LeeW

Interesting. In Fort Lauderdale in October and all the taxis we took had a big sticker on the side window indicating the fixed price for trips to and from airport or cruise port.

Sky also has a lot less shade in the Sanctuary than older Grand class ships. It does have a gazebo with couches, but only a couple of loungers in the very front sides have shade (obviously depends on sailing direction, but we were in Caribbean).

Have done this several times on partial transit cruises. Normally once the ship reaches Gatun Lake you catch a tender-like boat to shore and then are bussed to the other side of the lake (where the pilot boats dock). Maybe 100' from bus to the boat, then a few steps down into the boat. Ours had some seating on picnic tables aft but most people stood for the transit and moved around a lot. In all three cases we took the boat southbound and were bussed back to Colon after the tour. You will likely share the lock with a freighter of some kind and can touch the walls. You do miss the cruise ship return transit to Colon but get to see the Cut and the original locks on the Pacific side (ask pilot about dent in Miraflores Lock). Have never seen them try to handle a scooter, and frankly the small boat used doesn't have any room to run around. Would require them lifting the scooter over the side of the dock into the boat and back at the other end. If he can walk a few hundred feet and get on and off buses he will like this tour.

A few weeks ago on Allure we backed in to the old cargo port adjacent to the normal port (starboard side). Larger ships can't fit between the reef and port in Aruba. Curacao was port side at the farther out pier. New Norwegian ship had the closer in dock. Both locations had shuttles running to the main dock entry but it was faster to walk.

Sapona was a fun snorkel, although a fairly long boat ride out there. Half of the concrete wreck is above water and a ton of fish around it. Went there on Celebrity Infinity in October, partly to visit ports that Royal wasn't doing. Would have hit Grand Turk but pier was still out. Key West was still cleaning up from hurricane a week earlier.

We use the first two D+ internet and then use our other one to sign up for rest of cruise. App defaults to the Surf and Stream option with $51 credit, which usually results in a small charge to our onboard account for the remaining days. I have to intentionally change to Surf if I want to avoid that.

Second one makes more sense - passengers have to process through immigration at the first US port after a foreign port. Certainly partly depends on when they have space available at each port.

If Norway satellite coverage is similar to Alaska you won't get much of anything up there (including internet).

Nearest ATM is in the large elevated building right in front of you as you get off the pier outside one of the shops. No idea what currency it dispenses (have never used local currency in St Maarten).

TAs that don't go through Iceland/Greenland do tend to be cheaper per day but sounds like you are getting a great deal. I don't see the TA appearing for sale yet but likely they are still working out details and arrangements for folks booked on the non-TA cruises. Hmm - we don't have April 2024 planned yet... You will NOT be the only ones on the ship (although they could remove some of the performers before the cruise depending on where they need them).

If you are sailing for the ports the ship doesn't really matter that much. We've sailed a couple of times on Vision. An old-style cruise experience. Much of the entertainment is in the atrium - fair number of performances by the crew members. Much more interaction with senior crew than on the large ships and price is usually pretty decent.

Not sure when the $17.50 increased charge will kick in. You can avoid the increase by paying in advance depending on when you booked.

Did Radiance up and back this year (cruises 5/6 to Alaska). The ship has good viewing areas and an enclosed solarium with some good loungers. Rained most of trip up (Hubbard Glacier fogged in) and very little on trip south. Ship is fine for this - you spend most of your time in ports so you don't need all the fancy shows in Alaska. Lots of the entertainment is in the atrium, so can get a bit noisy if your cabin is near there until around 10 PM. If ship has an excursion to the Eagle Preserve (in Haines but usually get ferry from Skagway) would highly recommend that float trip (did this 3 times). Train is ok although seats are not very comfortable (did this twice). Also recommend the whale watching tour with AlaskaShoreTours in Juneau. You can bundle this with a trip to Mendenhall Glacier if you like. While we prefer Princess for the trip into Glacier Bay, this was also good and we hit ports we had not been to before.

