rjrpar

It is still a long time away, the market will eventually dictate the final prices. No sense to panic now. The prices that I've seen are too high for a mainstream cruise line and will never fill the ship.

I hate their website so much.

For a major corporation that sells online, the performance of their website is absolutely awful. The website is never ready to support the marketing effort.

Alaska is one of the best and easiest destinations to do on your own as long as you are willing to do a little research in advance, especially with the wealth of knowledge here on the CC boards and on Trip Advisor. If you feel at all comfortable with doing it yourself then I highly recommend it!

 

My husband has two extensive reviews of our trips (attempting to post links here, if not search for threads started by walleyelj, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1844695 and http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1679447) with info on our trip to Denali and people on here will be more than happy to help you as you plan!

Love the reviews. We are planning a 2015 trip to Alaska. We are considering HAL since we want to see the Yukon and they are the only line that goes there as part of a land tour. We are pretty adventurous and are also considering doing the land tour on our own. Based on your experiences, do you think that it is doable for 1st timers to do it ourselves. Your opinions would be appreciated

Thanks,

bob

Yeah that is a major issue, believe me, but we were screwed anyway price wise. A new ship like Quantum/Anthem is gonna get a premium, and apparently Liberty does too. The days of super cheap cruises on "Explorer" are over for this area. The price of having new or newer ships I guess. Are the "Liberty" cruises from NJ already on the website so I can check them out?

The prices on the QOTS when we booked 6 months ago were very fair. Much lower than some Liberty prices I just saw.

We now live in Florida and will be driving to the pier to get on cruise ships. Is there a size restriction for the carry on luggage? I know it has to go thru a scanner but I wanted to take my piece of luggage that is larger than the carry on size regulated by airlines. Laying down It measures 27 long x18wide x10deep.

 

Thanks for any help, I tried to google it but could not find anything.

No problem, but you will have to carry it around with you until about 1:30pm

X has an excellent reputation as a premium cruise line. We would not hesitate to cruise with them.

X is not a premium cruise line. It is a very nice mass market line just like HAL, Royal Caribbean, even Carnival. We have been on X and RCCL often and differences between the two are minor. Some X fans will insist the food is better but again, very similar. I think newer ships and more emphasis on entertainment on RCCL and X make for a slightly different experience than HAL.

Never been on a cruise I didn't enjoy.

I am very disappointed in RCI. I used a great vacation planner named Marie to plan our cruises on Allure and Oasis. She was very patient with me as a first-time cruiser. She always knew the answers to my many questions. I called to speak to her yesterday and a man answered at her extension. He said she had relocated and no longer worked there. I was assigned a new planner. It would have been nice to have been contacted. Has this happened to you?

I can think of a lot worse problems.

I believe this was announced earlier in the week: April 25 for C&A members, April 28 for the general public for the Winter '15-16 season.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading that and I'll be looking to book for that season as well.

You're correct.

I agree. If people book with the intention of waiting for a price drop it won't happen because you're filling up the cabins. Only if Royal sees empty cabins will they drop the price. Booking now at a price you have no intention of paying defeats the purpose.

 

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Agree, don't book now. Prices will fall, market demand will set the price.

We are on the 2/2/15 eleven day cruise and love the itinerary. Great ports but we would prefer 2 days on the return; 3 gets a little long. After being on the Eclipse last month, anything is better than FLL on a weekend. $700 for the two of us to fly and what a mess, prefer a cool day relaxing on the ship.

Any price the cruiseline offers can be matched by an agent, and most will give you some credit on top of it. I usually figure $100 per cabin for every $1000 in total cost($500pp cruise). To save 10% I'm willing to go with an agent even though I can easily book online myself.

We always get about 10% from our TA as OBC. Why pass it up?

I'm guessing 3 to 4 miles from Havensight to Crown Bay.

I would agree with about 4 miles, on the opposite side of town from Havensight. Also true about the walk not being very nice, we cabbed it for $4pp each way.

Seemed to us that RCI had an interest in Crown Bay; there were 2 ships in that day, the Celebrity Eclipse and the Allure. There were 4 or 5 at Havensight, none from RCI. Yes, town was very crowded.

Just curious, what didn't you like about Crown Bay?

Bad shopping, farther from town. Seems like the development of CB into a nice touristy shopping, eating, and drinking area is not happening - just the opinion of our small group of 4.

Does anyone know where the QOTS will dock in St. Thomas. We just returned from a Celebrity cruise which docked at Crown Bay; didn't care for it at all. We will be in St. T next Feb.7th.

Thanks in advance

Happy you had a better time than your review indicated. The tone of your review is very negative and leads me to think you are very hard to please.

Has anyone that went through this debilitating sickness received compensation afterwards?

Thanks

bobpell

Compensation for getting sick, it is sad that you even have to ask.

We did a 12 day Baltic last year and loved it. Remember, on a European cruise, it is all about sightseeing, not the ship.

That is pretty weak, I'd like to see them at least require a jacket. Shirt and tie no jacket you just look like a used car salesmen or an awkward high school student not formal at all.

So a sportscoat makes it formal? Everyone wants to redefine formal to what they want to wear.

My guess is they will allow any sports coat and a tie. they need to get enough people in Grande to spread out the masses. It will never be formal only

[/indent]my preference

Formal is not just wearing a jacket. Is it anyone's expectation that it will be tux or dark suit only.

The HAL Alaska tours for 2015 just came out this week, so I would imagine the 2016 schedule will not be out for about a year.

2015 HAL cruise/land tours still not out.

For a 7 day cruise we would take about $800-1000; Guest Relations will always make change. We usually spend $100-150 per port, beach chairs, cabs, lunch.

However, everyone is different. You need to price out what you have planned, account for onboard spending and add something as a cushion, maybe 25%.

I think, and I am speaking as a 4star non smoker, that this is an overblown issue. Okay so flame me. I may have in all my sailing days noticed someone smoking next to me. This even after the latest changes. I have more problems walking into the grocery store or even Target where the 'cigarette' towers are right at the front than on the cruise ship. I don't do the casino so I don't have that issue.

You are correct, it is an overblown issue. I don't smoke, never have, and on 15 cruises on 4 different cruise lines, I have never smelled smoke on my balcony. Since it's politically correct to bash smoking, everyone is on the bandwagon.

We have all private excursions planned for our Mediterranean cruise. We nearly always tip when on a HAL excursion, but aren't certain what is expected on a private excursions. Basically these are independent entrepreneurs so they set the price for the excursion as the owner. What, if any, tip is expected for these tours in Europe?

We tipped 10-15% last year in the Med. The tour guides are not the owners and rely on tips, however tipping is more moderate in Europe vs. US.

Nothing showing for the Yukon. Does HAL posts new cruises gradually or is this it?

Thanks