Robinhill

whale watching. Not much to this town.

Will be in Alaska next month and I'm looking for recommendations on budget Friendly, small, lightweight binoculars.

 

I'm well aware that you get what you pay for with optics, but quite frankly I'm not looking to spend $$$ on something I'll maybe use for a week on the cruise and then never again.

Hoping to keep it under $50. Just a basic pair of Bushnell's? Seems like a lot of choices on Amazon. Any recommendations?

I think pretty much any 10X, waterproof, fog proof will suffice for your purposes. I have a Bushnell and a Zen Ray which both did a great job.

I have not seen a way to access my account on t he tv on the Grandeur at least- although i could many years ago. Can someone tell me how to do so?

Have always planned on sailing the Alaskan inside passage with Princess for our 50th anniversary, but some surgeries in the last 12 months have made us wait on booking. Is it too late now to try for something in August or September? We are not new to cruising so we understand that this is probably not one of those last minute decisions that makes sense, but DH still has his heart set on this year, I’m having a hard time convincing him otherwise. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

No- i got an email from celebrity just yesterday about booking even in June and really good prices! Made me sorry that i booked so soon. I could have saved $400!!!

Yep unreal. Unreal that people have nothing better to do, on their vacation than complain about a dog, that from what I can tell did not impact the OP. Well, except that they were so overwhelmed with wanting to spread it that they had to jump online and do so. Seems like a sad life to me.

i so agree- if it bothers a person that much then stay home! I have too many fun things to do that i don't need to worry about someone else's dog unless it attacks me. LOL

Is it just me, or has anyone else felt that the Club Royale agents on the phone are not very friendly or even helpful anymore? The last three times i have called over the past two months- not only do i have to wait at least 30-40 minutes for someone to actually answer, but they are not very friendly or particularly helpful or interested in doing that little extra like they used to. Whats going on?

The new set sail passes are per person. So everyone embarking needs their own. Each pass has one name per pass no matter the age. Use to have everyone in one cabin on one pass but the new ones don’t seem to.

Not sure this is true- for our cruise on the Radiance in June all four of us are on one. Does not allow me to print individual ones.

Hello!

 

My family has had the lifelong dream to go to Alaska all together. We’re going to make it happen. Here’s my question: We’re trying to decide if the land tour (either pre or post cruise) is worth it. Or - do we just do the cruise? Most of my family members don’t plan to go back to Alaska after this 1 visit, and are noting it to be the “once in a lifetime trip”. Do we need to do the land tour as well as the cruise? Or will they feel fulfilled with just doing the normal 7/8 day cruise?

 

Here is a look at the family:

- Mom and Dad (mid-60’s who barely ever travel. Alaska has been their one life long dream to visit though. Not traveling for them isn’t due to lack of money, it’s just that they never got around to it, as sad as that is).

- Myself and my husband (mid-20’s, avid travelers. This will be our first time to Alaska, but it won’t be our last).

- My sister and brother-in-law (early 30’s... again, barely ever travel. Alaska is a life long dream for them too).

 

I am concerned that because my family members are not huge into traveling (albeit they are SO STOKED for Alaska, that 10-14 days of land/cruise will be too much. My sister and her husband have never even been on a cruise, nor much ventured out from the Eastern U.S.).

 

So - what are your thoughts? Will 7/8 days on a boat with the typical Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Glacier Bay be enough for them to feel fulfilled with their Alaskan visit (noting that they’d more than likely never travel back)... or do we splurge and spend the x-thousand dollars extra to do the land tours? For people like my family members who never travel - BUT are super interested in everything Alaska has to offer - be too much?

