Alaska Cruisetour - Vision of the Seas

[pamelajean62]

Hi All!

We have book a RCCL cruisetour in June on the Vision of the Seas. Specifically the Alaska Cruise tour #11 that has a 5 day land portion prior to the cruise. I would love to chat with someone who has done one of the RCL Cruisetours in Alaska. I have a ton of questions specific to the land portion - luggage handling, info on hotels and meals, excursions, etc. We are expericenced cruisers but have never done Alaska or a Cruisetour before. We also booked our air thru RCL.

 

Thanks!

Pam

[vhord]

Are you taking the June 12th or the June 26th cruisetour?

 

 

We will be on the June 17th sailing out of Seward corresponding to the June 12th cruisetour. When you find out which hotel RCI is using for the overnight in Anchorage I would like to know. We are not on a cruisetour but will be arriving a day early and staying in Anc overnight.

[Barbee524]

We are taking the same tour departing on May 29. This is also our first cruise tour and Alaska crueis. We booked our air through Alaska Airlines. With what we saved on airfare we are able to stay over an extra night in Vancouver.

[vhord]

Has RCI notified you as to which hotel they are using in Anchorage?

[hooked-on-travel]

I did the Vison RCI cruisetour last year, but I can't remember if it was #11. It included Fairbanks, Denali, Talkeetna, and Anchorage. Is that the one? I think 5 days on land sounds about right. The only difference was we did a northbound tour so the land was afterwards. Probably just an opposite itinerary. I don't think they book the same hotel every time, but Anchorage was downtown Ramada for us. The rooms were HUGE! We rented bikes at the downtown bike rental place and kept them overnight since it was after they closed before we were done with them. We asked where we could store them and the Ramada said it was ok if we took them to our room. It was a spacious room even after we had two bikes in it.

 

If this is the cruisetour you're taking, what specific questions did you have?

[vhord]

I was glad to read that you had a good review for the Ramada. I assume that you are talking about the Ramada Downtown. That is where I have booked a room for the night before sailing. I hope that RCI is also using it this year. I am hoping to be able to check my luggage there instead of waiting until we get to Seward.

 

Has anyone ever done that?

[pamelajean62]

Hi All,

 

Our cruise tour corresponds with the June 17 sailing of the vision.

 

Yes Hooked-on-travel, our cruisetour is what you did but in reverse. My questions mostly concern baggage handling. We will be 4 - myself, DH, DS (13), and DD (12) -- so I expect we will have alot of luggage! :)

 

1. Were there self laundry facitilies available at the hotels (I know there is none on board the ship)? I am hoping to get laundry done before we board after the five day land portion.

2. Do you have any tips on what to pack?

3. I assume that RC handles the luggage and delivers to your hotel room. Is this correct?

4. Can you recommend any excursions? or any to avoid?

 

Thanks for your help.

Pam

:)

[vhord]

Pam,

 

 

We are not doing a cruise tour but we are also on the June 17th sailing of the Vision. We have a group of eight. Please join our Roll Call http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=149743 .

 

Vernon

[Budget Queen]

Hi All,

 

Our cruise tour corresponds with the June 17 sailing of the vision.

 

Yes Hooked-on-travel, our cruisetour is what you did but in reverse. My questions mostly concern baggage handling. We will be 4 - myself, DH, DS (13), and DD (12) -- so I expect we will have alot of luggage! :)

 

1. Were there self laundry facitilies available at the hotels (I know there is none on board the ship)? I am hoping to get laundry done before we board after the five day land portion.

2. Do you have any tips on what to pack?

3. I assume that RC handles the luggage and delivers to your hotel room. Is this correct?

4. Can you recommend any excursions? or any to avoid?

 

Thanks for your help.

Pam

:)

 

 

 

The Ramada has laundry, but with your group size, perhaps the best use of time will be to have it done on the ship using their laundry service. Your time in Anchorage will be short. You will need a wide range of attire, including a lined lightweight jacket, knit hat/gloves, layers, 2 pair of walking shoes, rain gear. If you have all day in port in Skagway- there is a good laundry at State and Second. I always do my laundry there. As for excursions- you need to do your homework. Look over a shore excursion list and narrow down your interests. There are way too many excellent tours to recommend. Have a family meeting and be willing to split up depending on interests. Most important- have games, plenty of batteries, even a portable DVD player for the kids, extremely few if any are on the land tour. Distances are long and kids can get bored.

[hooked-on-travel]

Hi All,

 

Our cruise tour corresponds with the June 17 sailing of the vision.

 

Yes Hooked-on-travel, our cruisetour is what you did but in reverse. My questions mostly concern baggage handling. We will be 4 - myself, DH, DS (13), and DD (12) -- so I expect we will have alot of luggage! :)

 

1. Were there self laundry facitilies available at the hotels (I know there is none on board the ship)? I am hoping to get laundry done before we board after the five day land portion.

2. Do you have any tips on what to pack?

3. I assume that RC handles the luggage and delivers to your hotel room. Is this correct?

4. Can you recommend any excursions? or any to avoid?

 

Thanks for your help.

Pam

:)

 

1. BQ said as much about laundry as I could offer you. We did laundry in Talkeetna, but we were also on the way done. And we packed enough/rewore things such that we weren't washing everything, just a few essentials.

