HLNFan

I agree with everyone that says Stingray City! Especially if you have never done it before. Our favorite trip for that was a private one where we did Stingray City, then we snorkeled at second location and after that went to Rum Point for lunch and to relax before heading back to the ship. We always do the Discover Scuba with Cozumel Diving and Parasail in Cozumel. It's a great diving experience without having to be certified. Just perfect for our tropical vacation. In Belize, we did not enjoy the city tour, or zoo that we took, however the snorkeling, swimming with the sharks and stop at Caye Caulker was fantastic. Mostly Caye Caulker, the water is the roughest we have ever snorkeled in, but the island was fantastic. In Roatan, I cannot recommend Roatan Ocean Adventures enough. They were by far the best tour company we have ever experienced. They have a website, and we were able to combine parts of one tour with parts of another for our perfect day. Basically it was just us with a driver for the day.

I am going on Emerald this Sunday to AK and I plan on taking photos of everything because I have had such a hard time finding this information out myself!

Please please do. Going on Emerald mid June and would love to see the Patters!

Is there a fee with this, or included? Also, for those on the Emerald Princess, which day could you first sign up?

OP is on NCL, so don't know if this applies, but Princess offers small boat tour up the Tracy Arm Fjord that picks us up AT SEA as the ship is in the vicinity of the fjord. The small boat goes where the big ship can't. At the end of the tour, it returns you to the ship, now docked in Juneau at around 3:30. It might be worth it to the OP to investigate if NCL offers a similar excursion.

 

We have time to then do the doggy mushing via helicopter.

We will actually be on Princess, so this might actually be best. Interesting excursion. We are going on the trip through my work so we don't have access to the "official" excursions yet. Hopefully it's not completely booked.

In Juneau, if you can find an excursion that does both whale watching as well as a trip out to Mendenhall Glacier - do it! We loved watching the whales but standing next to Nugget Falls is also amazing

Can you recommend a company that does both? We are looking to do this tour Mid June.

Just a warning. Once you do it the first time you will want to go back. You quickly realize there is so much more to see and do than you have time for in one trip. Did our first last August (RT from Seattle). Booked a North - South run for August 2019 last week.

I'm seeing that is true. My mother and father went 2 years ago and my mom is more excited than me about going this time around. So it should be fun.

Thank everyone for the info so far....Yes, I understand the Chowder is probably better in New England, but surely there are some good places in Alaska??

:oThanks in advance - We are doing the Seattle Inside Passage cruise on the Emerald Princess. As I said, I usually cruise the Caribbean and either on RCL or Carnival, so this will be the first time on Princess.

Please give any suggestions and/or tips for the following ports, the ship, etc. That's what I love about CruiseCritic, when I don't know, someone else does :)

Ketchikan - any suggestion on great Clam Chowder?

Juneau - Want to do whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier

Skagaway - ???

Victoria - Bought a Hop On/Hop Off Bus pass, but I think it shuts down before we get there....lesson learned

We are thinking about doing Island Marketing also. Have used them in Roatan and they were great, doing them again in Roatan in Dec on Royal Princess. So thinking about using them again in Belize since I cannot find anything else. From what I can tell, if you forgo the snorkeling, which we will, we would have around 3.5 hours on the beach, plus 30 minutes there and back. I can deal with that. I don't want to pay $40 pp and only get 2 hours on the beach. So sent them another email to verify and to find out if loungers are included or if we need to rent those.

Please let me know what you find out! Also, if you have used Island Marketing in Roatan and enjoyed them, great, but if you ever want to try someone else, we used Roatan Ocean Adventures and they were amazing. We had one driver the whole time and able to customize our tour. We did zip lining, sloth hangout, snorkeling and beach break. It was great.

Yes, I recall getting back and having time to shop in the port before getting a tender back. We weren't rushed both times we went.

The boats seemed to be in good shape.

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks it does. We hate to stay on the ship in port, but also don't want to do something we won't enjoy. Goff's Caye looks exactly like something we'd love, and if Carnival did an excursion there, I'd probably do it through them, but they don't. :(

I can't remember exactly how long we were on the island, but I would say to make sure you get off the ship, tender over and check in for the excursion as early as you can. We've been to Goff's twice and last time we just missed a boat over to Goff's from the port, and had to wait another hour for the next one - sure would have rather spent that hour on Goff's than waiting around the port area. Just a heads up. We went through Island Marketing.

It's worth it though, beautiful island!

I am looking at the excursion through Island Marketing, were they back in PLENTY of time for the tenders? And did the boats seem fairly maintained? I prefer going through Carnival at tender ports, especially Belize but there are just not any excursions that look good. Love to hear your feedback about dealing with Island Marketing.

We have done 5 Carnival and tried Royal last year. I liked it. I thought the service might be slightly better on Royal. But we really missed the comedy club, and we didn't like Royal's promenade as much as Carnival. It made the whole boat seemed more closed in. But generally not much difference.

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Hey all!

 

I promise I didn't forget about you!

 

It has been a mixture of catching up on sleep when I can, and a very busy week at work, so I haven't gotten to this as quick as I would've liked, but I have not forgot about you guys! I definitely want to finish out the "live" portion, as well as give my overall thoughts on the trip.

 

I'll be back later tonight to finish up. All of my pictures are back at home, and I'm writing this on lunch break. Just didn't want you guys to think I forgot.

Yay! We leave in 16 days so I am loving the info!

The first time we went to New Orleans for a cruise, we rode all three street car lines for one fee. It was a great way to see the city. And we did it all the morning before we boarded.

I enjoy the art auctions. We have bought art, but not through the auction, in the gallery, after the auction. I used casino winnings so I figure they were basically free, but I still love the art.

In San Juan our last stop there we walked off the ship and there was a line of smaller tour buses that cost $10 per person. It was a great tour and we really enjoyed seeing different parts of San Juan.

My husband and I have been on 5 cruises, losing right at 1000 total each cruise, 500 each, but playing blackjack about 3-5 hours every night. We've never gotten any perks, so I have NO idea how it's done. Wish I did!

Can't wait to hear how the new CD does. This should be his 1st week as Dream CD with Flying Scotsman headed home for vacation.

 

 

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Same here! Let us know how the CD is please!

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Does anyone know if you have already purchased the Bottomless Bubbles for an upcoming cruise, will they charge you the difference?

Thanks everyone! Decided to go with the Social plan and if we need to we can always upgrade on board!

Has anyone used the Social package (the cheapest tier in the HUB packages) and used Facebook to video call home? Just curious if we can get away with that package for the week, or if we need to go higher.

Thanks

Has anyone used the Social package (the cheapest tier in the HUB packages) and used Facebook to video call home? Just curious if we can get away with that package for the week, or if we need to go higher.

Thanks

You probably don't need to book Playa Mia through anyone. Generally the beach clubs you can just grab a taxi outside the port and they will take you there, and then have one bring you back. They have van taxis, too, for more people.

Los Angeles has dozens of sushi eateries from lousy day old supermarket rolls to elegant Nobu style table cloth houses. Edible sushi requires a fishmonger that can supply sushi grade fresh, never frozen product, ...

Actually it is illegal in the US to serve sushi fish that has NOT been frozen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/08/nyregion/sushi-fresh-from-the-deep-the-deep-freeze.html?_r=0

You could even do a little pre-planning for the dining room, if you haven't see this link already. :)

http://www.zydecocruiser.net/menus/CarnivalCruiseLineMenus.htm

In addition to the dining room, think thin crust pizza, hamburgers, tacos/burritos.