AmberCascades

Antarctica cruise? We did this last year. Loved it!!! We didn't see so many cormorants though. Where was this taken?

In Grenada we did the spice tour with Mandoo. I don't recall that we had any rum punches, but there was info on spices and an opportunity to buy fresh spices, plus a tour around the island, scenic photo stops, etc. Mandoo was a great guide and I'd highly recommend his tour. I'm not sure if it's offered through the ship. We just booked it on our own. There were lots of cruise people on that tour though.

http://www.grenadatours.com

There is one couple that we've seen on two cruises who always do ballroom dancing to the house band in the .... Sky lounge? The big room on deck 11, whatever it's called.

Anyway, these two managed to dance ballroom style to a lot of songs and then sat out the ones that were too fast.

Do your parents even want to go to this breakfast? We recently went on a cruise with my sister and brother-in-law and it was their first time cruising. They split their meals between the MDR and the buffet because they thought the food was so good at each one. They were amazed at the variety and quality. I think they would have been really disappointed if we'd hauled them off to an Elite breakfast for a coffee and a croissant. Okay, there may be more to it than that, but I've heard it's basically a continental breakfast. Not too exciting for gluten free people anyway.

 

I did notice many empty tables in the classic dining - while beepers were being handed out in freestyle. Perhaps they should be thinking about reversing the decks i.e. freestyle downstairs and classic upstairs.

They did this on Infinity and Summit. Maybe that's why there isn't usually an issue - at least in my experience, and on these two ships.

Are you looking at a room for April 7 or 8? I just looked on Trivago and they have quite a few rooms listed, all different prices.

I'd recommend either the HOHO trolley or the bus to Capilano suspension bridge.

With the trolley you get your guided tour, but there are so many interesting places to see and walk around. You can get off, have a wander through Stanley Park or Granville Island, have some food or drinks, hop back on and stop off somewhere else for more food and drinks and so on. We did that the first time we were in Vancouver.

You can also pick up a free shuttle to Capilano Suspension bridge (the shuttle is free but you pay to get in). There is a big suspension bridge, hiking trails, a raptor centre. That was a lot of fun too.

We also like to just walk around, but if you haven't been before then you really need to see as much as you can. Vancouver is a great city.

OP here after several days without internet access. We spoke with a dining manager during the cruise, who confirmed there were issue with Select Dining on this particular cruise. Apparently nearly 2500 passengers wanted to dine early (around 6 pm) and the dining room can hold only 1500. They began opening early, starting at 5:15 by cruise end. It was definitely an older demographic. We ended up in the buffet to avoid the whole mess. For those who recommended fixed dining, you may not be aware that it was booked up a full year in advance and late fixed or select we're the only options.

 

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This is what happened on our one and only Princess cruise. Early seating was fully booked so many people made a reservation for the same time as early seating, but in the Anytime dining room. After a couple of days of walking up and waiting a couple of hours we decided to shift our evening and went to the show first and then had dinner later. It wasn't ideal but it was less frustrating once we accepted the reality that we just weren't going to get into the dining room at our preferred time.

We've always gotten Select dining since we've started cruising with Celebrity and we've never had a problem. Infinity seemed to handle it the best, but we've had no real problems on any of the other ships we've been on. We will be on Silhouette later this year, so I hope this isn't a permanent problem.

My personal experience has always been that the earlier we book the better the price. And we get the cabin we want. You can look for the price to go down as well. We booked a year and a half out for a cruise this coming fall. Recently there was a price reduction and we saved an additional $400 each. Sometimes that happens, sometimes not. We've never regretted booking early though.

We went with Marelvy Pena-Hall a couple of years ago. It was around $65 per person for a 4 hour tour. I think there were 10 or 12 of us. I don't know if she'd be booked up already, but you could touch base with her. You don't have to set it up privately - she may have a bus or two coming to the pier anyway that you could join in on (making arrangements ahead of time, of course). We had an amazing time with her. It wasn't too much walking, but it also wasn't too much sitting on a bus.

http://www.tourincartagena.com

I would also recommend getting either Fodor's or Frommer's Caribbean Ports of Call. These books describe the various ports of call, the various cruise lines, the individual ships, the culture aboard each ship, dress codes, etc.

Everyone is going to have a favourite port or cruise line or ship, so you will get multiple opinions. I find the books to be more objective in helping you determine what works best for you.

Not working at all or not working as far as finding what you are searching for. Not that it matters but it's working, at least for me.

Not working at all. I type in what I want and it just sits there. Not a big deal. I don't urgently need to know anything right now.

Lately the search function hasn't been working for me. :(

We just got back from San Juan. No one is offering excursions to the rainforest as it is too badly damaged and, I believe, not accessible.

We did an old and new San Juan tour post-cruise (our rainforest excursion had been cancelled) and when they took us around the island we saw areas that had been damaged. Still lots of poles down, buildings with no electricity, trees on roofs, etc. The guide asked me if it was okay that he took us there, since the island doesn't look so pretty as it used to. He said they just started offering this tour. I thought it was good to have some idea of what the people are still dealing with.

