Tx-Bev

lynncarol,

When I wrote that we would pick up our rental in Anchorage "head back towards Seward," I didn't mean to imply that we intended to drive all the way back to Seward.  Our intent IS to backtrack to see Turnagain Bay, Girdwood (Alyeska tram), and the Wildlife Conservation Center at our leisure.  We might also take the short drive down to Portage Lake and do a bit of hiking/sightseeing there if time permits...but we DO NOT plan to drive all the way back to Seward.   You're right, it wouldn't make sense to go get our rental in Anchorage if that were our intention.  Since we plan on a visit to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and a hike out to Matanuska Glacier later in the week, we decided we could skip seeing Exit Glacier, and nice as the Kenai Fjords cruises sound, I don't want to give up basically a full day to that one activity. 

The train from Seward to Anchorage sounds lovely, but at $113 per person (there are 3 of us), it's a bit more than we want to pay, especially since visits the Wildlife Conservation Center and Mt. Alyeska are high on our priority list. If we took the train, we'd STILL wind up backtracking to see those. And since we much prefer taking our scenic shots while standing still ( I've never had any luck taking an in-focus, decently-composed picture from a moving train or bus) the train just doesn't make sense for us.

I know there are tour/shuttle combos that stop at he WCC and Alyeska tram but, after reading multiple reviews, my sense is that their stops are limited to maybe 45 to 60 minutes at most.  Not enough time to really enjoy the visits IMHO.  Besides, I just don't like big bus tours anyway!

I can't say I'm really happy that we're going to be back-tracking (which seems like a waste of precious vacation time).  If I had my "druthers"  we'd rent a car at the cruise dock in Seward for the week and return it to Anchorage airport when we fly out a week later.  Unfortunately, the base price to rent in Seward is considerably higher than at the Anchorage airport.  And then, once the additional "transfer fee" for returning the car to a different place was added in, well, the rental car would have cost us more than twice as much! A huge bite out of our overall travel budget for this trip.

Thanks for the info Host Kat.  Not much one can do about software bugs except try to find work-arounds and wait for the software folks to deal with the bugs.  I guess that, for now, all we can do is post in our respective roll calls and "subscribe to the thread." 

Okay, I know how to find my roll call AND I know how to post a message on the roll call board.  I've already done both!  This question is a little different and, as far as I can tell, doesn't seem to have been addressed before.

As of today, at least 8 different people have posted messages on my ship's roll call, yet when I search for the roll call, it is showing that there are zero members.   Does one need to do something special for the roll call to start counting you as a "member?"  It doesn't really matter to me but  I'm thinking that some people who don't want to be the first to post a message in a roll call forum, might get to the page that indicates "0 members" and just not bother clicking to the next page and therefore never join our message board.   BTW,  in case this could just be a weird glitch affecting only my roll call.  My roll call is for Norwegian Jewel's August 31, 2020 sailing.  

Hi Gypsie Mom,

I haven't been to Alaska YET but my husband and I recently booked on NCL Jewel for it's Aug 31,2020 sailing out of Vancouver to Seward and will finish up an additional week in Alaska staying at AirBnbs and doing  a self-guided driving tour that will allow us to explore the Seward Highway, Anchorage area, Chugach State Park, the Mat-Su Valley, Denali National Park, and Fairbanks areas.

Being an inveterate researcher, ever since my husband announced "an Alaska Cruise" as my combined Christmas/Birthday present, I've been trolling the internet looking for how we can  make the most of our upcoming vacation!  Like you, we're a retired couple, in good health, and with an interest in scenery, wildlife, etc.   While we can manage a cruise every 2 to 3 years IF we economize as much as possible, we don't have an unlimited budget.  Thus I'm always looking to get maximum enjoyment out of our vacation dollars.  Plus, doing the research is a big part of the fun!

To the extent it might be helpful, I'm happy to share what we've planned thus far and why. 

