udamom

thanks for the info I'll try that

2 hours ago, CTSandy said:

ust checked their website - if I remember correctly, we just went to the website and selected “contact us” - there’s a box for comments/questions and pretty sure we just noted there that we needed the car at the port in Curaçao.

On 10/2/2023 at 10:36 AM, CTSandy said:

Wanted to share the excellent experience we had with Advance Car Rental on our August 2023 cruise.  We booked on line, car was parked right outside of port gates, a representative met us with a sign with our name, brought us to the car, provided a map, a gps with preprogrammed popular sites, and a cell phone to reach them, if necessary.  Rental was $125 for the day and that included full insurance coverage.  We explored several of the sites, went to a couple of beaches, stopped at the flamingo sanctuary (no flamingos around).  We enjoyed having our own transportation from 10 AM to 5 PM.  There were three of us, so it was definitely cheaper than purchasing ship excursions and so much more convenient.  

 Hi I wanted to ask how were you able to pick up the car right near the dock? When I go to their website it only looks like they rent at the airport

Thanks

On 12/20/2023 at 3:09 PM, Dan83 said:

We pulled right up to the ship to return our rental car. Highly recommend smart wheels car rental for Curaçao. We did have some trouble on the way back and pushed it a little closer than I would have liked to. We boarded with 8 minutes left before all aboard 

Did you have trouble with the car or driving in the area? Thinking of renting a car

Am in Aruba in Feb and trying to decide about renting a car also. we have a long port day 8am-9pm so would love to see a few different things on the island. Love to snorkel and see a few posts mentioning where the good places for that are. Commenting hoping this thread gets a little more action from people who have done the rental car thing

Wow love your google sheet. Any chance you could post a blank copy of it? I am doing the same itinerary 9/24. Looks like you did all your excursions through private excursion companies. This is what I prefer. Did you like all of these companies?

I am an experienced cruiser and detailed planner also almost always use private companies. Haven't done Europe and am feeling overwhelmed. Thank you for giving this great starting point in doing research! 

Did you end up going to this place @jean87510 curious to hear what you thought. Have been to Maya Chan numerous times but can't seem to find a spot I want to return to

On 2/14/2023 at 4:57 PM, SUESEABE said:

 

 

I like @jean87510 recommendation for Brewers Beach. Due to the large numbers in port we have decided on a 6 hour Private Tour with David's Fun Tours and we will have him take us to Brewers for snorkeling and swim. He will wait for us. Hopefully this will work out.

When is your sailing? would love to hear review of Davids fun tour

@Brillo, any chance you could post the Don't Miss The Show paper from this week? I printed out the one posted from last week earlier on the thread and just want to compare if all the shows are basically the same times each week. Have to plot to plan the shows and 3 night specialty meal times.

Hope you are having a wonderful 3rd week. I'm a nightshift nurse also (37 years! ) and also an avid snorkeler that will spend hours in the water.  Nice that you could get that much time off in a row! 

Thanks

Trish

I leave friday out of Seattle. Did the ArriveCan to be able to get on the ship with Victoria as the Canadian destination and got the QR code.  I also plan to rent a car in Skagway and do the drive to Emerald Lake. I cannot see a way to add another destination on ArriveCan app or to get a second QR code for Yukon/Fraser crossing.. Do I need one or is the one code I have good for both?

Thanks

We sail  week from today and have Juneau Car Rental booked in Juneau and Avis booked in Skagway. Will come back to this thread when I get back and let you know how it worked out. I did not book wither one very early as I only booked my cruise a few months ago. Avis I just booked on the website and Juneau I called and talked to someone.

On 9/1/2022 at 9:28 AM, jerseygirl629 said:

 

If you're on RC Ovation, be sure to get down to the area early to get a tender ticket. We got there around 7:30am for 8am tender ticket hand out and were number 21 in line; we got "Tender Group 2", though they seemed to be filling them and sending them off pretty quickly.

 

We docked earlier than expected and were off the ship and on the tender by 9:55am. We picked up our car at Avis at 10:20am (We walked from the pier drop off to Avis). A friendly tip - make sure you check your cars oil level before leaving the lot; that was an issue for us as the oil light went on about 10 miles into our drive, forcing us to turn around and go back.

 

After figuring out the oil issue (The staff insisted the car was fine) we were back on the road around 11:20am (A bummer, but, we still had plenty of time!). Our final stop was Emerald Lake and we wanted to ensure we had plenty of time to get back so we skipped some stops on the drive up and decided we would get to them on the drive back if we had time. Something to note - we experienced a ton of heavy fog at the summit, preventing us from taking in a majority of the views for about 10 miles or so. It was cleared up by the time we headed back, though.

