happercamper

This was the title on my last upgrade offer - Preferred Limited Upgrade Special

My husband and I will download an audible book before each cruise. We try to find one that has something to do with the places we will see. Example - Thunderstruck by Erik Larson for Nova Scotia and To Wake the Sleeping Giant by Jeff Shaara for Pearl Harbor. We listen to the book together during our down time most afternoons and find we enjoy discussing the book at dinner. Everyone has their own way of cruising and there is no One Size Fits All. If this is not you thing then by all means don't try it.

Received the same email yesterday and now I have three requests listed when I only requested one. Hopefully things will be cleared up next week. We do not sail until end of May.

Our trip was the first summer after COVID shutdown so it was a bit different as everyone was trying to get tourism going again. You have a longer trip so I am sure there is more to offer. I would love to go back and take a longer tour. We ended up in Dawson City for two nights as our chartered plane had to return to Dawson City after a bird strike on our way to Fairbanks. (Not so easy to just grab another plane in the middle of nowhere). We did the dome tour which was a simple bus ride but the view was wonderful. The second night we did Gertie's and it was entertaining but I would not recommend it if there are other things you would rather do. The riverboat was not running that summer. There is a pathway along the river which was a nice walk. We visited the Firefighter museum which we found interesting. We did not get to see Fairbanks except the airport due to our plane issues. We were put on a charter bus to McKinney Lodge. Denali is wonderful. We had a flight excursion to the Arctic Circle scheduled but it was cancelled at the last minute. We ended up instead at the dinner show at the Lodge which again was entertaining but not worth missing out on something else. There is a dog sled tour by the National Park that is free. It is not like the tours where you get to ride a sled or cuddle puppies but you do see the dogs and they do have a team pull a sled device on wheels. It was fun to see the dogs in action and learn more about their job in the park during the winter. The train ride to Anchorage from Denali was beautiful and relaxing. You are in a double decker car with your tour group. Best advice I have is to be flexible and don't expect everything to be perfect. It is about the vast wilderness and beauty of the Yukon and Alaska. You will have a tour guide with you that will make sure all your questions and concerns are addressed.

We did the 9 day Yukon and Denali trip 2 years ago. Had no issue with doing laundry in Dawson City. We did not do the meal plan and did not regret it. Dawson City is an easy place to walk to grocery store or restaurants. We liked having options for eating and getting away from the crowds. Denali Lodge is on a steep hill so walking to other places outside of the lodge area may be challenging for some. Princess Lodge was next door and had several eating options and then across the highway were several restaurants. There is reliable mini-bus transportation to get around.

After reading through all the comments I think the best advice for the OG poster is to read through the information that you will receive. I have taken two B2B cruises this past year and the procedures were different for each but the instructions were very easy to understand and follow. My FLL "B2B" was booked with one booking number and treated as a 14 day cruise instead of (2) 7-day cruises. When we arrived in FLL on the turn around day we had to zero the ship so our choice was get off for the day with our "in Transit" card or meet as a group and do the "kindergarten" walk off ship for passport check and then be walked back onto ship. We chose the later and the only issue was a group that did not read their instructions and we had to stand in formation for 20 minutes while the authorities went to find the group and escort them off to join us. They looked pretty sheepish when they arrived. Our SD B2B involved two separate bookings with two different booking numbers. The first was a Pacific Coastal and we cleared customs in San Francisco after visiting Ensenada. When we arrived back to SD for our second (7) day cruise to Mexico we were given the option of getting off with our "In Transit card" or staying on board. We stayed onboard which was a good thing. Not only was it quiet but we avoided the craziness that can occur in SD when you embark. Even with the in transit cards I was not sure you could jump the long lines for security/x-ray. Our PCC said she "linked" the two bookings. We only had one keycard for the entire 14 days and we were able to carry over OBC from our California cruise. We also received tiles twice and mariner cocktail cards twice. That did not happen with the FLL cruise. Both times we were told we did not have to check in for the safety drill on the turn around day but we did have to run the safety video on the TV in our room for us to access the actual TV programs. Again, just my experience and as always best to read over the instructions you will receive 1-2 days before your turn around day. Enjoy! I love B2B cruises.

Just off the Zuiderdam and they had a special area set up for Mahjongg. It is where I have seen Art for purchase on past cruises. Only saw players there once. Most times it was empty.

UPDATE - We just returned from our Boston to Quebec City cruise on the Zuiderdam. This cruise overnights in Quebec City. We had booked a 5:15am flight for the last day due to much lower cost for flight home. All went well. We disembarked at 2:30 am and arrived to airport by taxi by 3 am. Only issue was ticket counter for baggage drop off was not open until 3:30 am. I spoke with guest services the day before about needing to pick up a confiscated item (a souvenir candle I pickup in Halifax). It was waiting for us when we disembarked. We had to wait a couple of minutes for security to get the ok for us to leave. I assume they had to call and ensure our account was not flagged for payment. We spoke with the welcome information desk at the port the day before and they walked us through how to use the taxi call box in the terminal and ensured us it was available 24/7. It proved to be unnecessary as there was already a taxi there. Hope that helps others who are considering the same thing. No special permission was needed and no issue with transportation to airport so early in the morning.

Good to know. Will keep that in mind.

Does this mean I can book an early morning flight home? Looking at fares I can save time and $$ if I take a 6 am flight.