The Swamp

Ryan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:10 am Anyone done an Alaska cruise?

Camaro J just did one. You should have his number.

Ryan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:10 am Anyone done an Alaska cruise?

Did one about 12 years ago. Best vacation ever, can't wait to do it again.

General cruise question:

Best part of the ship? We kind of want a window because this could very well be our one and only cruise so why not? (This line of thinking doesn't extend to the balcony rooms) But our sources say that the view is only worth it if you're up past the 5th or 6th deck and that may be too much money too. Pros and cons of being high vs low? Will we care about the window? (keeping in mind that there are in fact things to look at for the Alaska cruise in particular) Front, middle, back?

Ports/excursions:

What did you do? We're looking at Disney's Juneau-Ketchikan-Skagway route with a hike or other experience at each port. Probably going with other even younger kids too, so leaning away from helicopter or seaplane based stuff. Lumberjack show, exploring glaciers, rainforest, totem poles is all good.

Getting there:

If leaving out of Vancouver, but possibly coming by car or train from Washington, anyone have advice on that?

Can't really say about the location of the room, we didn't spend a lot of time in ours. A view would have been awesome, but we just hung out in the restaurant/lounge at the top of the ship for the most part. When the weather was nice, we'd hang out outside.

Excursions -
In Juneau we rented a car and drove out to Mendenhall Glacier. It was about a 30 minute drive, if I remember correctly. Spent a couple hours out there hiking around. Then came back "in town" and did the touristy shopping/dinner stuff. Our other stops (Skagway, Ketchikan) we did some kayaking and canoeing. The canoeing we did, in Skagway, was in ~20 person boats. I think there were some kids on that. We canoed out toward Davidson Glacier, got a couple hundred feet away, pretty awesome experience.

We left out of Seattle, there were tons of shuttles going from the airport directly to the port, so that part was pretty easy.

I've been on about 10 cruises (though never Alaskan) and can definitely say you want a window. It's worth the extra money. You'll be spending more time in the room than you think and it makes it a lot more "livable" to be able to see outside. I'd say it doesn't matter how high up you are. The view will be roughly similar/equally good regardless.

I thought the balcony was worth it the couple of times we've done a cruise.


A co-worker did an Alaska cruise a couple of years ago and the one destination I can recall from her pictures was some goldrush/port town with a colorful row of cheery little (former?) whorehouses.

brian wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:23 am I've been on about 10 cruises (though never Alaskan) and can definitely say you want a window. It's worth the extra money. You'll be spending more time in the room than you think and it makes it a lot more "livable" to be able to see outside. I'd say it doesn't matter how high up you are. The view will be roughly similar/equally good regardless.

We read one thing (and it may have been Alaska-specific because of the weather) that a view out a lower porthole can be like looking into a front-loading washer. Any reasons why upper levels are more desirable? My wife's friend that books our Disney stuff was pretty adamant that we want to be higher. Seasickness? Closer to fun stuff? Just the penthouse mentality?

We've actually been throwing around the idea of doing that Disney Alaskan cruise with some extended family, keep us posted on what you end up going with.

Ryan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:10 am Anyone done an Alaska cruise?

The one and only cruise I've ever been on was when we cruised on Celebrity from Vancouver to the lower part of Alaska. We had stops in Juneau, Ketchikan and a tiny fishing village I can't remember the name of. It was fun if you like cruises - we saw big brown bears, glaciers, did a raft trip and some other stuff. I'd love to go back to Alaska and see more wildlife and other stuff. I can't imagine I'd like another cruise more than that one. But...

But, personally I'm not a fan of cruises in general. So, I don't plan on going on another cruise. Mostly because I wasn't a fan of most of the other people on the cruise ship. Bunch of big rude people whose goal in life is to be first in line for the bacon at the breakfast buffet. It's like you are spending a lot of time at a party where you don't like the other guests. At least that's the way it was for me. Also, the rooms are comically small. It's like the scene in the Marx Brothers movie "A night at the opera", where there are 20 people in a room. It felt that way with just our three person family.

