3rdGenCunarder

I made that comment recently, and the friend to whom I said it told me that I was insulting wolves!

I've seen posts where people were told it was too late to add gratuities because accounts had been sent to shoreside already. So don't wait until the last minute. "On Deck for a Cause" is usually late in a cruise. There's a minimum ($25 IIRC) to get the shirt and the wristband to walk (or just get the shirt and not walk). The donation is a minimum, not a maximum, so that's another way to use extra OBC.

There is an unnamed bar across from the Golden Lion and another across from the casino. From the artist's renderings I've seen on Bright Lights, I'd guess it's the one across from Golden Lion. I don't expect the theater on QA to be equipped to do planetarium shows. There are no planetarium shows on QE or QV.

Perhaps HAL should have sent that message to the parents sailing with children. Sure, parents want their kids to have a good time. But that good time should not happen at the expense of someone else's good time. Manners have reached such a low point that the Playbill for the show I saw in NYC yesterday contained a letter from the President and Chairman of Playbill. There was a list of theater etiquette items, most of which civilized people should already know. Here are a few excerpts: --Always cooperate with the ushers and front of house staff... --Be respectful of the people around you and do not make disruptive comments. --Do not engage with the actors or musicians working in the show, and do not distract them --Stop drinking alcohol immediately if you feel tipsy. Drink some water. --Be patient with restroom lines. We know they're long and space is tight. But do not become pushy or rude. Everyone will get their turn. And the one that should be printed in bold: Do not sing along with the actors. It distracts your fellow theatregoers and is not thoughtful. Amen to that! I did not spend a couple hundred bucks to hear someone drone on tunelessly next to me!!!!!!

I don't think so. In the past, they seated priority passengers in rows as they arrived, without checking the basis for priority. then they boarded by row. In FLL this past winter, when I checked in, a lot of people were already there (11:30 or so), and non-priority sitting area was full. When I went to get my boarding card, they were up to number 19 cards for the non-priority passengers. As a 4*, I got a Priority 2 card. I didn't see any priority 1 cards, so I think those cards had all been given out. When I got to the second level, the priority passengers had been called to board, do I don't know if they were distinguishing between groups in any way. The one priority group that always goes first is passengers needing assistance.

I was very disappointed in K'dam's "promenade" deck. It's hard to have a pleasant stroll when you're turning so many corners and walking though narrow industrial-looking passages.

How wonderful to luck into local festivities! You're forgiven for the pic of partially consumed food. I might have licked the plate before I thought to take a photo. Yes, those bittersweet moments come out of nowhere. Focus on the sweet and think of it as him wishing you a good trip.

You may not need to worry about priority if you go later. When people arrive before the ship is ready, they have to stand/sit around and wait. But if you go toward the end of the boarding time, they will have boarded and you won't have to wait. I don't know about Amsterdam specifically, but usually if you have priority and your group has already boarded, you should be able to board right away.

Gastineau may be contracted with the cruise line. Read the descriptions for the ship tours and then read descriptions on Gastineau's site. Cruise lines often pick up the text directly, so you can figure out the vendors fairly easily. Contact Gastineau and see if they're doing anything with your cruise. I've done the whale watch and hike (I agree, it's a walk in the woods, not a strenuous hike) and I've done the photo safari. That one is expensive, but it's a very small group and the photographer on my trip was excellent. There were 3 or 4 people who had a "good" camera and had no idea how to use it as anything but an automatic point-and-shoot. He was really helpful with those folks, explainign shutter speed, depth-of-field, etc. I've had a camera since I was 8, so I didn't need lessons on basic photography, but I picked up some good tips on settings to choose for various situations.

I did Columbia and Snake Rivers with a different line about 10 years ago. I recall it being very port-intensive. I looked at some of the HoHo bus tours for the Columbia-Snake itinerary, and the sites they include are some distance apart. I'm on a Great Lakes cruise this summer, and some of the HoHo bus routes are not worth waiting for the bus, they're so walkable. But your ports will be small towns, and the places to see are a ride away. Highlights I remember from my trip were the Pendleton Underground tour, Bonneville Dam tour, and Multnoma Falls. Don't miss meeting the floozies at the Dalles! I don't know how AQV does for daytime activities. But for cruising days, just sit on deck and watch the scenery. River cruising is more about the river, the passing coastline, and the places you visit than the ship.

