djwool

Nice informative thread! We're heading to AK in mid August for one week DIY pre-cruise in and around Anchorage plus a seven day southbound from Seward to Vancouver. Thought I would post my planned equipment list and get anyone's comments or recommendations. My camera is the Nikon D5300. I plan on taking a 35mm fixed lens and 18-105 and 70-300 zooms. Plus I purchased a 2X converter for any long wildlife shots I might encounter. No plane rides for us, so I don't think I'll need anything super wide.

Comments....suggestions? 

We booked our late August 2019 cruise in early February of 2018. So, I guess that's 18 months in advance. :-)

Thank you all. We booked the Hyatt Place.

Good choice. We've stayed there twice.

We are booked on the March 10th......now 11th cruise. I had no real complaints with the way NCL handled the problem, until I was notified of our "one day lost" credit amount. The letter we received indicated we would receive a "refund for one day cruise fare" if that was the option we chose. NOT cruise fair PLUS fees and taxes or even prepaid gratuities. Just one day cruise fair. OK. I'm not happy about it and it doesn't seem perfectly fair (especially the gratuities) but that's what the letter said. So one day's cruise fair is 1/7th....right? That's 14.286%. Our credit is more like 1/8th or 1/9th. 11.629%. In our case it's not a lot of money since we're not in a suite, but what's promised in the letter is what's promised in the letter. THAT is what my complaint is about.

I'm curious if this happened to anyone else.

I'm still interested to know how the $100 obc costs ncl $45. Thanks

Do you really think they make zero profit on the items you can purchase with the OBC? Of course not. So, subtract their profit from the $100 to arrive at their cost. I'm not sure that profit totals $55 as someone stated, but it sure isn't zero.

Thanks. Thinking about walking up to Iolani Palace.

Is it possible to drop your luggage, go through security, check-in, board and then depart the ship for a walk around tour....or are you restricted from leaving once on board?

Thanks in advance.

........25% credit and The Hilton for a night seems fair.

IF you are able to use the 25% future cruise credit before 2/19/19. For those of us with next year's cruise already booked, we have to settle for the one day credit. :(

They also delayed the following week's cruise from Saturday departure to Sunday the 11th. We lost the first day in Maui but all the rest is the same.

They also delayed the departure for the March 10th cruise to Sunday the 11th. We lost the first day in Maui but all the same after that.

Thank you all for the information. This cruise is on our must do list. If anyone has some pictures of common areas and dining rooms, I'd love to see them. :D

Check YouTube. There are some good videos of POA.

St Thomas

Early morning arriving at St Thomas

Departing San Juan

St Kitts, Brimstone Hill Fortress

Hanalei sunset, Kauai

Wailea sunset, Maui

I think, but am looking for confirmation from more experienced cruisers, this offer says use online only? Or do the terms say you can call?...........

From the AMEX website:

Offer is valid on bookings made online at royalcaribbean.com or via phone through Royal Caribbean or your Travel Professional.

122 'till Jewel.

Sounds good.

Read the terms closely. The $300 credit might be for new reservations only.

We signed up for the no-fee Celebrity card when they offered specialty dining for 2 plus 10,000 points ($100 OBC) after a small minimum spend. Received an email notification when the awards were available. Simple phone call to redeem the dining perk. The points were redeemed online. Used the card to pay for the balance of the cruise and earned another $50 OBC via points.

Mine has never stopped working. Am I just lucky? I usually use a desktop computer with windows 7. I've never encountered any of the computer issues that people complain about.

Same here. :) Have never had an issue. Desktop, Win 7 and Chrome.

Speaking for my DH, Winks, I believe it was a bit of truth combined with tongue-in-cheek humor. After all there is always some truth in humor. The exterior areas (our balcony, the pool railing area and hull of the ship) had noticeable rust and tell tale signs that definitely showed her age. This was not something that we considered a big problem. The interior areas were in much better shape. I hope that answers your question. :p

Hopefully those problems will be addressed during the dry dock from February 27 to March 12. We sail April 9th.

Nice review! Looking forward to the rest. We are on the same itinerary in April.