bradleyheathhays

Thank you everybody for all your advice so far! At this point I'm just on the verge of going to my local trusted TA and seeing what they can come up with for myself, Grandma and Mom. But before I make the commitment I have just a couple last questions. The background is, I'm taking my Grandma and Mom on a 6-8 day Alaskan cruise on either HAL, Princess, or Celebrity. And because Grandma is fairly restricted in movement (wheelchair with some walking) we'll probably stay on the boat most of the time, so scenery from the boat is a big priority. So, as we're looking at different cruise itineraries, I'm writing to ask you guys who know more about where these ships go than I do, what ports of call or general scenery would you suggest that'll give us the best views from the ship? So far we've got advice for Glacier and Hubbard Bay, but are there other great places we should be aware of? And as a last little thing here, I'd like to get myself and Mom on a helicopter ride somewhere in the middle of this journey. Can you guys suggest where we should aim for a thrilling chopper ride? Curious about how much this would cost also. Thanks so much for your help everybody!

I'm zeroing in on an Alaskan cruise for me and my family on either HAL, Celebrity, Princess, or NCL and I'm writing to ask, in the next week, when I figure out exactly what cruise we want to take how should I go about buying our tickets? I'm leaning toward going with my local travel agency who on first visit seems to be fairly well versed on creating cruise itineraries. Should I go with them, or should I go through some other maybe internet agent who can get me a deep discount? Thanks everybody!

Thanks sailingrose! We've gotten advice to be open to both the Celebrity and Princess lines, as well as to consider a July sailing. So hopefully our options have just expanded seeing as how we're booking so late in the year. Thanks for everything! I'll probably be back soon with more questions :)

Hi everybody. I'm taking my mom and 86 yo grandmother on an Alaskan cruise and really do need your advice. Because grandma is fairly affected by her Parkinson's we're trying to plan things out very carefully. From what we've learned so far it seems like we should be looking toward Holland America as a cruise line. Well, instead of going into a lot of questions maybe I should just say what our priorities are and then see what you guys have to say. - Although grandma can stand fairly well and be on her feet for up to 5 min at a time, we're really prioritizing ease of movement on the ship for grandma which will probably happen by way of wheel chair about 1/2 the time. - Secondly, we're looking for an environment grandma will be overall comfortable in, which for the most part means a low key environment. I'm sure the glitz and general activity on a Carnival ship would be way too much. - Third, she's not going to be able to get off the ship at ports, so we're looking for the best big ship route with the very best 'from ship' views. We had to give up on the idea of an inside passage route due to the possibility of smaller ships rocking. - Fourth, I know we're at somewhat of a cost disadvantage with an odd number of us going. I'd like to get mom and grandma a great room w/ a balcony, and get myself just the cheapest room on the ship, a single if possible. But if the cheapest I can get is a cheap double I'll probably just stay with mom and grandma the whole time, say if they have a couch. - For entertainment, just real simple stuff would do the trick. Some kind of show would be nice. Actually, anything too loud or flashy would overwhelm a Parkinson's patient. At this point I should say thanks for reading all of this and wrap up. We're wanting to go when its potentially the warmest in August, and we're still entirely flexible. With our priorities in mind, what cruise line, cruise date, ship, and course/port of calls would be good for us? And of course all of your opinions are so greatly appreciated! Thanks. ~~~~ ~~_/) ~~ ~~~~~~~~

Hi everybody !! I'm planning to give my 86 yo grandma a cruise this year (just me and her) and I need some direction on what kind of trip to plan considering her limited mobility. Neither one of us has been on a cruise before so I'm sure it'll be a great adventure no matter what. Although she can stand and walk short distances without much trouble, she really needs to sit most of the time, and this is probably the biggest consideration for the entire trip. Because of this limitation our priorities are... 1) Good views from the ship as we won't be getting off for sight seeing 2) A ship made for easy access for wheel chairs 3) Good weather 4) A cruise in the Western hemisphere, excluding S. America 5) Something in the 3-6 day cruise range Those are about it really. She's really not so much outgoing so I doubt she'd want to participate in too many of the planned boat activities. From my research so far, depending on our budget, personally I'd like to get a room with a great sea side view. Thats all for now. Thanks for your time, I'm all ears. PS. Any links to cruise FAQs would be greatly appreciated.