Coral

There will be a sign:

A friend planned their own land trip through Princess's lodges that included train travel. You can compare prices with a land trip: https://www.princesslodges.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI15CWw_S4hQMVvzjUAR2u6AptEAAYASAAEgJEe_D_BwE

I would not do a 4 night excursion that includes Fairbanks. Too much travel time. I would only do Fairbanks if doing a 7 night tour. I would suggest renting a car and driving to Denali yourself or renting a car and driving to Seward area and spend time there. People have posted their self driving plans here and you can get some good ideas. Also TripAdvisor has some great info on land trips. Sorry - just saw 4 families (not 4 people). I get it. There is a website I will list in the next post.

Landing on Mendenhall Glacier via helicopter. Taku Lodge. Whale Watching. Tracy Arm small boat experience. I was underwhelmed about Mendenhall (Visitor Center) when I was there several years ago. I had been going since 2002. A friend who I often cruise with went last year and said it wasn't the trip last year. He did a combo tour - that is the only reason he went.

I would no longer get off the ship in Jamaica either.

Edited to say I knew cruise lines did this last year. I am looking this year and do not see it listed. Princess was one that did it last year so I assumed HAL did also.

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For convenience, cruise lines often have a package that goes to Victoria as a pre or post tour package. Probably not cheap but it would be the easiest with luggage. I also was going to mention commercial airlines (Air Canada) but the Vancouver airport would waste a few hours of your time.

Wow. That has retreated quite a bit. I personally don't think it is worth going out there anymore. There are other great things to do in Juneau. Thanks for the pic.

I haven't done it but it is down hill. So not difficult at all. I have seen it many times as I always take the highway into the Yukon (private car, bus, van, etc..) and always see the bikers. I used to bike quite a bit in my younger years and I would not do this tour. Not due to difficulty but due to there is traffic on the road and I don't like riding next to buses, etc..... Just my thoughts.

I would agree it is worth it. It is one of my favorite excursions. You may see whales, bears, ice bergs, the travel through the fjords in a small boat is priceless.

This may not be what your Mom is looking for but my guess is Disney has the most professional shows. Technically, some are Broadway like - Beauty and the Beast, etc...

That time is fine. They schedule it for people disembarking. They start disembarking at 6 am for those on cruise tours. Honestly - that bus will be filled with only those on your cruise ship.

This is not true for Glacier Bay. These are National Park Rangers and it is required they board the ship on all ships going to Glacier Bay. They are there for education (and to protect wildlife and the area). It maybe true for other glacier days. I know my RCCL ship on Hubbard Glacier the speaker was all about shopping at the ports.

I think Princess corporate is understaffed right now. Though - on the other hand, this is something that could easily be handled onboard and probably best dealt with onboard. If the OP had asked about this on CC, they would have received a response to speak to a head waiter once on the ship. Unless it is something like Kosher or baby food that must be loaded a head of time, dealing with this on the cruise would have been sufficient.

I have cruised CCL, Celebrity, RCCL, Princess, Crystal and Holland America. I feel like I am leaving some out. Looking at your signature, I have sailed more lines than you have. I have also sailed quite a bit in Alaska and I definitely venture outside of the ports, more than most do in Alaska.

I use the same agent for both. She specializes in cruises.

It is not a win as NCL has really crappy times in Ketchikan that their cruisers can barely do anything in port. Unfortunately - many don't realize it until after they have booked. If you consider it a win, good for you.

I don't think anyone likes the solution NCL has in Ketchikan (tons of complaints on this board of Ward Cove) and it still brings people into port. Not a great solution IMO.

I can see up to 2600 or so in Sitka but nothing more than that. I am surprised Sitka is allowing for 2 ships, especially large ones. I can see 2 smaller ships (Viking, Oceania, etc...) I have to say the large RCCL ships (and other ones such as NCL) really shouldn't be sailing in Alaska. The ports just can't handle them well, especially when more than one is in port. I am glad I did Alaska many times when I did in the late 90's and early 2000's.

This is a great option also! I can't say it was more comfortable than Chilkoot's van but it was nice to set your own speed.

I am so sorry. I don't know if you are best to go with ship's excursion to make sure you can get into the spots. Fortress of the Bear is pretty small and I know they were limiting groups last year. The Rapture Center was small inside but outside can probably handle the crowds. Though it was nice when there were not that many people (there were no buses when we were there). I guess I was lucky as we didn't have any cruise line buses when we hit the sites. The park is pretty and the walk back to the center of town is nice. I hope you have a good cruise. I have a friend who is on the Grand right now and just hit their last port in New Zealand before the ship heads to SFO.

Becoming less so with really large ships, crowded ports, etc..... Next trips are places where ships can not go (obviously land trips).

I have done several including the Sun Princess, Dawn Princess, Sea Princess, Sapphire Princess, Crown Princess, Radiance of the Seas, Star Princess, Golden Princess, Coral Princess and probably some I can't remember. I think it is fine up to the Sapphire Princess (2600 passengers). Obviously I prefer the smaller ones also and most were done on 77,000 tonnage ships.

I was on a ship that went to Sitka last year. I think we had 2400 passengers on our sailing. I can't imagine that port with more passengers than that. I hear 2 ships can dock there. Can't even imagine it. Many attractions in Sikta are small interior wise.