itsanita

Thanks Anne!

Has anyone booked on the Equinox? 

I used a cabana on the Edge and loved having it for our group, but it was by the pool....no need to worry about lounges and holding on to yours while having lunch etc. 

But not sure if worth it if not by the pool.   There are lounges available all over if you don't mind being away from the pool area.   

Can anyone tell me where the Cabanas are on the Equinox located?  The ones that you can rent for the day?  Are they by the pool?  

12 hours ago, jeffndallas said:

We are going Northbound. Is the bus really going to stop at all of the same stops as the train, so if needed, mid-tour access could be accomplished?

I'm not sure what your question is.  If your asking if the bus with all your luggage goes to the same stops as you.  Yes. 

When you are on the train portion of the tour, your bus will meet you at your next stop with all the luggage.  They will then put the luggage marked for the land tour at your hotel room door/or in your hotel room if they get there before you.  The rest stays on the bus unless you indicate that you need something in one of the other (marked for the cruise) suitcases.

On 7/27/2022 at 2:37 PM, itsanita said:

This was an aft cabin on the Edge.   Little table on the balcony, but he brought me a very nice table for us to eat on.   Ask!!  All they can say is no!

 

 

 

Looks like the pic did not come through...will try again. 

We have done this trip twice.  We loved Fairbanks.

What about going from Anchorage to Talkeetna, about a 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive.  Then Talkeetna to Fairbanks, a 4 1/2 hour drive.  Then Fairbanks to Denali, 2 1/2 hour drive.  Then Denali to Anchorage, about 4 hours.   

Or

Anchorage to Denali, Denali to Fairbanks, Fairbanks to Talkeetna, then back to Anchorage.

That would break it up a bit, so not such a long drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage. 

We went the last week in Aug and the first week of Sept. both times.  

We loved Fairbanks, but I know you only have so much time.  So you will need to decide what's important. 

In Fairbanks we stayed at  Sophie’s’ Station, which is a “suite hotel”.  It was old but clean and had a little living room and kitchen that came in handy.   We did the Discovery Cruise.  This was a large, stern wheel riverboat that took us for a 4-hour cruise down the Chena and Tanana Rivers.   We went to Chen Hot springs, and the ICE Hotel that is there.   We also spent some time at the Fairbanks Museum @University of Fairbanks.   I think we also drove to the North Pole!   Saw lots of Moose while driving around and saw the Northern Lights.

In Talkeetna we stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge,  beautiful lodge with large hotel rooms.   We had a beautiful view of Mt Mc Kinnley for about 2 hours...also saw the Northern Lights here. 

Here we did fly fishing, did Denali flightseeing as one of the trips had gorgeous weather.  They also offered horse back riding, river rafting, hiking with rangers.  The town of Talkeetna is small, one street and a cat is their Mayor!   But this is where most of the hikers start their trek up the Mt.

Denali is a must see.  I would recommend the Park's tour bus, the Tundra Wildlife Search....the 8 hour one if possible.  It is narrated and has a zoom camera so when you come upon animals they put it up on TV cameras in the bus.  It was just a school bus when we went.  They gave you a bag lunch with water to eat at your leisure.   I do remember some other things offred, such as rafting. But you could get by with just the one day here for the N'l Park tour.

Anchorage is just a city, but it is a pretty one!    the Alaskan Heritage Center was nice.   We did a“26 Glacier Tour” that was amazing..close up to the glaciers.   

I asked the same question.  They keep track of your flight....   It is across via skyway from baggage claim to the Ground Transportation Plaza.

"From Baggage Claim, cross Skybridge 4 to the airport parking garage, following signs to Door-to-Door Vans. Proceed down to the 3rd Floor (elevator)—where you will find the “Premier Airport Shuttle Check-In” at the Ground Transportation Plaza". 

It worked out better to go with the full price and use the Elite 40% discount.  And yes, they allowed me to re-book on board.   

This was an aft cabin on the Edge.   Little table on the balcony, but he brought me a very nice table for us to eat on.   Ask!!  All they can say is no!

We are back from our trip to Seattle and Alaska cruise.We ended up being 6 adults, and 6 kids. 

I want to thank everyone for all their suggestions.

We DID NOT rent the car and it worked out well.   We did not go on the Ferry.  

We started out at Starbucks our 1st morning...had to since we were in Seattle.   

