Questions for previous RFamily Alaskan cruisers

[valentinos]

1. I know that the itinerary says that we arrive back in Seattle on the 18th at 8:00am and not to schedule flights before noon. Our flight leaves at 11:20am; are we crazy for booking this or do you think we’ll be safe?

2. How far is the airport from the Ship?
Thanks

[babaloos]

Last time we cruised, we had priority disembarkation to catch a relatively early flight. My guess is that you'll be fine with an 11:20 flight...but it IS cutting it close. Maybe a call to NCL (or RFamily) would be helpful? Just a thought...

[PetrieShodi]

while I haven't been on the Alaskan cruise before...i have researched the time travelling from the pier to the airport...as far as I can gather it is about 40 minutes drive. so 11:20 a.m. might be pushing it a little. If you can arrange to be one of the first off the ship you might be able to make your flight.

not much info but I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Robyn and Sherri

[valentinos]

Our problem is that the next flight isn’t until 4:00pm so we either chance it and hopefully catch the 11:20 or we have to sit around all day. I should mentioned that we have 2 year old twins and although hanging out in Seattle for one more afternoon doesn’t sound terrible per say factoring in year olds that have just been on a Ship for week totally exhausted would make it a nightmare.

[Crazy aka Cheryl]

Our problem is that the next flight isn’t until 4:00pm so we either chance it and hopefully catch the 11:20 or we have to sit around all day. I should mentioned that we have 2 year old twins and although hanging out in Seattle for one more afternoon doesn’t sound terrible per say factoring in year olds that have just been on a Ship for week totally exhausted would make it a nightmare.
I remember it being about a 25 minute ride.I remember this so well because I left everything in the safe on the Boat.Jewlery ,Docs,money, and everything else that was supposed to go in my carry on.NCL was great about it.I called them jumped back in a cab and they had someone meet me at the Terminal Gate with al of my property intact.
You should be OK with a 11:20 as soon as Customs clears the Boat you can disembark.
If you miss it 4 isn't bad.
Lori and I missed our connecting flight in LAX and spent 12 hours waiting for the next one :eek:

CCC
ya soon.:D

[Tigger]

You should be fine we booked for an 11:50 am flight. If anyone needs to book now is the time the prices dropped $100 from Mon to Wed.from Newark NJ to Seattle.

If you can handle your own bags you can select the carry your own bags option. That way you can leave without waiting for your bag color to be called. I beleive they also have an early departure option if you request it in advance. The airport is 25-30 minutes away.

[valentinos]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. We're gonna take our chances; I've also e-mailed Gregg about an early disembark

[Larry]

On the last alaska cruise. We had an 11;30 flight and made it. Turned out the 4 people from rfamily were on the same flight (michael lee being one) Just put in for early disembarkation and you will be fine.

[sharonlynn1946]

Hi all,
Counting the days till July. We have never been on a cruise before, nor have we ever been to Alaska. First's all around. Looking forward to a relaxing and friendly time.
I have a question regarding the ship and docking.
Both myself and my partner have handicaps which prohibit us from walking only short distances and we will be bringing our motorized carts on board. Does the ship dock at port in each of these destinations, or is there a tender(ferry) from ship to the dock? I see nothing on the NCL pages to indicate any type of tender, so assume they dock portside always on this particular cruise. Can anyone answer this for me? What about it, Cheryl!!!

Sharon and Beth
Omahan's

[Jan V]

Hi all,
Counting the days till July. We have never been on a cruise before, nor have we ever been to Alaska. First's all around. Looking forward to a relaxing and friendly time.
I have a question regarding the ship and docking.
Both myself and my partner have handicaps which prohibit us from walking only short distances and we will be bringing our motorized carts on board. Does the ship dock at port in each of these destinations, or is there a tender(ferry) from ship to the dock? I see nothing on the NCL pages to indicate any type of tender, so assume they dock portside always on this particular cruise. Can anyone answer this for me? What about it, Cheryl!!!

