no1racefan1

Thanks, I'll mention this to DH.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! This morning I did a quick perusal of all of our trip reservations and discovered that one of our flights has gone down in price. I was able to cancel and rebook, saving us 2,000 miles. It's not a lot, but I'm grateful to get those miles back since I'm trying to save enough miles to upgrade our seats! When you book things far in advance, you should always regularly check reservations for any price changes. I also checked in on Princess excursions just so I could share information with you all--the Hubbard Glacier excursion is, for the first time, under 20 spots available!! This being five months out, that's a good indication of how quickly this excursion can sell out. DH is still the only person booked on his fishing excursion, but I'm sure that will change.

Use the hangtag on the door. Do not call. Do not use the app. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. 😉

No it is not.

There is such a misconception on CC about ship-sponsored excursions being all big, obnoxious, less enjoyable, etc. We've had exceptional tours through the cruiselines, you just have to do your research and know what you are getting. Our experiences (from various cruise lines) have included: Rainforest & Waterfall Hike on Maui--8 people on the tour, and the guide was a 20+ year local (actually relocated from MT, as almost everybody we met in Hawaii had moved there from somewhere else). It was a muddy, wet, active, fabulous excursion! Volcano Hike in Hilo--6 people on the tour and the guide was also weirdly from MT. She worked for a local tour company. We walked across an old volcano, visited the national park, and then since we were three couples (all strangers) celebrating anniversaries, she let us vote to get back a little bit late in order to take a detour to see a black sand beach. It was amazing and so was she! Private Beach Getaway in Cozumel--this was probably the biggest ship excursion we've been on and I think it was about 20 ppl. We were taken by bus to a beach house and waited on hand and foot while we laid on the beach, got massages, etc. They made fresh guacamole for everyone, including making a special batch for my DH who's allergic to onions. Then they cooked lunch for us right on the grill and brought us whatever we wanted. It was heaven and DH tipped them very generously, lol. Helicopter to Dogsledding Camp in Juneau--Only us and one other couple in the helicopter--I think there was one other helicopter. This is very obviously a local tour company as I think most of them are in Alaska, contracted by the cruise line. It was a magical experience and probably what sold me on cruising and cruise excursions. We have, on occasion, also done things on our own in ports, but if I'm booking tours I almost always book through the ship. It's not even about the whole 'getting back to ship' thing. It's just the ease of booking through the cruise line, getting tickets in our cabin, being directed where to go, and having all the scheduling arranged for us. Never have to worry if the ship arrives late, departs late, doesn't make it to a port, etc. Don't have to coordinate or communicate with any tour operators. It's all arranged. Just tell me where to go, lol. Some places we could have saved a few bucks probably; however, I've noticed especially in AK that booking direct is the same price or nearly the same price as booking through the cruise line. Might as well let them do all the work!

Glacier Bay and Inside Passage are different places and not related to each other. If a ship is going to Glacier Bay, it will be clearly listed as part of the itinerary: Note that inside passage is not listed as part of the itinerary, as it's just part of the ship's route. You can see from the map somebody else posted that Royal class ships must sail to the west of Vancouver Island, thus not sailing the 'true' inside passage. (I say 'true' because a lot of round-trip itineraries are called Inside Passage, and may or may not be sailing to the west of Vancouver Island depending on class of ship. The terminology is misleading.)

My understanding is you can check your bag through to your cruise ship when you get on the train in Anchorage.

If you decide to stay at Harbor 360, it is owned by Major Marine, and you can get a discount at the hotel if you book a tour through them. Or vice versa, I can't remember. At any rate, call and ask about booking the two together!

You can buy gift cards at an 8% discount from AARP Rewards. Search the boards for AARP gift cards, there are a lot of threads.

