donaldsc

https://weatherspark.com/ DON

https://weatherspark.com/ DON

I suspect that they really don't know. However if they were told who has cancelled tips they could do the bare required minimum for those rooms and spend more time in the rooms and be more responsive to the reasonable requests of the people who reward them for their hard work. It is certainly true that tips should be included as part of fare and not cancellable. However the tipping culture is what it is on most mass market cruise lines and people who do not tip appropriately for whatever reason (cultural or just being cheap) should reap what they sew. In reality I do almost all of my cruising on upscale lines that include the tips in the cruise fare because I prefer to pay one fee for the cruise instead of being nickeled and dimed to death for everything extra that I want. DON

What they should do it is to put your tipping status in code on your Medallion account. Then when crew members see that on the account they will give the passengers the service that they deserve. DON

Just think. If we did not have tipping and maybe also chair hogs there would be no posts on CC. DON

Funny story on Moscato. We have a friend who loves the stuff. They are also cruise nuts who regularly do 120 - 150 day cruises and also B2B2B2B2B cruises. In other words she is a very good customer for the lines she cruises on. On one cruise she mentioned to her waiter that there was no Moscato on board. The wine manager sent someone to a liquor store at the next port to get some Moscato especially for her. Whenever she cruises on that line which is often they make sure that they have Moscato. That is good customer support. DON

If the saving is enough and you feel fairly certain that you really want to do the cruise, could you pay the balance when you book. That would remove the danger of a major change in exchange rate. However it would also remove the possibility of a big saving if the exchange rate goes the other way. DON

I have seen several replies on this thread and other threads about which ship has more food venues. You are on the ship for 7 days. If you assume that the food venue is important only for dinner, how many food venue choices do you need? DON

Not true. Skagway was not closed. They just closed one of the docks and some of the ships did not make it in. I believe that some of them went to Haines instead which in my opinion is a better stop anyway. I have been to Haines several times and it is a great place to visit. Haines is a real Alaska town w real people as opposed to a tourist town that would disappear if the ships stopped coming. The problem with that scenario is that if the big ships started visiting Haines they would destroy what is unique about Haines. Maybe the big ships should stay away. DON

You could rent a car and drive the haul road. Just don't rent from a standard rental place such as Hertz. There are places in Fairbanks that rent cars that let you drive the haul road. https://www.travelalaska.com/Explore-Alaska/Itineraries/Dalton_Highway_Road_Trip_from_Fairbanks https://www.arcticgetaway.com/travel/dalton-highway/ It is a great drive and you will have great bragging rights over your AK-visiting friends who are scared to do the drive. You can even stay overnight there. When we did it a few years ago we stayed in a B&B in Wiseman. Don't know if it is still open - https://www.google.com/search?q=wiseman+alaska+lodging&oq=wiseman+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i67j46i67j0i67j0i131i433i512j0i512j0i3j0i512j46i512j0i131i433.4355j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 DON

I love heavy seas and big waves. Wish that I was on board. DON

The excursions for our Jan 30 Viking Sea cruise opened today at 12:00 Pacific time. I logged on precisely at 12:00 and maybe 3 seconds and I got everything that I wanted. However some of the tours sold out very rapidly and if you had waited until even 12:05 you would missed some tours. I guess that the early bird gets the worm. We will see what happens when dinner reservations open up. DON

Are the itineraries exactly the same. in AK it is all about the itinerary. DON

We had a friend who went on one of the last Crystal Antarctica who had a very severe leg injury getting onto one of the Crystal versions of the zodiac. Stuff happens. DON

Not quite right. Note this from the NPS Glacier Bay site - Cruise Ships Viking Cunard Holland America Line Norwegian Cruise Lines Princess Cruise Lines Seabourn Cruise Line Limited Tour Vessels Alaska Dream Cruises American Cruise Lines, Inc Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, LLC Lindblad Expeditions, Inc. Un-Cruise Adventures DON

We did a Thanksgiving cruise with the kids and grandkids a few years back. What you will get is way too many kids including mine and a fairly lousy Thanksgiving dinner. DON

Does that mean that you would be happy yo accept only $10 instead of $16 worth of service from the crew. That is what should happen if you tip only $10. What $6 worth of service are you willing to give up? DON

+1 on that. I can get enough into a bag that if I hit you w the bag it would probably kill you. If I remember correctly on a longer cruise you get a free bag every 7 days. Don't forget that all Azamara ships have free laundry rooms. DON

The Love Boat was cancelled in 1986. That was 36 years ago. You would think that Princess would have buried the whole Love Boat shtick year ago. DON

Some of us are luddites. Using a complicated faulty system to open your cabin door seems to me like a solution looking for a problem. How did we ever unlock our cabin doors before they introduced the medallion? We all know that the medallion was introduced as a marketing ploy so the cruise line can track you on the ship and more important track what you spend money on so that they can send you more targeting ads. DON

Most of us figured it out w/o group help. Just tell her that if she has any questions or worries she should ask you. After all she us a seasoned traveler. Also it is only a 5 day cruise. DON

It isn't going to be THAT cold. Here is the climate data for McMurdo Station - https://weatherspark.com/y/144751/Average-Weather-in-McMurdo-Station-Antarctica-Year-Round. The average high temperature at McMurdo for December and January is ~ 30 degrees. That isn't warm but I will bet that it higher than you expected. Granted that McMurdo is not where you are going to be but the data is relevant. DON

You could go on cruises that don't accept or cater to kids. As others have suggested you could do cruises that are >7 days. You could go on more expensive cruises that young people can't afford. You could go to places that kids or at least the drinking crowd of kids will not be interested in. There are lots of options to avoid going on a booze cruise or a kid laden cruise that are not date related. DON

I guess that the sailboat owner figured that because she was under sail and the Orion was under power the right of way rules meant that boats under sail had the right of way. Surprised that the sailboat owner did not try to cut in front of the Orion. DON

I seriously doubt that they even read them or care what is on them. They are just something to make the survey respondents think that the cruise line cares. DON