donaldsc

Better yet - never ever book Princess ever again. There are many other cruise lines out there. DON

Quark..https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/expeditions/gems-of-west-greenland-fjords-icebergs-and-culture#departures. DON

I sailed on the Ocean Adventurer a few years ago. A wonderful ship although I think that this is her last year w Quark. I will add this to the people who have spoken of the value of the years of experience and size of the expedition staff that Quark has over almost every other Antarctica outfit in the business. You also have to consider the backgrounds of the staff. On my Quark cruise one of the staff members was a Russian who served for several years as chief of Russia's Vostok Station in Antarctica - look it up in Wikipedia. The stories he told and the experiences he had were great although he was not there and would not discuss the Vostok Station murder. Of it were me I would go with Quark. There are some very good travel agencies out there that do just Antarctica cruises. I worked w one of them when I picked my South Georgia Island trip. However according to CC rules you will have to find the right one yourself as we are not allowed to recommend any travel agencies. DON

As a side note - if your TA either can't or won't find out for you I would fire that TA and never use them again. DON

According to what I read recently they are going to actually measure the size of the scooter before people are allowed to board. If it is too big they will not be allowed to board. About time. Hope that they have the guts to continue the policy and ignore the outcries of the scooter lobby. DON

Definitely NOT 3K. You can do a lot of tours or DIY tours or even extend your visit w 3K. What is wrong w standing outside and seeing stuff. DON

Until you define your parameters for "best" responses to this question are totally subjective and thus somewhat meaningless. DON

I have not ploughed through the 80+ posts on this topic but considering how crowded the buffet often is I can't see why we should have to give up some of the limited seating to more crew members. DON

Perks can also include not quite complete finishings so you end up sharing your cruise w construction people up to having your cruise cancelled because it was not ready for sailing. The latter "perk" just recently actually happened for one line just recently. DON

There are TAs that specialize only in Antarctica cruises. You should talk to one of them. However according to CC rules we can not tell you who they are. You have to do your own research to find them. DON

Better yet try to change your TA. They are being inept. Just think what serious damage they could do to your travel plans. I would not trust that TA to try to have you buy a ticket on the Staten Island ferry. DON

One reason I use a TA and I have a very good one is that you get service when things have gone south either before the cruise or even worse when you are sitting on the runway waiting to take off and realizing that you might not make your connecting flight. Try calling your cruise company expecting them to solve that problem. DON

I would disagree with that. If the image is blurred and the field of view is minimal the Viking binocs would be worse than useless since it turns a clear but distant object to a blurry and hard to find object. Using the Viking binocs is like taping 2 toilet paper rolls together and putting some SaranWrap paper on the end to blur the image. I will add and it should be obvious from my binoc comments on CC is that I am a bit of a snob with regard to anything optics. DON

My question is why do you want to spend an extended time in Talkeetna or worse yet overnight. On our driving trip in AK we spend maybe 1 hour or so in town and then drive out. I might have been missing something there but I was not excited about the place. DON

If you just want to be able to hold the camera in 2 hands instead of one I have a suggestion. My S24 has a voice photo option - you say "capture" and it takes a picture. I suspect that you S22 has the same capability. DON

The question has been whether I should give up my spot or whether I will give it up when I am done looked. My attitude is that once I have a good spot I will keep it until I am done looking and then I will leave. Otherwise I will be there for the duration. My choice and not the choice of someone wants my spot. DON

That is what I figured. I actually went on an AK small ship cruise where they gave us good binocs which I priced at about $250 each. Each room got 2 pair which is even more amazing. They even had good quality spotting scopes scattered all over the ship. So while you gave me the answer that I expected there are a few cruises where you would not have to bring your own. DON

We are leaving soon on a Viking Search for Northern Lights cruise. Supposedly they supply binoculars. On most of the cruises I have gone on where they supply binocs they are just cheap crap and not worth having. Does anyone know the exact make, model and specifications supplied by Viking on their aurora cruises. DON

Have you ever noticed that these financial "errors" are always in the cruise line's favor. When was the last time they forgot to charge you for something? If they were true "errors" half should be in their favor and half in yours. Do I detect a sneaky way for them to get money out of you assuming that most people would not notice the "mistake" or would not bother to complain about a small "error". DON

We are off to Norway in a week. Wish me luck. I have done aurora in March on a almost 2 week DIY trip. Spent 3 or 4 days in China. We had clear skies every night. DON

If I get up early to get a good spot while you slept in or had a good breakfast I do not give it up for anyone even if you ask. The early bird gets the worm. DON

Let's assume that the lines do their best and try to keep an up-to-date files of all possible combinations and permutations of the visa requirements. Lets ignore the calculation of how many possibilities that might be. Let's also assume that they will occasionally make a mistake or overlook some strange issue that might occur. When that happens the person who is not allowed to board will scream and yell that they were denied boarding by the cruise line and post their trouble to every cruise related WEB site. They might even try to sue the cruise line. That is probably the reason that they will not do what you wish. Think about it. DON

I am sure that you know that there no "Princess Tours" anywhere but only tours that are hired by Princess. Therefore usually any tour that Princess sell you can be bought directly from the tour company often at a lower price. In a direct answer to your question we have taken the same Princess whale watching tour twice on AK cruises. The one we took involved a Glacier walk and a boat tour on a boat that held only about 12 people. The guides both times we did the tour were excellent and the most recent guide was one of the best guides we have ever had on any tour anywhere. I think that this was the company but I am not sure - Gastineau Guiding Company DON

Tell me about it. We did a 2 1/2 month driving trip in AK a few years back and we still missed stuff I would have wanted to see. I laugh when someone says that they want to see as much of AK as they can on a 1 week trip. DON

Simple solution - ask them or ask your TA. DON