Questions for early Alaskan cruisers!

[Shanny145]

Thanks. Since room service starts too late we needed another option.

room service is 24 hours

 

[gonemousin']

1. We arrived at Canada Place at 9:45AM. There were roughly 10 families in line ahead of us. Port security opened at 11AM on the dot.

2. We moved through security quickly, followed the line of people to the health form declaration desk (filled it out in lightening speed) and proceeded to the empty check in queue. Got boarding group #3.

3. The CM checking us in was definitely new to the process and a bit slow. Sweet as pie, but unsure of herself and had to ask her supervisor several 'how to' questions. I had to remind her to give us our CC lanyards.

4. After checking in, we got in line for the supervisor's desk. The girl working the desk was super pleasant and showed us a list of available cabins - of which, approximately 25 were verandahs. They had nearly every verandah cabin available for upgrade including navigator's verandahs. We booked an ocean view 9C Gty cabin with kids sail free (2A, 2C). Our total cruise fare was just a hair under $2,800. I wasn't thrilled with the cabin we were assigned on floor 2 (in the back with terrible reviews). We upgraded to a 5A on deck 7 midship for $560. We could have upgraded to a 7A for $350 or a 6A for $315 (I have no idea why the 6A was cheaper than the navigator's verandah, but it was), but they didn't have any available that slept 4. We were still THRILLED with our upgrade. I thought the cost was very reasonable and we spent more time on our verandah than anywhere else. So our total cruise cost was $3,300 for our family of 4...in a 5A. Truly an incredible value. Oh, one other thing to note, the $560 fee for our upgrade was added to our room charges. We did not have to pay for it at the port.

5. After finalizing the upgrade, we went to pick up the kids club bracelet for my youngest DD. By then, it was 11:30AM...at 11:35AM, they started boarding concierge/group 1. They never called group 2, they went straight to boarding groups 1-3. We were in line and got to the card swiping point quickly. They swiped 3 out of 4 of our key to the world cards and the computers went down. It took about 5 minutes for them to reboot, swipe my DH through and as we were entering the gangway for the ship, I noticed the computers went down again. Fortunately, it didn't slow us down much, but there weren't many people on the boat with us for quite a while, so I think a lot of people were impacted by the computer problems. As others have reported, they offered a free glass of wine or smoothie at dinner to make up for the troubles.

 

[ibouncetoo]

....forgot what I was going to say....be right back....

 

[HiMagicFan]

We did this excursion and it was wonderful! I loved being on a smaller jetboat. We did the 10AM tour (on the boat around 10:30AM) and saw a pod of 12 killer whales/orcas, including a baby orca swimming with its mom. We also saw 4 humpback whales, stellar sea lions and lots of bald eagles. It was a great experience. We had a warm sunny day, but it was cold on the water - definitely dress in layers. When we got to the Mendenhall Glacier, we went to the restroom and peeled off some layers. We really enjoyed the Mendenhall Glacier. It was a very beautiful park and has a waterfall you can hike to if you're in the mood.

We had a verandah stateroom that we scored a fabulous/cheap upgrade on when we checked in at the port and we spent an enormous amount of time on it watching whales and the Sawyer Glacier, but we still thought the Whale/Glacier excursion was well worth the experience for our family.

I too am thinking about this tour but noticed in another post that they had a 7:45 tour.

Since you did the 10am was that the first one or the second?
What time did you get back? did they drop pick up/drop off at the ship? or could you be dropped off in town or at the musuem?

thank you

 

[HollyTyler]

What's the best spot for viewing during the day when you are sailing by Tracy Arm? We have a verandah cabin on the port side of the ship and I wonder if we will have a good view from there at any point of the day.

Tracy's Arm is like a box canyon. You sail in, then turn (carefully) and sail back out. So if you miss something on the way in, you'll see it on the way back out.

Ships often have a naturalist on board during the Tracy's Arm scenic cruising. You can turn on your stateroom t.v. and hear the narration while you're out on your verandah where you don't have to elbow your way through the crowds to see anything. The naturalist is on the bridge and if he calls your attention to something on the port side, fine. Otherwise you'll see it on the flip side. It seems like sometimes he just keeps talking to fill the time, or because he likes the sound of his own voice over the microphone. At that point I turn off the t.v. and count myself fortunate that I can see the scenery from the serenity of my verandah without the constant chatter.

Someone who's on the ship this week said they had a naturalist speak in the theatre but they weren't impressed. That's one person's opinion.

I kept falling asleep during his talk, and saw many others do the same, some even walked out before it was done. It was horrible because in the Navigator, the description said he would be telling us about all the animals we might see in Alaska, but he actually told us about a wolf and a flying squirrel.

