donaldsc

Is the early flight a must? Are there no other flights that leave at a better time so you don't have to rush off the ship? It would make the last day of your cruise much less stressful if you took a later flight. Just a suggestion. DON

This is the path of the eclipse through the United States. If you really really want to see it you can research to find a location where your odds of clear skies are the best and drive there. DON

If someone is ahead of you in the race to the sanctuary are you allowed to trip them to make them fall down thereby getting ahead of them. How about pushing them down the stairs. You guys have no idea how ridiculous your race to the sanctuary sounds to those of us who have no interest in this feature. The descriptions of which stairs you have to take is the craziest of all the posts.

You have more faith in people than I have. Lots of people including this bunch do things or arrange things that they know are wrong figuring that if they are caught they will claim that they wronged and everyone is against them. They knew exactly what they were doing here. DON

I guess that the answer should be to talk to your insurance agent before you purchase possibly unnecessary insurance and be sure to ask very specific questions and not the general "will I be covered?" question. DON

I typed "does Medicare cover you if you are out of the us" and got this information really quickly. Google is your friend. "Medicare Coverage Outside the United States Medicare coverage outside the United States is limited. In most situations, Medicare won’t pay for health care or supplies you get outside the U.S. The term “outside the U.S.” means anywhere other than the 50 states of the U.S., the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. This fact sheet explains some of the exceptions that would allow you to get coverage outside the U.S. under Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and/or Part B (Medical Insurance). When does Medicare cover health care services in a foreign hospital? There are 3 situations when Medicare may pay for certain types of health care services you get in a foreign hospital (a hospital outside the U.S.): 1. You’re in the U.S. when you have a medical emergency, and the foreign hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your illness or injury. 2. You’re traveling through Canada without unreasonable delay by the most direct route between Alaska and another state when a medical emergency occurs, and the Canadian hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your illness or injury. Medicare determines what qualifies as “without unreasonable delay” on a case-by-case basis. 3. You live in the U.S. and the foreign hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition, regardless of whether it’s an emergency. Remember, in these situations, Medicare will pay only for the Medicare covered services you get in a foreign hospital. "

We have always carried an annual policy w Allianz. When I had to cancel a trip at the last moment because of a cancer diagnose they treated me very well. We have started traveling again after Covid and we just reupped on Allianz. The only problems with an annual policy are that you need to pay more than the initial quote for higher cancellation coverage and the cost increases as you get older. On my most recent reup I bought it earlier than I really needed it because I turned 81 on August and if I had waited until when a time closer to my departure the cost would have higher. DON

I guess that my follow up question is "why would anyone post some of those pictures"? DON

Viator is not a tour company. They are a tour consolidator that resells tours. They don't do any tours on their own. If they are reselling a good tour to you will have a good experience. If they are reselling a bad tour to you you will have a bad experience. What I usually do it w Viator is to see what is available at a location and use the tour description to figure out who is actually doing the tour. I then book directly w the tour company. May take a bit of work to find the tour company but you can usually do it. Turns out that CruiserBruce beat me to my response. Great minds think alike. DON

I don't see why. DON

Does anyone have any idea how the new member photos are picked? DON

Another thought to get to see glaciers that most people do not think about. If you are cruising in or out of Whittier there are some really good glacier day cruises out of Whittier. I am not recommending this specific company as I have not done a tour w them but this is an example of the Whittier day cruises - https://phillipscruises.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAkMGcBhCSARIsAIW6d0DekrLPeAWA3ab1_sM9XcMqE2NWGIfIDnp_pz2a-vR5B_EvAga-oAQaAv43EALw_wcB DON

This was not the Royal but we did 2 weeks on the Star Flyer this summer and we had no problem w storage. When we got on the ship it looked as if there was not a lot of space but there were lots of nooks and crannies where you could store stuff. Our 2 large suitcases went under the bed. We followed up our 2 weeks on the Flyer with 1 week on one of the Viking river boats and there was more room in the Flyer cabin than the Viking cabin. DON

This is not the Royal Clipper but we did 2 weeks on the Star Flyer this summer and we did not see any problems. We also loved the cruise and would do it again if the right itinerary came up. DON

You might try typing "star clipper reviews" into Google where you will find some non-CC reviews w photos. DON