 

The stops we did on the way there (Using Murray's Guide, and by looking at my photo time stamps) were:

 

Mile 22.9 - Scenic pull off right after Customs / Fraser with interpretive signs

Mile 23.2 - Scenic pull off

Mile 27.3 (Outhouses, would recommend skipping this as there are bathrooms at the Yukon Suspension bridge! lol.)

Mile 29.5 - Yukon Suspension Bridge (we spent about 20 minutes here)

Mile 43.6 - Tutshi Dog Sled Tours (we did General Admission and spent about 15 minutes here, wish we spent more though. Sooo cute! lol)

Mile 49.9 - Yukon sign

Mile 52.5 - Scenic pull off

Mile 66.9 - Carcross Desert

Mile 73.1 - Emerald Lake

 

We made it to Emerald Lake by 2:22pm (Ship Time - I noticed my phone photos went from a minute apart to an hour and a minute apart! Be sure to keep at least one watch/clock on "ship time" at all times for this! lol. The Yukon is 1 hour ahead of Skagway). We then drove back and stopped at the following

 

Mile 65.6 - Carcross Town (Mostly everything was closed, it was a holiday in Carcross)

Mile 59 - Bove Island Viewpoint

Mile 14.7 - Welcome to Alaska Sign

Mile 10 - Bridal Veil Falls

 

We returned the car around 5:00pm which was perfect for us, as we then had time to walk around Skagway. We were in line to get the tender boat back to the ship by 5:30pm; back in rooms around 6:00pm to get ready for our dinner at 7! 

 

 

Thank you for the info! looking forward to this trip as I've heard the scenery is beautiful!

4 hours ago, NRWPA said:

I will post separately but I can recommend OnPoint testing. I just finished up for my Sept 3 cruise and the process for me was flawless. I had a back up appointment at CVS but canceled it when everything went so well. The proctor was SO patient with me - I never used Zoom before and am always a little nervous when doing Covid tests

@cruisegal40 I just did a OnPoint test to try them out. We have always used Emed/Navica but with testing for cruising ending I didn't want to invest the money in purchasing more expensive tests. The process was fairly easy and result was fast. My question is Navice has always sent a QR code to go along with the test results and that is what we always showed in the terminal.  I'm not seeing one with OnPoint. Did the webpage with the results work fine for getting on board? We leave out of Seattle Alaska cruise in 15 days

Thanks!! 

On 8/29/2022 at 11:25 AM, jerseygirl629 said:

My family and I (4 adults) rented a car from Avis (We were in Skagway on August 15th) and drove up the Yukon. One of our stops was Tutshi Dog Sled camp. It was $5 a person I believe, no reservations required, and no other groups were even there! We got to meet and hold 3 week old puppies, as well as a few other older puppies. They were doing dog sledding past a gate but we didn’t have enough time to do that as we were driving up to Emerald Lake. 
 

We did see a few tour busses along our journey who were making similar stops to what we were doing but unsure of what their companies were called. 

 Jerseygirl, we are planning to do this same drive in 2 weeks. May I ask you a few questions? How was picking up the rental car at Avis? With tendering off the ship now that the dock had the rockslide I am kind of worried it all could be a long process leading to not enough time on the Hwy.

We plan to stop at the Tutshi dog sled camp also. That sounds fun! 

What was your total drive time from Skagway to Emerald lake and back? (I'm assuming you stopped and took pictures at multiple places along the way and also went to Carcross?)

thanks for any info

On 8/13/2022 at 4:57 PM, don't-use-real-name said:

Google Map for reference -

note the distance from the aft railroad dock to the marina -

Zoooom the map in and out for more or less detail -

 

thanks for the map. This looks like it would be an extremely short tender. They are basically just taking you up to the front of the pier inside the small boat harbor? That is good hopefully they are getting lots of practice on this before we get there on 9/20 and will be fast and proficient! 

13 hours ago, JT1962 said:

 

 

The cheapest option is to use one of the free government tests and use the Onpoint proctoring from your cellphone for $ 16.99: 

 

https://onpoint-testing.com/product/certified-teleservice-covid-testing/

 

 

Looking for someone who has used OnPoint and which test they used with it to make it approved by the cruise line(We re cruising RCCL) 

We have always used emed/Navica but the onpoint option is looing attractive price wise! 

