Grandma Laura and I are taking a cruise to Alaska here the 15th of this month. We've never been on a cruise. I've heard both good and bad about cruises. Anybody have any suggestions, tips, tricks, etc. to help us out? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Bring lots of cash so you can go on the fun excursions <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

My traveler tips

1. Hand sanitizer, use it often
2. no uncooked food, osters, salad etc
3. make sure you food is served hot ( heat kills bugs )
4. bottled water, even for brushing your teeth
5. No ice ( it's made from nasty cruise ship water)


I know it's not Mexico but I hear "cruise ship virus" is worse than "Montezuma's Revenge" <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />

i suggest you eat hourly, even throughout the night... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

Raingear and LOTS of socks, esp if you plan to actually get out and do a little hiking. Needless to say, make sure your walking shoes are a good fit for you.

Take your binoculars; migration is in full swing right now. You'd regret it if you didn't have some packed.

Flying back out once you get to ANC I take it? If you have a day or two in town, go check out the botanical gardens.

http://www.alaskabg.org/

I just went on a cruise a few weeks ago. It was awesome. They have good deals on the tax free and duty free stuff on the ship. Bring your own camera, the cruise pics are way expensive. You can order more than one thing for dinner. On our ship, there was an out of the way deck you could get to, so hardly anyone else was out there. Go out at night and look at the moon and its reflection on the water. You really dont need much cash, you can use the ship card they give you. Just keep track of how much you spend. I cant wait to go back.

My wife and I took our honeymoon on a cruise to Alaska in mid-Sept about 2 years ago. It was our first cruise ever. Mid-Sept is a great time to go to Alaska because it's just prior to the great migration of many humans leaving Alaska for the winter. So there's a lot of 50% off sales at the touristy shops wherever you go, so you should expect to buy some souvenirs. If you buy any special Alaska knives, you'll probably have to have the store ship them back to your home since they won't be allowed on the ship.

Overall our cruise was fairly good, but next time that we want to go on a cruise, we'll try a different cruise line, such as Norwegian or Celebrity or some other one. We were on Princess. We learned why Princess has acquired the nickname of its passengers being either "newlywed or nearly dead". The average age was way up there and Princess knows this and caters the entertainment toward the older folks. We had heard to stay away from Carnival because so many people get roudy and drunk and noisy 24 hours a day.

Check your bill very carefully before you leave the ship. That last morning we spent a few hours VERY early in the morning convincing them that someone had charged several hundred dollars of jewelry to our room that we did not purchase. They looked in their file of receipts and saw that the signature did not match ours. It still took months and a few letters trying to get that charge off our bill.

We frequently wished that Princess would have had ice cream available on the ship. It was rarely available and only during certain afternoons for an additional charge. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> But I suppose most people think that's minor.

We spent 4 days on land at the end of the cruise. That was fantastic, particularly because Princess owns some very nice property and their own train to get between several locations on land. Be sure to bring good rain gear, as it will probably rain at least some. Have layers of lighter coats.

Bring backpacks! We noticed that the experienced cruisers had a few suitcases that fit inside each other or could otherwise fold up. You might bring back more stuff than you go with. Plus, for the on-land portion, you'll be away from your large suitcases for full days at a time. Or optionally if you plan ahead enough, you can fill one suitcase with stuff that you don't need for a few days at a time and have it meet up with you again only at the end of your few-day land excursion.

We're flying in to Seattle and then on the ship up and back to Seattle, then, flying home again. So, I expect to be waited on hand and foot most of the time. Granny and Iaren't much into drinking so that won't be a big problem. We've already booked a couple of shore excursions. One is whale watching and the other is a lumberjack show. The rest of the time we're on our own. We had really planned on this last year but then Laura's breast cancer got in the way. We 're looking forward to not having to be anywhere or being obliged to do anything at somebaoy elses whim. We're going on Holland America. I haven't heard anything, one way or another.Any other thoughts? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Before the wife dide we went to alska for a nice trip.

We paid $3,000 for the whole thing. It was nice and I would do it again in a minute. i forget the company but I would do it over again if I had to <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />