First Cruise what to do what to know?????

[SCBWI]

We will be crusing the NCL SUN the 1st of Aug out of Vancouver>takeing our 12 and 15 year old grand children and none of us as ever crused before. Please educate me .we did book 2 shore excursions what else should I bedoing or what should I know about ???

[shoreguy]

Start reading - 100s of hours of info here :D

 

You might want to start with the Alaska Port of Call board for general knowledge. Here is a link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

Here is a link to an Alaska Cheat sheet that was posted there:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=176624

 

If you are going to take one excursion I would make sure I booked the Tracy Arm Excursion. Turns a half day in port into a full day adventure.

 

If you look below my signature there is a link to my pictures fron the Sun last August.

 

You picked a great ship for your first cruise. Relax and enjoy the beauty of Alaska. Every evening you will get a list of all the things going on the next day. All of you should take the time to read it and decide what they want to do in advance. It will list all the shows, games, lectures, and dining specials

 

Have a great time :)

[newmexicoNita]

all of you should have a blast and reading up on the ports, reading the ports a call thread here and suggesting the same to the kids will start you off on a great adventure. Booking 2 excursions might be all you need to do right now unless something else really jumps out at you. Be prepared for a little cold weather when you are on deck, but in town the weather should be delightful in August. there really isn't much else you have to be concerned with, remember storage on ships can be a slight challenge so try to get the kids to keep the clothes thing down to a minimum.

 

The Sun is a wonderful ship, the food is very good and specialty restaurants are outstanding. Be sure and try at least one of them. Pacific Heights, which does not have an extra charge involved is worth a try if you are a family into healthy eating. though the food isn't quite as good, it is much better than we expected and a pleasant change.

 

If you have any spacific questions ask away, I am sure someone here will be more than glad to help you or give advise. Our advise isn't always correct but boy do we love to give it!!!!! NMNita

[SCBWI]

Thanks for the info I am really excited about this trip I also would like to know what is proper dress for dinner like a formal gown and tux skirt and jacket slacks and polo ??????

[newmexicoNita]

Thanks for the info I am really excited about this trip I also would like to know what is proper dress for dinner like a formal gown and tux skirt and jacket slacks and polo ??????

Here is just my humble opinion: 1st you have chosen NCL and one of the best features is freestyle dining. This means you can pretty much dress in whatever you are comfortable wearing within reason. There will be 1 or 2 formal optional nights, I say 1 or 2 as very few pay any attention to the second one: Formal optional is just what it says; you can choose to dress to the nines or if you prefer a sport and jacket for the men and a nice church or business type dress for the gals is acceptable. The remainder of the cruise calls for slacks and polos for guys and capris, pant outfits or cute dresses for us ladies (I use that word loosely). 2nd: Alaska cruises do not seem to be quite as formal as other destinations thus you may want to leave the tux at home: room for more casual clothes. Again, this is strictly up to you, we choose to forget the tux and formals when cruising NCL> The kids should dress accordingly as well. The real NO NOS are, jeans, t-shirts, cut offs, shorts or tank tops in the dining room after 5PM> No matter what you may hear from others, it is better to be safe than sorry. Can you imagine how the kids would feel if one of you got sent back to the cabin cause you were not dressed appropriately? Hope this helps some. NMNIta

[shoreguy]

Leave the Tux at home. It is Alaska with kids :) You can gress up if you want but no need to drag all that extra stuff.

 

Here is a link to FAQs at NCL.com. It should help.

 

http://www.ncl.com/more/fp_mi_w2n.htm

 

Freestyle Cruising gives you the freedom to dress as you please. So come as you are. No need to check for a suggested dress code in the ship's Freestyle Daily as you would on traditional cruises. Resort casual attire is always appropriate morning, noon and night. If you like, you can slip into a pair of khakis and a polo shirt, a skirt and blouse or a sundress for dinner. We do not allow jeans, T-shirts, shorts, cut-offs, tank tops, bare feet, etc. in any of the restaurants at dinner.

 

For those who do love to dress to the nines and get that annual formal portrait photography done, there is one optional formal evening in at least one of the main restaurants on every cruise; at least two formal evenings on longer cruises. This means black tie or dark suit for gentlemen and evening gown or cocktail dress for ladies. But remember, on formal evenings you can always choose to dine in one of the other restaurants instead and enjoy some of the other lounges and leave your dressier clothes at home.

