donaldsc

I looked at the pictures of some of the extra cost desserts. I would not want them if they were free. In fact I might not even want them if they paid me $11 per day. Those desserts look like something you might have at a birthday party for a 5 year old. Now if they had a choice of good pies I might feel differently. DON

Is there a good reason that you have to take the 9:00 flight. I would disembark as late as possible and relax getting to the airport. Bring a book w you and read it while waiting for the plane. Your plan will only maximize your stress level at the end of the cruise. DON

I would never tip anyone w food or any other specific item. Cash is king. You can buy anything w cash. Perhaps you meant to say "cash and treats" and not "cash or treats" DON

I would love to know exactly what brand and model the "deluxe" telescope is. Also the brand and model of binoculars. We recently did a small ship AK cruise where they supplied binoculars for each person and there were also telescopes scattered around the ship. The binocs were Nikons and priced on Amazon at ~$250. The scopes were zoom 20-60 models priced at over $300. I will bet that the ones on Princess are Amazon $29.95 specials. DON

My 1st thought was that you had to be joking about an $11 per day premium dessert package but you aren't. Wonder how many of them they sell? DON

We did an AK cruise in August once where we saw aurora sort of - they were so faint that they were hardly worth going out of our cabin to see them. Just a faint green glow. I also was in Fairbanks and points north one year for about a week in February or March - can't remember which month. Really intense aurora every night. If you really want to see aurora you have to plan a specific trip around them which will be very much worth it. DON

Not sure if you can get boiling water but how about bring beans, a grinder and an Aeropress - https://aeropress.com/products/aeropress-coffee-maker. DON

Which they can do only if there is space on flights. You know all the problems airlines are having right now. Also if you have booked EzAir economy class and economy class is full you can hardly expect them to buy a business class seat for you. I agree that the ad should not be an absolute "we will" but somewhere in the fine print there has to be verbiage that reads "if at all possible". DON

I had to look it up "The Dunning-Kruger effect effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area cause them to overestimate their own competence. By contrast, this effect also causes those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone, and underestimate their relative abilities as well." Where does that put me on the Dunning-Kruger spectrum? DON

I would like to try a canal barge cruise some time. My wife is fighting me on this because of the cost. Not that the Viking cruise was cheap. DON

What also hasn't been considered is that if you do get them on the ship and use them on board you might get in real trouble with the ship security people. DON

My over hyped bucket list item was my Rhone (not Rhine but Rhone) River Viking River Cruise which we did last summer. It was not that we did not enjoy the cruise. It was not that the service was bad. It was not that the food was poor although I did not think that the food was great as expected and I was not happy w the menu choices on some nights were not great. The problem is that Viking River cruises were so over hyped and everyone who had taken them said that they will be the best cruise we have ever taken. No cruise could live up to that expectation and this cruise was less than we expected. DON

This also happened on our Viking river cruise excursions. They were well organized. DON

There was another picture on the same post of a person sleeping in a hammock that he tied between 2 chairs. The hammock was certainly a lot easier to pack. DON

I will add to this post that to be completely safe you should have 2 forms. One will be a permission to travel. The second will be a permission to treat. They may not be absolutely necessary but it can't hurt to have them. DON

It is a whole lot easier to remember deck 1, deck 2, etc. than ALOHA, BINGO, CHARLIE , etc. as deck names. Bottom line that why is the deck name so important. As for the rest of the issues I have no comment as I don't cruise Princess any longer. I will say that there are other lines that are more peaceful and quieter than Princess although I would suspect that they are more expensive and would involve having you make a whole bunch of changes. Maybe change is good. DON

You have to ask? Greenland/Iceland and hopefully plan to spend several days post cruise in Iceland. DON

Surely there has to be something more important to post about than the 69 messages ( I know - now 70 w mine) about tote bags that are worth maybe $1.25 each. DON

My entire cruise history is on my computer in my photo files. I have a folder on my computer named "Donald&Carole". Within this folder are subfolders with years. Within each year is a a sub folder that identifies the subject of the folder including a sub folder for each cruise. The next subfolder is either the day number on the cruise or the locations of the pictures. Thus the pictures I took during an AK trip in 1998 of the cruise port Kodiak which might be the 5th day of the cruise would be in the folder donald&Carole/1998/AK cruise/Kodiak or day 5. I also have a folder in the AK sub folder called notes which includes the cruise documents and any notes I want to remember. Using this system all my past cruise history is self documenting. DON

That was what happened when I booked earlier for my cruise. I had no problems w excursions. No luck at all w dining reservations. I ended up calling Viking to get my dinner reservations but other posts on this thread have said that this was a fluke and calling usually doesn't work for dinner reservations. DON

In answer to your "who watched the original love boat" which most of the respondents seem to be ignoring - yeas I have watched it a few times. Even with the little that we expect from the supposedly "classic" TV series, it was a really dump, stupid show. There is lots more good classic TV out there. DON

Thanks for the response. Not sure I agree w your answer on this issue but I see where you are coming from. No reason to bother the Community Manager on this minor issue. Thanks for what you do on CC. Have a good Holiday. DON

Agree but in some instances and more often in AK if you want to book w a specific company you have to book w the cruise line. You have no choice. DON

A quick check of Google maps shows that the time from Monfalcone to Venice airport is 1 h 18m. I will add that Google Maps generally tends to be optimistic about travel times in many places. You should be able to figure out the rest. BTW - Google maps is a very useful source of info for any time, distance or location questions. DON