kmerlin14

I have some, so I will try to get them organized and scanned for you, but it may take a day or two. Meanwhile I have finally finished my day by day report over on the Alaska board if that will help you with your planning. I tried to answer all the questions I had when I was planning, but I'd be happy to answer any others you might have if I can.

Thursday, June 20-Debarkation

We cleared out our stateroom and took our carryons to the Lido restaurant for one last breakfast. It was quite crowded, so we actually ate in the garden lounge. I hadn’t realized that the main dining room was open as well, so we probably should have gone there since we didn’t have to muster in the auditorium until 9:30. That was a case of hurry up and wait, but at least we had a place to sit instead of standing in a big long line up for two hours. The staff were checking on the line up and sending us out as it got shorter. Then they could direct us straight to where our luggage was so we could pick it up and then go stand in the line for the taxis. I was actually surprised at how long that line up was because we were the only ship in port that day. If there is more than one ship in port, I suspect it might be quicker to take the ship’s airport transfer. And FYI anyone requiring assistance was sent to a separate line for accessible cabs etc. One woman didn’t need an accessible cab, but she had trouble standing, so they asked us if she could jump ahead of us, so they do their best to take care of everyone. I’ve attached a picture of the taxi lineup so you can get an idea of it.

Our plane was a little late taking off, so we were late getting to Toronto, but the weather was so bad, they told us all the planes were going to be late, so we would probably make our connection. They were right. I got about 8,000 steps moving from gate to gate as they kept shifting it and I think it was something like two am before we finally took off. An exhausting end to a wonderful vacation. If anyone has any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Someone on the Cunard board has asked for daily programs, so I will try to scan them in and post them there.

Tried to post last night, but the board was undergoing some sort of upgrade and it wouldn't' let me.

Wed, June 19-Victoria

The last time I was in Victoria, I was too young to rent a car, so I wanted to rent one this time—before I got too old. But the idea was stressing hubby out to much—I did point out that we could always take the ferry to catch up with the ship if we missed it, but he didn’t go for the idea at all. So, we signed up for the shore excursion to Butchart Gardens instead. I’d been on a night tour there and I really wanted to see it during the day.

My tin of salmon meant that I had to go down to the pursers area while my husband went to the Queen’s room to check in and get our coloured stickers. But when we got there no one seemed to know where we were supposed to go, especially since the room we’d been told had been taken over by the customs people. Luckily, we were in Canada now, so I could call my husband easily on his cellphone to let him know there had been a delay because they were still figuring out what to do about us. Finally, someone told us to just go through the customs line with everyone else and they’d let us know if there was an issue. One of the other passengers asked if we could just get our cards scanned to see if there was an issue, so we did that, and everyone was fine. I headed up to the Queen’s room which was still full because it took longer to get off the ship at this port because everyone had to go through customs.

The gardens themselves are beautiful. They were also packed. We were also hungry because of the delay leaving the ship, but we didn’t want to waste any time and stop for lunch. I did find a concession stand that sold sandwiches, so we bought a couple and munched on them as we toured the gardens. I’m pretty sure we managed to see everything and even had time to go to the gift shop. They were warning everyone at the cash that they might now be able to bring the seeds across the border, but this time I didn’t have to worry because we’d gone through our customs. We planted their annual and perennial mix in our garden and the plants did very well until Dorian came through and flattened them.

I would have liked to have had more time at the gardens, but we had to return to the bus after about an hour and a half. If I were doing it again, I’d probably try to find a private tour that would let me take as long as I wanted at the gardens. Most of the ones I had found left from the downtown area, so it would have been tricky to schedule knowing that we had to go through customs first. The commentary on the bus was interesting though. ON the way back he told us about how the owners had gone on vacation to Europe and one of them was very interested in ducks and insisted on going to Germany buy a rare duck even though his wife was worried they’d miss their ship if they went. She was right, they missed their ship. But seeing as how it was the Titanic, it was probably just as well.

Then it was time for one more dinner, show, and a quick turn round the dance floor before we packed up our suitcases and left them out in the hall. They didn’t have to be out until around 11pm.

I've posted some pictures below. The gardens are famous for their blue poppies and I did find a few in bloom which made me happy because they weren't in bloom when I went with my Dad all those years ago. You can get an idea of the crowds in the picture of the rose garden which I would have liked to have spent more time in so that I could have said "hi" personally to each variety instead of feeling like I was on some sort of sightseeing assembly line that had to keep rolling along.

