donaldsc

I have not ploughed through the 80+ posts on this topic but considering how crowded the buffet often is I can't see why we should have to give up some of the limited seating to more crew members. DON

Perks can also include not quite complete finishings so you end up sharing your cruise w construction people up to having your cruise cancelled because it was not ready for sailing. The latter "perk" just recently actually happened for one line just recently. DON

There are TAs that specialize only in Antarctica cruises. You should talk to one of them. However according to CC rules we can not tell you who they are. You have to do your own research to find them. DON

Better yet try to change your TA. They are being inept. Just think what serious damage they could do to your travel plans. I would not trust that TA to try to have you buy a ticket on the Staten Island ferry. DON

One reason I use a TA and I have a very good one is that you get service when things have gone south either before the cruise or even worse when you are sitting on the runway waiting to take off and realizing that you might not make your connecting flight. Try calling your cruise company expecting them to solve that problem. DON

I would disagree with that. If the image is blurred and the field of view is minimal the Viking binocs would be worse than useless since it turns a clear but distant object to a blurry and hard to find object. Using the Viking binocs is like taping 2 toilet paper rolls together and putting some SaranWrap paper on the end to blur the image. I will add and it should be obvious from my binoc comments on CC is that I am a bit of a snob with regard to anything optics. DON

My question is why do you want to spend an extended time in Talkeetna or worse yet overnight. On our driving trip in AK we spend maybe 1 hour or so in town and then drive out. I might have been missing something there but I was not excited about the place. DON

If you just want to be able to hold the camera in 2 hands instead of one I have a suggestion. My S24 has a voice photo option - you say "capture" and it takes a picture. I suspect that you S22 has the same capability. DON

The question has been whether I should give up my spot or whether I will give it up when I am done looked. My attitude is that once I have a good spot I will keep it until I am done looking and then I will leave. Otherwise I will be there for the duration. My choice and not the choice of someone wants my spot. DON

That is what I figured. I actually went on an AK small ship cruise where they gave us good binocs which I priced at about $250 each. Each room got 2 pair which is even more amazing. They even had good quality spotting scopes scattered all over the ship. So while you gave me the answer that I expected there are a few cruises where you would not have to bring your own. DON

We are leaving soon on a Viking Search for Northern Lights cruise. Supposedly they supply binoculars. On most of the cruises I have gone on where they supply binocs they are just cheap crap and not worth having. Does anyone know the exact make, model and specifications supplied by Viking on their aurora cruises. DON

Have you ever noticed that these financial "errors" are always in the cruise line's favor. When was the last time they forgot to charge you for something? If they were true "errors" half should be in their favor and half in yours. Do I detect a sneaky way for them to get money out of you assuming that most people would not notice the "mistake" or would not bother to complain about a small "error". DON

We are off to Norway in a week. Wish me luck. I have done aurora in March on a almost 2 week DIY trip. Spent 3 or 4 days in China. We had clear skies every night. DON

If I get up early to get a good spot while you slept in or had a good breakfast I do not give it up for anyone even if you ask. The early bird gets the worm. DON

Let's assume that the lines do their best and try to keep an up-to-date files of all possible combinations and permutations of the visa requirements. Lets ignore the calculation of how many possibilities that might be. Let's also assume that they will occasionally make a mistake or overlook some strange issue that might occur. When that happens the person who is not allowed to board will scream and yell that they were denied boarding by the cruise line and post their trouble to every cruise related WEB site. They might even try to sue the cruise line. That is probably the reason that they will not do what you wish. Think about it. DON

I am sure that you know that there no "Princess Tours" anywhere but only tours that are hired by Princess. Therefore usually any tour that Princess sell you can be bought directly from the tour company often at a lower price. In a direct answer to your question we have taken the same Princess whale watching tour twice on AK cruises. The one we took involved a Glacier walk and a boat tour on a boat that held only about 12 people. The guides both times we did the tour were excellent and the most recent guide was one of the best guides we have ever had on any tour anywhere. I think that this was the company but I am not sure - Gastineau Guiding Company DON

Tell me about it. We did a 2 1/2 month driving trip in AK a few years back and we still missed stuff I would have wanted to see. I laugh when someone says that they want to see as much of AK as they can on a 1 week trip. DON

Simple solution - ask them or ask your TA. DON

Almost never. DON

Liarville is totally a tourist trap and totally fake and is designed for kids. My grandkids did enjoy it when we took them there. Without them I would not walk across the street to get there even if they paid me to do it. DON

The whole medallion and medallion does a bunch of things that you might or might not want to do. The medallion app is awful. However there is nothing wrong with using the medallion just to open your cabin door and do anything else the old fashioned way if you wish. DON

I remember when I was in high school many many years ago I had a teacher who when I disagreed w him about something (can't remember what) he sent me to the cloak room and made me stand there for the period. Your professor sounds like that teacher. With regard to his 60 years of teaching that does not prove that he was a good teacher. Remember that once you get tenure at a university there is almost no way that they can get rid of you. At least that was the way it used to be. Maybe not so much now. DON

I find it interesting but not surprising that Princess offers cruise tours early in the season that include Denali when park activities are basically not open at that time. I assume that they did not tell you of this when you booked or if they did it was in the cruisetour fine print. DON

There are lots of good private tours in every city on your cruise and almost all of them will pick you up at your ship. I just did a Japan cruise and I did 12 private tours I think. I did no ship tours at all. Use the internet for your research - the internet will be your friend. All of my private tours were better than the ship tours w small groups of 8 people maximum and were significantly less expensive. BTW - I see that you are from Australia. Most of the people on my tours were from Australia. DON

We did one of the Kenai Fjord cruises out of Seward on our last trip. We really lucked out and saw a pod of whales doing bubble feeding for maybe 40 or more minutes. They were still going at it when the ship had to leave to get back to Seward. I guess we were just lucky. Also several cruises ago we were also out of Seward and encountered what the captain said were the largest group of orcas he had ever seen. And then sometimes you are monumentally unlucky. We have the Anan bear excursion out of Wrangell 4 times so when our recent small ship cruise offered us yet another Anan opportunity at a cost of ~ $500 we declined. The people who did decide to do it ended up seeing only 4 or 5 bears including the 2 that were on the trail heading into Anan. Apparently they did not know how bad their luck was and most of them 2 were happy with their meagre number of bears. I guess that's why they call them wildlife. DON