LeeW

As of Feb 2023 no video poker on Voyager. Lots of space dedicated to Asian game tables, but they are just taking up space. Slots are almost all generic slots with different screens - very few recognizable. They are losing a lot of money that isn't being spent.

The normal dropoff is all the way across the large field where people fly kites. Maybe 1/4 mile although fairly flat. Long way in heat. Lots of steep stairs and ramps inside fort as well. There is a steep drive up the left side that employees use. You might want to call the fort directly - it is a US national historic site. https://www.nps.gov/saju/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm If you have a national park pass make sure you take it.

We bought really nice light fleece jackets in the flea market by the Bryggen docks around 5 years ago for around $30. Looking forward to getting new ones next trip!

Obviously they can't do as many shows in 3 or 4 days vs a week. But all the shows should run at least one day each. If you do both 3 and 4 day then you can pick up shows you missed on the second cruise. Since this is an extension of another cruise you may have already seen them. Headliner may be different depending on headliner's schedule.

There is a hotel in the airport, but unlikely any restaurants are open late at night.

We normally book first available time and get in line around 6:30. On Symphony the host will walk up and down both res and non-res lines and ask if anyone wants to be seated now in the other dining room. We just wait for the table we are used to. Longest wait was around 30 minutes but normally no wait once they get a large number of the first seating people out and get the tables reset. And yes, the non-res line can move faster because people in the other line are often waiting for a particular table.

D gets 4 drinks a day, D+ gets 5 a day, Pin gets 6 a day. We seldom use all our status drinks but you can redeem them before 5am the next morning like this.

6 wristbands included.

Can't help with the work, but for flying we do multiple cruises on one flight. Is there a 3 day that one of you could go on within a day of your March cruise? Both of you don't have to go to get the points and status for all of you. Of course this depends on whether you can change flights for free or low cost.

Haven't used Global Entry kiosks at all since restart. All the ports had you do a face scan if you had a passport. Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral. Haven't been to San Juan since restart.

Have had a few cases where typing or using the logout.com link goes to external site and doesn't log off locally in the onboardicafe.com site. Sometimes need to go to an incognito browser to do it. Probably an issue with the cache.

Pearl Island has a nice sheltered beach but is somewhat smaller than Blue Lagoon. A few toys like kids kayaks. Pretty good food. Great snorkeling area although dangerous if waves are running (we have seen boats come in to use it but leave due to waves). Balmoral Island is nice, especially if you spring for a cabana. Again, beach is fine for kids. Food good. Nice pools. And it does have dolphins.

Getting on and off smaller ship much easier at ports. Unless you want to stand outside all the time, you need a ship with good interior viewing areas. Smaller ships better for this.

Lots of life jackets on the island - you really don't need to lug one from the ship. Towels can be exchanged for dry ones (much lighter) on the island. Some folks have checked out towels there but this may or may not work.

Note that you can't gift them - you need to present your cruise card for the drinks (until the bartender gets to know you).

As I recall the other trail just goes higher up the waterfall. We weren't interested since it was raining. Haven't figured out the glacier viewing Bird is talking about. Didn't see any from Radiance that day or on other four trips to Juneau. Did see a few in the distance from the whale watch tour. Alaskashoretours runs a great whale watch tour that isn't crowded on the old Orca Enterprises jet boats and also does Mendenhall dropoffs. Since the blue bus alone is $40pp, cheaper to do both with one vendor. We swung by the glacier on the way back from the whale watch with the same driver we had gone up to Mendenhall a week earlier.

We've been on Harmony a couple of times. Granddaughter did like programs for teens and hanging out with friends but that will be similar on both ships. Unless there are features specifically on Wonder you want, why pay more? Also the travel to the port is farther and a bit more expensive at Port Canaveral (try goport.com). Harmony solarium had no shade, if that is a factor.

You also should check the Air2Sea prices. Prepaid items should go back to your credit card but much faster if you cancel them. Note that this has to be done something like five days before sailing.

St Maarten Mullet Beach is nice sand, calm and Royal does a fairly cheap excursion there (our next one is booked for $25pp). Most snorkeling trips stop there after snorkeling and then pause again for a while off the airport to watch planes.

The Royal folks will send a link and code to the PADI site for your online stuff about 3 months out. You will sign up for the pool and open water on the first day. I took the refresher course on Allure. Was hoping they would use the deep pool but training was all done in the 4' deep sports pool before it opened to passengers in the morning. Was cold even with wetsuit and a lot of swimming around. Other folks have suggested taking courses at home and getting a referral to dive shops in islands for the open water part. But since you are planning on taking this cruise for the course you are not worrying about how much time it will eat up on the cruise. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/24-scuba-and-snorkeling/

And local operators are good in Alaska. Don't limit yourself to just cruise line tours.

All the Royal ships have stabilizers that minimize roll. Smaller ships will rock forward/aft when hitting waves a bit more than larger ships. If you watch the horizon in the solarium you can see even Oasis class ships moving quite a bit. Slow, so not too noticeable. We had huge waves in the solarium pool on Radiance to Alaska but they were letting people into it with two foot waves. Four foot and they closed it so lifeguards could maintain the dams trying to keep water mostly in the pool. Didn't feel it much walking around. It all depends on direction of waves and wind relative to ship sailing direction. We've been on large ships with 14' waves and motion was less than small ships with 4' waves. And often can't feel 10' waves on any ship (except when walking down long halls).

Surprised your phone isn't using voice over internet. Then you just need a hotspot to make a call.

The exterior on the promenade deck is a running track, and the lifeboats sit out there and block the view from almost everywhere. A few places to look out, but smoking area out there as well.

Package is almost always $8.99pd these days, plus 18% tip.