hockeygal54

We did the cruise tour Aug '12 and loved AK so much we're doing a B2B next August! I assume you are staying @ the Princess Lodge that is across the street from what I'd refer to a "strip mall. Jeff King has a store front there, Harley shop, Subway (open for breakfast!!), couple of liquor stores and a couple of restaurants. Several shops of course. I picked up a six pack of the AK beer with the Orca on the label and had beer to take on the bus to the next lodge! Not DRINK on the bus, just wasnt leaving it behind. I liked the first lodge best just because there were so many choices available. The second one held a captive audience and you had to get stuff there or take the shuttle all the way into Talkeetna. I think it was a small fee also. Now if you had purchased beer etc in Denali......garbage cans with ice make great beer coolers!!!

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One more report - at least second hand (or at least third hand if the ladies on the left mentioned had also not actually sailed HAL) from someone who does not know - concerning HAL's demographic.

I was just reporting the round table discussion that was had on a cruise two months ago. And yes, the ladies said they had cruised HAL.

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Yes you can. Lots more $ than home fills tho.

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My traveling companion is a little OCD, more so than me, and she is good with spread sheets. She makes a spreadsheet or two with each day mapped out and plots ports/excursions etc. diff colors for diff days. Clipped to metal wall...VOILA! Instant organization! I have a small cheap dry erase board that has magnets on the back and we clip next to the spreadsheets and write down things we want to do the next day.

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We had this very same discussion @ a dinner table for 8 on my recent partial PC cruise. My friend I traveled with is 45, I am 59 and we were the youngest @ this table I would suspect. There were two ladies to my left and if I was guessing, I'd say they were in their late '60's. When the topic of "to HAL or not to HAL", they both responded very adamantly it was a FINE line if you were in the wheelchair/scooter category! I've cruised several diff lines but now a Princess repeat offender.

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Baja balcony cabins that we've had were covered. Don't think Caribe were.

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No city tour needed.....been there done that! Just need to get to the ship and "North to Alaska"!

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Anybody have experience taking train or whatever it is from Vanc airport to Canada Place? My research indicated its a straight shot, takes less than 30" and costs $9/pp.

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I bought a bag of those "pods" when they first came out. I usually take 4-5 with me and generally use 2-3 for the 2 of us. I finally decided after our PC cruise in march I needed to polish off the bag so am now using them @ home to get rid of the old batch! I'll buy "new" the next cruise!

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We were there in Jan this year. Bad storms all week. Started in Coz, missed Roatan completely. I didn't even go into Belize but my dd and her bf did. Said very rocky. I wanted to go to the Cay area but wasnt even going to tender in, let alone go to Cays in that mess.

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And think I'd keep saying that, followed by a "ma'm"!!

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Curious' date=' Is the tip included in the $49.00?

What would be the total for a 7 night Caribbean cruise?[/quote']

 

No it's $49 x 15% multiplied x7 days.

 

 

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I'm not being snarky here, I just don't understand all the raving about the food! Sure it's GOOD but I wouldn't go all gaga about it! I personally make better guacamole and margaritas @ home but I can't put my toes in the blue water and my ass in the sand so it evens the playing field! We were there first week of Jan and weather sucked. Started out ok but quickly went south and spent the rest of the time in the dining area. Compared to lots of other places on Coz its quiet, nice and pretty. Works for me.

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Ten yrs ago come July my older dd and I were on the "Texarribean" cruise out of old port of Houston. She was 16 @ the time and I had given her the "I'm a secretary this week" speech since she had prev gotten me involved in a crisis on a catamaran when I'd had a few beers. It IS after all MY vacation but I'm not getting involved in medical clusters in these circumstances! Nothing like setting myself up for liability when I've had alcohol. These kids kept running around the pool, no parents in site, and I remarked to my dd that someone was going to fall and get hurt. Shortly after that remark, a girl about 13 came running around the decking, slipped and fell HARD a few feet from us. I looked @ my dd and said "secretary!!" Of course there were plenty of wanna be paramedics who jumped in to help. Nobody had ascertained her neuro status, stabilized her neck etc. It seemed like forever but finally "medical" came with a WC and made her get up and into the WC! Now I've never worked ER except to help out with triage and my normal focus is cardiac surgery ICU but I DO know enough about accidents and first aid to know that you always assess neuro status and stabilize a victims neck. All these "good Samaritans" could've unknowingly caused this girl permanent paralysis as could have the "medical" people but better THEY be sued by her absent parents. This whole incident took close to 30" to dissolve and the parents never were located in that period of time. Scary IMO.

