fdpevey

Cruzsnooze’s cautions aside, I’m with you.

I remember the years of walking into our travel agent’s office, perusing all the brochures with the agent, listening to his suggestions – then enjoying the discounts he could find. He talked us into our first cruise – with the American Hawaii Cruise line to cruise the Hawaiian Islands 30+ years ago. Boy, am I showing my age!

That storefront went out of business and we’ve used multiple agencies, including the online mega-agencies. None has every come to ME and said "Boy do I have a wonderful deal for you!" I think most of the OBCs (and free gratuities or drinks packages, etc) come through promotions the cruise lines offer to the agents … and watch for them and talk with the agencies to see who will be able to supplement what I am willing to pay.

Sooner or later I hope the cruise industry finds a different business model. What has evolved to this point isn’t all that great, except for those few who have been lucky enough to find those spectacular travel agents (so those of you who have this, please don’t criticize me).

Thanks, all. I followed advice and figured out how to see what was available on CruisePlanner.

I find the need to make reservations for entertainment more of a frustration than the whole open seating dining debate. Looking at the CruisePlanner, and the dates/times that show up, we will not be able to see the comedian (unless we want to go at midnight) and there are no available reservations for entertainment the last two nights of my cruise. Sigh.

One of the few frustrations on the bigger ships - I accept it because of all the nice things that ARE available on the bigger ships.

Does anyone have a current one - or a link to a current one? I cannot find one for my upcoming Mar-7-2015 sail on the Oasis.

I've tried here (Cruise Critic search is ALWAYS my first step), the Royal Caribbean website (including the Press Center), and general Google-ing. No luck. The only ones I find are from before Cats came on board.

Having that one-pager is a helpful tool for thinking out how we want to mix activities and dining.

Any help is appreciated.

When we were deciding on a last-minute cruse last year - and our choice was the Allure or the Oasis - we ended up on the Allure specifically because My Time dining was full on the Oasis. So it does fill up prior to boarding.

Whether they open up more My Time dining once passengers board, I don't know. I only know, if I were you and it's what you want, I wouldn't wait until I boarded.

We had a great time on the Allure with My Time. Fixed dining times is not something we chose.

Is Oasis class excluded in sales like these?

I looked last week at prices for the Mar-07 sailing week and wrote down prices to think about. The this popped up, so I looked again, and prices are the same.

Which, to me, means the BOGO doesn't apply to Oasis - or is there something else I should be doing?

Thanks for your guidance - I learn something every time I ask a question on these boards.

I have to say I am constantly amazed at these stories. I have worked with nine travel agents in the past 20 years and have yet to have one I felt went much beyond a satisfactory business model.

I've gotten the cruise I wanted for the price advertised, but they have not added perks, ferreted out discounts, or managed upgrades.

...and, in case you don't know, Fort Lauderdale is not an airport where it is easy to spend a great amount of time. I'm sure they do their best but the wait areas, bars, restaurants, and overall options/comforts for passing time are pretty sparse.

Enjoy being around the town, and get to the airport as close to your flight as you feel comfortable.

Hubby and I are considering the 19-April-2015 Repositioning Cruise on the NCL Dawn embarking in New Orleans and travelling to Boston. All told SEVEN days at sea.

Hmm. We've cruised a lot, but all of our cruises have been port-oriented. Maybe a day between three or five days of ports where you just sleep in and rest - but never this many days at sea. Years ago we even did 15 days in the Med, with only two days where we were not in port ... I could have used an additional day of rest on that one!

Anyway, what do you do for seven days at sea? Are there movies, lectures - something other than drinking and gambling (since I don't do a lot of either one)?

Can someone who has done this cruise (or one like it) share daily activity bulletins for the at-sea days ... or just share what you do to be engaged during those days?

Thanks.

All of you offer very good points - and, as I travel, I learn more each time. It's the primary reason I shared - to help the next person think about things I did not.

I am sure, as I said before, it will be a wonderful experience.

