BarbinMich

IMHO, I wasn't exactly thrilled with my first stop at Icy Point in mid-May (on the Crown). Mostly offered an amusement park as far as I could tell, which is not what I was expecting! (I'm in my 70s). They do offer a whale watching trip out of there and I should have booked that. Probably a good stop for families.

I took advantage of the testing at the Seattle cruise terminal a few weeks ago and it worked out well!

I've been to St. John first on a car trip and years later on a cruise. I was fascinated by the prospect of the huge tidal changes at St. John (10 ft or so), so have seen that several times. I don't know what's on the St. John Bucket list. Here's a website about the sights in SJ: https://www.viator.com/Saint-John/d22871-ttd Enjoy!

I just got off the Crown yesterday and there were zero problems that I was aware of so I am truly sorry for those who had to suffer thru the prior week's cruise. I wasn't even aware of them until just now. The Crown is one of my favorites--just the right size, etc. This was my 5th time on her since my first in March 2009. The ship was in good order, no propulsion problems that I was aware of, we made every port, etc. Also, the weather was glorious. This is the earliest I've been to Alaska so saw a lot more snow on the mountains than the previous early one (June). FWIW, I think they can skip Icy Strait Point. If one doesn't take an excursion (which I should have!), there is only the amusement park there.

That's where I'll be on Sat. <g>. Love Deck 5, too. So convenient! Have a good cruise!!

We've done a Hawaiian cruise and also spent various winter vacations on two islands at a time. On the cruise we were able to see the lava after leaving Hilo and when it was dark. We weren't very close, but could see it (a red ribbon in the dark). But as an earlier poster noted, apparently the lava isn't flowing at the coast. That's too bad.

Just curious if anyone else ever sailed on the first Regal P. We did so in May 2003 for our first European cruise (but 11th cruise overall) as well as the ship's first there, I think. The ship was in the midst of repositioning from Australia to Southampton. She was a twin sister of the first Crown P (1990-2002), which we had seen in Alaska in 1996. It was a dream itinerary from Rome to Copenhagen with stops in Barcelona, Lisbon, Vigo (Spain), Le Havre, Dover, Antwerp (yes, we docked right there), and Amsterdam. There were a number of people already onboard, having gotten on in Australia. Something unexpected happened when we were due to leave Lisbon--the ship lost power! But eventually they "found" it and we left Lisbon hours late.The sister ships had a distinctive profile; I believe folks likened them to a dolphin or some marine animal. Ultimately both ended up with P&O Australia (Pacific Dawn and Pacific Jewel). Now the former Crown is heading to India this year and will be known as the Karnika. Old ships never die, they just move over to another line, get a new name and maybe a different color. This has happened to a number of ships from the early years of our cruising, at least 3 of them going to German cruise lines, and we have seen several of them under their new name/owner. We haven't sailed on the current Regal, but have sailed on her sister, the Royal, twice. So different from their namesakes!