jerseygirl629

Thanks for the updates. Sorry to hear all of these tours have been getting canceled. I hope if they cancel ours they at least give us some notice. :-/

21 hours ago, TrinityFL said:

This excursion was canceled on the NCL Spirit the morning of due to weather.

Did they say if it was due to snow melt? or, was it too cloudy? Were you given another option?

Hi All,

Curious if anyone has gone on this excursion lately? We have it booked in Juneau through RCL. I read in the past they cancel tours based on weather and/or snow melt. Has anyone gone on this lately and can provide any experiences?

We are double booked with a whale watching / mendenhall glacier tour just in case (which I would need to cancel a few days ahead to avoid a fee) this gets canceled. 

Our cruise is August 12th and I am now very anxious about what will happen. I hope they keep both the vaccine and pre-cruise testing requirements as it is a sense of security. At least if I catch it on board, I know everyone was as careful as possible.

It's mind-blowing to me how many selfish people there are on here who say will get on a cruise with Covid just because they don't want to miss out on a vacation they have been planning for months. If I test positive, I will do everything I can to prevent spreading it to others. Just crazy others aren't willing to do the same.

7 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

I doubt you're standing next to the same person on the cruise ship for a significant amount of time.  

I guess you have never eaten dinner next to the same people? Or go to any of the shows where you’re packed in like sardines for at least 30 minutes? Or at the indoor spa? At the casino?  Etc…

16 hours ago, Travelw said:

In my opinion, the whole point is, stop treating cruises different than everything else.  You can get Covid everywhere, amusement park, grocery store, hotel, airport, etc.  on cruise everyone is vaccinated and in many cases boosted.  Yes you might det Covid, but it should be mild.

Covid is not going away, we need to learn to live with it.  Get annual booster like people do for the flu.

There are people that won’t get vaccinated, that is their choice, but there are people that don’t get the flu shot as well.  We just need to get on with our life.

 

 

 

There is a major difference between cruising and the other activities you listed. On a cruise, you’re confined to a ship in the middle of the ocean for 3-8+ Days with the same people. All of the other activities you listed are places where people should still be wearing masks and even if they aren’t, you can control who you are standing next to and for how long. I doubt you’re standing next to the same person at the grocery store for your entire trip. Same with airports, amusement parks, or other hotels. They are very smart to keep the testing and vaccine mandate.
 

What they should be doing is requiring PCR tests, not rapids, to board. Broadway in NYC is still testing their actors every other day and it has worked for them in the sense that they have been successfully preventing major outbreaks, with the exception of Winter 2021-2022 where Omicron was rampant.

Okay so - I should or shouldn’t wait to upload? 🤣 

will I need to re-upload the updated cards? 

Hi. I check in tomorrow for my cruise. If I upload a copy of my vaccine card tomorrow with 2 shots + 1 booster, but then get my second booster in July, will they give me any issues upon boarding? Since the card I uploaded will not match the one I bring in person? Or should I wait until I get my second booster to upload the card? 
 

I read it takes a long time (days to weeks?) to process the vaccine records in their system so I don’t want to put it off if I don’t have to.

22 hours ago, sunkey1 said:

This is fantastic as we just had a horrid experience with Juneau Whale Watch tours. We got on the tour bus to Mendenhall to take a frenzied trek to the glacier so that we could get back to catch the bus to the whale watch. At the bus stand the driver saw our wristbands and waved us on to the bus. After we drove around a bit and he stopped at a statue we were getting off the bus when he saw our wristbands and told us we were on the wrong bus! Called someone at Juneau Whale Watch and we were told that we would get a full refund. I was beyond disappointed as that was the tour I had been looking forward to the most. The refund could not come close to making up for the lost experience after traveling that far. The driver had the nerve to say "well, look on the bright side, you got a free trip to the glacier". 

I’m sorry this happened to you but saying it was a horrid experience with the tour group - after you got on the wrong bus, and they refunded you for the mishap - doesn’t seem fair. 

I'm absolutely livid over these prices. We finally booked our return flight home after waiting and waiting, hoping prices would go down. Instead, they went up. The flight home came out to $637 a person (We are flying home August 19, so, in 66 days).

$917 ROUND TRIP. I have flown to Europe and back for cheaper. Absurd on every level.

1 minute ago, h20skibum said:

They will only be open for a limited number of hours, not 24 hours

Sorry, I didn't mean 24 hours even at night I just meant - if we are in port from 5pm-10pm, are those the only hours considered as a "port day" for free? Or, if ifly happens to be open from 8am-5pm, would 2pm be free since it is on a port day, even though we technically are not in port yet.

34 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

If you are trying to book iFly or north star for the port days that are free, those slots will fill up before shows would.  You can always book those two for a fee on sea days.

