born2cruize

Agree that most insulin once opened doesn't need to be kept in a fridge - done quite a few cruises to warmer climates and never had a problem. When living in Canada (Kamloops to be specific) never heard of the room temperature stable insulin and it certainly wasn't suggested by my family doctor.

While I keep my insulin pens in the frig until the first use. My doctor had told me the as long as I keep them below 86 degrees I did not need to refrigerator them. Once you open an insulin pen for the first time you don't need to refrigerate them but you must use them within the next 28 days. I don't have that problem as my Lantus pens are use up within 10days and my Novalog is used with 6 days.

I have found that if I keep my insulin syringes on the first self below the little freezer compartment the pens had a tendency to freeze so I use the bottom self.

If your goal is to provide them some spending money that they can use on shore, don't use euros but use pounds.

Next year I'm booked for B2B each are 14 days. This cruise is sold as 4 - 7 days, 2 - 14 days and a 28 day single cruise. Price for the cruises were only slightly different. But the OBC and military OBC was the selling point. For 7 days I was offered $100 military, and Princess offered $150. For 14 days I received $250 military and Princess OBC was $700. For 28 days military and Princess OBC was the same as 14 days. So by doing 2 14-day I am receiving $500 military and $1400 from Princess.

As someone who travels and uses O2 the information above is pretty accurate. The only thing I would add is 1) There are two categories of concentrators, Home and portable. You want a portable concentrator and not a home concentrator. 2) If you are flying, the concentrator must be FAA approved brand. Go to their website for list. 3) Airlines request that you have enough battery hours for twice the flight ie. if the flight is 5 hours then you need at least 10 hours of battery life. Advertised life of batteries is anywhere between 4 hours to 8 hours per battery. Your mileage WILL vary. That is at a setting of 2 L/M. My first machine used 2 batteries that were claimed to last 4 hours each but I never got more that 6 hours total. Therefore on our flight to Rome from Seattle I need a total of 8 batteries and I just barely made it. Most long lasting batteries for O2 concentrators are lithium-ion, all your batteries you have must go with you in the cabin, you cannot put lithium-ion batteries in the cargo hold with your luggage. 4) You MUST have a letter from your physician saying you need O2. Most airlines will have a form online that you can have your physician complete with the required info. This letter will need to be renewed annually. Also be aware whatever liter rate your husband has at home will be different that when you fly because cabins are pressurized to 8,000 ft. For instance at home or on the ground my L/M is 2 but when I fly my settings is 3. I know this is a lot of information so if you have any questions please just ask.

We are on the Royal for 28 days (May 27-June 24) and our schedule has been tossed around until it's no longer recognizable. Because of all the circling around, Volos Greece and Valletta have been cancelled! We now see Kotor three times and Mykonos twice. I am not complaining about the Turkey ports being cancelled, it's the Volos and Valletta ports that we really wanted to see.:(

I'm on the following 28 days and I received an email today from my TA informing me that the same ports have been cancelled. That includes 3 port visits to Kusadasi (they previously cancelled Istanbul) replaced by three visits to Kotor.

I was on a B2B cruise just this year. I was on the Star Princess (but I will assume that all Princess times would be approximately the same). Northbound we picked up the Ranger at 6:15 and departed Glacier Bay about 3:15. Southbound the Ranger boarded about 9:15 and and we stayed until around 7:30.

Thanks Terry, reason is this morning I get a email from Princess Group Onboard Service Coordinator stating they no longer get the Onboard Staff Rotational List to give out. I like to have them printed out before boarding this Sunday. I do not write or print well. Do you plan on writing a review? I would love to read it. Again Thanks. Stan

I hope your not on the Star Princess this weekend because you'll miss the ship if you try to board on Sunday. The ship leaves Vancouver on Saturday. :)

My wife and I also did the Seahorse Farm back in 2008. And I plan to go again this June while spending a week in Kona with some friends. It is a good time. While they will talk about ecological effects that seahorses exist in, it's not overly preachy. You'll learn a lot about them.

Beware you must book an appointment before hand if not on a POA tour. You also must arrive at least 15 minutes before the tour begins because you must wash your hands before hand. You'll get a chance to feed the very little ones and as mentioned you'll also have a chance to put your hands in the water and let an adult wrap its tail around your finger.

The problem with ship transfers is you will sit at the airport until flights arrive and the cruisers get baggage.... from more than your flight. If you arrive at 9, you could wait till one. Just depends on how many runs they'll make. And since it's a long trip, I'd guess not more than a couple.

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I've used oxygen since 2011 after my open heart surgery. Initially I used a Respironics Ever-Go it used 2 batteries that lasted supposedly 8 hours, never got 8 hours even when new. I wound up having to purchase 12 batteries in order to travel to Rome in 2011 & 2013. Barely last the entire time from Seattle to Philadelphia to Rome with layovers. I now have a Inogen G3 it's lighter and each battery while rated 8 hours last up to 9 hours each. Flew from Seattle to Iceland to London. Only have 3 batteries. Best investment I've ever made. I know that Inogen does have newer models but can't comment on them.

Just to let you know, between now and the beginning of July I have 2 weeks in Anaheim, B2B Alaskan cruises and two weeks in Hawaii. I have never let my respiratory problems limit my travel.

Any tour to Totem Bight State Park or Saxman Village will offer many totem poles and will get you back to the ship in plenty of time in addition to walking around town.

 

Hello friends! Yes yes, it is SeaTac. I'm a SWA flyer and have enough points for free flights to Seattle. So I'm looking for reasonable (CHEAP!) reliable transportation to the Vancouver Cruise Terminal.

 

Maybe it seems foolish but that's the best we can do.

