CanWeGoYet?

Yukon tour, mid june. Very warm & sunny in every port on this cruise. Only place I recall mosquitoes being a major problem was on this tour, and every time the van doors opened to let us out at a stop - more mosquitoes flew in. Big and hungry - must love the sightseeing visitors. No problem at all when I took this same tour in early may. But everything was frozen, lots of snow on the ground, Emerald Lake frozen except for a tiny sliver of green at the perimeter of the lake.

I personally find west coast cruises to be more prone to choppy / rough water. On an Alaska cruise the first & last on a round trip out of seattle can be rocky. Besides the meds, crew have told me about the green apples. Grab a couple for the cabin from the buffet early in the cruise if they are available. They help & I often can't wear the patch for more than a day or so because the side effects get too strong.

No weighing of bags, as the other posts indicate. We had 1 checked size bag & 1 carry on each, we gave these bags over to the driver and then I carried the Rxs and real valuables in a gym sized bag that had a trolley sleeve. Easy to wheel up to the National Express on top of the luggage. It was small enough to pass as a personal item - I stuck my handbag in it and was able to keep it with us for security.

I had bought tickets in advance (only going to our hotel in town, but the flexible tickets are an option for southampton too I would think) and booked the fully flexible fare. It wasn't much more and that way I didn't have to worry about making a specific time for the bus or how long customs would take. Well good thing, I wasn't bright enough to use the passport scanner properly & got sent into another line out of sight of my son. We got separated, I couldn't see where he was despite looking / asking staff etc. Huge delay before we found each other in that airport. The bus was no problem but it would have been a big issue if I had a private driver waiting for us.

I really enjoyed my stay at Park Plaza Victoria. Close to the theaters, Victoria Station and only about 4 blocks from National Express. I watched for price drops and ended up paying a very reasonable price, signing up on the Radisson site & booking through that instead of the routine hotel booking sites helped. Location & service was excellent.

I can tell you from first hand knowledge that the travelodge on Castle Way has no room safe or telephone in the room. I had made reservations 6 months earlier for a very nice room at the Holiday Inn (herbert walker ave). They cancelled my res. 5 days before I was scheduled to be there. Apparently burst pipes and no way to accommodate in any sort of room, let alone the one with the twin beds & ocean view I wanted. So that hotel does have a room safe, apparently the travelodge ones don't so I would skip that. It was a shock. I didn't know there were hotel rooms without safes or phones. Other than that, and having to ask for a room that wasn't scary looking & right off the alley - the stay was fine. It was pretty overwhelming trying to find a place I hoped would be decent, with twin beds, that close to the night before Sky Princess embarked. Anyway best of luck. I've stayed at a premier inn with a safe, but in was years ago and in Dover.

I went on an Alaska cruise last May. Not Princess, but obviously we had the whole ArriveCan thing to deal with and there was definitely no mask mandate. Most I saw on the cruise did not mask. Very few wore masks, even in the elevator. What would happen routinely is people who had been riding the elevator with no mask on, would then turn around and face the wall of the elevator if someone got on to ride the elevator with them. It was baffling - did they believe the covid germs would be confused as to not seeing a face and not know how to infect them? LOL. I mean the germs are likely there hanging in the air in the elevator even if you ride alone. Unless you can hold your breath the entire elevator ride- you are pulling the air into your lungs along with any droplets suspended. People going to crowded comedy club or seeing shows in the theater, most not masked. Not surprising that on the roll call, there was a lot of reports of people coming up positive after getting home.

We stayed at the Premier Inn Dover on Folkestone Road. I was really happy with the room, liked the restaurant next door and the price was so reasonable. Not close to the port, and there are several local hotels in this chain so I've read it's important to have the address of the one you want the taxi driver to take you to. This one was set in the country across the road from a pasture with sheep.

I had been unable to get into my cruise personalizer or log in. After seeing advice to delete cookies, I just switched my browser to an incognito window. Worked like a charm after that - no trouble accessing anything!