LeeW

Uxmal is closer, and far fewer tourists. Bus company that runs the pier shuttle does this, although getting there early is useless - in our case tour leaves once a day at 9:30. Guide was one of the archaeologists working the site. We only had 6 people on the tour plus the guide and driver.

Water and ice even without the purchased cup.

On Regal some choice has been available several nights. For example, butter chicken was on the dinner menu on 11 August. Appeared in the always available (Princess Favorites new name) section of the menu.

A RIB goes faster and can cover more area - depends on where the bergs are. You will get sprayed. All boats will have a safe distance they can approach an iceberg, probably the same distance for any small boat. Icebergs can turn over without notice so you don't want to get too close. RIB doesn't have a bathroom, and you wouldn't be able to use one in an exposure suit.

Note that you missed boarding by a year based on your thread title.....🙂

Ketchikan floatplane flights to Neets Bay will see bears, but very expensive. Likewise the bear encounter by boat (long boat ride around the island). There is a Kroschel Wildlife excursion in Skagway more likely than the Bear and Eagle Quest tour there. Eagle Preserve float (ferry to Haines from Skagway, so some cruises don't have this) is great but may or may not see bears on the river. We like Alaska Shore Tours for whale watching in Juneau, but yours are good. Haven't seen bears but lots of whales last month. Glacier Bay is different every time we go. Have seen massive icefall on Marjorie Glacier on several trips on Coral and Island. The real advantage of Coral and Island Princess is the enclosed adult pool area. You can sit on comfortable loungers in shorts and stick your head out for photos. Make sure you check out some wool blankets for the cruise and try to sit away from a door.

Ship tours with Princess were great a few years ago, but we had a couple of 85 year old twins that only went to the gift shops and guide had to go get them at each stop. Around 40 on buses and ship had 17 buses on the two circle tours. We were late getting back in Rjekavik, but we were the first bus and had the Captain's wife with us. Last bus was an hour late. Trying Iceland Everywhere for next cruise.

For hotels with port shuttles you usually have to sign up either at the front desk or the concierge. Florida prices for a shared shuttle are between $6 and $10, no idea for your area. As often as not you sit in the shuttle for quite a while before it leaves, so taking a cab or Uber is a lot easier. The Cruise Planner should have a link to Air2Sea for air reservations: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/flights/bookFlights International flights are often cheaper with this, and you don't have to pay before final payment. You can cancel these up to the point they actually buy the ticket (usually around 45 days before the cruise). Lots of threads on cruise line air, so you might want to read them before doing this.

If you have more than one person in a cabin only use one person to check out towels and it is best to do them all at once. Same person checks them all back in. The only time they have tried to charge us for towels after a cruise was when DW checked out some towels and I checked them all back in. While you can get the charge reversed, it takes a while on the phone. Has nothing to do with Icon, can be a problem on any Royal ship.

Harbor beach is pretty closed off from the ocean and tends to be murky. Clear under the bridge, but you aren't allowed to swim out that far.

Some folks will tell their TA or booking agent to purchase insurance when they book the cruise. This works if there is a possibility of a change in medical status between then and final payment. In general, as orville99 says, the insurance isn't actually purchased until final since the only expense up to that point is the deposit. You can certainly ask your agent to remove insurance up to final.

Probably easier to get a cab to the pier from the train/bus station than it is from a hotel. Even with a reservation, our cab from Leonardo Royal Grand was 40 minutes late. Could have walked to the terminal (46) in that amount of time.

I seem to recall that the stairs by the panoramic lifts don't go up to the Lido deck on Royal Class ships. Agree that buffet is the biggest difference in the classes (ignoring extra decks on Royal Class). Caribbean Sanctuary actually had some shady loungers. When they went to Royal Class they started adding more cabanas and had less shade.

Two ways to print - print the web page from browser and you get weird formatting and sometimes ads. Or click the tiny "print" link near the bottom of the blue box. This opens a clean page to print without all the junk. I save that as a PDF for the phone, as well as carry a printout.

We just dump our stuff on a chair near the lazy river. The park is pretty expensive just for access. Baha Bay has fewer slides but is a pretty good park. The lazy river isn't - has wave generators in it. Food pretty good - the cruise line tour has a limited menu at "The Market" that includes large burger, fish, chicken. DW got a kids chicken that had five large and very juicy tenders instead of the adult menu. They weigh people getting on the five person raft. Also, the two person float slide REQUIRES two people - can't ride by yourself. We found this to be a good place to go instead of Aquaventure if you are not big on lots of slides.