I found the coffee up in the Lido Buffet was quite drinkable, so I always went there for my fix. They also had machines that gave very hot water for tea and a selection of Twinings teas. (The lemon ginger is good if your tummy feels a little wobbly from the waves) We had Twinings tea and coffee and a kettle in our Britannia balcony room. I think we just made tea in the room though. When they opened deck five for scenic viewing, they often had some sort of hot beverage there as well, but I can't remember what it was. It was all very civilized. We enjoyed having the fridge and coffee making facilities in the room. The sofa was right be the balcony window so we could see out if we came in to get warmed up.

On 11/25/2019 at 9:58 AM, larrythelabrador said:

Two questions:

 

How long before departure do shore excursions show on VP?

 

Is there any way of looking at examples before hand to get an idea?

Alaska Cruise June 20.

 

Thank you

We did that cruise last year and very much enjoyed it. I scanned the list of shore excursions that were available once we were on board and I'll see if I can attach the pdf. It will also you give you and idea of port times and what sold out. I've also done a post-live trip review on the Alaska board that I've almost finished if you think that will help you with your planning.

alaska shore excursions.pdf

1 hour ago, Kevin's girl said:

Really enjoying your review. Keep up the writing, I'm enjoying your Alaskan dream this year as I get ready for my return there next year.

Great. I really enjoyed yours of Alaska and of your British Isles trip. We are hoping to do the British Isles in 2021 if we can swing it. Enjoy your trip back to Alaska.

Hubbard Glacier:

I figure this is a good time to do a few more posts about our trip because our living room is still covered in dustsheets until our painter feels well enough to finish the job. Our next “port” was our visit to the Hubbard Glacier, but it was more like a sea day with awesome scenery. The day dawned wet and drizzly, but my husband went to the viewing deck while I stayed behind and took a picture of him on the bridge cam. I found it was much pleasanter to watch from our balcony because it was sheltered from the wind and rain and we could make a cup of tea while we were watching. I loved the sound of the ice cracking as we entered the bay. It sounded just like the water scene from the Titanic movie.  But we couldn’t here it as much once we got closer to the glacier.

And our Captain got us very close to the glacier—even the naturalist on board was impressed. Once she was there, she rotated the ship twice so that everyone got a great view. I found it was interesting to see out the bay when we weren’t facing the glacier, so I was just as happy watching everything from our balcony as I would have been on the viewing deck. We also got to see some glacier calvings, but I don’t know if I can upload videos or not.

The weather had cleared up by the time we were due to leave the face of the glacier, so we went for a stroll on the promenade deck as the scenery drifted past. (I’d skipped two dance classes to watch the glacier, so I needed the exercise.)

Then we headed for the Lido for lunch, but the place was jammed because it was the seafood buffet. We couldn’t find a seat either there or in the Garden lounge, so we decided to go to the main restaurant. At supper, a couple of our table mates later told us that they had taken their lunches back to their room, so we’ll know what to do next time.

It wasn’t a formal night, but I decided to wear my swishy skirt and a fancy top because it was a sea day and I didn’t feel out of place at all. Usually after supper, we always headed back to our cabin to get freshened up. It was always fun to read The Canadian (a news digest) and the Daily Program before going out to the show in the theatre. For some reason, we took too long this night and realized we were going to be late for the show. Since we didn’t want to walk in late, we decided to skip it and go to the Queens Room to see how crowded it was for the recorded ball room music. And we finally got brave enough to dance, so I got to dance on the big dance floor wearing my swishy skirt.  We even caught the late show in the theatre, so all in all it was a great night.

There was one itinerary where I debated about getting on in Halifax instead of New York, but my travel agent pointed out that if the ship didn't make it into port for any reason, it would be our responsibility to catch up with it. So you might want to consider how often the port is cancelled for weather because by the time you got to Sydney, the voyage would be almost over. We're booked on the itinerary you are looking at.

On 11/11/2019 at 5:15 PM, MalibuCA said:

Thank you, kmerlin14, for your reply.  You said that the first formal night was on Day 2 of the cruise.  Do you recall which "Day #" your second formal night was?  You said it was between Sitka and Victoria, but without access to your full itinerary, it's difficult to determine which "Day #" of the cruise the second formal night was held.  Thanks for your help!

Day 9

Sitka was Day 8 and Victoria was Day 10 and we disembarked in Vancouver the next morning.

On 11/9/2019 at 8:39 PM, bluemarble said:

Here is what was indicated in the dress code schedule published ahead of time for the 10-day Alaska cruises during QE's inaugural Alaska season this past summer.

 

Evening 1: Smart Attire - Jacket Optional

Evening 2: Gala Evening (aka Formal)

Evenings 3-8: Smart Attire

Evening 9: Gala Evening (aka Formal)

Evening 10: Smart Attire

 

Someone who was actually on one of those voyages may be able to verify if that is what the schedule actually turned out to be. Reports I have read indicate there were indeed two formal nights and it was jacket optional on the first night.

The first formal night was the second night while we were cruising the inside passage. It was the black and white ball. The second formal night was on the night between Sitka and Victoria while we were cruising the ?outside passage. (We went on the other side of Vancouver Island.) It had a Roaring Twenties theme. The itinerary is very port intensive, so the only other "sea day" is the day the ship visits the Hubbard Glacier. That wasn't a formal night on our voyage, but it could possibly be made one. The early dining time was at 5:30, so it was sometimes a scramble to get changed for dinner on a port day. We didn't even try when we visited Juneau. 

On 10/29/2019 at 12:42 PM, charlesspinney said:

Thank you, we have found that some excursions with limited seats go very fast. So, how does one get them before they go.  I guess I can go to the VP every day.

I went through my credit card charges and I booked one Cunard shore excursion in January as well as a private one in November. I thought I had been already looking at the Cunard shore excursions when I booked the private one, so I would start checking now. I have started a review of our trip on the Alaska board and will try to finish it once I get my kitchen done. I'd also be happy to answer any questions. It was a great trip.

Saturday, June 15-Icy Straight Point

Originally, my husband was going to go fly fishing while I went whale watching for this port. However, he changed his mind and cancelled his trip because there weren’t going to be many fish species running while we were there. So, he had a lazy morning while I headed to the ballroom at 7 am to get my sticker for this shore excursion. We were the only ship in port that day, so we docked and didn’t tender like they had mentioned on our itinerary.

The ship shore excursion was on one of the larger boats (possibly Allan Marine because they came over form Juno) We could sit inside and still see quite well. We also were able to go out on the bow when the ship got to the active whale and eagle watching area. The tour guide was pleasant and gave a couple of short talks while we were going out and back. She’s also brought a few props like a baleen rib and polar bear fur. My seat mate had brought a plush hat to keep her head warm and we started to get a giggle out of the number of people who picked it up thinking it was one of the props. I’m pretty sure they also provided binoculars, but I just used my own because they were quicker to focus and search with because I’m used to them.

For clothing I wore my packable down jacket and hat and mitts and I was quite comfortable because I could just unzip the jacket if I got too hot. The water was a little choppy, so I’d taken the precaution of taking a meclizine capsule before I got on the boat and I was fine. (I probably didn’t need it though.) We used to be able to get Bonamine in Canada, but I haven’t found it for years. However, I did find a specialty pharmacist that makes up capsules of meclizine (the active ingredient in
Bonamine) on request. That is my go to for seasickness, but the lemon ginger tea helps as well and we usually brought a couple of packets down to our cabin so we could make it there if we didn’t feel like heading up to the Lido restaurant for it.

I enjoyed the feel of the wind on my cheeks and racing over the water in the boat. We did see some whales, sea otters, seals, and eagles. I didn’t take too many pictures because I wanted to see all around instead of just through a camera lens. Figured I should take a few though and I’m attaching a fluke picture. What do you mean you can’t see the fluke??—Look a little closer. It’s there.

After the tour, I went back to the ship to find my husband and we set out to explore the point. (I switched to my lighter jacket as well) He’d seen quite a few whales form our balcony including 5 humpbacks that had followed our boat that we never noticed, and he still insists he saw more than I did.

Breakfast had been very early, so I was hungry again, so we stopped at the Cookhouse for fish and chips. I felt these ones were better than the ones at the Hanger in Juno. We found that Icy straight was quite pleasant to just explore on our own with no shore excursion. There’s a very short nature trail (maybe 5 minute walk), but it is through a lovely part of the woods, so it is well worth doing. It also looked like there was some trial building going on, so they could be extending it or maybe putting in a Tree go or something like that.

The shops and museum were interesting as well. I bought some salves made from the local plants. Since we were in a local canning factory, I bought a tin of salmon that you will hear more about later. My plan had been to buy more Ulu knives here if I liked the first one, but I figured that would not be a good idea after the reaction the first one got.

There’s a trail to Hoonah from Icy Straight so we walked part of the way along it until it was time to turn around and head back to the ship because all aboard was at 4:30. They opened up the bow part of deck five again for the sailaway. Our dining time was at 5:30, so we just changed and watched the scenery go by from our balcony.

All in all, it was a very relaxing day. My husband was quite happy without a shore excursion. If I ever go back, I’ll probably do the walk to Hoonah or a hiking shore excursion.

phots attached are my fluke picture, the cook house, nature trail, can you find the ship in the picture, and my whale watching boat heading back to Juno.

On 10/9/2019 at 7:07 PM, nicoleinwi said:

We’re doimg Norwegian Bliss, which goes into a Glacier Bay.  This is out of Seattle.

On 10/9/2019 at 5:24 PM, KG2019 said:

What cruise line does the round trip from Vancouver or Seattle?  Thanks

Cunard does a ten day round trip from Vancouver and I think they have a 12 day round trip that goes almost all the way up.

2 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

What beautiful weather kmerlin14! Looks like a lovely day. Thank you re the Canadian $, I have noted that!

They are perfectly happy to take and actually expect American dollars there. I just wanted to pay with Canadian since we were in Canada and I didn't want to get dinged by the exchange rate. It was also rather neat to go back to your own country via a shore excursion from another one.

June 14, Skagway

My deadlines have all been met and it’s a rainy Thanksgiving weekend, so I will try to do another post about our trip. This was our big spurge shore excursion. Yukon Trail was one of the first computer games my kids ever played and I vividly remember the frustration of trying to get a Windows 3.11 game up and running on our brand new Windows 95 computer and telling the girls that NO, they could not call their friends at 7 am on Christmas day to see if they could help. They did eventually get the game up and running and had a lot of fun playing it. So naturally, we had to do the Bennett Lake train/bus excursion. In the game, players have to chose between taking the Whitehorse pass route and having the option of using a packhorse for their stuff or taking the Chilkoot Trail and having to take everything on their back. This excursion would let us take the train up the Whitehorse Pass and the bus back down the Chilkoot trail, so we just had to take it. We took the ships shore excursion because I was worried about getting off the ship and to the train on time if something went wrong.

I needn’t have worried about that. The shore excursion people gathered in the Queen’s room to check in for their tours and get one of those little coloured stickers that make you feel like a preschooler on a daycare excursion. Meanwhile the private shore excursion people were getting off the ship and walking down to the station. Once our sticker shape colour was called, we made our way to the tour loading zone to find our bus and bus driver. She introduced herself and drove us to the train station. As she dropped us off, she told us to look for the bus with the mandala on it when we got to Carcross.

We enjoyed the train ride up. My husband sat in the carriage and I flitted between the carriage and the platform where I enjoyed feeling the wind on my face. I tried to take pictures, but there were a lot of people with fancy cameras on the scenic side, so I mostly looked the other way since I just had my iphone and I was a little worried about dropping it. I figured we’d just get the DVD, book, and hat combo for our pictures instead. The hat was cute, the book wasn’t the best printing job, but it did have a nice section on Alaskan plants to look for, and you guessed it—we’ve never looked at the DVD.

We did have to show our passports either just before or just after the Canadian border–It’s too cold to have people stationed on the actual border.

Bennett Lake was absolutely awesome. It was a beautiful day, so we explored the site and headed up to the end of the Chilkoot trail. We would have hiked down it a bit, but no one else was and there was another one of those bear signs again that made us think twice. Even though there was a trainload of people at the site, it still seemed very peaceful. The place would have been wall to wall tents for a wide area as they all spent the winter there and made their boats to float down to the goldfields in the spring though. The area is still recovering from it ecologically.

After that we explored the area close to the station. There was a sample boat like the ones the prospectors would have built during the winter could use it to float down to the gold fields in the spring.  In the museum, they had a display that showed all the supplies that they had to have before the RCMP would let them across the border. If they were packing it on their backs, they usually had to make several trips.  We also took a selfie in the Parks Canada chairs before we boarded the train to Carcross. Lunch was included and it was quite good—chunks of turkey on homemade bread and I can’t remember what else. We were able to get Canadian cell phone coverage as we got closer to Carcross so I was able to check in on the kids and the business without blasting through my Roam like Home cap. Just outside Carcross we saw a small grizzly in a tree and someone from Carcross later told my husband that they were trying to encourage it to move along because it was too close to the town.

