jacpedigo

In Sitka, my sister and I did the ship's Allen Marine Otter and Wildlife Expedition. We saw an incredible amount of wildlife- bachelor otter rafts, mom and baby otter rafts, bald eagles, terns, coastal brown bears, gray whale and several humpbacks. We got to try all kinds of Alaskan snacks on the boat as well, and there were binoculars provided for every seat. I usually prefer private tours, but this was fantastic!

I did the same excursion last March and, being 22 weeks pregnant at the time, I can confirm there is a restroom on board. Can't speak for the men's room, but I believe the women's had 3-4 stalls. As stated above, lunch was served on board- I recall chicken skewers, pasta salad, fruit, squash, mini cakes. Water and soda were included and there was a local woman selling beer and souvenirs. It was a very long day- tender off the ship to a dock. Bus (probably 1.5 hours?) to ferry dock. On the ferry for several hours, then bus from Panama City to port. It was definitely dark by the time we got back on the ship. However, I would HIGHLY recommend this excursion. Though we'd traveled through the old locks in the morning (was on HAL Eurodam), it was a completely different experience being on the smaller vessel. For efficiency moving through the locks, we were tethered to a sailboat that was traveling around the world and we got to chat with the crew from the deck of our ferry.

I sailed last year and hit 23 weeks the day after we disembarked. I just took my doctor's note to Guest Services as soon as I boarded. They made a copy and sent it to the Medical Office on-board. I was never asked any questions about my pregnancy by any staff or employees, at check-in or on board. However, this was my third pregnancy, so by the end of a 10-day sailing, more than one fellow guest asked if I was expecting twins! 🙂

I know this is a long shot (any may go against CC guidelines, but I really hope not), but my sister went to buy 5 $500 gift cards for Princess last night and somehow, accidentally, selected 1 Princess and 4 HAL (we've been on a HAL cruise before but not Princess before, so she just wasn't thinking, I guess). Anyhow, AARP basically said "you're screwed". If there is anyone that would be interested in purchasing one or more of her card codes (at $450), please send me a message! She's just trying to recoup her cost, as we don't have any HAL cruises scheduled right now.

Same. I have not had a problem paying my total fare (including EZ Air) with gift cards through a TA.

Thank you so much for this extensive and beautifully written trip review! We are on the same itinerary this coming June and you have gotten me even more excited about the trip than I ever knew was possible!

Thanks, @MisterMatthew, we're excited to hear about the rest of your trip!

We had 4 cabins on Deck 4 forward (Eurodam) in March. They moved us to the same cabins, on Deck 5, when our boarding passes were available.

Thank you @whogo and @Cruise Suzy for the YouTube links! Susan did a nice job and it was fun keeping an eye out for our group in the backgrounds. I was impressed with how they made it look like she was really traveling alone, knowing the size of the crew that was with her!

Our group of 10 (ages 36-88) had a wonderful day, last month, with the owner of Your Lucky Tour, Eduardo, as we visited the Tortuguero Canals and Cahuita National Park. Eduardo and our van driver were waiting just outside the port fence, with a sign with my name on it. Eduardo spoke excellent English and answered our questions well. Within minutes of getting into the van, we pulled over to view two sloths in trees just off the side of the road. By the end of the day, we'd seen countless sloths, howler monkeys and even had a close-up experience with capuchin monkeys in the National Park. Eduardo, and our driver Eddie, made sure that every member of the group saw each animal clearly before we'd move on (not always an easy feat with my elderly grandmother and grandfather in tow!) Speaking of my 84 and 88 year old grandparents, Eduardo made sure that they were comfortable and well taken care of all day, even emailing me to send his regards to them after the trip! Within that email, he also included several photos he'd taken of animals and our group throughout the day, providing me with one of my favorite pictures of me from the entire 10 day trip! Eduardo was kind, generous (making sure we got a good exchange rate at the gelato stand!) and easy-going with our not-always-so-easy group. We had a great time and recommend using Eduardo and Your Lucky Tour in Limon! Below are two photos that Eduardo emailed me after the tour.

My Dad just did the horseback riding excursion on HMC last month. He said that Ted was pointed out to them and described as the stables' "pet". 🙂

Our group of ten (aged 36 to 88) had a wonderful time on our private "Gone Turtles" tour with Gone Caribe! Jessica was great at communicating and provided a detailed map and photos of when and where to meet. Joey, her husband, was our guide for the day and was so fun and charismatic! We had a great time visiting Shete Boka National Park (the normal overlook for turtles was having too much sargassum growth to be enjoyable, so this was substituted) and our highlight of snorkelling with the turtles at Playa Piskado was the highlight of the entire 10 day cruise! Jessica made arrangements for us to travel in a large taxi van so that we could all ride together and were provided detailed information about Curacao on our drives through the entire day. After snorkeling with the turtles for just over an hour, we drove to a nearby cliffside, local restaurant and had a table reserved for our group during what appeared to be a busy lunch hour. We got to sit right next to an area set up to attract iguanas and a cliff-jumping platform, which one member of our group used after dining. The food and company were great (we also loved our driver, Lika!). We paid $90US/pp, as we had a group of 10 and were given a discount. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

As a pregnant cruiser with the SBP, aboard the Eurodam last month, I got SEVERAL milkshakes at the Dive In and was not charged for them. My guess is that a ship with the Gelato station may operate differently.

@Orsino, Susan is on Instagram as "Susan Calman", so, hopefully, we'll at least know when the Eurodam episodes air later this year! 🙂

@QHsailor, the app has incorrect information. We were on the Eurodam March 20-30 and the app showed "Smart Casual" for every day until the actual "Gala" days arrived. Your boarding pass will indicate the correct number of Gala Nights, but you might not know the exact dates until the night before, when you receive your When and Where in your stateroom. I hope this helps! 🙂