 

In warm climates, shorts, slacks, sundresses, jeans and tops - and of course a swimsuit and cover-up are all appropriate daytime attire. Air conditioning can feel chilly, so pack a sweater. Because weather is difficult to predict, in cooler climates dressing in layers is the best approach. For visits to places of worship, check your Freestyle Daily for attire guidelines. Be sure to bring a pair of comfortable walking shoes, too. Other essentials: sunglasses, a sun hat or visor and sunscreen. Don't forget to bring prescription medicines in original containers and an extra pair of glasses or contact lenses. Carry valuables and medication in a handbag you keep with you at all times.

 

Important Note: All suitcases are collected the night before we return to our home port, so be sure to bring an overnight bag.

[ute_fan]

First of all, have a great time! We first cruised in January, 2004, and then did the same cruise you'll be doing in June, 2004. That's one of the problems -- it really can be addicting.

 

As far as dressing, I wouldn't bother with really formal clothes either. Actually, we did see quite a few people "dress up" for formal night in Alaska, but the majority weren't tuxes and formal gowns. More in the line of suits or sport coats/dockers with ties for the men, and sparkly dresses or pant suits for the women. My DH and DS wore dockers and sport coats (with ties) and fit in just fine. My DD wore a short-sleeve lacey knee-length dress and I was in one of my "church dress" type. If you want to dress more formally, you certainly can, but it's not required.

 

My DS (age 20) complained about the "no jeans" rule, but did admit that he would have felt out of place in them after we got on board the ship (it was the kids first cruise). Having said that, I do know first hand that on the Sea as of May 14 that part of the restriction has been lifted from the dress code -- the freestyle daily no longer even mentions jeans. Like NMNita said, however, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Resort casual works just fine.

 

My favorite excursion on this cruise was the Tracy Arm fjord/glacier explorer one. It definitely rates as "2 thumbs up" by our family. We also did the jeep excursion on Wrangell, but I wouldn't recommend any of those. The roads you drive on would not require 4-wheel drive at all, and while the scenery was pretty, we felt it was way overpriced for the tour. In Ketchikan we saw totem poles through Sourdough Tours (booked independently) and in Skagway we rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake.

[Zeno]

Unless you want to dress up don't bother bringing formal wear. On formal night they usually designate one dining room "formal" and the other is resort casual as usual.

[Surfgirl]

One of the biggest surprises I had when I took my first cruise (On Regency Sun in 1991-- with my "then" boyfriend) was how informal cruising had become. I guess I had watched too many black-and-white movies which depicted the rich and famous strolling the prominade deck in their straw hats and bow ties and dancing the night away with a full orchestra in their gowns and jewels.

 

My "then" boyfriend brought his tux, and I brought my sequined gown. We LOVED getting dressed up.. and we weren't alone. I'm glad we did, because we took some formal portraits which I love to look at today.

 

I spent an entire month shopping for my one-week wardrobe for that cruise. I had a dress for every dinner. and really nice cruise-wear for the day-time. I didn't bring jeans. On that cruise-- more than ten years ago, most everyone dressed that way. (more formally).

 

Fast forward to last year on the Dawn. I was really surprised at how informal cruising had become. But, although I initially didn't like it, I came to appreciate the more relaxed atmosphere after having come in from an entire day at the beach. Sometimes I just didn't feel like getting dressed up for dinner. With "Freestyle Cruising" you have that option.

 

That's not to say that you can wear flip flops and jeans to the restaurants at dinner. If you want to wear them, you can-- you can always go to the buffet.

 

So, my advice is to take your designer gown out of mothballs, and play dress-up if you want to! If you don't... then bring a nice cocktail dress, regular dress, or a pretty silk pant-suit.

 

Your husband can wear his Tux, or he can wear a suit and tie.... or... even just a button down shirt and nice pair of slacks. It's up to you. But-- if you want a nice portrait with the grand-kids, you might want to get gussied up, and have them dress up too!

 

I am planning to do a lot more NCL cruises, but I also want to do some more "formal" cruising too-- possibly on the Queen Mary II--or-- Radisson.