Once we were in Carcross, we found our bus driver in a parking lot and she told us when to be back on the bus. I’d been hoping to see some of the sites from the Carcross episode of the Still Standing tv show, but evidently all those places were much further down the road. This area was mostly shops, so we bought some souvenirs with Canadian dollars.
When the time came to leave, one passenger was still missing. His hat was on his seat, but we didn’t have the head that went under it. So, our tour guide waited 30 seconds, made a phone call, and left. . . In her defence, she might have been informed that he’d already left on that phone call because when we got back to the border, they wanted her to confirm that we were missing someone from our party before we crossed back into the States.  The Captain also announced that everyone was on board before we sailed, which reassured me because I had been freaking out at the thought of leaving someone behind, especially since we’d crossed the border to get there.

The ride down was pleasant, but it could have been a lot more interesting with a better guide that came from the area and a smaller vehicle. There were a few instances of, “There was a bear back there, but I couldn’t stop” etc. We were also astounded to learn that the Yukon is a territory within the province of British Columbia that she thought extended down as far as Victoria (an island)—not exactly the way we learnt it in school. If I was doing it again, I think I would go for a smaller bus and a local guide and possibly give up the train trip if I had to.

They opened the forward deck five deck again for sailaway, but we spent part of it eating dinner in the Britannia. At first, I’d been disappointed that our assigned table wasn’t near a window, but it was actually possible to see out all the windows since we were in the centre of the dining room, so it all worked out. We were definitely pleased with our table mates and waiters. Being in the centre of the room sometimes felt like being on the fulcrum of a teeter totter when the ship started rolling though.

All in all, it was a grand day and I’d love to go back with my girls.

We arrived at ten thirty and they wouldn’t let the taxi down to the drop off. Had to wander around with bags for a bit and then find our way down to baggage drop off

10 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

Don't move the thread! Lot's of us aren't on the Queen Elizabeth (and don't do ballroom dancing) but are still finding this report fascinating.

I will keep posting then. You'll have to put up with the dancing part though because that is what I wanted to know when I was doing my research and there wasn't as much info on it.

10 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

I'm sorry I've only just stumbled across this, it's great to read such a detailed description of Queen Elizabeth in Alaska. Would you mind if I posted a link on the Cunard board ?

(Or moved the whole thread)

I tried to post it in trip reports for Alaska when I started because it was an inaugural season for the ship here, but I think I did something wrong and I'm not exactly sure where it did end up. I can only find it again by clicking on notifications when someone replies.

12 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

This is lovely kmerlin14, please do keep adding to it. I have made a note for my trip next July to take some specifically dry clothes! Had not thought of that! How long did the walk (there and back) take to Nugget Falls?

You could probably do it in about half an hour, but we dilly dallied and took pictures etc. because I'd booked the tour that gave us about two hours at the site. I wanted the salmon bake combo, but I was worried it wouldn't give us as much time at the glacier. We did the long trail first and then the short one and then the museum so that we would be close to the buses as we got close to departure time. The buses are constantly dropping people off and picking them up in a big turnaround loop so you really need to know your bus number to get back on the right bus. There were about 8-10 buses there at pick up time. Snap a picture of your driver if you are worried about getting on the wrong one.

The path down is tailings and about 4 feet wide so it is very easy to navigate. You will be taking it with about 50-100 of your closest friends.

12 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

This is lovely kmerlin14, please do keep adding to it. I have made a note for my trip next July to take some specifically dry clothes! Had not thought of that! How long did the walk (there and back) take to Nugget Falls?

Let's just say I found out the hard way during stormy Scout camps and a weekend getaway to St. Andrews where the heavens open so fast that the road turned into a river with whitecaps.

The next day we did scenic cruising in the morning. I thought we were supposed to be cruising Tracey Arm, but the Captain seemed to indicate that we were in Frederick Straight. They opened the bow of deck five for people to go and see. However, we found that we could see quite well from our balcony. We'd each brought a pair of binoculars (got my husband a new pair for the Christmas before), so we didn't have to fight over them. If you put on the bridge cam on the television, you can hear the onboard naturalist's narration. And you can make yourself a cup of tea. I also took the opportunity to do a wash because we were right across from the laundry room, so I could set the alarm on my iphone and then run over to switch my laundry over before popping back to watch the sea otters from the balcony.

There was line dancing that day, so I popped down and took that class plus the cha cha. After that I was ravenous again, so we went to the buffet for lunch because it was fast. The view is also fantastic from up there and we often got a table close to the window. I found it was a great way to meet people form other countries when you shared a table or pointed things out in the water to one another.

