Dev'sMom

Okay, good to know about the tap water and cruisetrain timing. I thought our train would arrive just before the lunch hour thinking it was the schedule shown on the Alaska RR website. We're doing the D5L cruise tour, but add a night in Fairbanks at the beginning just to start adjusting to the time difference sooner.

Hi,

June 24, 2018 will be my family's first cruise--southbound Alaska after 5 nights on land! My soon-to-be-8yo son is very excited, as are us parents! I have a few questions for those in the know:

1. How deep is the pool with the retractable roof? Is it uniform depth or graded deep-shallow?

2. Can any of the Club Hal activities be done as a family or are no parents allowed in? For example, can we all play foosball there? We won't be dropping our son off there--prefer to do things together.

3. How many binoculars do they put in suites? We'll be in a pinnacle suite and I'm not sure if we should pack our own binoculars too.

4. Are you allowed to take a drink out of the Neptune Lounge (alcoholic or not) or must it be finished there?

5. Is the "tap water" fine to drink or should we plan on buying bottled water?

6. Will they room-service pancakes and waffles?

7. What can OBC be used for?

8. Do you know what time our cruisetrain from Anchorage will get us to Seward? I'm hoping early enough to wander around the port and then embark early. I'm not sure if there's more than one train between the 2; our land & sea itinerary shows a train for transport.

9. Apart from the "fee" to dine at PG and Canaletto, is there a charge for the actual food?

10. Is it true that the dry dock renovations originally scheduled for May 2018 have been postponed? Apparently there are now cruises scheduled during that time.

I'm sure I'll have more questions between now and then and I appreciate your responses to my "random" questions!

So...we couldn't resist the Pinnacle Suite! Not able to vacation often due to work, school etc, we tend to go big before we go home :-) The Princess cruises during our available dates didn't have any suites left, and if they did, there was an obstruction on the balcony.

My husband and son are both very much interested in doing the land portion--we're going to start in Fairbanks for 2 nights (we added one night to the existing one included with the land portion just to give us additional time to settle in), then Denali National Park for 2 nights, 1 quick night in Anchorage, then on to Seward for 7 nights southbound on the Noordam. Fortunately, my son is great about scheduled things, and he has some experience on busier vacations like Disney. I'll be sure to pack lots of activities for the long rides in between hotels in the land portion.

Next time, I definitely need to book Princess, but now I know I need to plan way ahead to get the room type we want. :-)

Hello! I'm planning our first cruise (me, husband, 8yo son). This is a dream trip! We don't get enough quality time together so when we do get away, we like some pampering. We do spend a decent amount of time relaxing in our hotel (even at Disney). We usually book rooms that are at least 700sqft in land hotels. Hence I'm looking into ship suites. Not a lot of choices this late in the game (so maybe I should wait till 2019?). And we'd like to do an organized land tour. After much research (including reading these boards!), bouncing off our preferences and work schedule, I'm left with the following dilemma of which plan to go with (both are land first then SB cruise--makes flights easier from NJ, both starboard):

Golden Princess about 16K C421 Penthouse (hoping there is in fact a privacy curtain) on OB5 Connoisseur tour 1xAnchorage, 2xDenali lodge, 2xMcKinley lodge (most meals included) in early August

OR

HAL Westerdam about 18K mid-August Pinnacle 7045 on D6L 1xAnchorage, 2xDenali (no meals)

My questions:

1. If we do spend a decent amount of time in-room, which room is more enjoyable for relaxing and seeing sights off our balcony? Still plenty to see on starboard? Or should we do C751 on Golden aft but with obstruction? Will aft be too choppy this first time for my son?

2. Is the 2K difference worth it? I know we'll have to spring more for meals on the land portion with HAL. But when we are there and when we look back, will we regret the smaller space on the Golden? Funds aren't unlimited and I haven't even tallied excursions yet.

3. More land portion on Princess. Is that a good thing or will it be overwhelming? When my son is older, we will likely do a non-cruise trip to Alaska. Should we instead do a round-trip cruise without land portion?

4. What is the difference in perks between the suites? We aren't heavy drinkers other than water, and Princess says daily bottled water in suite.

Thanks SO much for your advice!