dockman

Agree. I gave up wearing lanyards decades ago at some kids camps. Medallion goes in pocket.

Paying by check is almost always a very bad decision. Use a credit card which offers some protection as well as all kinds of cash back, points, or rewards that are easy to find with a simple google search.

To be fair i went to alaska this year july 6 to 20...from about july 9 to 18 the weather was absolutely horrible with wind rain cold and fog....speaker on board said it was worst july weather she had seen in 15 years ...sept u expect some bad weather but not so much in july...reminder that alaska weather offers no gurantees....

A quick look at one of the big online sellers shows quite a few 7 day alaska cruises from about $700 up in september 2024...lot on NCL with a few on other lines. So there are still sep bargains avail with a bit of searching...and as said prices now include port taxes...don't expect perfect weather in late sep.

It seems that often the idea is the louder it is the more "fun" the activity must be... whoever is in charge of the various games activities music could have a walk around the various venues and enforce some kind of max volume levels. Being deaf in one ear really just makes super loud even more irritating to me. I spend more time out on decks or roaming around looking for a place where i can sit and read a book or watch the ocean without having to listen to some loud background music. Last cruise i was often the only person in skywalkers around 9 am and enjoyed the peace and quite...but wouldn't you know that some people would eventually arrive and with all the empty seats and areas they just have to sit close to me and start talking. I get up and move and they seem oblivious to why did that guy move.....i guess we are all so accustomed to background music in malls and stores and elevators and all kinds of noise polution that some might actually enjoy the idea of simple quite is almost gone.

Never assume that the weather will always be good. I have done alaska in may jun july aug and sep and have had both great and bad weather. This summer in mid July was some of the worst weather ever for about 7 stright days with rain wind cold and fog. One of the speakers who is on for the entire season said it was the worst July weather she had seen in 15 years that week. July and August i believe have the best chance of good weather but again that may or not be the case.

I would like to see more tahiti and south pac cruises to/from hnl,,,

https://cruisedeckplans.com/

The least of my worries is not being exposed to enough germs. I do not constantly wear gloves, use hand sanitizer etc and do not often get sick....but to not protect myself as best i can when in hyper crowded environments like planes and some parts of cruise ships etc in my estimation is fool hardy. It would be nice if more people would follow basic hygiene and stay in when sick etc but many don't and won't.

No idea who says hand sanitizer works only 2 or 3 times then ineffective and don't see any claim like that on a google search so maybe you can share the source of that info.

Thank you. Well it also happened to be when we had about 7 straight days of wind rain cold fog...so that meant no sitting outside anyway....i even told my room steward he did not need to clean my room as i did not want to expose him but naturally he insisted to do it anyway at least once a day. At the very end of the cruise i was feeling lot better and not contagious and the sun came out for the last day or so back into vancouver so i did go out on open back deck a few times. On disembarkation I sure heard lots of coughing so guess i was not only one who caught the bug.

I would be willing to bet that if a holland server drops something he doesn't just pick it up off the floor and carry on. If he was spotted doing that he would likely get a harsh rebuke or worse. Even if he touches his face the gloved hand is not likely touching the food of anything other than the handle of the spoon or tongs and not being passed along for dozens of other people to touch. I agree it is not perfect but overall i would suspect strongly bet that the fewer people who touch the tongs the better.

No gloves don't stop airborne but IMO every bit helps...consider yourself lucky to have never been sick...i am overall a pretty healthy guy with around 100 total cruises but every now and then something gets me and so anything i can do to mitigate my risk is ok with me.

I have been to glacier bay multiple times and still overall prefer Hubbard Glacier as being the most spectacular. You opinion may vary.

Thanks for all the replies. I think my strategy for my next cruise is the gloves as well as a bottle of sanitizer. I do eat most of my meals in the buffet by choice. Maybe seems weird or overprotective to some but it is my vacation and if that will reduce my risk of catching something and spending my vacation in my room coughing for a week or so then so be it. Good luck to all fellow cruisers in avoiding any and all illness on your cruises.

yep for sure and like you i go out of my way to try and avoid any and all contact with obviously sick people as best as i can....getting sick is never fun but seems especially awful when you are on what you had hoped would be a fun vacation and then get the crud...

A holland server wears the gloves and only he touches the tongs with a gloved hand...very different from dozens of people touching the tongs with their bare hands.

Well of course there are many who do not eat in the buffet but there are also a ton of people who do eat at least one or more meals or snacks in the buffet every single day. How many people for example use the tongs to pick up a chocolate chip cookie and then use that same hand to shove the cookie, germs and all, right into their mouth? For a variety of reasons I prefer to eat in the buffet and rarely eat in the dining rooms. Seems the best realisitic defense is to wear a glove going through the line as well as use a bottle of hand sanitizer before you eat. As said washing your hands after going through the line is great but realistically if even half the people did that there would be lines at the wash station and nearby toilets. Personally I wish princess would go with the Holland buffet model and not allow people to self serve with tongs. Or what if princess had packets of wet wipes sitting on all the tables next to the silverware/napkins. I suspect that alone would reduce a lot of germ spread? I realize they do have the sanitizer dispensers around but frankly the amount of sanitizer that comes out per squirt seems miniscule and i have found many of them to often be empty.

