kaylorcc

Obviously it’s impossible to know what exactly happened without having been there or seeing video of the event. However, the fact that he was charged in this type of case where you don’t always see charges filed suggests to me that there was an exacerbating factor- quite possibly the fact that his and the family’s story that he wasn’t dangling her over the edge is not backed up by the video evidence. I think mendacity in a case like this could absolutely influence the decision to prosecute or not. Just speculating, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was coming into play. Horrible event all around.

Hah. I take shots of the horizon here all the time and I’m still pretty bad at it myself.

Thanks, that would make sense. Hope everyone is okay. It seemed like a strange place for a medevac but I guess they don’t have many options really.

Anybody know why?  She’s near McGregor Point on the southwest coast. Very unusual to see her over this way.  I snapped a photo, she was there for at least 20 minutes that I saw and was still there a few minutes ago.

27 minutes ago, alwalaska said:

 

A little more info …  I belong to another group for POA info. This weeks cruise cancelled day 2 in Maui and substituted a sea day due to weather. Someone said they were told that NCL was going to start calling cell phone numbers of people not yet onboard at a specific time.

 

I am going to make sure NCL  has good contact info for us, just in case.

Interesting- the POA has been stationary off the coast near Olowalu for a couple of hours (at least). Perhaps related to the change in itinerary?

I second what Patti said. Having been on several different lines, I think Royal Caribbean is good for the ages you reference. They would also have a lot of peers on Carnival- but if you went that route, I would definitely pick one of the newer ships.

On the first night you should be completely fine to wear shorts if your luggage hasn't arrived yet, especially dressy ones like you describe. That said, while I take no offense personally to dressy shorts in the MDR, on Celebrity I would err on the side of conservative the other nights. Happy sailing.

Agree....

 

St Kitts is our favorite island in the Caribbean. You got to leave that port area.......which is true of most islands.

 

There is life beyond Margaritaville and Sr Frogs!!

 

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Agreed- I was surprised in reading this thread to learn that so many prefer San Juan to St. Kitts. We've been to St. Kitts twice and really enjoyed relaxing at South Friars Bay, lounging/swimming/eating and drinking at Shipwreck Beach Bar & Grill (highly recommend the conch fritters!). It's one of my favorite cruise ports.

Hi Kaylorcc,

 

Thank you going into so much detail - all this info really helps. We would have loved to have come back on the Explorer of the seas which departs Seattle October 5th (cheaper and looks like lots to do) however my parents wish to get off in Hawaii and RC doesn't offer Seattle to Hawaii leg - you have to pay for the whole trip from Seattle to Sydney even if you get off in Hawaii. Another option I am looking at is Celebrity Solstice - looks great but a little on the more expensive side. We are hoping it comes on sale some time between now and Sept next year. They offer a 10 day cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu and then on to Sydney via Tahiti and New Zealand. It departs on the 21st of September which is a bit too early for us so I will have to replan our trip - we are having 9 weeks in Canada and Alaska prior to our cruise. How did you find Celebrity? Is there lots of extras included in your fare - I think I read you can do wine or bourbon tasting for free and some exercise classes or is there a fee for those things? Is there a charge for the adults only pool area? Thank you again.

We chose our first Celebrity cruise in large part because we had status on Royal Caribbean (which translates over to Celebrity) and were looking for a more adult experience than Royal. My impression overall of Celebrity is that there were a greater number of free events that included things like alcohol and other little extras, but I don't want to mislead you because part of that might have been because we had a higher loyalty tier level; it's hard for me to remember over the past few Celebrity cruises we've taken which free events were for everybody and which were for loyalty club members.

But overall we never felt nickel-and-dimed on Celebrity. Unless they've changed something recently, there was no separate charge for the adults-only pool area. Celebrity's specialty restaurants were some of our favorites. This is very much in the eye of the beholder, but we would always pay a higher price- all other things equal- for a Celebrity cruise as compared to HAL (and honestly as compared with all of the other lines we've tried, with the exception of Disney). Celebrity just has the right mix of what appeals to us in terms of food quality, activities, etc.

I agree with what Gracie115 said: based on our personal preferences when it comes to on-board activities and entertainment and what makes us choose a cruise over other vacations, after our Alaska trip, we would be very hesitant to book a long cruise aboard HAL.

Hi- having only sailed HAL to Alaska (aboard the Noordam, back in late May of this year), and having sailed a variety of other cruise lines (Royal Caribbean, Disney, Celebrity, and Carnival), I will say that my husband and I found the entertainment options aboard the Noordam on our trip to be decidedly lacking.

For context, we are 30 and 36 years old and have always found plenty of activities to observe and/or participate in on various other cruise lines. We loved the lectures and enrichment activities on Celebrity, but also have plenty of fun dancing and listening to music on Royal and Carnival. In short: we just like to feel like we have options for entertainment while aboard the ship, and we really struggled to find things to do on Noordam.

We did really enjoy the entertainment at the blues club, but found it to be packed to the gills every night, so it did require a bit of effort and showing up early to get a good seat (I suspect that this is because it was one of the few strong entertainment offerings). The coffee shop in the Explorations Lounge is a nice area as well, and we spent a couple of hours there over the course of our cruise.

I mean, a cruise is a cruise, so it's not like we were miserable or anything. I wanted to chime in here on your question because we had heard similar things before we took this cruise, and decided to go into it with a positive attitude and open mind hoping that some of what we had heard about the limited entertainment options was an exaggeration, but unfortunately I would say the negative reviews in this area were fairly accurate as far as we were concerned. Of course others' mileage may (and will) vary.

We are on the same cruise as you.

