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Thank you so much for your information Joyce!

I can hardly wait!

Thanks Joyce for the great review! We are going on the Sun in August, up to Seward and back with no land portion. But plan to stay in Vancouver for a couple days after.

A couple questions:

1) Did CAS have priority boarding at Canada Place?

2) Did you find Vancouver pretty easy to get around? We plan to do Capilano Bridge, Grouse Mountain and Granville Island, along with Stanley Park in our few days. We are staying at the YWCA hotel. I was a little bit concerned about your "getting lost" but enjoy printing maps and writing out directions to places and planning as much as I can. My husband is visually impaired, so with just one good set of eyes (mine), it makes it a bit more challenging. But my psycho planning helps.

3) You mentioned the murder mystery on the ship, but it sounds like you didn't care for it. Can you give me a bit more info? Hubby is a retired detective, so he is very interested in it.

anything else you care to share would be wonderful! This is our first trip to Alaska, and we're both pretty active, although in our 50s and 60s, and can get around pretty well, except of course for some vision issues.

Thank you so much!

I'm looking for reviews too. We are 103 days out!

http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Parking-and-Transportation/Ground-Transportation/Pages/Taxis-and-Limos.aspx

It looks like STILA only has a phone number, no website?

we received a similar offer from Norwegian. It was legit. We had to pay an administrative fee, not much, and port fees and taxes.

We had a Jade sideways cabin on deck 9 aft-ish in January for 12 days. It is really not larger than a regular inside, but the configuration is such that it feels larger, especially around the bed. One person was not crawling over the corner the bed. There is sort of a traffic jam as the bathroom, closet and vanity are sort of all together so it takes a bit of planning but, on the other hand, it somehow felt more private to us. All in all, we loved the cabin so much that we booked the one next door for our next cruise in October.

 

We have also sailed on the Sun in one of the deluxe inside sideways cabins. Those are HUGE. This is nothing like that, but a nice inside nonetheless.

Which cabin did you have on the Sun drvalo?

Thank you.

I plan to do that. I was just hoping Budget Queen would notice the question here since she's done all three trips.

I am having trouble deciding between trips. For sure, we want to do the one that is part train, part bus. But I can't decide between the "Bennett Scenic Journey" and "Yukon Bus and Rail Experience" with Chillkoot charters. I think they are both pretty much the same with the former adding Bennett Lake and being a bit longer and costing more? Can someone help differentiate the two and recommend one over the other?

I'm so glad you found your way back to this thread. I read through your initial story and just felt heartbroken at the loss of your dad. I lost mine almost seventeen years ago now, and it is still very sad. I am blessed to still have my mom.

I am so sorry for the loss of your parents. As many said before, they raised some really wonderful children who handled tragedy with such grace and calm.

oh getting off the ship. I wondered because I remembered that you got on at Seward and I didn't think you had done a b2b. Sorry I misunderstood. No wonder it was so empty! lol.

Thank you for the pictures though. It is nice to see what it looks like.

I can hardly wait!!!

Shadowmeboy, I've read your review several times, but don't remember what time you got to the port. It sure looks empty! At least emptier than my prior cruises (not NCL)....

Thanks for the educated guess. We are first time NCL cruisers as well.

Hubby wants to get aboard EARLY, although I would like to have a leisurely morning.....

Thank you so much martincath. You are always so incredibly helpful.

new rules? Where can I read these new rules?

And if they do, does it make much of a difference?

Hubby wants to be on the ship as early as possible. I would rather have a nice, easy breakfast, and enjoy the morning in Vancouver.

I asked on the West Coast departure boards, and they suggested asking here.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Hubby and I are flying in, and will be in Seattle on a Sunday around 11am. Plan to take a cab and drop our luggage off at the Amtrak station on King Street, and tour a bit. We want to go to SkyView Observatory (Columbia Tower), and possibly Smith Tower (many thanks to CCers for the suggestions!) We will also want to have a meal before we get on the evening train to Vancouver.

Some questions:

1) We want to walk from the Amtrak station to the Towers. It looks like it's not too far - we both walk at least 3 miles a day, and think we would like the walk after being on the plane for three hours, and before we're on a train for several hours. Is this doable? We won't have luggage, just a backpack. Are the areas safe? Should we do a different option than walking? We do not want to rent a car. Any suggestions about a safe route to take?

2) I looked at the food options at Columbia Tower, and it looks like the food court is not open on Sunday. Just the snack bar at the top. We would rather have a nice sit down meal before we go on the train. Not sure we'll have breakfast, and likely only a snack on the train. Any good suggestions for a place between Amtrak station and the tower? Again, we'd like to walk. Hubby is not a sandwich eater (except burgers), no sushi, no dim sum. Fish and chips would be ok, or something hearty. I don't want anything too spicy before we get on the train. We aren't drinkers so no need for a place with beer/liquor. I do see that Smith Tower has food options, but it looks like it's just a bar with bar food. I think we'd like something more like a meal.

3) How early should we be back at the Amtrak station?

4) Do the Amtrak trains sell out? I tried to buy our Amtrak tickets, but they require passport info and we haven't received our passports yet. Our trip is in late August 2017.

I think that's it for now! Thanks for your help.

It's a CAS booked cruise. Won a free cruise at a land based casino and was given a free cruise as a VIP guest. Combined the two for back to back Vancouver to Seward and back.

I will check on the NCL board.

Thanks!

casinos at sea.

I tried to find it via search. Just thought I'd see if anyone knows.

Enjoying your review! Especially your great attitude about everything.

Earlier this year, I received two cruise certificates from a land based casino for NCL, inside cabin. We chose to do two cruises, making a back to back from Vancouver to Seward, Alaska and back, for two weeks. You have to pay a $20 per person per day administrative fee (for us $280) and then taxes and port fees.

We had the choice between about 10-15 different itineraries, ships, ports, etcetera, but chose Alaska because we had that on our "bucket list" and we had planned to do a retirement cruise. This made it much more affordable. We got one perk free and the $50 deposit, and chose the dining option because 1) you get a drink card for the casino, 2) we don't drink that much, maybe splitting one "drink of the day" per day, 3) the gratuity on it was about $99/week, versus the dining gratuity which was $14 something.

I had a great experience with the CAS representative. I called and spoke with the person at length about our options, took some time to do some research, and then called back when we had made a decision about what we wanted to do. When I called back, again, they were incredibly helpful.

Good luck!

What kind of machines should we expect? We're going in August/September. I used to like video poker, but really like the bonus type penny slot machines like flintstones and wizard of oz. Hubby likes penny keno. How often do they change them out?

Looking forward to our trip.

Enjoying your review! Thank you for taking the time to write it.

I bet you miss her already. We'll certainly look for her. I hate getting my picture taken, but if she's as sweet as you say, and as nice as you say, she might be able to sneak one of me an my hubby.

Thank you so much for the pictures of the sideways inside cabin. I have been looking for as many pictures as I can find of them as we are booked in one for our two week adventure to Alaska on the Sun. We've sailed before, once with an oceanview on Carnival, once in a balcony room on Princess, and once in a balcony mini-suite on Princess. So this will be an adjustment for us. But I think we'll like it!