Roz

Interesting that HAL is actively pursuing the family group market, when family friendly lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, etc. are building bigger and bigger ships. A friend who just returned from a cruise on the new Sun Princess told me the entire 9th deck is devoted to kids stuff.

Such as?

@Horizon chaser 1957, you make an excellent point about a market segment HAL could tap into.

I stayed in a suite on Uniworld one time. I got it because I was willing to transfer my cruise to another week due to an overbooking situation. The suite was nice, but not so nice that I would pay for it.

I never realized how many triple and quad cabins there are until I read this thread and took a close look at deck plans. I cruise solo more often than not, but occasionally cruise with one of my sisters. One year 2 of her friends wanted to go with us to Alaska. It never in a million years occurred to us to book a quad. The only way it was going to work was to book 2 cabins. We weren't 20 somethings looking for a cheap getaway. 😄 With HAL being more adult oriented, I would think there are more bookings for twosomes than 3s or 4s. Maybe I'm wrong about this. Do those of you who cruise with someone other than a spouse or significant other like to limit it to 2 in a cabin, or do you try to cram everyone into a triple or quad? If this policy is strictly enforced, it really limits the cabins a solo can book.

Don't know where you would find that information. Have you asked your travel agent?

That's my "go to" hotel, and less expensive than staying downtown, especially for a family. I used a service called Seattle Express to get to the port. Don't know if they're still in business.

Quite a few families and extended families in Alaska.

Thanks for that information, @Denarius. I think AMA Waterways also offers reduced supplements in certain cabin categories. Maybe because the base fare is more expensive to start with, but I've found river cruise lines to be more accommodating to solos.

I've taken 3 Uniworld river cruises with no or low single supplements. Very good cruise line. Tauck has no single supplement if you book an "aquarium" cabin that's below the water line. I've also sailed with them 3 times on river cruises. Both Uniworld and Tauck are all inclusive.

I'm going to be the Debbie Downer here. Last year I took a 14-day Alaskan cruise on the Noordam. It was the last cruise of the season, and visited some ports HAL usually doesn't have on their itineraries - Kodiak, Valdez, and Prince Rupert. Of the 6 Alaskan cruises I've taken, it was my least favorite. There were very few ship excursions offered in Kodiak, Valdez, and Prince Rupert, and no local or private operators the days we were there. In Kodiak, the local merchants didn't even know there was going to be a ship in port that day until they saw us walking into town. The visitor's center was open and seemed glad to see us and had some information for those interested in hiking and other outdoor activities. We were in Valdez before anything opened, except for the grocery store. Just walked around the cruise terminal in Prince Rupert and went to the library to use their internet service. Even in the usual suspect ports of Ketchikan, Skagway, and Sitka, a lot of businesses were already closed for the season. I love Sitka and know my way around, but there was literally horizontal, blinding rain that day, and I ended up returning to the ship so I could get out of my soaking wet clothing. The highlight of the whole cruise for me was the tour I booked in Skagway thru HAL up to the White Pass Summit. We rode in a bus with a retired geologist as our tour guide. A very scenic and informative experience. In Ketchikan there were still a couple of operators offering tours so I was able to do something besides shop and walk around town. I guess what I'm saying is to keep expectations low. One of the Great Bear Rainforest cruises being offered is at the very beginning of the season and the other is at the very end. Be aware that there may be limited tourist infrastructure at the less frequently visited ports. My cruise itinerary looked good on paper, but I wouldn't pay to do it again.

If you don't have much luggage and are able bodied, you can walk.

Hi @KMBCruzer. I see that this is your 2nd post. Welcome to Cruise Critic. This forum is for river cruising on small ships. Royal Caribbean only has ocean cruising. Viking has ocean and river cruising. Have you looked at the reviews here on Cruise Critic for Royal Caribbean and Viking? They're a world apart.

There's also the issue of whether she'll be able to navigate the steep steps on the tour buses.

I've done that a few times in the past, but I've heard there could be issues with insurance claims if the cruise was paid for with gift cards. Don't know if that's true or not.

@Eric from San Diego, you're absolutely right. That's what I've found in my research.

The people processing the requests may be in another time zone where your Sunday is their Monday.

@SusieKIslandGirl, when I did my searches from Seattle and Vancouver, I only asked for nonstop flights. That would explain why it said no flights are available.

I just had this same conversation with my sister. When I retired I was hoping to be able to take advantage of last minute deals, but there are no bargains out there. If anything, fares have gone up. The price of nothing, including cruises fares, has gone down.

I tried SEA and YVR and it said "no flights available". I also tried LAX and SAN. I flight from LAX and none from SAN. I couldn't find that feature.

@Mary229, thanks for the suggestions. Yes, the holiday season has been a topic of discussion on our roll call as far as booking flights and hotels. I spent the last 2 holiday seasons in Europe and had to deal with the challenge of traveling during a peak time.

@SusieKIslandGirl, no I didn't. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check those cities, along with waiting a bit to book.

I'm a "bit older", but haven't yet developed the skill of entertaining myself on cruises in the evening. Entertainment is HAL's weak spot, in my opinion.

I don't think you could go wrong with either choice.

Oh no! Please tell me that's not true about my beloved lemon 🍋 drop.