MississippiMom

I always appreciate your posts, @Coral. Let’s see if I can reply to some of your comments (above in green), which might help me sort out things in my own head.

Thanks, @Coral! I think that this will be what happens with my husband. We do enjoy the ease of cruising, but he wants to see up north, now.

It is very clear on these boards that Princess and HAL are the Alaska specialists. It’s also obvious that the majority of posters are Glacier Bay itinerary cheerleaders. From a financial and available vacation days perspective, we are really, really struggling with what to book for August or September 2025. We have completely ruled out HAL (sorry, HAL lovers), because we do enjoy a more party atmosphere than it appears we would find on their ships. We have priced some Princess itineraries with the Princess Plus package in a balcony stateroom and are getting around a $300 a day (per person) price tag BEFORE we even add in airfare and excursion costs. I would love to hear from the cruisers who saw Alaska on NCL, RCCL, Carnival or Celebrity? Those seem to be better for our budget, plus we are familiar with those lines, since we have sailed all but the latter. A non-obstructed balcony is a must for my husband. I need indoor space and indoor activities, because I don’t love standing outside in the cold. Both of us would prefer more casual attire in the dining rooms, since we need to pack clothing layers in our suitcases and do not want to waste space on formal wear. We are accustomed to driving to ports, so airline weight limitations will be a concern this time around. We love a fun piano bar, trivia, karaoke, and the silly cruiser participant shows. We have zero interest in a casino or in a sports pub. From a flight expense perspective, round trip Seattle sailings would be the most cost-effective for us. We would also consider round trip Vancouver or, maybe, a one-way Southbound 7-day. Decisions . . . Decisions . . . Decisions . . .

I keep running into this issue, too. Several sites, where you can compare the various cruise line options are only listing the ports where you actually are able to get off the ship. I find myself pulling up the Glacier Bay port schedule to determine which ships are there on which day.

Are there certain balcony cabins on Caribe that are 1/2 covered, or is it all of them? Thank you so much!

I can’t help but say, “THANK YOU for posting this!” Seriously, I’m struggling with the Alaskan cruise costs, when we, typically, drive to a departure port. Plus, I really prefer a beach over wildlife on any day. However, we have visited a lot of U.S. National Parks over the years, and the beauty is pretty amazing. It is major financial investment that might possibly be a disappointment, but the hubby wants to see Alaska, so we are searching cruise options.

We are currently looking at a September 13, 2025 10-day on Caribbean Princess. After a lengthy discussion today, we really think that 10 days is the maximum length we can take, since it will take so long to fly to Vancouver from the Southern U.S. Due to other commitments and work responsibilities, our window is around mid-August to mid-September departure, with the latter working better for us. After reading this thread it sounds like the similar gamble of booking a Caribbean cruise during hurricane season. You are just going to get whatever weather appears, because it’s out of our control.

I am not at all familiar with Cunard, but their Alaska itineraries are very appealing for 2025. In your opinion, would it be a “kid friendly” line in Alaska?

I saw that story this morning and have to admit that I would have been ALL sorts of annoyed as a cruise passenger. Talk about a seriously ruined vacation.

I got the postcard in the mail today for the Travel & Cruise Showcase 2023 in our area. No address on the postcard and we definitely have more than one Courtyard by Marriott. I knew that I would NOT be getting anything free, but I would have attended if it was a legitimate travel event with representatives from the different cruiselines.

We are so tired of Cozumel. I wasn’t even thinking about a Spring Break 2026 cruise until I saw that Mobile was an option WITHOUT going to Mexico. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Spirit rates.

I would love to get my elderly parents on one more cruise, if possible. But, at least, one would require a scooter. We need to leave from a port within reasonable driving distance. There is absolutely no way my mother could navigate a scooter on a Conquest Class ship (NOLA options). We have never been on a Spirit Class shop (Mobile option). Are the public walkways wide? Are the handicapped rooms in better locations than what Conquest Class offers? RCCL Mariner of the Seas did work for her (back in 2022), but Carnival tends to be our family’s favorite cruise line.

THIS response is the kind of information that I find useful. We need the ton of activities and the great entertainment. But . . . Due to my husband’s height & weight, stateroom shower size is SUPER important. (Time to go search for photos or videos of Koningsdam and sister ships.)