Dave OKC you could purchase emed/navica tests and do it once you land in Seattle with your cell phone for quick results. Have done this with no issues in MIA with my cellphone. Results show up in about 10-15minutes

On 5/8/2022 at 11:38 AM, PandaBear62 said:

 

Nope, no email in spam anytime since I updated my rental back on Feb. 3. While my email did say call in early March to confirm the dock we were arriving at, when I changed my reservation in Feb., I was told "great, we already know your dock", so I didn't need to call.

 

We are in Juneau from 7am to 9pm, so we do have time, it's more the principal of not being contacted. I am going to have to think how we organize our day, to make sure the timing works. We were actually docking at Dock A, so the reason I went with a car rental is because is was SO convenient. 

 

 

Panda, I am wondering how this worked out for you and if you ended up using Juneau Car Rentals? I just booked with them for a car in next month and they told me they have been able to drop the car off at the pier all season this year. To call ahead the day before when you are in port and they will verify if it will be at dock A. 

Anyone who has used Juneau car rental this year would like to hear your experience

What has RCCL Ovation been doing this week for anyone who has docked lately? We are due there 9/20 I believe to dock a RRA...so I'm assuming we will tender to the harbor. If anyone is familiar with the town how far does this put us from walking to Avis for our rental car?

Thanks

On 6/1/2022 at 4:51 PM, vincej said:

We were there last week on NCL Encore. Glacier Taxi & Tours charges $35 total for all passengers for taxi one way and drops you off a short walk away. They do not collect an additional entrance fee as other taxi’s do.  Worked out well. We have the America the Beautiful Park pass that we used for entry but were not asked to show it. They can also pick you up for the return. We did not spend as much time at the park as planned and just walked down to the closest local bus stop. While we waited for the bus another taxi stopped and offered a ride into town for $5 each which we accepted.

 so you just called this Taxi company once the ship docked? or had it pre arranged (looking at the website I cannot find a way to do this) thanks!

On 6/1/2022 at 8:10 PM, Dancing Shoes said:

Did you book Glacier Taxi & Tours on your own?  That is a good price for people that have the pass.  

This sounds like a good option for a party of 4 vs booking the $45each shuttle. But going to their website I cannot see a way to book it ahead of time. You just called them once you got of the ship? and same when you want a ride back? 

Sorry I just realized I am quoting someone who is also asking a question. 

Anyone have any info on using this taxi company  would appreciate it!

So DIY jeep tours is just Avis? they still have an active website that looks like you pick a car/lunch/addons from them. I am arriving in Skagway Tues 9/20 and looking for a full day rental and info on doing the drive to the Yukon on our own.

It seems to be down his morning. The cruise I am stalking is 90 days out today so was hoping some cancellations for the category room I want have come up but now can't check!! ;o(

Wonder of the Seas has it, I am a regulars ultimate X player and did nit care for the bonus streak version

the ship has only that version of UX

22 minutes ago, Coralc said:

They all are. Rite Aid, Safeway, probably Von's, Albertson's. I think the federal covid funding might end tomorrow, so I would go tomorrow. We've just been collecting them all along, 8 per month. (but we stopped)  I hope you feel better, sorry about the diagnosis. Here is a link to more information: 

https://www.cms.gov/how-to-get-your-at-home-OTC-COVID-19-test-for-free

 

Thanks Coraic! just went to my insurance website (Anthem) and they actually had a link that I could order 2 test kits each per person so I did that. 

Feeling better and glad I had a mild case! I'm a nurse so have watched some pretty horrific stuff these last two years. I have to admit to letting my guard down on WOS and Omicron said thank you! 

150 Park- is always good Nicest atmosphere if your looking for a nice restaurant kind of feel.

Wonderland was a one and done for us. The food IMO wasn't great 

Chops is usually very good. If you are used to really good steakhouses it may not live up to your standards. But its tasty

Izumi we do the teppanyaki and it is always fun and pretty good food

Jamie's Italian for us has been hit or miss. We have had very good meals there and then some that are just so so. You said you have good Italian near you at home so you may be disappointed in it

Hooked it good -I'm not a big seafood person but my husband likes it and they made me a nice steak ;o)

Second dress up night for the week is almost always lobster night in the MDR. You can ask when booking the restaurants which night that will be on your cruise.

Enjoy whatever you choose! 

1 hour ago, Coralc said:

In other news, our grocery store pharmacy called today to ask if we wanted to pick up our 8 free covid test kits. 

Which grocery store pharmacy is giving 8 free covid tests?  that would be nice to get since I used all mine up after getting Covid on WOS 2 weeks ago........