AOlivr

My husband and I went to Alaska in May of last year, and every day was in the low to mid 50's during the day, except Ketchikan got up to 60 degrees. I wore every day a sweatshirt and a thin rain jacket with regular athletic pants. I did not bring a heavy coat and did not need one. I brought a winter hat and gloves, and did not need them. A regular baseball cap was fine. One of my sweatshirts had a hood which I figured was good in case it did get colder. Regular tennis shoes were fine as well, and I'd say only bring heavier shoes if planning on hiking. Maybe bring two pairs of tennis shoes if one pair gets wet during the day. Now, our itinerary started in Vancouver and ended there, so we did not go up to Seward or Anchorage, so that could have some bearing on what you bring to wear.

I think this may be your TA's fault. A similar situation happened to me (but not as dire). I booked a cruise for this May to Norway through my travel agent, it was booked in September of 2023. I paid the $500 deposit and my credit card was charged. We had an upper deck balcony booked (my husband and I like to be on a higher deck). A few months after booking, I found out from my TA that the room we originally booked was no longer ours, but that she was able to get us in a balcony on deck 6. Apparently what happened is that my TA made the booking and my deposit was charged, but I guess there is an extra step she has to do on her end where the deposit is applied to my reservation. So I guess (if I understand it correctly) I paid the deposit but somehow it wasn't applied to my reservation. Luckily my TA caught her mistake and we were able to get another room instead, and she was very honest about it. I wonder if this happened to you?

I work with a mother/daughter team at Cruise Planners. I like working with them, and they always can get me a much better group rate than what I can book on my own. I met the daughter on our last pre-pandemic cruise (in 2019) and we really enjoyed getting to know her and her husband (we were seated at the same table in the MDR for dinner quite by coincidence). Before meeting her I had no idea the benefits of using a TA, but I wouldn't do it on my own now that I know the difference.

We went through the Tracy Arm Fjord on Brilliance in May, and on the loud speaker when we got to the glacier we were told that was the closest they were able to get to the glacier in 2 years. Whoever it was on the loudspeaker (maybe the captain?) made it out to be a pretty big deal. So I think it is all luck as stated above. We had an amazing view of the glacier, but Brilliance is also a smaller ship. There was no excursion to get off the ship at the glacier. The ship just goes through the fjord then makes a turn and goes back out. It was a wonderful morning just being out on our balcony though!

I found this helpful as well! Will be cruising out of Southampton next May with my husband, and not sure if I will hire private transportation or not to the cruise port but good to know the bus option as well. I'm curious to know if you took the bus to the airport after the cruise as well? Thanks!

Quite often for me, OBC received from the credit card rewards takes a very long time to hit my Cruise Planner. Our last cruise to Alaska this past May, rewards that I redeemed in January and February for OBC did not hit Cruise Planner until just a few weeks before we sailed. About a month ago I redeemed award points for OBC credit for our next cruise in November, and it is still not showing in Cruise Planner. Last year, when I redeemed rewards they usually hit within 2 weeks, but this year it takes a lot longer. I'm not sure why there is such a long delay for me, or if this is happening to other people as well.

I love Southwest ordinarily, but am a bit wary after last year's debacle with cancelled flights. Although, you can reprice Delta and United as well. I had a flight from Vancouver to San Francisco on United last month (coming home from our Alaskan Cruise) and 3 weeks prior to the cruise I decided to change to a later flight from Vancouver in order to squeeze in a shore excursion in Vancouver. We ended up getting a $220 credit per person, which was great in purchasing airfare to Fort Lauderdale for our next cruise in November. It pays to check back on airfare prices after the initial purchase, and it's easy to do through the airline app. I did the same with Delta last year as well.

My husband and I were on the Brilliance at the end of May to Alaska, and the ship itself was very warm inside, and my husband was very sweaty! He was sorry that he only brought one pair of shorts. I was fine but I felt the warmth as well and didn't need to wear layers inside. I also wore flip flops around the ship, and a sun dress with a nice cardigan (and flip flops) was what I wore for formal night in the dining room. I don't know if that's just because it was Brilliance, maybe the larger ships like Ovation and Quantum have better air conditioning. My husband also couldn't get the air conditioning in our cabin to work well either, so no cooler air in our cabin either.

Great tip! I didn't know you could do this, I have a SW trip to Nashville in September, and I just did what you suggested and saved a lot! I originally paid $225 each for 2 one way tickets, and they were down to $66. Amazing!

My husband and I will be sailing on the Voyager out of Copenhagen on May 22nd as well! We are very excited!

I posted this in another message somewhere else about boosters but I think I should post again. My husband and I are sailing out of Copenhagen at the end of May. By then our original vaccination will be over a year old, therefore considered out of date. When I log in to the the RC app for this particular cruise sailing it states in the Healthy Cruising / Preparing for your cruise: "For the purpose of our sailing, to be considered up to date, guests must have received all doses in their vaccine series and have received the booster if the second vaccine was administered over 270 days (9 months) ago." Therefore it seems to me that a booster is necessary in certain cases. If your original vaccination was given less than 9 months ago you are fine and do not need a booster. I also think it's best to check requirements for the country or countries you may be visiting. For me, it was better safe than sorry, so I and my husband have recently gotten the booster shot. That's the price you have to pay if you want to travel at this time. Also, if it helps anyone, I got the JNJ shot, my husband got Pfizer. My booster was JNJ as well. Not all pharmacies carry it, but I got it at Meijer.

As to your question regarding vaccinations/boosters: My husband and I are sailing out of Copenhagen at the end of May. When I am on the RC app and looking at the Healthy Cruising section for our cruise, it states "Guests must have received all doses in their vaccine series and have received the booster if the second vaccine was administered over 270 days (9 months) ago." I know it's confusing because the RC homepage/Healthy Sale section does state that boosters are not required at this time, but I think you need to look at the app for your particular cruise and see what it says. Of course if your vaccine was less than 9 months ago you are fine. You also need to check with the country you are visiting to see what their requirements are.