ccarroll57

I am going to be on Oasis of the Seas in November and stopping in Falmouth. After reading through some posts, it has become apparent to me that I really don't want to do anything on my own in Falmouth. I am wondering if anyone has done any excursions they would recommend? I have not been to Jamaica so would like to experience it but want to ensure we are safe doing so.

So we are leaving on 5/3 for a 5 day Bermuda cruise. We are going to spend the second day at Horseshoe Bay and want to spend the first day doing either St. George's or Hamilton and the Crystal Caves. Our plan is to take the ferry to one or the other and then take the bus to the Caves.

I know the ferry takes longer to get to St. George's and it has a shorter bus ride (or at least that is what I read). I am interested in opinions on which you would choose as far as touring, shopping, sightseeing, etc. St. George's or Hamilton?

I thought all posts were optional participation, many provide entertainment...often unintentionally. Wouldn’t be much of a forum otherwise.

 

 

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Agreed. Thank you for you feedback on Chops

We are sailing on the 15th on the Radiance. My sons are huge soccer fans and want to try and watch as much of the World Cup as they can when we have downtime. I read that in 2014 Royal Caribbean seemed to make a big deal about showing the games but can't find any information on 2018.

Has anyone seen or heard anything about RC showing the games on the ships?

Sorry to hear that. I can somewhat relate as my son is still on crutches from a sprained ankle and we leave in a week.

Thanks for your review and posting the cruise compasses. We leave on the 15th of June and this is great info.

I sail on June 15. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

If he is planning to "borrow: a knee scooter, I don't think that this will work The ship does not have medical devices that they loan. He will probably have to bring it w him.

 

DON

I did not expect to borrow from the ship. We would borrow from a friend and bring with us.

If you really want glacier time head to the other side of the lake, GPS Skater Cabin and then drive down to the end and park, this is where the boats put in. Then hike out to the glacier and you can actually touch it.

Thank you. I will look into that.

We leave for our cruise on the 15th and my son is still nursing a badly sprained ankle. The doctor is unsure if he will be off crutches by the time we go but is hopeful. In the event he is not, I am looking at borrowing a knee scooter to help him get around. I'm worried about our day in Juneau as one of our plans was to hike to Nugget Falls.

Does anyone have any experience with that trail with a knee scooter or even a wheelchair? He is in great shape other than the ankle but I want to know if it will be a big issue for him on the trail in the event his ankle is not healed.

We were just there this week. The whale watching and Mendenhall combo gives you enough time to see Mendenhall, but not get to Nugget Falls unless you walk super-duper fast.

 

If you want time for Nugget Falls, the Glacier Express Bus (both the white bus and the blue bus) leave from in front of the Mt. Roberts Tramway. It was $45 per person roundtrip. It left from both Juneau and the Glacier on the half hour so you could take as long as you'd like. The hike to Nugget Falls is totally worth it.

 

I did a blog post on it the other day right here, if you're interested.

Thanks for posting the link to your blog. It was a great read!

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I decided to cancel my excursion and rent a car. This will give me ample time at the Glacier to see the Falls. I am also planning to drive out to Eagle Beach and check that out.

So I am cruising June 15 and am going back and forth about the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. I currently have a whale watching / glacier excursion booked through the ship but am concerned I will not get enough time at the glacier. We are already doing whale watching at Icy Strait Point so we have that covered. I have a family of five (Daughter 20, twin boys 15) so want to keep the cost at this level or lower ($143 pp)

Has anyone done this excursion and does if give you enough time to really explore and hike a bit at the glacier?

Is there an option to explore on your own and not be time constrained at the glacier?

Any other recommendations for exploring the glacier?

Thanks for the help

I want to eat at least Giovanni's one night on our 7 day northbound. I am also considering Chop's as well. I am wondering if anyone has any advice on the best nights to not eat in the MDR. I can't seem to find any menus online so maybe there are other factors that everyone has taken into account. We are signed up for My Time Dining.

Any advice?

Here is our itinerary.

Sailing Itinerary

Date Port Arrive Depart Activity

15-Jun Vancouver, British Columbia 4:30 PM

16-Jun Inside Passage (Cruising) Cruising

17-Jun Ketchikan, Alaska 6:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked

18-Jun Icy Strait Point, Alaska 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

19-Jun Juneau, Alaska 7:00 AM 9:30 PM Docked

20-Jun Skagway, Alaska 7:00 AM 4:30 PM Docked

21-Jun Hubbard Glacier (Cruising) 8:00 AM 10:00 AM Cruising

22-Jun Seward, Alaska 5:00 AM

So we are arriving into Seward at 5 am next June after our cruise is done. Our flight out of Anchorage is 8 pm that evening. I looked into a one way rental to get us to the airport as I would like to spend the day touring around a bit before we leave as opposed to sitting in an airport.

Has anyone done anything differently like maybe use a touring company to pick up at port and drop at airport? I found one that offered that at about $150 pp.

