RuthC

I take a LOT of meds twice a day. I have the cabin steward leave an ice bucket full of ice at morning and evening turndown. It has melted into nice, cold, water by the time I need it. In the morning, there are usually ice chips still in it. This system works fine for me, and there is no paying for water involved.

I never tried that, but believe from everything I have read over the years that you have to purchase for the entire cruise. You're forgetting that the ship itself is outside the US, since it is registered to a foreign country. There is plenty of opportunity to purchase declarable goods on all those sea days. I'm not saying this is definitely a problem, but am saying that HAL is the place to ask the question, since the question is obscure, and posters are not likely to have experience with the details.

You may want to ask your doctor if renting a rollator would be a good idea for the cruise. You can just push it along as you walk, but would have a seat with you should the need to sit happen all of a sudden. If something happened, and there is a person with you, you can even sit and be pushed! It could come in handy if you do need to stand in lines in the Lido.

You must have missed where I said it was bringing your clothes into Kona that could be the Customs problem; not back to the ship. It's US Customs who might get involved. Are you aware that Kona is a tender port, and even on days when you can get ashore, it can be very difficult to board the tender? Adding in a suitcase to deal with just adds to the danger (although the crew might be helpful.) As Jayhawk said, you can get an unlimited laundry package for $7/day times the number of days in the cruise. That means it costs you the same to send laundry every day, with very little in it, as it does to wait until a bag is full. Come in from your day, change for dinner, and send what you want right then. It will likely be back the next afternoon (or sooner). But in the US, the bag at a time price is $20, not the $30 posted (unless it went up since cruising started again, but I haven't read that it did.)

As someone who has actually used a mobility scooter for the last many cruises, I disagree with almost everything you posted here. Since I began using a scooter the stewards in the Lido can't seem to do enough for me. The carry the plate, and accompany me down the line. It is very easy to see what is available from the sitting position. They help find a place to sit if I haven't staked out a spot already, and if there is no convenient place to park the scooter, they drive it away to someplace safe, return with the key, let me know where it is, and fetch it for me when I am finished. If the day ever comes when you can't cruise without a scooter, don't let mobility difficulties stop you from using the Lido if you wish to.

Tracy Arm. There's only one port that offers a tour to Tracy Arm. Several ports offer whale watching tours. Tracy Arm is a beautiful ride, seen from sea level. It gives an entirely different perspective of the glaciers than seeing one from a ship does. You will be much more impressed with the glacier when it towers over you from a small boat, up close and much more personal. If you don't see whales on this cruise, then do the whale watching out of Juneau on your next cruise there!

Could it have to do with tides?

In Buenos Aires and Santiago there are machines in the departures area where you can have your suitcases wrapped in plastic before you get in line to check in. People have been known to get into suitcases and take things of value. Or not of value, for that matter. Since locking your luggage isn't always possible, and soft-sided luggage is easily broken into, having it plastic wrapped is a deterrent.

That's what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation.

Since when? It's been $250 for longer cruises for a long time. Was the amount decreased recently?

It's easier for the HAL rep to 'herd the cats' taking the train if they are all at the Egan Center, and arrive at the depot together. I don't know which hotel you are at, but if the depot is an easy walk from your hotel with luggage, then the Egan Center is, too.

If you like Diet Coke, then you can see if it is stocked. If not, have your TA notify HAL that you would like some stocked for your cruise.

Please! Post each day in this same thread. Otherwise they get all out of order, and they are difficult to follow.

Spring where I live is rainy, and frequently a damp cold (temps in the 50s, when it's raining isn't nice at all). Fall, on the other hand, is sunny, dry, deep blue cloudless sky, with temps around 70º. You can understand why I prefer fall to spring. Summer is hot, humid, sticky, and you have to stay inside in the A/C to be comfortable. You can have it.

Only if spring and summer are outlawed at the same time. That leaves fall---the best time of the year. Especially early fall from mid-September to late October.

You should be asking HAL these questions; someone at HAL who has more experience and responsibility than a person who takes calls to book cruises. You are asking obscure questions that don't come up every day---or even every month, most likely. They certainly haven't come up on this forum since I have been reading it. There could easily be factors that people who haven't done this won't think of. One I can think of has to do with bringing dirty laundry home to wash, then returning it to the ship. In the past people have asked about bringing clothes off the ship in Alaska to mail home, and someone who knows what he is talking about suggested that there could be a Customs problem with that idea. Your thought is similar in that you would be bringing personal goods ashore in the US from a 'foreign country' (the ship, which is registered in the Netherlands). Customs doesn't know that you are returning the goods back to the ship. I don't know if that is a concern or not in your case, but it seems similar enough to me that it could be. I doubt that you will get answers you can count on here.

In Juneau, the ship is frequently docked directly adjacent to the library (it looks like a parking garage; the library is upstairs. If you are docked across the street from the Red Dog Saloon, you are at the library. Take the elevator up. You can use the computers there free. You may have to wait your turn, but it doesn't take long for one to become available.