 

[HollyTyler]

Actually there have been a few posts (I think on this thread) by people on board. But only 1 or 2.
With that said, I personally think these first cruisers should have been on here every night answering our questions; don't they know we have high expectations of these inagural (sp?) cruisers They should be getting home soon and I want answers!!! LOL... but seriously

If I'd seen this thread, I would have been on here right away.

 

[Cerberus9]

With regards to the verandahs: we were extremely fortunate and got upgraded from a 9A to a 5B when we received our stateroom assignments.

The Alaska itinerary is definitely one where you want to beg, borrow, or steal to get a verandah. We spent more time on ours than anywhere else on the ship.

 

[HollyTyler]

I've seen people asking about lobster, but _I_ want to know if Alaskan King Crab will be available. I've been dreaming of it!

Only as an appetizer on the "Taste of Alaska" night. Very tiny pieces.

 

[Cerberus9]

Only as an appetizer on the "Taste of Alaska" night. Very tiny pieces.

Crab legs were also available at the Palo brunch. The Palo brunch also included caviar with all the trimmings (melba toast, egg, etc.)

 

[HollyTyler]

You are correct about the dining rotation. Also, I thought pirate night was very low key. The servers did not dress up and there was no pirate menu. There was a party out on deck 9 (we did not attend) and the buffet afterwards was at Beach Blanket.

I suspect they might be phasing out pirate night to change to something else, sort of like what I hear they did when it used to be a tropical party theme and they switched to pirate night.

 

[HollyTyler]

Howdy, neighbor. I am specifically asking about the Alaskan cruises. On people's blogs, the shows listed were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys (supposedly the old version, without the Tangled update), Toy Story, and Until We Meet Again. Now the Navigators are indicating that Disney Dreams is where I thought Until We Meet Again was. Between the two, I'd vastly prefer Disney Dreams. As their _signature_ and most highly promoted show, I couldn't believe that it wasn't playing in AL, but I wanted to be sure.

All the above mentioned were showing.

 

[neoavatara]

Alaskan king crab was available in one of the lunch buffets in parrot cay as well...

 

[PBader]

I suspect they might be phasing out pirate night to change to something else, sort of like what I hear they did when it used to be a tropical party theme and they switched to pirate night.

I think with the release of the the new pirate movie, we will see pirate parties on the ships for many years. Lots and lots of play off them. Personally, I haven't ever gotten that into them, but have friends that have taken it the extreme and have a ball!

 

[HollyTyler]

LOL, sorry! We did the 7:30 excursion. The 9:30 excursion didn't see any.

We did Harv and Marv's, picked us up at 8:45am, there were 2 whales we followed and saw each one come up quite a few times. Our boat driver told us it's too early in the season to see very many because the whales haven't returned from Hawaii yet. He said only 3 have been spotted in the area so far (as of when we were there). So the later in the season you go, the better your chances. I was totally happy with what we saw though, because I didn't see any from the ship. I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. My son got to see a pod of orcas go by though, which totally made me jealous!!!

 

[ibouncetoo]

Crab legs were also available at the Palo brunch. The Palo brunch also included caviar with all the trimmings (melba toast, egg, etc.)

Provided another guest doesn't just walk off with the bowl of caviar......

.

 

[Shanonn]

May I ask the details of your upgrade? Did you just ask when you checked in?

We upgraded at the port - went from a 9A to a 5A for $455. We highly recommend getting a veranda for the Alaska cruise.

 

[HollyTyler]

If you carry your own bags off do you still have to go to the theater if your not tsking a bus transfer?

For the Crab appy on the Alaska menu did it comew with hot butter for dipping?

There wasn't really enough meat to dip, but the server will pour butter on it for you if you want.

 

[HollyTyler]

Crab lovers.....Juneau....Tracy's Crab Shack (bring money)

http://www.kingcrabshack.com/

.

Looks sooooooo good!

 

[HollyTyler]

Short sleeves or long? I always wear short sleeves on the Caribbean cruises, but do I need long sleeves for this one? My dress for Palo is short sleeved. Will I be cold? Just wondering what temperature the dining rooms are.

I wore short sleeves inside and out. I've never been cold inside on the ship, but I guess it depends on how warm/cold you normally are because I've heard lots of people talk about how cold they usually are in the dining rooms and theaters, but I've never experienced that. I guess that's a long winded way of saying short sleeves are fine.

 

[HollyTyler]

Did people tend to dress up on Formal night (I didn't see a semi formal night in the Navigators - did I miss it?) The last few cruises, less and less people seem to be very formal (tux and gown). It was more like suit and cocktail dress. Not sure if it's worth packing a gown or DH renting a tux.

There was formal and semi-formal night. Just like other cruises, you'll see a variety of outfits, just depending on your personal preference.