donaldsc

Whatever method you use make sure that you demand a written confirmation from the cruise line to document that the cruise was cancelled. This could save you when a cruise company tries to claim that you did not cancel the cruise. In fact make sure that anything that you do with the cruise company is confirmed in writing. DON

The obvious question is why did you book this cruise. My answer to your specific question is given that it docks at 7:30 which means that you might get off the ship by 8:00 if you are lucky which then means that you get to Ketchikan by 8:30 if you are lucky - you have at best 2 1/2 hours in town. Probably even less as you will have to get in to the line for the last shuttle back to the ship. Why even bother to get off the ship? My follow up question to NCL is why do they even book this port stop except to say that they are stopping in Ketchikan. DON

I do not understand your question. Auto Gratuities mean that the tips are paid automatically w/o you doing anything. DON

There are lots of excellent choices with lines that have ships that have <1000 people. Give one of them a try. They are more expensive than the Genormous of the Seas monstrosities but when you figure out what is included in the package they are not as expensive as they seem. The only time that I will ever sail on one of the big ships is when I don't have a good small ship option or when I am taking the grandkids w/o their parents on a cruise to Alaska. People have suggested several options. My go to small ship used to be Azamara and we would sail w them again if the itinerary was right. Right now however we lean to Viking. DON

A cruise to AK is fundamentally different than a cruise to the Caribbean. If you cruise the Caribbean what is on the ship can have an impact on your cruise experience. If you cruise AK the important thing is what is outside of your windows. DON

Just my opinion but I have been to Talkeetna and it was not worth the 15 mile detour from the Parks Highway. Two nights in or in this case not-too-near to Talkeetna would be a fate worse than death to me. DON

The odds of getting into Glacier at that time of the year are much much better than getting into Endicott / Dawes. I would cancel the cruise or change cruise lkines. DON

If you type "cruise tracking programs" into Google you will find lots of options. DON

I have done 3 cruises with 4 grandkids in AK on Princess w/o their parents as their coming-of-age cruise. We don't like Princess but one of the reasons we picked them was because of the kids activities. All 4 of the kids said that the kids activities were totally stupid and did not any part if them. I agree but it was their choice and not ours as to what they wanted to do on board. Obviously Princess is not Azamara but my point is that they enjoyed their cruising experience because of what they did on the ship and the excursions they went on and they did not bother to interact w any of the many other kids on board. What you do depends upon your kids but some kids do not need a playground on a ship filled w other kids to have a very good cruising experience. There could have been zero kids on board except for them and they would not have cared. DON

Not your problem. If the scooters do not fit into the room the people should not be allowed to have them on the ship. DON

Several thoughts on your plans in no particular order of importance. I have done maybe 6 or 7 AK cruises as well as extended land trip so I have some things that I liked and some that I didn't. 1) You didn't say where your cruise started or ended in AK. You have a choice of either Seward or Whittier. I would pick Seward. There is a lot to see in Seward and the Kenai. You could easily spend several days there. In fact if I had a choice of spending time in Seward and the Kenai or in Anchorage I would pick Seward. 2) Unless you have some very specific things you want to see in Anchorage I do not think that Anchorage is worth 4 days. 3) I assume that you know that the road into Denali is closed at mile 43. The best parts of Denali are further in. Unless I knew that I was never going to get to AK ever again I wouldn't even bother to go to Denali. I certainly would not spend 3 night there right now. 4) Talkeeetna. I know that lots of people love Talkeetna. When we did our extended 3 month driving land tour in AK we drove to Talkeetna off the Parks Highway as it was only a 15 mile detour. This is purely a personal opinion but it just looked like a tourist trap to me. We stayed for lunch and then left. 5) Based on your post it sounds as if you are allowing 8 days for your land tour. If this is true allowing 4 night for Anchorage and 3 nights for Denali considering the road closure seems like a bad usage of the days you have in AK. Hope that this gives you some ideas to think about. DON

