2010 news from the Magic

[NancyIL]

RCCL does round trip Alaska as well, but I like the point to point itinerary better.

Jodie

As I mentioned in a previous post, Royal Caribbean has 3 ships in Alaska, with 2 of them doing roundtrips (Serenade from Vancouver and Rhapsody from Seattle) and Radiance doing one-ways. If you're going to do a one-way cruise - try to add additional time on the Alaska end of the trip to do some touring, rather than just hopping on the plane in Anchorage and flying home.

 

[gydell]

It's the Norwegian Pearl - a fantastic ship.

And I'm pretty sure I saw adults going down the slide!

Thanks! How was the kid's club - age 9?

 

[pillow]

It's the Norwegian Pearl - a fantastic ship.

And I'm pretty sure I saw adults going down the slide!

Looks like a fun slide. I'd go down that slide in a heart beat! This is a fun discussion. We had priced the RCCL northbound cruise + a week on land, and it pretty much blew our budget. Assuming that DCL pricing will be higher than RCCL (a pretty safe assumption I think), we'd better start saving NOW!

During what month were your pics taken?

Jodie

 

[pillow]

I think a roundtrip cruise would attract more families because of the easier and cheaper flights. On the other hand - airfare to Barcelona last summer wasn't exactly cheap, and Disney was pretty successful with their Med cruises.

Did you do the Med trip too? We were on the June 16th 11 night sailing, and yes, that airfare was aweful. We found $900 roundtrip fares and felt like we were getting a deal. The cruise price was fairly reasonable (we switched to cat 12 discount pricing). The airfare, Barcelona pre-cruise nights, and shore excursions was what drove up our price. I've checked some airfare pricing - one way to Vancouver, coming home from Anchorage - not nearly as high as trans Atlantic in the summer. Can't wait to see what Disney comes up with on this.

Jodie

 

[gydell]

I would like a 1 way - or a longer cruise if returning to the same port. I also would like a decent kid's club. I am sure nothing can compare to DCL but I have heard that some of the ships don't have a club and others don't have very good ones.

 

[bonnielynn]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2759

 

[NancyIL]

Did you do the Med trip too? We were on the June 16th 11 night sailing, and yes, that airfare was aweful. We found $900 roundtrip fares and felt like we were getting a deal. The cruise price was fairly reasonable (we switched to cat 12 discount pricing). The airfare, Barcelona pre-cruise nights, and shore excursions was what drove up our price. I've checked some airfare pricing - one way to Vancouver, coming home from Anchorage - not nearly as high as trans Atlantic in the summer. Can't wait to see what Disney comes up with on this.

Jodie

When the Med cruises were first available to book, I did book it - just as I have every other special DCL cruise...and later cancelled! Had we gone on that cruise, we would've used FF miles to fly to Barcelona. We had been planning to cruise to Alaska in 2007, and we did so on the Coral Princess. I also went to Alaska last month on HAL Veendam. Both were great cruises, but I give the edge to Holland America.

 

[awoltoday]

Thanks! How was the kid's club - age 9?

There were 4 kids in our group all age 7 or 9 and they loved the club. As a parent, well, it wasn't DCL. But, the kids didn't have a lot of opportunities to stay in the club either. We were too busy with our group or exploring ports. When they were in the club, there wasn't a pesky pager to carry (But I told them I was going to Palo anyway).

And forget the sail away party. DCL has that one by a MILE.

NCL's MasterCard beats the socks off the Mickey Visa, though.

Looks like a fun slide. I'd go down that slide in a heart beat! This is a fun discussion. We had priced the RCCL northbound cruise + a week on land, and it pretty much blew our budget. Assuming that DCL pricing will be higher than RCCL (a pretty safe assumption I think), we'd better start saving NOW!

During what month were your pics taken?

Jodie

I'm guessing the cruises will be sold out before I recover from sticker shock - which is pretty much what happened with the Mexico cruises.

Our cruise was July 6-13.

 

[NancyIL]

I'm guessing the cruises will be sold out before I recover from sticker shock - which is pretty much what happened with the Mexico cruises.

I also expect Disney to charge a lot for Alaska. However, they'll have to do another Panama Canal transit, and I thought that was reasonably priced for 2008.

 

[awoltoday]

I also expect Disney to charge a lot for Alaska. However, they'll have to do another Panama Canal transit, and I thought that was reasonably priced for 2008.

Shhh! It'll be interesting to see how they do that as they'll have a little further to go. 3-5 day pacific coastal? Longer Repo? Funky 1st/last Alaska cruise?