 

Thank you for your thoughts in advance! I appreciate them. :)

imho i would DEFINITELY do a land tour, but i have been twice- getting ready for #3 this June. First time i did 12 day land and sea cruise tour with Royal Carribean and there were several things i would have done differently so i did the second time. I did a DIY tour the second time and paid about half for the 5 days on land and included things that were not part of the RCCL tour. It is very easy as there is one main highway (parks highway) from Fairbanks all the way down to Anchorage that we pretty much stayed on. Second trip i flew into Fairbanks and did a one way car rental to Anchorage which is where we took the train down to Seward to board the ship but a one way car rental is double the return to same location price so this time we are flying into Anchorage for one overnight then driving to Denali for two days then back tracking to Talkeetna, Palmer (reindeer farm) then finally to Anchorage. Then the Goldstar train the next morning to Seward to board. It is super easy to DIY and big savings so we can do helicopter to glacier for dog sledding and more with the savings. I would be happy to forward any of my travel info after i had TONS of research if you would like! Have a great trip! PS i am 62. Your parents will love it!

For some reason, flights to San Juan this fall are not a plentiful (or lower cost) as in years past. We are sailing on FOS on Saturday, October 13th. There is a flight that works for us that lands at 4:50pm.

 

Is that enough time to gather bags and get to the port? What is the latest you can board the ship that sails at 8:30pm?

 

Thanks,

Dave

I have done this many times- you will be fine un less the flight gets cancelled for some reason.

:)I have cruised many times with Royal, and multiple times on the Oasis. In the past however my husband has always been with me.

I decided this time I want to cruise alone, and have some questions. I am going on the Oasis, a ship I am familiar with.

I have my time dining, but I haven’t gone to the dining room for many cruises now and don’t particularly care to start now. For those of you that have been solo cruisers, where do you enjoy going to eat?

Are you comfortable going to the bars alone, I guess that question is more for the female posters.

Do you have the cabin attendant in every day? I don’t really see the need for it, I think every other day would be fine.

Any advice you can give me wil be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I am 60 something and just did my first solo cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas and I loved it! I ate three times in the specialty dining rooms and the rest in the windjammer or the Park Cafe. I ate when i wanted slept or napped when i wanted, spent a LOT of time in the casino LOL, read two books, went to the spay amen met a ton of nice people especially in the Diamond lounge. I think you will have a great time. I put the please make up my cabin out in the am when i went up for breakfast and walking and then when i came back in two hours it was done so i left the do not disturb on for the rest of the day until i went to dinner and then put the makeup my cabin sign out again and was gone for several hours for the show and casino and when i came back it was done. You could conceivably just tell him that you only want it done every other day and to leave the cruise compass tucked up on your door for you then simply put out the do not disturb sign as a reminder.

My boys love seafood. I am sure they would love to enjoy crab and salmon while we are in Alaska. I don't like it, and my daughter is allergic to salmon. If there is a restaurant with some nice beef options, that would be great. If not, I am open to splitting up so everyone can eat what they want. So, what would be your first choice for eating crab and/or salmon or even some other type of seafood that a seafood lover would enjoy?

Tracys crab shack in Juneau is a must! Salmon pretty much anywhere is amazing as i recall.

Humpys is good as well.

did not include cruise line

I've tried to read through the threads on this subforum for data points on what level of play might lead to getting your next cruise comped with CAS, but not finding very much in terms of specific info on this forum. It sounds like it's based on theoretical or actual losses (similar to land-casino comps) and obviously there's the standard cashback system (where X points earns you Y in free play), but that's not really the part I'm interested in.

 

I could be completely wrong about this, but my assumption is that with standard slots they'd have it worked out where one's theoretical loss would have to be on the order of the cost (or higher) of the next cruise you're trying to get comped and from reading other posts it sounds like the payout is pretty low on their slots. That could make sense if you enjoy playing slot machines, already planned on gambling anyway, and might as well get something back for it, but wouldn't necessarily represent a good value proposition VS just paying for the next cruise for a non-gambler.

 

 

 

Checking out video poker I saw that the pay tables (looked to be 6/5 for JoB) weren't really all that exciting (looked to be ~95% payout with optimal play) and in terms of "points" the rate at which you earn points was (as one would expect) lower than the other slots. Of course, if "points" aren't the deciding factor in comped cruises and CAS theoretical payout is lower than optimal payout I could see there being some potential here, although with a higher variance VS table games.

