newzandile

Thanks for all the feedback. I definitely DON'T want to spend time in port doing laundry, that's why I was asking for a wash and fold service.

I will probably just use the ship's service. I have 2 teenage boys. If you haven't been around teenage boys lately they smell, a lot. Something about the hormones I expect but seriously their clothes get rank very quickly no matter how many showers they take or what kind of top rated scientific deodorant I buy for them. We are also doing pretty active excursions.

I may look into the cost of an extra bag but we're already giving the airline almost $4,000 on this trip so I'd prefer to avoid that cost if I can. Of course if it works out to be cheaper than what I'd expect to pay for the ship's laundry then maybe.

There are laundry machines at Riley Campground at Denali ! There's wifi and espresso next door !

 

Every town will have a laundromat or 2. Google each town's yellow pages, and ask if they provide the wash and fold service. I've used laundramats in Seward, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Denali but didn't notice if they provided the service.

Thanks for the quick answer! We only have 2 full days in Denali. 1 day we are bussing it into the interior and we hope to schedule a ranger led back country hike the 2nd day so don't know when we'd have the time. Good to know that we could pop over there in a pinch though!

I'll do some google research, just hoping to get a good word of mouth referral.

Depending on what I find out about laundry specials on the Norwegian Sun, I may want to do laundry on one of our port days. Our ports are Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. I REALLY don't want to spend port time sitting in a laundromat but we're going straight from the cruise into a DIY landtour in Denali, no laundry facilities at our campground.

Are there any drop and go laundry options? I'm envisioning a service where we drop off a bag of laundry and pick it up later, washed and folded? I've done that in other parts of the world on long trips.

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

I promise I have searched this topic but haven't found anything less than 2 years out of date so I apologize if I overlooked something more recent.

Family of 5 traveling in a larger group of 13 on the Norwegian Sun from Vancouver to Seward and then immediately into an RV for a brief DIY trip to Denali for a few days.

The cruise to RV turnaround is very tight (spending one night in Talkeetna) and I want to get to Denali as fast as possible. Also doing 2 nights pre-cruise in Vancouver.

I'm panicking about the laundry situation. What is the current special offered midweek on laundry? I know there aren't any self-serve laundry options on the Sun? Also, does anyone know what day they are offered on the Alaskan itineraries (Mon - Mon).

Thanks in advance!

You should join our roll call!

9 of us in our group of 13 are picking up RVs in Anchorage and doing a few days in Denali after. How about you?

Any tips on the best specialty dining on the Sun for a group of 13? (4 adult couples and 5 teenagers).

Is one of the main dining rooms more suited for large groups than the other?

I've looked at reservations on the website and none of the specialty restaurants will let you book more than 6.

We won't eat all together every night but I was thinking we'd plan at least 1-2 group dinners in the main dining room and then maybe one specialty dinner night.

Thanks!

We'll need to catch taxis to shuttle us over to Great Alaskan Holiday to pick up our RV's for the next leg of our trip. I say taxis because we are a group of 9 (2 families). Should I prebook with one of the taxi companies and if so how far in advance? If you prebook will they meet you somewhere other than the general taxi stand?

Thanks for asking this! I didn't think to ask and I'm glad you did!

NCL was using the regular forward seating cars last year. I would suggest, you give the Seward depot a call when they open in May and ask what cars they are using this season. 907.224.2268

 

NCL contracts and doesn't have their own cars- yet.

Thank you so much!

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Wow, I am just eager and wanted to be bumped back up to the top. So sorry to have offended.

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Does no one know the answer? @budgetqueen? Anyone? :)

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Does this party happen on the Sun during Alaska itineraries? Where do they hold it? Seems it would be a little chilly on deck!

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Travelguard gives you the option to by "cancel for any reason" coverage of you buy within 15 days of your original booking date but you can buy a regular policy up until final payment (and possibly even after, I've never waited that long).

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We will be disembarking in Seward and we have booked the morning train to Anchorage thru the cruise (NCL) since you cannot book that train through Alaska Rail.

