Krimson

Try digestive enzymes and probiotics. The probiotics maintain good gut health and the digestive enzymes break down the food so your body will push it on through. They really helped me when I was dieting before, and they seem to be helping this time around.

It appears that the roll call for our Sept 2016 cruise on the Sun has not attracted anyone but me.

I wonder if not many have booked the cruise yet or do roll calls for Alaska not generate many joiners?

I haven't ever participated in a roll call. I am not sure what purpose they serve. Enlighten me?

There are some big errors with some of the above assumptions. There is NO issue with getting refunds booked direct, and the vendor canceling the tour. ...

 

With booking direct- I don't know of ANY vendor who does not refund, if they cancel a tour.

I agree and book most of our tours directly. My best success was in booking with a tour company in Roatan. There were several activities offered by the company that we couldn't choose from, so I worked with the company via email to construct a package deal that combined 6 different activities (parasailing, snorkeling the reef, drinks and swimming at the beach, ziplining the forest, horseback riding and tour of the area) into a single tour with a car and driver that picked us up and took us back to the dock and stayed the whole day with us for under $200 each for the three of us. However, one cruise we were forced off course by Hurricane Ivan and only made one of our ports, at which most activities had been canceled. We didn't make to any of our other ports. If we'd prepaid private excursions on that cruise it might have been hard to get refunds. However, many privately arranged excursions require only a modest deposit or no prepayment as they understand these concerns. Also, we have had very good luck in big cruise ports not prebooking, just walking down the dock looking at local offerings.

I understand. But our main reason for traveling to the Mighty Northwest is to attend the World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane August 19-23rd. We really hoped to find a cruise departing on the 24th and drive to Seattle on the evening of the 23rd, but the only one available was about 25% more so we are giving up the last day of the event to head for Seattle first thing Sunday morning to catch the Amsterdam. After the cruise we'll have brunch at the Space Needle then start the 1,916 mile drive home to the Desert Southwest, with stops at Yellowstone National Park and in Denver for Tacticon, another Science Fiction Convention. So getting there a day early isn't in the cards for us, although I am excited to be cruising with HAC for the first time. But if we are on the road by 7am, we should get to Seattle about 11:30am, which gives us three hours of latitude for unforeseen problems.

Thanks. I did try running some searches, but didn't turn up my answer. So we need to be at the port by about 2:30pm, which shouldn't be too difficult to make from Spokane. Our ports will be Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria. We are very budget conscious, but will stretch for things we really want to do. A few cruises ago we quit using sponsored excursions and started locating our own activities. I can research what's available; what I'd really like to hear is what other people found to be their best experiences. What looks good on a website or brochure may not turn out to be so great in reality, and sometimes great activities have sketchy or nonexistent marketing. I'll have a look at the HAC link and see what I can learn.

I've looked around and can't seem to locate this information. We'll be driving into Seattle from Spokane Sunday, the morning of the cruise, supposed to be about a 4.5 hour drive (we're from Texas so if someone has any info about the drive it will be welcome). I need to know by what time we need to be in the terminal so I can plan that drive. The ship sets sail at 4pm. I'm also interested in hearing anything people want to share about Amsterdam, it's our first time on HAC and our first time in Alaska. We have a fully obstructed outside cabin, selected it for the extra square footage. We've done 7 nights on NCL, 26 I think on RCL, and I think 28 on Carnival. Mediterranean, Scandinavian and several Caribbean cruises. Suggestions for port activities in Alaska also welcome. Sailing August 23 through 30th, any chance we'll get to see the Northern Lights?