Alaska on Regatta advice

[moomax6]

We are considering booking an Alaskan cruise on Regatta next year. We have sailed on Cunard but like this itinerary and friends have recommended Oceania.

 

If you have taken a similar cruise, would you please give me your feedback - plus or minus. I find CC travelers give the best advice.

 

Thanks,

beachgirl

[LHT28]

Not sure what you are asking advise on ?

About the ship size or the cruise area?

 

If you like smaller ships with open dining, limited smoking areas (only 2 ) good food, limited children, no formals nights then Oceania may be for you

 

This is Oceania's first season to cruise Alaska so cannot compare with previous cruises on O to the area.

[Rickey 88]

We have been in Alaska on a number of occasions, both land and sea. The cruises we have taken ranged from small exploration boats to one with one of the major lines.

 

However, since Oceania has become our favorite line, we jumped at the opportunity of sailing Alaska again on the Regatta in 2012. We favor the relaxed atmosphere, no long lines, no "Formal" dressing up and the small ship feeling of having under 700 fellow passengers with no long lines, no waiting and No Smoking.....

 

The exploration boats were fine, but very cramped living quarters. The ability to get closer to shore was a plus, but dining at long tables from microwaved menus was a bit trying.

 

I'm not sure what other information you're looking for - but will be happy to help......:confused:

[moomax6]

Have been reading the posts on Oceania and it seems to be very popular with the CC travelers. I wasn't aware that this is the first year for Oceania to sail in Alaska. Was looking for info on ports of call/tour recommendations, cabin recommendations...ocean view vs. veranda with the weather, deck preference, noise level on Deck 4 under Casino, Martinies and Boutiques. We are looking at a C1 or B veranda. Prefer midships. We like the idea of no formal nights. Thank you.

[LHT28]

. Was looking for info on ports of call/tour recommendations, cabin recommendations...ocean view vs. veranda with the weather, deck preference, noise level on Deck 4 under Casino, Martinies and Boutiques. We are looking at a C1 or B veranda. Prefer midships. We like the idea of no formal nights. Thank you.

 

Both cabins are the same size so just a choice if you want a balcony or not

We usually book the C1 Cat ..they are just fine we did hear some noise this past cruise from people walking on the deck outside above us but we was never noticed it before and only for a short time.

The mid ship cabins are more under the deck space than the casino for the C1's.

They are a very nice location ..of course it does not take long to get anywhere on the ship from most locations unlike the mega ships;)

 

Lyn

[Queenk2]

We are booked on Oceania for July 23,2011 going to Alaska. I do not care for the larger ships, so much hassle getting on and of as well as the need to tender. I am looking forward to Alaska as we have never been.

[Rickey 88]

Beachgirl,

 

If you are interested in truly seeing Alaska "in depth", then I shall suggest that Oceania may truly be what you are looking for.

 

True, they will not sail up the coast to Alaska until 2011, but this is something they have been planning on for years.

 

If you look at all the other cruise lines, you will see that the majority of their itineraries are for only seven days - and a lot of them are Vancouver and return to Vancouver. You don't get much of a feel for this wonderful state in such a short time!

 

Only other hand, most of Oceania's itineraries are at least 10, some 12 and a few 14 days. Secondly, the majority of them are one-way, that is, sail from Vancouver to Anchorage, or vice versa. You will stop in many more ports than those other cruise lines! Oceania will stop at mostly all of the ports that people and some that very few have seen. (Kodiak, as an example, or Icy Straits Point or Homer)

 

Put that together with a most lovely ship, no formal dress-up, a congenial crew and passenger group and wonderful cuisine, and I think you will be pleased.....

 

Happy Sailing! :cool:

[moomax6]

Thanks for the helpful information. We are sold - booked June 7th trip in a C1 midship cabin. Can't wait. beachgirl

[LHT28]

Thanks for the helpful information. We are sold - booked June 7th trip in a C1 midship cabin. Can't wait. beachgirl

I am sure you will be happy with your cabin choice

 

Enjoy the cruise

 

Lyn

[Aruba]

Is Regatta sailing into Glacier Bay on the Alaska itineraries?

