SDPadreFan

So just a little historical perspective from a retired old, crusty Navy Chief. Traditionally - in order to go through a "Crossing The Line" ceremony, you had to be crossing from the hemisphere you were born in to the hemisphere you were crossing to. For American sailors (& Merchant Marine as well) - that meant crossing from North to South and not the other way around. As an example, when we headed down to Tasmania in 1976 (I was 20 years old then), we held a Crossing The Line ceremony (all day fun), crossing from North to South (but later coming back north, there was no additional ceremony for new sailors who had just joined the ship in Tasmania). On that day, I went from being a slimy pollywog to a Trusty Shellback. Lots of fun back in the good old non-sterile, non-woke, non-political days. Got to crawl thru the shillelagh gauntlet of Trusty Shellback's armed appropriately (ours were made from a 2' piece of fire hose). A visit to the Royal Barber, the Royal Dentist, the Royal Doctor, the Royal Executioner, ... and finally the Royal Baby (crawling all the way as slimy pollywogs must do). If we got dirty along the way (everyone did of course) then we got to take a bath in a large trough filled with lots of yucky looking stuff (all fresh food though) squirming around in it with other pollywogs until we were deemed clean. Finally, permission was granted to visit King Neptune on his Royal Throne for inspection. If we passed (of course some didn't and got to repeat the process), the next stop was the Royal Scribe, to be logged in as a Trusty Shellback (I still have my embossed Certificate that I got after that day in 1976. The last step was to go to the cleaning area on the flight deck (this was on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CVAN-65) and strip down to my birthday suit (to get hosed off with a fire hose) before making my way down to berthing to get fully cleaned up and dressed again. Then back up on the roof (flight deck) where another area was set up as a Steel Beach Picnic with food, etc. So the trick to get through the shillelagh gauntlet relatively unscathed while crawling was to firmly plant your head against your shipmate's behind who was directly in front of you and keep it there, all through the long gauntlet. The golden rule being that no Trusty Shellback could strike any where near your head and the buttocks was the only allowable area to strike. So you had a head to rear, head to rear, ... procession all the way across the flight deck. All of our clothing was worn in reverse order and inside out and on backwards (so tighty whities were on the outside - and on backwards). A few years later in my career, I got to participate as a Trusty Shellback that time, and it was a lot more fun being on that side. So enjoy your day (but you'll still be a pollywog, technically speaking).

There is a really cool (free) app called MyShake. It's run by Cal State Berkley. I have it on my Samsung S10 and I get alerts (silent) whenever there is an earthquake somewhere in the world above about a 4.8 Really educational to see where all the earthquakes are happening. Shows all of them but the smaller ones don't rate a specific alert. The app shows your earthquake as a 6.7 In the last week - there was your earthquake at 6.7, a 7.0 near Java Indonesia, and a 6.2 near Vancouver Island in Canada. At least those were the biggies.

While there are occasionally some ships that overnight in Cabo (Princess mostly I think), it is still very rare. Cabo is a tender port and being exposed to the Pacific makes it tough to guarantee a safe anchorage. They do sometimes close the port all together, because large swells make it unsafe to not only operate tenders, but also the possibility that the ship could drag anchor. If the ship had to get underway during the night and the port remained closed the next day, there would be a real problem getting stranded passengers back onboard the ship. Plus there is the financial aspect of being underway and having the casino open.

I'm guessing gherkin.

Personally, I've never checked. Guessing just a gherkin.

With regard to the lines in the ocean you mentioned, most likely it is caused by varying levels of phytoplankton or other substances that can absorb or refract light. Keep a sharp eye, some days the water will seem a smooth as glass. Also a great time to watch for flying fish.

I would say be aware of when schools let out for the summer in London. Apparently last year the roads to Dover turned into a real zoo with families heading to Dover to catch the ferries.

You'll be changing your clocks a few times. Brisbane is 17 hours ahead of Seattle (understanding that part of that is the International Date Line).

Don't know where they'd squeeze in a Thermal Suite since the gym is already stacked on levels. Only place for a t-pool would be to replace the existing free hot tub which would be a shame. We will be on the Pride in July for her Baltic Sea cruise.

So I've also had a run-in with the Australian Police. 1976 - I was onboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN-76) as a member of the VAQ-134 squadron (the Garudas) when we pulled into Hobart, Tasmania. A buddy and I (his name was ALSO Darrell, so Darrell & Darrell) took the train to Launceston for a couple of days to get away from the ship. We had just finished hiking the Cataract Gorge Reserve (beautiful area) and were walking back to town when a police car pulled up next to us and they rolled the window down and asked if we "wanted to go for a ride". You can only imagine what 2 young sailors were thinking at that time. We had just jaywalked across the street - but we were on the sidewalk. Turns out, it was the Launceston Chief of Police and his driver, as well as Tasmania's first female police officer in the back seat next to a window. They were a little bored and wanted to take us on a tour of the area (huge sigh of relief). Well - we raced to be the one in the center seat, next to the young female police officer (who ever fights for the middle seat - well, we did). And then we had a glorious time for the next 2 hours as they showed us their city and the surrounding countryside. To this day, I remember seeing their first hydro electric dam that they were very proud of and also being encouraged to go down into a farmers orchard to "borrow" a couple of Tasmanian apples to sample (very small and a little tart). And I can still remember that experience with the Australian Police like it was yesterday.

The Spa area of the Costa branded ships is definitely an upgrade over the same sized Carnival Spirit class ships. Includes a very nice Thalassotherapy pool (sea water hot tub). First one I experienced was on Celebrity Mercury in 1999. Some newer class Carnival ships have them - Carnival Magic and later I believe. It is a terrific experience. Some are small and very basic, but some have the tubular metal lounge rack like this one and some have a waterfall that is great to put your head under.

