Alaska Excitement

[cruise kitty]

17 minutes ago, Lois R said:

 

I love that area...….I have sailed from Seattle and Vancouver before.  When sailing out of Vancouver, I flew to Seattle and then took the train up to BC...it is an easy trip for sure.  Seattle has some great restaurants too..   Glad you found a good deal!

 

I am trying Azamara for the first time next month and found a good deal.....you probably know I sail solo and this was a good deal for me.....and it is for 11 nights

 

It was beautiful, it was also cold & snowing!  They were calling it 'snowmageddon' They actually were snowed in a few days.   I would love to hear your take on Azamara when you get back.  Glad you found a good deal, I know that has different meaning to different people, but I like feeling good about how much I paying & what amenities I'm going to get.   :)  

[Hoyaheel]

We did Azamara in Asia a couple years ago and I loved it! We just adore the R class ships - it's our favorite size! I admit we got REALLY spoiled doing Seabourn but it was a great fare comparable to another line we'd been looking at - and more inclusive. Similar ship size to R class but many fewer people....We weren't really planning on cruising at all in 2018, much less Alaska, but the price, itinerary & timing looked good, so we jumped....

 

Binoculars aren't something everyone cares about. I didn't for years! But now, they're critical to us. When packing for any trip, take your own preferences into consideration over the recommendations of others - you know yourself better than I do!

Edited March 17, 2019 by Hoyaheel

[Lois R]

I have sailed with Silversea for my last 2 cruises....simply FABULOUS......very small ships, fantastic food, service, etc. I will probably be comparing my Azamara cruise to it...….but I know one difference already, the amount of passengers. I think there will be about 200 more passengers on the Azamara cruise.  Hopefully I will have a great time though...…..it would be a rarity for me not to

[cruise kitty]

47 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I have sailed with Silversea for my last 2 cruises....simply FABULOUS......very small ships, fantastic food, service, etc. I will probably be comparing my Azamara cruise to it...….but I know one difference already, the amount of passengers. I think there will be about 200 more passengers on the Azamara cruise.  Hopefully I will have a great time though...…..it would be a rarity for me not to

 

Silversea sounds very luxurious   maybe someday when we win that lottery lol.   We're on our first sky suite this May, which I'm very excited about, there were price drops after final payment, so we were able to move up.   & you know we'll be on board with about 2800 other pax.   But I'm like you, it's hard not to have a good time when you're lucky enough to be traveling & on a vacation.  Enjoy Lois 

[Lois R]

2 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

 

Silversea sounds very luxurious   maybe someday when we win that lottery lol.   We're on our first sky suite this May, which I'm very excited about, there were price drops after final payment, so we were able to move up.   & you know we'll be on board with about 2800 other pax.   But I'm like you, it's hard not to have a good time when you're lucky enough to be traveling & on a vacation.  Enjoy Lois 

 

Hi, it is luxurious and in the past I would not have been able to try them but life circumstances changed a bit and I was able to  do it so I did...……worth every penny (to me).   I am sure you will love your suite too.

[waterbug123]

18 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

Binoculars aren't something everyone cares about. I didn't for years! But now, they're critical to us. When packing for any trip, take your own preferences into consideration over the recommendations of others - you know yourself better than I do!

 

Very true, that you need to consider your own preferences.  That said, I would encourage having binoculars on an Alaska cruise, particularly if you are interested in spotting bald eagles.  I never cared about them in the past either, and on our first Alaska cruise I was disappointed to only see two bald eagles.  They were relatively close and easy to spot.  This past summer though I brought the binoculars that I purchased a couple of years ago for our African safari trip and was amazed!  Each morning in port I'd go out on our balcony and scan the tree line in the distance.  I rarely saw anything with the naked eye, but with my binoculars I saw dozens of eagles over the course of the trip. Once I spotted them with the binoculars, I knew where to point my camera w/ zoom lens and got some amazing pictures. 

[Hoyaheel]

I was on EVERYTHING this latest AK trip! I saw a bunch of animals first - very much a surprise for me & husband 😉 We had an amazing time up on deck - crossing a very active sound (I can't remember where....) and we had a bunch of the Seabourn naturalists on deck with the passengers, everyone would just shout out what they saw and you'd see 25 prs of binoculars turn in sync to look.  So fun 😉 And we spent a lot of time on our balcony too. We don't have crazy expensive ones, but we do travel with the "nicer" ones for trips like this (husband keeps a small cheap pair in his backpack for all trips...) 

 

We tried the expensive Swarovski binoculars that a couple of the naturalists had, and sure, they were nice - but as husband noted, he didn't notice a "comma in the price tag" difference in viewing, so.... 🙂