We got into Juneau at about 2 pm. There were two or three ships in port that day, so we booked the Cunard shore excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier because I was worried about how hard it would be to get on the shuttle if there were a lot of ships in port. Our driver was from California and was very pleasant and full of corny jokes, but we didn't get as much insight into the area as we got from our guide at Wild Wolf tours. We enjoyed our time though. We hiked down to Nugget Falls as soon as we got there and enjoyed the plants along the way. The trail was more like a highway through the wilderness but we did see a porcupine up a tree. we also saw our first "iceberg" Then we headed to the photopoint trail which gave a good overview of the glacier. You can see how far Nugget falls is from today's glacier. It used to be just beside the glacier. I wanted to see it while we still could so that is why I chose this excursion. I had wanted to try part of the trail of time, but there was no one on the trail and this sign at the entrance, so we figured we'd better not. We explored the museum until it was time for pickup instead. The bus driver gave us the option of stopping in town or the ship and we got off in town so we could eat because it was way past our dining time and I was starving again. We had fish and chips at the Hanger. They were good, but I've had better. We sailed out at about 8pm, but I can't remember where we watched from. It might have been from our balcony with a glass of wine. I think we went to the Yacht club to dance again too.

8 hours ago, acruiseb4 said:

Would love to hear more of your trip, we are considering taking this cruise next July but not sure if the QE will be too formal for us? Any photos of formal night would help as we would be flying from the UK so will have weight restrictions were ballgowns worn? Any other info you can provide would be appreciated really do like the look of the itinerary also time in ports, sorry for all the questions.

I didn't think anyone was actually reading it so I stopped posting. However, I will try to add some more soon. For now, I can talk about packing. It was quite formal. My husband had planned to wear his kilt for formal night. Then after I'd gotten everything dry cleaned and pressed, he changed his mind and just brought his grey suit and another jacket for the non-formal nights. He did say he then felt underdressed. We actually just bought him a tuxedo for our next trip (Queen Mary eastern seaboard) While we were at the shop the salesman talked us into a carry on that will fit all his formal wear. It's a cylinder roll that fits two pairs of shoes inside and then the tuxedo and extra jacket, tuxedo shirts, and pants are rolled around the shoe tube. That way, I will have more room in the suit case for my formal stuff which actually takes up less room. It also has a spot for bow ties and cufflinks etc. He forgot his, so he used twist ties on the first night and now owns a lovely pair of Cunard cufflinks which were rather pricey, so I hope he remembers them next time.

I will attach pics of our table for the twenties ball (image2141) and another one showing what I wore another night. I saved a bit of space by buying a black swishy dancing skirt with gold trim and then pairing it with a white lace top for the black and white ball and a red top for the Cunard ball that wasn't actually on our cruise (image 2086). I bought a pair of sparkly gold sandals to go with the skirt, but then I realized I probably should bring shoes that hadn't been broken in yet so I went with my silver sparkly sandals that have plenty of miles on them. 

My shore excursion "uniform" consisted of waterproof hiking sneakers and my quick dry, water repellent hiking pants that have a bit of give in them. I usually topped this with a quick dry golf shirt and warm sweater or jacket. It is very important to dress for rain and this is where I made my mistake. I'd bought a purple waterproof jacket for the trip, but then my daughter gave me this cute little collapsible water bottle that matched my shoes, hat, and another jacket that I thought was waterproof. It was not.  And yeah--I regretted it. Next time, I'll bring the purple one. (They also have disposable rain jackets on your bed when you get there and they hand them out as you leave the ship for shore excursions.) My shore excursion "uniform" is now my hiking outfit and running errands in the rain outfit, so it gets a lot of use at home too.

I also brought a "packable" down jacket (image 2053) that could be stuffed into a tiny pocket so that it didn't take up much space. It was only water resistant, but it kept us warm near the glacier and was easy to pack in my knapsack in case I wanted it. We brought hat and mitts too. If you have a balcony, the ship does do two complete turns by the glacier, so we were quite happy watching from either inside our cabin through the window or outside on the balcony. We even made a cup of tea while we were watching. (They handed out hot drinks on the viewing deck as well.) the bow on 5 was opened up. We brought bug jackets and hats for the woods, but didn't really need them. 

I'd brought long tunics and dress pants for the non-formal nights, but I might bring a few more dresses next time.

I also made sure I always had a dry outfit to change into once I got back to the cabin from shore excursions. 

Now I will try to upload the pictures. Let me know if you have any other questions. Will try to do some more of the review when I get a chance.

We enjoy living here. Some of my distant ancestors settled near Boston so I'm really looking forward to seeing it on our eastern seaboard cruise next fall.