jc3443

22 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Thx for the additional info. 

I think Seward would be a great place to spend 3 days pre-cruisetour.  That would be MY first choice ..... have a leisurely drive to Seward enjoying the sights and activities along the Turnagain Arm then spend 2 or 3 days in Seward. Leave Seward at 8am on cruise day so that you can turn in the cars by noon and catch a transfer to Whittier. They tend to leave around 2pm. Altho with 9 people, a limo service may be cheaper.

 

HOWEVER, given the make up of your group, would it be easier to stay put in Anchorage ?  Maybe see some sights in Anchorage for a day, like the Alaska Heritage Center ( I think they have a free shuttle that leaves from the sod-roofed Visitor Info cabin), Alaska Museum, the worlds largest floatplane base at Lake Hood, rent bikes and do the Coastal Trail.  Then have two days of day trips to : 

1.  Matanuska Glacier where the energetic could do an ice trek on the glacier while others enjoy the view from a lodge.  Suggested stopping points in this link:  https://www.alaska.org/guide/matanuska-glacier-scenic-drive

2. drive along the Turnagain Arm to see the Wildlife Conservation Center,  pan for gold, Portage Lake/Glacier cruise, 2 mi RT hike to the snow at Byron Glacier ....https://www.alaska.org/guide/turnagain-arm-drive  and https://www.alaska.org/guide/portage-valley

 

I would also take into consideration the details of the cruisetour.  ie do you leave Talkeetna on cruise day and have a 10hr train ride to Whittier ?  do you prefer train or bus ?  do you have 2 nites at Denali so that you have time to get into the park ? 

 

If the cruisetour seems like a lot of traveling, maybe adding Seward will make the trip too busy.  And maybe starting in Fairbanks would be the best option.  In Fairbanks you can tour the exhibits of Pioneer Park, visit the antique car museum,  UofA Museum and Large Animal Research Center,  Morris thompson Culture Center ( antler arch for a photo opp), drive to North Pole for xmas stuff,  visit the Pipeline exhibit, .  The Riverboat and Gold Panning excursions are usually incl in the cruisetour.  

https://www.alaska.org/destination/fairbanks/things-to-do

 

 You know your group best. Lots to consider.  Good luck with your research and planning. 

 

Great advice. Thank you I will look into these options.

I understand I did not provide much background. My immediate family and I are in quite good condition and active. For example a rim to rim Grand Canyon hike is also in the planning stages. That said there will be others along who are not so mobile, such as my father, but we also will not necessarily be together the entire time in the lead up to the cruise tour. I am really only looking for suggestions on where there is the most to do and where they would spend that time. Obviously we all have different interests, etc. And renting a car is absolutely in the cards for our time in whichever location we go with. And this will be during the summer months, June-July.

Thanks for the input all.

44 minutes ago, AKStafford said:

Covering Fairbanks to Anchorage in three days means you'll spend most your time in transit. At Denali you'll be on the mostly worthless Natural History Tour. See if you can upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour... But if I remember the details right, you don't even have time for that.

I understand the cruise tour will be a whirlwind. That is why we are going to be spending a few days in advance of the tour either in Anchorage or in Fairbanks. The days in advance are what I am trying to plan for. Thanks for the suggestion on the Tundra tour. We are flexible on how much earlier we come in. As I said in my original post we will likely come in at least three days before the cruisetour starts.

oaktreerb and Coral thanks for the suggestion of Anchorage. Any particular suggestions on what we should visit?

11 hours ago, AKStafford said:

How sold are you on the pre-packaged cruiestour from the cruise line? Would you consider renting a car and putting together your own land trip before the cruise? It gives you a lot more flexibility and options and let you do & see what you want, not as part of a herd.

Thanks for your suggestion. I drove all over Scotland this past June with a crew of 9 people on a land tour I planned. Some of whom I love dearly but drive me crazy. I AM NOT doing that again. On a cruise tour I can get a little distance and they can do their own thing, but when I am organizing it and several people want to do different things it is a recipe for family chaos. If it were just my wife, my kids and I, doing our own tour would be our plan. Thanks for the suggestion though!

So with that said, where would you suggest a few extra days be spent?

We are looking at the 12 day land-sea tours on Princess. Both intineraries look good to us, especially as the cruise portion are identical. We particularly like the idea of the Riverboat out of Fairbanks. We will likely come in at least 3 nights prior to our tour, so that said, any advice on whether there would be significantly more to do in Anchorage vs Fairbanks? Where would that time be best spent? Advice and experience would be appreciated!

