donaldsc

The answer to that question is purely subjective but for me assuming that the itinerary is the same in almost every case any small ship is much much better than any monstrosities of the seas larger ships. DON

Per day?? DON

The best side is outside on the open deck. DON

When we did the haul road I rented a car from Arctic Outfitters. The price was very reasonable and the drive was easy to do and you will also have bragging rights for a trip that few of your friends will ever do. If you have enough time you can even stay overnight in Wiseman, DON All rates are for our Ford Escapes, or similar vehicle. SPRING & SUMMER SEASON DATES: April 22, 2023 through August 20, 2023 Daily rates will vary by number of days (rentals are by the calendar day, NOT by 24 hour periods): # Days 1 Day 2 Days 3 Days 4+ Days EARLY SPRING April 22 - May 20 $219 / day $189 / day $179 / day $169 / day SPRING May 21 - June 17 $249 / day $219 / day $209 / day $199 / day SUMMER June 18 - August 20 $269 / day $239 / day $229 / day $219 / day

I knew a person who traveled with his stuff in a soiled looking diaper bag with a couple of clean soiled looking diapers hanging out of them. His stuff was never touched. Problem is that we are in our 80's so I am not sure that this would fool too many thieves. How much would a good replacement value camera insurance policy cost you so at least you will be covered in case of loss. DON

First a message to the OP - you are way over thinking a very simple issue with a very simple answer - don't worry about it. Now to my Quantum Physics response. I managed the laboratory of the Las Vegas wastewater treatment plant in my career. In other words - we managed poop. I can talk a lot about poop. One of the ways that Las Vegas gets more use out of our limited Colorado River water allotment is called recycle credits. What that means is that if we return sewage water back to the Colorado River it doesn't count against our allotment. The important thing however is that the sewage water has to be cleaned up sufficiently enough so it is as clean or sometimes cleaner that the stuff the we took out of the river. One of the jobs of my lab was to ensure that our recycle water met those requirements. I would love to see the look on the faces of tree hugging Californians at our table when I told them that they were drinking the water that came out of my toilet. DON

I am also in my early 80's. Don't care about fellow HS attendees. Never have cared for decades. DON

hodophilia Definition hodophilia rate (Adult / Slang) Sexual arousal from traveling to new or strange places. ETYMOLOGY: From the Greek hodos meaning path, and philia , attachment to. DON

How many people actually care about any of the people they went to school with many many years ago. I will bet very few. I sure don't. The only reason that the schools care about me is when they send me begging letters. DON

If I faked quantum physics who would know. What is the odds of sharing a table w a real quantum physicist? LOL!!

Sitka is a great place to visit w lots of places you can walk to. It will be a shame when more of the genormous of the seas start coming there and ruin the place. DON

Does Radiance go to Glacier Bay, If they don't go there they are a bad choice. Also you have not posted the itinerary for any of the cruises and I am not going to bother to look them up. However itinerary is a very very very importance consideration when doing AK. It is more important than any other consideration in my opinion. DON

Just remember that any glacier landing is very weather dependent so have a plan B for any day that you have a helicopter tour. DON

We are seniors and when we took our grandkids to the lumberjack show both they and us enjoyed the show. It is totally hokey and I am sure that the competition is also fake but it was still fun to watch. DON

I realize that kids vary and I also realize that being 9 years old is significantly different from being 10 or 11 years old. However we take our grandkids on an AK trip when they turn 10 w/o their parents as a rite of passage. We said that they could do anything that they wanted including going to the kids club if they wished. Both the 10 and 11 year old gave us the unsolicited by their grandparents comment that they were in AK so why would they want to do the boring activities in the kids club. MistyRo might be surprised at what her 9 year old will want to do on the ship. Also if Misty is a grandparent and not a parent (it wasn't clear from the post) you might try doing what we do. We have done 3 grandchild cruises to AK and every one of them was a total joy for both the grandkid and the grandparent. DON

For future reference a good TA or actually any TA could also do it for you. Having a good TA is also useful when problem issues crop up that have to be dealt w and the cruise line doesn't want to do anything. DON

My android phone also can be used when we travel. However often a simple old fashioned solution is easier to use. My simple alarm clock is such a solution. It is also easier to see at night and it never needs to be kept charged. DON

We are doing a Viking Norway cruise in March. We have overnights in Tromso and in Alta so I plan to stay out all night. Any suggestions for tour companies that do a good long aurora tour would be appreciated. Also we need to plan for what we will do during the day besides sleeping late because of our nighttime aurora excursions. Any thoughts. DON

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