donaldsc

I assume that everyone realizes how absurd it is that people are worrying about whether their ship will have the morning docking slot or the afternoon docking slot. DON

My mistake. You are right. Regardless - it was a really great cruise. DON

Don't forget Clipper Cruises. They hold about 200 people and even better - they are true sailboats where you spend most of your cruise under sail. Cruising on them is a unique experience. DON

Lots of us do aurora tours and/or aurora cruises. I did an aurora cruise last winter in Norway. In your response to your "can't wrap my head around this" comment, I could say the same thing about many popular cruise and.or land destinations. DON

Just type "what cruise lines have exclusive areas" into Google. DON

Totally agree with that statement. If you can't lift it I am not going to help you. DON

If you really want to see aurora forget about doing it from a cruise. Go to Fairbanks in February or March and stay there a week. Spend part of the week in Chena Hot Springs. That is what I did and I had great intense aurora every single night. Just bring every bit of cold weather clothing you own and you may end buying more once you get there. That is also what I had to do. Also try to time the trip for the annual ice carving festival.

The original post was 2022. The issue has been settled by now. DON

Info on cost would have been available by typing "taxi fare from blue lagoon to kef" into Google. DON

Rome2Rio. DON

I have often wondered about the impracticality of of some woman's clothings such as the lack of any or useful pockets. Why do they make them that way and why do women buy them. I understand that they may want more attractive clothing as most men including me really don't care what they wear a trait that my wife points out all the time. However the designers could design attractive and at the same time practical clothining. DON

Yes. DON

Interesting difference then between ships and airplane. I believe that on an airplane the pilot has the absolute authority to do whatever is necessary to have a safe flight or even not to fly at all if he feels this is necessary. DON

Normally I spend as much time off the ship as I can because I cruise for the ports and the ship is just a big bus. However my next cruise is on Atlas Cruise Lines which is my first small ultra luxury cruise ship so I will be spending more time on board to enjoy the ship experience that I have paid so much money for. DON

I don't see what is so complicated about what is in your carry on. You just put 3 types of items into it - 1) the stuff that you need as soon as you board before your luggage is delivered, 2) the stuff that if you don't have it your trip will be either totally ruined or they won't let you onto the ship or into places and 3) the stuff that if you don't have it you will die. DON

It is too late for the OP but the Ward Cove issue is a good reason never to cruise to AK on NCL ever. I wonder what percentage of the people who book NCL know that the do not dock in Ketchikan. DON

Your pocket. it is free and convenient. Why would I want to pay for a device to hold the medallion. DON

None. They are all oversized monstrosities. DON

Nobody can say whether a tour is worth it. The question is whether it is worth it to you and none of us can answer that question. Also you are asking a bunch of questions that can easily be answered on the WEB, I would suggest that you go on the WEB and do a bit of research by yourself. It isn't that hard and you will learn a skill that will provide many long term benefits. DON

You don't even have to leave a city to see one of those guys. We stayed in a B&B in Anchorage and one of them was grazing in the back yard for several hours. I have even see a moose walking down one of the streets in I think Ketchikan. DON

Totally incorrect. Lines such as HAL and Princess do a very adequate job covering the mass market cruises to AK. The cruises are OK and you do stop at the ports that most people consider important stops in AK. However nobody who has ever done much AK cruising would ever say that they are the best. To really do AK you have to take one of the small ships w 500 passengers or less which will take you to ports that the big ships do not go into. Even better are the really small ships w 50 passengers or less which also get you into places that the big ones don't hit and then put you on a zodiac to get even further in. I have been on HAL or Princess ships to AK when I went w family and especially w grandkids and a good time was had by all but nothing will beat AK on a 50 passenger small ship. Some day I would like to do AK on an 8 passenger trawler yacht. DON

Just get a good modern cell phone. I look at my S24 as a pretty good camera attached to a phone. DON

The computer problem might have been fixed but the transportation mess will continue for at least several days considering that many planes may not be where they need to be and planes that are or will be flying were probably fully booked. We obviously have a very fragile intercommunications system out there. DON

Actually SW was not impacted by the problem because their computer system was running a very old operating system (DOS 3.1) which was released in 1985 instead of the newer systems. For the same reason but maybe a different operating system FedEx was also not impacted. As a totally and mostly irrelevant aside I read recently that the underlying operating systems for many financial and governmental systems today is still COBOL. Remember COBOL. It was released in 1959 and standardized in 1968. DON

Does anyone know if Atlas Cruise Lines or the city of Casablanca provides a shuttle from the cruise port to either the mosque or to town. It looks as if we dock way out on very a long pier that you would have to walk to even get to the shore. According to Google maps we will have to walk about 2 km just to get off the pier. Once you get off the pier it is only a 1 km walk to the mosque but the walk off the pier is ridiculous. DON