Walked to Pike Place Market and had crab sent home to us (arrived today!)  And of course paid a visit to the 'gum wall' and left a donation.

We then headed to the Aquarium, that was a big hit with everyone.

Next stop was Wings Over Washington, another big hit!

Lunch at the Crab Pot.  $$$$ but food and service was great.

We were unable to go to Underground Seattle...they were sold out.  We should have made reservations.   

Next stop was Elliott Bay Book Company and Molly Moon’s Ice cream.   

A very late dinner at our hotel.    

Next morning we got a late check out, took the monorail to the Seattle Center.  We visited the Space Needle, as the day was clear and beautiful.  The rest of the morning was spent watching all the kids....including the 13 and 14 yr olds, enjoying the the Artists at Play playground by the Needle.   Monorail back to the hotel and a pickup by Premier Shuttle to Pier 91.

The Pier was a cluster, a real mess trying to get our suitcases to the right ship and proceeding to the security area.   Your advise about dropping off the luggage in the am was spot on.

All in all we had a very enjoyable time in Seattle.  Thanks again  for all the information and advice.

On 6/17/2022 at 12:44 PM, Gardyloo said:

 

You might want to include a visit to the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad Museum, in the town of Snoqualmie, then after the wallabies, you might want to head up to Remlinger Farms, just south of Carnation, where they have plenty of activities for families as well as a decent farm store and places to eat.  You could then, if interested, swing by the original Carnation Farm before returning to Seattle.  Map - https://goo.gl/maps/RfGGqz4Q7ic34UW87

 

Depending on the kids' ages, I'd absolutely make a stop at the Museum of Flight, located at Boeing Field just south of downtown.  There's plenty of parking, a terrific gift shop and decent cafe, but the museum itself is amazing - IMO second only to the Smithsonian in terms of its collection.  It's VERY kid-friendly, with many hands-on exhibits... in my view one of Seattle's premier visitor destinations, for all ages.  Home | The Museum of Flight

I just wanted to thank you for the suggestions.  We are back home and had a great time.   

We did not get as much done as we hoped, but had a great day!   We did Port Valet, had a shuttle waiting for us when off the ship, and we were dropped off at the Airport Rental Car area.   We got our car and headed to Salish Lodge & Spa were we had lunch.  We then went to the Wallaby Ranch and I'm not sure who had more fun, us or the kids.  We then went back to the Snoqualmie Falls to walk the trail down by the waterfall.  We then headed back to the airport for our Redeye  flight home....lots of traffic!  We had dinner at the airport and headed to our gate with about 1 1/2 hour to spare.  It was a great way to end our vacation.    Thanks again. 

We used Premier Airport Shuttle.    https://premierairportshuttle.com/   There was 7 of us and they were great.  We also used them to take us from our downtown hotel to the ship, and then from the ship to the airport.  

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On 7/21/2022 at 7:08 PM, amcco said:

I agree with LMaxwell.
 

The tables on the balconies are quite small and low as well. This picture is from a recent review. We did room service breakfast on the older style and still found we were holding our plates in our laps. 
 

The buffet will occasionally have a local cuisine theme. On one of our Caribbean cruises they had Jamaican theme on that port day. 

• 

 

Just a suggestion.   This cabin looks plenty big to hold a proper table.   In this case we would ask our room steward to get us a regular table.  He/she has always obliged, along with a lovey table cloth and for the rest of the cruise we have a place for breakfast as well.  

We love having dinner occasionally on our aft balcony (weather permitting).

On 7/23/2022 at 1:06 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

Just off the Infinity today, showed up tagless, not a problem!  Porter took a blank tag out of his back pocket and wrote on the stateroom number.  Received luggage quickly.  I took a pic to share just for CC.

 

We always put tags on before heading to the ship.  We do have the plastic covers, so after reading this may think about doing it pre flight.

BUT, we cruised out of the Seattle port last week.  Those that did not have tags on their luggage waited in VERY long lines to get tags.  No porters around putting tags on for you.  Maybe a staff issue post covid...but I would not go to the port without the luggage already tagged.  

18 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

No restriction.   At least on our tour when you checkin at your meeting at the hotel they will give you two different color luggage tags.   One color tags stay on the bus for the entire journey and the other color is delivered to your room each evening.   Most only have one bag for delivery to their room each evening.     On our trip while we took a train trip the bus met us on the other end of the train journey.

