dcinmb

I have a Canon S95 that still serves me well but I'm headed to Alaska in a few weeks and looking for a camera that offers a longer zoom. The challenge has been finding a long-zoom camera that also has a decent-sized sensor. My online research has led me to the following three options (B&H Photo pricing):

• Canon G3 X - $899 w/optional electronic viewfinder - 20.2MP 1" high-sensitivity CMOS sensor; 24-600mm; 25X zoom; Full HD video at 60p
  
• Panasonic Lumix FZ 2500 - $1,098 - 20.1MP 1" high-sensitivity MOS sensor; 24-480mm; 20X zoom; 4K video
  
• Sony RX10 III - $1,598 - 20.1MP 1" Exmor RS BSI CMOS sensor; 24-600mm; 25X zoom; Full HD video at 960 fps
  

These are all bigger than I'd like but I don't have much choice if I want the long zoom/1" sensor combo. It appears that the Canon is the least huge of the three.

Our local Best Buy sales reps weren't much help but B&H recommends the Canon simply because it's a better value.

Does anyone have experience with these cameras? Are there any other comparable options I've missed? The Sony generally gets the best reviews but is it worth an extra $500 - $700? It'll be years before I buy another camera so I might be willing to splurge if it really is that much better than the others.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Diana

Yes, I've done both. I've done the photo safari twice. The second time was more enjoyable, as the guide was local and knew the area well. The first one had a young college student from New York who knew a lot about photography but not much about the area. The boat is small - I want to say we had 15 people.... and then either before or after you get on a bus to the glacier. You disembark 1/2 mile or so from the glacier and take a trail through the woods to take advantage of photo ops of the scenery. I got great close ups of flowers and bugs. I would definitely recommend this tour if you are interested in photography.

 

Allen Marine has a fleet of boats ranging from 50 pax to 200 pax. If you are in on a day when there's only a few ships they may be using the smaller boats. I have no problem with boat size and number of people. The bigger boats have more people but also more deck and viewing space. There's an advantage to the smaller boats in that you are closer to the water so that photos have a different perspective than if you are up on the second deck on a bigger boat.

 

 

 

Thank you, wolfie11! What an amazing photo. I've gone ahead and reserved the photo safari tour.

I'll just comment on the land portion. No glaring errors ! Good job on your research!

 

Personally I wouldn't make a reservation for either Kenai cruise. Wait until a day or 2 prior to see how the weather is. I've attempted the 6 hr cruise to Aialik Glacier 3 times but twice the capt turned the boat back due to rough seas and it became a boring tour of Resurrection Bay. We got a partial refund but lesson learned .... if the office says the trip MIGHT be cancelled, it will be, so take the full refund and run. The one time we got out to Aialik was FANTASTIC! The day before one of our cancelled trips was sunny and calm, and we spoke with people coming off the NW cruise and they said it was incredible. Shows you how fast the weather can change.

 

There are a few other stopping points along the drive from Whittier to Seward. We enjoy the boardwalk at Potters Marsh ... sometimes you see a moose at the end. Also the viewing platforms at Williwaw when the salmon are running. Summit Lake Lodge is a peaceful site for an icecream break. There's a fishing weir outside of Seward. And it might be worth a detour to Cooper Landing to watch the combat fishing.

 

Drive guide such as this one. Or look at Bells Alaska guide

http://www.alaska.org/guide/turnagain-arm-drive

 

I've been weathered out of flightseeing in Talkeetna 3 times so still haven't gone up. Now I 've lost interest. I really enjoy flightseeing over water AND glaciers.

