KJ1231

Explore More Bonus is showing up on the RC website. So it looks like the price remained the same for our 12/29 cruise on Brilliance but the "Explore More Bonus" OBC is available. We booked a balcony less than 6 months in advance so maybe $25 each OBC... every little bit helps

Thanks for the replies! I double-checked and it has 7 AM arrival. We're on Brilliance out of Tampa and Grand Cayman is our first stop after a cruising day the day before. I have the Compasses from an identical cruise earlier this year and of note under "Tendering Procedures", "the peak time for going ashore is between 7:30 am - 9:30 am, please be patient at this time and listen to the PA announcements." This will be our first experience with tenders. There are a bunch (9) of 7:30 AM excursions so will be interesting to see how it unfolds. Added: When we were in Juneau on Radiance, people going on pre-arranged excursions had to go to the auditorium and were then escorted off the ship in groups to go to their busses on the pier. Will we be doing something similar so that excursion folks get priority over non-excursion (except Diamond, etc.)?

Anyone?

Done! Michelle is watching out for me.....

I never asked for it, Jacki just does it. Last sale I saved $50 on one sailing. It's only $50 but its my $50!  I started the process through the MEI website and Michelle C. is my new best friend. How long should I wait once the sale starts before contacting them? They had a promo where they were covering the gratuities so on a 5-night that was $72.50 pp (or $290 for the 4 of us).

Is that automatic for all MEI customers? Or just "special" folks like you? ? We booked our next one with MEI.

The length of the line varied. We did the whale watching and Mendenhall glacier excursion early. When we got back to the pier we walked aroudn town for a little while and then caught up with my in-laws and then went to Tracy's. The place is not real big but we had not problem getting our own table outside. The turnover is pretty quick since people want to walk around Juneau . While they have a beer, it is not a "bar" so people tend to "eat and run". The tram "terminal" is about a block away so there are people coming and going all over the pier. I guess it will also depend on how many ships are docked that day. We were there with twangster/Explorer and another smaller ship that was using water taxis. If the line is a little long, maybe walk around town and come back.....

I'm not sure about the specialty restaurants. We didn't have a lot of time between the time we boarded and muster. We went to our rooms and unpacked our bags by which time the horn blew for muster. We "mustered" and then went directly to the MDR. There was a pretty long line but we were seated pretty quickly. I don't think they were verifying times at that point - just looking to see if you had a reservation at or before the current time. For a specialty restaurant I think you made the right move....

When you walk over to Tracy's, by the entrance you can look over the half wall and see the HUGE crab legs. I didn't get a picture of the menu. We were only there for crab legs as that is my wife's favorite. You get 1 HUGE crab leg for $20 or you can buy a "bucket" of them. The crab legs were delicious. I also had the chowder which was good and root beer on tap which is a treat for me. I would do it again. There are no reservations. You order as you walk in and then find a place to sit. They bring you your order when it's ready. My brother-in-law heard that Tracy's is actually owned by RC (along with Diamond International?).

This is our second cruise. In Alaska we did one excursion at each stop as most of them seemed long enough to not allow for a couple. In Grand Cayman my son and I want to try the "Discover Scuba Diving" which is 3 hours beginning at 11. We get into port at 7:00 so I was also thinking we could do the Catamaran Sail and Stingray City which is 3 hours beginning at 7:30. In theory, we are back from the first one at 10:30 and leave for the second one at 11:00. Is that doable?

We booked our June Alaska Cruise in January. Shortly after I purchased excursions. A couple of them were on sale in March so I rebooked and also purchased Voom. Purchased the non-alcohol refreshment package in May. I monitored from March -> June and prices never went lower except for refreshment package. Now looking at about the same timeframe for December cruise. Booked cruise this week and looking at excursions (30% sale this week) and will book this week but hoping there's a better sale between now and December. For Voom on Radiance we paid $22.38/day for 2. For Refreshment package we paid $21.24/day ($18+18%) which is what it is going for now with the 30% sale.

Appreciate the info is this thread. We are on Brilliance so will visit GC and Cozumel. For our day in Cozumel we have 10:00 AM arrival and 7:30 PM departure. Chichen Itza is at 10:30 AM for 6 hours (10:30 - 4:30) and is our first choice. Based on your post and description in the cruise planner, travel is a 45-minute water taxi each way (90 mins) and based on your 2/3 description it sounds like an hour+ bus ride with 2 hours at the actual site? Is there easy access to a beach near the ship so we can relax for a couple hours and maybe grab a light meal (not really looking for alcohol) before we get back on the ship for the 7:30 departure?

