keep on cruising

Thanks for the info. That is exactly what I needed to know. I was going to leave my normal back pack at home and just bring a sling bag but I may have to rethink that - after measuring my back pack of course

I am going on a cruise tour with the land portion followingthe cruise. I have a question for thosewho have done this. Normally on the last night of the cruise,luggage is put out to be collected and taken to the pier or custom. Youthen retain one bag for you night clothes, toiletries and any other last minuteitems. You carry that bag off the ship.

How does this work with the cruise tour with the landportion after the cruise. I understand you mark your bags to indicate ifyou want it that night or at the end of the tour. I know youcan have a very small bag on the train with you that is smaller than a normalcarryon. What do you do with the stuff you need the last night andlast morning that you normally carry off the ship? How do you get itconnected to you other baggage that is collected the night before. Wouldour baggage be handled differently? Is there provisions to give the “JoinMe Tonight” bag to someone on the last morning?

My TA has called Princess and was not able to get a definitive answer. I'm hoping someone that has done the cruise tour after the cruise can provide the correct information

Thanks

Marge

Which ever tour you choose, I would recommend that you spend several days in Vancouver and maybe add a day trip to Victoria. There is so much to do in Vancouver it would be a shame to miss it when you've traveled so far.

I also recommend, it possible, to do the land tour first with a full day tour of Denali.

Marge

You may want to check HAL's accessible tours too. They will probably have one in Honolulu to Pearl Harbor. We took Princess to Hawaii last year and I think each island had at least one wheelchair accessible tour. This year we are repeating the cruise and they have added additional accessible tours - including a couple of helicopter tours.

Hope you have a great trip.

Since they use electric wheelchairs, they would need a vehicle with a ramp or lift and that could hold two chairs.

Have you looked into wheelchair accessible ship excursions?

You didn't mention what line they are on, but we have found wheelchair accessible excursions in Kauii, Oahu and Hilo. Maui also shows one or two excursions but that has been a tender port for us, so my husband cannot get off the ship.

We booked the Caribe HC Balcony for Alaska two years ago. It was the best HC cabin we've had. It was very spacious. And the bar in the closet was easily lowered to the level of a wheelchair.

When room service is delivered on Princess, you sign the back of the original order with the time it was delivered. There is a line on the form for a tip. We always tip in cash for our morning coffee so I would just draw a line through the tip space.

I just found out that with my credit card year round insurance, which I pay around $450/year for - my DH's pre-existing is not covered no-how because it IMPROVED in the last three months to the point that he came off of a med. It's a change, so therefore rules out the coverage. Oh man. So my only option is to go with the HAL package, which will reimburse 90% for pre-existing, on top of the other policy. This is for a 22-day cruise, so cruise cost is much higher than usual. Therefore, our total insurance cost for this trip is around $1,400.

startwin, you might want to check out CSA. They have a policy that covers pre-exsisting conditions if purchased within 24 hours of your final payment. I can't say how good it is, I bought it once when I inadvertently forgot to buy insurance but fortunately, didn't have to file a claim.

We had a fantastic tour of the Hunter Valley with Suanne Adelmann of Real Sydney Tours in November of 2011. We're planning on coming back to Australia in 2015 and will definitely book a tour of the Blue Mountains with her. The web site is www.realsydneytours.com.au.

Fendlander, you must have been on the same South Pacific cruise on the Zaandam that we were on. My DH is an amputee and cannot walk at all so it was very disappointing not to be able to get off in Kona or Akora. I don't think he could have gotten off on any of the small islands even if the tender lift was functioning. My DH was able to access our balcony. Fortunately we had air con and didn't have a pipe break in our room as others on both sides of us did so it was a good cruise.

We have sailed on the Noordam since and found the accessible balcony room a very strange configuration and had to have furniture removed to make the room work. There were no tender ports on that cruise so I can't comment on if the tender lifts really do work.

We have taken a few cruises on Princess since his amputation and will be on the Grand Princess in February. He was always able to access our Caribe balcony.

We have found that the crews on both lines are always willing to help - and in the Pacific some of those gangways were really high - and required 3 people to get him up and down - always with a smile.

Suzy, I have some pictures of D707 on the Emerald if that will help. Its a HC quad mini which I assume is the same configuration as D308 and D304.

It is a very spacious cabin. The fourth bed was in the ceiling above the couch.

I want to thank yellowbird and ladysail for keeping us up to date on Egon's adventures. He is definitely an amazing man. I hope to follow him on future adventures.