New board member cruisin' Alaska

[mj5739]

I have been following these boards since booking our Alaska cruise last summer. This, however, is my first post. We (Myself, my wife, and sons 16 & 24 ) will be on the Sun July 8th cruise. We are booked in the AD suite 9002 and are looking forward to the perks that come along with the suite.

This being our first Alaskan cruise, I have several questions, so I won't ask them all at once. My first question is if anyone knows when the 2006 Alaska shore excursions may be posted on the NCL site so we can begin scheduling our activities?

Thanks for any help and I look forward to participating in the discussions instead of just reading.

[dgund]

Sorry, I can't answer your question. I just wanted to welcome you to the boards. We have cruised the Caribbean, but will be on our first Alaska cruise this summer also.

[ute_fan]

We went to Alaska in June, 2004, and didn't book our cruise until late March of that year. By that time, the shore excursions were already posted, and it seems to me that last year when this question was asked they said it should be late February or early March.

 

Make sure you read the Alaska boards for information. They were a great source of help as we planned our excursions. Since you're on the Sun, I'd highly recommend the Tracy Arm fjord catamaran excursion where you leave Juneau on a catamaran and meet back up with the Sun at Sawyer Glacier if they are still offering it. It can only be booked through NCL and tends to fill up fast, but it was the highlight of our trip!

[calmac]

We were on the Dream last summer to Alaska. This was an 11 night cruise and went as far north as Seward. The only NCL excursions which we took were in Ketchikan - to Saxman Native Village (which we didn't particularly enjoy but that may have been partly due to the pouring rain) and the Lumberjack Show and in Skagway - White Pass & Yukon Railway. In Juneau we went for a walk on a glacier with NorthStar Trekking - best excursion EVER.

 

I would second what ute_fan suggested - read the Alaska boards. I found out so much there.

[mj5739]

Thanks for the offer to e-mail. I'll just wait until NCL's are posted.

I appreciate all your suggestions. We generally like to do our own excursions, but I would still like to see what NCL offers.

I'll keep an eye on the Alaska threads.

[KeystoneCruiser]

I did the Star last summer to Alaska and I too anxiously awaited the shore excursion info. It came out in mid February last year.

 

P.S.: Fire away with your other questions....

[Hikini]

We will be taking our 4th Alaska cruise (all with NCL) this coming June. We have only done 1 excursion ever, and that was the Yukon-White Pass Railroad in Skagway. A great little trip, but having done it once, I don't care to do it again. However, if we were going with others who'd never done it and wanted us to go with them, we would.

 

I find that just walking around, or taking a bus and doing our own thing has been more to our liking. OK, we cheated in Juneau this past September. Some friends of mine were working in Juneau for the summer and came to the ship to pick us up when we docked in Juneau. We spent the day with them, and they took us to Mendenhall Glacier, among other places.

 

Hikini:D

[Cruise_More_Often]

My first question is if anyone knows when the 2006 Alaska shore excursions may be posted on the NCL site so we can begin scheduling our activities?

MJ, you can get an idea of what will be offered by looking at last year's selections. Go to the NCL website and click on Shore Excursions. You can get last year's excursion costs on by clicking on "Please click here to pre-request your shore excursions . . ." Keep in mind that the Sun is doing the itinerary that the Spirit did last year, so select the excursions for the Spirit. Hope this helps with your planning. It has sure given me some ideas.

[mj5739]

Thanks, I didn't realize that the Sun was taking last year's Spirit route. I just looked at those excursions on the NCL site and that will give me some ideas until the 2006 tours are posted.

I know I may be getting started a little soon on these excursions, but planning our trips is kind of like a hobby for me. My family always gives me a hard time about planning everything for our trips, but after we go they always say they enjoyed it.

[Bilbo18099]

I am booked on the same cruise. I am traveling with my 14 year old nephew. I am also looking for information