 

Checking out blackjack I saw that most of the tables only payed 6:5 on player's blackjack, which makes the game much less favorable, but their $15 minimum tables payed the proper 3:2 on blackjacks. With that said, they were 6-deck games with an automatic shuffling machine, which is smart on their part since it would effectively prevent card counting and other forms of advantage play. Sadly, I can't find any discussion in regards to how blackjack play is valued in terms of comping cruises and what might be used as theoretical loss. Also, many casinos don't really care about your play if you're playing the table minimum so not sure if there's a certain average bet one needs to maintain for play to even be counted. I did notice that when I'd vary my bet between hands they were pretty quick to tap some buttons on their computer, which makes me think they're putting effort into tracking bet size. It's all really a pretty smart setup since if they use the information available to them, the shuffler is tracking the number of hands played while you're at the table, the computer has a pretty good feel for what you're betting, and by tying it to your room card they can get a pretty good idea of cash in and whether you're winning or losing. I could see them tracking actual win/loss.

 

When I was sitting at the blackjack table I struck up a conversation with a couple different people that seemed to have been sitting there for a while. One told me that she typically played 5-hours a day of blackjack, but only on sea days and that was enough to get her cruises comped and still get to enjoy all the ports. This kind of surprised me since we were on a 7-day cruise with only two sea days. 10-hours of cumulative blackjack isn't "nothing," but just found it odd that it would vary based on the number of sea days on a cruise. Curious if anybody here might have any useful data points or insight that might help me figure out if it's worth my time to start playing some more serious blackjack on my next cruise (purely from an EV perspective) or if that's a poor value proposition for me. Is my time better spend enjoying the ship's other amenities and only spending an hour or two in the casino with very low-stakes gambling, as I'd normally be inclined to do from a cost-minimization perspective?

i just came back from a 9 day cruise- played AT LEAST 5 hours a day and on the last night found out i only had 1600 points!!!!! (and 200 of them was from slots)how is that possible when i have spent far less time and far less money on prior cruises and always got over 2400 points! The casino host was kind and gave me a free cruise for two in an inside cabin (or $500) value off another non-listed cruise just out of kindness because i truly did not make enough points. I really cannot tell you how this works anymore as i was flabbergasted at my low points!

I see that diapers, swimmers, pullups are not allowed in the regular pools. Can they be in the splash pool on Enchantment. I have one person bringing her 15 month old who plans to stay on the ship and I'm not sure how to tell her the baby can't go in the pool. I thought if she could go in the splash pool it might soften the blow.

I Just Took A Small Blow Up Toddler Tub And set It Next To My Lounge Chair after Filling From The Outdoir Pool Shower And Then I Also Dumped It In That Drain When Finished. Also It Is Great in the shower To Give The baby A Bath Or Outside On your Balcony as well

not in the slot machine i don't believe, but it is 5% to get cash at the tables unless you have a VIP sticker on your sea pass from Club Royale

Walk to your right, you can see it from the ship.

before or after the beach at the Hilton

Personally, I'd just put him in a pull-up and not stress about it. If he has an accident in the pull-up, it won't matter, and he won't be embarrassed in front of the other kids.

they are not allowed to go with pull-ups and they must be fully potty trained- if there are any accidents they will not be allowed back.

Hi! Looking for experiences from parents who have had young Aquanauts on board!

 

Our son turns 3 the day we board Oasis so he will be the youngest kid allowed in Ocean Adventure on our cruise (unless there’s another kid celebrating their 3rd birthday on embarkation day who was born between midnight and 2AM ;)). He is well on his way to potty trained with 3 months to go and I’m confident he will be fully toilet trained by embarkation day.