Question about "port days" - Does this include all 24 hours of the day when the ship is set to be in a port?

ie: We will be in Victoria from 5pm-10pm; does that mean the free hours for ifly/north star would be between 5-10, or, would it be free all day from opening time to closing time since it is a port DAY?

delete oops - wrong thread

21 hours ago, nattie said:

I had a very reasonable $400pp or so booked through Easy Air non stop from Washington DC (IAD) to Seattle for 8/21/22 cruise, but than we had to change plans and are now going on 8/7/22 cruise. I ended up booking Alaska Air for $717pp direct flights and now I am crossing my fingers they dont go on strike. My friend that lives in Seattle said she was trying to visit her relatives in Mexico during their spring break and tix were $1,100 pp. 

Upthread PP suggested to keep checking for better fares and times (thank you), I might do that closer to the cruise, since we are somewhat flexible (can fly in/out day or two earlier).

We have Alaska Air booked for the flight there and still do not have a return flight booked as prices just are not on our side. Very nervous about Alaska Air canceling on us due to the potential strike. Ackkk...

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully ours open as that would be nice but I will definitely ask our cabin steward 🙂

I wanted to re-book with Chilkoot after our excursion with them (Train and bus combo) got canceled but, the 7 hour tour they have with lunch doesn’t leave any later than 9:30. I asked if there was any possibility of them adding additional times for the ships that get into port later (we get in at 11am) and they said unfortunately their food stop closes at a certain time and therefore they wouldn’t be able to offer meals to those on the excursion. So, we are now just doing a RT train. Sigh. 

19 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

 

Your Avis reservation is guaranteed as long as you pick up the car close to the time you specify in your reservation. We had reserved for a 9 a.m. pick up and were running a little late after having breakfast onboard. I just gave them a call to let them know we were coming so they wouldn't give our car away.

 

In your case, since you are doing the train and car you could either book your car pick up time for after your train ride or a better plan might be to pick up your car first thing before your train trip and just park it, do your train ride and then have it waiting there for you when you come back. There are plenty of parking places in Skagway where it would be fine while you were doing your train ride.

Oh, picking it up before the train is a GREAT idea!!! Thank you! Maybe we will do the 12pm train then and stick with the car for afterward. Not sure we would have enough time though to get up to the Yukon / Emerald Lake as it says it's an hour and 30 away, though. We'd like to be back on the ship by 7pm. 

Hi,

We have two connecting balcony rooms booked for an August cruise on Ovation.

I am wondering if the balconies can connect as well? If so, does anyone have any photos? Can't find them anywhere. 

Thanks

On 5/17/2022 at 10:32 AM, karatemom2 said:

Skagway - rented a car from Avis and drove the Yukon highway all the way to Emerald Lake. Keep in mind you need to do the ArriveCan again for this - they did check at the border to make sure we had our QR code. It was the best day! There is still so much snow - more then we have ever seen on previous trips. But it was a beautiful day - the lakes are still frozen so just a completely different look and feel. We stopped at Caribou Crossing and visited the museum and fed the animals and held the puppies! Everyone working there was so kind and happy to have visitors again. It was a great day and we capped it off at the Skagway Brewing Company before dropping off the car and walking back to the ship.

 

We will be in Skagway on Ovation of the Seas from 11am-8:00pm. Right now, we have a 12pm train booked, a 1pm train booked, and a car booked. We have never been to Alaska and the train is a bucket list item for my Mom however, after it shortened the trip I am wondering if we are better off with the car as we will be able to cover more ground, get out for photos, etc.

My question is- Are we guaranteed the car with the Avis reservation? I did not put down a card on file as it was not required. I have had a terrible experience in the past with booking a car (Through Hertz) and one not being available in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm worried if we cancel both train tours and rely solely on the car, if we will run into a car not being available? 

Getting tested is the RIGHT thing to do. Thank you for being thoughtful and kind to your fellow passengers! I’m sure it is appreciated by them and RCL. 

We bought the UDP a few months ago for our August cruise on Ovation. I keep going back and forth on whether it is worth it or not as I'm most nervous about getting reservations we want! I just don't want to spend all this money and then be told there are no time slots left when/where we want to eat 😞

Were you able to get a reservation for the North Star and/or RipCord by ifly? Any of the paid dining options available for embarkation day? Hope you have a great time! 🙂

40 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Take an Uber, that flight time is just about right.

Are there Uber’s actively waiting at the dock? Don’t want to stand there too long just in case! We are “get to the airport 2 hours early” types of people 🤣

Just now, SeattleAl said:

What day of the week are you docking? The route from the pier runs through downtown Seattle and the day of the week makes a difference.

the ship docks Friday August 19 at Smith Cove / Pier 91. 

Hi,

If we are carrying our luggage off the ship (Ovation in August), does anyone know if a 6am dock time at Smith Cove Terminal (Pier 91) would allow us to make an 11:55am flight at SEA-TAC? It says it is 16 miles from the airport (Approx 30 minutes, excluding any traffic). Our only options to fly home direct are 11:55am or a red-eye later that night which we want to avoid if possible.

Additionally, is there an airport shuttle we can book? or, should we book a private car? or are there taxi's / ubers / lyft's actively waiting to take people somewhere?

Thanks in advance.