What are your interests? I just came back from my second cruise to the Caribbean. That was more than enough for me and I'll not likely go back. The islands are beautiful, but too hot and humid, my hubby's not a beach person, and I don't find there's enough of interest for us to do there. I was happy to get back to my cold Canadian winter.

We love cities and cooler temperatures. The Mediterranean is also beautiful but filled with cities and ruins and historical stuff, which is of more interest to us.

Neither one is better or worse. It just depends on what type of experience is better for you.

We've used them a couple of times in various places. In one case the guide was excellent but they crammed us into a small van for a very long and bumpy ride. In another case they crammed us into a small van with a terrible guide who mumbled the whole time and didn't seem to be professional at all. Like she was someone's sister filling in or something, and she'd never been a guide before.

YMMV, but I've decided not to bother with them. I prefer to book directly with vendors who get good reviews here and on Tripadvisor.

From what I can see water isn't available on the classic package. Is this true? Generally water is way over priced when purchasing it individually on land or sea. It may be worth it for me to up grade just for water. I'm not picky about any brand. I just like bottled water to take medications in the morning, to drink on sea days on deck and to bring along on port days.

We just got off the Summit and we had several bottles of water each day with the Classic package. Not a brand anyone has ever heard of :), but water was included.

I'm going with my mom and the Classic Drink Pkg was one of the free offers we got. She drinks.

Yes. But I think you can change your package to a Premium non-alcoholic. I can't say for sure, but you can always ask. This is what's included in the Premium non-alcoholic:

Enjoy nearly our entire selection of sodas selections on board including all canned and fountain soft drinks from Coca-Cola, premium bottled water from Evian, Perrier and San Pellegrino, specialty coffees and teas, non-alcoholic frozen drinks and smoothies, Red Bull Energy Drink and specialty waters from Vitamin Water.

How much is a smoothie? It says it covers up to $9. If you look on their own website it doesn't say smoothies in either the Classic or the Premium pkg.

 

I have the Classic Pkg and thought I saw somewhere smoothies were included. Now I need to figure out where I saw it. I don't drink alcohol so that was one thing I was looking forward to having.

Why don't you get the premium non-alcoholic package instead? If you aren't drinking alcohol at all anyway, it would probably cover all your drinking needs and desires.

Don’t want to look like a penguin!

 

 

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Hallasm looks very handsome in that picture. Nothing like a penguin. But if that is what penguins look like, then all men should aspire to that. :)

My husband brings his tux sometimes, and other times just a nice suit. I think people should dress the way they want (within reason of course) and if wearing a suit to dinner every night is what one likes to do then they should do it. Very nice for us ladies to look upon as well. Much better than polo shirts and ball caps.

I always suggest people read one of the "Alaska Ports of Call" books (you can get from the library). It will describe what there is to do in each port, what you will see depending on the time of year, a brief description of each of the cruise lines and ships, including food, culture, kid-friendly, etc. I like August because salmon are everywhere and there's a good chance of seeing bears.

Personally I loved our Celebrity cruises. We did the same itinerary twice and still haven't seen Glacier Bay. We saw Hubbard Glacier and it was amazing. We also saw quite a few kids on our cruises. This is definitely a family itinerary. You are in port most of the time so water slides and rock walls would be a bit of a waste.

Look at the various itineraries to be sure you have good port times. You want as long in each port as possible, e.g. you don't want to be in Juneau for just a couple of hours in the evening - look for full port days. I agree about staying in Vancouver for a day or two before, if possible. It's a beautiful city with lots of things that you and the kids would enjoy.

Good luck. It's hard to make a mistake about Alaska.

I am puzzled, why are you using a Canadian government warning( to Travel ) site if you live in Ohio?

I had the same question. Of course the Canadian government wants to advise Canadians not to go down there and think that hotels and resorts are going to be operational. And they don't want us to be in the way of relief efforts. They aren't specifically addressing people who are stopping in for a day or staying overnight and leaving on a cruise.

What does the U.S. government say about this? Any travel advisories? I wasn't able to find anything, but I only did a quick search. I would think you would be more concerned about what your own government is saying. And if they aren't saying anything, then aren't they the clowns and liars?

We were talking to a couple from P.R. last week on our Pacific Coastal cruise. They said that San Juan itself is mostly operational. It's the outlying regions (i.e. nowhere near the cruise ports) that are still without electricity, etc. in some areas. I told them we had planned to see El Yunque in January. She said there were no leaves on the trees and it would be years before the island was back to what it was. But they appreciate people still coming to visit and help out the economy. We felt very sad for them.

I guess that's the scenic route?;p

I'm not a local, but we walk all over Vancouver whenever we are there. If you look on Google maps, it looks like the hotel is about 300 yards from the cruise ship terminal. If I recall, there is a slight incline, but nothing major.

Actually I'm a bit confused as to how I would get to my room without using an inside hallway. Am I supposed to rappel down from the pool deck??:o