[hondorner]

Is Regatta sailing into Glacier Bay on the Alaska itineraries?

The itineraries as published do not indicate a visit to Glacier Bay. I looked up some information at the Glacier Bay National Park website, and learned this (abbreviated):

 

The National Park Service manages vessel traffic (including cruise ships) in Glacier Bay to protect natural and cultural resources, provide for a range of visitor experiences, and promote visitor satisfaction and understanding.

 

...<snip>...

 

The four companies that have been awarded new concession authorizations for cruise ship services for the years 2010 through 2019 are:

 

Princess Cruiselines

Holland America, Inc.

Norwegian Cruiselines

West Travel, Inc

 

 

Obviously, this leaves out a lot of cruise lines, including newcomer Oceania. I have read that Regent cruises into Glacier Bay; I'm not sure how this gels with the National Park information, but regardless, Oceania will not likely be sailing to Glacier Bay.

 

Instead, and with great anticipation and excitement among the Oceania itinerary planners, they will be spending time on many of their cruises in College Fjord. I won't relate the story of College Fjord here; just Google it. It's fascinating. According to what I have been told, Oceania will be able to sail further up the fjord than most other cruise lines because of the small size of the Regatta.

 

I can hardly wait!

[shedridt]

EXCELLENT!!! We can't wait, either!

[Rickey 88]

When Hondorner wrote that only four lines have current licenses to enter Glacier Bay, he brought to light a very sad bit of history regarding this wonderful part of Alaska.

 

In years gone by, the Park Service was somewhat lax in overseeing the activities of cruise lines - to the point where the bay was getting overrun with ships of all sizes and colors. Then, rangers discovered that certain lines or ships were discharging waste directly into the bay. At that point, a number of them lost their rights to enter the bay, and were banned.

 

Obviously, a new entry such as Oceania has little chance of being granted entry to Glacier Bay, but we can only hope!

[Aruba]

Hope indeed. I had a chance to see Glacier Bay once -- it was the highlight of the entire cruise. Then again the weather was picture perfect that day. The naturalist onboard repeated over and over how unusual that was and how lucky we were.

[frqttrvlr09]

I have lived in Alaska since 1975 and have traveled extensively throughout the state including all of the destinations/routes on the Oceania itineraries. I have also sailed on Oceania's Insignia (2 BTB in the Mediterranean) and am about to sail on 3 BTB from Istanbul to Hong Kong beginning in November. I thought my input might be helpful.

 

As noted in previous posts, this is Oceania's first time stopping in Anchorage; most cruise ships come up as far as either Whittier or Seward, and then passengers travel by rail or coach to Anchorage to return home, or vice versa.

 

Oceania's Alaska itineraries vary. Those that originate in San Francisco include Astoria, Oregon (nothing special there), Victoria BC (beautiful city), Vancouver (just returned from a week there; one of my favorite cities in North America) and stops in Alaska ports. Others are more Alaska-port intensive. Some of the Alaska ports the ship stops in are those not visited by larger ships, such as Hoonah and Wrangell. Those are very small Alaska "cities", so if you are interested in seeing what life in that type of environment is like, this is a unique opportunity. Sitka, Ketchikan, and Juneau are traditional cruise ship stops. Sitka is in a beautiful setting. It has a lovely totem pole park for walking with a great view, and a tiny museum nearby with an excellent native art collection. A shore excursion that involves going out whale and wildlife watching is a must. The one I took when I was attending the Sitka Music Festival a few years ago, we saw rafts of sea otters, sea lions, several bears on the beach, dolphins, whales, many eagles, and the scenery was beautiful. We also went kayaking; that can easily be arranged right at the port. You need to tender at Sitka The town itself is small and loaded with gift shops and small cafes.

 

Ketchikan has a totem pole park as well, outside of town. It is on the edge of a rainforest and thus, it rains there a lot. You can arrange to go bear viewing through private operators while there (fly in fly out), which my brother and his family did for a shore excursion off of his cruise. It is a terrific experience. You can also arrange a day trip to Misty Fjords.

