disneyochem

I hope you do try it! It's pretty good! Hubby loves getting an appetizer portion of the cheese wheel pasta. There's a pretty good bar menu as well. Enjoy.

Our favorite restaurant in Little Italy is Bencotto: https://www.lovebencotto.com/ It's just a 15-20 minute walk from the cruise port.

Living on the West Coast, Alaska is like our Caribbean! Easy to get to! And, never gets old. I teach at a university so am limited to when I have time off. Getting close to retirement so most of my professional duties are being picked up by new non-tenured faculty! Starting to cruise more further afield —next summer is Northern Europe in addition to Alaska. Alaska is huge and so diverse—one can and does spend years exploring and experiencing the state!

Salmon Berry Tours has a number of tours out of Anchorage if you don’t want to rent a car. We have taken the Matanuska Glacier Trek and the Hatch Pass/Independence Mine tour from them. I highly recommend this company. https://www.salmonberrytours.com/alaska-tours/summer-tours/

I’ve been on many Alaskan cruises (Disney, NCL, Princess and HAL) and land trips over the past ten years. Our favorite cruise lines for Alaska are Princess and HAL. I think their enrichment programs are much better than other cruise lines. Here’s a link to HAL’s 2024 Alaskan Experience: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/news/2024/April/news-041724-holland-america-line-set-to-debut-new-glacier-day-alaska-experiences. This should give you an idea of what HAL offers; Princess offers similar programs. If you can spare the time, I would look into a DIY trip in Alaska. Take a northbound or southbound cruise. As mentioned earlier by Coral, focusing on the Kenai peninsula would be a great option. Seward is wonderful and there are a lot of things to experience. I think a rental car is a must if you’re heading to Denali for a DIY but you can get by without a car in Seward. This summer we’re spending 11 weeks in Alaska—8 weeks cruising and 3 weeks of DIY land trips in Alaska/Yukon. Cruising only on HAL and Princess. Our Alaskan obsession started with a 7 day cruise! Enjoy your planning. You have plenty of time to research and see what’s important to you and yours. For us, on our first trip to Alaska in 2012, it was sled dogs (our girls were 8 and 10! 🤣).

Yes, we’ve started to book more cruises with HAL based on their package. Booking HIA Early Bonus gives us upgraded drink package, WiFi, crew gratuities, shore excursion credits (varies based on cruise length) and specialty dining. Add to that, we also get loyalty OBC, shareholders OBC, AARP OBC and Educator OBC. Compare that to the Plus /Premier package on Princess. Don’t want or need the desserts, exercise classes or the casual dining meals. Also didn’t like that Princess didn’t grandfather in those of us who had already purchased a package prior to the roll out of the new and improved Princess Plus. We love Princess (elite) and will continue to sail with them, but we’ve found better values with HAL.

This is what showed up in my cruise personalizer this morning! Uh, thanks?

I also prefer Totem Bight park. If you are docked in downtown Ketchikan, it’s easy to catch the city bus. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve done it, but I do believe it was $2 pp each way. Go out first thing to visit the park before the tour buses arrive! Much nicer!

I completely agree! I’m a casual gambler (budget $250/cruise) and have gotten some great offers recently —booked Panama Canal and Hawaiian cruises for 2025. Of course, as my hubby (who has NEVER gambled) likes to point out these cruises are not free! We upgrade room categories (OV to veranda) and add HIA. Still, it’s nice to save a few dollars!

