Northern Aurora

@chengkp75: Thank you so much for your post. So nice to have someone with your experience and knowledge post versus speculation.

I wonder what cruise line our OP is using. My experience last fall on Celebrity was that the responsibility for obtaining the Bali visa fell onto the passengers to obtain prior to reaching the port.

Again -- which airport? Haneda is about 45 minutes away. Our experience is that Narita is farther, and slower to reach; we flew out of Narita in 2018 and left from our hotel in Tokyo. We were on B2B cruises last month and disembarked on Sunday, April 21st. Our ship was the only one at the Osanbashi terminal. For us the line in the cruise terminal to get through customs and immigration was the "choke point." There were multiple lines and we were not in any hurry but it seems to me that it took about 30 minutes to reach the head of the line. We also quickly found our luggage, but some folks spent more time doing so. We are to the point in our lives both financially and due to the fact my husband has a bad knee that we aren't interested in the shuttle transfers so we took a cab to Haneda. The line for taxis was about 25 minutes long. The drive time was about 35 minutes.

We left the Millennium about 11 days ago after B2B Japan cruises. Both stopped in S. Korea. When we wereB2B (again on the Millennium) in 2018 both itineraries were severely impacted by two typhoons. The second typhoon impacted our itinerary early into the cruise. A number of passengers were upset that the S. Korea stop could not be eliminated. While I don't remember the exact verbiage, but the explanation provided was that Japan has a law somewhat similar to the PVSA so the ship had to make a stop in S. Korea; I have never spent the time investigating as to the accuracy of that statement. But apparently it is much easier to move crew members on and off the ship in S. Korea, so that is why a number of crew will be ending their contracts there and their replacements will be board in S. Korea.

When departing out of Vancouver we stay at either the Pan Pacific or the Auberge Hotel. Bellmen from the Pan Pacific pick up your tagged luggage from your hotel room and deliver to the porters. When we stay at the Auberge we walk the 1.5 blocks to Canada Place. Our experience, as recently as fall of 2023, was that when delivering the luggage we walked down the walkway into the underground parking where the porters were set up with carts. Porters were not outside of Canada Place but in the parking area under Canada Place. Good signage indicating which set of porters were collecting for which ship (frequently Canada Place has more than one cruise ship).

We are in the Retreat for both of those cruises. We booked within 48 hours of when the itineraries were released for booking. No savings for us. Both cruises are priced higher that our original price.

To go to Talkeetna you will need to take the Princess shuttle. Through the years there have been some posts that the shuttle to Talkeetna is free if folks are on a Princess cruise tour. I have no idea. Talkeetna is this "funky" little community. I liked it much better years ago as it now has a somewhat tourist trap feel to it. This is the community from which many of the Denali mountain climbers are flown to the mountain to begin their ascent. There are some restaurants, pubs and so forth. Some folks find it enchanting, other not so much. Just goggle the name for more information.

Cruise Critic, under "Cruise Discussion Topic" has a forum devoted to Cruise/Travel Insurance. Consider reading through the threads.

Through the years we have stayed at the Princess McKinley View Lodge a number of times. We stay there when we are returning home to Fairbanks, Alaska from either Seward or Homer. We don't like to spend a very long day driving, and the McKinley View is a convenient stop. It is located up a rather steep hill off of the George Parks Highway. While there is Alaska state park land in close proximity the McKinley View Lodge is positioned so that folks can't easily walk to any attraction. Many people see it as essentially a "holding pen" for those on cruise tours, hence the poor reviews. The guest rooms are in various lodge buildings across the property. Rooms are rather basic with no air conditioning. There is a restaurant and more casual dining facility on the property. From reading reviews throughout the years some folks find it a convenient location to do laundry (there is a guest laundry). There are some walking paths along the property, but I would not characterize them as "hiking trails." Expect a shuttle to run from the McKinley View to the community of Talkeetna. Depending on road construction expect to be on the shuttle ride to last from 45 minutes to an hour. In Talkeetna you might consider booking a jet boat trip with Mahay's Jet Boats; very reputable company which has been in business a very long time.

Since Panama Canal full transits are one of our favorite itineraries I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread. Each time we have completed a full transit we receive one of those certificates as mentioned in post #376. We receive them also when we cross the Equator and when we transited the Suez Canal last November. Wonder how many people save them -- they go immediately into the waste paper basket in our cabin. We will be B2B on the Eclipse in August departing from Cape Liberty to Reykjavik and staying on for the second leg returning to Boston. I wonder if Kelly will be on that cruise. If so my husband will be sure to attend his presentations.

We returned ten days ago from B2B Millennium cruises in Japan and we also did not see any sort of laundry bag special (such as the "stuff a bag challenge") on those cruises either.

I also am not going to speculate as to what happened, but will certainly be following this story. Several interesting reports in Hawaii print media.

I'll start a list of restaurants within walking distance and others will chime in with additional ideas. I wonder if your friend was talking about the Snow City Cafe which is very popular with locals but is only open for breakfast and brunch. Other ideas include Fletchers (located on the ground level of the Captain Cook), Glacier Brewhouse, Simon & Seaforts, Humpy's (a reference to a humpback salmon), and Marx Bros. All of these restaurants have websites which list their menus.

Did you book a refundable deposit rate or a non-refundable deposit? If you are allowed to transfer the cruise payment don't be surprised to be charged $100 per person as a change fee. And hopefully you have cruise insurance, so check the terms and details of the insurance policy. Best of wishes to you.

Given the description as described by our OP I would tend to go with an accessible Sky Suite. While we loved the bathroom in our Sunset Sky Suite on the Edge last fall there is a square tub/shower combination which is a serious issue for anyone with mobility issues. A suite would also provide access to the Retreat Concierges, which can be a great help. Dedicated butlers are scheduled to return, but even when we were on the Edge for 40 nights last fall (Sunset Sky Suite) and then on the Millennium (Aqua Sky Suite) for 28 nights this spring we always had ice delivered twice a day. And expect the ship to sail full.