TrinaP1204

We had a great experience with Era helicopters. They have a lift which you slide over into a chair and it lifts you up onto the helicopter. This was huge for us sine we are both in wheelchairs. The people are very nice and attend to every last detail to make it enjoyable for us.

http://www.erahelicopters.com/content

Wondering the same thing.

We have been to Alaska and are going again next week. Here is my list of must see things. We too have to stay on a reasonable budget. In Skagway, the White Pass train excursion in a must do. It probably is one of if not THE most popular thing to do there. It is not that expensive. I do not have my list here with me but just google it. Also we are doing a helicopter tour in Juneau. Both of thee we found online much cheaper than through the cruiseline. Also we are both in wheelchairs so we had to dig deep to find companies that offer wheelchair accessibility. The juneau helicopter tour has a wheelchair lift so we are super excited about that. It was about half the price of the ones through the cruiseline. If you want more info let me know and I can get you the names later today.

Our biggest money saver is our Royal Caribbean credit card. As another poster mentioned, we use ours for EVERYTHING we can. Just keep up with it like a checkbook or debit card so we can pay it off at the end of the month. This time we are saving $1300 plus a $50 onboard credit. (We drained the available points dry :) ) Also book early. None of our cruises have ever gone down in price. Our sailing next month to Alaska we took advantage of the latest promotion BOGO 1/2 price. All of that coupled I feel we did get a pretty good deal.

We are considering renting a power chair for my husband while on our cruise. My question to the the Care vacations agent I was speaking with was this: How does he get from the airport to the ship (coming in the day before the cruise as well). He said they possibly can have the powercchair waiting for us in the hotel room That is good. But...coming home. Once we leave the ship what do we do from the ship to the airport with no chair for him?

Very simple. Don't expect great service. Be polite yourself and smile. It actually doesn't hurt to smile yourself and say thank you. I think there was an old saying, what goes around comes around.

Exactly. Just be nice, polite and do not be unnecessarily demanding. Yes they are getting paid to do their job but you do not have to act like you are above them. Yes it is their job to provide excellent service. BUT....things happen. People forget things. As long as they are trying to make your stay an exceptional one, don't be so hard on them. They are people too.

Thank you so much for posting this as we are addressing this right now. I am going to print this out first and have it in hand when I contact the hotel manager tomorrow. I already got one person who played dumb and "ma'am I have no idea what this ADA thing is. We do not honor that". Should be interesting. We have until August 6. So I have time to battle it out with them.

Have spent the last 4 hours browsing boards & reviews. It never ceases to baffle me how people cannot be happy unless they are complaining & miserable!!?! The sense of entitlement is nauseating & courtesy has gone out the window.

 

It's a cruise! You lifted your luggage once, you're getting fed every 2 hours, they clean up after you, serve you & sort your garbage. You get entertainment & participate in as much or as little activities as you like & they take you to nice places!! I don't know about you but it sure beats work, meetings, cooking, cleaning practice and shoveling!!!

 

This lady had the best TIP I have ever read.. EVER!!!!

 

"For people on these boards who complain constantly about food, service, or the attention you didn't get, I highly suggest you shell out $25,000 for a cruise on Crystal Cruises where I'm sure you'll get all your nose hairs trimmed evenly and your belly rubbed nightly to ease digestion."

AMEN! I work in retail and sometimes I just wanna say "Is that the best you can come up with to complain about?"

Trina, Thanks so much for sharing your pictures with us. I loved them. Haikey is adorable and very smart. Did your dog come from CCI?

 

Miriam, CONGRATS!!! We are so happy for you!! I'm sure JJ and Hannah will be the best of friends. As we know it takes time. I go home to Connecticut 2 days a week and this is the first time that Bailee seemed alittle off. But when I told her we were coming back, she perked up and ran to the car. It almost made me think she missed Wexy?? Maybe?? Could this be?? John and Wex will be home soon and I can't wait to see her reaction. Please try to post some pics. It's pretty easy, so if you need help just ask.

 

Cindy

Not sure what CCI is but he came from a place called Therapetics in Tulsa, Oklahoma near us.

You mentioned yours being the most photographed. We can relate to that too. At Hubbard Glacier, everyone was out on the deck looking at Hubbard Glacier, obviously. The ship's photographer was out there taking pics of passengers. Haikey was having a little playtime with his ball. One picture I took was so funny. The people are eventually all turned looking at Haikey playing with his ball. Now how many dogs can they say get people's attention distracted from Hubbard Glacier? lol

The ship's photographer was having a blast with Haikey. He knows how to strike a pose. The girl on formal night was kinda apprehensive about shooting a pic with a dog in it. Once he saw the camera and we said "STAY", he knew he was in for a photo shoot. He was eating it up and she was having a blast getting him to pose. So funny.

At the photo gallery they told us eventually people were coming up asking where the pictures were of the service dog.

Just a note for everyone, we have been adding pics to Wexlers website so keep it handy for updates! http://wexler2009.shutterfly.com/

 

Cindy

Great pictures. I recognize one of those as my place of employment haha. Haikey, my husband's service dog, is a regular there. I have made a little "brag book" for my husband to carry along in his wheelchair. It shows Haikey doing some of his chores to help him out.

Since people are constantly stopping us while we are out and asking about just what he does, I have figured out it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Saves a lot of time.

Hope This Works

http://s975.photobucket.com/albums/ae233/Trinap1204/Haikey%20Chores/

I think we all need a big sign to carry around with our dogs on a cruise that says

I know what you are dying to ask and the answer is: I have a box of sod where I do my business.

That has to be THE #1 asked question on our cruise to Alaska last week.

Any book besides TITANIC would be good.

Seriously, we left in December just after 9/11 and during the Shoe Bomber thing. After a 3 hr delay due to a passenger emergency on a previous ship, we finally got onboard and Titanic was playing on the channels that could not be controlled by the cruiseline.

Most everyone laughed about it at dinner.