Shmoo here

From the DCL prohibited items info: A Guest may bring rubber ducks onboard. However, pool toys (e.g., rubber ducks) cannot be used in the pools. Note: Guests cannot hide things, such as rubber ducks, in staterooms or public areas.

On my passport my (original) middle name and maiden names are together (no spaces). On my license it's first name, (original) middle name, maiden name, (married) last name. All separate. Never been an issue (yet).

Mostly because we're not comfortable "sending" that much money over the phone to the TA who then has to call it in, or via email. Actually the TA is only about 4 miles from our house, it's not a big deal to include a stop there when we head out for daily errands.

Possibly, but, for our upcoming cruise, we used a TA (don't usually do that, but the early booking and TA OBC were too enticing). Every time we went in to make a payment, she would call the cruise line and just talk to whoever answered. Our last visit (final payment) she got an airheaded employee and wound up repeating herself multiple times to get things finished.

Certainly. But it fills my "me time" on my computer when I need something to do.

We waitlisted for 2 different excursions on our July cruise, although we also went ahead and booked an excursion in both those ports. One of them came through within 2 days. Still waiting for the other one.

I typically just copy and paste the whole thing into word and then delete unwanted pictures and other irrelevant information, then print from there.

We've done HAL and Disney to Hawaii, and taken several Princess cruises. I'd look at the itineraries of both possible cruises and select the one that I'm most interested in. If they are really the same, I'd probably go with Princess, depending on how big the price difference is. This is mostly because I'm not a fan of HAL's entertainment offerings recently. But, either would work for me.

What cruise line? When we did our Alaska cruise/tour there was some travel via train, but mostly bus. I would think doing it entirely by train will not get you to as many places in as short a time.

Even the 3 night cruises have a pirate night. Just no pirate menu in the dining room.

The wine & bites tastings in Palo are not the "regular" tastings.

this is so cool! We have HIA on our next cruise, and I wasn't anticipating any extra mariner days for spending.

Wine/beer brought onboard is to be consumed in your room, or you can bring the wine (not sure about the beer) to the MDR to be enjoyed with dinner.

And it seems they've mixed them up. We're doing the 35 day round trip on the ZUIDERDAM starting that day.

Drinks in the bars/lounges have a cost. I'm not sure about asking for a glass of regular water, but bottled water will have a cost. There's no issue getting soft drink (or coffee, or tea, hot chocolate) from the drink station and bringing it into the lounge area to drink. Those drinks are "free" from the drink stations, and in the dining rooms, and buffet.

We booked on a Thursday night for a Sunday cruise. Just a short one, and drivable to the port. No regrets at all.

I fail to see much difference between the single piano vs double piano format regarding audience participation. I've experienced both single and double piano bar situations on HAL, and the audience has been invited to sing along in every one.

Seven Seas Splendor

Sun screen is in my shore excursion bag. As well as ship's card, photo ID, cash, credit card, and water. And either my camera or phone (for pictures only).

Generally itineraties are released about 18 months out.

On the DCL website, the deck plans show those rooms with connecting doors. You can see the door openings on this example:

oops

If you go to the DCL website and do a search for 7 night cruises, you'll find some, out of San Diego, Port Canaveral, and Galveston.

Generally, the longer cruises will have fewer children. That said, there will still be more kids than you'll find on other lines. Repositioning with the lowest number, typically. B2B cruises won't cut the kid load as each cruise will have lots of kids (but not the same ones). Any cruise out of FL will go to either Castaway Cay or Lighthouse Point (private islands). I prefer the classic ships (Magic & Wonder), but have cruised on both Fantasy and Dream. Haven't done any of the newer ships. My favorite longer cruises on DCL were Southern Caribbean on the Fantasy, and Panama Canal, as well as Med/Westbound Transatlantic both on the Magic.

We just have the gratuities added daily to the onboard account.