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sarasotacruising

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    Tundra Wilderness or Kantishna Experience

    in Alaska

    Posted

    This photojournal from jmele999 in 2016 includes a very short DIY land trip including the Kantishna Tour. (Their first travel day was a cautionary tale about trying to do too much, but they pushed thru)

    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2231881&page=2

     

    And this photojournal is from MVPinBoynton on a princess cruisetour. The got a refund on the included Natural History Tour and purchased the Eielson Visitor Center shuttle bus instead. ( Princess has refunded in the past but you need to call about this yrs rule)

    http://www.thepreismans.com/alaska_island_14_page4.htm

     

    If you time the Eielson shuttle right you can do a Ranger Led hike at the Visitor Center. I believe it's at noon. Check the park web site.

     

    Thanks for the links - still not sure - we are spending so much on the trip and to save $140 pp would be good but not if we miss something by going all the way to Katishna - we have until april to decide whether to keep with the long trip or book via the park service

    Tundra Wilderness or Kantishna Experience

    in Alaska

    Posted

    Now confused about whether or not to do the full tour. We want to experience as much as possible of Denali not just excursions outside the park. Plan id Day 1 ATV and Day 2 the full tour with Back Country Lodge and Day 3 go to Savage River and then Dog Sled Demo. We are doing the dome train for views from Denali to Talkeetna to Anchorage. In Talkeetna we have booked Alaska Edge Tour (Mike Nugent) which sounds amazing - private tour salmon fishing in remote stream followed by off the beaten track ATV then to a remote location for gold panning - he said we will only see natives on our trip - no tourists - a long day 10 hours plus but all his reviews are great and it will be an amazing day to mark the end of our trip before going to Anchorage to fly back.

    First Time Alaska - Advice

    in Alaska

    Posted

    I think you mean the Residence Inn on River Parkway? If so, I'd change that to literally any other downtown Marriott family hotel instead - Riverside is it's own rather new little nook of a 'hood, pretty much just condos, so you'll have to jump on streetcar or walk several blocks to get to anything except a handful of restos. It's better than it was since the streetcar loop was finished, now you can go both directions from there - but the Downtown Waterfront, City Center, Courtyard, Hi-Lo, AC, and Residence Inn Pearl are all better for sightseeing, restos & shopping on foot, and even the Convention Center locations have better transit links as they are close to both MAX and Streetcar so much better service frequency.

     

    Sounds like you do need to return to SEA for flights, so if you can get a hotel rate that includes parking a 3 day rental car might be a better value than 2 one-way rentals (most I've seen are for drops at PDX only without hefty fees, and while MAX runs to the airport it's a fairly long ride back downtown). A car is pretty much a necessity for Multnomah Falls/Columbia Gorge, and it's well worth losing a half-day in Portland to see those (up to a full day if you enjoy hiking).

     

    And yes, the Bayshore is very close to the edge of Stanley Park so you definitely want to do that on foot (or by bike - faster but you can still go anywhere you can walk, unlike the carriage tours, HOHOs etc. which are restricted to the very small number of roads).

    Thanks. In Portland its the :

    Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfrontico_map.png1401 SW Naito Parkway Portland Oregon 97201 USA

     

     

     

    Not sure if that is good location. If not will change. Plan is after Portland to stay in Seattle two nights so train back to downtown Seattle then stay near there. Will consider car but just the traffic I hear is bad Seattle to Portland if wrong time of day.

    First Time Alaska - Advice

    in Alaska

    Posted

    4.5 days can be filled pretty easily; you'll still have to prioritise which sights in Vancouver & surrounds you will all enjoy most. I'd be inclined to check Tripadvisor 'best of' categories and 'three days in Vancouver' posts with suggested itineraries. You could easily knock off 2 major attractions a day, as well as a minor one or two so penciling in 10

     

    Best idea is to tell the wife & kids to make a separate list each with their personal top ten things to do and then have a family sit down and show your lists - anything on all 4 lists, start slotting them in to your plan. Maybe you'll find a couple of things which only one or two of you want to do, but that you could split up and do simultaneously (e.g. Science World is close enough to Dr Sun Yat-Sen garden to easily head to the 'hood together and meet up again after you're done before lunch/dinner in Gastown).

     

    Group them together by location (West End, Downtown Core, UBC, Richmond, North Van), and in ~half-day chunks that are all indoor or all outdoor - check the weather as your vaycay approaches and if there's a rainy day you can move blocks of indoor activities to that day and do the most outdoorsy stuff on the nicest day (e.g. Stanley Park there's chunks of exposed Seawall and trails without much shelter from rain for long stretches, no cafe to duck into etc.) Booking more than a day or two in advance isn't necessary for much except the odd fancy resto, and most attractions don't need a reso at all. The only one that jumps out as being consistently better with a reso is FlyOverCanada, which lets you avoid the potentially-long general queue if you prebook your ride time.