What is the seating like? Is the food outrageously expensive? Will any of the dome cars be on the train or do they detatch them for the cruise run?

I wish there were an option to book goldstar service through the cruise but there isn't. (We are picking up an RV in Anchorage at 1:30 so the evening train isn't an option).

Thanks!

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Thank you!

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I love behind the scenes tours on ships, this will be our first cruise with NCL (Sun, Alaska this June). Will any be available? What are costs and when can I book them?

Thanks!

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They just opened 2016 bookings thru the website as of December 1. I had to call to book campsites and the agent I spoke to said the shuttles would sell out pretty fast, she encouraged me to not wait to book them. It's only a $5 charge to change the reservation later so worth it to get a spot even if you aren't entirely certain of plans.

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You say that you're not a snotty kid who is defying the authority just for the sake of it but immediately after that you are implying that because you pay X amount of money for your cruise, the rules that apply to everyone else (who also pay for their cruises) should not apply to you.

Not at all, I don't think that rule should apply to ANYONE as it's written. And if I could get around it, I thought it would be helpful to share, so that others would know it might be an option and so I could learn from others who felt they wanted to challenge the rule. I'm not seeking special treatment, I'm simply speaking up for myself and if in so doing I can help someone else then that's fabulous!

I'm not entitled to anything that you aren't entitled to, namely the opportunity to negotiate and challenge when I'm paying for a service and I think it could be better.

Well this is turning out to be some fun discussion time!

This is what I could find on the website (in the fine print accessible all the way at the bottom, under "Restrictions" and then under "Age Policies")

"Company policy dictates that a passenger under 21 years of age must be accompanied in the same or connecting stateroom by a passenger 21 years of age or older at the time of embarkation."

So maybe that's how they get around it, you only have to abide until you've actually embarked, then it's anything goes? :-)

More likely the qualifier is intended to describe the age at time of embarkation, not the cabin at time of embarkation but it is potentially arguable!

NCL.com says differently...

 

 

 

https://www.ncl.com/specials-and-promotions/choice

You are right! I actually originally put a deposit down (but didn't go through all the details because I was also putting a deposit on our neighbors cabins so we'd have all 4 together) back in September, at that point the balcony was the only option with UBP. Looks like we might have lost out for booking too early, but maybe that gives my neighbors an option if they don't have a cooperative agent.

NCL's rules allow minors without adults in connecting or adjacent staterooms and directly across the hall (doors facing each other) has been enough for them

Interesting, the directly across the hall exception is news to me, they made it sound as if that made no difference. She kept saying that there must be someone over 21 booked in each cabin. Maybe they've changed that recently?

As far as the preaching is concerned, I asked if anyone else had had to deal with this. So if you have not, and you don't have any suggestions or questions or helpful hypothetical situations to offer then I'm not sure why you are responding at all??

Rules are sometimes ludicrous, especially if they are followed only arbitrarily and if they have no clear purpose. It is necessary for customers to challenge rules that impact their experience for no good reason and I'm sure NCL appreciated the opportunity to rectify the situation to some extent as opposed to losing my business altogether. I'm not a snotty kid who is defying authority just for the sake of it. I'm dropping over $6000 and I expect to get what was advertised for that price, that is all.

Switching cruiselines is also not such an easy thing when the 8 other people we are traveling with have already booked and all of our pre and post-cruise plans are also already booked. Because our oldest is 20 it never dawned on me that this would be an issue before all of those other plans were made. Cruising is an occasional option for us, we are not career cruisers and I believe I'm better educated than many but if my oldest is free to die for our country and to buy cigarettes and to go to a strip club it seems a bit ludicrous that he's not allowed to sleep without adult companionship. Oh, except that he really is, I just have to spend the better part of an hour on the phone now and some unspecified amount of time on the cruise standing in line at guest services. It is certainly not going to ruin the cruise or anything, I just think it is silly and was curious how others had handled it.

Maybe it's just because I'm a trial lawyer that I feel the need to call out the BS when I see it. If customers never challenged these things then NCL would never have the opportunity to improve their service and do a better job of tailoring it to the families they claim to be marketing to.