 

[pillow]

There were 4 kids in our group all age 7 or 9 and they loved the club. As a parent, well, it wasn't DCL. But, the kids didn't have a lot of opportunities to stay in the club either. We were too busy with our group or exploring ports. When they were in the club, there wasn't a pesky pager to carry (But I told them I was going to Palo anyway).

And forget the sail away party. DCL has that one by a MILE.

NCL's MasterCard beats the socks off the Mickey Visa, though.



I'm guessing the cruises will be sold out before I recover from sticker shock - which is pretty much what happened with the Mexico cruises.

Our cruise was July 6-13.

I thought the Mexican Riviera pricing was VERY high! We passed that one up - still recovering from the Med. We're doing a 3 nighter in November. I suppose I'll rebook a dummy date on board so that I can at least get 10% off on Alaska - assuming that the Alaska pricing doesn't come out before our November trip. The quicker you book the better. Those prices sure seem to go up fast!

Jodie

J

 

[pillow]

Shhh! It'll be interesting to see how they do that as they'll have a little further to go. 3-5 day pacific coastal? Longer Repo? Funky 1st/last Alaska cruise?

I see you did the ferry. How was that? We looked into it, but after all was said and done, for a family of 4, it cost almost as much as a cruise. I think it was all the hopping on and off that we wanted to do which drove up the price.

Jodie

 

[outahere]

Shhh! It'll be interesting to see how they do that as they'll have a little further to go. 3-5 day pacific coastal? Longer Repo? Funky 1st/last Alaska cruise?

NCL breaks up the repo for their ships going to Alaska. You can either do 14 days from Florida to Los Angeles or all 19 days to go all the way to Seattle or Vancouver.

Just waiting to see what DCL does announce......

 

[awoltoday]

There was a recent thread on CC (That's cruise critic and not castaway cay) with some FANTASTIC Alaska cruise pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=817311&page=3

(Nancy - I want you to take note of my abbreviation of CC and that I AT LEAST explained what I meant by CC this time! )

 

[pillow]

Interesting - just spoke with DCL. The rep discouraged me from getting my hopes up on Alaska. She said the cruise line is exploring MANY ports for 2010! She also said that the current ships can't sail in the colder climates. She said they have had lots of calls about this, and she had been given specific ways to answer caller's questions. Not sure if they really are trying to avoid getting people's hopes up on Alaska or if they're trying to throw us off. She said the new itinerary would be announced in October. Guess we'll see.

Jodie

 

[NancyIL]

There was a recent thread on CC (That's cruise critic and not castaway cay) with some FANTASTIC Alaska cruise pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=817311&page=3

(Nancy - I want you to take note of my abbreviation of CC and that I AT LEAST explained what I meant by CC this time! )

I see that, Chris! Thanks for clarifying - for the benefit of the non-CCers (that's Cruise Critic, not Castaway Cay) here!

 

[NancyIL]

Interesting - just spoke with DCL. The rep discouraged me from getting my hopes up on Alaska. She said the cruise line is exploring MANY ports for 2010! She also said that the current ships can't sail in the colder climates.

Other than not having a covered pool area, there's nothing lacking in the current DCL ships for Alaska. Alaska ISN'T Antarctica!

 

[awoltoday]

Other than not having a covered pool area, there's nothing lacking in the current DCL ships for Alaska. Alaska ISN'T Antarctica!

OH! NOT AGAIN with the covered pool area! There are PLENTY of ships sailing the inside passage WITHOUT a covered pool area! Including the Pearl (the Norwegian one, not the Black one) that I was drug off kicking and screaming. You're just trying to get my BP up, aren't you

 

[Zoom]

Interesting - just spoke with DCL. The rep discouraged me from getting my hopes up on Alaska. She said the cruise line is exploring MANY ports for 2010! She also said that the current ships can't sail in the colder climates. She said they have had lots of calls about this, and she had been given specific ways to answer caller's questions. Not sure if they really are trying to avoid getting people's hopes up on Alaska or if they're trying to throw us off. She said the new itinerary would be announced in October. Guess we'll see.

Jodie

Wow, we're cruising in November and planning on rebooking onboard for 2010, that would be nice if we already know the itinerary. So hopefully they announce the new itinerary in October.

 

[NancyIL]

OH! NOT AGAIN with the covered pool area! There are PLENTY of ships sailing the inside passage WITHOUT a covered pool area! Including the Pearl (the Norwegian one, not the Black one) that I was drug off kicking and screaming. You're just trying to get my BP up, aren't you

Hey - I didn't say a covered pool area was necessary...just that it was "lacking" on DCL (as it is on many ships that sail there)! But some think a ship needs a covered pool in order to get people to cruise to Alaska. I've never used the pools on any cruise - or even at a WDW hotel!