jerseygirl629

Just now, graphicguy said:

Not really!  But, I made all specialty dining reservations (3) the first day!

That's what I am hoping to do for our entire cruise 🙂 Thank you!

Was it hard to get a Wonderland reservation? We have the UDP and I'm so anxious about not being able to get all the reservations we want.

So sorry you caught covid - wishing you a speedy recovery! Thank you so much for being honest and sharing your experience during ship quarantine!

For iFly and the North Star, when looking at 8am in port, do you need to be on the ships wifi? Or can you be on LTE/5G? I wasn’t planning on buying any Internet but if I can’t book  them without it on sea days I guess I will have to get the Internet lol. Also - can you book slots for your whole family or just yourself? Going on Ovation in august. Thanks 🙂 

I had the exact same issue booking a few Alaska excursions for Ketchikan. Tried multiple times, with 3 different cards. All got “pending” charges but nothing actually went through. I got so frustrated I ended up booking on my own and not through RCL for 2 of them. Now, I have the same problem @allyfreehas. I literally can’t book any excursions as the reserve button isn’t even clickable; In this instance, I ended up calling to book and had success that way. Incredibly frustrating, to say the least.

Any additional entertainment (performances) offered on board? Have you gone on the north star yet? if so - is there an additional charge? How about the wave runner and/or ifly ripcord?

Thanks for sharing your experience so far!

8 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Sled dog excursion!

I have a helicopter / dog sledding on Mendenhall excursion for Juneau in August but also booked a whale watching tour as a backup as I have heard they could get canceled due to snow melt. Your cancelation is making me nervous as it’s so early in the season - ack! 😕

4 hours ago, rudeney said:

I was at a trade show last week.  It was like pre-COVID times with no masking, no social distancing and lots of hugging and hand-shaking.  I just received an email stating there there had been at least one instance of an attendee testing positive so now we need to follow appropriate CDC guidelines. 

 

At these conferences, I talk a lot and go out to eat with customers and prospects in noisy restaurants and bars.  I stay up late and enjoy many beverages.  I end up losing my voice.  I have chronic sinus issues, plus this time of year with all the pollen, I cough and sneeze.  It's also not unusual for me to pickup a bit of a cold or "something" when I travel.  Maybe it's being around a bunch of other people or exposure to different pollen, but it almost always happens.  I am not running to get tested because it's no different than any conference I went to prior to COVID.  I've had COVID and the vaccines and a booster.  I am not the least bit concerned.

I was at a trade show last week as well. I was 1 of 5 out of maybe 1,500 wearing a mask. I took a PCR on day 7 after the conference, not because I have any symptoms, but because if I did catch anything, I don’t want to spread it to the elderly, immunocompromised, or any kids who aren’t eligible to be vaccinated yet. It’s not hard to care about others you are around. 

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Guess that might be the issue going with the larger ship from Seattle, you don't get to go through the inside Passage where the smaller ships go through from Vancouver.

I rather go to Alaska on the smaller ships just for that reason, smoother seas and more scenic.

This sailing left from Vancouver not Seattle. Hoping the Seattle sailings are smooth 😬😬😬

1 minute ago, Lorey2007 said:

Looks like there were 2 Welcome Aboard shows with a comedian in the main theater.

In this instance, when I said “show” I meant musicals / performances by dancers and singers. 🙂 

Am I correct in reading on “Day 1” there were no shows in the main theatre? Just comedy, trivia, and karaoke? That’s a little disappointing as I have heard RCL usually puts on huge productions. I wonder if they’re still not rehearsed?

I booked dog sledding through RCL for our mid-August cruise. Now I'm wondering what our chances are of actually getting to do this? Hm. Anyone have any recommendations for a backup excursion? I hope if they cancel they are able to give notice.

Speaking from my own experience - 

In March, when we started looking into booking excursions, Royal Caribbean was initially sold out on all combo excursions. Because of this, we booked a combo bus and train trip (train up, bus down) via Chilkoot Charters. This was also cheaper than booking through RCL (yay).

At the beginning of April, it was announced the trains are no longer going into Canada. Chilkoot notified us that our excursion was unfortunately canceled. They offered a full refund, or, the opportunity to book a different tour with them (bus).

We ended up booking the RT train (shortened, not into Canada) through RCL instead. We are not too happy about this as we really wanted to experience both (with the bus, you can get out and take photos at various stops) but unfortunately, both will not fit into our day. 

So - busses CAN and ARE going into Canada but the train is not. There is no where for the train to let people off on the US side, which is why the combo tours were canceled.

Growing up in Jersey, I only had off the Thursday/Friday every year however, now, our school district has off the entire week. This started about 8 years ago, I believe.

This year, "Jersey Week" has our schools closed from Monday November 7 - Friday November 11. 

On 4/25/2022 at 3:17 PM, jerseygirl629 said:

I checked every single major airline (JetBlue, Delta, United, AA, Southwest, and Alaska Air) - decided we will book with Alaska Air (though didn’t book yet - now we are debating going the night before to save money on flight. Yes hotel would then cost more LOL but at least we would get there 2 days early and have a few extra hours to explore Seattle) for the flight out as the times worked out best for us with non stop. We will probably book United for the return flight, as they seem to have the most flights out. I usually prefer to fly JetBlue if I can but, they aren’t offering any direct from our airport of choice (Newark, NJ).   