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Sounds like that law needs a little tweaking for cruise ships!

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Thank you all, great info. Defiantly sounds like a great idea to get off midway in Fl. I do wonder how assessible the Carrie b tour and others for that matter would be for my mom. She pretty much stays in her transport chair as she can't walk long distances but she can go up/down a few steps and walk a short distance. (Bad knees) If anyone can elaborate on this it would help me on what tour to book. Thanks again

We did the Carrie B in March after PC trip to kill some time b4 flight home. We did the ship tour but it can be booked online in advance and just take a cab over there. Much cheaper I'm sure. I had a CB brochure I picked up but it's gone now. Prices are online I'm sure. Thinking around $12/ea. She will have to navigate from street to the boat which was under a block. The boat had a flat ramp to the cabin level which is where she will no doubt stay. The stairs to upper deck are difficult if she uses an assist device. It seems like once we got to the boat there was one step down to the main cabin. They have decent bathrooms and sell drinks and popcorn for sure. You can also bring your own water or soda aboard. It's a nice trip. I've done it several times and always enjoy seeing those big homes!

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Saw the juices on AK cruise 8/2012 in the bar area and they were in the $3 range. Plus grat OF COURSE!

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I read an article last nite that was actually published by Zoll which is a medical device company and it was in ref to AED on cruise ships, specifically RCCL Oasis. This ship holds over 6000 pax PLUS crew and they were quoted as having 5 or 6 on that ship. Disney Resorts had purchase several hundred but that was for all parks, hotels and DCL. They were not specific about how many were on the ships.

As for the Good Samaritan thing and that other cited policy, those ARE US A policies and not in effect in foreign areas or waters. I'd think twice before getting involved in any cruise ship emergency, just for my own protection.....on several levels. The minimum standard should be to @ least have barrier shields @ every public area. I'd do mouth to snout on my cat before I'd do mouth to mouth on a perfect stranger. Call me callous, so be it. I've seen too much Hepatitis of all varieties, HIV, Shigella, Noro, H1N1 and things I can't even recall or spell so that just won't be happening out in "the field"!

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If you want it empty just ask cabin steward to remove the inventory. It might be a good idea to double ck the actual inventory from what's on the fridge sticker too from what I've read here on these boards.

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A Cosmo on my recent PC cruise was $9.14 again inc the "tip".

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I think PCL needs to consider offering OBC for anyone able (or who wishes to participate) to produce a current BCLS card and higher OBC for someone willing to produce an ACLS card. Obviously their standards of employee emergency care is way sub standard and if they are going to rely on passengers to step up to the plate and save their aging population with obvious health concerns then they need to pony up a few drinks etc on the house!

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2 diff sizes of bottled water. Larger one was close to $4 as I recall. Plus their mandatory extortion fee.

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Island is sister ship to the Coral which I have been on 3x and once with 2 cabin mates. All balcony rooms, twice on Baja deck, once on Aloha. Upper berths are flat/flush to ceiling, you won't even know they're there. They have to be unlocked by the steward with an Allen wrench and if you didn't know what they were, would probably assume they're just some kind of cubby in the ceiling etc.

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General t shirt sale was 2/$20. Really good sales are as prev poster said "repo" or last run in an area I.e. New England/Canada.

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All ships under CCL umbrella dock @ Puerta Maya. It is the dock farthest south from downtown but closest to the beach clubs like Nachi, Mr Sanchos etc.

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