surgie

This is so true. I find the RCCL pricing to be very tedious and maybe it's an industry-wide thing - kind of "bait and switch" scenario. We travel sometimes with a river cruise company and this is never an issue - the price is the price!

Totally understood - and I meant the parents can decide if the kids would rather explore and "enjoy" the buffet 🥴. This is a first cruise for all of the kids and 2 of the adults so anything is possible!

Her experience last year was that on Black Friday there was 30% off drink packages (on the sailings she had booked) vs the usual 20% that pops up from time to time.

My TA said there is often a good sale on Black Friday to book or cancel and rebook drink packages, excursions etc. I'll be keeping an eye out for this next month.

We are on Radiance....You are correct - the speciality choices for lunch on Day 1 are Chops or Chops.

Thanks - I'll let the parents make the final choice as to if the kids can handle it 🙂

We are on Radiance...which I know has fewer dining options.

Glad it worked for you! I checked - but it would add $1200 to my Alaska July 2024 sail. I never understand how these sales work but I always check for better pricing so thanks for the heads up!

We (family of 11 - 6 adults and 5 kids ages 5-11) are considering Chops for lunch on our embarkation day. There is a slight discount for C&A members now. We'd need to split into 2 groups which is fine. But I'm wondering a couple things...the first available reservation is 12:00 noon. Is it likely we'd be boarded by then and ready to go to lunch? We are in JS so I think have an earlier boarding time. Is it "significantly better" (subjective I know) to do a specialty lunch on sailing day vs Windjammer? I know the kids will be excited and want to explore the ship so I don't want to have long sit down lunch. Advice please.

Yes, you are correct Northern Aurora:) We have 11 family members including 5 kids ages 5-11. I have booked Pan Pacific for the convenience of the cruise package (distance plus breakfast and luggage delivery) and have also booked the Delta hotel. The price difference is nearly $200 USD per room. I need to cancel one of the hotels so trying to make sure I have all the info before deciding. When I came across the post mentioning a different pier I wanted to check that info out. At least now I know it's Canada Place for all.

Yes but I'm looking at July 2024 and the price is $448 on Priceline which is the same as quoted on the hotel website. I generally don't do 3rd party bookings but would for a significant savings. I'm sure the hotel is in greater demand during the cruise season. Thanks for the info, though.

We are considering staying at Pan Pacific prior to our July 2024 cruise. Someone suggested I check to see which pier RCCL Radiance will be docked at for boarding in Vancouver. I don't want to pay a premium for Pan Pacific Hotel only to find out that is not our pier. Thanks.

Ok - is the docking location set several months in advance. We are on RCCL Radiance of the Seas and I don't see anywhere in my reservation info that lists where the ship docks. But yes I'm considering PP due to convenience and it would be a bummer for it not to be convenient after all!

I do have a reservation at Delta in case we don't go with Pan Pacific but when I did a dummy booking for PP there was not problem booking rooms for 4 people. The upside of Delta - Marriott points.

The price on the website is several hundred dollars more than $144! I'll look at Priceline.

I'll call the hotel if no one here knows...but in booking a night pre-cruise at Pan Pacific for our family (3 rooms), my choices are King bed or 2 "doubles". I find in Europe doubles often mean US queen size beds. Does anyone know if doubles at Pan Pacific mean the US size "full" beds or US size queen beds? Thanks.

That's what I am thinking. The bus options are a reasonable cost relatively speaking but we won't be back to Alaska for a while so we want to make the most of our short land journey.

Be sure to accept the "windshield damage" insurance from Avis. We rented a really nice SUV in Skagway from them and declined the insurance since our auto insurance covers rentals. But the fact that there was specific windshield insurance for about $7 should have been a sign to me lol. Sure enough, we came back with a big round ding in the windshield from a rock that flipped up on it on the way to Emerald Lake. Avis was so nice about it - examined it and determined it could be repaired locally without needing a windshield replacement (which I found out later our own insurance would not have covered). They charged us $60 which I happily paid, relieved that it could have been much worse.

Trying to decide which nights for specialty dining and it would help to know the type of food being featured each night in the MDR. Is there a list somewhere and does the order typically remain the same throughout the season? Sailing July 2024 Northbound from Vancouver.

Although the consensus seems to be that Sitka is easy and cheap to DIY, we booked a tour with Baranof - the Bears, Raptors and Totems tour. We have some in our group of 11 with less mobility and we didn't want to take a chance of not getting entry tickets. It's just a 2-hour tour which will give us time to do other things while in port.

We are planning to stop at Bear Creek Weir, the Byron Glacier Trail for a short hike, and the AK Wildlife Conservation Center...maybe other stops depending on time. We hope to eat in Anchorage and then return the cars for our 8:00 pm flights. I did look at Seward Bus Lines and the bus is $95 pp to drop us at ANC ($1045) and they get there at noon as you indicated which is way too much time at the airport with the kids. So two minivans for $1200 doesn't seem as bad with the flexibility we'd have. But I will contact Seward Bus Lines directly to see if they have other options. Thanks for ideas!

Thanks for the notice! A nice savings! I booked our group of 11 for lunch in two groups - 6 people at 12:15 and 5 people at 1:00. My cruise is booked through a TA - Am I able to call to see if I can get the lunch times closer together or do I need the TA to do this?

I appreciate your input. I have to weight the cost-effectiveness of the bus vs. the flexibility of having our own vehicles.

I can't imagine RCCL in Alaska in summer months having few kids. We took Celebrity from Vancouver in May of 2015 which caters to an older crowd but there were still several kids on board - even though it was May. We are looking forward to Radiance from Vancouver to Seward in July 2024 with our 5 grandkids ages 5-11. I feel pretty confident they will meet others their ages. And it's their first cruise so I think it will be a nice size ship with plenty for them to do. The star of Alaska is Alaska - so I'm ok not having onboard surfing and other things the mega ships have. We only have one day at sea.

Family of 11 - 6 adults, 5 kids ages 5-11 - need transportation from Seward to Anchorage airport the day after our cruise as we are spending one night in Seward. We do not want to spend any time in Anchorage - going straight to the airport. I have investigated these options: Train - arrives too late for ANC flights Bus - (arranged through Alaska Tour & Travel) - arrives ANC at 1:30 pm - approximately $700 for all of us - quite early for those of us with 8:00 pm flights Private transportation services - I have checked a few - we have too many people Car rental - can only find availability through Thrifty - am I missing others? About $600 per minivan and we need 2. This option is most expensive but gives us flexibility for stops on the way. Is there anything else I should consider?