Sharon and Beth
Omahan's

We were on the Alaska cruise in 2006. We docked in all of the ports. My partner uses an electric scooter and did pretty well on board and at the ports. The NCL folks were very helpful.

Regards,
Jan

[Crazy aka Cheryl]

Hi all,
Counting the days till July. We have never been on a cruise before, nor have we ever been to Alaska. First's all around. Looking forward to a relaxing and friendly time.
I have a question regarding the ship and docking.
Both myself and my partner have handicaps which prohibit us from walking only short distances and we will be bringing our motorized carts on board. Does the ship dock at port in each of these destinations, or is there a tender(ferry) from ship to the dock? I see nothing on the NCL pages to indicate any type of tender, so assume they dock portside always on this particular cruise. Can anyone answer this for me? What about it, Cheryl!!!

Sharon and Beth
Omahan's
Ditto that.I will check and see if we are at any tender Ports.If so in the past they have make arrangements for a regular wheelchair so that you can get off the ship.At the private island they had special wheelchairs that worked in the sand. I will get back to you ASAP.
WELCOME !!!!!!!!!!!!
CCC

[Crazy aka Cheryl]

Hi all,
Counting the days till July. We have never been on a cruise before, nor have we ever been to Alaska. First's all around. Looking forward to a relaxing and friendly time.
I have a question regarding the ship and docking.
Both myself and my partner have handicaps which prohibit us from walking only short distances and we will be bringing our motorized carts on board. Does the ship dock at port in each of these destinations, or is there a tender(ferry) from ship to the dock? I see nothing on the NCL pages to indicate any type of tender, so assume they dock portside always on this particular cruise. Can anyone answer this for me? What about it, Cheryl!!!

Sharon and Beth
Omahan's

No tenders girls.Docking at all Ports!!!!!!!!!
Glad to be of service ask away..........
CCC

[Jan V]

Hi all,
Counting the days till July. We have never been on a cruise before, nor have we ever been to Alaska. First's all around. Looking forward to a relaxing and friendly time.
I have a question regarding the ship and docking.
Both myself and my partner have handicaps which prohibit us from walking only short distances and we will be bringing our motorized carts on board. Does the ship dock at port in each of these destinations, or is there a tender(ferry) from ship to the dock? I see nothing on the NCL pages to indicate any type of tender, so assume they dock portside always on this particular cruise. Can anyone answer this for me? What about it, Cheryl!!!

Sharon and Beth
Omahan's

After our first cruise, my partner Frankie and I wrote up a "tip" sheet regarding cruising with a chair or scooter. I'll see if I can dig it out and send you a private message with the info.

[sharonlynn1946]

Both myself and my partner have handicaps which prohibit us from walking only short distances and we will be bringing our motorized carts on board.
************************************************** **************************************************

After our first cruise, my partner Frankie and I wrote up a "tip" sheet regarding cruising with a chair or scooter. I'll see if I can dig it out and send you a private message with the info.
Jan
__________________________________________________ ______________________
Thanks Jan, that would be great! You could just post it here for all to see, if you wish. Anything would be very helpful.
Sharon and Beth
Omahan's

[Jan V]

Accessibiity Tips from the 2006 Alaska Cruise


If you book your hotel through NCL, call them and make sure that you are booked into a wheelchair accessible room. We did not have an accessible room at the hotel before the cruise. The hotel got us a shower seat and it worked out OK, as Frankie is ambulatory and could walk over the lip in the shower stall. As we were staying after the cruise as well, we asked that they change our after-cruise reservation to a wheelchair-accessible room. Also, I make it a point to tell hotels that we need an accessible room but do not need a roll-in shower.

You may want to bring or rent a manual wheelchair as a backup. Also, I understand that NCL will not allow scooters or electric wheelchairs on a tender. So, to be tendered ashore, a manual chair is a must. It is not likely on this trip, as we were able to dock in all of the ports.

