TheCooksinCT

I went to a EFFY store while in port in Alaska after a "shopping" lecture onboard Norwegian cruise lines. The cruiseline gets a commission based on what the cruise passengers pay (which is why they are told to say "so and so" sent them). EFFY is high pressure sales and offers NO refunds for people with buyers remorse etc. My advice, just stay away and buy your jewelry local without the pressure of having to buy it now.:(

any ideas how to manage luggage while doing a little Seattle sight seeing before flight at 5. We will have approx 6 hours of which I'd rather not spend in an airport

I travel to CA at least once a year - I abbreviate a lot and call Connecticut CT. We will be in Santa Monica and the weather should be turning pretty nice by then and I think we can expect sun with temps high 70's. Hoping to get sun there as I don't expect much in AK

Please forgive me because this may sound testy, but no one who lives in California calls it "Cali". Do you call Connecticut "Connie"?

 

Sorry about that. If you are going to be here for a week before, what you need to pack is pretty similar to the suggested packing for Alaska. It all depends where in the state you'll be. Here in coastal San Diego, you'll probably have "June Gloom" at the coast and what we consider cold at night. Inland it will be hot and get hotter as you head through Orange County (Disneyland) to LA. If you are spending most of the week in the bay area (SF) just remember what Mark Twain said - "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco".

Tea pre check sounds like a great idea. Thank you all!

realistically, can we expect sunny and warm "sitting by pool in bathing suits" during sea days? Or maybe more like shorts and a sweater? I'm used to mid 80s and humid in July. We will be in Cali the week prior to sailing and the thought of packing for 2 weeks in different climates is daunting!

Taking the Jewel RT out of Seattle to Alaska. Looking at flights home and it looks like our options are 6 am 11 am or 6 pm - since we are flying back east, the 6pm wouldn't get us home until early the next morning. Is 11 am cutting it too close?

So we've decided on an Alaska cruise instead of a diy land vacation. Now the question.... 1 way or RT. I'm leaning towards 1 way since it's a 7 night cruise and want to get the most out of Alaska as we can and do as many excursions as we can. Thinking of ATVing, horseback tours, fishing excursions, flight seeing etc.

Question...

1) which ports give the most opportunity for these things.

2) if 1 way, what's the difference being north and south bound? I didn't see much difference in itineraries.

3) your opinion of best cruise ship. I'm leaning towards Princess, but not sure which ship.

Traveling July 2017

Hubby and I taking our 18 yr old son to Alaska for his graduation gift in July. Jury is out on wether we fly into anchorage and do a rail tour and explore on our own or do a cruise from Seattle. My son wants to spend a lot of time fishing, ATVing, glacier viewing and a rail trip possibly. I'd love to see Denali as well. This is our first and probably only time going to Alaska so I want to do it right but spend a fortune. Also, if we cruise, what line do u recommend and should we spend the extra money on a balcony room. We've only cruised 1 other time on Norwegian out of NYC to Bahamas.

Thanks for your help!