2. Again, BQ's got the right idea for packing.

3. Yes, the luggage was delivered to your room and all you had to do in the morning was put the luggage outside your door by the right time. We were a group of 6, but all adults, so not the same concerns as you. Our luggage guy did appreciate that we packed some suitcases that we didn't need on the land portion. They just stayed on the bus. It had the formal wear, swimsuit, etc. that was not useful on land.

4. Unlike most people, I wasn't on the cruisetour (as opposed to doing land on your own) by choice. It was a "going along with the group" thing, so I made it as independent as I could. It helped that my DH and I had gone the year before with a week on our own inland. Between that and the internet, I booked all our excursions independent. We also stayed additional time after the cruisetour since I didn't see any reason to end a vacation on a Wednesday. We rented a minivan in Fairbanks and went downt to Valdez and McCarthy. It was the one part of Alaska I hadn't been able to see the summer before.

 

Since I kind of played my own travel agent (and I'm a detailed engineer in real life) I put together a spreadsheet and notebook of the things I found for every place. It had reservation info, maps, etc. We went through the book as we went through vacation and never had a problem being independent. Our bus guy quickly figured out what I was up to and stayed out of our way.

 

For example, since we had a full day in Denali and I knew the advantages of using the park shuttle system, we got tickets on our own on a very early bus to Wonder Lake so we could hop off and hike. This meant we skipped the Tundra Tour that our package included. I know we wasted money since we couldn't get a refund, but the bigger waste would have been to go all the way there and not do what we wanted to do. We informed the bus driver not to wait for us on the Tundra Tour and that was the end of that.

 

I'm not sure what specifically to recommend or discourage, but do consider all your options. You can do more than just what RCI offers in the books. (Like renting the bikes in Anchorage and biking the coastal trail. I have no idea what the rest of the people on the tour did that evening, but I'd bet it wasn't as much fun. The scenery was great and we saw a moose. And it was all for $15 and a little research.)

 

Good luck and happy planning!

[pamelajean62]

Thanks for everyone's help! I was thinking it would be good to pack bags for the cruise part only so they would not have to be opened at all. It is good to know they can just stay on the bus and we will not have to deal with them. I am usually a good planner and have booked indepentant excursions in the Caribbean b4 but Alaska just has me kind of intimidated! :) DH is no help since he has not even looked at the excusions! We know we want to do a Whale Watch trip and a glacier landing. We want to do as much and see as much as possible since I don't know if we will get back to Alaska any time soon, if at all. It is one of the big items on our "Things to Do Before We Die" List. :)

 

Does anyone have any reccommendations for places for dinner? I think most of the meals are on our own (on the land part). We will be in Fairbanks (2 nights), Denali (1 night), Talkeetna (1 night at the Talkeeta Alaskan Lodge), Anchorage (1 night). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks again!

Pam

:)

[Budget Queen]

Thanks for everyone's help! I was thinking it would be good to pack bags for the cruise part only so they would not have to be opened at all. It is good to know they can just stay on the bus and we will not have to deal with them. I am usually a good planner and have booked indepentant excursions in the Caribbean b4 but Alaska just has me kind of intimidated! :) DH is no help since he has not even looked at the excusions! We know we want to do a Whale Watch trip and a glacier landing. We want to do as much and see as much as possible since I don't know if we will get back to Alaska any time soon, if at all. It is one of the big items on our "Things to Do Before We Die" List. :)

 

Does anyone have any reccommendations for places for dinner? I think most of the meals are on our own (on the land part). We will be in Fairbanks (2 nights), Denali (1 night), Talkeetna (1 night at the Talkeeta Alaskan Lodge), Anchorage (1 night). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks again!

Pam

:)

 

 

 

Best use of your time in Juneau will be a combo booked, independent whale watch/helicopter glacier landing, with Orca Enterprises and Coastal helicopters. Both are long established well run companies that will give you an excellent tour- so consider them. As for meal recommendation- without your own transportation, you will be limited. If you opt for shuttling into Talkeetna, the Roadhouse serves just an excellent breakfast and lunch. In Anchorage- Glacier Brewhouse is one of my top picks. Fairbanks- The Pumphouse.

[Barbee524]

I just received my documents for cruise tour #11 departing on May 29. Here are the hotels, I have also listed the websites. I was not able to find a website for the McKinley Village Lodge at Denali.

 

Fairbanks: River’s Edge Resort www.riversedge.net

Denali: McKinley Village Lodge

Talkeetna: Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge www.talkeetnalodge.com

Anchorage Downtown Marriott http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/ancdt

Hope this helps.

Barb

[SEPyle]

We're leaving on the 5/20 Summit and have the exact same hotels as Barb. In addition, we do stay in Girdwood one night at the Alyeska Prince Resort, then fly (included in cruisetour) to Fairbanks the next day. We're actually on cruisetour #13.

 

Since ours is one of the first cruisetours of the season, I will write a review when we return. By the way, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruisetours are combined, in case some don't realize that.

 

Happy planning! This time next week, planning will be over and we'll be rushing around so we're ready to leave the next am! Do you sence a little excitement here??

 

Sharon