SuzieQ521

1 hour ago, wolfie11 said:

The Ore Dock is the closest to the camera.  It is used daily for cruise ships.  The Smart bus stops there and the train pulls up to load passengers.  The far dock with the two ships is the Railroad Dock which is causing all the current problems. The middle dock the ferry is passing is the Broadway Dock.

Thanks for that image. So if our Princess cruise has to do a tender boat next month from RRF, it looks like a very short boat ride.

1 hour ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Did it say that was after arrival or all day?  I have to imagine that its similar to tender operations in that there are waves after arrival, around lunch, and near the end of the port call.  But either way, one has to wonder how much the cruise passengers (and cruise lines) will put up with.

Looks like they arrived at 7 am; this person said 45 min wait at 10 am:

1 hour ago, cruisingrob21 said:

probably worth watching here next tuesday to see what the situation is:

 

https://www.cruisingearth.com/ship-webcams/norwegian-cruise-line/norwegian-bliss/

 

 

I think the Bliss was in Skagway yesterday. From the NCL page, it appears that they had to take shuttle buses and some said the wait time for those was 45min to 1 hour.

2 hours ago, eileeshb said:

It’s only the railroad dock that is impacted the 2 smaller piers should be operating as normal as they did last year. 

So is it safe to assume that our Royal Princess cruise (scheduled for RRF) will likely need to use shuttles as well next month? Thanks 

1 hour ago, crusnbee said:

Do regular plans work in Alaska, or do you still need to get the WIFI to be able to connect?

 

Do you mean cell phone service? Our Verizon cell service worked fine back in 2017 in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan for the most part. We go again next month so it should be the same but I will let you know if there are any changes.

NOTE: This is when the ship is docked at Port; definitely turn off your mobile data when in the water to avoid roaming charges.

6 hours ago, Kathscof said:

Ok then, I hope I can update y'all on how our RRF works out!

I'll be at RRF on May 23rd! I'll let you know.😀

10 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Are you sure you are on the Royal? That ship is is sailing RT Alaska cruises out of Seattle starting in May. I know because I am one one!

 

Things may not start showing up in JourneyView until a week or 2 before sailing and, even then, it may continue to be updated until and even after boarding. 

I was going to say: We are taking the Royal beginning on May 20th, Seattle to Alaska...unless there's something I don't know, haha.

Hello:

We were looking at the Juneau's Musher Camp and Sled Dog discovery tour.

I can only see a way to purchase it through the third party, Alaska Shore Excursions--could I book it directly with the company and if so, is it less expensive that way? I assume Alaska Shore Excursions is a reputable company?

Thank you.

4 hours ago, Kathscof said:

 

interesting, as earlier reports were talking about the forward position having the trouble, but all I can hope for is an early arrival and an easy way off my ship at RRF for a 7:30 meet for the tour I am on! 🙂 

Same! Our Royal Princess is supposed to dock at RRF next month...hoping we can still make our morning train excursion!

Hello:

We are sailing next month on the Royal.

One of our family members was unable to get an accessible room so I was wondering if at the least, her balcony cabin would automatically have a handheld showerhead and also a shower grab bar? Or do we need to request those items?

Thanks!

Thanks for the info.

We sail the Royal next month to Alaska. Was looking forward to the complimentary afternoon tea and the juice bar with our Plus package...hopefully it improves on the Alaska cruises.

I assumed it was in all staterooms as well.

Does anyone know if all Royal Princess rooms have the handheld shower?

Thanks

15 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

My sister went last summer with 2 girl teens 16 and 18. They liked the sled dog excursion i believe it was in juneau. My sister thought it was a waste of money but they both really enjoyed it. It was the cheaper one not in the snow.

I'm debating about doing that dog sled camp excursion. I have a 4 year old so I think he would really enjoy it; it just seems so expensive ($149-adults) for what it is. But excursions in Alaska are all expensive!

Our ship (Royal Princess) is scheduled to be at RRF 7 am to the evening; there are two other ships scheduled to be in Port that day: Solstice and Koningsdam. We have a 10 am tour on the train. 

Based on that article, they may make some ships cut their port times (i.e. one ship in the a.m. and one in the p.m.). I guess we will have to see what happens with our port times...hopefully we won't have to cancel our tour. 