Background: My husband, sister, and I are booked on the Princess Denali Explorer Cruise Tour SB4, arriving to overnight in Fairbanks on July 8, then on to one night at the Denali Princess, one night at the McKinley Princess, and one night in Anchorage before embarking on the Crown Princess in Whittier for a 7-day southbound cruise. There are some tours included, and the Princess train. Nice package. We reserved this Cruise Tour the end of March (March 31), got a fine price but nothing special: no OBCs, no covered gratuities, free dinner, or covered drink packages. Just a nice Cruise Tour.

About two weeks later (April 15), looking more carefully at options, we thought it might be better to take the EB4 Cruise Tour – which is one night Fairbanks, two nights at Denali Princess, one night at McKinley Princess, and straight to Whittier. I asked our travel agent about changing, she checked with Princess, and the difference in cost would be $1,150 PER PERSON MORE.

That’s right, changing to add one night at Denali Princess and subtract one night in Anchorage (and I compared every component side-by-side – that is ALL the difference) would be $2,300 for me and my husband and right around $2,000 for my sister (a single).

This makes no sense. None. No one can explain. Travel agent tried. It just is. Needless to say, we did not change.

I’ve thought about this for a while, as you can see, but decided to share for those of you considering Cruise Tours – make SURE your first decision is EXACTLY what you want because changing will be cost prohibitive.

Having traveled with Princess before, I am confident we will have a wonderful time. I will always wonder if we would have had a better time if we could have made the change, but I will still enjoy my trip. I hope this caution allows others to avoid wondering.

Using many of the suggestions here, I'm getting closer to final choices for our upcoming Alaska trip. It would be WONDERFUL to take all of the flight adventures you have described, but my husband, sister, and I have decided we really can only do ONE.

We've narrowed it down to:

1. Mt. McKinley Glacier Landing by Airplane

2. Talkeetna Ruth Glacier Landing by Airplane

3. Taku Lodge Feast & 5-Glacier Seaplane Discovery (Juneau)

4. Helicopter Flightseeing and sled dogs in Juneau

5. Misty Fjords Floatplane tour (Ketchikan)

Which ONE would you recommend?

I am impressed by the wide variety of experiences that you are sharing. Some of you are a bit more adventurous than I expect we will be (no, I am probably not going to canoe across a lake) but I am experiencing it vicariously through your stories.

Thanks.

Your stories really are helping me form some plans. I appreciate the caution to get moving on this ... or have a Plan B. That's what I'm trying to do but am comforted by the fact that, with all these great stories, I could probably have a Plan A through Z!

Thanks again - and keep 'em coming. I enjoy hearing about the highlights of trips others have taken.

My husband and I (both 60+) are taking our first Alaska cruise this July – and we are OVERWHELMED by the number of port excursions (both by the ship and private companies).

In our past experience, there was something unique at each port – for Alaska each port seems to have the same wide number of similar options. We’re doing the typical stops )Denali National Park/Mt.McKinley [tour in advance of cruise], Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan then end in Vancouver).

So, for those of you who have done this trip – what is YOUR favorite tour memory? What is the ONE thing you would want to do again if you went again?

Your stories may help me narrow down my choices. Thanks,

Thanks.

I agree that there are also times when the opposite happens - and we much prefer MyTime. We actually moved from the Oasis to the Allure because we couldn't get MyTime dining. (Itinerary didn't matter to us.)

Can we get drinks and/or glasses of wine through room service if we have the Premium package?

I'm sure this is answered somewhere and look forward to the return of search functionality ... but thank you for your patience with these questions until then.

Thanks for helping me be less clueless!

Sorry, new to RCCL. Trying to decipher all the abbreviations.

