harryfat1

Is the OBC from TA refundable? We will have 3 types of OBC on our upcoming cruise: From TA Shareholder Credit Measly Credit from Princess I know the shareholder credit is non refundable (use it or lose it) and I assume the ones from Princess is in similar category but what about OBC from TA? We will have the Princess Plus package so we won't need the credit to offset the gratuities. Thanks, Harry

Thanks for the info. I went to the Porter Genie web site and put in a price quote, they said they are currently closed due to Covid? Has anyone used Porter Genie this year? Thanks, Harry

There was some discussion on getting flowers for the cruise. Here are couple old pictures from our previous Alaska cruise taken from Pike Place Market where you can get really nice summer flowers. Ignore the price as these were many years ago but you get an idea on what's over there. Back then they were cheaper than the Costco flowers we get from home so that's saying something...

Think the moderators will move our posts to the Photography section at CC. One suggestion for Alaska cruise is the day your ship is scheduled to dock in Juneau, try to wake up early to see the ship pull in as it’s very scenic. You can be “THAT GUY” with the tripod at the back of the ship taking pictures as the ship docks in super calm river stillness waters. If going to Mendenhall glaciers in Juneau, 200 mm may not be big enough to zoom in as some of these were taken back in 2009 with 300 mm and I wanted to get be even closer but you can't always walk up to be closer so you need a bigger zoom. You are pretty far from the glacier even at the closest point

Yeah, if you do live reviews you would want to just upload the pictures from the phone or else you will need to transfer the pictures to a PC to upload, which requires an extra step. Assuming you take hundreds of scenery pictures daily, it'll be a lot of work trying to decide which ones to upload. Depending on what excursions you plan to do at various ports, you may not need to bring all the gears when you get off the ship. You can leave the big lens in the cabin and take a smaller one on excursions and use the big one while on board during the Alaska inside passage and glacier viewing time or cruising around Hawaiian islands. I'm also planning to buy extra batteries for the cameras from Amazon before the cruise. Rather have too many than not enough batteries at various scenic places.

Bob, We plan to bring all our "big guns" for the upcoming Alaska cruise. My wife will have her Canon DSLR and I will have my Canon mega zoom (65X optical zoom). We wouldn't take them to the Caribbean or Mexico cruise but for scenery in Alaska, I'm not going to just rely on the cell phone to zoom. Need to lug the equipment around to try and catch the few "wow" pictures. As for Mayflower Park, I stayed there many years ago. Very nice place. Just know Seattle is like San Francisco - very hilly. If you plan to walk around downtown Seattle (given the parking problem, walking is the best option), have some oxygen tank ready when you walk back to the hotel...

As a long time member of the mooring line appreciation club (cult), thanks for posting these pictures. Thanks for the live trip report as I eagerly wait for my Alaska cruise in three months. Not everyone appreciates how much work it takes to sort/post pictures and comments while on vacation. I know I can never do a live report - under the same category of too dumb to walk and chew gum the same time. Harry