Just Booked!!!

[heyitsmejudy]

Hello all! I just booked an Alaskan cruise (May 5 through 12) for a Christmas present for my boyfriend. Any advice from you seasoned NCL folks would be appreciated! We're going to the Bahamas this Christmas on Carnival and went on RCI last year (that was his Christmas gift LAST year!). I did a great deal of research and opted to go with NCL this time. I'm really stoked!

[Don Haynes]

Which NCL ship are you booked on? Juneau in my opinion is the best port of call: Mendenhall glacier, Roberts mountain sky lift, Captain Bob's whale hunt, there are so many good shore excursions to choose from at Juneau. Many think the boat ride to Sawyer Glacier is tops, it gets much closer to the glacier.

 

Ketchikan is another great port of call, with shopping on the pier, a lumberjack show, fishing boats for charter, and a bear scantuary nearby.

 

Skagway is another great port of call, with the White Pass Railroad ride up to the summit, or bus up the same pass, or drive up the same pass. Shopping is excellent here too.

 

Alaska is not a scuba cruise, or much of a swimming cruise either. Its a wonderful cruise through some of the best nature you'll ever see. Whales, bears, eagles, even seals abound.

 

On the sea days spend some time in the forward observatory lounge. When you sail through the Inside Passage and/or Glacier Bay, beautiful scenery abounds both sides of the ship, port and starboard.

 

Do bring a light windbreaker, raincoat. You won't need a heavy coat. If its to cold dress up in layers. After all the Pacific Northwest is a rainforest.

[heyitsmejudy]

Wow, that makes me feel better about my selection. I really had no idea what I was getting into other than my boyfriend told me he's always wanted to go to Alaska and I work with a girl from Alaska who says a cruise is the only way to see it!

We're on Norwegian Star. Our stops are Ketchikan, Juneau, Prince Rupert and Skagway... also Inside Passage and Sawyer Glacier. Seeing these listed in your post really has me jazzed!

I've enjoyed the Bahamas but am ready for a change and I love the thought of whale watching and all the things I've heard to expect.

[garycarla]

We have done two cruises to Alaska, one Princess, one Carnival. Similar, but what really mattered was ALASKA. Great cruise. Assuming you are flying to Seattle or Vancouver, go a day early.

 

Oops... before I get too carried away, you REALLY should visit the PORTS OF CALL message boards and pick ALASKA. There are lots of cruisers there that will tell you lots about Alaska. Also visit the Roll Call for your cruise.

[heyitsmejudy]

Wow, I'm two posts into NCL and no one's told me not to wear jeans to dinner! What a friendly bunch!

We will fly to/from Seattle from Atlanta.

Now, I just have to figure out how to give him his gift. We'll be in Freeport Bahamas on Christmas. We're taking my parents for their 40th wedding anniversary.

Any tips? Last Christmas, I'd bought him a cruise to the Bahamas. I wrapped a life jacket, a tube of nose kote and a bottle of tanning lotion. I guess wrap up some Alaskan king crab, but I don't know that they'd let me on the ship!

[ute_fan]

Have a wonderful time! We went to Alaska on the Sun two years ago, with several of the same ports that you'll be calling at. So far, Alaska is my favorite cruise, but I could be happy on a ship that sailed in circles for seven days. As Garycarla says, make sure you read the Alaska boards. Budget Queen and Yukon are great sources of information, and I'm sure there are others.

 

NCL, with its freestyle cruising, doesn't require you to dress up for dinner. At the moment, however, jeans are supposedly not permitted in the dining rooms. That's apparently up for review, however, so just make sure you find out in advance if the dress code is still stated that way. We noticed that Alaska did tend to be even less formal than our recent Eastern Caribbean cruise, with fewer people "dressed up", but as of two years ago, you couldn't wear jeans in the dining room.

 

While this isn't meant to sound unfriendly, you may want to be aware that your chances of getting to see Sawyer Glacier won't be extremely high. It's dependent on weather conditions and length of daylight. Last summer, according to what I read on these boards, the Sun only got all the way up to viewing distance of the glaciers twice. If they offer the Tracy Arm fjord/catamaran excursion on your sailing, it's the best excursion we've ever done. I'm just not sure if they offer is that early in the year. I know they don't the very end of the season, but I'm not sure about the first sailing of the year. If you do a search of the Alaska boards, along with the NCL roll-call boards, you'll be able to get more information about it.

 

Happy cruising!

