OctoberKat

Luggage Forward -- Oh, that's excellent, thank you.

On 5/7/2019 at 6:54 AM, ridethetide said:

I just bought The Snow Child to take on my cruise.  Thanks for the recommendations, OctoberKat.  Happy sailing....

Would love to know what you think of it, if you have the time and inclination to post.

Thanks, sb44 and ridethe tide, for your feedback. Very much looking forward to this voyage.

Not taking the books as baggage.

Yes, I know the ship's library is "official" but I've never had anyone complain about the books I leave in the ship library, or in airports or in any other place. My goal is spread the book love. Just a personal quirk that makes me happy.

2 minutes ago, msears101 said:

I usually have the package arrive one day before me.  When you call you can make sure it is ok. No need to explain about too many books.  I am an avid reader.

Another good idea. Ah, you understand book mania. Also will have my kindle.

Um, I am bringing a lot of books, around 25 or so. At our advanced ages (heh), we find it much easier to have others do the toting. We fly from SFO.  Easy to get them from hotel to port, however, what with bellfolk and port luggage handlers.

Why so many books? I'm bringing some to leave in the ship library, others to hand off to new friends, and some for me. Plus bird and wildlife guides.

That's a good idea -- sending the box to the hotel. We are arriving a day ahead of the cruise so that's practical. Thank you.

Hello,

I would like to fedex a box of books to my Vancouver embarkation for the 18 July cruise to Alaska. The idea being it would be waiting for me in my suite when I board. Has anyone done this or know if it is possible to do do?

Del Rio -- I'll see what I can do about establishing a book cache for you. We are on the sailing immediately before yours disembarking in Seward. Details later.

Thanks to ridethetide (love the name) and Doh15 for your recommendations.

We are on the July 18th sailing out of Vancouver, regretfully will miss you, ridethetide. It would have been a treat.

That John Muir book is titled "Travels in Alaska."

Herewith more reading I enjoyed:

Jim and I are cruising Alaska this summer aboard Star Legend which will be our second voyage on this line after last summer's outstanding Norway/Iceland trip. Having previously sailed Regent and Silversea we were ecstatic to learn Windstar was flat-out our cup of tea.

As a retired research librarian it seemed natural to put together some reading for before and during the cruise. The list below represents books for which I personally can vouch. I've not yet perused this tome (it's on order!) but it looks to be a winner including narrative and photos: "The Alaska Cruise Explorer" by Joe Upton, published in 2018 so very up-to-date. There is also Anne  Vipond's "Alaska by Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide" issued in 2017.

"Coming Into the Country" by James McPhee
Preeminent among non-fiction books about Alaska is John McPhee's outstanding volume recounting cold wilderness, life in the bush and life in the Alaskan urban setting. Brilliant book in the do-not-miss category.

"The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey
This Pulitzer finalist is a captivating, eerie novel about a mysterious child who walks out of the snowy forest into the life of a childless couple in the Alaskan wilderness. A beguiling read.

"The Call of the Wild" by Jack London
It can't be Alaska (or, technically, Canada's Yukon) without a dog book and, happily, there are many good ones. Difficult to select a favorite so I'll settle for this one I first read when I was 11 and living in sweltering Panama. The story of Buck the sled dog who masters both the wilderness of nature and the often cruel capriciousness of man (in this case, "man" is not used as the collective term for humanity).  [Ask me for more Alaskan dog titles.]

"Restless in the Grave" by Dana Stabenow " and "The Woman Who Married a Bear" by John Straley
Could not decide between these two, both exceptional exemplars of the mystery genre. Flying a piper cub in Alaska is dangerous in more ways than one in this recent addition to Stabenow's Kate Shugak series. Mighty tasty read. In Straley's Award-winning debut novel a down-on-his-luck private eye takes on a case because he needs the money and plunges into conspiracy, politics and Tlingit mythology. Rip-roaring read.

Of course there also is James Michner's gargantuan (some 1,530 pages) novel encapsulating the entirety of Alaskan history; it is unsurprisingly titled "Alaska."

We had a similar great experience on our first Windstar cruise aboard Star Pride last summer ... but Norway and Iceland rather than South Sea climes. We adored the ship and the cruiseline, so much superior to previous experiences aboard Regent and Silversea.

Cruising this summer to Alaska on Windstar's Star Legend. Bringing along two friends from NYC. We are all jazzed.

Yet, sad to learn Windstar is renovating the Star ships by inserting a buildout for more cabins. We greatly prefer the current size and ambiance.

"Canal Dreams" by Iain Banks

Set in Gatun Lake during a cruise ship's transit of the Panama Canal.

https://www.amazon.com/Canal-Dreams-Iain-Banks-ebook/

Intrigue, Suspense and Disaster on Ocean Liners

https://offtheshelf.com/2017/10/9-tales-intrigue-suspense-disaster-set-ocean-liners/

Star Legend as well. No casino as of May 22nd. I welcome the expanded public space.

A bookseller giving summer reading suggestions this week on PBS Newshour recommended Do Not Become Alarmed as an exciting page-turner. However, she said you probably don't want to read it if you're going on a cruise because it's frightening. It revolves around a shore excursion that goes seriously wrong.