 

As for Denali, I only do shuttles not the tours. I either book the Wonder Lake shuttle but get off at Eielson Visitor Center if it's crappy weather, or I just book Eielson. I like the fact that it's 1/3 the cost, plus I can hop off if I choose to walk a bit. I can easily do the shuttle 2 days in a row. The free sled dog demo is great. I went to a different kennel but I didn't like seeing the dogs chained to barrels and standing in mud. The dog houses at denali are mostly little log cabins. We got there early and had lots of time with the ranger and the pups. For other things to do, look at the park newsletter ( I included a link to it in the HELPFUL RESOURCES thread) ..... ranger led hikes and talks, several trails around the entrance area, drive to Savage River at mile 17 of the park road and do the hike, exhibits, films,

https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/news/upload/Alpenglow2016.pdf

 

And I'll put in a plug for my favorite stop on the way out of Anchorage .... Eklutna Spirit Houses and Orthodox church.

Wow. Thanks for all the great advice, mapleleaves.

Re: the Kenai Fjord cruise, no cruise ships will be docked in Seward that day so I may follow your lead and hold off on pre-booking. We've only got one day to do the Kenai Fjords so fingers crossed the weather cooperates. (Ditto for all of our aerial tours planned for Talkeetna and every single stop on our cruise!) Actually, if our Kenai Fjords cruise falls through on 6/27, we could try again on 6/28 if we skip our Talkeetna flightseeing and try to catch a flight while we're up in Denali instead.

Renting a car with a one-way drop-off is ridiculously expensive (but then again, what isn't ridiculously expensive in Alaska?) but I'm looking forward to exploring on our own, so I really appreciate all your roadtrip tips. I've already ordered a copy of The Milepost and will plan on downloading guides from Bell's, Murray's, etc.

And I was also disturbed to see the sled dogs chained up in the dirt (especially because the chains are so short), but it seems to be the norm as they do it at Husky Homestead, Seavey's, the Musher's Camps in Juneau and Skagway, and the Iditarod HQ in Wasilla.:(

I remember reading about Eklutna in Atlas Obscura so we will definitely try to stop by on our way up to Talkeetna.

Thanks again for all your help, mapleleaves!

Diana

I go whale watching almost every time I'm in Juneau (20-30 times). I am also a naturalist on whale watching boats in other parts of the country. I've been out on smaller boats including 6-packs as well as the bigger boats. I actually don't mind going with Allen Marine, who is the cruise ship vendor. The boats are big and hold a lot of people but are also fast.

 

Unfortunately, your whale watching experience may depend more on the mood of your captain than the size of the boat. Some captains are happy just to get you out and find a few whales and follow them around for a while. Others will go longer distances because someone radioed that there were orca or bubble-net feeding humpbacks in another location.

 

I think it's up to you. If you want to go whale watching and fit Mendenhall hiking into your experience in Juneau, go with what best suits your time frame. Most of the cruise lines offer side tours to the glacier as well. You used to be able to come back on the shuttle so you could stay longer at the glacier but I think someone said that might not be the case this year.....

wolfie11~

Have you ever gone whale watching with Gastineau Guiding? We've narrowed it down to their Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari (2 hour 15-minute cruise/maximum of 14 people) or Allen Marine's Mendenhall Glacier & Wildlife Quest (3-hour cruise/maximum of 140 people; Allen Marine told me 140 people but Crystal's telling me 48 so I need to call Allen Marine to confirm).

Thanks!

Diana

We're planning a DIY land tour following our Vancouver-to-Whittier cruise this June and would love any advice re: our tentative itinerary.

CRUISE ITINERARY

6/21 - KETCHIKAN

We're trying to decide between these two flightseeing tours:

• Taquan Air's Classic Misty Fjords Flightseeing tour
  
• Alaska Seaplane Tours' bear-viewing tour (Unfortunately, we'll be there too early for salmon-spawning season but we may be able to spot bears digging for clams, grazing, etc. And plan on returning to Alaska at some point to visit Anan Creek, Admiralty Island, etc.)
  

Has anyone done either?

West Rock Alaska Tours offers a Coastal Wildlife Cruise that sounds interesting, but they haven't responded to my emails or voicemails.

6/22 - JUNEAU

Does anyone have experience with any of these whale-watching tours? We're leaning toward Gastineau's Photo Safari because of the smaller group size.

