Alaska Bound Travelers.... Paul, L, Hunter and Kyle along with Uncle Bob (UB)
Pre-planning...... I did a lot of research before our trip...which I love. The help we got from the cruisecritic.com board was extremely helpful and cost saving. Thanks to the board we saved over $300 (OBC, free wine and 2 comp for the specialty restaurant) just by hearing about the perks you receive when booking with your Amex Platinum card. You do not have to go through Amex travel but you do have to use a travel agent because you need a tracking number and they will not give it to the individual. We also saved a lot by booking our tours independently beforehand....also with advice from the board, travel websites (like fodors) and tripadvisor.com We booked through Delta cruise department after checking all the sites for the best deal. They guarantee the best fare and we used miles for the air. I had 3 goals on this trip and looked at itinerary and type of ship. My goal was to see whales, glaciers calving and bears. We were leaning toward Regent but decided on Celebrity since we were traveling with tweens.
Day 1....August 6th Weather - typical overcast rain showers off and on and cool Flight from Charleston, SC to Vancouver.....makes for a long day. Stayed at the Hyatt Downtown...nice and very well located. Joe Fortes for pre-dinner drinks. Went for Sushi at Shabusen a couple blocks away....so fresh. Each table had its own small grill were you could cook meats.
9199 was the perfect cabin...it just needed to be one deck down because of the scraping noice above