Just to clarify - BOGO 50% off works out to 25% for both 30% is still 30% regardless of the number of people. $1000 cruise for BOGO 50% is $1,500 for 2 $1000 cruise for 30% off is $1,400 for 2, a 5% difference.

Holy mackerel - we paid 3x that (we had a spacious balcony)! We just did this itinerary 2 weeks ago. Matt posted the Cruise Compass for this itinerary today if you need details.... Do it!

Thoughts on excursions for Grand Cayman and Cozumel?

Working with Michelle from MEI on this cruise. Booked connecting cabins 8618-8620. She got us r/t air for under $270 PHL-TPA; FLL-PHL (going to Naples for a few nights after the cruise). Flying to Tampa 12/28 - leery of flying same day, especially with Philly winter - so got a room at Marriott Waterfront with points. Fun times!

We were on the Radiance of the Seas 6/22-6/29 and while in Skagway we had signed up for the Alaska Gold Rush Highlights. We paid $208 each for this excursion. The description: Discover Skagway’s rich gold mining history along the scenic White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, viewing historic landmarks, panning for gold, and savoring a scrumptious buffet. Travel via vintage rail car, passing picturesque vestiges of the Klondike Gold Rush. Meet vivacious pioneer characters at Alaska 360 Dredge Town, where you’ll engage in gold panning. Relish a tasty menu of salmon and barbecue ribs while relaxing at Taiya Inlet’s Pure Gold Buffet. SK62 In actuality: The "tasty" menu was moved to Alaska 360 Dredge Town and there was no salmon! The gold panning was a cheesy deal where they give you a pan with sand, stone and 8-10 flakes of gold in it. Dip it in water a few times to get rid of all but the gold, $9-$10 worth. Heard as high as $12. Anyway, of everything we did on the cruise this was our least favorite. I would not recommend any excursions that include Alaska 360 Dredge Town. And I hate saying that because the young people that staff the place are great....

We were in our balcony - mid-ship on deck 9 on the side of the ship you photographed - as we pulled out! On my phone now but when I get on the computer tomorrow I’ll see if I can magnify the picture and find my wife and I! Sorry we didn’t catch up with you in Juneau or Skagway. Maybe the 2020 GC....

Well we couldn't talk our 17 and 20yos into cruising Alaska so we opted for Brilliance of the Seas 5-night 12/29/18-1/3/19 sailing from Tampa-Grand Cayman-Cozumel-Tampa. Not sure how much better we would have done with Next Cruise when we were on the Radiance 2 weeks ago but couldn't nail it down before we disembarked. Alaska #2 will have to wait until 2020. Any rumors as to whether RC will be offering any new ports then? HA includes Homer and Kodiak in their 14-day. Would love to see RC add them, too!

We had a 6:30 reservation so went to muster and then directly to the dining room as did many others. We waited in line but didn't take long. There were 2 lines - one for those with reservations and one for the rest of the folks. Since we had a reservation we moved quickly. Others had white cards and were getting plucked out of line to enter the dining room through the doors on the opposite side of the ship. Not sure what that was about....

Post cruise - we rented a car which was very convenient at the pier. We rented with Alamo - slight glitch with how much they charged - make sure that they charge the rate you got when you put in for the car! They straightened it out when I called them when we returned the car. If you plan to rent a car, do it before the cruise - there were no cars available if you didn't reserve one. We drove from Vancouver to Seattle - about 4 hours with customs and a stop for lunch in Bellingham. We stayed on the north side of Seattle (Shoreline) because I got a room with points at Holiday Inn Express. We went to the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens and then took the monorail over to check out the the Public Market at Pike's. I had the biggest halibut fish & chips at Lowell's! We had a 3rd night to figure out where to go so we checked out Whidbey Island. We looked into Victoria but couldn't get reservations on the ferries so took a Ferry to Whidbey Island where we had a great breakfast in Langley before heading to the north end of the island - a beautiful drive! - where we stayed at the Wildwood Farm Bed & Breakfast. They have about 50 horses on the farm and offer horseback riding. I couldn't talk my wife into riding but I had a great time during my hour trail ride after a delicious breakfast. When I was finished we had time to get freshened up before getting in the car to head for the airport in Vancouver for our red-eye home. We stopped at the Granville Public Market in Vancouver for some shopping and lunch before heading to the airport. This was the best vacation we've ever had alone since it was the first vacation in 30 years without children! We love our kids but it was nice to have just the two of us for an extended period. We enjoyed it so much that we were going to book another Alaska cruise next summer and take a couple of the kids (17 & 20) but they have zero interest. Instead we booked a couple staterooms on the Brilliance at Christmas going to Cozumel and Grand Cayman (12/29-1/3). Thanks again to all those that provide such great information here so that it took away all the anxiety of a first cruise and helped us make the best of our time while on vacation. Happy Cruising! Ken