I have used Allianz for years although we buy an annual policy and not a single trip policy. Allianz was there for us when we needed them so we continue to use them. In answer to your question you need to define your specific needs. We make a choice based on medical coverage, evacuation coverage and trip cancellation coverage. To us we can self insure for everything else in the policy. DON

The whole point of doing an expedition cruise is that weather or seas permitting you get to go on land and up close w the wildlife. That is why we paid the big bucks for on expedition Antarctica cruise although our ship although completely acceptable was not fancy. I felt that a comfortable cabin and good but not fancy food was all that I needed for Antarctica. A drive by zodiak cruise is better than a drive by big ship cruise but it is still a drive by cruise. I would cancel. Of course I do accept that the health of the wildlife on Antarctica is more important than "walking with penguins". DON

We have never ever booked a flight through the cruise line. We will never ever book a flight through the cruise line. I want to be in control of my flights as much as I can. I want to be able to call the airline and discuss my flight options before I book. I want to be able to look at an airplane seating chart and pick the exact seats that I want. I want to be able to pick my seats when I book and not be told that the airline will pick my seats for me. Sometimes it takes a bit of research to find the right flight but it has always worked out in the end. Can anyone tell me what the advantage to me of using EzAir is. DON

I realize that some people need to be in contact with back home for business reasons. However ignoring that group internet speed would be close to the last criteria that I would consider in my selection of a cruise or a ship. There is a difference between "need" and "want". For most of us on ship internet is a "want". DON

You ought to try a Clipper cruise ship sometime. They are more of a true sailing ship than Windstar ecen to the fact that all the sails are raised and manipulated by hauling on ropes. You can also climb the masts and lie on the nets at the bow spirit. DON

Looking at climate data for Japan in November it appears that is at least some rain many of the days in the month of November. It also appears that it can be a bit cool then. We are going to be out on tours most of the days we are there and wet pants and cool weather would be a bit uncomfortable. Has anyone brought rain pants w them on a Japan trip? I don't want to look silly but this might be a better alternative than being wet and cool. DON

Do the isolation days when the Diamond Princess was docked but isolated in Japan count as sea days or land days. After all you could not get off the ship so they might have well been sea days. DON

What ship is this? Looks like a really neat ship and cruise. DON

You have to realize that if you are cruising under sail a port arrival time will be just an estimate. They clearly say that on their site. Just wait until you get on board to deal with excursions where the excursion signup is really low tech - a clipboard with a bunch of sheets of paper where you put your name on the list for the excursion you want. Everything else on the cruise will albe be low tech.

All of these are really not very interesting IMHO but are a bit more of the same and personally sort of boring. Try a 152 year old Maine schooner that holds just 22 people and is without an engine so she is totally dependent on the wind. She was the 1st, best and most unique ship I have ever sailed on. My 2nd most interesting would be a recent cruise on a the Clipper Cruise line Star Clipper. Again a sailboat that goes under sail as much as possible although she does have an engine and holds about 150 people. Cruising at an 18 degree heel is a real hoot. I will take sail over power any day. DON

She may be suffering from mal de debarquement syndrome. Seriously. Look it up. https://www.menieres.org.uk/information-and-support/symptoms-and-conditions/mal-de-debarquement. I sometimes suffer from it after a cruise. DON

I would suggest that you go on the WEB sites for each line that you might be interested in and write down the launch and renovation dates for their ships. That certainly should not take too long. DON

When you are in a car you stop wherever you want to stop as stay there as long as you wish. If you are on a train you stop if and when they decide to stop and you have to get back on board when they leave. This difference is the reason that I do not do trains. In other words in a car you can sightsee. In a train you only get to whiz by and hopefully see. DON

I would normally not recommend any of the mass market AK ships since I feel that any ship anywhere with more than about 1000 passengers is not for me. That said - we take our grandkids to AK when they turn 10 as a coming of age cruise w/o their parents and we always do these cruises on Princess. Not as good as a AK cruise on a 200 passenger ship but I do have to admit that Princess does a good job in AK. DON