bravestwj

Yep-it was Patrick when we were on the Sun. A very nice man and very helpful!

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There's a great brew pub in Skagway. It's at the end of Broadway on the right. Can't remember the name of it just now. Fish and Chips were some of the best I ever ate. We had eaten at Tracy's Crab Shack in Juneau the day before. They were both great meals, just very different.

They don't honor their reservations. We thought we had a nice little tour booked to get to Anchorage and it turned out very badly.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=43156057&posted=1#post43156057

We also booked the Alaska Bus Connection (ABC) and were instructed somebody with a sign would be in the Whittier Princess terminal at 8.45. We were there at 8.10. Nobody had showed by 9.00 so we tried ringing them more than once but only got an answer phone message. By 9.30 we were in a bit of a panic. Still no one turned up.

Luckerly we managed to get a lift with the Park Connection Bus (very grateful for their help).

When we got to Anchorage we checked our E-mails to find that they sent one at 8.25 to tell us no one would be turning up and to try and find another bus, they would refund our money. After a week we have not received it yet.

 

I would not / never use this company again.

 

It was our only bad experience in our whole trip.

This was our only bad experience with "tours" on our own as well. Got to warn others not to book with this "company".

Ouch! And to think I was miffed when I couldn't find our bus because the company had changed names. Did whoever was in the terminal not tell you which spot number to go find? Or was there just no one in the terminal, and you called a central number, so there wasn't anyone on the ground coordinating things?

Nobody in the terminal coordinating. Person on the phone just said to go outside. Their mini-bus and van were not marked with the name of the company, ABC, they had a different name on them.

I am sitting on an Alaska Bus Connection van as I write this. Do not ever take this company for transportation!

We are a pretty large party (12 people with luggage). We booked a private can with a trailer for luggage. We called to find them this morning and were told to go outside. We waited in the cold for 30 minutes to find out that our van with trailer left without us. They were supposed to pick us up at 8:45 and we were out waiting at 8:30ish because they told us our van was there.

We are now piled in the van with 1/2 of our luggage. The rest of our luggage is on another shuttle. We are to arrive at the airport in an hour and hopefully be reunited with our luggage.

This is the worst transportation service I have ever used.

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I still say you can try to prepay this close but will probably still be double charged

 

Op why do you want to prepay this close? It really makes zero difference at this point.

I will explain why there is more than "zero" differencce to me at this point...as I have previously said, I pay my credit cards in full each month. I am traveling with a group of extended family on this cruise and I am responsible for payment for 3 cabins (mine, my parents who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and a cabin my 19 year old daughter is sharing with a cousin (age 60+ if you must know and to clear up any thought that I am allowing an underage person to stay alone or without a responsible adult)). The charges for 3 cabins have tapped me out in terms of cash flow so I am just now able to pay the gratuities in advance.

In addition to my own cash flow issues, I prefer to let my daughter and my parents pay their onboard expenses that are in excess of their on board credit. Those are my two reasons for prepaying and for prepaying this close to sailing.

My original question was simply to find out if gratuity can be paid on the phone 7 days before sailing. We have had that answered very clearly in the link to the NCL FAQ above and my presonal experience today also proves it to be true.

I didn't ask to be judged as someone who would try to cheat the hardworking NCL staff out of the gratuities that they earn. I didn't ask to be judged as having a "silly" reason for not wanting to pay the gratuities at the end of the cruise. I just asked if you can prepay them a week prior. That's it.

I did a search prior to posting and know that there are many threads dealing with gratuities and my questions wasn't answered by any that I found. I am not a frequent poster because I don't often have a lot to add to the conversation because I only post when I know first hand the answer.

I was looking for a post like njhorseman provided. I was not able to find that information myself searching here or on NCL's website.

You really should just have them charge the credit card you provide at check in and be done with it

 

However I am going out on a limb here to say that you probably don't want a big sign and sail bill so to that I say sit down and write out a check for X amount of dollars and send it to your credit card company now. That way you have prepaid your tips AND earned points AND ( which I never do anyway) secured your right to reduce tips should you feel the need. Viola!

 

Now ( and I cringe at this) if perhaps you are the type if person who NEVER uses credit cards during a cruise for some silly reason then I guess you need to call the cruise line and tell them your issue but I assure you that this close to sailing that while some rep on the phone will gladly say you can prepay your charge I would bet the ranch that the ship will still charge your account and you will spend an hour at guest services sorting this out.

 

I also hope you are not planning to use a debit card. Bad decision. Very bad.

Cruisin6--Thank you for your response. You provided a lot of unsolicited advice and judgements about my desire to prepay my gratuities which was not what I asked for.

Just FYI--I will not be reducing my gratuities once on board, I will not be using a debit card and I do regularly use credit cards and pay them off in full each month.

I was just asking if you can prepay them and you did not really answer that question based on your experience other than to say that someone would probably take my money over the phone.

For anyone who cares for an experience based response--there is a glitch in the website and you can prepay gratuities this close to sailing over the phone.

We are sailing next Monday on the NCL Sun to Alaska. I'm wanting to prepay gratuities today and it is not displaying that page on the NCL site. Do you know if I will be able to prepay by calling. I'm waiting on hold now with NCL, but thought someone here might know if I'm wasting my time on hold and you can't prepay this close to sailing.

My parents and sister are in this situation with connecting balcony room for next week on the Sun and are going to ask about opening up the balconies too. I can let you know when we get back if it was successful.

Come on over to our Roll Call for the June 9 sailing and join the party.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1790522

I heard back from the shore based coordinator in a day and it took 2-3 additional days to hear back from the ship.

I asked about specific cabins but I thought this might be a better way to ask? Is this a bad deck to have a cabin on? Looking at connecting inside cabins, seems they are the last 2 left for the sailing I'm looking at and I'm wondering if it's b/c no one wants this location?? Anyone ever stay on the 6A Oslo Deck on the Sky?? How is it?? Thanks!

We stayed here when the Sky was the Pride of Aloha and liked it. Very private cabin area. The only people to go past your cabin are the people on your hall because you can't get anywhere. You do have to use the stairs.

We like this area so much that we are staying on this deck on the Sun in June to Alaska.

Hi,

 

I am from NY and with all the great sales happening I am hoping to book a lat minute cruise early fall (Sept). I am not exactly sure of my dates yet, but I am starting my research now and I had some questions. I will most likely be traveling solo so I am looking into an ocean view cabin (not balcony-which will be a first for me!). It looks like there are some interesting cabins aft on the main deck (they look larger 2470, 2473,2474, & 2477) but they are also under the dining room. So are they still free because these rooms tend to be noisy? Has anyone stayed in these cabins? Any really great ocean view cabins that you can recommend in general that I should keep my eye out for? Any info would be greatly appreciated :)

 

Thanks in advance for your advice,

Caro

Anyone with thoughts about 2472 or 2475? They look about normal size on the deck plans and are showing available for our sailing. Do these rooms have a lot of engine noise and vibration?

On your cruise did you have a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet? On my Oct 23rd cruise, we have already planned one and so far have over 30 people. Great way of making new friends at the beginning of the cruise.

Yes, we did have a Meet & Greet on Kim's sailing. The Captain didn't attend, but Kaj, the Hotel Director, lead the meeting and was very kind. They had a card with all of the officer's direct numbers for us and the ususal refreshments.