 

Thanks! Michael & Sherry

My sister-in-law and I will be taking the Star Princes in May. Since we live in Tacoma I looked at my options. The Princess shuttle is $49.00 and leaves from Sea-Tac airport to the pier in Vancouver. It's cheaper than anything else I want to do. I booked the trip on my Cruise Personalizer at Princess.com. We'll stay at my favorite park and ride lot near the airport and take the bus to Vancouver and then in reverse order coming back.

I have a little different take on the train. I'd rather take the train up to Frazier and beyond. My reasoning is the train travels slower going up than going down. As my main objective is taking photos I can see the photo ops ahead better than when the train is going down. I've been on the train twice once up and once down.

I've been to Totem Bight 3 times and Saxman Village once. Something about having totems on the sidewalk takes away from the importance of these works of art. Having them in a clearing amount the trees add beauty to these works of art. IMHO.

We did a back to back out of Southampton back in 2014. Not only did we not need the boarding pass for the second cruise but our initial cruise cards was for all 28 days. (We did book this cruise as two separate cruises). We just sat at the International Cafe watching everyone else leave then almost immediately they started boarding. No need to leave the ship for zeroing out the passenger list. This maybe unique to Southampton (or non US points of embarkation) though.

Depends if the tour rep is there the day you arrive. Sometimes tour reps are guides that don't arrive until day of tour. But may be there early if they are starting a new tour.

When you get to the hotel you will be met by someone who will have an envelop for you with all you tour luggage tags and depending on which type tour your on other info and tickets. You'll be instructed to put your ship luggage out as specified place and time. But the short answer you'll do it at the hotel not airport.

We did 28 days back in 2014 aboard the Emerald Princess out of Southampton. We both used our Travelscoots and had plenty of space to maneuver around. We were on the Plaza deck room 340 behind the IC.

I used Scootaround back in 2013 before they purchased Care Vacations. They were considerably cheaper for the exact same scooter. I rented one for 20 days as I was on a back to back. It was delivered by Care Vacation to my room and picked it up after our cruise was over.

You are not limited to the two companies noted above, but it is important to insure that they will work with one of the two companies.

Are all pies the same? Is all ice cream the same? Are all cakes the same?

Have you logged into My Princess and then in the upper right-hand corner selected profile. There is then an opportunity to select your country.

I went in mid to late August this year on Princess. I was glad I listened to the advice here to book the small boat excursion. The ship did not make it very close to the glacier. I heard from numerous people who stayed on the cruise ship that they were disappointed. That small boat excursion was one of the best excursions I took in the 2x I've been to Alaska. I'd rank it right up there with dog sledding on a glacier and seeing Denali. The icebergs coming off the glacier were a marvelous shade of blue. We learned this is because they are new. As the icebergs age they lose the deep blue color. We got very close in the small boat. Plus I fulfilled my dream of seeing mountain goats. Those who stayed on the cruise ship missed out.

I'm sorry but whoever told you the blue ice is new new was give you a line. The simple answer is blue ice is due to compression of snow. As it compresses, air is expelled leave the ice blue amount many possible hues. Below is the wikipedia definition:

A blue iceberg is visible after the ice from above the water melts, causing the smooth portion of ice from below the water to overturn. The rare blue ice is formed from the compression of pure snow, which then develops into glacial ice. This can be seen around the moraine of Columbia Glacier near Valdez.

Icebergs may also appear blue due to light refraction and age. Older icebergs reveal vivid hues of green and blue, resulting from a high concentration of color, microorganisms, and compacted ice.[5] One of the better known blue icebergs rests in the waters off Sermilik fjord near Greenland. It is described as an electric blue iceberg and is known to locals as "blue diamond".[6]

Since January 2013 I've been to the Caribbean for a 20 day cruise, the Med for 6 day land and 12 day Greek Isle cruise, and two 14 day cruises in the Med and Baltics. By far Europe is more mobility scooter friendly than the Caribbean. At least in 2013 it was near impossible to find a private operator on most of the islands to provide a tour. An the taxi drivers won't even look at you. In fact I've had taxi operators walk away as I approached THEM to find if they could provide transportation.

Hi guys, have always cruised Alaska in Sept, and know what the weather is usually like and what to pack for in the ports and at sea, or the inside passage. Just came back from Alaska last month, on the Jewel Ots. This cruise that I'm going on, is mid June, from the 18th to the 25th. Here is the itinerary,

 

June 18th, cruise on the Amsterdam, roundtrip from Vancouver, leaving 5 p.m.

June 19th, cruise the inside passage.

June 20th, cruise Tracy Arm, 10 a.m. 10:30 a.m, at least that's what the brochure is sayin.

June 20th, Juneau, 1 p.m. 10 p.m.

June 21st, Skagway 7 a.m. 9 p.m.

June 22nd, Glacier Bay 7a.m. 4 p.m.

June 23rd, Ketchikan 10 a.m. 6 p.m.

June 24th, cruise inside passage.

June 25th, arrive Vancouver

 

Those of you might know the questions, I'm about to ask.:) Would there be any need for jacket, gloves, cap, sweatshirts, during the month of June, when cruising Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm? Might bring suntan lotion along, in case of sunburn. Since this cruise is during the longest day of the year, would one be able to see Campbell River, after leaving Vancouver, would there be a naturalist on board, and would the salmon be running, also bald eagles in abundance in the ports. Just thought of what time does it usually get dark up thar?

 

This cruise is goin to be a group cruise, and they really had to twist my arm to go,:eek: now if you can believe that...:rolleyes: The deposit has already been put down.

Never been to Tracy Arm, but like Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay will create it's own weather because of all the ice and snow. I've had temps in the 80's in both Juneau and Skagway (not that far from Glacier Bay) and the temps were in the 40's and 50's in Glacier Bay. As Putterdude mentioned June has a tendency to be drier but you can have a wide variety of temps.