CruiserBruce

Your time projections are safe. The excursion companies will not risk their reputation making you miss your ship sailing.

Lines at Paris Nord come and go. There was one person in front of us today at 2pm.

There many threads here on hotels. The sights of London are spread over a large area, but the subway ("Tube") is very good. "Reasonable " is a very vague term...meaning different things to different people. But we enjoyed the Conrad St James, and it is close to a number of sites.

It's "the deal" Flight Ease could get. No negative connotation there. Economy class is pretty similar around the world.

OK, if you are having trouble getting a service to be there at 6am, you could go in the later afternoon the day you arrive in Trieste, and stay at a hotel near the airport.

HAL is not known for starting disembarking 5 minutes after arrival. We have arrived as early as 4:30 in port, nobody was getting off before 7am. Recently I have seen HAL starting disembarking at maybe 6:30, on occasion. Is Oosterdam docking the day before?

Your flight leaves at 10am? You aren't going to make it.

The longest commercial flights are around 18 hours. And the same economy to business class ratios.

People fly that distance in economy every day. They fly even longer distances in economy every day. The ratio of economy to other classes of service on a plane is 4 or 5 economy seats for every seat with more leg room or lay flat ability. So, no its not too far to fly in economy. It's better in premium economy compared to economy. And it's better in business than in premium economy. How much better is a value judgment only you can make. Tell you a very recent ironic story. We are strong believers in the "get as much sleep as possible on the plane, stay up as close to new local bedtime as possible upon arrival" theory of jet lag cure. This method has worked very well for us. We are in Europe now. I slept so well in business class flying over, I was unable to get to sleep the first 2 nights at normal bed time. Fortunately didn't affect my planned events the first two days, but that has never happened before.

There are many threads here discussing this or very similar issues. It is one of the most commonly asked questions here. If you love Carnival, it will be essentially the same product in Alaska. Same for RCI. "Best" is totally subjective and different from "favorite". If you look around, you will see many discussions of the fact Princess and Holland America have the largest presence in Alaska, have been there the longest, and along with NCL have the vast majority of the permits for Glacier Bay. You absolutely can't go wrong with either Princess or Holland America.

No, PIN and chip was "a thing" 10 or so years ago in Europe. It never caught on in the US. It has been replaced by the contactless systems.

Agree...ate lunch just off the dam square last week, while staying at DoubleTree. Easy walk, even with suitcases, unless mobility is a problem. I would take a cab to the ship from there probably, or maybe the trolley.

There is a good thread just down the board called "Rental Car Revand tips"...

It has NEVER been required. Sailed out of Copenhagen last July, was in our cabin by 11:45. It doesn't really help much. Many threads here on the topic.

Because it's 14 days, and takes all of the main glacier viewing locations.

I would take the 14 day in a heart beat.

I would like to meet the person who has tested all the gelato in Genoa and can identify "the best"!

I would be asking this on the West Coast Departures board or the Canada (Pacific) board. Not here or the Cruise Air board.

A little reading around this board and the Alaska board would reveal Vancouver is much closer to the port, so easier to reach, but pretty busy, and have US Immigration and Customs to clear. Anchorage is MUCH further away, so flights are more complicated and limited, plus there is ground transportation logistics. Anchorage is less crowded, so a little easier to navigate.

Check the Ivers chain. Nice restaurants...different locations with various focus menus.

If there is an issue, it would be Immigration, not Customs. Customs is not really "a thing" in Europe. Agree with the others, there is rarely an Immigration procedure at Civi.

There is an estimator feature on the Uber website.

Dollars or euros are gladly accepted. No issue either way. As to paying in the currency you paid for the cruise, @navybankerteacher, wouldn't, for example, a Canadian booking a cruise on Holland America, pay in CAD? Then tip in CAD? Seems complicated for the crew.

Airlines do little or no checking of these things, particularly for domestic flights, so we need more exact details as to where you are sailing out of. International flights are a whole different ballgame. Are you booked? Have you asked the cruise line?

You are correct...HAL is now running only one ship in the Med, as opposed to 3, except at the very early and late parts of the Med season (think up to mid May and after about September 15), when one or two other ships make short visits. And you are correct, the Med is horrendously "over shipped". The Med might be less profitable due to this, and being down 4 ships makes that an easy decision if true.