Nice! We are really looking forward to it. Cruised a bunch, but exclusively to warm destinations, and never on HAL, so this will be a first for us. We are also excited to spend a little time in Vancouver-- it will actually be our third Canadian city in as many months (following Toronto and Montreal in March and April).

Thanks for the advice. I think this is helpful information that will assist us in making our overall decision.

Hi all. Would love some opinions/perspective on Skagway excursions given our itinerary and what's important to us. We are sailing on the Noordam, NB from Vancouver to Seward, departing May 21. Our itinerary is as follows:

Sun May 21 Vancouver, BC, Canada

Mon May 22 Inside Passage, AK (cruising)

Tue May 23 Ketchikan, AK (7 am - 3 pm)

Wed May 24 Juneau, AK (10 am - 10 pm)

Thu May 25 Skagway, AK (7 am - 9 pm)

Fri May 26 Glacier Bay National Park, AK (cruising)

Sat May 27 At Sea

Sun May 28 Anchorage (Seward), AK

We are planning on just wandering around and exploring a bit in Ketchikan. In Juneau we are doing a whale-watching tour and probably hiking down to Nugget Falls, but not getting any closer than that to Mendenhall. That brings us to Skagway. Currently we have booked the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari (more information here for those not familiar- https://skagwayshoretours.com/tour/glacier-point-wilderness-safari/) which will probably end around 2 PM. However, some of the members of our party are renting a car and driving up to Emerald Lake. This sounds intriguing to us as well, as most of our other excursions and plans involve Alaska by sea and this would give us a chance to explore the land a bit. Also, we love animals and wildlife and from what we can tell it seems as though the viewing opportunities are abundant along this route.

(It should be noted that we have ruled out the railway excursion in Skagway just because we are doing the Coastal Classic from Seward to Anchorage at the end of our cruise, so even though we understand how popular the railway in Skagway is, we are opting not to book that one this time.)

So all of this being said...

1) If we clipped along at a good pace, would we have time to make it up to Emerald Lake and back renting a car after the Glacier Point excursion?

2) If yes, would it potentially be worth the exertion?

3) If not.. for anybody who has done one or both of these activities, which seems the most appealing given the rest of our itinerary? My primary concern in potentially canceling the Glacier Point excursion is that since we aren't doing a helicopter tour out to Mendenhall, Glacier Point and canoeing out to the Davidson Glacier represents our best chance to get up close and personal with a glacier. Does this seem accurate given what I've laid out, or do you think Glacier Bay the next day would sufficiently scratch that itch?

I understand that I'm asking questions that obviously only we can make the final call on, but I'm just trying to get an idea as to how best to weigh the pros and cons of each of the two options (Davidson excursion or driving up to Emerald Lake), or whether doing both is actually an option itself. Any advice or perspectives would be appreciated.

From a fellow "toddler" who abides by the dress code on cruises without using it as a measuring stick to assess my self-worth.. bravo!! :) We are cruising HAL for the first time next year, and I am not letting the attitude of a few people concern me. Angry people aren't exclusive to one cruise line, unfortunately.. on our last Celebrity cruise, we were shocked by how many people on a beautiful ship on a week-long vacation in the Caribbean seemed to be having the most miserable time of their lives. We all just laughed about it.

I don't usually frequent the HAL boards, but my MIL (a devoted HAL cruiser) has a birthday that puts a new number at the beginning of her age next year. So we are considering a "family" cruise (DH, MIL and me) to celebrate -- the Prisendam Arctic Circle trip. While DH and I prefer a more casual atmosphere, this trip is about his mom and what she'd like to do. We understand dress codes and certainly wouldn't travel if we plan to flout them. But -- even though I'm practically a toddler in terms of the average age on HAL ships -- the attitude here is frankly a real turn-off.

 

Even in my (relatively) short life, two important things I've learned are:

 

1. Those who would assess how much "class" people have by how they are dressed are often poor judges of character, who place too much emphasis on appearances.

 

2. People who truly have "class" are those who are concerned with making the people around them feel welcome and comfortable.

 

Maybe Billy Joel put it best when he sang "You know the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems." Yes, the hats and gloves and hairstyles of the 50s are fun to look at. But if I'd lived during the 50s, I wouldn't have been able to have the profession I'm in, because "women don't belong in finance." My husband wouldn't have been able to pursue his career in the arts because "men need to have jobs to support their families." I'm glad to live in a time when people feel they can be more open about themselves and what they want than being restricted to conform to society's demands about how things should "look," irrespective of how they really were.

 

And I can't help but wonder what OP would say if -- in response to his very impertinent and impolite grilling about the status of others' luggage -- the answer was "No, the airline lost our luggage en route to the departure point and it hadn't caught up to us before boarding. It was easier to send it home than have it chase after the ship in the hope of reaching us. So we're trying to make do with what was in our carry-ons and whatever we can find in the shops on board and in port to get us through. We feel terrible about not having the proper clothes, but we're trying hard not to let it spoil our good time. So sorry that our appearance is disturbing you. Perhaps the maître d' can seat us with a party that is more interested in our conversation than our attire?"

I'll echo what a few people have posted.. I carry one purse, a Vera Bradley with a shoulder strap, and I generally use this while traveling to/from the cruise (e.g. the airport), and when I'm in port. While I'm on the ship, I carry a nice little clutch in the evening and a tiny wristlet during the daytime. I don't really bring my nicer purses-- it's just one more thing to keep track of, and I don't like being weighted down by an average-sized purse during the daytime. That's just how I look at it.

I don't get a ton out of the cruise directors, but I know on the last cruise I took with my parents, they (and my sister) completely adored Richard Spacey. My mom and sister actually got a little creepy about it. :p