Recently off a 14 day Sapphire alaska cruise. The first few days was great but about day 5 I felt the dreaded scratchy throat and spent the next 7 days mostly in my cabin with a bad cough and cold in spite of my efforts to not get sick. I was certainly not alone as it seemed every day there were more and more people coughing and sneezing and obviously sick. The first few days in the Lido buffet a crew member was strongly encouraging people to wash their hands when they enter the buffet line but as the days went by there was less and less of this. I rarely if ever saw anyone wash their hands after going through the buffet line. All it really takes is a few sick people go through the line and pick up the tongs with some good ole cold virus on their hands that then gets spread to all the tongs and likely to all the hands that touch them. I saw one guy who was obvioulsy sick coughing into his hand as he went down the line. When you look at the sheer numbers of people who go through those lines it is hard to imagine that several people do not spread their germs this way. Washing before and AFTER going through the line might offer more protection as you would want to get any bugs you pick up off the tongs off of your hands before you start eating or touching you eyes or mouth etc. But frankly i do not think washing after going though the line will happen as it would create a big line of people trying to wash before and after using tongs. So the question is how to best protect yourself from getting a bug off the buffet line. Interesting that people will push elevator buttons etc with their elbows or knuckles to avoid bugs or wear masks but seem oblivious to the buffet bugs? I suppose other options would be to carry your own sanitizer bottle and clean that way? But is that as good a hot water and soap? Or some have suggested wearing a disposal rubber/plastic glove while using the tongs? Or maybe use a napkin to pick up the tongs ? I have noticed on Holland where the servers wear gloves and serve you rather than every passenger dealing with tongs i seem to rarely get sick. Is it time for Princess to copy the Holland procedure? As we all know getting sick certainly can ruin most any vacation. And of course we don't live in a bubble so you may well pick up a bug elsewhere but to me it does seem that it might be time for Princess to take a hard look at how the buffet is handled. Anyone have any other ideas as to how to protect yourself?

i walked it every day several laps...depends on the wind but most days if you walk by fairly quickly it is not great but doesn't linger too long though there were a few days when it was not great...the cig smoke did seem to dissipate lot quicker but there was one guy who must have searched long and hard to find the most disgusting smelling cigars ever and it was sure his go to place.

There is a smoking area on the prom deck starboard aft with a couple of benches where smokers come and go....not a big deal except for the cigar suckers as that smoke just flat out stinks and seems to linger on the back end much more than cigarette smoke.

I absolutely detest going to any presentation by enrichment speakers or CD where they read a prepared text to me off of often poorly done power point presentations. If I want to read it then just put in online and save us the trouble of going to the theatre. I have seen way too many presentations done by experts who no doubt know their subject top to bottom but they have zero personality or presentation skills. Does anyone vet these people before handing them a microphone?

Buy an overpriced bottle of Evian...Stand in front of a mirror and see what the label says to you. Ship water is perfectly fine for the vast majority of passengers.

Looks like the old double the price and then give a small discount and say see how nice we are to give you such a big discount. I guess I am lucky that i did all the main alaska excursions years ago....a few excursions now can cost more than the price of the basic cruise fare. Of course as long as passengers are willing to pay these prices no doubt the cruise lines will continue to push prices to see what the ceiling may be. And for many an alaska maybe is once in lifetime trip so passengers hold their nose at the prices and just do it. I am quite happy having done alaska cruise many times to get off and do a few hours hike/walk around the ports which fortunately is still free. There are some good trails in skagway, juneau and ketchikan and a few other ports that can be found via online search. Not everyone's cup of tea but i enjoy walking along a salmon stream or through a forest type area.

Yes obviously have to be fit enough to handle a carry on..i am no spring chicken and sometimes i even check the carry on rather than haul it around airports too much or foolling with overstuffed overhead bins on board ...i also do a lot of asia travel where almost everyone is willing to help old people as it is part of their culture...i get called papa and get helped a lot by all sorts of young asians which is appreciated...the roller carry on bags these days are pretty easy to handle and way way better than a dozen or so years ago.. anyway yes travel light does not work for everyone but in my experience it does seem to me that a lot of people do complicate their travel by taking too much stuff on most trips. I have done around the world trips with less luggage than some take on a 7 day caribbean cruise....having been a long ago hippie round the world backpacker where you had to carry it all yourself taught me some valuable lessons in traveling light... (and many many other things)