gpb11

I hoped my post was helpful. I can tell many of you do not think it is. My apologies. :(

Don't beat yourself up. You posted some good suggestions and ought to be able to expect readers are intelligent enough to figure out for themselves what is right for their needs and budget, making appropriate substitutions where needed.

I posted these before but will mention again.

There's much to be said for a small umbrella.

Rather than separate rain pants, I took one of my pairs of convertible hiking pants (REI Sahara) and treated them with a wash-in DWR product. I wore them on rainy days and they served the role of rainproof pants quite well.

For footwear look at trail-running shoes. I use them as my backpacking shoes so I already had them. Coupled with thin wool hiking socks (Thorlo or SmartWool are good), my feet stayed warm and breathed well in all conditions. They have a good tread that gripped everything well, including damp whale watching boat decks. Even after a baby rogue wave soaked one foot at Fox Island. Unlike typical boots, trail runners dry quickly.

YES, swimsuit for hot tubs. Very nice on sea day or when leaving port.

Warm leather gloves were greatly appreciated on our recent visit to Alaska, especially near or on the glaciers. Did not see them on your list.

Personally I'd recommend runners gloves instead. Windblocking and warm yet also thin enough to let you still operate your camera. Mine are like this: http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/TGU1309/asics-liteshow-gloves/

The windblocking part I found more important, especially when on the Kenai Fjords Tour and standing on the foredeck as we were moving up the bay.

We did the Bennett Lake / Carcross trip in early June booked via HAL. I don't know what caused the change to the box lunch from the stew thing, but we were advised of the change a couple days prior. My wife and I found the box lunches to be plenty; turkey on a roll, ham/pasta salad, chips, cookie, and I think a fruit rollup thing if I'm not misremembering. Not five star fare, but decent and served the purpose.

At Carcross YT after a little while of walkaround time we boarded our coach for the drive back down to Skagway. Our driver made a couple of stops for getting out and picture taking, as well as stopping for a bear eating dandilions at the roadside.

I'm unsure of the details of the other trip, and only you can really decide how important visiting the dogs will be for your family. What I will say is that Bennett Lake is gorgeous and we really enjoyed the train portion. The coach portion was okay, and it was nice to see the scenery, but the train was the centerpiece of the day. (its route also diverges from the road for a substantial portion)

Personally I wouldn't have wanted to be responsible for driving. At least not on my first trip there. While it'd have been nice to be able to make more stops and/or take longer at stops for unrushed photography, I valued the ability to truly take in the environment as afforded by someone else doing the driving.

The train fare is $4 weekdays, or $2.75 after 6:30 p.m. and on weekends - PLUS a $5 surcharge from the airport. The SkyTrain is a better value than a taxi for 1 or 2 people who don't have a lot of luggage.

Yes, assuming one's hotel is in reasonable proximity to a train station. Ours was about a half mile which is certainly quite do-able.

In our case with two people and two roller bags each, having flown over 3000mi and with it raining at the time, we very gladly paid the extra cost of the taxi. :D After tipping generously I think it worked out to about a US$16 difference. We also enjoyed a good chat with the taxi driver about the city and sights as we rode over.

Pretty simple in practice. We did this in reverse with cruise-then-land, but the process is similar.

Meet me at the ship -- you give them the bag and the next time you see it is at your cabin once you board the ship. Ours were "Meet me in Fairbanks" and we put these bags out the last night aboard and they were in our room when we got to Fairbanks (last hotel).

Meet me tonight -- you put the bag out typically in the morning and you will then see it again at your hotel room that night. The only time we put it out at night was before ship disembarkation. Seward, Anchorage, and Denali were all morning put outs as I recall.

To the best of my knowledge, you will get the tags when you arrive at the hotel in FAI and have that night to rearrange your stuff around.

Remember, each person gets each of the tags, so you each have a "meet me at..." bag and needn't share if you don't wish. My wife and I traveled with daypacks, two carryon sized bags and two larger bags since we were able to each check a bag free on the outbound flights. Our daypacks were our day bags, and we used the carryon sized as our meet-me-in-fairbanks bags, with the large bags as our meet-me-tonight bags.

FYI, the coach drivers were quite happy to stow people's bag under the coach. I saw a handful of folks who had a small duffle bag in addition to their backpack or shoulder bag and just stowed the duffle under the bus or on the luggage shelf overhead.

All this said, I'd recommend being prepared for possibly having to put out your meet-me-tonight bag at night, but it would be the exception rather than the rule.

BTW, just so folks know (I didn't realize until I dug into it), taxi fares from YVR are zone based. It was a fixed rate of CDN$31 to the Hampton Inn Downtown and the taxi stand was right outside baggage claim.