     

    Without knowing what sort of things you & yours are into, it's hard to recommend specific activities, restos etc. as the best ones for your family which is why I suggest TripAdvisor as a 'first cut' source - by all means come back with more info as to likes/dislikes/budget/mobility and I'd be happy to make targeted suggestions, as I am sure would many other locals and frequent visitors.

     

    I'd be totally behind taking the last 3 days in Portland too - not as much choice of nonstop flights back to Florida, but since you would be on your own time rather than trying to schedule around a cruise disembarkation day it shouldn't be too hard. Amtrak from Seattle to Portland is a good option downtown to downtown, but a one-way car rental should be very affordable if you want to take in Mount St Helens en route, or even head up the Columbia to Multnomah Falls etc. PDX transit is great and driving is horrible if you have to travel in rush hour, so a car while you're in the city might just sit around doing nothing depending what activites you're going to do - but if flights out of SEA work better for you booking a rental there which you bring back might work out to an overall $ saving.

     

    Thank you very much for this. As Alaska now planned its time to look at Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. Stanley Park I think is very close to our hotel so may go jogging around there some time as well. Our Princess flights are arranged out of Seattle and we looked at trying to add a day in Anchorage but would have to rebook all the flights and outbound and return prices have gone up so would add extra $1000 for the 4 and is complicated to book as we are in First and kids in Coach and hard to to match up identical flights for the 4 on the Princess air site so not worth it that is why we are doing Seattle plus Portland. Need to find hotel still in Seattle - have Marriott on Riverside in Portland booked.

    Tundra Wilderness or Kantishna Experience

    in Alaska

    Posted

    I have been looking at the tours and done a lot of research and spoke with Alaska Tour and Travel who have been very helpful. The Katishna and also the Denali Back Country Adventure Tour are private tours that go to the end of the road so more likely to see wildlife and they go to old mining town of Katishna. The difference between the Katishna and Denali Back Country is where you have lunch and which lodge operates bus though they seem to be same standard school bus (Katishna Lodge or Back Country Lodge) and take part in after lunch activities - hike or gold pan or dog sled demonstration. Alaska Tour and Travel charge $180 for Katishna and $190 for Back Country Lodge - we chose latter as the lunch is more substantial and lodge looks great. They are both long 13 hour tours but seems from reviews to be worth it - we are going all the way to Alaska so want to see as much as possible. Hope this helps

    First Time Alaska - Advice

    in Alaska

    Posted

    It would be a one way rental. The motor coach stops in Anchorage for 3 hours and gives us tickets to the museum. Then we get back on and there is short stop in Talkeetna. Is it worth renting a car instead for the day?

    Just checked car rentals.com and no options came up - we want to do the dome train from denali to talkeetna to anchorage

    First Time Alaska - Advice

    in Alaska

    Posted

    Would be open to renting a car instead of using a motorcoach to get to/from Denali National Park?

    It would be a one way rental. The motor coach stops in Anchorage for 3 hours and gives us tickets to the museum. Then we get back on and there is short stop in Talkeetna. Is it worth renting a car instead for the day?

    First Time Alaska - Advice

    in Alaska

    Posted

    We are extremely excited for our upcoming 1st Alaska Cruise after 20+ Caribbean and European Cruises. Chose Princess as their onboard immersion sound great and booked a hump corner curved glass balcony on Island Princess to get best views of glaciers. Wow the cost of the excursions is high but no point in doing Alaska just to walk around the ports. We are family of 4 (2 girls 18 and 16)

     

    Pre Cruise 5 nights in Vancouver - where to stay??? Excursions???

    ICY STRAIGHT POINT: Planning on booking zodiac exploration for 3 (eldest is doing the zipline)

    JUNEAU: Booked via Princess, Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari (group of 14) run by Gastineau

    SKAGWAY: Glacier Point Wilderness Safari (Canoe to Davison Glacier) booked with the operator Alaska X ($20 pp cheaper than Princess)

     

    Then land part booking independently - Motorcoach to Denali from Whittier

    4 nights Denali Bluff - 2 excursions booked :

    3 hour ATV

    13 hour Denali Back Country Adventure Bus - chose over Katishna Bus as better food at Back Country Lodge apparently so worth extra $10 pp.

    Then Dome train to Talkeetna

    2 nights Talkeetna Roadhouse in a cabin

    Not sure what to do - ATV? Jet Boat? ???????? No helicopter or fixed wing plane as wife won't do that

    Then Anchorage for 1 night

    Then fly to Seattle and have 6 nights - 3 in Seattle then 3 elsewhere???? Portland????

     

    Any advice welcome

    Help please MSC Seaside or NCL Getaway

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    not even a free cruise will make me to go on NCL again. I really don't understand why non English speaking passengers can be a problem for 18 years old? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

    Just concern that the teens (4-16 year olds) as well wont have as much fun in teen club if predominantly non english speaking - we first went on MSC in 1999 out of Italy so expected, and we were only english speaking guests and staff spoke broken english - we enjoyed but had no idea what was being said in shows or the games

    Help please MSC Seaside or NCL Getaway

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    How did you manage to book a stateroom with just teens? NCL usually won't allow that.