• Allen Marine Tours' Mendenhall Glacier & Wildlife Quest (3-hour cruise; maximum of 48 people)
  
• Gastineau Guiding's Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari (2 hour 15-minute cruise; maximum of 14 people)
  
• Gastineau Guiding's Discover Alaska's Whales tour (2 1/2 hour-cruise; maximum of 20 people)
  

In the evening, we'll go on the Taku Lodge Feast & Five Glacier Discovery Tour.

6/23 - CRUISING GLACIER BAY

6/24 - SKAGWAY

We'll either do the Denver Glacier dog sledding heli tour or rent a car and drive up to Emerald Lake. (If we don't do the dog sledding here, we'll try to do it out of Girdwood.)

6/25 - CRUISING HUBBARD GLACIER

POST-CRUISE LAND ITINERARY

We'll be renting a car in Whittier on 6/26 and dropping it off in Fairbanks on 7/1.

6/26 - GIRDWOOD/SEWARD

• Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
  
• Alaska Sealife Center
  
• Possibly a Punchbowl Glacier dog sledding heli tour (if we don't end up doing it in Skagway.)
  
• Or possibly a Fox Island Dinner Cruise (May not be worth doing since we'll be taking a Northwestern Fjord tour the following day.)
  

(We were originally planning to take a Prince William Sound cruise but wondered if we might be glaciered out by this point?)

6/27 - KENAI FJORDS CRUISE

Has anyone done either of these?

• Kenai Fjords Tours' Northwestern Fjord Tour (9 hours; maximum of 130 people; newer boats)
  
• Major Marine Tours' Northwestern Fjord Tour (8 1/2 hours; maximum of 36 people)
  

6/28 - TALKEETNA

We'll be taking a flightseeing/glacier landing tour with K2 Aviation. K2 said that the yellow and the green routes are the most popular. The green route circles around Mt. McKinley, whereas the yellow route stays on the western end. Is it worth the extra $50 to go around Mt. McKinley?

6/29 & 6/30 - DENALI

We'll have two full days in Denali. On our first day, we're planning to take one of the following:

• Denali Backcountry Adventure (13 hours)
  
• Kantishna Experience (11 - 12 hours)
  

Portiemom wrote a glowing review of the Kantishna Experience. Has anyone tried the Denali Backcountry Adventure? Any suggestions for Day 2 in Denali? Maybe the Husky Homestead?

Thank you! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Diana

I think you'll get more responses if you start your own thread. You're kinda buried at the end of a long post. People tend to ignore long posts after awhile ..... I opened this by accident.

Thanks, mapleleaves. I'll start a new thread.

I did the Kantishna Experience Tour in 2012. Loved it. My review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1683604&highlight=kantishna

Thanks for your thorough, insightful review, portiemom. The Kantishna Experience Tour and the

Denali Backcountry Adventure tour seem pretty similar but it sounds like the latter wasn't around back in 2012?

We'll also be doing a DIY land tour this June after our Vancouver-to-Whittier cruise and would love any feedback on our tentative plans:

CRUISE ITINERARY

6/21 - KETCHIKAN

We're trying to decide between these two flightseeing tours:

• Taquan Air's Classic Misty Fjords Flightseeing
  
• Alaska Seaplane Tours' bear-viewing tour (Unfortunately, we'll be there too early for salmon-spawning season but we may be able to spot bears digging for clams, grazing, etc. And plan on returning to Alaska at some point to visit Anan Creek, Admiralty Island, etc.)
  

Has anyone done either?

West Rock Alaska Tours offers a Coastal Wildlife Cruise that sounds interesting, but they haven't responded to my emails or voicemails.

6/22 - JUNEAU

Does anyone have experience with any of these whale-watching tours? We're leaning toward Gastineau's Photo Safari because of the smaller group size.