[judyf]

Nice gift. Sort of for the two of you, that's the way to do it.

 

It's a nice feeling to have a cruise booked before you leave on the up coming one.

 

have fun!

[theonlyjoie]

Hello all! I just booked an Alaskan cruise (May 5 through 12) for a Christmas present for my boyfriend. Any advice from you seasoned NCL folks would be appreciated! We're going to the Bahamas this Christmas on Carnival and went on RCI last year (that was his Christmas gift LAST year!). I did a great deal of research and opted to go with NCL this time. I'm really stoked!

Insofar as shore excursions go, how about a helicopter flight to an iceberg and then a dogsled ride? It's offered in Skagway. If you look at my "signature," you'll see I did Alaska in September of 2001. Well, long story short, my helicopter/dogsled trip was cancelled when all "unnecessary air traffic" was grounded because of 9/11. :(If you go, let me know how the excursion was! (It is a bit pricey; actually quite pricey. But how often do you get to do something like THAT?)

 

Regardless...you are absolutely gonna LOVE Alaska! And NCL! Enjoy!

[whatawonderfulworld]

Don't forget to join the roll call too.

 

Ciao,

 

W A W W

[heyitsmejudy]

NCL, with its freestyle cruising, doesn't require you to dress up for dinner. At the moment, however, jeans are supposedly not permitted in the dining rooms. That's apparently up for review, however, so just make sure you find out in advance if the dress code is still stated that way. We noticed that Alaska did tend to be even less formal than our recent Eastern Caribbean cruise, with fewer people "dressed up", but as of two years ago, you couldn't wear jeans in the dining room.

While this isn't meant to sound unfriendly, you may want to be aware that your chances of getting to see Sawyer Glacier won't be extremely high. It's dependent on weather conditions and length of daylight. Last summer, according to what I read on these boards, the Sun only got all the way up to viewing distance of the glaciers twice.

I'm not worried about the jeans policy... I get gussied up for dinner... but I'm often amazed by the number of people on other boards who admit they let what complete strangers are wearing to dinner spoil their meal!

As for the glacier: Would I be better off moving our trip back a couple weeks? Since it's for his Christmas gift and we won't go until May, the dates aren't as important as what we'll see.

[heyitsmejudy]

I just looked at it's only $50 pp to move the date from the current May 5 to either May 12 or 19... the 26th it goes up $100 pp... Would I be better off to go ahead and move the sail date back a bit? I also wonder if moving the date back a few weeks would allow time for the "kinks" of the first sailing to get worked out. What can some of you offer for insight into that? I'd sincerely appreciate any feedback you guys could offer. Like I said, I don't really know what I'm getting into but, other than the $50 a person Alaska tax I already got an email from NCL about, I can't see many things shouting "don't go!"!

[ute_fan]

Hey Judy --

 

I'd suggest searching through NCL roll-call boards, this board, and the Alaska board, and seeing what information you can find about when people actually got to Sawyer Glacier, and also when the catamaran excursion starts up. I know last summer wasn't a great year for their ability to get to the glacier on the cruise ships, but I didn't really notice what the success rate was of the catamaran.

 

I'd also post this question on the Alaska board. I'm definitely not an Alaskan expert, but there are regular posters over there who will be able to help you with their wealth of information.

 

My feeling would be to wait a little bit, if you can. Not only to increase your glacier viewing chances, but also because it seems like the first sailing after an itinerary change never seems to be quite as smooth as subsequent ones. I know they had trouble last year with at least one of the NCL cruises out of Seattle, with lots of upset customers, and we had a few issues with our recent Jewel cruise which I don't think would have happened once they got the systems up and running better.

 

Our Alaska trip, by the way, sailed on June 6th, but I think the couple of cruises right before us actually had better weather than we did. Have a wonderful time. We can't wait to get back to Alaska.

[heyitsmejudy]

I did go ahead and change our booking to the 19th of May. I feel better that there will be two sailings before us for any "kinks" to get worked out. And my friend in the office says the weather will more than likely be better and that we'll have more light. Sorry if this all sounds obvious to you seasoned Alaska cruise veterans :).

All told, it was $100 difference, but since I thought the $50 tax was on top of what I was already paying and it turns out it's already quoted in the price (according to the NCL lady I talked to) it's a wash!

I'm so excited. Almost more so than for the Christmas cruise to the Bahamas I leave for this coming Sunday!!! Holy moley.... I need to get packing!