travelinmoma

We used to tell the stateroom attendant that we didn't need towel animals, they were not a big deal to us, thinking that would make their job a little easier. Every time we did that, it was like a challenge to them to come up with something unique that would surprise us, so it ended up making more work for them. We don't mention towel animals anymore.

Good to know. I was going to tell our attendant the same thing. I thought it might save him/her some valuable time, and since we are two adults, I'm fine without them.

What are the chances we will be offered discounted specialty dining once onboard? And what's the typical discounted price? We are on Explorer next month.

You can get a half pasta selection as an appetizer and then a regular entree for your main entree. We did this and it worked out great. The pastas were (y)(y)(y)

That sounds perfect! Thanks!

I was just looking at the menu. Can you order something from the Pasta E Risa section AND something from the Mare e Terra section or are they both considered main courses? Thanks!

Can you not get a full cash refund since they were the ones who cancelled? Or is the FCC in addition to a refund?

Last month I was able to receive Wapp phone calls on the Regal Princess. My phone was the whole week in airplane mode though.

I was wondering about this. I broke down and bought the Voom package $$$ so that I could keep in touch with my child who is staying home. We use What's App. I knew we would be able to message each other, but I wondered about phone calls.

P.S. I love What's App. I can call my brother who lives in Mexico for free!

I email special services a few months ahead of time and ask that box fan be placed in our room.

I need to do this. We use a fan mainly for the sound, so I'm not sure a small portable one would work for us. Would you mind sharing the email or where to find it? Thanks!

I sailed in November on the Majesty and didn't have a mini-bar (also never had daily schedules delivered). I never looked for the Internet cafe --- are they getting rid of them?

I thought I had read that on the threads here, but I could be wrong. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

I'm guessing this is an older video since room service was only $3.95 and there's a minibar and internet cafe. Or is Explorer different from the other ships?

With ships tour you won’t have enough time to walk to Nugget Falls. Why not take the local shuttle and spend as much time as you want there.

Could we just take the local shuttle back or would it have to be round trip thing?

I second the White Pass railway excursion. Absolutely gorgeous. In Juneau we did an excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching boat trip. Would highly recommend that as well. In Victoria (which is beautiful) we took a taxi into town, explored on our own and had lunch at the Bard and Banker restaurant which we really enjoyed.

I am booked for the same tour in Juneau. I read some reviews that said you don't have enough time to hike to Nugget Falls and back with this tour. I will be really disappointed if this is true. I was hoping they made some adjustments after so many complaints about it. Was this true on your excursion? Thanks!

Sometimes it's more comfortable to take the mattress off the pullout sofa and put it directly on the floor. I'm not sure if that's an option on a cruise ship, but we do it a lot in hotel rooms. I think the person who suggested you and your spouse share the pullout mattress and split the bed back into twin beds for the boys might have the best option -especially since you don't have time to make other arrangements.

Thank you for all of your advice. It really helps a lot. There are only two of us, and I was able to score the Butchart Gardens tour for $55pp which seemed cheaper or about the same as the DIY price. It's up to $75pp now! :o I think 2 hours will be plenty for us.

It sounds like the HOHO bus will be worth it, so I think I'll go ahead and buy that. It's so nice to be able to get information from an "insider". Thanks again!

I know this isn't exactly Alaska, but it is a stop on our cruise, so I thought I'd ask. I'm looking at some Groupons for Victoria. One is for the Big Bus Victoria hop on/hop off tour. Has anyone done this? It would be about $20pp. Is that a good price? It also includes Robert Bateman admission. Would we be able to get to one of the hop on points from the pier without having a car? We are doing the Butchart Gardens tour through the cruise ship, so if possible, we could also pick it up from there.

The other one is for pizza at the Lido Waterfront Bistro. Has anyone ever eaten here? Tasty? Can we get to it easily without a car?

Thanks for all of your help.

I don't know how far out your cruise is, but the best prices I found by far were on Black Friday.

We are planning to do one of these short hikes in Skagway after our train ride. We are going in late May/Early June. My dh is really worried about running into a bear on a hike. :)

https://skagwayshoretours.com/best-short-hikes-in-skagway/

http://www.alaska.org/assets/content/maps/Trail%20Maps/skagway-trail-guide.pdf

I booked the lunch at the $17 price. Today I went into my reservation to try to change the time to one hour later, and it's not letting me without changing the price. Can I just change the time when I'm onboard without having to pay extra?

Unless things have greatly improved over the past couple of years, I would not count on reliable service in Alaska with Sprint. I have Sprint and my phone was pretty much useless when I was there unless I was in/near a store that had wifi. I know their map says they have coverage, but it is NOT good.

Useless even for regular phone calls? I can live without wifi for a week, but I'd really like to hear my kid's voice. :)

Check the charges for texts at sea with Sprint carefully. You may find that they (like AT&T) do not charge for incoming texts, only for texts sent. If that is the case, you don't have to worry about the flood of incoming texts. I would also turn off cellular data as mentioned, just to be sure you don't get charged for data.

I checked and incoming are only .05 cents! Can I turn my cellular data back on when I'm in port? Will I need to in order to make regular phone calls?

***oops -just saw that you already posted that. :)

We are leaving my son at home with either Grandma or a babysitter while we cruise to Alaska. He's a teen and has his own phone. If I'm understanding correctly, I can call him if I am in port in Alaska at no charge. However, I'd like to text him daily just to check in. I looked up the costs on Sprint.com, and it looks like texts are only .50 cents each. Here's my question, and sorry if it's stupid. I'm not very tech savvy. If I take my phone off of airplane mode while I'm at sea in order to text him, I will probably instantly get flooded with texts, notifications and emails. Will I be charged for those or only if I actually open them and read them?

Our local hospital has something called a Fast Pass. It has all of my son's medical info etc. When my parents are watching him, they can just hand the hospital or urgent care the card.

Is the Meet & Mingle usually on the 2nd day?

I booked ours on Royal more than a year out. I checked weekly and the price only went up. Now it's about double what I paid. I think if you are booking early and the price seems like a great deal (for reference: ours was $689 per person/inside cabin with $100 OBC), it's not going to drop. You could always spend the $59pp for insurance instead of paying $200.

You can easily walk from the wharf to Lombard Street. If you've never seen it, it's worth the extra 15 minutes. We did a tour that picked us up, took us to Muir woods, and then dropped us in Sausalito. We shopped a little and then took the ferry back. Just FYI there was a problem with the ferry and it took over an hour to get it taken care of, so don't cut it too close. We loved SF! And Muir Woods was amazing!

Good question! I'd like to know what people recommend, too.