 

Juneau, the State capitol, is a good place to take a trip to Tracy Arm (by boat, float plane), or also to go out whale watching for the day. A trip to Mendenhall Glacier is also a good option, particularly one involving landing on the glacier by helicopter (weather permitting). There are some nice shops/art galleries/cafes in the town, which is hilly.

 

The cruises with Hubbard Glacier and Icy Straight on their itinerary are particularly attractive, as those are not on the usual Alaska cruise ship itinerary. Neither, as has been pointed out in a prior post, is Kodiak. Going bear viewing out of Kodiak is a good option.

 

The best of all of cruises to see the most/best of water-accessible Alaska is the itinerary which includes Homer, Seward (and the College Fjords) and Anchorage. Homer has a beautiful setting, and there are many interesting things to do out of Homer, including going bear viewing over in Katmai for the day (fly in, fly out); taking the Danny J over to Halibut Cove, a unique, roadless/storeless community with just a few art galleries and a fabulous little restaurant, teh Saltry; going kayaking in any number of bays; going over to Grenwyck Glacier by water taxi and hiking into it; going to the many excellent art galleries and cafes in "downtown" Homer; going over to Seldovia by the new high speed catamaran ferry for the day; going out halibut and/or salmon fishing, etc.). College Fjords are staggeringly beautiful. There are dozens of glaciers. It is a great place for kayaking, too, though you will be on the ship. By also going to Seward, you will sail through the Kenai FJords, which are completely different from the College Fjords, but also teeming with wildlife, and some glaciers. Seward also has a "walk up to" glacier, Exit Glacier, easily accessible by a variety of transportation services in the town, as well as the IditaRide, run by the Seavey family, who have several generations of mushers. They provide an excellent dog mushing demonstration and a dog sled ride, even in summer, as well as an opportunity to tour their massive dog lot and pickup adorable puppies in various stages of growth that you will want to take home with you. You can also fish from the shore of the Bay for whatever is in the Bay at the time, or go out charter boat fishing for a day or half a day for halibut, salmon, ling cod, etc. Several good kayaking outfits offer half and full day kayaking trips, a few involving nice, short hikes to waterfalls and lunch on the beach.

 

By ending in Anchorage, you can then visit the wonderful new addition to the Anchorage Museum of Art and Natural History, which has an outstanding Alaska Native Art collection on loan from the Smithsonian for the next 11 years, as well as its own excellent collection of native and contemporary art, and a small planetarium with multiple different shows. The new statute out front by British artist/sculptor Anthony Grimsley has generated a lot of controversy. You should also visit the Alaska Heritage Center, run by a native corporation. For those interested in activities, there is a coastal trail that goes along the arm and throughout much of the city that you can walk or also rent a bike, either downtown or at Westchester Lagoon (virtually downtown), to bike on. There are many close places to go on easy or more rigorous hikes, right within 15 minutes of downtown. Depending on the date of your arrival, you may also be able to do some "urban fishing" for king or silver salmon, right downtown. You can also take advantage of quite a few good restaurants. You could also drive down along Turnagain Arm and go to Girdwood, home of the Alyeska Ski Resort, with good restaurants and a tram to the top of the mountain. You can then take off for land excursions to eg. Denali National Park, if you choose to stay in Alaska and not fly right home.

 

It is still cool, and there will be snow in some places, in Southcentral Alaska until June, and it tends to be rainier the later it gets in August, if you want to factor that into your planning. however, there are fewer tourists in May, and in September, and the fall colors are now starting and they are beautiful.

 

I hope this is helpful.

[hondorner]

I have lived in Alaska since 1975 and have traveled extensively throughout the state including all of the destinations/routes on the Oceania itineraries... <snip>...I hope this is helpful.

Helpful? Simply the best, brief review of Alaska I have ever seen. It should be included in Oceania publications. I printed it out so it will be handy for our Alaska cruise on Regatta next Summer. We are sailing from Anchorage on June 29 and that cruise includes the stops in Homer, Seward and Icy Strait, but not Kodiak, Victoria or Astoria, and ends in Vancouver.

 

I took a 7 day cruise to the typical hotspots of Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan last year, helped my best friends plan their 6 months in Alaska in an RV last year, have researched for my trip next year including the land tours, and even have a copy of the "Milepost", the giant book that describes everything along almost any stretch of road in Alaska, and I can tell you that nowhere have I seen such a complete, yet succinct, description of the joys that are Alaska.