I just got off my first NCL cruise last week on the Jewel and we had 2 dress up or not nights that would have gone unnoticed if the dailies hadn't mentioned them. I would guess that maybe 10% of the men passengers had a jacket or suit and tie and I saw no tuxedoes that I can remember. More women were in nicer dresses and more formal evening wear. I took only jeans and one pair of light kakis to wear for dinner in Tsars and Le Bistro. It was nice not having to bring that extra suitcase with dress up clothes for dinners.:cool:

TERRYDX, if you are willing, I have an off-line question for you. My email is fdpevey at Comcast dot net.

If you are not interested, just don't respond. Thanks.

Quick to clarify - I am NOT looking to get around paying suite prices. I can appreciate passengers who have paid those prices being upset if those who didn't receive the perks.

As mentioned, I am trying to figure out my best options on how to accommodate since the Sun does not offer a two-bedroom suite option.

All of your replies are appreciated.

We’re thinking of taking the Sun 7-day Glacier Bay cruise this summer – my husband and me plus my parents. The Sun has the itinerary we like most (with a combined CruiseTour) but no two-bedroom suites.

Has anyone out there done a suite plus an inside bedroom across the hall for extended family? I figure we could get them a key to our suite so they could enter anytime they want and enjoy the balcony (we are looking at a corner-aft suite). With a bedroom door that closes, they would not disturb us if they decided to rise early on days we didn’t (really – we wouldn’t mind – even my husband enjoys my parents and we have vacationed together in a two-bedroom bungalow before).

What drawbacks are there to this idea that I haven’t considered?

I love the guidance and expertise I get to share through CruiseCritic

After some pretty extensive review and discussion, we have decided to look for an 11-night cruise/tour (4 night tour, 7 night cruise) in late June/ early July 2014 that includes Denali on the tour and Glacier Bay on the cruise. My research has revealed multiple options among three cruise lines: Princess, Holland America, and Norwegian.

The only one of these cruise lines where I can find included activities during the cruise/tour is Norwegian (tour in Denali, Iditarod stop, tour of Fairbanks, riverboat, etc.). That just doesn’t seem right. On Princess’s website it basically says travel from point A to Point B, no indication of included tours – same for HAL.

For those of you with experience, is this right? Are most of the cruise/tours simply transportation, not activities?

We used Rome-in-Limo twice – for Florence/Pisa and for Rome. It was a great decision!

For Florence/Pisa we were treated to the history and stories during the great drive, and all our plans worked well. Since we did Pisa, we did not do the Uffizi, but we did get to the Accademia in Florence and saw the David. The guide knew just where to take us so the lines were not an issue. Anyone considering doing it on you own needs to think about those lines – often more than an hour wait for many attractions! We also went to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore,

the Basilica di Santa Croce, and the Loggia dei Lanzi. Lunch – at a recommended location – was some of the best pasta I had in Italy.

You can do Rome in a day – if you have Rome in Limo. We’re not the most in-shape folk, not skilled independent travelers, and have little sense of direction – so taking the train and going on our own was NOT our preference. All that I’d heard of the ships tour said the busses can’t really get into Rome, so you have a lot of walking. We decided to go with Rome-in Limo, and couldn’t have asked for more!

We saw the Appian Way, and the Catacombs. The catacombs was the first hint of our guide, Mauro’s, skill. We arrive just in time for the tour and moved right in. Not a second to wait or waste. We really appreciated him guiding us past the loooong lines and into the Colosseum, then oin to the Circus Maximus. At every place he knew just where to drop us so we had the best view or the easiest access. We saw the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. Since this was the termination of our cruise, we were dropped – exhausted but happy – at the door of our hotel.

There is always a lot of discussion on these boards about doing it on your own, taking a private guide, or taking the ships tour. I think ships tours are great for single locations with a lot of history where a guide IN the site is beneficial. Athens was a wonderful ships tour, for example – with a headset to hear a about what we were seeing. Go ahead and go on your own if you enjoy the adventure and like to be “in charge” – I like to relax and have someone else making the decisions. For that reason I highly recommend well-established tour companies, and Rome-in-Limo is the best one we’ve experienced!