Ryan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:48 am

brian wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:23 am I've been on about 10 cruises (though never Alaskan) and can definitely say you want a window. It's worth the extra money. You'll be spending more time in the room than you think and it makes it a lot more "livable" to be able to see outside. I'd say it doesn't matter how high up you are. The view will be roughly similar/equally good regardless.

We read one thing (and it may have been Alaska-specific because of the weather) that a view out a lower porthole can be like looking into a front-loading washer. Any reasons why upper levels are more desirable? My wife's friend that books our Disney stuff was pretty adamant that we want to be higher. Seasickness? Closer to fun stuff? Just the penthouse mentality?

You should be able to see the year your boat was built and if it was built in the last few years even a lower floor is probably going to have an acceptable view. We were on the lowest "public" floor possible for our Panama Canal cruise last year and we were still about three or four stories above the water. But it's true that some older ships got closer to that water line. And it's also possible that rockier seas (which I don't know about w/r/t to Alaska) could exacerbate that. There's also the mentality that higher is better and is probably true you're going to have a better view of the horizon when one exists, but by and large it doesn't matter much any more for the comfort of the ride. Once upon a time, the stabilizing equipment wasn't as good as it now and I suspect a fourth-floor room is just as "smooth" as a ninth or higher. In fact in the modern boats you seldom even realize there are engines running.

Regarding the room/window selection there are a couple things to consider:
If someone is subject to seasickness the part of the ship that "hides" the movement the most is lower decks and at the center. Reality is these boats are so large that it probably doesn't make that much of a difference. That being said, if you have the budget for it, go for an outside room with not only a window but a balcony. Most of the Alaska cruises market their number of rooms with balconies since you will be in sight of shore for a good portion of the sail and can also frequently run across wildlife (whales, etc.) swimming nearby. Also some of the ports have impressive sails in if you are up early enough (like Juneau and Skagway). Like phxgators said, not spending much time in the room is common thing said about all cruises so if you need to trim the budget going with an inside cabin might be a good way to do that if no one claustrophobic. The main difference with Alaska compared to most other cruises is the weather...depending on when you go you might not have decent enough weather to be hanging around outside. Also, the cruises usually involve a stop at Hubbard glacier which is pretty cool...having a cabin with a balcony is a great place to see that.

As far as the itinerary, we went from Vancouver to Seward. The only stops I really enjoyed were Juneau and Skagway (but not because of Skagway). I think Juneau is a great city and sits right at the base of some mountains. We took a cruise-offered rafting trip from Mendenhall glacier down to near the end of the river. Skagway was nice because we took a ferry over to Haines and played golf. The course was crap but how often do you get say you golfed in Alaska? Ketchikan was alright...was ok to walk around in but didn't really offer anything special. Both Ketchikan and Skagway are mainly tourist-shopping place with t shirt shops, crystal stores, etc. My wife did a train ride out of Skagway but she was not at all impressed. Granted, we are used to the Rocky Mountains so we are a little spoiled. She said you could not see much other than trees. However, I do believe you can get off the train to hike some. Before the train/golf came up we had originally planned to rent a car and drive into Canada. Finally, Royal Caribbean has it's own stop at a place called Hoonah/Icy Strait...we did our whale-watching trip from there...that was cool/worth it. There is not much to the town.

After we got done with the cruise we actually rented a car and drove over to Homer and then up to Anchorage for a night before we drove up to Denali National Park for two nights. That was the best part of the trip...I highly recommend Denali. If I can ever figure out how to get my pictures to post I'll throw some up here.

FWIW, I mentioned we were on Royal Caribbean. The reason why I don't recommend it was because of the boat itself. It was old and not well kept. According the employees, it spends its non-Alaska time in Australia and is basically a party boat for 20-something New Zealanders they said...and it looks every bit as beat up. If I had to do it again I would go with Norwegian or Celebrity.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:28 pm

Ryan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:10 am Anyone done an Alaska cruise?

The one and only cruise I've ever been on was when we cruised on Celebrity from Vancouver to the lower part of Alaska. We had stops in Juneau, Ketchikan and a tiny fishing village I can't remember the name of. It was fun if you like cruises - we saw big brown bears, glaciers, did a raft trip and some other stuff. I'd love to go back to Alaska and see more wildlife and other stuff. I can't imagine I'd like another cruise more than that one. But...