 

I’m looking for thoughts & experiences from parents who have had such a newly-trained Aquanaut on board. I don’t anticipate leaving him for hours at a time, but with his 5 year old sister there I know he will want to stay and play for a while. My biggest worry is that in spite of being fully toilet trained, he might have an accident in all the excitement.

 

Do any of you have experiences with such a young kid in Ocean Adventure? Will the staff be receptive to parents checking in hourly & giving the kid bathroom reminders?

 

Any other tips from parents who have had a newly toilet-trained 3 year old on board welcomed! Thank you!

It is fine but be prepared that your child either may not want to be separated from you or it may be a really quick visit to adventure ocean for just half hour (right when you are in the middle of something). they will give you a phone and will call you if there is any problem or if your child is tearful and wants to go with you. Sometimes it takes several visits before he/she realized how much fun it is with the other kids.

We've been on 5 cruises in the last 7 years. I really enjoy cruises, but my hubby says he wants to take other land vacations too. I'm told him I'd be content when we retire if we could take 2 vacations a year with one being a cruise and the other being a land vacation.

 

How many cruises do you typically take a year and are you working or retired?

 

Thanks

I've been taking 1-2 cruises per year for awhile and just retired in October and its still1-2. LOL

My husband and I will be sailing into Seward on Friday Aug. 31st, 2018 and will take the Alaska RR into Anchorage that day. We don't fly out of Anchorage until 9:30 pm on Monday, Sept. 2nd, so I was thinking we should rent a car while we're in Anchorage. I was searching for rental cars and it gives me the Alaska RR station in Anchorage as a place to pick up, but when you select that, it then says how many miles away the rental car place will be. Can anyone tell me if there is a car rental place at the train station or nearby? We are staying at the Anchorage Grand hotel. which is right ny the train station, so we could drop our bags off and get to the rental place if need be, but it will be much less stressful on my travel adverse husband if the car rental is right there.

Enterprise Car rental Is Located Downtown Not Far From Your Hotel. I Am Renting From There- My Hotel Will Pick Us Up At Airport And Takes Us To Hotel And It Is Two Blocks From Enterprise.

In your opinion, what is just one thing you think could be done to improve the MDR?

 

Increasing service staff to have that "unrushed" style of service would be an improvement.

 

How do you feel? What is something that could be changed or added that would improve YOUR experience?

Golly just serve thr gosh darned food hot- not cold or lukewarm!

Strange, we rented a car last June 17............when we got off the ship in Vancouver we picked up a car right there at the pier.................2 day rental from Vancouver to Portland Airport and paid just $270. through Costco. Going through customs at the border was breeze too.

 

Jimbo:)

Well i guess that was good for you Jimbo. My plan worked well for me as well. :)

"i booked the cheapest way for airfare which was a pain and is piecemeal. I booked southwest RT from Baltimore to Seward during an amazing sale for $95 each. Then i had to wait a couple months and got a good deal on Alaska air Seattle to Anchorage for $155 and then finally Vancouver to Seattle for $135 so a total of $770 which is insane but like i said it took some months and checking fares constantly. I'll probably never be this lucky again."

..............................................................................................................................

I assumed you meant RT Baltimore to Seattle right?

 

 

Did you stay a over night in Seattle before taking the the Alaska Air flight to Anchorage.............if not what was your layover like?

 

 

 

 

Then when you got off the ship you took a flight from Vancouver to Seattle ? before returning on the Soutwest flight from Seattle to Baltimore.

Probably could have save some money by just driving from Vancouver to Seattle, rent a car for the day when getting off the ship. Got to think it would have been cheaper then the $135 x 2............$270 for that flight?

 

 

Jimbo:)

Yes i mean RT Baltimore to Seattle. I got to Seattle 11am and the flight on Alaska Air was at 12:55 so not bad. No renting a car would not have been cheaper- i checked and since you would be going from Canada to US and also one way rental it would have been ridiculous.

My grandson was 7 and remembered everything and we are going back this June with the rest of the family and i had him help me plan it and he said grand mom don't forget this and don't forget that because that was my favorite etc.

