The aft suites have huge balconies and they are always our first choice. We have only had them on Caribe and Dolphin and both have been partial coverage
We always do the back to back beginning in Vancouver which we believe gives us the vast of both worlds and avoids having to get to or from between Whittier and Anchorage. If I had to choose I would get the longest flight over with first. For the same reason we always do Panama cruises from Florida to the West Coast since we live in Oregon
Just google the ship or even a cabin and you will find many DIY videos of the ships. Since they are not produced by the line they are generally even handed
We always tip out with envelopes on the end of the cruise or segment. We may be lucky but it has usually been the case that we have no trouble getting seats at most bars. The tables will be full and the barstools empty especially in the Wheelhouse
Your have it trucked into Whittier from Anchorage They would have all day to work on it since cruises from Whittier don’t leave until the evening to accommodate those on land tours
It seems that on every ship I am on these days the Piazza area is full of people from 10 am to 4 pm especially if the weather is not conducive to sitting by the pool
Actually on our cruise las month we did tell someone they shouldn’t do that and were told they were only touching things they were going to take a to mind our own business.
If they took full drink prices out then there would be zero left Many of us drink 8-12 drinks a day do you think they take money out of employees salary to make that up ? If we paid by the drink we would have a bar bill of way over $200 a day for the 2 of us