There are 5 general types of stainless steel. Some are magnetic to varying degrees. Our LG French Door Refrigerator is magnetic on the doors as well as the sides. https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/is-stainless-steel-magnetic/

Looks like you already have Skagway plotted out with the train ride up to the Yukon. There are some hiking trails close by the pier. One goes to the Lower Dewey Reservoir and for the truly adventurous you can continue to the Upper Dewey Reservoir. A more pedestrian walk is also close by. After you cross over the Skagway Footbridge, there is a trail that leads to Yakutania Point and then to Smugglers Cove. It's a loop trail (out and back).

This link has a short video of the Alaska’s Whales, Glaciers & Rainforest Trails excursion we took thru Carnival with Gastineau Guiding. The glacier seen in the video is the Mendenhall Glacier and the little beach area is where my wife got to hold a piece of broken off glacier. https://www.stepintoalaska.com/excursions/alaskas-whales-glaciers-rainforest-trails/

We did this cruise on the Miracle last June (end of June) and our weather was pretty much perfect for our port days. Light jacket was all we needed. Our port calls were Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm (cruising), and Icy Strait Point. Completely agree that the small boat excursion when the ship is cruising Tracy Arm is the best money you can spend. We saw 4 calving's of the Sawyer Glacier up close and the even rarer iceberg flip (sometimes called a Lurking Iceberg). My wife saw that one - I missed it. But the crew was jumping up and down and yelling with excitement. In Juneau, we did the Rainforest Trails & Whale Watching excursion thru Carnival with Gastineau Guiding and it was also fantastic. My wife even got to hold onto a broken piece of glacier (photo op). A note about whale watching in Alaska. The whales are pretty serious in Alaska. They are there to feed and that is pretty much it. For the most part, you will see them spout, then arch their back, then the tail and then they are gone on another deep dive. Orca's tend to be more interesting a sight in the wild of Alaska (to me). If you are lucky enough to see the whales bubble feeding around Juneau then that is definitely worth seeing. Gastineau Guiding link https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g31020-d1763972-Reviews-Gastineau_Guiding-Juneau_Alaska.html Whales do like to party, but it is down in Southern Baja (Cabo San Lucas) as well as Puerto Vallarta and also Hawaii. So if you want to see the party, go down to Cabo San Lucas in January or February. You can either do a land vacation or a cruise out of Long Beach, San Diego, or Los Angeles (depending on the ship). Just make sure the ship is in Cabo long enough for the excursion. Usually when Cabo is the first port of call - they are there a little longer. Here is a picture of the party in Feb 2008 on the catamaran Pez Gato in Cabo.

So for the introverts - one of the best spots on the Miracle is Gatsby's Garden on the 3rd Deck. All the way forward to the showroom. It's an indoor promanade that goes around the outside or the showroom. Lots of seating and plenty of large windows to look out. Usually quiet as a library. A hidden gem on all Spirit Class ships (but others have different names). September is definitely rainy season in Alaska so be prepared. Heading north from San Francisco will find you heading smack into the southbound winds and southbound Alaskan current. Want to know how strong that Alaskan current. The pictures below will show you the water around Southern Baja (Cabo San Lucas) in October and again just a few weeks ago. It will stay rough for a couple of days until you get up towards your first port of call which looks like Juneau. You will be in open water until you get that far north and then you will head into the inside passage where it will be much calmer.

Generally speaking - the "required" Canada port visit for most cruise lines is usually pretty short and not always at the best time of day. Our stop in Victoria last year off Miracle was just a couple of hours. We got off the ship, walked around for an hour or two (got the t shirt) and went back to the ship. It's there as a required stop and not really a feature of an Alaskan Cruise. The same way ships stop in Ensenada, Mexico as part of a 3-4 day out of LA or at the end of a Hawaii Cruise. Necessary evil more than a great port stop.

I would give serious consideration to getting (or borrowing) a transport wheelchair for this cruise. They are fairly inexpensive and can come in handy in many short duration situations where dealing with an electric scooter can be a huge hassle. We used one for my mother-in-law on a 5 day cruise and it was perfect. Because it folds up, it can take up less space that a full blown scooter. It was also useful when I would take her to doctor appointments, hair appointments, etc. It just requires an extra person to push it around. Here is an example. We have a MedLine one also but was able to get it through Costco. https://www.amazon.com/Medline-Lightweight-Transport-Wheelchair-Handbrakes/dp/B007WA1ZG4

As a comparison - here is October last year.

Agreed - the water is definitely colder now. This picture shows the movement of the Alaskan current as it moves southward every winter. It will stop it's southward trek and start receding northward sometime around April. Surprisingly (to tourists), the ocean temps in Cabo tend to be coldest around May/June before things start warming up again. By July - things start getting better and it stays that way for the rest of the year and even into Jan/Feb.

Agree - we have our cruise air booked (Fly2Fun) as well as hassle free (we hope) Carnival airport transfers. All that's left is cruise port planning for a few shore excursions. Not doing the Berlin train run because it boils down to a lot of train time and a little time in Berlin. So we will just explore the local area for that port. We'll save Berlin for a land vacation at a later time.

Ship, itinerary, approx dates of cruise (for weather info) and whether you have done an Alaskan cruise before would all help us, help you. Range of activity level would also be helpful.

Understand that if the ship is offering a camel excursion, chances are you won't be able to book the same thing thru the same company because of non-compete contracts.

This website from TripAdvisor (CruiseCritics parent company) may help. The camel ride is offered in combo with other activities but you may be able to extract the information you need from the numerous reviews. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g152515-Activities-c61-t212-Cabo_San_Lucas_Los_Cabos_Baja_California.html

They are typically there, but every once in a while, they go somewhere else mysteriously. And then they are back.