We have done 2 land/cruise tours and the same applied.  No restrictions, but they did ask that if at all possible we try to keep what we needed for the land part in one suitcase. But the suitcase that was tagged for the ship and kept in the bus was available if you needed it.  You just had to ask and they would find it and get it out.  

I just went through this with the photo package.  I called for the Elite discount but they could not do it pre cruise.  They told me to ask for the discount when on board and it would be applied/refunded.  So I booked it with the pre cruise price, and then when on board asked for the 40% discount to be applied.  They said I could have one or the other.....the pre cruise discount, or full price with the 40% off due to Elite.  

We were there last week on Celebrity.  They are using all the docks, we did not have to tender.  They have a 'walk around' so we were able to get into town via the dock.   There was a lot of work going on.  You can see where the rock slide was.  

I was not aware any ships went to Alaska in October.  I thought they all stopped the first part of September.  As far as a ship goes, I think the itinerary is more important than the ship for Alaska.  We took our grandkids (oldest 14-youngest 😎 on Celebrity this year because they had the ports we wanted to go to.  Not my first choice for kids, but they have a 'Camp at Sea' for the kids and they all had a ball. 

2 hours ago, stingray310 said:

Does anyone know if you are allowed to get off the ship in Victoria if you are cruising with a only a Birth Certificate. It doesn't look like my sons passport is going to be returned in time to cruise with his passport, so we are going to use his birth certificate and drivers license to get on the ship in Seattle. Just wondering if he will be allowed to get off the ship in Victoria with his drivers license and ship card or birth certificate, or if he will even be allowed to get off the ship.

 

Thanks,

We traveled with kids ages 14-8.  All we had were birth cert., and they all got off the ship in Victoria.  

1 hour ago, techteach said:

@itsanita Hello again! Were you able to make the dinner reservations prior to cruising or did you need to do it once onboard?

You can do it before cruising.  I have made reservations for my Nov and Jan cruise already.  You can do it on the website.  Go to dining reservations and keep scrolling down past all the specialty restaurants till you come to the complimentary dining and click on that.  You can add anyone sailing with you if you have their reservation number and birthdate.   If you have issues, you can just call the Celebrity number and they will do it for you.  

We had anytime dining.  We made reservations a month or so before boarding for 7pm each night.  It was perfect.  We got the same table every night...one we choose in a corner, and had the same waite staff each night.  

On 6/13/2022 at 7:59 PM, haynesra said:

He was onboard for our cruise on Solstice for our May 6th trip. Excellent presentations by both him and Mary Amanda. His on whales was the best one.

Just off the Solstice, July 15th sailing.  Brent Nixon and Mary Amanda were on board and gave great talks.   

As mentioned before, getting on and off the ship at the port in Seattle was chaos.  Make sure you allocate extra time.   

We ate our dinners in the dining room and we all felt the food was very good.  Lunch mostly in OV and they had lots of good choices.  Weather chased many inside, so could get pretty crowded.

Most areas were serve yourself, with the exception of the hamburgers, hot dog, grill area. And the carved meat of the day, and of course the ice cream station.  You did help yourself at the beverage area.  

Very few masks noted.  Staff are all still wearing masks.    Only heard one mention from the Capt about covid.  He said a few passengers tested positive but had minimal symptoms.    There was an announcement asking for anyone with O positive blood type to report to the Health Station.  So I am assuming they had some type of injurie onboard that required blood transfusion.  

56 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

Priority boarding for COncierge and for Elite has been suspended for the time being. No one knows when they will be able to reinstate it.

We were on Solstice last week.  After going through the security section, long line for check in.  No designated line was noted for Concierge or Elite or Suites.  My husband asked about a line for Elite status and he took us to a line with only one other person in it.   No signage, but we were checked in 5 minutes later.  Felt a bit guilty!  So you might want to ask someone.  

1 minute ago, Wineaux007 said:

The one disadvantage to opening all the partitions is you lose  your privacy when getting dressed with people walking back and forth thru the balconies, always having to close the curtains and losing the natural light.  

You are so right!   6 of the 12 of us were kids.   But to be honest we loved being able to connect with everyone so easily.   

But we made a rule that when the curtains were closed, NO ENTRY!