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We stayed at the Auberge Vancouver Hotel, a couple blocks from the cruise terminal, in 2016. We had a wonderful suite overlooking the harbor. We are staying there again, but there were no sites facing the harbor left. The breakfast that comes with the price is a bit to be desired, so we just went across the street to Starbucks for breakfast sandwiches. The breakfast was a lot of starchy things-cereals, croissants, pastries, yogurt, but they had hardboiled eggs.

Thanks. I am the only one dying to see sled dogs (but cant afford the flights to ser them on glaciers). Trying to figure out how to fit both in. Maybe can in hoonah while hubby and son are zipriding (my neck probably won't like the abrupt stop, unfortunately). Don't think there is enough time.

Good point! Now that I am researching further, looks like we cant do this tour because of the schedule. Think this is really middleman for chilkoot charters, which says those on Radiance of the Seas cant do their tours when in port on Wednesdays. Ugh. I would like to go to the Yukon, see sled dogs, Emerald Lake, Carcross Desert, etc.

I thought I had seen a great review of the VIATOR Yukon bus tour from Skagway. It is 6-7 hours, but stops st multiple places like Emerald Lake and Carcross Desert. We were planning to take the train from Seward to Anchorage, so we decided to skip the white Pass railway. Will we regret it?

For those who went through Hoonah travel adventures to Chicagof, how is it different than the ship tour to Chicagof? Someone said the ships only go to a viewing platform. Is that across all ships? We have the Chicagof Bear tour booked through RCI, but we are now looking for cheaper/better tours through private vendors where we can. Just don't want to go through hassle of canceling if it is the same tour. Thanks!

I suspect many of you are in a different life stage than us as well. We still have college saving to do, etc.

Yes to all those things. We don't usually buy each other presents anyway, but we have a son and they are costly! ;-)

I am not cutting all excursions, but trying to find some cheaper than the cruise ship ones we booked. Have found there are many ways to do them cheaper than the guideline. But everything has been more expensive than we expected. I don't know how all of you do these and do land tours on top or do these every year, but you may be closer than we are.

We are cruising the end of July Vancouver to Seward. We have already booked our flights because the ideal flight times, especially from Baltimore to Vancouver, were starting to increase and have limited availability. We ended up booking our flights home from Anchorage a couple weeks later because we started to see that happening as well. We got pretty good prices for non-refundable rates. We could not afford the refundable rates. Purchased insurance and there you go. I know late July is popular for Vancouver, so I recommend earlier booking. It's funny because we went to Vancouver via Seattle in late July 2016 and booked our airfare in January and hotel in April 2016. Our preferred hotel (Auberge Vancouver Hotel) was already much higher for next July than 2016. We went ahead and booked it. Could we have been scammed? Possibly, but we have it booked at least. Now to cut out some shore excursions we already booked since airfare and hotel were much more than expected.

Thanks, I obviously have a phobia about stomach viruses after being hospitalized once with 80/40 BP and a 2nd time I should have gone to the hospital because I went 16 hours with profuse vomiting and my lips swelled up because I was so dehydrated. I lost literally 10 pounds of fluid in 16 hours and I was a pretty thin person then. I studied norovirus after those two events to learn how to kill those viruses and take preventative measures when my son gets sick. I am quite neurotic about it after those two events. The last one where I ended up in the ER, took me down in 3 hours to the point I could not pick my head off the floor or focus my vision. I knew I was in trouble.

I know all about Noro and know it is everywhere, but knowing I can't control people touching food at the buffet or keeping their illness to themselves because they don't want to ruin their vacation. Most people I know don't wash their hands the recommended 20-30 seconds that are recommended, etc. I just dont know id i want ti chance thr one vacatiom i have sownding so much money to get there to have it ruined.

I have seen HAL is experiencing GI outbreaks and wondered if any other lines were experiencing this. We are booked for next July and thought that would be safer since it is summer and older population. This is making me question cruising to Alaska or any cruise for that matter. I tend to need hospitalization when I get these stomach bugs.

