Woodside Lady

We flew in 6 days ahead of the cruise and are touring Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula on our own.  We have a hotel booked at the Anchorage airport (not through Princess) for the night before.  We are supposed to take the Princess transfer on Wednesday.  Last night we had dinner at Fletcher’s at Captain Cook (good and fast service) and I spoke with the Princess rep there.  Her description was roughly as scary as the rep at the airport except from there you go to the convention center at 10 to get on the noon or 1pm bus.  Another company (not Princess) says they do the transfer, you have an actual reservation time and their buses have bathrooms.  

Has anyone done it recently?  We are scheduled to do it in 5 days and from what I have picked up from the local Princess reps it sounds like it will be a bit chaotic.  They said people sleep in the Anchorage airport so they can get their boarding ticket at 8AM when the first bus doesn't go until noon.  They said if you don't do that kind of thing, plan on not being on either the noon or 1PM bus.  We thought this would be the simple solution but I'm wondering if I can find another alternative at this late date and cancel it.  This is not how I envision starting a vacation.  Please tell me you have had a better experience.  

Loved your blog!  Have a great time on your next cruise.  

Arguably and legally the Shetland Islands should be Norwegian, not Scottish/English.  During the Viking Age they were Norse.  To combat the influence of the Hanseatic League, the Kalmar Union was formed in 1397 between Denmark, Sweden and Norway.  Norway was severely weakened by the Black Plague but when it entered the Union it included the colonies of Iceland, Greenland, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands and more.  Norway was the weak sister of the alliance.  In 1468 the King of Denmark/Norway (Christian I) betrothed his daughter Margaret to King James III of Scotland and, lacking currency, "pawned" the Shetland and Orkney islands to Scotland as part of her dowry.  But they could be redeemed by King Christian or his successors for 460lbs of gold or 5090lbs of silver.  Denmark has tried to reclaim the islands (which never were Denmark's to begin with) many times starting in 1549. The English would prefer to avoid that discussion altogether. The Shetland Islands petitioned the new King of Norway in 1906 to rejoin the newly formed country.  Clearly, that hasn't happened, yet, though oil-rich Norway has the money to redeem their islands.  

Danish ownership of Iceland (until Icelandic independence in 1944) and Greenland are equally problematic.  

In Akureyri, Iceland you can do whale watching from the ship as you enter the fjord and as you leave.  

7 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Maybe you were on the Sky?  Sun sails in 2024.

Yup, Sky Princess.  Guess I was planning for next year on the Sun Princess.  But every day was sunny on our 14 days in Norway and Iceland on the Sky Princess, which was incredible.  Just occasionally crowded with cruisers in ports.  

Just a heads up, there will be 3 ships in Alesund, Norway the day you are there with 5448 people.  The only other port where you have company is Akureyi, Iceland (2 ships, 5717 people).  You are so lucky.  When we did this run on the Sun Princess last month there were more ships in several tiny ports.  One day there were over 10,000 cruisers in a 1000 person town.  In Southampton, where we got off, I think there were 5 or 6 ships there that day but the Island Princess will have the place to herself.  

On July 11 and 12 the NATO Summit will be held in Vilnuis, Lithuania.  It is the most high profile event Lituania has hosted since it joined NATO.  Ukraine will again request a Membership Action Plan.  In 2008 both Georgia and Ukraine requested the same thing but NATO's response was that they "may become members at some undetermined time without any specifics of how to get there". So Russia attacked Georgia four months later and in 2014 attacked Ukraine, starting with Crimea and then the Donbas Region.  

The Baltic countries are among the top contributors of military aid to Ukraine on a per capita basis.  They strongly support offering Ukraine a roadmap to NATO membership.  Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania's former President, says "The accession process [for Ukraine] must start, because waiting for a post-war situation allows Putin to never ever finish this war.  If we really care about the security of NATO terroritiy, Ukraine inevitably needs to be part of it."  

Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Solansky has been invited to speak at the NATO summit.  

According to the AP, "Latvia's Foreign Minister and an Ardent Advocate of Ukraine, is Sworn in as the New President."  https://apnews.com/article/latvia-president-edgars-rinkevics-dac5294de31f985ab2ff447b8aea629b. 

The man in your photo with the flowers is "Edgars Rinkevics, who had served as Latvia’s top diplomat since 2011, took the oath of office in ceremonies at an extraordinary session of the Parliament, or Saeima, in the capital, Riga. He succeeds Egils Levits, who didn’t seek reelection."  The older man in the photo may be exiting President Egils Levits.  So your photos are amazing and historic.  By the way, Rinkevics is the first gay President of Latvia.  

2 hours ago, SonomaMist said:

I would too and I live in the North Bay. 

For the out of towners, be sure to visit Baker Beach, the Presidio National Park Visitor Center, a walk to Golden Gate from Chrissy Fields -- and the park at Sales Force Tower right in town.  Amazing.  Also, consider taking a ferry to Sausalito!

Or take the ferry to Angel Island.  Stunning views.  Or take the bus to Treasure Island and enjoy the wineries (and stunning views). 

My cousins are aboard your ship on the B2B.  Thanks to your blog I can follow along.  

