Alaska questions

Regarding shore excursions:
1. Frommer's Guide recommends using the ship-sponsored excursions for
helicopter and float plane excursions. The reasoning is that the cruise
line screens the companies with regard to their safety record. Other people
have told me that the independent companies are much better in that their
tours are longer, less crowded, cheaper and just as safe. What are your
views of this?

2. Does anyone know which helicopter company Celebrity uses in Juneau?. Does
anyone know of the safety records of the Coastal, ERA, and TEMSCO helicopter
companies in Juneau?

3.. Assuming equal safety records, the above companies go to different
glaciers. Coastal goes to Herbert, Lemon , or the Norris glacier. ERA goes
to Taku, Dead Branch, Hole in the Wall, and lands on the Norris Glacier.
Celebrity 's own excursion and TEMSCO land on the Mendenhall Glacier. Is
any one of these glaciers more spectacular than the others?

4.The ship arrives in Juneau at noon and departs at 11:00 P.M. Is there
time to do a helicopter tour and a whale watching tour (thinking of using
Captain Larry)? If so, do you have any suggestions as to the sequence of
the tours? Also, is motion sickness likely to be more of a problem on the
helicopter and the whale watching boat than on the cruise ship?

5.I have the same questions as above concerning the flightseeing tours to
Misty Fiords National Monument in Ketchikan. Do you know who Celebrity uses
there? We are also considering Alaska Sea Plane Tours, Island Wings, and
Misty Fjords Air. My first concern is safety. All of the web sites brag
about their safety records, but I don't know how to verify this.

6. The Toursaver coupon book has a buy one/get one free offer for Misty
Fjords. Does anyone know who they use and what restrictions there are for
this coupon?

Regarding the Celebrity Mercury, are there prime sitting/viewing areas on
the ship that need to be saved early in the morning?

Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?

I apologize for the length of this post. This will be my first cruise, and
probably the only trip I ever make to Alaska, so I want to "get it right."
Thank you very much for your help.

Richard

P.S.- Is there anything else that I should know that I'm not thinking of
asking?


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"Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the
formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?"

I can only answer this question. We were on the Celebrity Summit (Alaska)
last summer and I felt entirely comfortable wearing a dark business suit,
white shirt, conservative tie, etc.. on formal nights. There were some
tuxes, but not nearly as many as you might think. I believe a dark suit
would be absolutely fine and you won't feel out of place.

'Hope that helps.




"Richard" wrote in message
...
Regarding shore excursions:
1. Frommer's Guide recommends using the ship-sponsored excursions for
helicopter and float plane excursions. The reasoning is that the cruise
line screens the companies with regard to their safety record. Other
people
have told me that the independent companies are much better in that their
tours are longer, less crowded, cheaper and just as safe. What are your
views of this?

2. Does anyone know which helicopter company Celebrity uses in Juneau?.
Does
anyone know of the safety records of the Coastal, ERA, and TEMSCO
helicopter
companies in Juneau?

3.. Assuming equal safety records, the above companies go to different
glaciers. Coastal goes to Herbert, Lemon , or the Norris glacier. ERA
goes
to Taku, Dead Branch, Hole in the Wall, and lands on the Norris Glacier.
Celebrity 's own excursion and TEMSCO land on the Mendenhall Glacier. Is
any one of these glaciers more spectacular than the others?

4.The ship arrives in Juneau at noon and departs at 11:00 P.M. Is there
time to do a helicopter tour and a whale watching tour (thinking of using
Captain Larry)? If so, do you have any suggestions as to the sequence of
the tours? Also, is motion sickness likely to be more of a problem on the
helicopter and the whale watching boat than on the cruise ship?

5.I have the same questions as above concerning the flightseeing tours to
Misty Fiords National Monument in Ketchikan. Do you know who Celebrity
uses
there? We are also considering Alaska Sea Plane Tours, Island Wings, and
Misty Fjords Air. My first concern is safety. All of the web sites brag
about their safety records, but I don't know how to verify this.

6. The Toursaver coupon book has a buy one/get one free offer for Misty
Fjords. Does anyone know who they use and what restrictions there are for
this coupon?