Wow, Robin, this is remarkably helpful!!! I've been reading along this thread, as I, too, am overwhelmed with everything involved in planning our first Alaska cruise! I love to plan trips for my husband and myself, but there is so much to consider. I was most recently considering the northbound Radiance in July 2019; however, the pricing with the land portion via RCI seemed a little steep. Your price range sounds more 'doable'. If you don't mind, which category cabin did you book?

 

 

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Here was my pricing and itinerary:

i booked the cheapest way for airfare which was a pain and is piecemeal. I booked southwest RT from Baltimore to Seward during an amazing sale for $95 each. Then i had to wait a couple months and got a good deal on Alaska air Seattle to Anchorage for $155 and then finally Vancouver to Seattle for $135 so a total of $770 which is insane but like i said it took some months and checking fares constantly. I'll probably never be this lucky again.

Enterprise car rental in downtown Anchorage was at the time significant cheaper than at the airport but you have to check because sometimes it is vice versa. 3 days for $241 and this return to same location....if you do return to a different location it will be about double.

My place hotel in downtown Anchorage for 1 night $159

I had purchased the tour saver booklet online ahead of the trip which had some buy 1 get 1 free deals in it. I could not use most of them but was fortunate to use a few.

next day we drove up to Denali (5 hours) and stayed at Denali Perch for 2 nights $215 total

Went to Cabin nite dinner theater that night which was a little hoakey but my grandson and i enjoyed a nice meal (choice of salmon or bbq ribs served family style with the veggies and wonderful berry cobbler for dessert and a little show about back in the gold mine days. Something to do. Buy 1 get 1 with the tour saver so was $75 total

Next morning we took the Denali park shuttle to Eileson is $40 children free. This goes the same place as the tour buses which cost about $150 each. The shuttle drivers do give some information along the way and will stop if wildlife is spotted. This is a long 8 hr rd trip and you need to bring a box lunch with you which you can pick up at many places in Denali outside of the park. Don't waste your time and money taking the shorter 6.5 hour trip because you do not get far enough into the park to actually see much wildlife, if any.

The next day we left to return to Anchorage stopping at Talkeetna for lunch and shopping and then continuing on to Palmer to the Reindeer farm ($33) Buy 1 get 1 free. They gave a tour talking about the reindeer life and plenty of time to pet and feed them and see the babies. then continuing on to Anchorage.

Turned the car in and back to My place hotel $159 (they offer shuttle service to railroad depot and airport.

5:15am next day took the hotel shuttle to the railroad depot checked suitcases all the way through to the Radiance of the Seas keeping just a light weight drawstring bag with me for jacket, water papers for embarking on the ship etc. Train leaves at 6:45 am arrival in Seward at 11:00 - absolutely gorgeous scenery the entire way down. The train ride which you need to book online ahead of time was 105 and i had a buy 1 get 1

In Seward Kanai Fjords Resurrection Bay with lunch at Fox island 104 for me and 55 for grandson at 12 noon (this is a 4.5 hour trip and you get back at 4:30 and we walked right on the ship no lines. We saw whales, seals, etc.

I booked Radiance during a WOW sale. $727 for inside cabin plus 212 for port fees etc. so 1882 with $50 OBC which i put toward a ship excursion

Juneau- i booked through costal helicopters direct for 524 each helicopter ride to the glacier then dog sledding. It was amazing and worth every dime!

Skagway I booked the white pass railroad through the cruise line using $50 OBC and it was 129 + 65 for the grandson and then less the $50 so a total of 144

Icy Straight Point we did the ships whale watch for 179 and 109 total of $288

Ketchikan we did a self guided walking tour and shopping at Tongass for all of our souvenirs.

Cruise ended in Vancouver and we walked the short distance to get on the tram/train that takes you directly to the airport.

It can be done there are just a lot of variables and you have to constantly be checking for sales, specials, etc. Have a great time.