Sleepwalker2341

They are a well run company who operate several tours. I have gone with them.

 

But for my priorities, I choose Dyea Dave as I prefer their transit routine. :) I have used them for both the Fraser train, and southbound Lake Bennett train (which is spectacular). :)

 

Last year- I rode with Dave 7 times on various tours. Really enjoyed the trips with him and his drivers. Very well done. :)

Why do you prefer Dyea Dave? Anything in particular? I'll check them out too.

Thanks

John

Yes, very good company. We used them the following year, too, for a van up and back since we wanted to stop a lot for photos. If I'm not mistaken, we did a hike in Skagway with them on our first cruise to Alaska in 2006.

Thanks for the reply. I think we will probably book with them.

We will probably do the bus up, train back option.

Thanks again

John

We are thinking about booking the White Pass and Yukon tour with Chilkoot Charters and Tours.

Anyone use them before?

John

We are on Same cruise also! lol

Sorry you have fear of flying.....I USED to be fearful, but I've been a

frequent flyer for years, so it goes away.

 

Wow, Thats an awfully long drive.

I don't even drive to Vegas, unless I have to.

 

We live in Calif. but were Flying to Seattle that morning, and flying

out that evening on return.

 

We went on similar Alaska itinerary in May this year, and liked it so

much were going back. (Weather was WARM, didn't need a jacket!)

 

However, I do believe Pearl has Gotta be a better ship than what we went on NCL Sun in May. (long story short, its the Only NCL ship I regret getting on) See ya on Pearl, May 2016!

CLC...yes, it's a really long drive, but we are going to get to see things we've always wanted to see. Plus we get to see relatives on the trip back.

I hope the weather is good, I was wondering what a trip to Alaska in May would be like, weather wise.

We are booked in an aft mini-suite. First time in an aft cabin for us.

Sleepwalker

Alpshi and DrValo, we are looking forward to the trip.

DrValo, we plan on visiting many of the places you mentioned. We are thinking of staying near the airport at an Embassy Suites. They will let us keep our car there during the cruise for free. They will also shuttle us to and from the port.

Sleepwalker

There are HUNDREDS of tours. I suggest you, look at your shore excursion list and significantly narrow down your interests. This is 50% of Alaska travel and not the place to skimp- in my opinion. :)

 

A lot more information can be gotten over on the Alaska ports of call board. But head to your library first- there are several Alaska Ports of Call books to look over.

I've been checking Cruiseportinsider.com . It has a lot of info.

Thanks!

John

It is noit near the cruise terminal, but we stayed in a budget motel near the airport which included parking and a shuttle to and from the cruise terminal. Everything closer was pretty expensive.

Thanks for the head up. I know what you mean by things in town being expensive. Almost went into sticker shock...lol.

John

We are on the same cruise as you are, but when you get to be our age flying is the only way to go, lol. I do miss the long road trips.

I've always had a fear of flying, so if I want to take an Alaskan cruise, this is the only way I'll get to do it...LOL. Luckily my wife is all for taking the opportunity to do a lot of sightseeing on the way there and back.

John

Some hotels in Seattle have parking packages where you can leave your car while you cruise if you stay there a night or so before. Sorry I can't remember which ones.. possibly Embassy Suites by airport.

We will check into that, as that is where we were talking about staying. My wife has the Hilton Honors program and that is one of their places.

Thanks for letting me know.

John

Triptolemus...thanks for the info and the pictures. They are definitely inspiring!

Luckily we wont be going in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster...LOL. We will probably be going in my wife's mustang convertible. It gets better gas mileage than my F150. :)

Culzer2... I'm used to driving 12-13 hours a day, as I have relatives in PA and drive that straight through. Depending where I'm going, I can drive 750-800 miles in that time frame. I don't want to do that every day but I can do 3 or 4 days at that distance. I may need to talk the wife into cutting out a few stops though. I want to take 10 days going out. Might need to rethink things.

Thanks!

Sleepwalker

My wife an I are booked on the Pearl for the May 15-22, 2016 cruise.

We live in Florida and have decided to make this a real road trip, as we are going to drive out there. We are going a week to 10 days earlier, so we can stop and visit attractions and enjoy the scenery. On the way back we will be going through Vegas and visit the Grand Canyon and well as some relatives.

Since we will have a car to park during the cruise, is there a parking area that is suggested we use? Is it close to the terminal?

Also, any recommendations for a hotel near the cruise terminal?

Anyone have any suggestions for excursions? We will be stopping in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC.

Thanks

Sleepwalker

Lov2vaca and Mandymommyof2, I do have the dailies. I'll get Tortola on here first chance I get.

Sleepy

My wife and two adult sons just got in today on the Getaway.