But, personally I'm not a fan of cruises in general. So, I don't plan on going on another cruise. Mostly because I wasn't a fan of most of the other people on the cruise ship. Bunch of big rude people whose goal in life is to be first in line for the bacon at the breakfast buffet. It's like you are spending a lot of time at a party where you don't like the other guests. At least that's the way it was for me. Also, the rooms are comically small. It's like the scene in the Marx Brothers movie "A night at the opera", where there are 20 people in a room. It felt that way with just our three person family.

Kindred souls. My wife and I went on a cruise about 20 years ago and haven't been back. We love to travel, but we like to do it at our own pace. We also don't like most people. One of my favorite things to do is when someone is being a rude dipshit, to say loudly "Others!" They usually don't know what I'm talking about, but my family gets a kick out of it.

That said, I think with small kids, a Disney cruise could be fun. And I've heard from lots of people that in general, because of the massive distance covered, a cruise is a good way to see a lot in a condensed time period. I think if I could afford a more Viking style (size, amt of people) I'd be into it. But I bet that's super expensive.

I think those criticisms of cruises are largely fair and I'm probably as much if not more of a misanthrope than most of you guys but I don't mind it. But if I couldn't somehow make fun of those people behind their backs it would be a much different story.

I don't mind the general public as much on cruises as I do other places, for some reason. I'm just hot & cold on cruises in general. It's a nice way to package a vacation and a good way to cover a lot of ground, but like Nonlinear I usually like to travel at my own pace. I'm not impressed with the food anymore and have gotten used to nicer/larger accommodations.

My wife did a Disney cruise with her Mom, Sister and two nieces in April. She said for the kids it was great...typical Disney experience and everything was organized/run well. From an adult-whose-kids-these-weren't she said never again...but mostly because shes's not a fan of the Caribbean, crowds or cruise food.

I've been able to avoid cruises to date and hope that never changes. Sometimes you don't need to experience something to know you hate it.

I've only been one one cruise in the Caribbean and wouldn't do it again. The food wasn't that good. The boat we were on was pretty big (2k people I think), but we had a small group (90ish people I think?) playing Magic: The Gathering. The magic was fine, but I felt like I could have gotten a group of 10 friends together at a house for a week, split the food and had a lot more fun. I am a cave hermit so the super dark indoor cabin was great. I am 6'1 and the bed was just long enough, so I was fine with it.

I've been on two. Thought I'd hate them both and ended up having an awesome time on both.

Other than the dreadful parts where you have to do the group thing, I'm not picturing it much differently than a hotel. I wouldn't do a Caribbean one though. Get that party atmosphere out of my face.

I KNOW I'm a grump, but some of you guys are 45 going on 90.

Conversely, I think of cruises as what old people do.

I think both times I dramatically underestimated just how big those ships are. I never felt cramped or surrounded by a bunch of people I didn't want to be the entire time.

What are the benefits over visiting a city / beach / any place you can escape? Maybe I've just never understood the pros.

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:01 pm What are the benefits over visiting a city / beach / any place you can escape? Maybe I've just never understood the pros.

I think those are the pros, for the people it appeals to. "I want to go on vacation, but without having to find things on your own or interact with weird people from other places." I'm with you.

Can visit a bunch of different places in a relatively short period of time. Depending on the kinds of places you're staying for a theoretical beach vacation the food is better. The newer cruise ships have some pretty cool amenities like brewpubs or craft beer bars. Entertainment is a mixed bag.

Ultimately it's not much different or much more expensive than an all-inclusive vacation with some variety in the places it goes. I wouldn't say it's "better" or "worse" (we regularly do both), it's just different. The ships skew a lot younger than most people think. It's not a bunch of geriatrics any more. There's something to be said for the fact that there's a lot of idiot Americans, but good luck escaping them on vacation just about anywhere. (Though I would recommend Southeast Asia in that regard. We met maybe only about a dozen Americans in two weeks.)

I've been on 3 or 4 cruises in my life. None of them were my choice (as a kid with parents, bachelor party, and I guess I could have done something different for spring break in college so maybe that one is partially my choice). I have zero desire to ever go on a cruise ship again.