Yes, the ship water is fine! We bring refillable bottles too. I like to have the bottled water on hand in case we're hanging out somewhere and forget to bring our bottle to fill, or to take off the ship, or to have in the cabin chilled.... we just really like water, lol

Yesterday I took care of some loose ends! I reserved bikes for our first morning in Anchorage from Pablo's Bike Rentals so we can ride the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. They have a really generous cancellation policy, which is nice in case we need it. I also prepaid crew appreciation and a case of water. My original plan was to buy another discounted Princess gift card from AARP and then apply this onboard to pay for crew appreciation; however, with all the little changes Princess keeps making, I was worried they might decide to increase prices, so I just went ahead and paid those. I decided to cancel my Lumberjack Show excursion. I just wasn't that excited about it and I kind of felt like I booked it just to have something to do that day while DH goes fishing. I think instead, I'm going to take a 'me' day and book a massage in Ketchikan, walk around, and enjoy some time on the ship with fewer people. I thought I'd share a budget update since I haven't done so in awhile. The column on the left is budgeted and the column on the right is what I've actually spent. I update the left hand side once I know for sure what the amount is. I'm sharing my budget because going to Alaska can be very expensive, and I want to show that it is possible to do it on a budget (kind of!). This is still more than we spend on most trips and I was hoping to get it under $7K, but I don't think that's realistic unless we cut out some of the things we really want. We have tried to focus the bulk of our spending on tours/experiences. The biggest remaining item we have some control over is meals, so I'm open to any suggestions on how to reduce expenses there!

I just don't see the benefit in spending who knows what amount of time on the phone trying to get it fixed. What would we gain by having him recognized as sailing once previously? Unless we are trying for elite or platinum or whatever it is...which we're not.

Yes, he should be. For some reason their system isn't recognizing him.

Hmm, can you try and speak to somebody else? We haven't sailed Princess since 2006, and mine came right up when I signed in to the Princess website to book our cruise for next year. I was actually able to sign in using my same email address, I just had to reset the password since I hadn't been on the site in years. It's not recognizing my DH as a returning cruiser but since I don't see any benefit to him being gold instead of blue (or whatever the colors are) I decided not to pursue it.

I logged on yesterday via Chrome with no issues.

Of course 🙄 Pretty sure I've made it clear that I fly in economy and I'm not even a frequent flyer at that so I didn't even really know we were talking about $100+ headphones here.... I'm also not the first one that said I wouldn't want to re-use them either.

If it helps, most of the ship excursions I've looked at for AK have been the same price or within $10 of the price of independent tour operators. And remember most of the tour operators the cruise lines hire are still local; they just happen to have made a deal/contract.

I am in the US and I see the same prices as you.

Oh, I see. I wasn't aware that they 'recycle' the noise cancelling ones. That would freak me out too. I've only had the cheapies in economy 😄

Stickers are pretty popular right now, maybe you could find some AK stickers? I have no idea if this would work but our local chamber of commerce has some fun items that can be requested to give out to guests. Maybe you could contact the chambers in the ports you'll be stopping at.

You are restricted to leaving until after they have tied up, cleared passengers, and done all the 'things'.... I have read around 6am but others can probably share first-hand experience.

Sounds like a great deal! You just inspired me to check our flights, but we used miles and they are the same from Vancouver or Seattle. Switching to Seattle would save about $300 if we had paid for them though! Great heads up for people to consider.

I just stumbled upon this article while browsing Tripadvisor. It lists possible Black Friday sales on Alaska hotels, tours, etc. I don't know if any of these are still going on (I know Alyeska Resort is because I was checking it out!) but worth taking a look! https://www.valisemag.com/alaska-black-friday-deals/

Well if the options involve flying in the same day vs. flying in the day before, I'd start there and eliminate anything that involves flying in the same day. I haven't been on HAL but have read that HAL and Princess are pretty comparable. I believe the Northbound or Southbound spend more time in ports than a round-trip--which you didn't mention as an option but in case it is...that's something to consider too. You're going to all that trouble to visit Alaska, might as well spend as much time there as you can.

I've been able to chat with no issues. Although it did take me a couple of tries to not get the 'we're too busy, try again later' message.