I think "bored" would be putting it nicely for our family. We never have cared for the Conquest class ship layout, because there are so many times when it feels very crowded. As a matter of fact, the first time, we said "never again." But then we "nevered" two more times - Conquest, Glory and Valor. We are done. I was super excited to see competition in NOLA from two other cruise lines over the Spring Break 2025 time frame.

I, literally, just stumbled across the fact that Brilliance will be sailing out of NOLA in part of 2024 and 2025. That’s our nearest port, and the prices are incredibly good at the moment. I’m guessing they are trying to entice some Carnival-regulars over.

This has been a fun read during my quick afternoon break at work. I'm definitely not losing any sleep over it, but if I had to give you a "pet peeve," it's that the places I prefer during the daytime or late night - Blue Iguana, Guy's Burgers, the Pizza Place, the Deli - are all too small and understaffed, which means the lines move a bit slower than I would prefer. But, I will happily stand and wait before stepping foot in the lido buffet. (Not at all my thing.)

Here's the "thing" . . . I had no intention of coordinating that many at the port stops. I wanted to toss out ideas to everyone and let them just figure out their own thing. We are a family of 6, so that's what I was focused on. Then my sibling and his family of 5 decided to go with us, which was fine. It never occurred to me that the various not-married/no-children family members wouldn't band together and plan their excursions. Instead, they looked at the two cousins with children and tagged along with us. (NEVER AGAIN, for me, that is). We did have others who stayed on the ship at port, which was their choice. I would definitely cruise as a large group, again, because that was tons of fun, especially during dinner and in the evenings. However, I would either stick with cruise sponsored excursions or just not share our port plans with everyone. Live & learn.

@benkutner - The pandemic lockdown changed so many things. Have you checked around to see if there is any way to have an item notarized via a Zoom (or similar) call? (I don't have this answer. Just asking.) It seems like the parent's signature should definitely need to be notarized, but yours seems weird. If you read the wording on the form, it's the parent of the child that is authorizing. It isn't the adult traveling with the child. Do you have a notary available that you personally know that you could ask how they would handle? At your attorney's, doctor's, bank, place of employment?

Glad you tagged me, @c-leg5. So MUCH has occurred in our lives, since our cruise that I never did report back. We did use Black Hat Tours, @beshears. They were super easy to communicate with and very accommodating with questions/answers. Just go out on their website, FB page or Instagram and shoot them a message about what you have in mind and they will give you an estimated cost, based on vehicle sizes and size of your group. I would use Black Hat Tours, again, however, I would NOT recommend Punta Sur for a larger group (we were 15) on a cruise ship port day. I knew in advance that it was a long drive out there and back, and the original plan was that we would be able to stop and look around at lots of places to/from, but almost everyone in our group wound up complaining about the heat (yes, it was July, in Mexico) and didn't want to get out of the vans. Drinks and food at Punta Sur are SO expensive, and their connectivity makes it almost impossible to use a credit card. It was kind of a disaster for our group, in general, but it was NOT the fault of Black Hat Tours. I told everyone in writing, REPEATEDLY, to pay attention to prices and to bring cash and that we would be stopping at places and most acted like it was the very first time they heard it on that day. I felt kind of bad for our drivers, who were trying but kept getting rejected.

Lots of great information on this thread. Thanks to all for sharing.

Looks like an uncomfortable situation for anyone with long legs or a larger mid-section.

Sorry, @Saint Greg, I think I missed something. Were you sitting at tables for 4.5 hours? Or just to eat?

It's like you are reading my mind. My husband has requested that our next cruise be to Alaska. I'm sure it will be beautiful, so I'm not complaining (although I will miss the beaches). However, the thought of staring at glaciers for hours and hours doesn't sound like much fun to me. We have never been to Niagara Falls, but we did go to Mount Rushmore and I still don't understand how that became a busy tourist attraction.

I hate I missed a $1 deposit promotion. But we weren't (and really still aren't) ready to commit to our next cruise. But for $1, we could have gotten something on our calendar for Alaska. $99 non-refundable isn't going to cause us to book a cruise right now.

We started out looking at the round trip options, but then talked about wanting to see Denali pre-cruise, so Southbound routes is all we are researching now. But we’ve got time to change our minds plenty of times, since we won’t travel to Alaska until 2025 or 2026.