We chose NCL in large part because of its Freestyle dining. We have cruised on a couple of other lines over the years but keep coming back to NCL... specifically because of Freestyle Dining.  We enjoy meeting new people and Freestyle lets us do that quite easily by simply telling the maitre 'd when we go to dinner that we would prefer to join a "shared table" rather than dining alone.  Typically we get seated more quickly than those waiting for private tables AND over the years we've met some wonderful folks, some of whom we've kept in touch with on a long term basis.  On the other hand, on those rare occasions that we wind up dining with a "bore" - well, it's just for one meal!    On other ships, one can get stuck with a table-mate that sets one's teeth on edge for the entire cruise.  And when that happens, you're pretty much forced to spend extra money for specialty dining just to avoid the bore!  Been there, done that.

Secondly, we're not big on dressing up.  And, given that we'll need to pack clothing for outdoor activities in highly variable Alaska weather,  I really really really don't want to have to lug around (nor pay extra baggage fees) for an extra suitcase with evening clothes, dress shoes, make-up, etc. just so we can dress up while on board.   NCL, which has no required dress up evenings suits us perfectly!  I figure a black wool turtleneck, some black jeans and maybe a colorful scarf will do just fine for dressing-up enough for photos.  And the clothes will do double duty for layering warmth the rest of our vacation!

I do enjoy a good meal but we never bother anymore with specialty dining on cruises.  For us, traveling is all about seeing new places and having adventures that we cannot have at home. I don't care how "great" a cruise ship's specialty dining restaurant is,  I I can get just as fine a meal - or a better one - at one of the many great restaurants in my hometown. And those won't cost nearly as much.

We chose to go in early September even tho it IS the rainiest time of year in Alaska, because September is also the "shoulder season,"   so prices for the cruise, post-cruise accommodations, and airfares to/from Alaska were significantly less that during high summer.   The other option for lower prices would have been early spring (late May), but we have a family wedding at that time plus we were worried about there still being lots of snow on the ground making driving more hazardous.  So September it was.  We were able to find enough "deals" on flights, accommodations, and our cruise and to stretch our travel budget to cover the extra week of land-touring!  Earlier in the season, we couldn't afford the additional week!

Silver (Coho) Salmon are still running in September and berries are ripening.  Bears and other wildlife will be "feeding up" in preparation for the winter ahead.  And fall is mating season for moose, musk oxen, and caribou who often do so in open areas.  Birds are beginning their migration south, etc.  So I figure our chances of seeing wildlife should be pretty good. And we're hoping for some Autumn coloring .

Also, in early September (our cruise week) the days are still quite long but rapidly getting shorter.  By mid-September (when we plan to be in Denali and then in Fairbanks), it should be getting dark early enough that we can have at least some hope of catching a view of the Northern Lights!

I'm in the process of scheduling our "excursions" for our cruise stops but, since we don't enjoy being herded around like sheep on big buses, we won't be doing any of the cruise ship excursions.  Because cruise reviewers all pretty much agree that the big cruise ships don't typically get close enough to whales to get a good view, we have booked  a 3 hour small-boat whale-watching excursion while we're in Juneau. That is the only "major excursion" we're planning to do and booking it independently saved about 40% over the least expensive whale watch trip offered thru the cruise ship.

In Skagway, we've already reserved a rental car and we plan to drive up the Klondike Hwy towards thru Carcross  to Whitehorse (capitol of Canada's Yukon territory) which is 110 miles from Skagway. We'll picnic alongside of the road, and stop to take pictures and/or hike where ever the mood strikes us.  The Klondike Hwy pretty much parallels the White Pass scenic railway route - so we should see many of the same views, with the advantage that we can stop and take pictures if we want to instead of having to try to shoot thru a moving train window!  Plus, the railway excursion train turns around and heads back to Skagway after only about 25 miles.  And our rental car costs less than a single ticket on the train.

Once we reach Seward, we've booked the direct shuttle bus to Anchorage which will get us to the Airport before noon.  We'll , pick up our rental car and turn around and back toward Seward to explore Turnagain Arm, the Wildlife Conservation Center,  Portage Lake area, and Alyeska Tramway at our leisure instead of on the Tour/Shuttlebus schedule.  When it gets dark, or when we get tired, we'll head on to our  first AirBnb in the Wasilla area (about an hour northeast of Anchorage.)  We'll stay three nights at this AirBnb, spending two days taking day trips to explore Chugach State Park, the Mat-Su Valley (including Matanuska glacier) and Glenn Highway, and the Hatcher Pass area.  Then we'll check out and spend a leisurely day driving up the Parks Highway -sightseeing along the way - to our second AirBnb which is about 45 minutes north of Denali.  We'll stay four nights at the second AirBnb, allotting two full days to visiting Denali and one day to sightseeing around Fairbanks and the Chena River Recreation Area and possibly dropping by Chena Hot Springs to soak for awhile.   If the weather is reasonably clear, we plan to stay out late in the Fairbanks area in the hopes of catching sight of the aurora. If predictions are good for Aurora sighting, we may even drive north or west of Fairbanks to optimize our chances. 