 

Thank you.

[seafare]

I echo Don thoughts, we sail on 17 June from Vancouver to Anchorage and have been on the Alaska boards searching for info. Thank you frqtrvlr for your information and for taking the time to share it with all of us.

 

Jill

[Leonid]

Frequent Traveler09(I'm guessing) sure has it right. Our 08/2011 trip to Alaska will be our fourth...all out of SF. Glad O is not visiting Glacier Bay. From 1984 (our first visit) until 2004 (our last visit), the degradation to the glaciers was unbelievable. Hubbard Glacier, on the other hand, was spectacular when we were there in 2006.

The Marina in 02/2011 and the Regatta in 08/2011.....life is good.

[shedridt]

We've booked this 12-day cruise + a 4 day preliminary itinerary out of Anchorage to Denali & are very excited about it.

 

Oceania was a ship we felt tailored to our tastes - neither too high nor too low - our only change of heart in booking with Oceania would be if Seabourn sailed to Alaska & then hands down we'd book with Seabourn. Still, this itinerary was precisely what we wanted, & the pre-cruise excursion to Denali was also precisely what we wanted --- we couldn't be happier with our choice.

 

Even our extra request for a sky-view seat on the train from Anchorage to Denali was already included in the pre-cruise itinerary (as I knew it would be, having sailed with O before!), & so we are feeling quite assured that our sailing + land excursion to AK will be excellent in June/July 2011!

[Leonid]

We've booked this 12-day cruise + a 4 day preliminary itinerary out of Anchorage to Denali & are very excited about it.

 

Oceania was a ship we felt tailored to our tastes - neither too high nor too low - our only change of heart in booking with Oceania would be if Seabourn sailed to Alaska & then hands down we'd book with Seabourn. Still, this itinerary was precisely what we wanted, & the pre-cruise excursion to Denali was also precisely what we wanted --- we couldn't be happier with our choice.

 

Even our extra request for a sky-view seat on the train from Anchorage to Denali was already included in the pre-cruise itinerary (as I knew it would be, having sailed with O before!), & so we are feeling quite assured that our sailing + land excursion to AK will be excellent in June/July 2011!

 

Seabourn did Alaska once, and I doubt that the line will do it again. Reason we stopped sailing with Seabourn (after 5 cruises) was the formal nights and, most important, the refusal of the Hotel Manager to do anything about the chain smoking idiots in the Constellation Lounge.

[frqttrvlr09]

I have not been back to Glacier Bay since 1990. At that time, I went out of Gustavus (where I was staying with my parents for a few days on a trip on the Alaska ferry system from Prince Rupert to Haines) on a small ship, and also went kayaking. Since the number of cruise ships allowed to ply the Bay has been increased, I have no desire to go back. I doubt that that number will increase, and I would not be surprised, for the reasons stated in this thread, that the number of ships may ultimately be decreased. Recently, two ships have arrived in South Central Alaska ports with whales stuck to their bows, and/or whales have been found that have been determined to be struck by cruise ships, so I think more restrictions may be imposed on cruise ship traffic in smaller areas like Glacier Bay.

 

While Glacier Bay is beautiful, so is Hubbard Glacier and the College Fjords, so you will not be missing the glacier experience. And if you have an opportunity to go to Misty Fjords and/or Tracy Arm, as I said previously, you should definitely do it.

 

Oceania is a good sized ship to enter the ports on its itineraries. All of the ports are considerably smaller than what it, and most cruise ships, land in, so, unless other ships are also in port at the same time (and that will likely not be the case in the Southeast ports of Hoonah, Wrangell, or in the south Central ports of Homer and Anchorage, where very few cruise ships dock, you won't be competing and the town won't be overrun with other cruise ship passengers. But Anchorage will be busy! And I do recommend that you take a diversion on the front or back end of the cruise to go up to Denali National Park, with a stop in Talkeetna, and go flightseeing to Denali (Mt. McKinley) and land on a glacier on the mountain. It is a once in a lifetime experience.

