LeeW

Lots of life jackets on the island - you really don't need to lug one from the ship. Towels can be exchanged for dry ones (much lighter) on the island. Some folks have checked out towels there but this may or may not work.

Note that you can't gift them - you need to present your cruise card for the drinks (until the bartender gets to know you).

As I recall the other trail just goes higher up the waterfall. We weren't interested since it was raining. Haven't figured out the glacier viewing Bird is talking about. Didn't see any from Radiance that day or on other four trips to Juneau. Did see a few in the distance from the whale watch tour. Alaskashoretours runs a great whale watch tour that isn't crowded on the old Orca Enterprises jet boats and also does Mendenhall dropoffs. Since the blue bus alone is $40pp, cheaper to do both with one vendor. We swung by the glacier on the way back from the whale watch with the same driver we had gone up to Mendenhall a week earlier.

We've been on Harmony a couple of times. Granddaughter did like programs for teens and hanging out with friends but that will be similar on both ships. Unless there are features specifically on Wonder you want, why pay more? Also the travel to the port is farther and a bit more expensive at Port Canaveral (try goport.com). Harmony solarium had no shade, if that is a factor.

You also should check the Air2Sea prices. Prepaid items should go back to your credit card but much faster if you cancel them. Note that this has to be done something like five days before sailing.

St Maarten Mullet Beach is nice sand, calm and Royal does a fairly cheap excursion there (our next one is booked for $25pp). Most snorkeling trips stop there after snorkeling and then pause again for a while off the airport to watch planes.

The Royal folks will send a link and code to the PADI site for your online stuff about 3 months out. You will sign up for the pool and open water on the first day. I took the refresher course on Allure. Was hoping they would use the deep pool but training was all done in the 4' deep sports pool before it opened to passengers in the morning. Was cold even with wetsuit and a lot of swimming around. Other folks have suggested taking courses at home and getting a referral to dive shops in islands for the open water part. But since you are planning on taking this cruise for the course you are not worrying about how much time it will eat up on the cruise. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/24-scuba-and-snorkeling/

And local operators are good in Alaska. Don't limit yourself to just cruise line tours.

All the Royal ships have stabilizers that minimize roll. Smaller ships will rock forward/aft when hitting waves a bit more than larger ships. If you watch the horizon in the solarium you can see even Oasis class ships moving quite a bit. Slow, so not too noticeable. We had huge waves in the solarium pool on Radiance to Alaska but they were letting people into it with two foot waves. Four foot and they closed it so lifeguards could maintain the dams trying to keep water mostly in the pool. Didn't feel it much walking around. It all depends on direction of waves and wind relative to ship sailing direction. We've been on large ships with 14' waves and motion was less than small ships with 4' waves. And often can't feel 10' waves on any ship (except when walking down long halls).

Surprised your phone isn't using voice over internet. Then you just need a hotspot to make a call.

The exterior on the promenade deck is a running track, and the lifeboats sit out there and block the view from almost everywhere. A few places to look out, but smoking area out there as well.

Package is almost always $8.99pd these days, plus 18% tip.

Goport does a great job. You can also book airport hotels through them and get a slight discount.

Go BEFORE the demo. During the demo they are too busy to schedule you and afterwards there can be a line in front of you. Missed sail-away waiting for them to finish the demo. Also, if you are doing something small, like dish or ornament, the onboard price can be less than the price booking in advance. So if you want something small, book onboard. If you are making a larger object book in the cruise planner. For example, on our Equinox cruise two people price was $220 but the items we actually made (ornament and tumbler) would have been around $180 if booked onboard. You pick up your items on the next day since they have to anneal at lower temperature overnight. They were packed very well in bubble wrap and we had no problems getting them home.

Yup, drinks and wifi only show up for that account. Everything else shows on either account.

Unless you have your heart set on Wonder, why pay a premium? And do you even need an Oasis class ship? Of your ports, Roatan has the best scuba/snorkeling by far.

We used ridesas.com for a transfer. Pickup is 7-8:45 and goes directly to FLL. You call them as you go into the customs hall and they will tell you where the vans are. Cost was $15pp.

On Allure you had to wash your hands and stand in sandwich line to get them. Radiance was at salad bar in Solarium and seldom had a line.

We sent ours in normal. Received by passport office on 7 Nov and we got ours exactly 7 weeks later with both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in that timeframe. Tracking on website never showed anything but in process. Got old passports back about 3 weeks later.

Any shops still open will have lots of sales! When we cruised mid-September we got a lot of close-out deals. Land portion actually had hotels closing and winterizing after our stop.

Cruise line matters - for example Royal products don't have access to Glacier Bay. Princess/Carnival/Holland America do. Both may go to Hubbard Glacier. One way gets you farther north and more ports. You need to consider what you want to see and if you want to do Alaska interior (train or bus options). Interior is expensive but if you are only doing one trip.

Obviously visit North Pole. When we were there rode out to the pipeline (just north of the dredge). The drive east to the hot springs is very long but did see a fair amount of wildlife on it.

Price for shuttle only was $40 in September. I remember when it was $8. Partially because Park service charges these companies entry fee for each passenger even if you have a park pass.

We have been out on these boats 4 times, last time in September. A bit bigger than Harv and Marv and more comfortable. You can book with or without Mendenhall dropoff. Same company runs the blue shuttle bus from the Roberts Tram location. https://alaskashoretours.com/excursions/juneau/whale-watching-mendenhall-glacier-tour/

We have been on the whale watching only tours from these guys at least 4 times (jet boats are from Orca Enterprises) and they certainly drop off at the glacier if you want. Going north in September we just took the blue bus from the Roberts Tram but turned out when we came back south we were surprised to see that the whale watch bus driver was the same one we had ridden with a week earlier and she did drop some of our group up there. https://alaskashoretours.com/excursions/juneau/whale-watching-mendenhall-glacier-tour/