Norwegian Sun Seward to Vancouver. Review.

I just returned from Alaska. Here is my short trip report. We are a family of 4. My husband and I are in our 40s and in good health. My boys are 9 and 10. We didn't encounter any strenuous hikes or excursions anywhere.

1. Arrived Anchorage on Sat. July 11th. 2:30 pm. Had rented a SUV from Hertz about a year ago using autoslash.com . Had a terrible experience at Hertz. Will go into details if somebody is curious or wants to be forewarned but I'll be writing a review about that location soon on their website. After checking in and resting a little, we drove around Anchorage a little and ate at Subway which was pretty close to our hotel. No moose sightings but my boys enjoyed the float planes taking off and landing.

2. Sun July 12th - Next day started our drive to Seward. Was a cloudy day with slight showers every now and then. Saw some mountain goats on the way. No luck with moose, whales or any other wild life. Stopped by at Indian Creek because my boys wanted to do gold panning. $10 per container per child. It was a 30 min session and my boys enjoyed it.

3. Mon July 13th - Had Kenai Fjords Tour xfer our luggage to the cruise ship for free and took their 10:00 - 6:30 tour with dinner at Fox Island. I bought these tix during their black friday special. Saw wild life as soon as we started the tour. Bald Eagles, otters, kitty wake birds and puffins and a humpback whale. The captain stopped for the humpback whale only for 5 mins and I was a little disappointed that we left so soon. She wanted to try and see if we could see orcas or more humpback whales. However, the rest of the day was a disappointment. It rained the whole time and we didn't see any more wild life. We found some sleeping whales who were just floating under water, dolphins that were feeding so couldn't disturb them and a glacier. I was glad I got the half off special.

Boarded our cruise after the tour and set sail at 9:00 pm.

4. Tue July 14th - Hubbard Glacier. Captain announced good sunny weather near the glacier and ETA of 2:00 pm. I didn't let my boys go to children's club on the ship because of the 2:00 pm schedule and we stayed glued on the 11th floor deck for front row seat of the glacier. We arrived at the glacier at around 4:00 pm !!! By which time we had retired to our balcony stateroom and got an equally good view of the glacier. My boys had lost interest and just fleetingly looked at the glacier. We saw it calving and also saw a couple of sea otters on the floating ice.

5. Wed. July 15th - ISP . We took the whale watching trip with Glacier winds. Got lucky and saw orcas up close. We spent a little too much time with them and didn't get time to go close to humpback whales which we spotted at a distance or look for a momma bear with 3 cubs whom Shawn had spotted earlier with his first group. 3 hrs went pretty fast. Shawn and Theresa are great people and thoroughly enjoyed the excursion.

6. Thurs. July 16th - Juneau . A very short halt at Juneau. We were at port only from 7:00 - 12:30 . We rented a car from Juneau Car rentals and fortunately our ship docked at AJ dock so the walk was pretty short. We hurried thru Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget falls. We drove to Shrine of St. Theresa and saw salmons in the creek. No luck spotting whales or bears though the person working there said he had seen bears the day before. We then drove back towards the port and stopped at a Fish Hatchery(Mile marker 3). It's a building with red roof. We saw tons of Salmon right at the shore and also in the fishing companies ladder.

7. Fri July 17th - Skagway. We rented a car from Avis to drive to Emerald Lake. However, it was a very foggy day and after driving for about 20 miles we turned around. We spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs at the stores near the port.

8. Sat. July 18th - Ketchikan. I'd left this day open. We took a walk around the port and asked around for excursions. At the visitors center somebody advised us to take a cab who would charge us by the hour and take us to Herring Cove. There was a sow with 2 cubs there. We took the first cab that stopped. He charged $70 for an hour. The driver took us to Herring Cove which was a 15 min drive from the port. He told us we had 30 mins and that he would come back for us. We did see a black momma bear and her cub. They were on the opposite side of the creek. However, a couple of paddle boarders decided to see the bears closer and started paddle boarding in their direction. These scared the bears away. I'm glad I got to see bears but they were too far and we saw them only for a few mins. Also, I feel $70 is a steep charge just to take us to Herring Cove and back. Maybe we should have shopped around for cab charges.

