donaldsc

Where are you going. If you are doing a Mediterranean cruise it should not matter. If you are doing Antarctica it might. DON

They are junk. You may be tell whether the bird is a flamingo or a hawk but you will not be able to what species it is. Bring your own. DON

You can interpret that statement 2 really different ways. DON

Can you purchase distilled water on board and what is the cost? If you can and the price is right just order DW and add a bit of a flavoring solution or electrolyte to it to it. DON

There are travel agencies out there that do just Arctic and Antarctic cruises. I know that we can't name them on CC. I am going to call one of them. You would think that there would be a market out there for more reasonably priced maybe 50 passenger Greenland to Greenland cruises. DON

Even if they are provided they are probably totally cheap and totally awful. I have only taken one cruise where the binoc were worth looking through. They were ~$150 Nikons. The ones the cruise line supply are %20 junk. Bring your own if you feel that you need them. If you do buy them do not buy them off the WEB but try them out before you buy. As an aside I was in B&H a few days ago playing with their binoculars. I made the mistake of trying a set of $3000 SWAROVSKI binoculars. If I had $3000 plus the cost of the divorce from my wife to throw out I would have probably have bought them. They were wonderful. DON

I also suffer from this syndrome but no way as bad as you do. Regardless there is very little ship movement on most river cruises. You should be OK if you are selective on which river cruise you take. You might be better taking a river cruise in Europe or maybe on the Mississippi. DON

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I did check on Secret Atlas. Intriguing but way way past my price range. DON

Just my opinion but I just can't imagine this level of detailed planning. When we travel I just plan the lodging, tours and maybe a few major sights and museums. We figure out the rest on the fly. We never worry about where we are going to eat. Different strokes etc. DON

I have and use both types - cell phone and Sony camera. What everyone is missing that it can be very difficult to see your cell phone screen especially if it is really sunny and you are wearing dark polarized sunglasses. DON

Check out https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/buying-guide-best-compact-zoom-cameras and maybe post your question on their site, They also have a feature search https://www.dpreview.com/products/search/cameras#! Sigma makes interesting small cameras although I have never used one.. Here is one that is 161.4mm / 6.4" (W), 67mm / 2.6" (H), 87.1mm / 3.4" (D https://www.sigmaphoto.com/dp1-quattro-compact-digital-camera They also make other interesting cameras. Here is a site that lets you compare camera sizes side by side. Hope this helps. DON

I am trying to do a Greenland cruise that does not start or end in any port outside of Greenland. In other words I want a Greenland to Greenland cruise. Does anyone know if one of them exists. I can't find one. DON

Just say "no thank you" when they ask. Was that so hard? DON

Enforcement is easy if the line really wants to do it but we all know that the lines will punt on the issue. Before a person boards the ship make sure that the passenger verifies that the scooter will fit through the door and into the room and also make sure that the passenger is aware of the consequences of lying about their scooter. If they do not follow the rules and they try to leave their scooter in the hallway make them move the scooter to a scooter barn on the ship and they get it back at the end of the cruise. When the passenger starts wailing that they need the scooter to get around and they will have to spend their entire cruise in their room just remind them that they were told the consequences. Also absolutely enforce the scooter rules 100% of the time w/o exception. On my last cruise there was a scooter parked in the hall almost all the time. I complained about it repeatedly and nothing was ever done about. DON

I have the large Samsung S24 and amazingly enough it is easy to read books on it with Hoopla. DON

I will add another excellent reading program - Hoopla. Our library uses this one in addition to Kindle and Libby and you can get some books on Hoopla that you can not get on Kindle. . You don't need a special reader to use Hoopla. Any tablet will work. The negative of a tablet based reader of course it that the battery life is not as long as with a Kindle and it does not work well in bright outside light. An advantage of Hoopla is that it works better with books that have pictures and maps in it such as guide books. DON

Anyone who uses a scooter on a cruise should be required to take a driving test before they are allowed on board. We have a friend who has rented a scooter for his next cruise. That will be the 1st time that he has ever driven one. Wonder how many people he will hit. DON

You still have to be careful as many sites that look that the cruise company sites are not the real company sites. Also these fake cruise company sites often come up higher on your Google search than the real site. Things can be trickly. DON

There are other cruise lines out there. Since you had a bad experience w Princess change line and tell Princess why I guarantee that Princess will not care. This is not addressed directly at you but I can never understand why a person can have a bad experience w a cruise line and then go out and book a new cruise w the same line. DON

I wonder. Are all of these people who are complaining about the poor entertainment continuing to book on Princess. Why? Don

Type "ships in port" into Google. DON

There 2 reasons to use a TA. #2 and less important is that they can save you some money. #1 and far more important is that when (not if but when) thing go wrong you have someone on your side who has people they can contact that you do not have access to. DON

When I took my aurora trip to Fairbanks I spend 10 days in Fairbanks just to increase my odds of seeing them. I lucked out and saw them almost every night but staying there several for a longer period almost guaranteed that I would get to see them at least 1 night. I would do an extended land trip and pick 2 places with good odds of seeing aurora and just stay put. Rent a car so you can drive around to get to spots w clear skies and also let you drive around during the day. DON

Does the tail add anything to the functionality of the ship or os just for appearance's sake. DON

If you tip extra for your meal you are tipping extra on top of the tip that is automatically added to your restaurant bill which is added to the cost of the cruise. Does this make any sense to anyone in the world except for Americans? BTW - I am American but not a sucker. DON