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:01 pm What are the benefits over visiting a city / beach / any place you can escape? Maybe I've just never understood the pros.

I think mainly what brian said. I also found it extremely relaxing to be out in the middle of the ocean for the days you're between ports. Also, a slice of pizza whenever the fuck I want it and Love Boat re-runs made the last one rule.

Johnny Carwash wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:25 pm

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:01 pm What are the benefits over visiting a city / beach / any place you can escape? Maybe I've just never understood the pros.

I think those are the pros, for the people it appeals to. "I want to go on vacation, but without having to find things on your own or interact with weird people from other places." I'm with you.

This...plus I just enjoy boats/being on the water. Cruises combine that with a hotel, restaurants and some sights to see/things to do. All for one low price (if it's the Caribbean) or one astronomical price (if it's anywhere else).

Yeah, I'll add that it's by far the cheapest/best way to see as many Hawaiian islands at one time as you're going to get with the caveat you only get one day at each. But if you've never been to Hawaii before and want to get an idea of which island is the right one for you, it's the perfect way to get acclimated to the differences you see between them all.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:48 pm I think if I could afford a more Viking style (size, amt of people) I'd be into it. But I bet that's super expensive.

Viking style, maybe, but not Viking! They are a client, and I spent 2 days at their sales office. The company and employees were fine, but they all warned me never to cruise Viking. My parents go on one or two cruises every year, and when I asked if they ever went on Viking, my dad's response was "how fucking old do you think I am?" Viking is high end, but the entertainment and excursions are geared towards an older crowd. Listening to the sales people, they make it sound like most of the passengers spend the rest of their year glued to FoxNews. A lot of them had some great stories from when they won trips for hitting sales marks. A black sales rep told me about a customer who specifically asked her to ensure there were no "colored people" on her deck, because she refused to live amongst colored people. I was shocked, and the rest of the employees said that is a common request. There was a white sales guy named Tyrone, who had to start using a fake name because customers wasted too much time asking him why he sounds white with the name Tyrone. Someone else was mentioned a customer who wouldn't stop talking about how great Trump was. I asked how a sales call to book a cruise turns to Trump, and they said half their calls turn to Trump, almost all positive.

Anyways, I've been on two cruises. Our honeymoon we did a Mediterranean cruise on Costa. Going on an Italian cruise line was awesome, because it was like being in a foreign country, and the food and entertainment was all geared for Italians and Europeans. Cheesy shows and activities are much more enjoyable when it's a weird Italian thing, rather than just being lame. Much better people watching, too. We had a tiny, interior room, but we were living in a tiny one bedroom in Manhattan at the time, so it wasn't much of an adjustment. Window would have been nice, but we were out late doing stuff most nights, so we didn't hang around the room. With kids, you might be in the room more, and a window might be nice.

We went on a short Bermuda cruise this summer on Carnival with the kids. We got a room with a small balcony. It actually wasn't that much more, and way worth it. My son sat outside to read every morning, since he gets up at 6:30. It was cool sitting on the balcony watching the ship dock in Bermuda, as it docked on our side. That was well worth the cost alone.

I don't get seasick on violently rocking boats, but I get serious vertigo on cruises. When you are inside in good weather, you don't consciously feel it moving, which throws me off. The first day on the first cruise, we were in the middle of dining room when the ship left dock, and I instantly felt vertigo. I was ok if I stood by the window and could see the background moving. A green apple cured it, almost instantly. The second cruise, I felt it dizzy the entire time. We hit really rough seas, and a lot of people felt sick, but it didn't make me any worse than on calm water.

As for the best deck, it depends. The elevators took way too long, so we walked. If you don't mind walking up 10 flights to get somewhere, low is fine. We ended up on the 10th deck, which had the buffet, the main pool, and outdoor entertainment. We were worried about noise, but it wasn't bad at all, and nice and convenient.

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:01 pm What are the benefits over visiting a city / beach / any place you can escape? Maybe I've just never understood the pros.