Our Airbnb allows a noon checkout, so, if we're out late, we can sleep and still have plenty of time to drive the 5 hours back to Anchorage and have a leisurely dinner before heading to the airport at to catch our 10PM flight home.  

BTW, it turns out that google maps has turned into a pretty good resource for finding scenic drives and scenic viewing areas.  If you click on the pegman (but don't drag him to a particular road) you'll notice little circles suddenly appear on the map.  Those are where users have linked photographs they've taken of the area.  You can see the linked photo by hovering your cursor over one of the circles.  I've found that  when there are lots of little circles clustered in one area, invariably the views are amazing... as verified by dragging pegman onto the  road and looking at what google  recorded.  Sometimes the circles aren't right on or near roads, but going to AllTrails.com usually reveals that there is a "trail" in the area.  I've taken note of some of the easier trails so we can hike them.

Okay, probably way more info that you wanted to know and possibly much of it is not on point for you. But maybe it'll give you some ideas.

Best wishes and have fun planning!

Hi Ginger. I wound up contacting the company that underwrites the cruise insurance policy I was interested in. In my case it turned out that the insurance I was buying did not reimburse the dollar value of the rooms/flights purchased with points because they did not consider that an-out-pocket expense. However, if I had to cancel a flight or room purchased with points and the airline or hotel charged a cancellation fee or change fee to put the points back into my account, then that amount would be covered.... but ONLY IF I had included the dollar value of the flight or room in my total trip calculation. The insurance program I was looking at based its premiums, in part, on the dollar value of the entire trip and raised premiums at every $1000 break point. If I chose NOT to include those items, I was still covered for OTHER unexpected out of pocket costs that might occur if, for example, I had to end my trip early. In other words, if I get sick and have to fly home early so have to make a new flight plan, the policy will cover the cost of a new flight, but would not cover the cost of getting my frequent flyer miles reimbursed to me for the flight I wound up having to cancel.

Once I calculated what it would cost me if I had to pay cancellation and/or change fees to get my points back - versus - the additional premium due to the dollar value of my points flights and points hotel rooms bumping my total trip value up by a couple of thousand dollars, I opted NOT to "insure" my points.

Every insurance company is different tho. You should contact the company issuing your actual contract and ASK them exactly how their contract works. Be sure to present possible scenarios so you know that you and the agent are talking about the same thing. Insurance is complicated!

Much as we enjoy cruising, Hubby and I get to go only infrequently due to a somewhat limited travel budget and, because up until very recently, we've been responsible for caring for both his and my elderly parents. We've taken 2 previous NCL cruises and one Carnival cruise and decided that we MUCH preferred NCL, mainly because of its freestyle dining. We found the food offered in the main dining rooms of both lines to be excellent and the menus to be plenty varied enough for our tastes. (Because our budget is limited, we choose not to spend extra money on "sprecialty" dining.)

NCL won out because 1) We can eat when we get hungry rather than at a set time. 2) At each meal we get to choose whether we want to sit at a table for two and dine privately or sit at a larger table and meet other passengers. On both prior NCL cruises, the maitre d ALWAYS accommodated our request. This is important b/c I'm a total extrovert and am always up for meeting new people, but Hubby is a bit introverted. So, we switch back and forth between meeting his introverted desire for privacy and my extroverted desire "a party!" On the Carnival cruise (this was back before Carnival started "Your Time" dining, we wound up assigned to a table for 10 that included a party of 6 that, while generally polite, pretty much ONLY talked amongst themselves. And, the other couple assigned to our table apparently decided to eat at the specialty restaurants for most meals because they only appeared a 2 or 3 times during the entire cruise. So Hubby and I wound up stuck the entire trip eating with 6 strangers who clearly weren't at all interested in chatting with us. I wasn't happy b/c it deprived me of a chance to meet anyone new and Hubby wasn't happy because he was forced to sit with and (attempt to) interact with strangers at every meal. Worst of all possible worlds!

