stevejco

5 hours ago, Buford T Justiice said:

I believe any vaccination proof will simply be self certification. Unless folks think that a random piece of paper from a city / town / county / state / province means something. Cruise lines don't have the manpower to do verification. Its simply a legal liability measure and perhaps a coming CDC directive to the cruise lines.

It wouldn't surprise me to see immunization records linked directly to your passport. Probably the most secure and efficient method of verifying sensitive info.

45 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

The OP did not mention those numbers and said it was only sea days.

Small numbers would work in the card room, the Epic has a good sized card room.

My apologies totally forgot to mention the numbers involved. 

30 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Best to join the Roll Call for your Epic TA - there are bound to be somebody organizing the LCR for sea days. If not, you can introduce yourself and see if anyone are interested, and ask if a room can be booked.

 

We have been on 5 TAs, and on the latter 3 of them we played LCR - great fun - and we're booked on the Encore TA and the Spirit Arabian Odyssey (in Feb) with many sea days, and both have LCR games organized.

 

Number of people = 20 to 35. Time = 1 to 1.5 hours.

 

One TA after the regular LCR game on the last sea day several of us opted to stay behind to play the high stake LCR - 3x$5 = $15 - and it was great fun.

 

Forgot to add: it was in La Cucina on the Jade (before the dry dock, as it had long tables), in the Le Bistro on Escape, and in the Bliss nightclub on the Getaway.

 

 

Lol I am on the roll call and nobody has stepped up so I'm gathering Intel before I volunteer.  I have played many times. In fact I believe that you are correct about La Cucina on the Jade as we were on the same TA. I like the high stakes on the last day idea.

So more to the point anticipating 30 or more participating what specific venue on the Epic might work best. Thanks to all for your replies.

We will be on the Epic TA this November. What is the best location to play LCR  on the Epic and who would I need to speak with to get permission to play there. Obviously it would be on sea days and preferably early afternoon. First time on Epic and would appreciate suggestions.

Thanks

1 hour ago, scubamargie said:

We just returned from our Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Millennium sailing south from Seward to Vancouver, BC  I have set up a blog with notes and pictures. Not sure if I can post the link here but I'll try. https://travelwordsandpictures.blogspot.com/

Thank you!  Wonderful blog! We are sailing Southbound on the Millie next month after our 9 day DIY land tour. Our itinerary is very similar and we will be walking in your footsteps. Can't wait for your next installment. 

29 minutes ago, Melli56566 said:

Anyone do any hiking in ketchikan?  Looking at rainbird trail,deer mountain trail, or something near cruise terminal.  thanks!

I haven't but AllTrails has proven to be a very reliable resource for me. https://www.alltrails.com/us/alaska/ketchikan

1 hour ago, danareginato said:

 

anyone on the same trip that would like to team up on an excursion?

You'll have better luck asking about sharing excursions on the Roll Call forum for your sailing.

My first thought was Toursaver but they don't offer discounts on their Goldstar fares. They do offer buy 1 get 1 on the Adventure Class fares. Military discounts are available with DoD ID.

17 minutes ago, Beachfrog said:

My group of travelers cannot decide on whether or not to do a whale watch tour.  Is it possible to book a last minute tour at the pier when we arrive in Juneau?

It's possible but certainly not recommended. Most tours book pretty early and you run the risk of getting shut out. I would press the group to come to a consensus rather than risk disappointment Perhaps someone will share their experience with last minute bookings.

2 hours ago, julie3fan said:

FWIW, I actually booked with Juneau Car Rental first, for a midsize car, total cost $94.30.  Then I checked the price with Avis, and for a full size it was $120.47.  For about $26 more, I'm thinking we might go with Avis, as the car will be much newer, and with much lower mileage.  I've read several reviews of JCR, and a fair amount of them have commented on the overall poor condition of the cars, which makes me a little nervous.

Same here. Your booking confirmation from Juneau Car Rental will include your rental vehicle's VIN#. You can easily check this on line to see what your getting.   My vehicle was an 18 year old  PT Cruiser that a previous customer gave a horrible review. This prompted me to cancel and book with Avis. Based on a good number of positive reviews I'm pretty sure most vehicles are probably ok but I didn't want to chance it.

20 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

Interesting replies and I appreciate all.  Juneau is such an interesting city to visit, I probably won't spend much time looking for Blueberry Buckle.  But, if I find one, I will try it.

Same here. I won't go looking for it but if it finds me I may give it a try. It seems very similar to the blueberry coffee cake I make at home. I could be wrong.

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

What is a Blueberry Buckle?

Blueberry Buckle is a blueberry-studded cake topped with a sweet cinnamon-streusel topping that “buckles” as it cools.

