TexasBorderAussie

Loving your post.  We are doing our 4th cruise to Alaska starting on July 31.  First time ever on Princess.  Vancouver to Whittier.

Your pictures are amazing!!!!  My DH is the photographer and is always taking pictures.  I will get him on to watch along also.  I know he will be a fan.

Sorry about the experience at tea.  I at one time was a very shy individual but would answer questions and try a bit of conversation.  My job (Nurse Practitioner) has developed me into a much more vocal person knowing it is my job to get things started and even though my original shy nature tries to take hold, I can push past.  One of the things, I have enjoyed about all our cruises and other vacations as well is getting to know a bit about other travelers. 

Skagway, the train should be good.  Not a lot of walking to tire a little one out and lots of scenery.  My kids enjoyed riding on trains.

There is a lumberjack show in Ketchikan.

If you look around much on this site you will find lots of info and spot the post by Maple Leaves.  It has a whole page of sites for info on all the ports.  It is most helpful.

I hope you enjoy your time.  I know that you will.

Check out the Alaska Forum.  Maple Leaves reposts an excellent resource to utilize for all the different excursions and on your own stuff.  Lots of info.

A few years ago we stayed at the White Moose in Healy.  Basic but was clean and owners friendly.  Just a short trip down to Denali.

Juneau.  I would like to spend more time there than just the time allotted during a cruise and probably will go spend a few days at least one trip.   Kodiak might likely have been my pick but wasn't on cruise when I was there.  It was independent trip.

Nome.  I would spend a year in Nome if I could, maybe longer.  I most always spend at least a week every year there.

Yes, they do have to all be booked on the card holder. 

Need to get spouse a card so he could use it for himself and get the MIL on companion for him.:)

My daughter and her husband did this so they could each take a kid as the companion fare.

We go to Alaska, Nome every year and they go every other year or so also.  It sure saves a lot of money with flights that far.

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The first bag free is for more than just the person with the card. Myself, the card holder and my spouse, the companion fare have always gotten one free bag each when booking with the card.  I believe it is up to 5 or maybe six that get the first bag free.  It has this info on the site.

This will be our first time on Princess this summer so can't speak to the ship but this will be our 4th cruise to Alaska.  Been May, Aug and Sept.  Great all those times.  Weather was great each time esp for us the Aug and Sept cruise. For us, the cruise we did in May was the one with the most rain.  In fact the cruise director came out to take pictures of Hubbard Glacier on the Sept cruise as he said it was the best day that they had had all year.

Remember the inside passage is mostly in a rain forest.

Having been to Alaska 6 years (son lives in Nome)  I have learned.  Lots of layers.  Do what you plan regardless of the weather because it will change from rainy to sunny and back to rainy over the course of a day.  Don't look too far ahead on weather graphs as it changes so much from one day to the next look 2 or more weeks out.  (Drove me crazy, so I stopped). 

I second the DIY land portion.  It is quite easy to book the train or rental car yourself as well as hotels.  Do some research and go where you want to go for the amount of time you want to be there.  We have always done it this way and found it to be most satisfying.

Thanks. Yes departure time for the shuttle is at least hour after arrival. Good idea with the bag. I always have a small lite backpack and could get everything extra except the CPAP in it I think, so only two items to stuff in a suitcase between picking it up at the baggage claim area and getting it to the shuttle bus.

The question is-- will the luggage be on the dock waiting for us by the time we get off the ship if we do the more traditional put it outside the door the night before and let ship personnel transport it to the pickup place on the dock? Seemed like could be more convenient.

We are doing a private transport on a bus and timing is quite critical so don't want to miss the shuttle waiting for our bags. You can also only take one small carry on onto the shuttle bus per their web site which means we would then have to connect back to our luggage, put some items in it (since can't be but one per person going into the passenger part of bus) get it to the bus.

My hesitation is seeing some posts of people missing flights/shuttles as they had to sit and wait after disembarking for their luggage to arrive to the dock. I was wondering if that is common or the occasional mishap?