We had a great time. It was our first time on NCL.

Embarkation was easy, we were there at 11:15 and on the ship at 12:15. We had a mini-suite and it was ready at 1:30, about the time we finished lunch at O'Sheehans. The balcony was a little smaller than I had hoped, but the bathroom made up for it. It was very roomy, with two sinks.The shower was fantastic!

Our room steward, Fatima, met us shortly after we went to our room, to see if she could do anything for us. We asked that she have the mini-bar emptied so we could put in the sodas and water we brought on board with us. She was happy to do this and took care of it within 30 minutes of us leaving the room to explore the ship. She was great the whole week. She called me Sir John, so I told my wife I had been knighted, but she wasn't buying it. :)

Food on the ship was excellent. We ate at Cagney's, Teppanyaki, and La Cucina. Our favorite was Cagney's. We usually hit the buffet for breakfast and we did O'Sheehans and the Flamingo Bar and Grill for lunch. We did have dinner in the Tropicana room one evening and we were lucky enough to be there during the Burn the Floor dancers performing. They were great.

Service at all the restaurants was very good, with one exception. O'Sheehans has two areas, one a regular sit down type and the other a pub type. In the pub type, both times we ate there, they took our orders, brought us one drink and we never saw them again. No one checked if we'd like another drink or if we needed anything. Once I sat there for about 10 minutes, being passed by multiple waiters and no one said a word to me. The manager walked by and asked if I had been helped yet, and when I told him no, he got me a menu and said there would be someone there right away. Within 20 seconds, I had someone there taking my order.

The entertainment was very good. We saw Legally Blonde, The Musical, which my wife liked a lot. Shannon McNally was the Grammy Experience performer. She was nominated in 2011. She is kind of a bluesy, folk style singer. I thought she was definitely worth taking in her show. We didn't see any of the comedians, it always seemed to conflict with something else we were doing. Eric Buss, a comedy magician did one performance on day 6. He was pretty good. The Howl at the Moon Duo was very good and a lot of fun.

The ship is big, but it has a very limited pool and poolside area. Not much room at all. We were kind of disappointed in that, but the rest of the ship is beautiful.

The crew was very friendly and helpful all week.

We carried our own luggage off the ship and we were in our car by 8:15. Very smooth disembarkation.

All in all, a great vacation.

Sleepwalker

We just got back today on the Getaway. Legally Blonde was on days 5 and 6, 2 shows each day, at 7:30 and 10:15.

Sleepy

I learned my lesson about not getting the insurance.

A week before my cruise in 2012, I was in the hospital undergoing 3 surgeries. No insurance, lost everything but the port charges for that cruise.

No more cruises without it now.

Sleepy

Does your ship registration have to show your middle name if it is on the passport?

Sleepy

Thanks S&S,

We will probably take some water and soft drinks with us, even though we will probably end up buying the soda package once we get on board. We want to have some in our room for those nights we get settled in and don't want to have to go out to get something to drink or call room service.

I appreciate the heads up on where to eat when we get on board.

We are really looking forward to the Getaway, especially since the last cruise we were supposed to go on, 3 years ago, got cancelled because I ended up in the hospital with blood clots in both legs about a week before we were to leave. Didn't have cruise insurance either. Learned a valuable and expensive lesson on that one.

Thanks again!

Sleepy

We are going on the Getaway on May 9th. We haven't been on NCL before.

As for taking soft drinks and water on board, what is allowed? I guess what I'm asking is how much is allowed.

Also, are the carry on bags hand checked or run through a machine? I assume the checked bags are x-rayed.

Are your rooms usually ready when you first get on the ship or is it common to have to wait a couple of hours?

Thanks for your help,

Sleepy

Great, thanks khaide612 and mjkacmom.

John

Just to confirm, we can still buy the Soda card, if everyone in the room gets it, correct?

John

Okay, thanks. I appreciate it.

Maybe we will give it a shot once we get on board. All they can say is no.

Thanks again for the responses.

John

We are leaving on the Getaway on May 9th and we were going to purchase the drink package.

We were going to get the Adult Beverage card for my oldest son and the rest of us were going to purchase the soda, tea and coffee card. My youngest is 20 and so he isn't drinking and my wife and I probably wont have 3 adult beverages on the whole trip.

They told us if one person in the cabin buys the adult beverage card, then everyone has to. That makes no sense for people who don't drink or who don't drink much at all.

Does this sound right to ya'll?

John

Thanks for letting me know. We are on the Getaway starting the 9th.

John

Thanks for the review.

We are on the Getaway May 9th, and we are really looking forward to it.

We have reservations already for Cagney's and Teppanyaki.

Can't wait!

John

Thanks for all the responses.

I appreciate it.

John