    We booked one adult in each room and NCL said they understand we will move an adult on board and so that adult will be given the spa access. Same with Aqua class on Celebrity next year - the aqua room is booked opposite the inside room but the inside room has door on side of room where access passage way goes top the inside rooms. They said the door is 6 foot further than their rules so we had to book an adult in the teen room and they have put on notes that the adult in the inside room will have access to Blu, the persian gardens, the bee package which is not free in inside room and the additional captains club points - seems stupid that they have put this all in notes saying that adult will switch with teen on check in - so why not let us book that way anyway??

    Help please MSC Seaside or NCL Getaway

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    Thanks. It is a hard one as of course no sailings to look at reviews for seaside. Speaking last night to my travel agent who is also a good friend says go for Seaside over Getaway because: 1) suite of 300 sq ft with 100 sq ft balcony over NCL balcony room about 160 sq ft with small balcony 2) Brand new ship 3) Much hype for this ship 4) Inaugural season can be make or break and MSC will make sure all issues from reviews of Divina e.g. food and service etc are addressed 5) She believes a lot of english speaking guests will be on board 5) We get drinks package same as NCL 6) Free massage for area and the sunbathing deck 7) Eataly dining venues though we did like speciality restaurants on NCL 8) Final pricing is MSC is $395 more in total for two suites (7 people) over regular balcony rooms of NCL. So leaning towards MSC increasingly as see videos of new ship

    Help please MSC Seaside or NCL Getaway

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    A loyal Celebrity Cruiser but Christmas/New Year we look to other cruise lines. Have a dilemma as have booked both NSC Seaside New Year Sailing and NCL Getaway New Year Sailing. Taking my daughter for her sweet 16 so treating 3 of her friends as well. We have booked for us spa stateroom so get access to spa area and we will get there early to hopefully book Vibe cabana for the week (mini suite preferable but spa mini suite under pool deck so noise issues) and a regular balcony for the kids. First cruise on NCL was christmas on Epic - hated layout but booked last minute (48 hours before) and we enjoyed. Knew food was going to be issue in MDR so booked 5 night speciality dinner and food was great. This time booked drinks package and dinner and paid to increase to 7 night speciality dinner. My daughters enjoyed NCL so we booked. Then saw video of new MSC ship Seaside which looks amazing. So booked two aurea suites with larger balconies and we get drinks package plus massage and access to adult only sunbathing deck and spa area. On both cruises got $1000 OBC via our agent plus free gratuities on NCL cruise. Pricewise the NCL a bit more expensive but we have to pay for gratuities on MSC but don't have to pay for adult area on MSC. Then we don't know prices yet for speciality dining but the prices will be very similar except we will be on brand new ship with MSC in suites with large balconies. Issue is that MSC from reviews of Divina traditionally has lot of non english speaking guests and crew - not an issue for us but for my kids (one who will be 18 when we cruise so first time no teen club) and food seemed to be issue but speciality dining will solve that. What makes it harder is no reviews of course for Seaside as inaugural cruise not until Dec 1. Anyone know about % of english speaking on MSC out of Miami over the holiday period in past? Assuming that as this new ship that they will base in Miami they will address complaints of previous ship re service and food otherwise they may have problems competing with such a large ship.

    NCL GETAWAY or MSC SEASIDE

    in Ask a Cruise Question

    Posted

    A loyal Celebrity Cruiser but Christmas/New Year we look to other cruise lines. Have a dilemma as have booked both NSC Seaside New Year Sailing and NCL Getaway New Year Sailing. Taking my daughter for her sweet 16 so treating 3 of her friends as well. We have booked for us spa stateroom so get access to spa area and we will get there early to hopefully book Vibe cabana for the week (mini suite preferable but spa mini suite under pool deck so noise issues) and a regular balcony for the kids. First cruise on NCL was christmas on Epic - hated layout but booked last minute (48 hours before) and we enjoyed. Knew food was going to be issue in MDR so booked 5 night speciality dinner and food was great. This time booked drinks package and dinner and paid to increase to 7 night speciality dinner. My daughters enjoyed NCL so we booked. Then saw video of new MSC ship Seaside which looks amazing. So booked two aurea suites with larger balconies and we get drinks package plus massage and access to adult only sunbathing deck and spa area. On both cruises got $1000 OBC via our agent plus free gratuities on NCL cruise. Pricewise the NCL a bit more expensive but we have to pay for gratuities on MSC but don't have to pay for adult area on MSC. Then we don't know prices yet for speciality dining but the prices will be very similar except we will be on brand new ship with MSC in suites with large balconies. Issue is that MSC from reviews of Divina traditionally has lot of non english speaking guests and crew - not an issue for us but for my kids (one who will be 18 when we cruise so first time no teen club) and food seemed to be issue but speciality dining will solve that. What makes it harder is no reviews of course for Seaside as inaugural cruise not until Dec 1. Anyone know about % of english speaking on MSC out of Miami over the holiday period in past? Assuming that as this new ship that they will base in Miami they will address complaints of previous ship re service and food otherwise they may have problems competing with such a large ship.

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