SnowBird Cruzer

Back in 2016, we did a cruise out of Port Canaveral and at the end, we booked an excursion that went to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and then took us back to Orlando for our flight home.

While our cruise isn't until July, i haven't been able to find a similar trip yet at all.  We will be on Wonder of the Seas.

I asked RCCL and they said that as we get closer to the sailing, they will probably add these type of post excursion trips.  And maybe so, there is a lot that has changed post COVID.   But I also looked on their overall list of excursions at various ports, and there isn't even one listed to go to KSC.

Does KSC still allow visitors, or did that get suspended due to COVID and it hasn't restarted yet?  I didn't search every Google hit, but I was not having much luck even finding a 3rd party operation to take us there.

Does anyone have a post cruise excursion booked to KSC recently, or coming up?  Even on another cruise line?

I'm just curious.

Right, it is too early to tell.     I've heard test cruises are "just around the corner" as RCCL and Carnival expect CDC details "any day now."

The ports and the cruise lines will have to coordinate.   You can't have one w/o the other.

I love cruising.   And I've got one booked for November.

And I'm bummed that cruises haven't restarted.  I'm even more bummed that the "test" cruises for Royal haven't started.

On the other hand, what ports of call are/will be open if cruises get started in March/April/May?   Where can you go?

My November cruise has 6 ports of call.   I don't want to go to Coco Cay and Labadee only. 

I saw where some bigwig in the Cayman's said they probably wouldn't accept a cruise ship until 2022.   They've got resources, but other islands need cruisers back more.     So where can cruises go if they restart?    What islands are ready to welcome cruisers back?

We did that for Feb cruise, and then they did it themselves anyway. Grrr

For August cruise they didn't even ask

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Including pictures

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Go find Cruise Habit Bill. He just said this ship and did a week long review. I'll including

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IS anyone able to help me find out how much they are charging for the week long pass to the thermal suite???

So I googled it, and they do. Wow, who knew!

This website (Try Google sometime) says $120 for a weeks pass.

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Layers are the key, but so are your excursions. 5 yrs ago in Juneau it was rainy so jeans and a raincoat. Skagway was beautiful and sunny, but we were on a hike to a glacier, so we had layers and long waterproof hiking pants. I didn't need the hooded sweatshirt till we were on the glacier.

Ketchikan was mostly nice and so we had shirts on. In the Tracy Arm fjord, I'm wearing my sweatshirt cuz those I've covered Waters had a cool breeze.

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For those who are thinking of doing their own cruise tour, this is the itinerary that my DD and SIL we'll be doing starting next Saturday:

Fly into Fairbanks.

Sunday--Artic circle tour

Monday-- Drive to Denali, river rafting

Tuesday--Bus into Denali Park, the hop on/hop off on

Wednesday--drive to Anchorage with stops in Talkeetna and Wasilla

Thursday--more driving around Anchorage and other locations

Friday--train to Seward, and start of cruise.

They'll be seeing what they want on their own schedule.

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My first cruise was a contest reward from a former employer. It was January 1990 on Princess Star to San Juan, St Thomas, and somewhere in the Dominican republic, that we actually weren't able to stop at.

That still remains the only itinerary stop we have missed.

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We are doing the last Radiance southbound, departing August 31st.

This is our second Alaska cruise.

This time I planned our own pre cruise tour.

Can't wait to go!

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When we heard the cover charge, we got up and left. That price is outrageous

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Hey, JC in CA. Did you look at reviews on TripAdvisor? There are only 5, but they all loved it. I also found an ad video from the company running the tour on YouTube, and another from a person who took it. It didn't look as bad as the comments from the people who wouldn't take it as noted above. Just more thoughts for you

I've been thinking about this tour too. I appreciate the insight on the road we'd be returning on. I hadn't thought about the traffic. DW would NOT be thrilled riding down a 2 lane highway. HMM, we may have find something else.

At best it is wishful thinking on the part of whoever sent the email.