On 5/11/2019 at 5:30 AM, BND said:

But, isn't part of LE jobs to also teach people how to protect their homes against break ins, etc?  I would think you still take precautions, right?

Yes of course. But we need to focus prevention efforts on areas that are reasonable and likely a problem. It is far easier for a burglar to drive down a street and look for mail or newspapers piled up to identify a target, than to research who on the internet is on a cruise and try to cross reference that with the ones that are in their area.

That said, I am far more concerned with having lights at my house on timers when I am gone, trusted neighbors watching my property and collecting mail, maybe even moving cars around, having a Ring camera system on my property as well as a sign showing my home is monitored by cameras and by a large, angry dog, then I am about who on the internet might be trolling for people out of town. Burglars identifying targets by trolling cruise websites and Facebook is just not something that happens often enough for me to worry about. Like I said earlier though, if it is something that would worry YOU during your cruise then you should absolutely take precautions so that is does not fester in the back of your mind and ruin your vacation. 

11 hours ago, KimA75 said:

So, a burglar joins the group to see if they can break into a house during a specific time frame that people are gone?  What are the chances of that burglar actually living in my city area?  Are they going to fly to my area and hope to find the specific house I live in?  I guess they could just Google my name since, as mentioned, your information is EVERYWHERE.   There comes a point in time that you have to quit being so afraid of everything.  Yes, it would be a pain if someone breaks into my house.  A lot of paperwork and hassle to go through.  But, that is what insurance is for.  I appreciate the information I receive from there as well as the roll call groups on here.  Heck, anyone could join this site and pick a roll call to join.  How many times in a roll call do you get the question about where everyone is from?

 

After being through some health scares with both myself and my family, I do not worry about my material items as much.  Go ahead and let someone break in.  I will take the hassle of cleaning up and replacing items over worrying about health issues.  Life means too much.  I refuse to live in fear or allow unneeded stress to bother me.  (And, I work in law enforcement.  I have responded to tons of burglaries.  Guess what- you don't have to be on a vacation to be burglarized,)

Agreed. I always see these posts about not putting things on Facebook about being away from home. After 30 years in LE, the only two cases I know of where someone used that information was someone who already knew the folks leaving on vacation. Burglars don't do a lot of online research. They do street research. They drive through neighborhoods and look for good candidates.

Here is an example of one, but again the burglars likely knew of the plans already as they knew the people they were burglarizing.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/455792/familys-home-burglarized-after-post-vacation-photos-facebook

I would be way more concerned about cyber crime from things posted on the internet then about someone burglarizing my house. But we all have different levels of risk tolerance. In other words, you do you... 😉

Perhaps I didn't get the details correct here... OP was sitting on the balcony, wife comes out of the bathroom naked, crew washing a balcony for the adjoining stateroom. Did the wife walk out onto the balcony? Or did the window washing guys stick their heads around the divider? I just can't picture how someone on the neighboring balcony could see INTO the room.

Service dogs should be required by law to be certified by a licensed trainer. And the certification should be required entering areas where animals are restricted. This "You can't ask" thing is ridiculous... And emotional support animals? Stay home and support your emotions with your animal. The rest of the world does not need to be subjected to dog poo unnecessarily, particularly after paying for a rather expensive vacation and considering the ongoing health risks on ships.

Hmmm, sounds like the difference between mead and honey wine is a bit murky, though honey wine is consumed younger and has a generally lower ratio of honey to other ingredients. https://www.wellpreserved.ca/whats-the-difference-between-mead-and-honey-wine-tej/ Interesting though, I had no idea honey wine was big in Ethiopia. You learn something new every day!

:cool:Will someone pay me to check the speeds on all the ships?

You beat me to this one. In the interests of science I was going to offer to test ALL of the ships wifi networks to see which one is the fastest. I will even write a paper afterward with my results and a PowerPoint presentation with lots of pretty graphs and such. I am willing to donate my time if someone will just book the cruises for me. I can start in two months when I retire.

In the interests of being thorough I should probably not just test each ship once. I am thinking twice, once for each of it's "seasons".

I'm just happy and willing to help. I'm a giver! :halo:

A quick YouTube search for Transatlantic cruises can turn up some pretty nasty weather. It CAN be pretty darn bad, or it can be like a mill pond.

You are SO underplaying the screw up on this excursion. It isn't every day/vacation/trip that you can swim with stingrays. We swam with Manta rays in Hawaii and it was AMAZING. Ours was a land trip and we did the swim at night. They put HUGE lights on the bottom of the ocean and the lights draw in the krill (?) and then the Manta Rays come. They were HUGE. And soft. And swam over our heads and bumped us. I know ... stingrays and Mantas are not the same thing. But it's still an unusual experience and not one you can do any day of the week.