Congratulations on traveling so far solo! Flying business class is great for a solo. You don't feel crammed in so close to a stranger. Have fun exploring the ship and indulge in all the goodies you want!

If you didn't do whale watching on your previous trip, do that in Juneau. Look for a vendor with small boats, not the double-deckers that are crammed with people. Gastineau Guiding is excellent. Sometimes the ship offers good options. Don't rule out all ship tours, just choose carefully.

I have never tipped a musician on a ship, although I do praise them on the survey. But when we used to go to brunch where there was music, we would tip if we enjoyed the band. One hint is if there's a jar on the piano with a few "starter" bills in it, yes, tips are welcome.

The larger the ship, the longer the walk.

That's what I did when I had a bottle left. I ordered the fizz (prosecco, probably) that was in my package so that my table could have a goodbye toast.

I remember that road. Somewhere along the way, they do a photo op so you can get a picture of your ship in the fjord. When we did the tour, a woman asked to get off at that point because she was too afraid to continue. She figured she could probably get a taxi back down from the nearby hotel. The turns up to that point were nothing compared to what we had farther along the way, so she made a good call. One of my favorite pictures of DH and me is at that stop, with QE2 and the fjord in the background. I agree that the drivers are great. So are the guides. As the roads get twistier, the jokes come faster and faster to keep people distracted.

This isn't overthinking. It's planning. Are both rooms on one booking, or are they two separate confirmation numbers? That could be a factor in this. I don't know what the rules are for situations like this, but I would check in everyone together, just to keep things simple. Because the people who handle check-in are not HAL employees (they work for the port), calling HAL to ask may not give you a reliable answer. Unless someone here can say for sure that they've done this, I think you should all check in at the same time. Frankly, if I had been on an overnight bus, I would want to get onboard and relax, maybe take a nap, not go sightseeing.

That's what we were told on Eurodam in January.

This is the same cabin on Noordam to give you an idea of the layout and balcony. There is a note saying no cabanas above. That's true of Noordam, but Westerdam does have cabanas on deck 11. 10019 – Noordam | HAL Cruiser Information (halfacts.com)

I may have had the same cabin, but the smell I got was bread baking for dinner time. Made me hungry!

I've been told it's the shape of the hull. I've never had noise or vibration issues aft on a Vista or Signature ship, and I've been as low as deck 5. But one and done on the K'dam. That ship slapped the waves, causing random shudders and bangs, and the seas weren't rough, it was just the way the waves came at the stern.

Same opinion, same reasons. The only minus for me is that I get a spa pass and it's a long hike to the spa on the large ships. I was on Eurodam this winter and it seemed sooo much farther to the spa than it is on the Vistas. The sizes of the balconies vary on the Vistas. I think they're less varied on the Signature and Pinnacle ships. I like deck 7. The only deck I would avoid is 8 because it's under the aft open deck and you might hear chairs being dragged around. I've been on 8 and it hasn't bothered me, but some people say they are bothered by noise.

I'm having that problem now. I have several booked and with no travel during Covid, I lost the knack of juggling them.

I may have to do that. How close to sailing did you book the cruise? I tend to book early before tours are definite. In my four cruises to Alaska (2 in June, 2 in September), I haven't had the opportunity to do that boat tour.

The machines have an "extra rinse" option, or at least they did when I was on QE in June. As much as I try to conserve water, I want to make sure the soap is out of my clothing. You can use less soap than is recommended by the instructions--I've often thought the powder scoops were larger than necessary. I do that at home (I don't use pods for that reason). When Cunard had pods full of powder, I would break one open and use just half of the soap, especially if I was doing a small load. There are, or were, settings for load size.