On 2/4/2019 at 8:50 AM, masterdrago said:

. One thing we found that saved some change was getting a passport card instead of a book, booking the cruise from Seward to Vancouver, then renting a car there and driving (rather than flying) to Seattle. 

Just be aware that as a US citizen the card is good for ground entry only.  Should a medical emergency come up while in Canada a passport card won't get you home by air. I agree that the savings is substantial but stuff happens.

3 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Looking at your itinerary, seems to me that you spent most of your time hanging around (Anchorage) and going to places that are not worth visiting (Talkeetna - have never been able to figure out what people see in that place).  The only day that you spent in an interesting place was day 4.  Even there you had to take the short cruise because you drove from Anchorage to Seward on the day of the tour.  Very badly planned in my opinion.

 

DON

Other than #3 Talkeetna it seems that they enjoyed themselves. I'm glad that they had a good time and appreciate that they took the time to post their itinerary.  Maybe not everyone's cup of tea.  I hope they're not crushed that you don't approve of how they spent their time and money.

I can't speak about the tour as I have never taken it. You don't mention what language that this person speaks. I'm assuming that someone in your group speaks their language and could serve as a translator. Perhaps they could watch a few episodes of the deadliest catch to get some insight on Bering Sea fishermen.  This would give them a basic understanding which should make some of the tour easier to follow. The Discovery Channel  airs the Deadliest Catch which is shown in many countries in several different languages. The following info is from Wikipedia

The Discovery Channel reaches 431 million homes in 170 countries. Discovery Communications currently offers 29 network brands in 33 languages. In a number of countries, Discovery's channels are available on digital  platforms with multiple language soundtracks or subtitles including Spanish, German, Russian, Czech, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Turkish, Greek, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Arabic, Slovene, Japanese, Korean and Serbian. In Bulgaria, Discovery has, since 2000–2001, displayed Bulgarian subtitles by all cable providers and since 2010 – with Bulgarian dubbing for some shows.

1 hour ago, CoW mAn said:

 

I felt the historical and cultural context they put things in added to the experience quite a bit. How much they talk really depends on the operator but I didn't find it distracting at all. As for promoting local business they don't do it at all on the way up (wouldn't make sense) but they do a little bit on the way down but they tend to speak from personal experience rather than an advertising script. It feels more like they just want to give you more options of things to do after the tram. I felt it was a great value. Now if you want a tram that gives you almost no value that would be the one in Ketchikan 😛

Thank you very much for responding to my question. Glad to hear that your experience was a good one. Grateful for the tip on the Ketchikan tram.

Steve

10 hours ago, CoW mAn said:

For Juneau I enjoyed the Tram, get to see an Eagle up close

 

 

Do the locals in the tram talk through the entire ride or do you get a relatively quiet moment to soak in the beautiful view. Did you find that this detracted or added to your experience?  You're a captive audience and it's a great opportunity to for them to promote the local businesses. I realize that there are shops, restaurants and trails on Mt Roberts. Just wondering if you found your visit to Mt Roberts a good value.

Thanks 

Plan is to visit every bar.

1 hour ago, JBSteelerfan said:

We were on port side, southbound from Seward to Vancouver.   Had great views from our balcony while cruising.   When we did Hubbard glacier,  we were on the helipad and had great views as well.  What ship are you on, and are you doing a land tour as well?

Celebrity Millenium. Doing 8 days pre-cruise on our own.

3 minutes ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Just did Alaska this past August.  Absolutely beautiful up there.  Doing Hawaii next year.  Hoping to do a transatlantic soon.

Did you do port or starboard? Southbound or Northbound? Did you think there was any major dif in the views?

17 minutes ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Congrats on retirement as well.  And I thought 33 years was enough.....couldn't imagine another 5!

Life is good. Hoping to get a few more cruises in now. Doing Alaska next June. Southbound with a portside cabin. 

1 hour ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Hi Steve!

Hope you guys are doing well.  Did you take the retirement offer?  I did!!  Don't miss it at all!!

Jeff

Hi Jeff!

Congrats! I retired last September, 38 years under CSRS. No regrets here.  Hope Sheri is well.

7 hours ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Advice we were given was if you are going northbound, starboard side, and southbound, port side cabin.

Hello JB, Hope your doing well. Think that this advice holds true if your planning on spending a decent amount of time on your balcony. Otherwise, if your spending most of your time in public areas you just move to the side with the better view.

This was forwarded to me today. Not sure if it's been shared on the forums yet. My apologies if it has.

I can spare the time, so I'd go for more cruises. For me, more experiences are my goal in life.

Same.