Not sure what vendor Celebrity uses but I highly recommend the Northwestern Kenai Fjord tour. I’ve been a couple of times with Major Marine. It is a fantastic cruise—wildlife (whales, orcas, dolphins, puffins, seals), glacier viewing and fjords. Personally feel that the longer you are out on the water, the more opportunities for wildlife sightings. The ships are comfortable—you will have an assigned inside seat for warmth and lunch. Lunches are good but the main attraction is Kenai Fjords! You’ll get up close to glaciers and perhaps see some calving. It is a long tour but it doesn’t feel like 9 hours and it is very different than the glacier viewing on board your large cruise ship. Here’s a link to the cruise I’ve taken: https://majormarine.com/tour/8-5-hour-northwestern-fjord-cruise/ Kenai Fjords Tours is another recommended vendor—they were good but I like Major Marine more. https://www.alaskacollection.com/day-tours/kenai-fjords-tours/northwestern-fjord-tour/

😐 I’m guessing you didn’t read/process my post. I talked about Alaskan land tours (actually in Alaska interior) and why we won’t go on them. Have nice day

We did an Alaskan cruise tour last summer (our first) and it was fabulous! It was the Heart of the Rockies--all land accommodations were in Fairmont Hotels (Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Vancouver). Some hotels were more posh than others but we loved the first class accommodations on the tour. There were only about 26 folks on the land portion part--dedicated bus and tour guide--and we never traveled more by two hours by bus without a stop. Ended the land portion by taking the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver and then boarded the Majestic for a northbound cruise (we did a B2B). Only complaint we had (and it was minor) is that the only train accommodation available was Silver Leaf. (This year's tour includes the option for Gold Leaf service.) So my point is that all Alaskan cruise tours (or any Princess cruise tour) are not the same--one needs to the research to see what is included and if it works with your group. I think it is a mistake that many make--not researching what is included/not included in the cruise tour portion. That is why a number of folks encourage asking questions on this site and TripAdvisor. We have not and will not take a cruise tour in Alaska (Denali, McKinley,etc) just because we know we would not enjoy the bus portions nor the stay at the lodges. Princess does a nice job of posting what to expect at each transfer. As soon as we read that there was a ten-hour bus trip from the Kenali Wilderness Lodge to Copper River, we were done. We have done a number of DIY tours in the interior of the state which is our preferred method of traveling. We are back this year again but on a 10-day DIY visit (rental car, train).

We have cruised the Thanksgiving week for the past seven years—Mexican Riviera and CA Coastal—(except for the shutdown) ever since our kids stopped making the trek home from college/work due to other commitments. And, we use both Princess and HAL depending on which line has the better itinerary. The 7 day (or shorter) cruises are very family-centered—so much so that hubby and I swore we would not go on another holiday cruise without family. The following year, we gave each kid (and their SO/fiancé) the Thanksgiving cruise as a gift. It has now become our family tradition to cruise over the holiday week—other family members have joined in as well. These cruises are generally full but we spent most of the time playing cards/games and visiting with family. Last year we didn’t even get off the ship in Cabo! This year we are on HAL out of San Diego for Thanksgiving. Princess does not make a good traditional American Turkey dinner in the MDR. Ditto the recommendation to eat at the buffet for better food. We just eat at the Crown Grill or Pinnacle Grill for our Thanksgiving dinner. Just a little bit nicer to celebrate family and the day.

People using the reserved chairs is one of the reasons we will never book a Lanai cabin again! Once and never again! Best of luck on your cruise! Hope there is an abundance of courteous guests onboard!

I’ve used this company to book a visit to the Musher Camp in Skagway. There are numerous options—dog sled ride, s’mores & puppies, etc. Here’s the link: https://alaskashoreexcursions.com/skagway/dog-sledding?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw48-vBhBbEiwAzqrZVBW3qLJafStCWbIvp8-xdxqqP8Ip0FMtXDxXoRCOawyF3QE5lOFaZhoCPx4QAvD_BwE If you’re interested in a sled dog and the train, I highly recommend this company:https://chilkootcharters.com/yukon-rail-bus/ We have used them numerous times—very professional and great fun. One can take the train, have a BBQ lunch, visit the puppies (sled rides are extra) and then head back to Skagway in a van. I’m not sure if you can do the Bering Crab Tour and the Lumberjack show in one day—not sure of your port times in Ketchikan. Your plan of having a chill day is a good one. Be sure to check out the salmon run—there’s a fish ladder by Creek Street and there’s also usually seals present.