donaldsc

Under normal circumstances the answer would be a definite "yes". However considering that the road is closed at mile 43 it is now a definite "no". I am surprised although I probably should not be that Princess has not told you about the closure. See this post - https://www.earthtrekkers.com/denali-road-closure-things-to-do/. Consider what you will not see in Denali if you go now. DON

Sometimes the best part of being impressive is being impressive in a subtle way. I own an old manual wind Omega wrist watch with the original stainless steel band which is the same model that was worn by Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon. I wear it because I like it and because manual wind watches should be worn. It just looks like any ordinary not-very-fancy watch (https://www.chrono24.com/omega/omega-speedmaster-moonwatch-vintage-1969--id25381660.htm) but it worth maybe $10,000. Most people wouldn't give it a 2nd look. I was on a cruise once and someone at the same dining table as me looked at it and asked me if the watch was what he thought it was. I was impressed that he knew watches and we enjoyed our dinner conversation. The fact that he was British and was into British sports cars (we both owned 1959 Austin Healey Sprites but his was close to original and mine was significantly race modified) made the dinner conversation even better. Life can be interesting at times. DON

You missed the point of buying a dead elite medallion. You wear it around the ship to impress people so they will give you the respect that you feel you deserve while you hide the functional plebeian medallion in your pocket. Sort of like the people who buy counterfeit high end watches, BTW on our recent Caribbean cruise we passed a shop that openly sold fake high end watches. As duplicates they looked pretty good. I did not check on the prices. DON

We are going to be in these cities on a Viking Northern Lights cruise in March 2023. Looking for suggestions for good non-ship tours in these cities and especially tours that would give us the best chance of seeing aurora. DON

Inquiring or maybe nosy minds have to ask - why April? DON

Don't know where you live but is there some way that you can take a local helicopter tour. An alternative would be to go to your local small airport and explain to them why you would like to take and pay for a short helicopter check ride. I will bet that you might even get it for free or at least by just paying for the gas. DON

I will be doing my first medallion cruise this summer. Are they actually going to charge me shipping for me to get something that Princess is going to force me to use and that I do not want? DON

What difference does it make what color it is? I would assume that the electronics knows what level you are as well as your entire life history since you were 2. DON

If I were stuck outside of town away from everywhere on a cruise port stop - that would give me a reason to never cruise on that line again. Out of town and w a short port time is not a good situation for me. DON

Where? When? Interests? Budget? DON

I would like to get the details but this would do. I can't figure out except that Princess does not give a damn why you have to jump through hoops to do something that should be easy. I have cruised with other lines including Viking where you can click on a "Print to PDF" button and everything prints. DON

Actually I do want Japan!!! We will be on the 18 day Japan cruise leave on Oct 31 2023. Any help would be appreciated. DON donald.schoengold41@gmail.com

I am trying to print the full list of shore excursions for a port so I can compare excursions off line. it should be easy to create a PDF files of the excursions but there does not seem to be any way to do it. I even tried several of my screen capture programs which also do not work. Am I missing somethong obvious> DON

Viking - small ship w ~ 900 passengers. Excellent cabin. Good food. Wonderful service. No kids allowed. Clipper Cruises - a sailboat (you can't beat a sailboat in the Caribbean). Interesting international clientele. Even smaller w ~ 200 passengers. Visits small ports that other lines do not visit. Very casual. DON

I load 25 or 30 books from my library onto my Kindle or from Hoopla onto my tablet or phone as I never know what I will want to read once I get on the ship. How much would that many books weigh if they were "real" books. DON

We are doing AK on the Grand this summer not because we particularly like the ship or any other Princess ship but because we are taking our 11 year old grandson on his coming-of-age AK cruise. We take each of our grandchildren on an AK cruise w/o their parents when they turn 10 and he is the last one. We don't think that he would enjoy AK as much on one of the small ships. I even believe that the 400 passenger Seabourn is too large. Our 3 best AK cruises were on a 50 passenger catamaran, the 186 passenger Ocean Victory and on one or actually several of the Marine Highway ferries.

I have been there 3 times - twice off ships and once for nearly a week in late October doing an eagle photography trip. Obviously if you travel and visit places people have different thoughts on the places they visit. It helps if you read this book before you visit the place - If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/107633. Even if you don't ever visit Haines this is a great read. DON

Although you did not ask about credit card usage - most places did not take Amex. If possible you should have both a Visa and a Mastercard as some places will not take both. DON

Just my opinion but I think that Haines and Icy Strait Point are better stops than Skagway anyway. Most cruises give you an 8 to 10 hour stop in Skagway. Take away the railroad and there is nothing much else to do in Skagway. Another point is that although Skagway used to be a real town it died up a long time ago until it was taken over by cruise lines. If the cruise ships stopped coming the town would dry up and blow away. It is really the most fake town on the AK cruise circuit. Both Hoonah and Haines are real towns where real people live. They are not dependent on the cruise lines. If the cruise ships stopped coming the towns would continue to exist. DON

I really like Haines. This is a good article on the town - https://createyourownroadshow.com/things-to-do-haines-alaska/ DON

But was the cap worn the way caps are supposed to be worn or backwards. I don't know why it is and it makes absolutely no sense but I have an irrational hatred of baseball caps worn backwards. The brim of a cap is supposed to block the sun and it does a good job for that. The only problem w caps worn correctly is that if you are taking a vertical picture with a real camera and not a cell phone camera you have to turn the cap sideways. What problem does the sun hitting the back of your neck cause? Just a bit of a meaningless rant. DON

I suspect that they might draw the line at bib type overalls for the men and daisy duke shorts for the women but I am not sure if even those would create a problem. As an aside you would not want to see most of the women most of the women on the cruise in daisy dukes including my wife. DON

We will see. We are doing our 1st post medallion Princess cruise in July. DON

There are lots of good WEB sites that you can use to get the weather at many locations in AK. There are fewer good climate sites however. I suggest that you go on one of them a few days before you leave so you can adjust your packing appropriately. DON

How is it easier. If I have the card I wear it on a lanyard that I tuck in my shirt or drop it in my pocket and take out when I want to get into the room. The card is totally flat so I don't even know that I have it on me. If I use the medallion I can't put it on a lanyard as easily so I am stuck w carrying it in my pocket which is a pain. I have not yet cruised on Princess post medallion so I don't yet know of any apparent advantages of the medallion but using it to open my cabin door is hardly a significant one. Call me a luddite but as for now the medallion appears to be a solution looking for a problem. DON