 

There are many other unique places to do trips to in Alask if you stop for awhile when you get to Anchorage, or Seward, or wherever your end stop is on your cruise.

[loum140]

frqttrvlr09: Thank you so much for all this incredible information. I'm even more excited about our Anchorage/Vancouver itinerary now.

 

hondorner: Don -- I'm not as tech savy as you. How do I print out this info? Or can you attach it to an e-mail and send it to me? (marlou140 at yahoo dot com)

 

shedrit: Are you on the 6/29 sailing? I think we're going to book the same pre-cruise trip. Let's talk on the roll call.

 

Marsha

[hondorner]

...Don -- I'm not as tech savy as you. How do I print out this info? Or can you attach it to an e-mail and send it to me? (marlou140 at yahoo dot com).

How to print a message from Cruise Critic -- click on the message number at the top right of the message body header, which will then display the message all by itself, with no other messages showing.

 

Now, click on the "File" menu near the top left of your screen, the browser menu. In the drop down list that appears, click on "Print". If you have multiple printers installed, select the one you want, and then click "OK" or "Print" or whatever your browser uses to proceed.

 

If the resulting printout is too wide or otherwise does not appear the way you want, then go to the "Edit" menu (right next to "File"), and click on "Select All". Then, either click on "Copy" or press CTRL and the letter "C" at the same time. Open your Notebook program (usually under Accessories in the Start Menu), and either press CTRL and the letter "V" to paste, or select the "Edit" menu and the word "Paste". At that point, the text of the Cruise Critic menu will be in Notebook, and you can print it from there.

 

Betsy always has problems remembering the correct letters to use with the CTRL key to cut, copy or paste. Cut is CTRL + X, because X looks like a pair of scissors. Copy is C, because it starts with that letter (so does Cut, which is why they had to find a different letter for one of them -- and "X" also could mean to "X it our". Finally, Paste could not be "P" because they already used that as a shortcut to Print (CTRL + P), so they got clever -- are you old enough to remember typing theme papers on an ordinary manual typewriter? After you type a rough draft (double spaced), you would read through and edit it. If you left out a word or phrase, you would write it on the paper near the place where you wanted to insert it, then put wither a V or an inverted V -- ^ -- where you wanted it placed. Since computer shortcuts use letters, not symbols, they selected the V to use as an operator to paste something at that spot. Pretty clever. By the way, who was "they"? Oh, a bunch of geeks who wrote the most popular word processing program back in the '70s, WordStar.

 

Totally useless trivia information and I apologize for hijacking the thread -- but not a whole lot, as I consider this fun.

 

By the way, I figure your email address is a composite of your name (Marsha = Mar) and your husband's name (Lou). But, I won't likely forget it because Betsy's sister is named Margaret Louise (from her mother and father Louis), and she used the nickname "Marlou" all through school. Only when she started moving around the country did that name become confusing, and she switched many years ago to "Marge", but not among family where she will always be "Marlou". I always thought it was a pretty name. (Betsy, of course, is short for Elizabeth).

[YoHoHo]

One thing Windows does well is context-sensistive menus. Once something is highlighted if you click or drag it with your RIGHT mouse mouse button there will a drop down menu of a choice of actions that can be taken with that item. The one in bold is the action that will be taken by default (what would happen if you used the left mouse button).

 

This action can change depending on the context. For example if you were to DRAG a file from one folder to another the default action would be different than if you drag it from one "drive" (i.e C: to D:). The right-mouse button is your friend - I use it for most every action other than scrolling.

 

For example drag your mouse with the left mouse button over any of this text. Right-click it and there is a choice of actions.

 

Don's tip about using about using Ctrl+v is very good. There are a few places where it will paste the contents of your clipboard even though Paste is not available on the Edit menu nor does right-clicking do anything. I think this is actually a slip-up by the programmers who are trying to prevent you from pasting into certain boxes (like some password fields) but did not account for us old guys and the keyboard alternatives.

[moomax6]

frqttrvlr09 - Thank you very much for your helpful advice and wonderful description of the ports in Alaska. Lots to think about and plan in the months ahead. We are flying into Vancouver a few days early so that we can visit Victoria again before the cruise. Beachgirl