9. Sun July 19th - We saw a whale from the ship. This was my only whale sighting from the ship. I was glued to either my balcony or the deck for wild life but no luck. I asked fellow passengers and nobody had spotted whales either.

10. Mon July 20th - Vancouver. We got off the ship, rented a car to drive to Seattle for our flight next day. We stopped at Lynn Canyon to walk over the suspension bridge. After a quick lunch we started our drive to Seattle.

I want to thank everyone who helped me plan this vacation. I wouldn't have done this trip without this forum. If anybody has any questions please feel free to ask.

Was your Hertz experience at the downtown location? We also had an issue there the week following your trip. Long story short, we had prepaid our rental 10 months in advance for $133, and once we arrived they tried to charge us over $800! Luckily I had our confirmation email and it was fine, but didn't leave me with a great feeling.

Sounds like overall you had a good trip with a few glitches. How far out of town did you get in Skagway? I find that once you get over the summit into the Yukon the weather tends to clear up. Sorry if you missed out, it can be a very scenic drive.

Was your Hertz experience at the downtown location? We also had an issue there the week following your trip. Long story short, we had prepaid our rental 10 months in advance for $133, and once we arrived they tried to charge us over $800! Luckily I had our confirmation email and it was fine, but didn't leave me with a great feeling.

It was at the airport location. The Mgr had a plastic smile throughout the ordeal which just told me he didn't give a damn. They first told me they had absolutely no SUV and were giving me a mini van. We wanted the SUV for it's height and refused stating we reserved almost a year ago. They somehow miraculously then found a SUV. They then said I had to return the car to Seward by noon even though my contract said 4:00 pm. The Mgr then advised me to not make stops on the way and drive straight to Seward so I can make it by noon. I went to my hotel room, called up autoslash CS, stayed on hold the whole time they sorted it with Hertz and finally got them to change the return time to 4:00 pm. Also, I specifically told them to charge it on my credit card and not my husband's. They said I would be paying at the Seward location and just give my cc info there. At Seward, they told me it was always charged by the ANC office !!! I didn't want to start my vacation being on call with CS and worrying about overpaying for my already expensive rental. My advice to others - don't leave the rental office till things are sorted out. Keep a print out ready for what was agreed upon. I rented with Avis, Juneau car rental and Alamo for the rest of my trip and didn't have any issues with any of them.

Sounds like overall you had a good trip with a few glitches. How far out of town did you get in Skagway? I find that once you get over the summit into the Yukon the weather tends to clear up. Sorry if you missed out, it can be a very scenic drive.

We cleared the customs and drove 20 miles more after that. The fog was just too thick and we didn't feel comfortable. Couldn't see much to even appreciate the scenic drive so we just turned back. At the Avis rental, the person said his friend lives up near Emerald Lake and it was foggy there too. Maybe he was trying to make us feel better for paying $125 for an hour of car rental lol.

How was the ship and how was the food aboard?

The ship was good. We have sailed Carnival twice before and it was our first time with NCL. Initially, when I booked the cruise I was worried that the ship didn't have a splash pad or a water slide but I was assured by many that for a cruise to Alaska it wasn't necessary and they were right. It was too cold and windy most days. My boys enjoyed the Splash Academy.

Food - We are Indians and vegetarians so it's a special case for us. They did accommodate our dietary needs and we had Indian food in the Four Seasons dining room every night. Also, during the day in the buffet they had a curry and rice so it worked for us. Otherwise, I found the menu lacked variety both in buffet and MDR. They had some items that were always available and a couple of things changed every day. In that regards, I find Carnival had much more variety. However, both me and my husband have been making serious eating changes in our lives so we were ok with simple food choices.

uvasag, thanks for sharing your impressions. We're sailing the Norwegian Sun in August and also renting from Hertz. I'll be sure to bring my paperwork in duplicate! Sounds to me the weather did not cooperate. You just never know in Alaska. Glad to hear there are some vegetarian options. We're eating very little meat nowadays and I'm bored with chicken so I finally discovered vegetarian cuisine and I find it very tasty.