Maya

I read this one, too. Great reading, recommended. I think the locale, which never is named in the book itself, is Panama.

Kate Christensen's new novel is set on a cruise from LA to Hawaii. It's a terrific read with much detail about cruising from both passenger and crew perspectives. Also, very funny.

The Last Cruise: A Novel

by Kate Christensen

Link: http://a.co/d/0nngDxt

Thank you.

Thank you, Coral. Windsong looks just the ticket. Plus, I like the look of their glacier tour affiliations.

Yes, "better" is relative but Your rec looks good.

We are sailing out of Seward next summer. Would appreciate recommendations as to better lodging. Thank you!

Not everyone likes driving. One ussue is the driver gets the short end if the stick having to keep an eye on the road. I dislike having to plot driving itineraries in locales not known to me. Yet I surely would not advise those who enjoy driving to take the train instead. As for us, we'll take the train in the two-decker Gold Star class to be assured of fab views, weather permitting.

Jim and I will cruise with Windstar out of Seward in July 2019. Flying into anchorage and overnighting, taking the four-hour train trip the next day. Two nights in Seward.

Hello there, In both Kirkwall and Faroes, the weather was heavily overcast, windy and dripping. I'm sure they both are enchanting in more clement weather but that was not the case. Given that the stop at the Faroes was during the morning, departing at 1 or 2pm, it seemed poor planning as the glorious sun did indeed begin to shine ... as we sailed out of the harbor.

I appreciate your alternate experience and am glad it worked out so well for you. That's why discussion here is helpful.

I was happy with the Windstar excursions we took, no complaints there. They may be more expensive than had we booked ourselves but I was happy not having to research and, then, I confess to being somewhat price insensitive as long as I have a good time.

Very surprised and disappointed by OctoberKat's comments about Kirkwall and Torshavn. We did the similar cruise (Dublin not Edinburgh) and thought that our days in these 2 resorts were the best of the trip. The weather in both places was warm and sunny. Certainly not the weather you encountered! Torshavn has a lovely beach which was full of locals with their children and BBQs, when we were there. We walked to to a beautiful harbour/Marina with little bars and restaurants.

I think if Windstar had given you more information about Kirkwall you would have enjoyed it better. They tend to promote their own excursions and don't give you much local information. For only £10pp you can go on a local hop on/hop off bus, taking you past Scapa Flow(fascinating in itself) to Skaill House and Skara Brae (allowing you 1.5 hours to look around) then on to Ring of Brdgar (30 mins allocated there). This is run by Stagecoach route T11. The same trip offered by Windstar was $129!

The X1 bus will take you to Highland Park Distillery and the beautiful Italian Chapel.

A short walk from the shuttle drop off will take you to St Magnus Cathedral.

Anyone going on this itinerary should check www.stagecoachbus.com

The highlight of our day was sailing away from Kirkwall, in glorious sunshine, past the Old Man of Hoy.

It did help that our 1st Officer was from Orkney!

I just feel that we often don't discover some "hidden gems" as Windstar are too keen to promote their own tours and don't give you enough information, allowing you to explore on your own. This happened to us this year on Star Breeze where I almost missed out on another lovely little town, Mariehamn in the Åland Islands.

It pays to do your own research before you go. You may be surprised!

Just felt Ishould give another view in Kirkwall and Torshavn for anyone still to go.

You are so good to me, fizzy!

I'm so pleased to read about your successful and wonderful cruise. I had posted on the disabled board to wish you well and have been looking forward to seeing how things went. We plan on a sailing vessel on Windstar in the near future. Cheers to you guys.

I regret your experience differed negatively from ours. Perhaps that had to do with our booking the owner's suite. Our windows were cleaned daily and all within was, er, ship-shape.

We booked another Windstar cruise, this time to Alaska in July 2019 aboard the Star Legend, owner's canin again.

Yes, of the three lines I have cruise (including Regent and Silversea), Windstar offers best cuisine by far. Highly subjective yet I note I enjoyed my Windstar fellow guests rather a lot.

Being on the same cruise and the one before, my experience was very different. Our standard cabin was old, tired, scratched and stained. The window was never washed in 36 days. The bathroom had mold and broken cabinets, The linens were harsh and tattered, our heating was out on 5 of our 36 days, so like being in a meat locker. The extra duvet I asked for was two towels from the outside deck. So obviously your owners cabin experience was much better. The ports were great, and agree that 3 days in Kirkwall was way to much. The saving grace of this long cruise was the crew and staff. The food was very good and two months later I still miss some of the dishes. My overall feeling was Star Pride needs a drydock and overhaul. Many of the crew expressed frustration with the multiple problems and breakages, during our time on board, the whole HVaC system was lost for several hours, 3 separate times. More proof in the Pride losing all propulsion and adrift for 2 days outside New England, last week. One shouldn’t have to purchase a top of the line cabin to have something acceptable. The standard cabins are certainly not cheap!

Thank you for your kindness, fizzy.

Here's a link to our review of the Winstar cruise.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2655135