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I thought I'd provide an update on the costs of the things I've confirmed for my Do it Yourself Alaska Cruise tour so far.

2 tickets for the "self guided" Denali tour buses, $60.00 each (looks like current price is $70 each). We booked the full distance but probably won't do it all. That is a 13 hr round trip. We can shorten it by about 2 hours, and we'll have only overpaid by $10.00pp.

Lodging for 3 nights at Carlo Creek Lodge. We are staying in a private cabin, with a private bath, for about $124/night. It is a 15 minute drive to Denali entrance. We booked this in October as soon as they opened and only had to pay a 15% deposit, I believe.

The other two days will be spent hiking on trails near the entrance to Denali (so, no $$$) and the other day we want to do a river raft trip and I haven't priced that yet.

We are flying in to Anchorage on Sunday and driving up to Denali on Monday. And, we'll be staying in Anchorage on Thursday night before taking the train to Seward Friday Morning.

We splurged on the two hotels a bit. The Lakeshore Anchorage is about $250 and the Clarion Suites Downtown will be about $200. (the last one has a free airport shuttle. I hope we can talk them into taking us the the train depot Friday morning)

Train tickets could be as low as about $100 each but we splurged (again) for the Gold star service, $200pp. We get breakfast, 2 drinks, seats in the dome car and access to an outdoor viewing platform, as well as a naturalist/tour guide to explain what we'll see on the way.

The Rental car (probably an SUV just because) will run us about $650 with all fees. Man, Alaska sure knows how to charge tourists through the nose. I'm sure residents don't care, but it does leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. 20% of the rental car fee will be taxes and charges.

So that's about $1500 so far, and the only thing left to pay for is food and whatever we do in Seward on Friday. Thinking of going to the Aquarium, but it might depend on the day. A gloomy day will be the aquarium for sure, but a nice sunny day may result in a whale watching tour or a tour to the nearby national park.

If I wanted to be cheap, I could knock off about $500. But I'm still well under what RCCL wants for a 5 day precruise tour. (I'm not sure they do a 5 day)

Freedom

 

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What a screwed up mess. Why do you role out a new web site that is clearly not working.

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What browser are you using. I am still unable to get into my account using firefox and chrome. I've been getting "try again later" for a week and a half.

Try Twitter, or the email address in the apology letter, which was posted a few days ago on this thread

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i can see there is a link to my cruise docs now (49 days out) but it still will not accept my c&a number. is anyone else having this problem? i am so frustrated. i continue to hope this is not a reflection of the service i will receive onboard.

Why do you think service on board would in any way be connected to website issues?

I understand people's frustrations, but many of the posters need to RELAX.

When I've needed help or quick answers from Royal, I've had good luck with Twitter.

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I just saw an apology letter from Mr. Bayley, on C&A. So at least they know, they heard all of you, and are working on it

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We had to take our own photos for our Sea Pass card for our cruise on Allure 02/18/18. What a pain that was!

Then we show up, and they didn't use the photos (no reason given).

The photos they took broke most of the rules they give you (there was lots of stuff in the background), and I was at a 35degree angle from perpendicular.

A water of time in many ways

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I tweeted then, and they are doing an upgrade. And I guess the upgrade links both RC and Celebrity ( which I, for one, haven't sailed yet).

But I did get in, and not with all the steps others have posted. In still not sure everything is there the.

Lucky, I have almost 6 months till my next cruise.

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Ship - Allure

Deck - 3

Stateroom # - 3632

Stateroom Category – ocean view

Starboard or Port Side - starboard

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – hallways yes, but wind was a problem, see below

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - it can be

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. –N/A

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - N/A

Was wind a problem? -Yes, in St Thomas and St Kitts it was very windy and we heard groans and bangs from waves hitting the side. Never heard anything like it before. But when not windy, it was quiet.

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? -

Any specific problems with this cabin? -

Any other comments?

It is near the American Icon which is convenient. And elevators. But we are down a hallway so those did not create noise.

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Ulu knives from Alaskan cruise

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