Thanks again.

uvasag, thanks for sharing your impressions. We're sailing the Norwegian Sun in August and also renting from Hertz. I'll be sure to bring my paperwork in duplicate! Sounds to me the weather did not cooperate. You just never know in Alaska. Glad to hear there are some vegetarian options. We're eating very little meat nowadays and I'm bored with chicken so I finally discovered vegetarian cuisine and I find it very tasty.

 

Thanks again.

We had a couple of excursions marred by the weather and yes I went fully expecting that. I did have good luck at ISP with Orcas and Ketchikan with the bears. I think despite the steep cab fare it was still by far the cheapest option to see a sow and her cubs.

If you like Indian food, four seasons has a separate area off of the dining room for Indian buffet. Ask the lady who checks you in and you should be able to take advantage of that. Also, I used to make my own sandwiches in the Garden Cafe using the bread and different veggies from the salad bar. I was also able to ask the lady who used to serve 2 different soups each day if there was a vegetarian soup available and they almost always had a tomato bisque soup for me.

Good Luck with your trip in Aug.

How interesting that you were disappointed at the Kenai Fjord Cruise. I was on a Kenai Fjord Cruise the same day as you but with Major Marine (the 7.5 hr tour, 10-5:30). I saw the Kenai Fjord Tours boat almost side by side with us throughout most of the trip. We went to 2 glaciers, saw humpbacks, orcas, sea lions, seals, otters, all sorts of sea birds. It was rainy, cold and the ride was bumpy, but my 12 year old actually really liked it (she was the youngest on that boat). The Kenai Fjord Tours boat went closer to one of the glaciers than us. As a joke, I even took a picture of their boat in front of the glacier. I was going to send it to them for fun. I think their boat was there when we saw the orcas as well.

How interesting that you were disappointed at the Kenai Fjord Cruise. I was on a Kenai Fjord Cruise the same day as you but with Major Marine (the 7.5 hr tour, 10-5:30). I saw the Kenai Fjord Tours boat almost side by side with us throughout most of the trip. We went to 2 glaciers, saw humpbacks, orcas, sea lions, seals, otters, all sorts of sea birds. It was rainy, cold and the ride was bumpy, but my 12 year old actually really liked it (she was the youngest on that boat). The Kenai Fjord Tours boat went closer to one of the glaciers than us. As a joke, I even took a picture of their boat in front of the glacier. I was going to send it to them for fun. I think their boat was there when we saw the orcas as well.

There were 2 Kenai Fjord boats. Ours was called Glacier Express I think. We definitely didn't see any orcas so I'm thinking you probably saw their other boat. Yes we saw the sea lions, seals, otters and sea birds and a hump back near the Kitty Wake where the puffins were but that was it.

It's too bad that you're on the other boat. I guess you'll never know what you'll find on these tours. We were at ISP the same day as you but did the morning tour. We only saw a few lazy humpbacks who didn't even want to flip their tails. My daughter called it the worst excursion of our entire trip and you got to see orcas!

It's too bad that you're on the other boat. I guess you'll never know what you'll find on these tours. We were at ISP the same day as you but did the morning tour. We only saw a few lazy humpbacks who didn't even want to flip their tails. My daughter called it the worst excursion of our entire trip and you got to see orcas!

So true. Not only did we get to see orcas, they were literally swimming with our boats. My husband captured the whole thing on video. We were looking on our right for them to surface up and they surfaced up to our left, literally startling us with their breathing. I could see the scratches on their white bellies. We spent an hour with them out of our 3 hr excursion.