Last time we were on Harmony, they had a donut area across from the Dog House on deck 6. Our assistant waiter worked there during mornings and told us the donuts there were made fresh in the Dog House kitchen while the ones in the buffet were made overnight. Much better (plus he went in the back room and got a fresh tray for us). Solarium has less shade than other Oasis class ships, but there is some by the Solarium Bar. The Solarium Bistro is a good place for breakfast - much less crowded than Windjammer. You can also access the wings above the bridge from the Solarium. Escape the Rubicon escape room is extra charge. So are the ship tours. We share a single internet login. We have never bought a specialty dining meal, although sometimes at dinner we will order the Chops filet (around $12-16). If specialty dining isn't selling the staff will wander around the ship with discounts. Lots of free food outlets on this ship. Seating for shows will open 45 minutes before the show if you have a reservation. You can reserve production show, water show and ice show in advance of sailing. Best seating in ice show is mid-side, and right side isn't used for suites/key/high Crown&Anchor. They will sometimes add another ice or water show during the cruise, no reservations. The biggest thing you will notice about Royal is they close the buffet between breakfast/lunch/dinner. Totally unlike Princess. So coming back from an excursion might not have anything significant open.

Have never seen a line for anyone to enter the terminal in San Juan, just a long line of vehicles trying to get down that narrow road to the port. Get there around 1030 and you will likely walk on without the Key. Key gives you internet for each person in the cabin, a lunch, carry-on delivered to your cabin and some special reserved time on the flowrider. Maybe some semi-reserved seating in the theater (which isn't necessarily in a great location). Pretty expensive for what you get.

If you get a chance, visit the Kon Tiki Museum in Oslo. Especially if you have read the Thor Heyerdahl books about the Pacific Islands. And Oslo Pass gives you a lot of places to see for one price.

We did the North Cape Express last year. Quick stop at a town and native trading post, then a lot of time at North Cape. Waffles! Kind of weird that bus leaves you there, gets another group, and then picks you up but your guide stays behind at North Cape to organize things. https://northcapetours.com/en/northcapeexpress Don't trust the packaged T-shirt sizes at North Cape. Adult XL might fit an adult S.

Yup. Liberty was at the middle terminal, 19. Return was to 18. Easy walk to either, provided not raining. The real catch for the OP is where the Apex is. Terminal 25 is great, 29 not so great.

Took this a couple of weeks ago. Great trip and lots of whales: https://alaskashoretours.com/tours/juneau/wildlife_whale-watching/whale-watching-tour They do 3 1/2 hour trips and were doing three trips a day when we were there. Suggest you call them.

Did trip to Seward a couple of weeks ago. You drop your luggage in the tent outside the Anchorage station and if it has tags for a hotel they deliver there or tags for cruise ship deliver there. No charge (can tip if you like). If you don't tag it, you MUST pick luggage up at the station. Whittier pier is adjacent to the train stop so very easy for them to handle luggage. Seward pier is around 1/2 mile, so they have to truck luggage to the ship. They had signs in the luggage tent about Holland America and Princess, so no reason to believe they wouldn't transfer stuff to the ship in Whittier. But even if they didn't, your walk between the train and cruise terminal is only around 100'. No station in Whittier, so they would have to throw luggage on racks and have a couple hundred people milling around trying to find theirs. I'm not convinced that luggage actually went on the train. We saw them loading a luggage car with a forklift, but we also saw them loading a truck. When we did train to Princess Lodges a few years ago luggage went by truck (but that was a Princess land tour).

Note that the White Pass railcars are restored antiques. Narrow wood seats not particularly comfortable on the incline. Historic. Have done it a couple of times but now prefer Dyea Dave tour to Emerald Lake.

Direct train leaves Anchorage at 0645 (checkin 0545). They haul your luggage directly to the ship in Seward and you have about 1/2 mile walk or shuttle ride. Arrive in Seward at 1120. We booked the Goldstar Service. Includes food, two adult drinks, soda, and dedicated outdoor platform. Kids loved dome views. We considered this an excursion - pretty expensive. You do get to the ship before the cruise line transfers and most of the private buses. Hilton hotel is 3/4 block up gentle hill from train station. Decent food, near to shopping and small indoor pool. Anchorage had a really great 4th July party with parade, carnival rides, and a ton of food trucks.

Glacier Discovery rail leaves Anchorage station at 945 and arrives just after noon in Whittier. Think the Phillips 26 Glacier cruise leaves at 1230 (it is possible that they coordinate their departure to the rail arrival, contact them). The cruise gets back at around 6, so easy to get on a ship in time for dinner. Note that rail stop, Phillips and cruise docs are within a few hundred feet of each other and easy to drop luggage there. When we took the train to Seward, we checked our luggage in Anchorage and they delivered it to the ship. That train leaves at 645 am, so we walked downhill from the Hilton to the rail station. Highly recommend Hilton - food good, nice swimming pool, easy access to rail and downtown.