Does Alaska have a higher percentage of Moro outbreaks than other areas as someone said? I would think the cruise passengers would be more likely to infect alaska than Alaska infecting passengers. The summer months have more outdoor activities and therefore people aren't cooped up inside as much as the winter. This is making me question our cruise scheduled for next July. I figured this would be a safer time to travel than the winter. I don't know if I want to take a chance when I could lose thousands if dollars being quarantined to my room foe my only vacation next year. I have trip insurance, but that doesn't cover you if you get sick on your cruise and are quarantined, right?

I figured, but I understand as well. I am a bit squeamish on the shower curtains. It has been a while since we last cruised (11 years), but we never had curtains even with Majesty that I remember. The cabins and bathrooms look extra sma'll to me, but again, it has been a long time since I cruised and have been spoiled by hotel rooms with regular 2-sink bathrooms.

I tried booking a Vancouver hotel for July 25-27th 2018 and it seems they are almost all full! Is this for real? Or, is it too early to book and that is why most hotels are saying no availability? We went to Vancouver last July, only 2 days different than the days we are traveling next year, and only booked 3 months earlier and had no problem finding hotels. I am in shock. Can anyone fill me in.

It stinks it is only for cruise through May 2018. This would have really helped me with our alaska cruise in July 2018 since we have our son with us. I am trying how to upgrade without breaking the bank.

Thanks for the details. I appreciate it. Serenade is our favorite ship and jumped at the chance to try Radiance in Alaska. Yes, I would prefer doors instead of curtains as well. We still can't wait to see

alaska.

What do you mean by the ship is showing its age? We are cruising next July on Radiance.

True! It might be okay to split the beds. It does not look like there is room for us to occupy the space at once though! True about little time in room.

He will be 10, but a very tall 10. We are going to Alaska from Vancouver. Explorer goes from Seattle and has a different itinerary. It is for my parent's anniversary, and they chose the cruise, so I think radiance is it for now. We love the windows and open air on Radiance class ships.

Thanks! I was figuring...what is it like to squeeze 3 people in an oceanview stateroom? Anyone have Pullman bed experience that can comment? Maybe we will just have to split the master bed into singles to go to the restroom.

Does anyone have experience with this? We have an oceanview room with Pullman bed on Radiance (#3572). I could not find any with sofa beds available or maybe I did not think it would be that big of a deal. Now that I have seen the configuration of the Pullman bed, to me it is a deal breaker. If u sit up in the middle if the night, you bump your head or have to maneuver your legs around a ladder. If your child has an accident, it is on you! Has anyone successfully requested a sofa bed instead? It is almost $2k more a week for a family room.

I highly recommend the Auberge Vancouver Hotel. I got a discount through my work, so I do not know what it costs directly. We had a simply gorgeous view of the cruise ships and Mount Baker from our window. It was about 2 blocks from Canada Place. You can walk there. The breakfast that is included is not the best (pastries and hardboiled eggs), but there is a Starbucks across the street where we grabbed breakfast. We hope to stay there next summer also.

We are thinking of an Alaskan cruise Summer 2018 to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Our party would be two people in their 70s, two in their 40s and a 10-year-old.

What major cruise line and ship would you recommend for a multi-generational cruise? Also, what is the newest, most recently updated cruise ship to cruise in Alaska?

All of us have sailed on Serenade of the Seas previously (back in the earlier 2000s) and that is our favorite ship for the windows, light and open space. We have only sailed RCI previously (4 cruises total) and haven't cruised since 2006.

From the reviews, it sounds like Radiance of the Seas needs refurbishment and generally, the RCI cruise line is going downhill. It seems most of the resources have gone to the huge ships and not much invested in the medium ships, which I get from a business sense.

My other concern is my 10-year-old and wanting a ship that has plenty of kid activities and hopefully, an indoor pool on nasty days. Has anyone who sailed on the RCI this year experienced them opening the indoor solarium to kids on nasty/cold weather days on Alaska cruises? I read old threads from 2012 where they did this for a limited time, but did not see where there was any info on this in more recent years.

We loved the entertainment on RCI ships, but reviews seem to indicate most of the entertainment has gone to the newer, huge ships. Is this true?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance on this!

Thanks!