dd57

I second the Viking Ocean recommendation. Viking has guest lecturers that specialize in history and cultures. Their In the Wake of the Vikings cruise might fit what you are looking for. It starts in Norway, stops in Orkneys, Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada Maritime provinces then ends in Montreal.

We had a great whale watching experience in Juneau using Gastineau Guiding. In the 2nd photo a curios calf came up to the boat next to us while the mother hung back watching.

You might be able to wear short sleeves in Germany, but once you go north of Bergen, you won't have much use of them. Here's what people were wearing in Bergen last August.

I did this tour last year. There wasn't a lot of up and down, but there was a lot of uneven pavement, steps, and cobblestones. It was lightly raining and some areas could be slippery, so the right shoes are important. It would not be appropriate for anyone who has difficulty walking. It was no where near as bad as Marksburg Castle. I greatly enjoyed both.

I took this one to Iceland because it is waterproof (which I tested in a sink before I left) and is weightless and packs small. It doesn't have any padding in the body, but I used my extra layers as padding until I needed them. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3LDM4Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I have this puffy jacket: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09QL3TWWW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 But it is not bulky and easily goes under a shell. At home I wear it all the way up to when the weather is in the 40s, so you might find it useful in the winter. But it I don't wear it alone when it is raining. The nice thing is that it packs down so small - when stuffed into its little bag it is around 8" tall and 5" diameter - that I could keep it in my daypack when out on an excursion and put it on only when needed.

Bring layers including a waterproof hooded shell. Then you can easily deal with the big differences in temperature. Ive been to most of those Norweigan ports twice and have seen both sunny and rainy days. They say if it isn't raining in Bergen it is about to.

If your phone supports wifi calling, you can wifi text.

And to add some controversy - should there be a Pluto?

You could fly Seatlle to Anchorage, connect to a south bound cruise, then take the bus or train from Vancouver to Seattle. Or vice versa - train to Vancouver, north bound inside passage, fly back from Anchorage. You can then add more time in Alaska at whichever end. There is so much to see - Kenai Fjords, Soldatna flights to salmon fishing, etc.

We were there last August. Evidently last year was a lot colder and wetter than normal and there were no bothersome insects at Lake Mytvan. The wind sometimes come sideways, so you might want a rainproof jacket/shell with a hood rather than a hat and/or umbrella. I debated with whether or not to bring rain pants but decided to bring silk long johns and technical/hiking pants instead, The pants dried quickly and silk keeps you warm and dry. And they aren't hot like wool when the weather is in the middle. But I didn't go on any of the on-water excursions where that combo may not have been warm enough. I brought gore-tex hiking shoes and was very glad I did.

No.

One other point - think about what you are going to wear while you send your laundry out. (Don't ask me how I learned this!) For example last September I did a 13 day Iceland/Norway cruise, a 1 week land trip, and a 1 week France river cruise. So I had to pack for cold, rainy weather and hot 80 degree weather on the trip. I had 7 days worth of clothes in my european sized carryon and personal item. But back to my point - I had a simple dark navy blue pair of hiking pants that I was able to wear to dinner (not on a day I wore them on an excursion) while my "evening" pants were in the laundry.

I did what sounds like this tour although through my cruise line. I greatly enjoyed it. You get a very different perspective on the fjords. Plus you see what life is like outside of the towns. And going up the twisty narrow roads in tour bus is quite an experience...

Some other ideas: If the weather in Juneau turns out lousy and your helicopter tour gets cancelled, the Alaska State Museum has a lot of exhibits about Alaska's history, people, and art. I always like to have a plan B. In Glacier National Park there will be a park ranger onboard who will probably be speaking over the PA as you cruise thru the park. In the 3 times we've been to Skagway we have done the train both ways, the train one way and the bus the other, and a Chilkoot Trail hike & float trip. I swear I learned more about the gold rush on the hike than I did on the train. And being active out in nature is a plus. On the other hand, the scenery from the train is more stunning.

Yes, all cabins.

A clarification for others reading this thread. Verizon Travel Pass (the $10/day) only kicks in if you make or receive a call, send a text(receiving is free) or use data. Unfortunately there are a lot of apps that use data in the background like auto update, photo backup, fitness tracking, etc. If you are able to stop all that, you can have your phone on at no cost. That can be a lot of work, but is an option. Also, wifi calling to an international number is billed at international rates, according to Verizon. I've never tried it.

It depends on what you like to see. We enjoyed doing both. Perast is a tiny little village and we got the feeling it was where people really lived. The part of Kotor that most people walk around in is an old medieval town. A lot of people walk on top of the city walls, which we did, and a lot of people walk up the many stairs up the hill behind the city, which we didn't do. The views are supposed to be spectacular. If you want to do this, you should skip the boat tour.

Yes there are steep dropoffs. I was on a tour that went to Eagle's Bend view point and to Lake Djupvatnet at the base of Mt Dalsnibba. I found this youtube of the drive from the top of Mt Dalsnibba down to Lake Djupvatnet. The person has a second video of the drive from the Lake down to Gerainger. The other problem, though, is that all the roads seem to be, at least from inside a tour bus, 1.5 lanes wide with traffic in both directions. Makes encountering another tour bus a really interesting event. One other point - "curves" does not begin to describe some of the switchbacks. The tour buses are built in Norway with a third axle at the back with steerable wheels - like a fire department ladder truck - so that the back end is steered around the tight swichbacks. When our bus went around one of these, traffic coming the other way stopped as we made the turn. All the drivers seemed to understand the etiquette of driving on these mountainous roads.

In 2018 Viking did not take us to Szechenyi even though it was open. Broke DH's heart; he lived in Budapest when he was young and was looking forward to going back to Szechenyi. Hopefully Nosdrachir is right about the change.

Kotor is a beautiful little town to walk around in. We did that in the morning then took a tour over to Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks. This was in 2015 and I don't remember who we used. Perast has an interesting little museum and few little cafes. Our Lady of the Rocks was also quite interesting.

We did this cruise and pre extension last September. There are optional tours available during the pre-cruise extension that you can see on MyVikingJourney once you book. We did the Taste of Paris and the Montmartre optional walking tours and both were great. The included walking tour was a historical walking tour in the Marais neighborhood, again very interesting. There is so much to see and do in Paris it is hard to choose.

In Juneau we took the gondola up Mt Roberts and took some of the hiking trails there. Although we didn't do this, I have heard in the past that if you hike up Mt Roberts you can ride down for free. The view from the gondola is really awesome. In Sitka I would look into public transportation over to the history museum. The totem poles and nature walk is right there. Skagway is the only town where I would just walk around because of all of the history exhibits. An earlier thread talked about nature hikes in Skagway.

Do check out the timing, though. Regular laundry service takes 2 days, and you can pay extra for same day service. Check with your room steward about same day service the day before disembarkation as I once was told it wasn't available.

I'm glad to see the kiddies are out and about. I was beginning to wonder if they were under the weather or just being lazy like slo... Oh. Never mind, not my business.