For our honeymoon, we were planning on visiting several cities in Italy. My wife felt like it was a waste of time to drive or take a train. With the cruise, you are doing stuff while traveling, and wake up in a new city every day. We did 3 days in Rome, then the cruise hit Barcelona, Malta, Mallorca, Palermo, Tunis, Sorrento and something I'm forgetting. I'd rather stay and get a feel for a city for a few days, but I never would have thought to go to Tunis, Mallorca or Malta, and those were all amazing places. We had 6-8 hours in each city, and we saw a lot. Barcelona was by far our favorite, and we definitely want to go back for a long trip, but the others I felt like I had enough time to experience the cities. They have some amazing excursions, but in most places you don't need to bother.

Like Giff said, you don't feel crowded. Our last cruise had 4,000 guests, and there was rarely a line for anything, and they use an app to check in for the main dining room. You ask for a table, and get a text when it's ready, which was never more than 5 minutes. There was always a long line at the Guy Fieri burger stand, but it moved incredibly fast. There were more than 10 restaurants on board, plus a 24 hour buffet, 24 pizza place, a bunch of bars including a brew pub/BBQ restaurant, and the beer was really good! We got into every show we wanted without an issue and no reservations. There were tons of activities for kids, and a full day camp thing for toddlers up through 16 years old.

In a few weekends I'm taking my daughter to SoCal to look at a couple of colleges (Chapman, Redlands). I've got hotels for 2 of the 3 nights (in Anaheim and Riverside), but I need to get one for Saturday night, in the LA area (we fly back out of LAX on Sunday morning). I've not really spent much time in LA, so anyone with any suggestions on where would be a good spot/area to stay with my 17 yo daughter on a Saturday night?

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:53 pm In a few weekends I'm taking my daughter to SoCal to look at a couple of colleges (Chapman, Redlands). I've got hotels for 2 of the 3 nights (in Anaheim and Riverside), but I need to get one for Saturday night, in the LA area (we fly back out of LAX on Sunday morning). I've not really spent much time in LA, so anyone with any suggestions on where would be a good spot/area to stay with my 17 yo daughter on a Saturday night?

Really depends what you're looking to spend and/or do. If you're just thinking something by the ocean and don't care about price look into Santa Monica area. If you're more price conscious and don't care that there's not a lot to do, might get some good rates on downtown for a Saturday night only (can always take the subway to Santa Monica or Hollywood from downtown). Another usually inexpensive option is Koreatown. The neighborhood can be a little on the sketchy side but is getting better all the time and has some great food options.

I stayed in Marina Del Rey the last two times in LA.

Highly, highly recommend this place...

The Marina Del Rey hotel

Really close to the airport and Santa Monica. A bit pricey, but quiet at night, we overlooked the marina and fell asleep to the sounds of gulls and seals. Close to cool stuff and funky without being too "boutiquey." Short walk to a Ralphs, Starbucks and a few good restaurants.

When I went in for "Jeopardy!" the show gave us a couple of average hotels by the highway and told us to quote the "Sony rate" when booking. My wife - being the master salesman that she is - called the Marina Del Rey Hotel and quoted the sony rate and we got like one-third off the room rate.

If you're just heading to LAX the next morning or whatever, don't sleep on downtown Long Beach either. There's a nice Hyatt and a couple other places right near the water. We got a room at the Hyatt the night before going on a cruise for like $150, which isn't bad at all for anywhere in the LA area. Plenty of restaurants you can walk to.

About a 80 to 90 percent chance Las Vegas airport is renamed. There's a definite push to get McCarran's name off the airport no matter what because of his legacy of racism, corruption and trying to maintain Jim Crow laws in Nevada.

I pretty much completely agree with the order here.

brian wrote: ↑Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:15 am I pretty much completely agree with the order here.

A good way to start 2019, fuck off with that noise.

Indianapolis is alright. If y'all could just move that shit to another state and then we could all just forget about the rest.

brian wrote: ↑Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:35 am Indianapolis is alright. If y'all could just move that shit to another state and then we could all just forget about the rest.

That’s probably true of every Midwest state, that the cities are way better than the exurbs or rural areas. St. Louis and KC are much better than downstate Illinois, so ranking Southern Illinois ahead of Missouri only makes sense if you’re comparing rural to rural.

I've also heard Bloomington is pretty OK.