Thanks for the response. Glad I'm not the only one overwhelmed. Great suggestions

I found that planning for Alaska was really overwhelming in the beginning, and I LOVE planning trips :D

 

I found that it was easier for me to start by listing out our must-do's. What is that you want to experience on your trip that you can't do at home? For us it was Denali (we did a southbound cruise), glacier hiking and sled dogs. From there, it was a bit easier to find excursions that fit what we wanted and fit in on the trip.

 

Also, since you're ending in Seward, you can add on experiences before you fly home if you can spend some time in Alaska after the cruise. We did a Denali fightseeing tour and a glacier hike before we got on our cruise.

 

In Icy Strait, we did a self-guided ATV tour through Hoonah Travel Adventures that we loved, and even saw bears!

 

Juneau was our port that we didn't have any excursions, but we only had about 5 hours there. Still, we went to the museum, shopped and had lunch at Tracy's King Crab Shack. You could rent a car and drive out to the glacier - that might be more economical for 5 people than paying for a tour.

 

Skagway we did a tour with Frontier Excursions that went into the Yukon, and we saw sled dogs there. This was a mini-bus tour that was cheaper than the train, but I know a lot of people love the train experience. You could also rent a car and make the drive yourself.

 

In Ketchikan, our kayak tour was cancelled due to the rain, but it's a nice area to walk around, but that wouldn't take all day.

 

My trip report is linked in my signature if you wanted to take a look at any of the excursions (I still have to do the last two days, but all the ports are there). Please let me know if I can answer any questions.

 

Happy planning :)

Thank you for the suggestions! There are so many options, it is hard to know where to start.

I am going to throw some things out here:

 

Skagway - Glacier Point Wilderness Safari. It includes hiking and canoeing to a glacier: https://skagwayshoretours.com/tour/glacier-point-wilderness-safari/

 

Juneau - Tracy Arm excursion. This is a small boat trip to Tracy Arm. Many people consider this one of the best tours they have been on. It takes all day but is the same price as whale watching in Juneau. If you are lucky, you might also see whales, bears and other wildlife. Very few cruise ship passengers can go on this due to time but you are in port all day. This is the best excursion that I have been on. This will also get you to a glacier (and very close compared to cruise ships) incase Hubbard is iced out or bad conditions prevent you from going there.

 

https://www.adventureboundalaska.com

 

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There are some obvious other choices that your kids would also like such as Glacier Trekking, landing on a glacier via helicopter and going dog mushing: http://www.temscoair.com . There is also zip lining which teens seem to like.

 

I am sure others will have some great ideas. Save up as Alaska can be expensive.

I have started researching excursions for our cruise next year and the one thing I have found so far is that they are very expensive.....

We have a family of five (3 kids 19, 15, 15) and I want to get the most of this experience so I'm wondering if anyone can tell me of a great experience they have had with an excursion at one of my stops. I want to do it all and want to try and narrow down the list so am looking for help. We are open to pretty much anything.

Also if there is a port that is good to just tour around without an excursion, I would be interested in that as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

15-Jun Vancouver, British Columbia 4:30 PM

16-Jun Inside Passage (Cruising) Cruising

17-Jun Ketchikan, Alaska 6:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked

18-Jun Icy Strait Point, Alaska 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

19-Jun Juneau, Alaska 7:00 AM 9:30 PM Docked

20-Jun Skagway, Alaska 7:00 AM 4:30 PM Docked

21-Jun Hubbard Glacier (Cruising) 8:00 AM 10:00 AM Cruising

22-Jun Seward, Alaska 5:00 AM

Some people will choose a cruise line they are familiar with for their first Alaska cruise, not knowing how many different itineraries there are out there.

 

OP has already said she is going to check out other itineraries with her TA, and I commend her for that.

 

OP, if you want to stay with RCI, Radiance would be a great choice for a first Alaska cruise because you would get to see much more of Alaska on Radiance's one-way itinerary. We have done that cruise, and we really enjoyed seeing the Hubbard Glacier as well as Icy Strait Point, which many people never get to see.

 

Have fun with your decision.

I'm going to look at the Radiance option tomorrow. It looks like a better option on first glance.

Great photos so far. I was on this sailing as well and m family is actually in one of our pictures in the boarding area. I look forward to the rest of our photos.

Thank you all for the advice. That is why I posted, to get suggestions, so I take no offense to the negative responses to the itinerary. I am paying a lot of money and want the best experience possible. I will look at other itineraries with my TA. This was attractive as we have always wanted to visit Seattle but there is another option with RC that starts or ends in Vancouver which would still allow us to hit Seattle before or after.

I just returned and did not see a shuttle going up and down the hill but did see some folks walking. I would spring the $7 for the shuttle from the port. It takes you right there. We did it and it worked great.

Awesome review. We are on Anthem this September and can't wait! We just made final payment this morning. I am surprised about the internet, because I have read nothing but great things about Anthem's internet speeds. This will be our first cruise purchasing an internet package.