The free UBP is only offered to balcony cabins, the inside cabins only qualify for free soda. And they can't assign the UBP to the minor that they are "fake" booking in the balcony because she is a minor.

As my original post stated, they did override the system for us, so it will all work out for us, just not sure about my friends in the cabins next door to these. I don't know how much depends on my getting lucky with the agent and her supervisor that I spoke to today. And that is part of my frustration, the arbitrariness of it.

And on the last cruise we went on there were perks associated with our aft balcony that didn't apply to the inside so they had to actually move our names, not just give us extra key cards.

Thanks for the positive responses that didn't include lecturing or preaching to me for not being a good rule follower.

Ok, fine. But I called to book myself and my husband in the balcony and the "kids" across the hall. I think it is ludicrous that a 20 year old is not considered an adult for booking purposes.

It is their "rule" that prevents me from booking the way I intended to book. But they themselves flout the rule, telling me that as soon as we board we can go to guest services and switch the key cards. And that is in fact what we did (on Carnival) the last time we all cruised together. It worked, but it was an unnecessary stress because we had to stand in a long line and even then it took 2 days to get the key cards properly sorted so that everyone's worked in the right rooms.

I think the 21 and up rule per cabin is archaic and too inflexible. And although I don't want them to suddenly start following their rules it is CLEARLY treated as a technicality by THEM, so why should I lose out on the promotion due to a technicality that they don't respect themselves?

Alcohol aside, when do they think the ADULTS in a family are supposed to have "relations" on vacation if they were to force them to sleep with the kids?

They know that is something guests won't abide so all they do is create unnecessary hassle for their guests, reservation agents and guest services on board.

So, I am planning an Alaskan trip for 2 families (3 generations of each). I researched cruise lines extensively and part of the main selling point for NCL was the free beverage package with the balcony cabins. Now that I'm finalizing the plans I'm getting the run around because we have kids with us.

The grandparents are booking their own cabins, but we booked 2 balconies and 2 insides across the hall for our family and our friends. We have 3 "kids" who will be 20, 17 and 15 at the time of sailing. Our friends have 2 who will be 16 and 13 at sailing. The balconies are DIRECTLY across the hall.

As it turns out, after a very lengthy phone call, they made an exception for us so that even though we have to split my husband and I between the cabins for the reservations, they are charging the $64 gratuity for the UBP to my daughter (who is booked in the balcony with me on paper) so that my husband will still have the beverage package once we switch cabins upon boarding.

But I'm not sure they will do the same for our neighbors, it's a frustrating glitch I think, to advertise free UBP for balcony cabins but then force one parent to give it up because they have to be booked in the "kid" cabin (which may not be a balcony) even though EVERYONE knows that is not where folks will be sleeping (and I'm not talking about young kids, that's different).

What experience have others had with this? It's an extra $442 to pay for it

What a great thread!

I've nabbed some travel vids off of Amazon Prime and also discovered Alaska: the Final Frontier on Hulu, I've watched most of the first season. It's a reality show that follows the Kilcher family, they are homesteaders living off the land northeast of Homer (2nd and 3rd generation).

As a bit of trivia, Atz Kilcher is Jewel's father, she grew up there before heading south to live out of a van while pursuing her music career. They haven't mentioned it at all in the almost entire 1st season I've watched but her uncle Otto said at one point that he couldn't get her song, Pieces of You, out of his head. No mention of the relation.

It's interesting, a little annoying in how the producers try to edit in drama that isn't really there but I think the core of it is accurate, they seem like really likeable people.

One question that has popped into my head, why does everything not open till 9 am when the sun is up at 5 in the summer?

We're morning people anyway, and then coming from the east coast our body clocks will likely be waking us up early anyway and I want to get moving and take advantage of the extra long days but it seems that we are a bit limited for the first 3 to 4 hours of daylight (other than walking the seawall early in Stanley Park, I'm thinking DH and I may do that just after sunrise with anyone else who is up for it).

Any other options available before 9 am?

At least Tim Hortons opens early!