PAsailors2

Thanks much. Appreciate the tesponse

Anyone played this course? There is an excursion offering through our X cruise, but I'm trying to determine if booking on my own with a taxi fee involved would be cheaper. Also wondering about the condition of the course and distance from the cruise pier. Thanks

My favorite lunch place is Pier 69, no contest. I eat there a few times a week. But if you're out in Christiansted (or near it) swing down to the board walk and hit Angry Nates. Those are the best two lunch places on the island!

Thanks, Drake. Looking forward to either one. Both menus look great online

Thanks so much! We've written both addresses down so we can find the one we're closer to when lunch time strikes

Hi Drake,

Perused your routing on the car rental map. There are so many eating establishments listed. We don't want to end up eating average food when we can have something great! Would appreciate your insights for food, as we plan to pretty much follow your routing. We're in port 8-5 and have arranged for the car pick-up as soon as we can disembark. Many thanks

We did Celebrity Solstice last February-18 day NZ and bottom half of Australia. Weather was very cooperative. NZ was cooler (sweater/light jacket) at times. Both are beautiful places. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks, Drake. Your posts have been most helpful as we begin planning for Feb. 2016!

Anyone know how many bottles of rum may be purchased and taken back on board Celebrity? I'm pretty sure they will take it from you when returning to the ship and give it back when debarking, but we don't want to buy more than they allow. Thanks

Did you also look at Talkeetna Air Taxi? How did you decide? Are you doing a glacier landing or a summit flight? There are so many choices!!!

We actually contacted the Chamber of Commerce who sent us several flyers. In addition we sent for free info through AAA ( an excellent travel planning guide specific to different areas of Alaska arrived). Plus we checked TripAdvisor reviews. K2 offers different routes so we selected the one which best fit our desires of what we hope to get from the ride.

We were in the same quandary as you, given the expense of this type excursion. We have never done a flight, so can't answer your question other than to say we have booked with K2 aviation in Talkeetna. Until March 1, you can get a 10% discount by booking with them directly online or by calling them. We had some questions to which they responded right away. Also, they are highly rated on Trip Advisor

Thanks, Mapleleaves! Exactly the info we needed.

"Jan wanted to see Talkeetna so we found the shuttle for the hour ride into town. The shuttle ran every hour from the same location."

Thanks for your review. We are doing this trip in August, and are wondering about the shuttle service between Talkeetna and McKinley Lodge. When you arrived, did you have to go directly to the lodge, or were there shuttles running so that you could stay and do an excursion in Talkeetna when you arrived, rather than having to backtrack from the lodge the next day?

After your last comment I went to my email to check which of my documents had the arrival and departure times. The document is titled "Booking Notification". Are you possibly looking at the wrong document? Or not scrolling down far enough? Our Itinerary including times is at the bottom of the document. I hope this helps.

Thanks so much. Found it! You were right - hadn't scrolled down and accessed the PDF which does show times. Just the booking details do not - has to actually be in the PDF to print mode to see the times.

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When I was trying to book excursions, I was frustrated with the lack of exact times in the Princess Personalizer. I found, upon looking into it further, that the confirmation email I received from Princess had a much more exact itinerary with est. arrival/departure times as an attachement- checking that may also help answer a few of your questions.

Our confirmation email only gave the times I listed on the query. That is why the planning question, as Princess when I called couldn't be specific with times I was asking about this far in advance. We have written to the Chamber of Commerce in Talkeetna hoping they may have had enough dealings with Princess land portion that they can advise about scheduling when we arrive. Appreciate your insight!

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Thanks, Budget Queen! Sounds like a plan and just the info we needed.

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Thanks! We knew CC members would come through! Yes, we are trying to avoid travel to the McKinley lodge and back to get a flight/glacier landing. We contacted the Chamber in Talkeetna who has already put us in touch with 3 tour companies. Our concern was the shuttle service to the lodge once we arrive in Talkeetna. The person with whom I spoke at Princess wasn't of much assistance - apparently we are "early" for such definitive time info.

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Our land portion is first, and we are trying to fit in a flight with glacier landing to avoid backtracking from Denali to Talkeetna unless it's necessary.

Pease look at what we've been given so far from Princess and advise as to what's doable:

8/7. 9:15am - train from Anchorage to Talkeetna. Arrive Noon. Transfer to McKinley Lodge (abt 1 hr - check in time is 3pm)

Would we have time for an excursion upon arrival, or must everyone be ready to leave right away for the lodge?

8/8 McKinley to Denali ( no time given but trip says approx 2 1/4hrs.) so we hesitate to plan anything for this day, unless your experience with the transfer would indicate there's time

8/9 We are at the Denali lodge full day with an already scheduled Princess tour which we need to upgrade - part of our pkg

8/10 Bus to Copper River lodge (9 hrs. With lunch on your own)

8/11 Copper River full day

8/12 Copper River to Valdez (3 1/2hrs - bus) Then Valdez to Whittier via catamaran (4hrs). We then join the ship southbound.

Thanks so much for your input. Great to rely on fellow CC members!

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I'd use a taxi too,

 

but just as a heads up if you decide to use the train,

 

check there is no trackwork happening or you may find yourself with an unexpected change...

http://www.sydneytrains.info/service_updates/trackwork/

Thanks so much for your advice. Hadn't thought about track/train repairs. Do you feel it safe to travel via that mode that late at night, or would the taxi be "safer?"

as a heads up the fares on their web page are wrong

 

$15.90 from domestic and $16.70 from international

 

If you arrive early morning weekday or weekend before 11 St james is the way to go as Town Hall serves more lines and business people and can be very chaotic the shopping zone along market st is very quiet until that time.

 

There's a lift in QVB which will take you up to street level

 

If you are lloking for a good lunch spot I can recommend snappahead just up York st

Mrs. Waldo,

You seem so well versed in getting around Sydney!! In February,our plane arrives post-cruise from Perth @ 10:15 PM. Wondering what the best transport to our hotel (Marriott Circular Quay) will be at that hour. Have checked the schedules and it appears the trains stop at 10pm. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Anne