While the train is likely cheaper, the overall cost was reasonable for the convenience of not having to think real hard about things after flying three thousand miles. :D

http://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/taxis

Are there any Hilton properties in good locations? That's where we have the most points.

We were pleased with the "Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Vancouver-Downtown". Lots of eateries within walking distance, on the route of at least on hop-on-hop-off tour, and the hotel has a shuttle to the cruise port (1.5km away).

We use the Verizon $2/day plan when traveling in Canada.

Isn't that an add-on for a postpaid plan, or can it be used with a Verizon prepaid phone plan?

Prepaid phones for Canada don't work in the US..US prepaid phones don't work in Canada.

AT&T specifically advertises "Includes Talk, Text, & Data usage in Mexico and Canada" as a feature of one of their GoPhone prepaid plans sold in the US. See https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone-plans.html

My first suggestion is to see if your existing carrier & phone supports "wifi calling". We used that with my iphone6 on AT&T to call home from our hotel in Vancouver without incurring any roaming charges. Yes you'd need to find wifi you could use, but depending on your needs it may be a free solution.

AT&T appears to have a US & Canada prepaid option under their GoPhone prepaid business. See here for info:

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/wireless/KM1040685

When we were in Alaska earlier this year we found AT&T coverage to be good when in port.

Nin order to notify everyone of the change it would require 787,500 emails (15 x 1,500 x 35) to notify everyone. I cannot see them doing that, as it would probably overload their email system.

Nah, that volume of email won't cause an issue for a properly setup corporate email system. Especially as they already have the capability (as mentioned) of sending large volumes of promotional emails.

We've left the days of 300 baud modems FAR behind.

The date caught my eye as it is Thanksgiving week.

The link has a lot of Canadian references. Must be a Canadian group.

The .ca domain is a pretty strong hint too... :D

Date looks to be six weeks after Canada’s Thanksgiving,

It was suggested to me to wait until September to book instead of doing so now. Any thoughts?

Many/most hotels allow you to cancel reservations up until a day or two before. It may be worth making a booking now to ensure you don't get surprised if availability becomes limited. Just be careful of the rates terms to ensure you can cancel without penalty.

Don't forget to factor in the other costs as well, such as whether the hotel offers a cruiseport shuttle, and whether stuff like breakfast and in-room wifi are included or are an additional charge.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn on Robson for our trip this year and were pleased with the hotel and location. The cruiseport shuttle worked out well and saved dragging a bunch of luggage. Wifi worked well and the included breakfast was the typical Hampton Inn breakfast.

I am considering buying one for a Europe trip and have an Alaskan cruise coming up in September and want to use it for that too.

On an Alaska cruise it'd likely work when in port, but so will your cell phone if it provides hotspot capabilities as many do these days. Between ports there's little to no cell service, so the Skyroam is unlikely to do much for you.

Also note that according to the Amazon page, after 350MB of data in a day the speed drops to 2G rates (aka *sloooow*)...

https://www.amazon.com/Skyroam-Mobile-Hotspot-Unlimited-Pay-as-you-go/dp/B00OU6GF3G

You need a good strong Wi-Fi signal to get it to work.

You must be thinking of something else. A Skyroam hotspot provides a wifi connection to its owner by using something like 90 different worldwide cellular carriers. Of course with no cellular service available it will be a useless brick.

My brother has a Wi-Fi cell phone that flips between Wi-Fi and regular cell service, if there is no Wi-Fi it’ll switch over to cell. The voice quality isn’t very good. He’s in France right now and he called me the other day, totally useless, couldn’t understand a word it was so garbled.

Wifi calling is a feature on a number of more recent cell phones and works quite well provided there is adequate wifi signal and bandwidth. I don't doubt that you've had a poor experience with your brother using it, but in my experience that is an exception rather than the rule. Myself and others I work with have had very good experiences with the capability on our phones. As mentioned though, if the wifi signal is poor or the wifi provider has a poor Internet connection, the quality will suffer just as it does when you have a poor cell signal.

I'd be sure to test out any pouch in a pool before you go. Make sure not only that you can work the controls but that it can extend the lens. More than a couple feet of water depth may be problematic depending on how sensitive the lens-extension motor is to pushback. Granted, 5ft water depth is only 2psi, but will the camera push its lens out against that?

Facing a similar situation last year, I bought an Olympus TG4 waterproof camera. The main selling point for me was that it was the only one I saw that supported RAW format. Loved it when snorkeling, but it's also been really nice having a camera I could take to pool, lake, beach, or water-park without a care. Just need to remember to rinse it off with fresh water after it's been in chlorine or salt water.