To quote myself… hah. With our cruise leaving on a Friday, we ended up booking a one way flight out to Seattle for Wednesday night (landing around 10pm, Seattle time). It was $280 with the insurance, which I never usually buy but…covid. The Thursday flights were $400-$500! For one way!!! Still need to book the flights home but will probably wait on that. On the bright side, we will now have an entire day (and then some, pending what time we board on Friday) to explore Seattle. The downside - paying another night at a hotel. But, to us it was worth it rather than paying extra for a flight. Also - at the rate airlines are canceling, happy to have a 2 day buffer just in case. Yeesh.

On 4/24/2022 at 4:06 AM, don't-use-real-name said:

You did not note the cruise port (city) your cruise departs from - - - - -

 

60 days out puts you in the start of the summer vacation season - fares are not going down until

maybe September October early November. Booking 6 months or more in advance is the

woulda coulda shoulda time period and on some airlines getting better seat selection choices.

 

NYC area you have 3 major big airports to work with JFK LGA EWR and lots of airline choices.

Others - Boston - Hartford CT - Baltimore BWI - DC - Philadelphia -

YES there is a cost to get to those other airports 

Adding to the travel expenses the baggage fees on some -

Looking for bargains on NON-stop flights think again and look at connecting flights thru

other cities - consider the low cost bargain carriers Spirit Frontier Southwest maybe even

Jet Blue ?

If you are not driving to park at the airport consider leaving from one airport -

and arriving back at another i.e. Leave from LGA arrive back at EWR

2 one way fares 

 

ONE thing for sure avoid taking your flight on the same day of the cruise -

Plan on a hotel overnight accommodation the night before the cruise -

Be within ground transportation on cruise sailing day.

 

Cruise fares come as a bargain - the getting to and from the cruise ports can be in some

cases more than the cruise fare. 

Our cruise departs from Seattle - I figured that was implied given my response was to the OP. 
 

I appreciate your response but I am an experienced traveler / flyer and can assure you all topics you have mentioned, we have discussed (which date, which airport, how we are getting there, etc etc etc). 🙂

On 4/24/2022 at 10:46 AM, disneylover89 said:

Same here!  Flights have gone up $100 in the last week.  I'm not hopeful for a reduction in prices at this point.  What airlines have you been checking?

 

I checked every single major airline (JetBlue, Delta, United, AA, Southwest, and Alaska Air) - decided we will book with Alaska Air (though didn’t book yet - now we are debating going the night before to save money on flight. Yes hotel would then cost more LOL but at least we would get there 2 days early and have a few extra hours to explore Seattle) for the flight out as the times worked out best for us with non stop. We will probably book United for the return flight, as they seem to have the most flights out. I usually prefer to fly JetBlue if I can but, they aren’t offering any direct from our airport of choice (Newark, NJ).   

I have been looking at flights for a few weeks now, and pricing out random dates at 60 days out to see if we should wait. They have only gotten more expensive. From NYC area, flights are now $800 round trip!!!! Absolutely INSANE. I hope prices go down because I did NOT budget THAT much for this flight; was anticipating around $500 or less if we got lucky.

I don't have an answer to this but, I was wondering the same thing when researching which to book. I read online they were very similar so we ended up booking Mendenhall as well (via RCL) due to it being slightly cheaper. I believe (not positive) it is a little cheaper because it is a little closer to the port.

Hi,

I logged in to my RCL account to make a payment and I see under "Guest Info", all of our Birthday's (2 separate rooms and 2 separate reservation numbers) are incorrect by ONE day. The month and year are correct, but, our days are off. For 4 people! Additionally, my Mom's info also says "male" when she is a female. 

It won't let me change it online. Is anyone else having this issue?

Thanks,

11 hours ago, quack2 said:

 

Always good to know in advance where you will be docking and how many other ships will be in port that day.

In this case, RCL was scheduled to dock in Ketchikan, it did not change until recently. If I had known it was going into Ward Cove, I would have picked another sail date and/or cruise line. Unfortunately, it is now too late to switch. 😞

I don’t think being on a cruise has any effect on being able to book directly on their website. I think because SO many people’s excursions were canceled, everyone was scrambling to rebook. I had the issue where I couldn’t book a 1pm time slot or 12pm time slot (my ship docks at 11am), through WPYR directly, my cruise line wouldn’t let me book through them, and Chilkoot (who I had initially booked my train and bus through) didn’t have any times - so I ended up using another company and was able to successfully get in via AlaskaShoreExcursions.com on a 12pm for my date. 

13 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The option becomes available, most of the time, in the app in the check in section.

Oh okay! I can’t check in until June 28; maybe that is why I don’t see it? Thank you. 

How do you even upload your vaccination card? I can’t for the life of me figure out how / where to do so? 

7 hours ago, mamallama123 said:

I am on Quantum in August. Have you been notified that an excursion that you booked through RC has been cancelled? We booked just the White Pass train, no bus portion and I am wondering if ours will be cancelled. It is still showing up on my account right now.

We didn’t book through RCL, we booked through Chilkoot (bus and train) because initially the bus and train excursion through RCL was sold out. After it got canceled, I tried booking just the train through RCL but everything is currently unbookable. I ended up getting train only through Alaska Shore Excursions instead.