Rental Wheelchairs: There are companies that will deliver the chair to your cabin on the ship and pick it up there after the cruise. We rented one from Care Vacations and had a very good experience. Care Vacations can be found at CruiseShipAssist.com. Care Vacations also provides on-board oxygen service. Another that I have found that rents wheelchairs is Scootaround.com.

Make sure that you bring extra fuses for your chair or scooter. They are sometimes difficult to find (e.g., 70 amp fuse for Frankie's scooter). But even if your chair or scooter uses a standard automotive fuse, you won’t find them at sea and may not in the ports.

Bring an appropriately heavy-duty extension cord for charging the scooter or chair. We could not get the scooter close enough to the electric outlet to plug it in to charge, without blocking the bathroom door. The cabin steward offered to take the scooter away to charge it, but we asked if they could get us an extension cord. The ship’s electrician loaned us one in the end. We also bought a power strip to give us more outlets.

The accessible staterooms are bigger than average and have a slightly bigger bathroom. The shower seats in the accessible staterooms are not suitable to support the weight of a large person. They hang from the grab bar and have no floor support. I don't know if they can supply a shower stool if you need one.

The elevators on the Star were long enough for a big scooter, with room to spare.

The ship was mostly accessible. It was difficult to get the scooter down the hallway on the first afternoon and the last evening, because of luggage in the hallway. Fortunately, we were in a short hallway, so it wasn’t a big problem.

All of the restaurants are accessible but some are better than others. For example, on the Star, Versailles is not fully accessible -someone who can climb stairs needs to get the table, as the podium is up a half flight of stairs. Versailles and Aqua have the same menu, Aqua is much more scooter-friendly.

The staff in Aqua were great! They gave us a table with a place to park the scooter our first night that we ate there and held that table for us every night! Also, Frankie had more help than she actually needed in the buffet line at Market Café.

The arcade was not accessible on the Norwegian Star, because of the placement of some of the arcade games.

The pools and hot tubs are not wheelchair accessible and do not have a lift. There are a few steps to each, and the pool also has a ladder. Someone who is ambulatory and can climb a few stairs should be able to use them.

There is wheelchair seating on both entrance levels in the Stardust Theatre on the Star. They are not the best seats in the house, but the ones on the lower level are better. We went to the front of the lines to wait. We didn’t have a problem with anyone accusing us of cutting the lines, as we were headed to the wheelchair seating. It’s a good idea to do this. Otherwise, the spots for the wheelchairs to park become stroller parking and the section with removable seats that are marked “wheelchair seating” get filled up with people who don’t realize (or ignore) that it’s wheelchair seating and really don’t want to move out.

Make sure that you let NCL know that you use a wheelchair or scooter when you book excursions. We also let the people at the excursion desk know that we needed a wheelchair accessible vehicle for the excursion. We had a problem with one excursion, where there bus did not have a lift or storage underneath for the scooter. I went back to the ship and got the manual wheelchair. Because Frankie is ambulatory, we were able to do this. Someone who cannot walk short distances or climb a few stairs would not have been able to get onto the bus. The White Pass train excursion in Skagway does have an accessible car, I believe. Check with the excursion desk people. Also, make sure that they know that you use a scooter, as they are sometimes thinking wheelchair, which is generally a bit smaller than most scooters.

Also, there is a lot of information online about the ports and excursions. I did some research to determine which of the excursions would really be doable for my partner. Expedia.com has good info on the ports and I found that their info was pretty accurate.

The most important thing is to let someone know if you need help or have an issue with something and to have FUN!

I hope that this was helpful. If you want more info, you can send me a private message.

[BKinney]

I have been on many cruises with RFamily and they always arrive on time back at the original port, if not early. I think you will make an 11:20a.m. flight.. Taxis are easy to get in Seattle and the airport is 30 minutes max from the ship terminal (I live in Seattle too!)