no1racefan1

I have been provide headphones/earbuds on United in economy class. A few years ago I had to pay $4 but when I flew earlier this year they were free. Both times they were individually wrapped.

You are not mistaken. This thread covers more than just the Blue Bus.

I always feel like it's better to book earlier than later but then I'm not a frequent flyer or anything like that so other people might feel differently. I see Alaska Airlines has some Cyber Monday deals out there. I booked our flights the day they were available, lol. We're flying Alaska Airlines to Anchorage and United Airlines home from Vancouver. You might also be interested in looking into the Alaska Airlines credit card; you get a $99 companion fare which can save quite a bit, plus free checked bags. Everything I've read says don't book a flight before noon out of Vancouver, but maybe some of the more experienced Alaska cruisers can help answer that.

There were issues with not enough permits to visit the glacier or something like that... for this reason, I think the best bet might be to book the ship excursion to go to Mendenhall. I didn't hear of any ship excursions getting cancelled this summer (I could be wrong though).

LOL of course it's over planning, I fully admit to this 🤣 Truthfully though I love that this thread has turned into a place to bounce ideas off each other and it has made it that much more exciting to look forward to. DH and I have had a rough 3 1/2 years and this trip will be our 'revenge' trip, if you will. It's been such great fun for me to interact with everybody here while planning and I can't wait to share how everything turns out!

Glacier Discovery Train is finally available to book for 2024! This is the train from Anchorage to Whittier. Crossing that off my list today 😄

Thank you! All great suggestions. I do want to go watch the seaplanes for a little bit if we have time. We're going to rent bikes in Anchorage and ride the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

Anchorage

Wow, only 173 days until we are in Alaska! The days seemed to go by faster when I wasn't logging in to Princess every day 😂 Things I still have left to do: Book Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Whittier. This particular route is not available to book for next year yet. Reserve bike rentals at Pablo's in Anchorage Prepay crew appreciation Order bottled water for our cabin Possibly book a massage in Ketchikan Dinner reservations for our nights on land Anybody finding any good Black Friday travel deals??

Ours was February 2018 so it will be over six years by the time we sail next May. I wouldn't exactly call us frequent cruisers.

I don't see why not--I'm a major introvert and I've survived all 4 of my cruises 😆 We almost never go to the buffet, preferring to get a table for 2 in the MDR for breakfasts and dinners. We've only used the pools when there were very few other people in them--one time we got back early on a port day and had the pool to ourselves. We can usually find loungers in less populated areas and just lay there reading or sunbathing in peace (except one time there was a loud family group that kind of ruined it) We mostly do our own thing and participate in activities that sound fun, but mostly just as observers. The cabin is great for de-peopling.

You should be able to use it to cover wifi and crew appreciation once onboard.

Major Marine Tours on sale now!

Not that this will make you feel any better, but you wouldn't be able to use it for Wifi, crew appreciation, etc. anyways. You can only use gift cards for shore excursions. Once boarded you can use it for anything purchased onboard, including those other things. But yes, when I had OBC it only took it to pay for my excursions and I had to still pay out of pocket for DH. Sorry this has happened.

Not too early. Keep trying. The website is sooooo annoyingly glitchy.

I'm confused by some of these answers. Why would I buy wifi if I can't use my phone to communicate? I thought that was the whole point.

Hey everyone! Haven't had too much to report on lately, but I decided to check excursions this morning and to my surprise, the Hubbard Glacier small boat excursion has gone up in price from $299 to $359pp. That is a huge price increase for those of you planning to take this excursion! It still shows at least 20 spots available. This is just another reason to book excursions as soon as you know what you want. Of course this made me curious so I started checking out some other excursions. The lumberjack show has gone up from $39.95 to $43.00. The fishing excursion I booked for DH has gone up from $369.95 to $419.95. Yikes! The interesting thing about that is it still shows 11 spots available, meaning DH is the only person booked. Our other two excursions have not changed in price since we purchased.

This excursion has gone up from $299pp to $359pp in the last couple of weeks. This is on Sapphire Princess next May. Interesting.

Well, I think most schools in the US start by the end of August, so the July cruises probably have higher demand from families. Also, people want to go in the height of summer when they think it will be the warmest--although there's no guarantee of that. Out of your two choices, I would definitely choose end of August.

Their website says the 2024 coupon list will be updated by 10/24, but it doesn't appear to have been updated yet.... There was only one offer in the book that I was confident we would use (Major Marine) so I'm opting not to get the coupon book--unless there's something new and exciting for 2024!

We usually do a combination of ship excursions and DIY, but I'm going to play devil's advocate for ship excursions for now since most people will say the latter. Here's why I like ship excursions: -Easy to book and not have to plan any logistics as far as where to meet the tour, time to meet the tour, etc. Just do whatever the tickets say to do. And the tickets will be placed in your stateroom. -Book online using OBC, if available. So easy! -No concern if ship docks late or gets off schedule--I don't have to make any alternative arrangements because it will be done for me. -Not all ship excursions are 'big bus tours' that people refer to all the time. In fact, I have never taken an excursion on a bus (other than just a short mode of transportation to a site). The key is to RESEARCH ship excursions to see if the experience sounds like what you are looking for. Princess provides detailed excursion descriptions with times, mode of transportation, and reviews. -SOME, but not all, ship excursions are more expensive than booking independently. Again, do your research. For our Alaska trip, all our excursions are booked through Princess and they were within $5-10 of the price listed for the individual vendors. -Every ship excursion I have been on has actually been with a local, independent vendor. They have contracts/deals with the cruise line, but they are still local tour companies. -No worry about being left behind. To be honest, this is mentioned as the biggest perk of ship excursions and I have never worried about it much. I know that local reputable vendors are going to make every effort to stay within the ship's schedule because that's what's best for business. I'm more interested in ship excursions for all the other reasons I listed.

We are flying United from WY to Denver, and then Alaska Air from Denver to Anchorage. And then United on the way home. United is the only airline that our home airport uses so it's our default as long as it's not too expensive. I have a United credit card so we get free checked bags. I got an Alaska Airlines credit card and used the companion fare to book Denver to Anchorage. It also came with a lot of points as a sign up bonus, which I'm going to use for a future trip--but those points could also be used to book rental cars or hotel rooms.

I am weirdly fascinated to hear how this plays out...

It can be added online. I have both my birthday and our anniversary listed for our upcoming cruise.

Well in today's air travel environment, I booked my Alaska flights as soon as they were available to book, so about 11 months in advance. They have gradually increased in price since then. Maybe they'll get cheaper at some point but I didn't want to risk watching them just go up and up having not purchased.