarily.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! (I note that I'm currently travelling abroad and do not have access to a local travel agent who can advise in person).

Thank you again for the most recent comments, which were very helpful. I just spoke with my sister and, similar to some of you, her reaction was that the boys have gotten so used to dressing up at school these that this will not be a big deal to them, and should not be the determining factor in which cruise we take. And we both agreed that the two of us prefer the Princess option. So that matter is settled -- thanks again to everyone for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Now on to the next task of finding appropriate cabins on our date of choice . . . . wish me luck!

Wow, thanks again to everyone for the quick and informative responses -- it gives me a much better sense of the atmosphere on the ship and other considerations regarding having teens onboard. I particularly appreciate the comments about the weather likely making slacks or jeans a more natural choice. Fwiw, I agree as a general matter that it's good to expose kids to more formal situations, including appropriate dress and manners. However, these kids attend a pretty strict school and already get lots of those "lessons" throughout the school year; so the question I'm considering is whether vacation should be a continuation of this or something different.

The discussion prompted me to take another look at Norwegian which offers a similar itinerary on the same dates, and think the default casual dining options on that cruise might suit us better as a group. On the other hand, they don't have some of the on-board activities that I think the boys would enjoy. Each itinerary has some pros and cons from my perspective as well, so I may wind up putting it to my nephew as a choice, on the understanding that choosing Princess means no whining about an occasional collared shirt!

Thanks again to all for the rapid response!

Thanks very much for the prompt and very informative reply. Apologies, I'm still struggling a bit with cruise vocabulary -- does "dining room" include the Horizon Court buffet as well, or is that one of the casual venues?

Thanks again!

Experienced traveller, but first-time cruiser (and first-time CC poster) here, who thanks you in advance for your views on the following:

A last minute opportunity has arisen that has allowed me to take a short cruise to Alaska in July, and I have invited my sister and "my" two 14-year old boys -- aka my nephew and his good friend -- to join us. We need to depart from Seattle, and I quickly focused on Princess as having great onboard activities, facilities, and port calls that I know the boys would enjoy. I've done a ton of reading about the ships (Ruby/Crown) and was on the verge of booking yesterday when I started to get some second thoughts about whether this will be a good fit for our group.

For purposes of balancing independence and togetherness, I had envisioned that while onboard ship we would allow the boys go to the pool or the teen club as they like throughout the day, but arrange to meet at meal times, or at least at dinner. But it's really hard for me to envision making the boys dress for dinner every night, even into just a polo shirt and khaki slacks, without a lot of grumbling and unhappiness. Yes, I can certainly make them do this as a condition of the trip -- and perhaps even require that they smile while doing so :) -- but doing so seems kind of stifling, and out of step with the relative freedom and whirl of outdoor activities that I thought would make this an appealing vacation for two-high energy boys.

So I thought I'd check in the first instance: does the dress code apply as strictly to kids if they are with adults who are dressed appropriately? (I certainly understand they should not be coming to the table in their swim clothes, but could they for instance wear a polo shirt and shorts, vs. slacks?) And does the dress code apply in the buffet areas as well? I know that there are super-casaul options like a pizza bar and poolside grill available, but if those are the only places on the ship where we can regularly eat together without fuss, I'm then questioning what value we are getting out of paying for 4 full passenger fares (as we must do if we want two separate room) and wondering if I should perhaps be looking to see if another another cruise line might be more appropriate for our needs.

Again, this will be a first cruise for me, so perhaps I am misunderstanding something. While I normally travel by myself or can appreciate the value of "dressing for dinner" among adults, I was a bit surprised to see this as seemingly the sole option on a summer cruise going to Alaska, a destination that I associate with a much more casual lifestyle. But perhaps I need to re-adjust my expectations about cruising. I appreciate any relevant information or suggestions!