alasbound

1 hour ago, RD64 said:

Be thankful that you do not have an apostrophe in your last name. This causes an inordinate amount of confusion as different computer systems treat it differently.

I can imagine that would be difficult,!

1 hour ago, audcc77 said:

Not to worry.  
even though DH has the same name, for some reason they (Carnival) put an extra space in his. 
 

Thanks

Thank you. I was pretty sure, but not positive 

Has anyone had a situation where the name is spelled correctly,  but a letter in the middle should be an uppercase.

Cruise = Mcray

ID = McRay

?

Did you have to do a name change?

We were able to talk to Carnival and confirm that it's OK, as long as spelled right.

10 minutes ago, cw2go said:

I can also recommend Beyond Alaska out of Juneau if you're interested in the Mendenhall Canoe wand Glacier Hike, We had a fabulous tour with them. 

We are pretty set on Whales in Juneau and probably Mendenhall, but I will check these out!

10 minutes ago, cw2go said:

Link... 

 

https://www.islandwings.com/bears.html

ahh Starts in Late July.  Earlier than I thought.  I had seen some tours only available in August or September. Thank you!

4 minutes ago, cw2go said:

For bears, I'd recommend a tour from Ketchikan. I've seen bear at Mendenhall in Juneau but nothing compares to Anan Creek and Traitors Cove with Island Wings.  

I think Ketchikan bears need to be August or September, right? We can only go in June or July.

Which months did you see the bears in Icy Strait Point?

Some of the cruise search engines let you put that in the requirements.  

14 hours ago, Dancing Shoes said:

She is also on Trip Advisor.  I sent a PM, and have not heard back.  

 

Thank you.  I had forgotten to look there!

I tried the email but did not get a response.  Hopefully she's busy with wonderful things.

2 hours ago, Italy52 said:

budgetqueenalaska@yahoo.com -- this is the email address she used to have on her Cruise Critic submissions.  Last time I saw one of her posts was around 2020 on a NCL board.

Thank you!

1 minute ago, donaldsc said:

 

When we were at Hyder,  we were too early for bear viewing so we only saw a few of them.  However, we have been to Anan 3 times and saw .lots of bears.  We are maybe going to AK next summer and are thinking about Brooks Falls.  Any thoughts on that idea.

 

DON

I only did a day trip and it was amazing!  I still want to go back and stay there.  I know that sometimes day trippers miss the trip due to weather, so having extra days available could be beneficial.  I'm addicted to the Explore webcams!

19 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

I will bet that we have been to a place in AK that almost no CCers have been to or even heard of - Hyder AK.  Look it up on a map.  It is the only town in southern AK that you can drive to or at least you could drive to it until Canada closed down.  You get there through Stewart Canada.  On the way back from our long driving trip in AK, my wife found the place on a map and even though it was a couple of hundred miles out of the way, we visited Hyder.  Look them up on Wikipedia.  It is a neat place w a population of about 100 people that is totally isolated from the rest of the US.  

 

That is one of the wonders of driving trips. You make totally ridiculous silly choices that end up being great.  I doubt that any tours take you to Hyder.

 

DON

Hyder has been very much on my radar because of the bear viewing!  I ended up going to Katmai but I thought Hyder seemed like an interesting place in addition to the chance to see bears!

I haven't traveled with kids that small, but maybe some of the sled dog excursions would be good, especially if they have puppies.   I would think that the train/bus tours in Skagway would be fine for little kids.  Hopefully, someone with small kids will chime in

Does anyone know Budget Queen off the boards?   I'm a little worried that she hasn't shown back up at all.  She was active through most of the pandemic, but nothing in months now.

I actually liked the Lumberjack show. It's hokey but I thought it was fun and showed some skill.

Glaciers were important to me, so I would try to pick  a cruise with two glaciers, but if they are not a big priority to you and you would rather have another port day, then stick with your original options.I am going in the future with family members who don't really care about the glaciers but I'm working on including Glacier Bay because I think they will love it. Is anything else important to you to help narrow down the Sitka, Haines, or Ketchikan options? BTW, Princess has a roundtrip that incluces Glacier Bay and 4 ports.

Thank you!

Hopefully someone will have a better answer. But sometimes I am able to do a general search - not on the cruise site - and get to them.

Such as search   Royal Carribean Juneau excursions.  If not, you may be able to call the cruiseline and someone should be able to see them.  Or possibly, someone booked can find it for you.

Fingers crossed for you.

I did realize that it would light until very late, but I didn't know about the whale watching tours.  I was afraid there would be a morning and an afternoon tour and that especially the 2:30 arrival, would be too late.  Thank you so much for that information!  That gives me more options.

I often wore some type of wind suit pants and/or jacket so I was able to be out even if it was rainy.  Any of the water resistance fabrics are good.  Of course lots of layering.  I also take the disposable rain ponchos.  I would also recommend more than one pair of shoes if possible in case one pair is wet. I agree that Alaskan cruises don't seem to be super formal.

Thank you.  I will check out her website and see about contacting her.

We are a group of six adults looking to cruise Alaska in June or July this year.  We must do the roundtrip from Seattle.  I'm worried because many of the cruises that I otherwise like don't get in to Juneau until 11:00am or even 2:30 pm.  We want to see whales in Juneau. A priority.  Are we likely to be able to get on a whale watching tour in the afternoon?  Or do I really need to push for a cruise arriving earlier?  I went many years ago and did a tour with Orca (loved it), which I know is no longer in business.  I haven't seen many comments about Harv and Marv, are they still a recommended tour?  I have seen good reviews for Jayleen.  Any suggestions for us? Thanks for any advice!

I haven't been on the Pacific Princess since she's been refurbished (on my wish list).  I did go to Alaska on her several years ago and thought she was perfect!  There were very few children on the ship, only remember seeing 1 small child.  But you are closer to the water on the small ship and so it's  easier to see things.  I remember trivia and such, but not a specific one for families. It's very easy to get around the ship and go back and forth between sides of the ship when watching the glaciers.  There is a wonderful viewing area with glass around it on the upper decks, but the glass was tinted and I personally didn't like that.  I wanted to see the actual glacier colors, so I opted to go down to some lower decks for most of my viewing.    I personally can sit and watch glaciers and watch for wildlife all day, but you might want to bring a game or something to help break up the time for the kids if they get restless.  Or throw in a game of shuffleboard. You also may want to move to different viewing spots to add a little more interest. ( I actually recomment that anyway - different view.) Or maybe watch a movie in the room to break up the glacier viewing days, or play personal game systems for a break? You should have two days of glacier cruising, which is great in case 1 day is really foggy or something, but that means alot of time spent watching that. We loved just pretty much walking on and off the ship past long lines for other ships - that would be a nice perk with kids.  There are hot tubs, but they may be crowed - or they may not be used much.  I think if you and your kids go into it, knowing there won't be all the bells and whistles, and plan some diversions (uno), it's a great ship.  Maybe you could make a scavenger hunt or bingo cards (of things to see).  Or do real active things in port to wear everyone out! lol  I know some kids that I absolutely would not take them on that ship, but I know others, including an 8 year old, that it would be perfect.