We were on the Empress early this year and had no issues. The interesting thing with the wifi on the Anthem was it really became an issue in the last 4 days of the cruise. The first half it was fine. It was only a problem in our cabins too.

Just got back from our Caribbean cruise on Anthem of the Seas and booked next June on Explorer of the Seas for an Alaska cruise out of Seattle!!!

I'm starting my research but if anyone has any advice on what to bring, the port of Seattle, the ship or any of the ports, I would appreciate it. I'm really excited to do some excursions, specifically whale watching. Here is my itinerary:

Sailing Itinerary

Date Port Arrive Depart Activity

15-Jun Seattle,Washington 4:00 PM

16-Jun Cruising Cruising

17-Jun Alaska InsidePassage Cruising

17-Jun Juneau, Alaska 12:00 PM 9:00 PM Docked

18-Jun Skagway, Alask 7:00 AM 8:30 PM Docked

19-Jun Tracy ArmFjord, Alaska 7:00 AM 12:00 PM Cruising

20-Jun Cruising Cruising

21-Jun Victoria,British Columbia 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

22-Jun Seattle, Washington 6:00 AM

We just arrived home from a great 9 days on the Anthem. This was our first time on this ship and it did not disappoint. A great range ofactivities and the shows were excellent. The crew was great as well.

I wrote down some thoughts about some of the things we did and experienced. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask.

Our cabin – we had a balcony on floor 13. I was concernedabout noise from above but it only was an issue one morning. We were closer to the front of the ship and next time I would request a cabin closer to the aftas it seemed we were going there a lot (Windjammer, restaurants, activities)

Ifly – a lot of fun and I would highly recommend. I tried todo it twice but apparently you can only do it once per voyage.

North Star – cool experience. We did it during the Belly flop contest which made for some entertainment and great photos.

Food

Chops - Great food and excellent service.

Jamie's - outstanding waiter and great food. I would definitely go back again.

MDR - the food was good (not outstanding) but our service was phenomenal. We had a great waiter and head waiter who went out of their way to accommodate my wife's gluten allergy.

Sorrento’s – not bad pizza for a cruise ship. I had low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

Shows

Spectra's Cabaret - a little strange but you had to appreciate the technology, choreography. and entertainment value.

We Will Rock You - outstanding. We went back a second time.

The Gift - confusing but a great show.

The Police Experience – I watched these guys twice and they did a great job. If you closed your eyes, you would swear the Police was actually playing.

Staff

The staff on this ship seemed genuinely happy and eager toplease. They were very helpful and went out of their way to help. I found there were times, like at shows, where it would have been good to have more but it was pretty good overall.

Voom

My only complaint. It was very spotty and we struggled in our cabin to get a good speed using Wi-Fi.

Ship

Well maintained and never really seemed crowded despite the amount of people on it. The ship was clean, well organized and offered a lot of options for things to do.

Chairs on the deck were not real difficult to snag if you didn’t care if you were by the pool. The “chair hogs” were out in full force and I did not see any enforcement. We usually found a place on Deck 15 near the I fly check in and only one day did we see a lot of people looking for chairs. If you go up by 1030 or 11, you are usually ok.

Elevators were always slow and crowded and we took the stairs at every opportunity. Elevator etiquette needs some work as people push their way on before allowing others to get on or run to the open elevator sometimes causing people clearly waiting before them to wait again for another elevator.

I did notice that hard selling of drink packages, etc. was not like I had seen on a previous cruise this year.

Ports of Call

King’s Wharf Bermuda – we took one of the vans to Horseshoe Bay for some great beach time. We arrived pretty early and had a few hours ofpeace before the crowds arrived. This is a beautiful beach that I would go toagain. Rain interrupted our beach day so we headed back to the ship. It stopped raining so we walked over to Snorkel Park Beach. After paying to get in we were extremely disappointed with the beach and the snorkeling. Stay away from this place!!!

Phillipsburg St. Maarten – we did the Island tour with Bernard’s. It was a great day with highlights being Maho Beach and OrientBeach. Our tour guide, the Mailman, was awesome and his rum punch really packed a punch…

San Juan, PR – we shopped and visited the forts here. We had trouble getting away from the ship as the independent tour guides were very aggressive trying to take us on a city tour. We declined……several times, and toured on our own.

Labadee – Went over to Columbus Cove as I had read it was the least crowded. That was the case early on but it was VERY crowded by lunchtime. We weren’t sure how to get there and walked through the market where the locals were selling their merchandise. They are extremely persistent and aggressive and that turned us off from returning through that way again. I found a way to cut through the waterslide area and avoid the market completely for the rest of the day. The buffet provided was ok. We also did Dragon’s Flight zipline. This was very fun and I would recommend doing it once. I was a little annoyed that they seemed to just be putting people into slots as they showed up, not according to the time on their cards.

In summary, I loved the Anthem. We visited NextCruise and booked for Alaska next year on the Explorer but I can’t wait to experience the Anthem again.