Regarding the Celebrity Mercury, are there prime sitting/viewing areas on
the ship that need to be saved early in the morning?

Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the
formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?

I apologize for the length of this post. This will be my first cruise,
and
probably the only trip I ever make to Alaska, so I want to "get it right."
Thank you very much for your help.

Richard

P.S.- Is there anything else that I should know that I'm not thinking of
asking?


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.656 / Virus Database: 421 - Release Date: 4/9/2004

"Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the
formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?"

I can only answer this question. We were on the Celebrity Summit (Alaska)
last summer and I felt entirely comfortable wearing a dark business suit,
white shirt, conservative tie, etc.. on formal nights. There were some
tuxes, but not nearly as many as you might think. I believe a dark suit
would be absolutely fine and you won't feel out of place.

'Hope that helps.




"Richard" wrote in message
...
Regarding shore excursions:
1. Frommer's Guide recommends using the ship-sponsored excursions for
helicopter and float plane excursions. The reasoning is that the cruise
line screens the companies with regard to their safety record. Other
people
have told me that the independent companies are much better in that their
tours are longer, less crowded, cheaper and just as safe. What are your
views of this?

2. Does anyone know which helicopter company Celebrity uses in Juneau?.
Does
anyone know of the safety records of the Coastal, ERA, and TEMSCO
helicopter
companies in Juneau?

3.. Assuming equal safety records, the above companies go to different
glaciers. Coastal goes to Herbert, Lemon , or the Norris glacier. ERA
goes
to Taku, Dead Branch, Hole in the Wall, and lands on the Norris Glacier.
Celebrity 's own excursion and TEMSCO land on the Mendenhall Glacier. Is
any one of these glaciers more spectacular than the others?

4.The ship arrives in Juneau at noon and departs at 11:00 P.M. Is there
time to do a helicopter tour and a whale watching tour (thinking of using
Captain Larry)? If so, do you have any suggestions as to the sequence of
the tours? Also, is motion sickness likely to be more of a problem on the
helicopter and the whale watching boat than on the cruise ship?

5.I have the same questions as above concerning the flightseeing tours to
Misty Fiords National Monument in Ketchikan. Do you know who Celebrity
uses
there? We are also considering Alaska Sea Plane Tours, Island Wings, and
Misty Fjords Air. My first concern is safety. All of the web sites brag
about their safety records, but I don't know how to verify this.

6. The Toursaver coupon book has a buy one/get one free offer for Misty
Fjords. Does anyone know who they use and what restrictions there are for
this coupon?

Regarding the Celebrity Mercury, are there prime sitting/viewing areas on
the ship that need to be saved early in the morning?

Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the
formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?

I apologize for the length of this post. This will be my first cruise,
and
probably the only trip I ever make to Alaska, so I want to "get it right."
Thank you very much for your help.

Richard

P.S.- Is there anything else that I should know that I'm not thinking of
asking?


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.656 / Virus Database: 421 - Release Date: 4/9/2004

Richard wrote:

Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?

Never done Alaska, but I did spend 15 days on the Mercury from Miami to
San Fransicso, which I expect would be a dressier cruise. On my cruise
about a third of the men wore tuxedos on formal nights. You will have
no problem in a dark suit.

Howie

Richard wrote:

Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the formal
nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?

Never done Alaska, but I did spend 15 days on the Mercury from Miami to
San Fransicso, which I expect would be a dressier cruise. On my cruise
about a third of the men wore tuxedos on formal nights. You will have
no problem in a dark suit.

Howie

3.. Assuming equal safety records, the above companies go to different
glaciers. Coastal goes to Herbert, Lemon , or the Norris glacier. ERA goes
to Taku, Dead Branch, Hole in the Wall, and lands on the Norris Glacier.
Celebrity 's own excursion and TEMSCO land on the Mendenhall Glacier. Is
any one of these glaciers more spectacular than the others?


Mendenhall is certainly bigger than most others, but that doesn't make it the
best. When we went to Herbert Glacier with Coastal, I was impressed by the
rugged rocks jutting up on each side of the glacier. I imagine on a larger
glacier, you would not have the same impression.