If you have your bag only checked to a layover point you are going to pay the bag fee again for the second flight.

Have seen cases where it is harder to get seat reservations on code shares. Some airlines (like BA) don't like doing seat reservations until late or require extra fees. Not familiar with Air Canada, but you might want to look into their ticketing. Haven't had problems with United but we almost always fly their planes.

No big deal doing this, but your hotel likely has a port shuttle for around $12pp so why would you want to go back to the airport? We've done shuttles and cabs from airport hotels multiple times and it is pretty easy.

Harbor Beach has loungers with umbrellas (in fact most loungers have umbrellas everywhere) but not much shade there. We prefer the area on Chill Beach just beyond the bar because there are a ton of palm trees as well but getting there with wheel chair might be challenging. They do have wheel chairs with large tires available but you need to get off the ship as early as possible to get these. Agree that Harbor Beach has closest access to paved path and there is a buffet between it and the water park that might be a convenient meeting place for you.

I saw several cases of prices being different in cart versus when I booked (after cancelling). Had to check each one before committing to the purchase. That price is terrible for Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab. You are far better off booking direct, which includes park entry and the ability to stay as long as you like. Just add around $20 each way for a taxi down to the park (which you can likely share with other people going there). The VIP Royal Swim (two dolphins/roman ride) is currently priced at $103.35pp. Note that photos are extra both through cruise line or not and can run $100 or more. https://www.*****cozumel/

Sounds more like the Labadee zip lines.

They were putting a lot of people on the whale watch boats - maybe 50 people each when we were there in September. Zip line ends at the port where Royal docks. To use it you take the lift to the other port (free) and then a second lift to the top of the hill. They were selling tickets in the port building but doing a zip line in heavy rain would not have been much fun. You can walk along the water to the old cannery building and on some trails. Really only the one shopping building. They were also selling the ATV tour on the day we were there. The whale watch area is near the entrance to Glacier Bay - a major humpback feeding area (although mostly gone by September). We prefer taking private whale watch tours out of Juneau (company called alaskashouretours.com does tours in several ports; our son prefers Harv and Marv). Private tours put fewer people on the boat for the same price or less. We've been on their boats multiple times since company was called Orca Enterprises back in 2006 or so. We usually have 15-20 people on the boat.

Doubt the transfers start as late as noon. More likely 10-10:30 depending on when the first bus arrives from the port. First departure really depends on when they have enough people to fill a bus.

Assuming you bought it online/phone it should be in your order history (pulldown from your login upper right of screen). If part of a booking it might not be cancellable. I have also seen cases where you can't see the items for the other person in your cabin without logging on as them.

Six trips to Alaska, four Princess, two Royal. Princess gets Glacier Bay - a close approach to a 200' high wall. Only saw major calving once, but that was 1/3 size of the ship. Hubbard closest approach is a couple of miles to a seven mile wide glacier. While the smaller Glacier Explorer can take you closer it is EXPENSIVE - $399 on our last cruise. Princess hits Hubbard only on southbound trips and hits Glacier Bay on all trips. Personally we prefer smaller Princess ships (Coral or Island). Indoor swimming pool with glass outer wall where you can sit and watch scenery and stick you head outside for pictures. Radiance also has an indoor pool but not as good seating in that area and harder to get outside. We have done two B2B trips out of Vancouver. Both were great. On Radiance last summer Hubbard was completely fogged in going north but fairly decent view southbound (and Glacier Explorer was cancelled northbound). On Island we hit Glacier Bay three days apart and massive changes to Margerie Glacier. Yes, you can sail roundtrip from Seattle, but a one-way gets more Alaska time. If you can only do one seven day cruise I would do a southbound Princess. Or just acknowledge that one trip isn't enough and plan now for multiple trips, including a couple of cruise-tours.

Just remember that you need to get a Captain's Circle number and request status match before the cruise.

Agree with her - good choice!