• Allen Marine Tours' Mendenhall Glacier & Wildlife Quest (3-hour cruise; maximum of 48 people)
  
• Allen Marine Tours' Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest (3-hour cruise; maximum of 48 people)
  
• Gastineau Guiding's Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari - includes Mendenhall Glacier (2 hour 15-minute cruise; maximum of 14 people)
  
• Gastineau Guiding's Discover Alaska's Whales tour ((2 1/2 hour-cruise; maximum of 20 people)
  

In the evening, we'll go on the Taku Lodge Feast & Five Glacier Discovery Tour.

6/23 - CRUISING GLACIER BAY

6/24 - SKAGWAY

We're planning to rent a car and drive up to Emerald Lake.

6/25 - CRUISING HUBBARD GLACIER

POST-CRUISE LAND ITINERARY

We'll be renting a car in Whittier on 6/26 and dropping it off in Fairbanks on 7/1.

6/26 - GIRDWOOD/SEWARD

• Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
  
• Alyeska Tramway
  
• Alaska Sealife Center
  
• Exit Glacier
  

(We were originally planning to take a Prince William Sound cruise but wondered if we might be glaciered out by this point?)

6/27 - KENAI FJORDS CRUISE

Has anyone done either of these?

• Kenai Fjords Tours' Northwestern Fjord Tour (9 hours; maximum of 130 people)
  
• Major Marine Tours' Northwestern Fjord Tour (8 1/2 hours; maximum of 36 people)
  

6/28 - TALKEETNA

We'll be taking a flightseeing/glacier landing tour with K2 Aviation. K2 said that the yellow and the green routes are the most popular. The green route circles around Mt. McKinley, whereas the yellow route stays on the western end. Is it worth the extra $50 to go around Mt. McKinley?

6/29 & 6/30 - DENALI

We'll have two full days in Denali. On our first day, we're planning to take one of the following:

• Denali Backcountry Adventure (13 hours)
  
• Kantishna Experience (11 - 12 hours)
  

Has anyone taken either of these? Any suggestions for Day 2 in Denali?

Thank you! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Diana

Thank you, cruisestitch and Jim_Iain!

If we select the "Unlimited Internet for 2" perk, will we each be assigned our own individual log-in credentials?

Thanks!:)

Thanks, everyone, for your advice! Our friends are in Select Dining so we would've been able to make Aqua Class work but we've decided it's worth the extra $100 to "upgrade" to Concierge Class from what is essentially a "partially obstructed view" stateroom, what with the flag pole and the Oceanview Cafe deck blocking so much of the downward view.

Sounds like Celebrity really needs to re-think their Aqua Class concept given how often the AQs are discounted to below-CC levels.

When are you planning on cruising? We have both of those cabins on Connie and would post some photos, but we don't sail until August.

We're not sailing till August of 2017! We clearly can't go wrong with either of these cabins but I've read that the aft verandas get slightly longer as you move down the ship from Deck 9 to 8 to 7, so I'd be curious to know if this is actually the case. Thanks in advance! Have a wonderful cruise!

Thanks, M&M Hayden, warmwinds, Happy Cruiser 6143 and villauk! I think we're going to forego the $100 savings and stick with one of the CCs. Now I just have to decide between 7208 and 8172. I've never booked a cruise this far in advance before so it's nice to have options!

Since your friends can't eat in Blu, that's going to require some fancy footwork on your part to get into the MDR.

Interesting. The Celebrity rep told me that we could dine in the MDR whenever we wanted. Then again, I should know better than to rely on something a Celebrity rep has told me.

We're trying to decide between the following aft staterooms for an Alaskan cruise on the Millennium:

- 7208 Concierge Class

- 8172 Concierge Class

- 1140 Aqua Class

The Aqua Class stateroom is approx. $100 cheaper than the CCs. We might occasionally take advantage of the Persian Garden but we wouldn't be dining in Blu very often as we're traveling with friends who are in a standard veranda stateroom. Are there any other significant advantages to Aqua aside from the premium bathroom amenities, pillow menu, etc.?