4.The ship arrives in Juneau at noon and departs at 11:00 P.M. Is there
time to do a helicopter tour and a whale watching tour (thinking of using
Captain Larry)? If so, do you have any suggestions as to the sequence of
the tours? Also, is motion sickness likely to be more of a problem on the
helicopter and the whale watching boat than on the cruise ship?


You are in luck here...... Coastal will link up a whalewatching tour with your
Glacier flight, saving travel time back and forth from the ship.Let them help
you decide which to do first.
Sean

3.. Assuming equal safety records, the above companies go to different
glaciers. Coastal goes to Herbert, Lemon , or the Norris glacier. ERA goes
to Taku, Dead Branch, Hole in the Wall, and lands on the Norris Glacier.
Celebrity 's own excursion and TEMSCO land on the Mendenhall Glacier. Is
any one of these glaciers more spectacular than the others?


Mendenhall is certainly bigger than most others, but that doesn't make it the
best. When we went to Herbert Glacier with Coastal, I was impressed by the
rugged rocks jutting up on each side of the glacier. I imagine on a larger
glacier, you would not have the same impression.

4.The ship arrives in Juneau at noon and departs at 11:00 P.M. Is there
time to do a helicopter tour and a whale watching tour (thinking of using
Captain Larry)? If so, do you have any suggestions as to the sequence of
the tours? Also, is motion sickness likely to be more of a problem on the
helicopter and the whale watching boat than on the cruise ship?


You are in luck here...... Coastal will link up a whalewatching tour with your
Glacier flight, saving travel time back and forth from the ship.Let them help
you decide which to do first.
Sean

"Richard" wrote:

Regarding the Celebrity Mercury, are there prime sitting/viewing areas on
the ship that need to be saved early in the morning?

We cruised on the Mercury, but not on a scenice cruise to Alaska.
If you want to stay warm while in Glacier Bay, you may want to head to the
Navigator Club, the forward lounge.

I hope by "saved" you mean that you will stay in your seat while you are there,
as it wouldn't be considerate to leave things in a prime window chair while you
go eat breakfast or lunch.

I think you will find that most people will want to be inside part of the time
and outside part of the time (forward or on the side areas above the pool or
aft), so that if everyone just moves around to the varied viewing spots and
doesn't try to save seats, there will be plenty of places for everyone to see
things (seated indoors) or standing outdoors.

We had no problems moving around like that on the Veendam (our most recent
Alaska cruise) which has a similar forward lounge (Crow's Nest) and ample deck
space for viewing. On that ship, at least, everyone was very courteous, and I
didn't see any saving going on, at least not near the window.

"Richard" wrote:

Regarding the Celebrity Mercury, are there prime sitting/viewing areas on
the ship that need to be saved early in the morning?

We cruised on the Mercury, but not on a scenice cruise to Alaska.
If you want to stay warm while in Glacier Bay, you may want to head to the
Navigator Club, the forward lounge.

I hope by "saved" you mean that you will stay in your seat while you are there,
as it wouldn't be considerate to leave things in a prime window chair while you
go eat breakfast or lunch.

I think you will find that most people will want to be inside part of the time
and outside part of the time (forward or on the side areas above the pool or
aft), so that if everyone just moves around to the varied viewing spots and
doesn't try to save seats, there will be plenty of places for everyone to see
things (seated indoors) or standing outdoors.

We had no problems moving around like that on the Veendam (our most recent
Alaska cruise) which has a similar forward lounge (Crow's Nest) and ample deck
space for viewing. On that ship, at least, everyone was very courteous, and I
didn't see any saving going on, at least not near the window.

Howie wrote:


Richard wrote:

Finally, approximately what percentage of the men wear tuxedos on the
formal nights? Would I feel out of place wearing a dark suit instead?

Never done Alaska, but I did spend 15 days on the Mercury from Miami to
San Fransicso, which I expect would be a dressier cruise. On my cruise
about a third of the men wore tuxedos on formal nights. You will have
no problem in a dark suit.

I agree. On our HAL cruise to Alaska last summer there were more men in dark
suits than in tuxes. You'll fit in well in your dark suit.