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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Alaska Cruise
Just booked a 7 day Alaskan Cruise. This will be my first cruise so any I would appreciate any helpful information about tips and tricks, port information, what to avoid, what to expect etc.
We are going from 9/1-9/8 Seattle Round Trip- Princess on The Golden Princess.
TIA
Re: Alaska Cruise
When you check in on shore, they take your bags from you and they are loaded separately. For this reason, be sure you have all that you would need with you for a few hours and that it isn't packed inside your luggage...you won't have access to it right away.
Alaska rocks! You will have soooo much fun!
www.cruisecritic.com is your best friend when planning a cruise.
We did Alaska on the Sapphire Princess last summer and loved it. We did a one way trip from Whittier to Vancouver.
What are your ports? Alaska excursions are very expensive, but they are all amazing, and totally worth it. We booked locally where we could.
Ketchikan - we went ziplining at the request of my DH. Loved it! Would have loved to have seen Totem Park, or maybe even some eagles
Juneau - whale watching with Harv & Marv's. Same price as booking with the cruise line but we were on a boat of 8 people instead of 100. We got into a pod of orcas and had an amazing time.
Skagway - we rented a car and drove up into the Yukon Territory to Emerald Lake, using Murray's Guide. Then we came back and took a helicopter to a glacier and went dogsledding. Definitely a highlight for us.
Alaska is amazing.
Great Tips:) I just found cruise critic, I have already learned so much.
We will be stopping at the ports mentioned above.
Have fun! We did the Island princess.
My best suggestion is take a pair of mitts, It wasn't too cold when we went but they sure would have come in handy and help keep the heat in and a hat/toque .
Princess does have hot chocolate on the deck that helps warm you up great too. Since your pretty much end of season there will be quite a few sales at the ports.
Also if your on facebook you can post questions on the princess page lots of cruisers can answer whatever question pops into your head.
Another vote for Harv & Marv. Excellent! We went in the morning, and they dropped us at the Mendenhall Glacier, so we could check it out and then only pay for a one-way bus ride back to the port.
We went to Totem Bight State Park in Ketchikan, and it was very interesting. We printed the guide off their website and caught a city bus there and back. It was a fun local view, and we got there before all the cruise tours, so we had the place mostly to ourselves!
In Skagway, we did a Chilkoot Charters trip to the Yukon, but I think we would have had a better time renting a car and driving ourselves. Even with a van, it was more people than I like, and it would have been nice to pace ourselves. We did the tour, because everyone raves about the rail trip, but I was definitely underwhelmed by the rail journey. Very crowded, hard to get good views or pictures. Lots of people elbowing to get the best seats. Having seen the scenery from the drive up, I didn't really enjoy it much.
General advice...
- Bring a hat and gloves so that you can stay out on deck even when it's a bit chilly or windy.
- If you have a balcony cabin, head up to the top deck at least once when you're cruising around the glaciers, just so that you can experience the full panoramic view.
- Check out a deck blanket from the public decks. Sitting in a deck chair up top (or on your balcony) cuddled under a warm blanket is a cozy way to enjoy the scenery!
- Pack a good raincoat. If you need it, you'll be very glad you have it.