On both prior NCL cruises, we wound up meeting other couples that we hit it off with and wound up agreeing to meet up with for dinner and other events. And, even when we ended up seated with incompatible people, it was for ONE meal...and therefore not a big deal. So, we're booked for cruise #4 in December...and chose NCL again.

Will we try another cruise line in the future? If the price and itinerary are right, probably. But if prices are similar and itineraries are similarly interesting, NCL will have the edge over other cruise-lines where the only options are traditional (assigned dining times/tables), buffets, or specialty restaurants at an additional charge.

Thanks both! I thought maybe there might be a "standard" answer since the question came up as I was trying to fill in an internet form to get quotes. But I should know by now that there is pretty much NOTHING standard about insurance... except maybe that when you try to collect on it, most of the time the company will come up with some explanation as to why your claim is NOT covered. ;p

I made the call and now I'm trying to read thru the certificate of three different companies to TRY and understand what is and is not covered. And ending up with dozens of additional questions to ask. :confused:

Will REALLY need this vacation by the time I'm done.

Sorry to ask yet another insurance question but, I've looked thru a bunch of threads and have yet to find this one...

I'm looking into purchasing travel insurance for our upcoming cruise vacation. In order to get estimates online thru InsureMyTrip.com, I have to be able to enter what my trip is going to cost (from the time I leave my front door until I return!) We're purchasing many of our pre- and post-cruise items (i.e. rental cars, hotels, and flights to/from our home airport to Atlanta) with our accumulated travel points. In fact, about 25% of our total vacation cost will be paid with points.

I'm sure the premiums quoted will depend largely on the "trip cost" that I enter. So, if insurance companies will NOT reimburse the value of lost points, then there is no point in including the items purchased via points in my vacation valuation. If insurance does reimburse for lost points, do they value them at the amount we would have had to pay in $$ for the same service if we hadn't had the points to use? Or do they use some other valuation?

I'm sure someone out there has experience!

Paying $10!- bottle, plus the corkage fee, will be cheaper than any bottle you buy onboard, plus taste much better. It’s a service charge to offset the loss of profit for not purchasing way marked up bottle prices onboard.

We're taking the 11 day cruise out of Barcelona with stops in Casablanca, the Canary Islands, Madiera, and Malaga and Alicante Spain. After researching a bit, we've realized that, except for Casablanca, all our ports-of-call are in wine producing regions. So hubby has decided he'll just try a glass of the local wine at lunch-time instead of messing with wine onboard. So we've added that to his list of "excursion activities." :)

You are correct about the corkage fee, it is $15. There are a number of wines available by the glass. here is a link to a previous post that had a photo of the wine list https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showpost.php?p=49827631&postcount=2

I had kind of been wondering how anyone who wasn't a total souse could possibly manage to imbibe anywhere close to $89 worth of beverages per day. At those prices inflated prices, I can understand it. ;p LOL!

I'm a complete non-drinker but, at his doctor's suggestion, my husband consumes a single glass of red wine each night before bed. He is otherwise also a non-drinker and neither of us likes sodas anymore, preferring to stick with water and iced tea. Thus purchasing an $89/day/person beverage package obviously makes zero sense for us.

Anyone know whether wine can be purchased by the bottle once on board and, if so, are you allowed to take it back to your cabin? Finally, if wine is available for purchase, where one might find a published price list?

As I recall, the last time we sailed, passengers were each allowed to bring a couple of bottles of wine on board with them and I don't recall that there was any "corkage fee"...but that was 10 years ago and obviously things have changed.

Given that Hubby will likely uncork his own bottle in our cabin and consume it there, a $15/bottle "corkage" fee just to bring it onboard seems more than a bit outrageous....especially as he typically picks wines that only cost about $10/bottle. Before anybody makes any snide comments, no hubby does not even pretend to be an oenophile, this is medicinal. :)