Amenities and pricing aside, which of the three staterooms would you all recommend from a location/view/privacy perspective?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!:)

Thank you, monicajay, Essiesmom and Barwick Cruiser! Sounds like 6035 is the way to go. (Although we still haven't heard from anyone that's actually stayed in one of the 6053-type staterooms with the triangular verandas!;))

Looking for some guidance to help me decide between #6053 and #6035, which are the same price because of a free upgrade. From what I've read on CC so far:

- 6035's veranda is twice as big as that of a standard veranda, whereas 6053's is 50% bigger

- 6053 offers more wind protection and privacy

- 6053 may be slightly more stable as it's a bit closer to mid-ship. (We don't tend to get seasick so this isn't a concern)

I like the extra width of 6053's veranda but I'm concerned that it's right on top of a lifeboat (see attached pics of 6048 which is the starboard counterpart of 6053). However, I'm assuming that this won't be an issue unless I'm standing at the railing trying to look down at the water?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, that's right. A guide was provided. They booked the cruise only about two weeks out (:eek:), otherwise they'd have researched other options. (And I'd be happy to share the info.)

Sorry to "eavesdrop," but I'll be in Constanta on the Celebrity Constellation in early October and would be forever grateful if I could also get the name of the guide your sister and BIL used for their river cruise. My email address is dcinmb at yahoo dot com.

Thanks, as always, for your help, cruisemom42!

dcinmb:)

Thanks, ddschur and Ine! It sounds like we can't go wrong with either property but we've decided on the Renaissance. I generally prefer Renaissance hotels as they seem to be more boutiquey and less "generic" than Marriotts.

~dcinmb

The Marriott is near Leidseplein and the Renaissance is near Central Station. Which hotel would be preferable with regard to location (as a base for sightseeing), surrounding neighborhood, amenities, etc.?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

~Diana

I guess I am confused. It is my assumption that Rome in Limo includes transportation which we do not need as we will be in Rome already (not coming from the port). Do they offer tours for someone who does not need transportation---who is Janey?

If you'll take a look at their website http://www.romeinlimo.com/ you'll see that RomeInLimo offers all sorts of tours---including walking tours and after-hours Vatican tours---that do not involve transportation. Jany is the owner's wife and she will most likely be the one who responds [very promptly] to your e-mail inquiries.

We are planning a tour of the vatican. I see a lot of information on RIL, but would like to know...When you pre-purchase a vatican ticket is it entrance with a tour guide?

And if you'll go to the Vatican website http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do you'll see that you have the option of pre-purchasing admission tickets OR tickets for a guided private or group tour (which includes admission).

Somewhere I had read that even if you prepurchased a ticket but were not using a tour, you still had to stand in the "long" line. I hope this is not true.

Re: the Vatican Museums, when we were there in November we bypassed the several-block-long line and just walked up to the security guard, showed him our prepaid ticket confirmation, and walked right on in, even though we hadn't booked a tour.

Just a generalized question... we're planning on being in Rome for three days before our cruise. So far, our plan was to buy Rick Steves' book, download his Podcasts from iTunes, and basically tour all the major attractions on our own with our iPods. Are we going to missing out on a lot? It'd be nice to have a local guide hold our hands and take us to every single point of interest, but we just don't want to be spending 500 Euro a person for each day. Seems like everybody on these boards loves the guides and Romeinlimos, but we just don't want to pay. Anyone have any experience doing this?

As others have said, Rome is surprisingly easy to do DIY, particularly as you'll be there for three days and be able to spare some time to wander and get lost, which is part of the fun. Between walking and the hop-on hop-off buses you really don't need to rely on taxis at all, unless you've got your luggage with you.

That said, my parents will be visiting Rome for one day in September and I have booked RomeInLimo for them. They've been to Rome before but are older and less mobile than they used to be---plus they'll be coming in from Civitavecchia---so I'm hoping RIL will enable them to get the most out of their day. I do have a question, though: Has anyone taken one of the Vatican's official tours of the Museums/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's? I've reserved one of RIL's private guides but I'm wondering if one of the Vatican's official guided tours would suffice. I've only taken the Scavi Tour and was really impressed, so if the other tours are just as good I'm thinking the private guide may not be necessary.