I think they are just "not crying over spilt milk". Yes, it would be frustrating to miss an excursion like that. But if you miss it the world goes on. Enjoy yourself anyway and don't obsess about something beyond your control and let it ruin your trip. It sounds to me like they had a healthy attitude towards the inconvenience and disappointment.

Is what you are talking about Mead or actual Honey Wine?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

The link OP provided specifically says Mead. https://www.winetimenow.net/store/product/schramms-black-agnes-mead-39-99-while-supplies-last/

Everytime I have heard someone use the term "honey wine" they were actually talking about mead. Is there a different product that is actually "honey wine"?

A lot of text over a bottle of honey wine.

 

Carry it on. At least then you can argue the point ref alcohol content. Rather than being just summoned to the naughty room.

And worst case scenario is they take it and you are out a bottle of mead. Shrug your shoulders and mutter to yourself for a few seconds, then go on and enjoy your vacation.

Anyone caught smuggling alcohol should be kicked off, plain and simple.

 

Buy the package or pay for single drinks and quit being cheap.

 

 

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And those people that wear shorts in the MDR for dinner should be made to walk the plank!

You can always just buy one large photo then scan it.

We generally just buy the photo package and then always use my sign and sail card for photos, that way all the photos get connected to my account. But we do lots of photos. We don't buy souvenirs and such so it works out.

2 months and 5 days. But in fairness I've been unofficially counting for quite some time now...

Just tell them " I'm sorry I signed a confidentiality agreement " Funrunner & jc3443 , we all want to go with the two of you on your next cruise :'):'):') sign me up

I like the confidentiality agreement idea! :') Well Firerunner? When is your next cruise? Next one we have booked is aboard Brilliance of the Seas June 2019 to the British Isles. We might do one before then though.

My rules don't change when we go onboard the ship, with the exception of "Don't fall off". The main rule they live by is before they do something to stop and think to themselves, "Would what I am about to do piss Dad off?" If the answer is yes then they better not. It has served them well for the last 16 years. Of course, my kids know that they need to be respectful of other people and their things, etc.

We sailed out of Fort Lauderdale in December 2016 and stayed at this cute AirBnB right off of Sunrise Blvd just a couple miles from the cruise port. Great little house!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13093957

The last time I packed at the last minute for a cruise, the only long pants that I remembered to pack were part of my tux. I had to wear shorts in the MDR (the horror!) :eek:. It's only a 5 day cruise with 2 ports (Cozumel and Costa Maya). We'll probably end up throwing a bunch of things in suitcases on Saturday and hope we don't forget anything. Very much anti-anal.

That sounds like me! My wife is much more of a planner than I am. I usually start packing the day before we leave, where she has almost everything packed a week or two in advance. Her: "What if you forget your ties?" Me: "Uh, I won't wear one? Or I'll buy an ugly one the ship?" Her: "What if you forget to bring long pants!" Me: "I'll wear shorts!", etc, etc. Good times! My attitude is as long as I remember my camera gear, credit cards, ID and passport, all will be fine...

On our cruises so far we have really just not worried too much about it. I could usually find my wife and two kids in one of about 4 places. Pool, pool table, buffet, stateroom. I hate the idea of Walkie Talkies but we have been considering devices called GoTenna.

These are little WiFi devices that relay text messages through an app on your phone. Basically each person has their phone and a GoTenna and you text them directly. The amazing part about the technology is that the GoTenna's will relay through other GoTennas using encryption. So lets say my family and yours are all on the boat and have Gotenna's, you could text someone in your family and to reach them the message would could bounce off the GoTenna's that I have even thought we don't know each other. They create a network that is independent of ship wifi and cell service. Pretty cool technology.

Here is a post on the GoTenna Mesh network about people using it on a cruise ship.

https://meshcommunity.gotenna.com/t/aboard-a-cruise-ship/1705

Edit to add: Two of them are about $180 on Amazon so they aren't cheap. Also, the link below lets you see how many Gotenna Mesh's are out there, including fixed relay stations. I am going to pick up a couple soon and test them out. If I like them we will be bringing them on our 2019 cruise.

https://www.imeshyou.com/

Sorry you thought you were talking to yourself Harry! I was a few days behind on reading your review. Going through your pictures from Antigua was fun as we were there a year ago for the holiday cruise on Serenade of the Seas.

The bakery that the sign in the picture above refers to had some REALLY tasty items!

We have never decorated our door. I think it's a waste of time and I don't want to pack items that don't add to the experience for me. For those that enjoy decorating their doors...Go for it!