Day 7 - Cruising Inside Passage. Scenery on this part of the voyage was incredible! Whales spotted; dall porpoises swimming towards the boat and riding the wake of the ship. Took time out to jump in the blackjack tournament and didn't make it past the first round BUT jumped on another table and won back the $100 I lost the first night plus a little more. The highlight was when the ship made a hard right turn and everyone looked at each other. We missed the captain's announcement that this was going to happen. If the boat rolled just a little more, all of the dealer's chips would have ended up in our laps! We had our final dinner in the Cascades - again delicious after the final show in auditorium. This was the only night we had to wait for a table - about 20 minutes - but the whale appearing outside the window in the dining room was great! Always be on watch in Alaska!

Day 6 - Ketchikan. We didn't have a lot of time in port so we took the duck boat ride around town and in the water in hopes of getting a good overview of Ketchikan. The duck boat was ok. I enjoyed it, my wife not so much. We had lunch at The Fish House before heading back to the ship. The halibut fish & ships were worth the wait. Back on board we caught the show which was really good - Chinese gent performing the act of face/mask changes followed by some magic and a balancing act which was really good. We had dinner at Cascades again that was really good.....

Day 5 - Icy Strait Point/Hoonah. There were a lot of mixed reviews of this stop. We really liked it because (a) our excursions were good and (b) it's a relatively new port and still pretty underdeveloped as far as towns go. No hospital, small population (K-12 school has 110 kids), quite a few Tlingit people there as they "own" the area (or something like that). I went birdwatching for 2 hours. Kassie took us off the beaten path to the only farm on the island where they have about 20 head of cattle. We saw lots of bald eagles and I ticked off a few birds that would never make it to the east coast. But birding in Alaska is hard with all the spruce/pine trees - they are really thick and small bird just get lost in them. Learned from Kassie that pregnant women usually leave for Juneau 3 weeks before their due date so they can deliver in a hospital. One reason why she and her husband have not started a family yet. My wife did the Wild Alaska Kitchne where she learned how to cook salmon and halibut and got a good deal on a case of canned sockeye salmon that happened to arrive today. She can't wait to make salmon burgers, dip, etc! It was an early departure for Ketchikan so we had dinner in the Cascades Dining Room which was delicious. We missed the Piano Man show...... Belted Kingisher and a pair of bald eagles on/near a nest Timber Tiger aka red squirrel 3 sitka deer runnign ahead of the car....

Day 4 - Skagway. Again arrived on time. Our "Alaska Highlights" excursion was supposed to be to Alaska 360 for Gold Panning, then the train ride to the Yukon and a Salmon Bake. Somehow or other the salmon bake was canceled and we had a BBQ buffet at Alaska 360. Food was just ok - good root beer for $5! and he gold panning was disappointing. They do an ok job of explaining/acting out the gold rush and then take you to an area where they hand you a pan of sand and stones (and gold) and then to a covered area with tubs of water where they teach you how to rinse off the sand and stones to get to the gold. I got about $9 worth and my wife $10. We weren't expecting to get rich but expected more than what our 3rd graders get when they go to the local cave and do the same thing for crystals.The highlight of the excursion was the train ride to the Yukon. We didn't realize you only ride one way and bussed the other. We rode the train from Skagway to the Yukon and the views were stunning. The pictures just don't do it justice. I would skip any excursion that goes to Alaska 360. Back in town we wandered around and eventually caught up with the inlaws. They walked around town and wen to the show in town which they enjoyed (and my sister-in-law got to dance in!) before heading over to the gold rush cemetery where they were told they would find (and did!) a beautiful waterfall. Back on the boat we did the Windjammer again and caught the show. Exhausted again - we were in bed pretty early. $19 in gold between the 2 pans.... hikers getting off the train in Denver