Can you tell when activities start in the Take Five Lounge on the Fiesta Deck? I want to schedule a Cruise Critic event there on our June sailing and would prefer to do it in the afternoon but not if there is music going on.  If there is nothing scheduled there on a sea day in the morning that could be an option.  

On our June sailing we will hold 2 book club meetings.  On our last cruise I scheduled it for the Wheelhouse only to discover that they have daytime activities there.  Any suggestions for a quiet daytime spot?  Say at 2:00.  If there is a bar nearby that is a plus.  

I'm going to run the Cruise Critic book club on our June 2023 sailing on the Sky Princess.  The last time I ran the Book Club we had it in Wheeler's Bar.  This time I was going to hold it in the library but clearly that is out.  Any suggestions?  

The shampoo/conditioner combo was okay. Would use it again.  There was way too much scent in the hand soap to use on your face.  I tried to buy a bar of soap in the Princess shop.  None available.  Bring your own!  

We were on the Crown Princess a week ago.  Bring a bar of soap.  Just body wash in the cabin and too scented for me.  There was no bar soap in the gift shop either.  

We are on the Crown starting Friday and I am organizing the CC Book Club.  I’ve set the meeting(s) up for the Wheelhouse at 10am on two sea days.  Are there things going on in the Wheelhouse typically at that time?  If so could you suggest somewhere else that is less frequently in use?  Thx.  Safe travels cause it looks like you are bringing the “atmospheric river” back with you from Hawaii.  

We are sailing on Crown Princess on January 6th.  We want to buy internet for one device.  How do we buy just that without a drink package/fitness classes/gratuities/premium desserts/juice bar etc?  

First time on RCCL.  So we will bring our two bottles of wine and 12 bottles of Coca-cola on our 9 day cruise.  I presume on RCCL you can order a bottle or two of alcohol for the cabin as well.  Thinking Rum.  On HAL and Princess we usually buy a case of water too from the cruise lines.  Can all this be done on RCCL?    

If you go to Molde do the Troll Road.  Our Cruise Critic group booked a whole bus (which followed the cruise trip bus) and it was incredible.  In Haugesund, with your Norwegian currency in hand, take the town bus and get the day pass.  Went to a lovely fishing village and then continued on to the Viking Center, both for about $7.  In Flam some of the Cruise Critic group booked their "Norway in a Nutshell" trip in Bergen then managed to do the whole thing in about 6 hours.  (ferry, bus, train etc were all perfectly coordinated).  We chickened out on that one but wish we had done it.  

90%+ of your sons equipment should not be a problem.  Mask, clothing, bag are no issue.  The only possible issue is the blade which when detached is objectively a piece of metal.  You likely may have to leave the blades with security.  
 

My daughter is a lefty saber fencer and had a good time fencing in Spain during her semester abroad.  The club was well stocked with gear, including blades, but I can’t speak for every club in Europe.  

We were on the 8/15 Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, the first to require testing.  Nearly everyone I met on the cruise had anxiety attacks concerning testing, including us. By Friday afternoon we were making a Plan B (spend the week in the San Juan Islands), though we happily, finally, got our negative results.  One couple we met onboard, from Wisconsin, tested there then flew to Seattle.  Still had no results on Saturday but showed up at the dock with their luggage.  The cruise line one hour tested them there and they were able to get on.  I wouldn’t plan on that being available in the future since they are still testing/on boarding crew.  

We had appointments at Walgreens in Des Moines for one hour tests near SeaTac airport on Thursday.  As we were about to leave for our appointment we got a call.  It was cancelled due to lack of supplies.  We scrambled.  We booked 24-48 hour tests through King County in Tukwilla, a very efficient drive-through.  Church by the Side of the Road, 3455 S 148th Street/Tukwilla.  We took those tests Thursday afternoon. Test results for 2 of 3 of us were available at 8am Friday morning, both negative.

Out of an abundance of caution on Thursday I got appointments for Friday morning for 1 hour tests at Walgreens.  28817 Military Road S/Federal Way, Wa.  Cancelled 2 of them and I went for a second test.  After being tested they said I would get the test results within 24 HOURS.  That is when we started considering alternatives to our cruise.  
 

Happily at 3:30 that afternoon both sets of test results came back negative.  So we went sightseeing.  
 

Besides the anxiety, we lost a full day of vacation time dealing with Covid testing. Still it was nice to be onboard knowing everyone was both vaccinated and had tested negative within 72 hours of boarding.

Our Walgreens rapid antigen test near SeaTac was just cancelled due to lack of testing supplies.  I have another one scheduled for tomorrow but think we are heading for Bellevue College.  Sigh.  

I'm trying to decide whether to book on HAL or Princess for the voyage to Alaska in August.  I found pictures of the Nieuw Amsterdam large inside cabin which looks like it could comfortably accommodate 3 people.  I found information on the Majestic Princess inside cabins that says some can accomodate 3 or 4 people in a cabin but have been unable to find photos or videos that tell me how they accomplish that or what class of Inside cabin I should book to make sure we are comfortable.  Any suggestions?  

Ship is pretty much sold out although our TA will nudge for an upgrade if available.  On the good news front our DD was a Mariner Girl Scout and so used to taking 18 girls on their 52 boat for 10 day cruises.  This will look like the lap of luxury to her.