alwalaska

Believe it or not, I have never read a review where someone was disappointed or unhappy with Alaska. The scenery and nature was amazing. There is also a lot of history to experience. Before we started planning, I wondered why on earth anyone would want to go somewhere cold on vacation. Once I started planning, I became very excited about the trip. There were 6 of us ranging from 10 to 72 and everyone enjoyed the trip greatly. In addition to the cruise, we spent a week in the Interior of AK with an RV. Ann

Royal Caribbean just cancelled Tortola off of many of the Explorer 12 night cruises and turning it into a sea day and is only refunding the $11 taxes. I understand that the contract says they can anything they want and I also understand making changes due to weather or emergenceis, but I finally got RCCL to admit that this change was because it was not "cost effective" to stop at Tortola. We now have 3 sea days in a row heading back to NJ so they can sail slower and save fuel. To me this is not an acceptable behaviour, but since the other cruises I was looking at when I booked this one last Jan have increased in price, it really is not feasible to make a change at this point.

Same here on our March cruise, but we also lost an hour in Barbados and an hour in Antigua. I'm not happy at all.

I'm sorry to hear about your cancellation. Our Easter break plans just changed and I was bummed and it was nothing like missing out on a cruise you have been planning for. I hope you able to salvage something. Not to sound stupid, but what does being offered a free cruise mean? Do you get your money back on the original cruise and then get to schedule another one for free, or is it, they will simply give you credit for what you paid on your current cruise towards a new one? If is really is a free cruise, what are the restrictions they are putting on you? Again, I hope something works out for you.

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome and information. We have really been comparing cruise lines since this is only our second cruise and the first was Disney, but it really seem Princess has the itinerary we want. We were also looking at Carnival, but I am a little worried about their party ship reputation. Carnival stops at Sitka which we were interested in, but I have since heard it is a tender location rather than docked and I am not sure if my mom will be able to do that. She has bad knees and has a very hard time with stairs. Boatride lover - what did your sister have to say about Carnival? I look forward to learning a lot through this newsgroup. Thanks again for all the comments and welcome. Ann

Thank you so much Lisa. This is exactly what I have been looking for and have not been able to find. There is so much info in these including smoking policies, dining hours, etc. I don't know why Princess tries to keep them secret. Ann

Hi! My name is Ann and we are currently planning a cruise to Alaska in June of 06. Yes I believe in last minute planning. :wink: Last March was our first cruise, a 3 day on the Disney Wonder to the Bahamas. Believe it or not, I was not completely sold on cruising after that, BUT, the water seems to be the only way to get to some of the cities we want to see in Alaska so we are going to try again and hope we don't have gale force winds this time. Since it is Alaska, we will be expecting cool to cold weather so that won't be a disappointment. My first question for all of you is ... It seems like Princess has the best itinerary for what we are looking for, but they are low on details about on board activities, etc. There is a lot of very general information, but no specifics. Does anyone happen to have a sample Princess Patter from the one way Glaciers cruise? An at sea day would be preferable, but I would be happy to see anything. We are probably looking at South bound, but we won't know for sure until the 06 schedules come out. Also, does anyone have specific information about the kids/teen program? We will have a 12 and a 14 year old at cruise time. Thanks.