I am on Celebrity and we have disembarked with our luggage previously with them. We have always kept our luggage with us in the room and just taken it out with us when we disembark from the ship, instead of setting it out the night before disembarking and then reuniting with it at a designated area the next morning at disembarking. I had read before of having to wait for them to get your bags to the pickup spot and also we would have several items then to pack into those bags once we picked them up. I have also read posts of people having baggage missing and not available to pick up which is why we prefer to just do it ourselves.

Since we always walk off with the luggage we don't have to do the HAVE to collect it and take it to whatever we using for transportation at that point.

We have always just kept our luggage and walked off with it. No issues, very fast and no waiting. We are taking the shuttle bus from Seward back to Anchorage this year. Would there be a problem continuing our usual practice? DH has to sleep with CPAP or we are both awake most of the night:mad::mad: He can throw it in the bag and off we go. I did a search but didn't come up with anything on the thread search.

I guess we could let them take the luggage and us pick it up but seems like it would slow things down and I am not sure we would both be around to actually collect baggage:evilsmile:

Thanks in advance.

We did the same 2 years ago and plan to again this cruise coming up in August. As we got to Canada Place there were workers out by the curb directing you to where you needed to go.

Go down on the boards page and check out Alaska in the ports. You will find a wealth of information regarding your question.

Have fun. I think you will love it.:)

There are several other cruise lines going to Alaska besides Holland also.

I would post this on the Alaska Board as you will most likely get more replies and you will also likely find much information on that board already posted.

When there a couple of years ago we did the bus trip to the glacier and walked out to the falls. It was nice and enjoyed it. We just walked off the ship and there were several different companies with tours to go on. Got some nice pictures of the glacier and the falls.

I did an NCL cruise in 2014. When we were at Glacier Bay they set out a life boat with some of the crew people to go up closer. If I remember it correctly it came over the load speaker that each year the ships that came into the glacier could send a one time only lifeboat up closer. It was not for the passengers. They said that day it was so unusually nice they were going to use their one day for the season on that day. It was a gorgeous clear, sunny day. They spoke of pictures. Probably for their websites and advertisement.

You may want to take a look at both Celebrity and Norweigian. Not sure about Celebrity including Glacier Bay but I do know that Norwegian does and I know both have round trip and one way tours.

City Diner in Anchorage on Minnesota Drive is a good place. We have eaten there two different times and a friend that lives there takes many people there to eat. Diner food but good size portions and tastes yummy. Especially desserts:):p

I did the glacier bay on Norweigian Pearl a couple years ago. I saw many families on board and some with very young children. Seemed like they were having a good time. At the end of the cruise at the CC meeting, one couple said they had a hard time getting their son out of the kid's club, he liked it so much. He wanted to stay instead of eat!!:D Norweigian does have a very relaxed atmosphere aboard and I believe that if I still had young children would be comfortable with them on the Pearl.

I'm sure you will get lots of replies, but one thing I hear over and over on this board and happen to also agree with myself is Alaskan cruises are about Alaska NOT the cruise as much. The cruise makes a wonderful background and an extremely nice way to get to the differing spots in Alaska to see.;) I would go with the longer port times to make the most of Alaska. I will be going on a north bound myself this summer out of Vancouver and am looking forward to being in this wonderful city.

In the final evaluation, you look at the pros and cons for you and your family and go with the one with what is best for you. Good Luck. I know that ya'll will have a wonderful time whatever you choose. It's ALASKA!!

Cruise two years ago with AT&T and no extra charges (only used in ports). Always had service. Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Seward. Our son lives in Nome and we have no big issues there. Pictures taken there and sent sometimes to a bit longer but texts and talking fine. We drove from Anchorage up to Denali (just in case you are doing some land combo) and most of the time no issues. If we lost service it would just be a few miles and then get it again.

The train is a highlight of the trip. We did that on our last cruise and really enjoyed.:) We like trains and was a nice way to see the scenery.

We plan this year to rent a car and drive to Emerald Lake. Have seen many recommendations for the beautiful scenery and can do it at your own pace. Also a chance to get away from the stores!!

We stayed at the White Moose Lodge. Not fancy, but quaint and it is fairly cheap. It was clean, bed slept well and that was pretty much all we wanted of a place to stay. We were there in August of last year and they still had rooms open. It is small, probably about 20.