If you want to go off property, the hotel has a courtesy shuttle to the Park. Hop off at the Wilderness Access Center and from there you can walk about a mile to Glitter Gulch, or use the Denali Salmon Bake Shuttle, or a very expensive taxi.

FWIW, HAL/Princess also runs a shuttle loop from their properties across the street from Glitter Gulch to both the WAC and the Visitor Center. I seem to remember it was roughly every half hour; look for the Princess coach leaving from the three flag polls out in front of the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. They never asked to show anything indicating we were HAL guests.

On HAL (sister company to Princess), the Alaska Railroad train from Anchorage to Denali had assigned seats in the domed car. All seats faced forward, no tables except in the dining room portion and those you ended up with based on when your turn came for the breakfast or lunch seatings.

White Pass Yukon Route was (as mentioned) one assigned train car per bus and seats were on a first come basis. Four seats to a table, two forward facing and two rearward facing. The train car wasn't full in our case though, so it worked out.

Both the AKRR and WPYR train cars had an outside observation platform you could use for picture taking. Folks generally shared the space pretty well.

Bus / Coach seats were first come basis, again as mentioned the first couple rows were generally held for those with more limited mobility.

If nobody was there to witness it, did it make a sound? ;)

What would be the best cruise ship to take an Alaskan cruise?

The best ship to choose is the one that goes to the places you want to visit, leaves on a day/date that works well for you, and offers the cabin type you want at a price you can handle.

May vs June... I'll let others address that one, but will only mention that if travelling to Denali be very aware of the dates they open the deeper parts of the park road.

Protection filters... Current cameras and lenses tend to block UV anyway so it's more a matter of just protection of the front element. Some lenses I'll put them on, particularly my weather sealed lenses as I might be wiping them down in the field and would rather risk a bit of grit against a filter than against the front element of the lens.

Cheap filters are a waste of money and effort though. I tend to buy either B&W or Hoya multicoated. Four filter Vivitar set for $23? Return it. Shop eBay or KEH.com or bhphoto.com for used filters in excellent condition.

Polarizer is a worthwhile filter in the right circumstances when you know how to use it. Don't bite off more than you can chew though, I suspect you have WAY more than enough to deal with learning right now. Same with Neutral Density filters. Very useful in the circumstances they're useful in, but requires knowledge so wait until you know why/what your buying an ND filter to do for you.

It's unlikely you're going to need an external flash. Also in the category of KISS -- Keep It Simple Stupid. Wait until you've learned enough that you KNOW you need one and why you need it, as that will guide you in knowing which one will best fit your needs.

Tripod? On a cruise? For your selfie shots or for something else? I'd leave it home personally. Consider instead an Ultrapod or similar and a monopod if you really need an external support. Maybe better at this point to focus on proper shooting stances and how to use stuff around you to brace your camera and lenses.

Keep your point and shoot for handing to folks to take your picture with. :) I carry a waterproof Olympus TG4, it's fun in the pool, at the beach, snorkeling, in the hot tub, etc.

Oh and trust me, spend more time focusing on your new spouse than on your camera. Cameras don't get jealous.

Hey, can somebody find me about 100 feet of shore line? :cool:

Some thoughts...

Instead of rain pants, consider a pair of convertible hiking pants you then treat with a DWR product such as Nikwax TX.Direct Wash-In DWR.

Spudz microfiber cloths are great for cameras and tuck back into their own little clip-on pouch. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NZC8H8W

I really wished I'd brought a flexible rubber screw in lens hood for my primary lens. There were a few occasions where I was shooting through a bus or train window and this sort of hood really helps reduce reflections.

Bring more memory cards for your camera than you think you'll need. We met a couple on the Tundra Wilderness Tour who'd filled their cards and were shooting with their cellphones.

Unless you're going off on some serious hiking, skip any heavy hiking boots. Trail running shoes are more than adequate. (I've backpacked through the Smokeys in mine)

Look at a running store for thin, lightweight gloves that'll block wind yet still allow you to operate all your camera buttons and dials and levers.

Clothespins can be real handy for closing up any gaps in your room/cabin curtains when it's bedtime.

A couple big envelopes or plastic bags to collect all the various papers and pamphlets you'll receive can be handy.

Consider bringing a supply of Airborne or Emergen-C Immune+ to help ward off the nasties from Bronchitis Betty and Phlegmmy Phil.

A small / light luggage scale is handy at the end for avoiding surprises at the airline check in counter... We watched a lady do the unpack / repack / weigh / repeat cycle at FAI.

HAL Noordam had blackout curtains, as did every hotel we stayed in during the land tour portion. I'd be surprised if someplace didn't.

Bring a few clothespins or similar. They were helpful with closing any remaining gaps in the curtains when we went to bed.