Toyz711

park rangers come aboard every ship that cruises glacier bay

the spirit has great ship water, we take a sippy bottle to the buffet and fill it. just don't put the bottle under the spout, use a clean glass and pour into your bottle. much easier then taken the extra weight. take as much soda as you can carry. NCL now carries pepsi products, brother-in-law took his own dr pepper, couldn't get it on the ship.

as said, they show up everywhere at some time. the hotels and cruise ships do everything they can to limit it. BUT it's the passengers that bring them aboard. they climb on the luggage when a person is packing and come along to a hotel or cruise ship.

i have never encounter them, anywhere! if i did i would be cursing the person who had the cabin before me, not the cruise line.

what about that poor NY clothing store that had to close it's door to get rid of them?

this time of year, there are usually reports of hotels and cruise ships having this problem.

once in a while it's the sand fleas....from one of the beaches..making a trip on a shoe or towel and coming aboard.

working around a hotel, i see housekeeping working very hard to make sure the guest are very comfortable, just as your room steward will do on the cruise.

we had problems with this, for the family's alaska cruise. had 4 cabins books: a balcony for DH and my, a insides single for FIL, a inside with SIL/DH and an oceanview for niece/DH. when we tried to add MIL (was willing to share cabin with her ex)...no way, ship was at it's cap for passengers. all the cabins were in different areas of the ship, thought if we could add her to any of the cabins (all had pullmans or fold-out couch), she could move to the spare bed in her ex's cabin. guess all the space on the life boats were full?

It is a last minute decision to go for a whale watching cruise..

 

Is it possible to book for one only when i reach Juneau? I'll be there on 22 July..

Any recommendations?

we would prefer smaller boats(less than 12) as compared to those offered by Princess (60-80)...

many of the small whale watching vendor don't have a office, they work out of their home. orca enterprises is regular business, they do have offices at the docks. (2nd floor, above the t-shirt factory..across from the tram). depending on what boat they are using, they take from 15 to 35 (with plenty of room to get a great viewing space). they are "whale" people, you should see some of the great videos they show in the store!

if you don't book ahead, they would be one of the few possibilities. most of the whale watching vendors book up months and months ahead. (including orca, but since they have more then one boat they may have a cancellation )

the ones they give out? cheapy...not gold, just gold colored.

i did this tour in december, even then the temps were in the low 80s. in the direct sun, it felt hotter. the boat had a cover, only direct sun was on your arms. lamanai has a lot of tree cover, but in the open spots you will want a hat. yes, the walking can be rough...over loose stones, maybe in mud, stepping over roots...it's all worth it, but you do need good walking shoes. maybe with non-slip soles.

we got water on the excrusion. they handed us bottles of water at the rest stop before getting on the boats. plus i (always) have bottle water in my bag.

hope you get "jewell" as you guide, we loved her...she is a blast. tells about growing up in belize city and what a trouble maker she was at school. made the long bus ride fun...

the boat ride was a hoot...zoom-zoom-zoom. comfortable boat..

loved the tour. we were glad we did it through NCL, we were 1st off the ship and second to last tender getting back.

photos on in my webshot link in signature.

the ship will have it in it's newsletter and make annoucements, when to change your watch. ship time and port times will be the same. on the way back, they will remind you to change them back:D

this questions is asked/answered every week over on the NCL board

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107

you can do a search or just read a couple of pages. yes, they have plenty of stories to tell:D

as fas as the $15, it just depends...on who is there to charge you. some say it $15 no matter what size, others say different.

if you can see it in this photo...

yes, they have grounds..but you can bring your own. yes, they have filters. i don't drink coffee, the only time i used one was on my alaska cruise for hot chocolate. i hear some people bring their own grounds. i don't remember what sugar sub they had in the cabins, i know up at the buffet they had the yellow, blue and pink subs.

yes, coffee makers on the star. i think NCL has coffee makes in every cabin, i know the star and spirit..from personal experience.

one hint for chocolate milk....in any of the dining room, if they say they don't have it, ask them for some of the chocolate they use for the ice cream sundaes. some of the waiters may not know how to mix it. on the spirit, the ice cream station is in the buffet...had the chocolate syrup right in front.

at the buffet, we saw many different boxes of cereal..not just the healthy ones. many people grab a box to take with them as a snack on the tours.

amazing, i had to read it out loud to DH...that wasn't easy since i was laughing so hard i was spitting!!

somehow you managed to make lemonade out of a lemon tree that had been cut down, destroyed by frost and ran over by a semi. great job, both with deal with the problems on the cruise and telling a GREAT story.

if the room steward can find one for you, a tip for the extra service would be nice. but if you take it home, they will charge you. they may have unused robes for sale? it was discussed more last year, this year..no one has said if they had a robe in a regular cabin or not.

we didn't have a robe in our room...but if we had taken them home, yes. when you take them home, you have bought them. most have reported no robes in the cabins, you can ask for them....usually a tip to the room steward. haven't heard if they are still available.

6 cruise, no upgrades!!! i figure with 2,000 people on a cruise...all asking for free upgrades, my chances are slim and none. it seems they just magically appear, nothing you are do about. if the cruiseline needs to more some people around for any reason, it's possible. i seem to pick cruises that sail full, no chance if all the rooms are sold.

we were on her on her last cruise or her next to the last, before they moved her back across the pond. i remember it being very art deco and aged, the ports were ok, but the passenagers, crew, food and service made up for everything. my hubby has very fond memories of j.j., a cute, petite blonde from "down under" who had the cutest "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle". there is always something that can make a trip, if you want to find it.

on the solaris, every time i walked out of the room...one of the crew would run to push for the elevator and stand there to wish me a nice day.

then we had the pepsi thing, in athens we got our own pepsi. when we got back from the excursions (hot, very tired) the pepsi bottle would be cooling in the ice bucket.

to the point of the thread, i feel like each trip is different. to relax and unwind, it's the ship itself. the pampered feeling. for adventure, it's the excursions. for the pure joy of it..it's the price.

the staff we had was amazing. we still look back at the video of that trip where my hubby is laughing so hard he drops the camera...and we laugh again. plus we had the inside room that was extra big. hard to sit through the newly wed game after that one. even the bingo games were falling down funny. AND we don't drink!!

it's been awhile since we cruised, but this time....port location (have family in seattle), sunday departure (hubby didn't want to lose saturday sales)...ship matters, but we were on the costa riveria toward the end of her sailing days...she was great (heard some people thought she was too old and small). heard people complaining about the stella solaris, they had been on the cruise 2 weeks before we were...we have no complaints. it's all in the mind of the beholder

the crew on the riveria was the best, very international, very entertaining. on the stella the ports were so busy we were too tired to enjoy much of the entertainment or activities on the ship. the crew was very polite and friendly.love the cruise experience, but it's not for everywhere.