When we did an outback tour of Australia, we were given the opportunity if you want to call it that of trying Witchetty grubs. This is a link to the Wikipedia description of Witchetty grubs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchetty_grub. Also a copy of description of these critters "The witchetty grub (also spelled witchety grub or witjuti grub[1]) is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths. In particular, it applies to the larvae of the cossid moth Endoxyla leucomochla, which feeds on the roots of the witchetty bush (after which the grubs are named) that is widespread throughout the Northern Territory and also typically found in parts of Western Australia and South Australia,[2] although it is also found elsewhere throughout Australia." "Are witchetty grubs safe to eat? Witchetty grubs are traditionally eaten live and raw. Their meat is rich in protein and makes for a highly nutritious snack if you're tramping through the bush. Raw witchetties have a subtle, slightly sweet flavour and a liquid centre. Barbecued, witchetties are often eaten as an appetizer." I passed on that opportunity. DON

Your idea of buying a cheap dumb watch for the cruise is a good one. Makes life much less complicated. DON

Actually every 4 nights - front / back and then turn them inside out and repeat. LOL!! DON

I totally agree but still if it is a law it should be enforced. As a general thought and not just for the Real ID issue why pass a law in Congress if you don't plan to enforce it. I would add as a more general comment that most of the so called security stuff they do at airports is theater. A person with very little technical smarts could think of lots of ways to bypass their so called security measures. DON

I agree that most folks don't travel and/or fly. However if the government and the airlines make it clear that nobody is going to get on an airplane anywhere in the US regardless of the need or the severe emergency it might induce some holdouts to get the Read ID. And I mean that regardless of the emergency - death in the family, a sick child, your dog is dying, anything - you do not get on any means of interstate commerce. DON

Don't write them. Call them IMMEDIATELY. If you write them they can take their time responding or just ignore you. BTW - you have any paperwork confirming your reservation? DON

The law specified that the Real ID was required on a specific date. The law did not give the states the right to refuse to comply. If then government had made it clear that people were not going to be allowed on planes and also made it clear that enforcement was not going to be delayed for any reason the states would have found a way to comply. The effect of the consistent compliance delays by the states was that they figured there would be no negative results if they did not comply so why bother. That assumption by the states was obviously correct since the requirement has been delayed - again. DON

I just love posts like this. Give us a bit more information about yourself and your selection parameters and you might get some useful answers. Right now anything that we can tell you would be useless. DON

The government has delayed the requirement for having a Real ID drivers license again for another 2 years. That makes it how many times that they have delayed the program. One wonders why they just don't just drop the whole program completely. This is part of the reason that they give - "Several travel and airport groups worried that implementation next year would lead to confusion and chaotic scenarios at U.S. airports, as noncompliant air travelers would be turned away from boarding domestic aircraft. Although the Transportation Security Administration accepts other forms of Real ID, such as a U.S. passport, none are as ubiquitous as a standard driver’s license. “This extension will allow individuals more time to obtain compliant identification, helping to prevent undue travel disruptions and preserving the health of the aviation system as we continue to navigate the pandemic’s impacts on global air travel,” said Kevin M. Burke, North America president of the Airports Council International. The U.S. Travel Association, which had been advocating for a Real ID extension, said in a statement that moving the deadline is “the right decision” to prevent significant travel disruptions." I don't see why we should be worried about the travel disruptions for the people who can't be bothered to get the Real ID license. After all people have been warned about this for years. If the people have their precious travel plans disrupted that should be their problem. They deserve to have them disrupted. After all the Real ID program was supposed to take effect in 2008. That was 14 years ago. The program must be really important and useful if it hasn't been implemented 14 years after the required implementation date. DON

I am not going to comment on seeing aurora from a cruise ship as I have never taken a cruise with the goal of seeing them. However if you are serious about seeing them it is best to do a land trip with the specific goal of seeing them. What I did was take an almost 2 week trip to Fairbank in February times for no moon and the International Ice Carving festival. As part of the trip I went to Chena Hot Springs with is outside of and north of Fairbanks for I think 4 days. We had fantastic aurora every night. There is always a chance of not seeing aurora on a trip but the odds of not seeing them on my trip were much lower than if you are on a cruise ship. I will add that it was really cold up on the hill outside of Chena Hot Springs. DON