Thanks!

Diana

Carol~

Hopefully, this is the last time I will be bothering you. As I mentioned before, a cruisemate of mine was kind enough to reserve several taxis for our group; these taxis will pick us up at the port, take us up to the viewpoint to take photos and then drop us off at the Ploce Gate. I was browsing the site you recommended, http://www.tzdubrovnik.hr/english/index.php, and came across a one-hour taxi tour offered by Radio Taxi Dubrovnik (http://www.taxi-dubrovnik.hr/):

"One hour sightseeing includes visit to the New Bridge (magnificent view across city harbor, new city quarters and islands), continuing the tour along Adriatic Tourist Road with the view along the entire city, and finally arrival to the Fort Imperial (412 meters altitude) on Mount Srđ with the most breathtaking view across the Old Town, whole Dubrovnik and surrounding (Cavtat, Župa Dubrovačka, Elafity Islands with the Bosnian mountains peaks at the back. Visit to Fort Imperial was destination of the cable car before the war, today no other agency offer this program."

Do you think this is a preferable option over our Port-->Mount Srd-->Ploce Gate arrangement, which is with Taxi Service Dubrovnik (http://www.taxi-dubrovnik.net/)? Taxi Service Dubrovnik actually has some interesting excursions:

- Island of Korčula

- Montenegro

- Mostar

Do you think a quick visit to one of these places would be doable after seeing the sites in Dubrovnik? I know there's a lot to do in Dubrovnik but given the time of year and weather conditions, I'm afraid our sightseeing options in Dubrovnik may not fill our day. My friend and I are in our 40s, still pretty quick on our feet and accustomed to going full out for an entire day.

I'm particularly interested in visiting Montenegro, which I believe is approximately one hour outside of Dubrovnik. I had previously wanted to go to Cavtat but now that I've discovered that Montenegro is fairly close, I'm kind of fired up about trying to go there.

Trsteno, the Neretva River Delta, the Plitvice Lakes and the Krka Waterfalls all sound beautiful but it I think we'll need come back when we have more time and the weather's better.

Any advice you may have regarding a quick visit to Montenegro would be greatly appreciated, including suggestions of which cities in Montenegro are most worth visiting.

Thank you again for all your help!

Diana

Thank you, Carol!

I think our plan at this point is to begin our taxi tour at 9:30 am, try to see as much as we can of Dubrovnik, and time permitting, take a sidetrip to Cavtat in the afternoon. In an earlier post you'd mentioned that the best way to get to Cavtat was either via a ferry which departs every 45 minutes or via the Libertas bus #10. Can I assume that these are still running in November, although perhaps not as often?

Thanks again! Hope you're managing to stay warm! Bet it's times like this that you miss California a little bit!

Dubrovniktravelady~

Greetings from a fellow northern Californian (grew up in San Jose, went to college at UC Berkeley). Thank you so much for all of your invaluable insight and advice! Hope you don't mind if I have a few more questions for you:

A friend and I will be on the Celebrity Summit docking in Dubrovnik on 16 November from 9:00 until 18:00. A fellow cruiser has been kind enough to arrange for a number of taxis to pick us up at the at the dock and transport us to to Vidikovac for photos and then drop us off at the Ploce Gate. As the taxi company (http://taxi-dubrovnik.net/) does not have any vans, we have reserved 4 - 5 cabs at a cost of 35 euros each.

First, does this fare sound reasonable to you? I'm wondering if the Cabrio bus that you mentioned might be a better option for us, although we would have to make our way to Pile Brsalje Square to catch the bus. And is the Cabrio bus even still running in November?

Also, what itinerary would you suggest for first-timers who are visiting Dubrovnik in November? We're in our 40s and quite active so we would like to see as much as we can in our one day.

Thanks so much for your help! We're lucky to have you!

Diana