More info here: 

https://www.cruisehive.com/one-large-rock-changing-visit-times-for-popular-alaskan-port/98671

13 minutes ago, stephwef said:

Ok this is all super helpful, thank you!  I'm waiting to hear back from the tour operator if we are "approved" for the canoe nature trail because it seems like there was 5 spots left but we were six people (including 4 kids) so hoping that works out. 

 

For anyone that might know (this is outside of strictly Alaska chatter but part of the alaska itinerary), the Victoria B.C stop seems to really only be an evening port and the main thing there is the Butchart Gardens - is a tour really necessary for that? 

 

 

Butchart is a bit of a drive outside of the Victoria cruise port (45 min if I recall) so because there is such limited time for that port stop, I would go through the ship's tour to be safe. 

If there was more time, you definitely could have done it on your own. 

Hello:

We are scheduled to be in Juneau on May 22nd; both my husband and I have been before (previously did Mendenhall on our own) but this time we have our 4 year old son. Our ship is scheduled to dock at Noon.

We initially booked Princess's Glacier Gardens/Mendenhall Glacier tour but are now second-guessing that decision, especially since Glacier Gardens might not be fully bloomed. 

We considered whale watching too but now I think dog sledding might be more entertaining for our 4 year old and something different for us. We would do one of the camp dog sledding tours (non-helicopter). Is it worth it?

Any recommendations of reputable companies outside of Princess's excursions?

Thanks!

Do you recommend any particular dog sledding companies (the non-helicopter tours)? We will have a young child and we will be in Juneau in mid-May in the afternoon.

Thanks!

4 hours ago, Moondogy said:

Don't know if this is possible, but did one person add all the others as traveling together and make reservations for the group? Only thing I could come up with.

So the App lets you add other booking numbers. I logged in under my booking number, and was able to add other booking numbers. You then see all the passengers on top and can select which ones per reservation. 

But it was impossible to get everyone to be the same time, same dining room as one big group reservation unless I did 2-4 people at a time; that's why we have multiple reservations. 

Thank you very much for the input. That's a great idea to just speak with the DR Host/Mgr to get this sorted out!

I've gone through so many combinations on the App and the multiple reservations is the only way to give us the same dining room/dining time every night.

Hello:

We have a group of 9 cruising next month on the Royal to Alaska.

With some effort, we were able to make dining room reservations (mostly in Allegro dining room) for all of us at the same time--HOWEVER, this involves multiple reservations at private tables (we have 4 booking numbers). The reason for multiple reservations is that there was no way to get a group bigger than 3-4 to dine at an earlier time (like 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.). Most of our reservations are at 5 p.m. (with the first night being 6 p.m. and one Port night being 7 p.m.).

My question is: Can we all just show up at the same time, with all of our reservations, and request that we be seated together? I know we likely won't be at one table but if we can sit near each other, that would be great.

Thanks!

We did Alaska in Mid-September back in 2017. Maybe we were just lucky but other than a bit of fog at Mendenhall in Juneau early on, we really lucked out with the weather. It was sunny in Ketchikan and also clear and sunny in Glacier Bay! Also had great weather in Skagway...we made it up to Carcross and Emerald Lake. 

We are doing another cruise next month (mid-May) so we will see if it's any different. 

I'm getting the same "bad getway" message trying to use the web app which I have used before last week. I needed to book dinner reservations.

Hello:

Just trying to plan ahead for our May cruise on Royal Princess--is the Kids club open at all during Port days, or is it just before the ship gets to the Port and after it leaves it?

For example, we do not arrive in Juneau until the afternoon so I am wondering if the Kids club would be open before that? We also do not arrive in Victoria until 7 p.m. so is it open earlier in the day? I would assume the club is closed during actual Port hours.

Also, is it open at all on Glacier Bay (or just after we depart Glacier Bay)? 

(And if anyone knows the answer to this: I know there's no separate arcade on the Royal but does anyone know if they allow the younger kids--with parental supervision--to go into the teen club where there are arcade machines, when the teen club is closed?).

Thanks!

1 hour ago, leck57 said:

 

That is absolute rubbish. I did Alaska on Royal Princess and I had no issues seeing everything from many different venues. I don't know what glass obstructed you, assuming you are able to stand. I've been on Majestic as well and the enclosed pool area would also be great for Alaska.

The Sapphire would be a great option as well.

thank you for this! We are sailing the Royal in May and I was getting nervous regarding everyone's comments!

What were the best viewing spots for Glacier Bay? It looks like our balcony room (E411) is starboard side. 😞

Thanks!