Gardyloo

The central waterfront (Pier 66, aquarium, various tourist attractions etc.) is at the bottom of a bluff - maybe 50 or 60 feet, from the edge of the Pike Place market and other "downtown" areas. This bluff tapers to nothing as one goes south, so that by the time you're at, say, the ferry terminal, you're on the same level as Pioneer Square and other parts of the south end of downtown. There are some stairs and a couple of elevators that will take pedestrians from the central waterfront up to the top of the bluff. The one that's next to the Marriott is apparently inoperable for the time being, but the one in the Pike Place Market garage is functioning. Or else one can take the Pike Place "hillclimb" steps from Alaskan Way up to the main market arcade.

The bags MIGHT be forwarded provided the ultimate destination is on the tags. If the OP doesn't tell the agent at TLV about the second flight, or if the first airline's policies are not to interline bags on different PNRs, then the OP could get stuck. I had a long, long debate at TLV with Iberia on a TLV-xMAD-JNB itinerary; the IB agents at TLV (contracted, not Iberia employees) refused to tag the bags to Joburg, which would have meant going landside and re-checking them at Madrid. Sometimes the agents are not as expert as we'd like.

If it's a separate ticket from Rome to the US, your luggage will be turning on the carousel in Rome indefinitely. Why on earth would you take that chance?

Here's a video review of SFO-MEL on Qantas' 787. Looks okay to me.

How old will the kids be in 2024? Do you want just to cruise or would you have time and resources to do cruise + some time on land? There are both round-trip cruises (from Vancouver or Seattle) and one-ways (to or from Vancouver, not Seattle due to US maritime law) that generally are for seven nights. If you choose a one-way cruise (which arrive or depart from Seward or Whittier, Alaska, and depart or arrive in Vancouver) then you can add some extra time in southcentral or interior Alaska (or the north or west) in addition to the southeast "panhandle" and Inside Passage that both the one-way and round trip cruises include. Obviously the "cruise+" plans take more time and will cost more, depending on how many days you add to the cruise and what you do with them, but equally obviously they will permit you to see more of the state. As for activities for the kids during the cruise, of course the major cruise lines all have kids' programs on the ships, and there is no shortage of kid-themed or kids-welcome activities in the ports of call. Alaska cruises are very much family-oriented, so I suspect that the issue will be navigating through the various activity offerings (and keeping your wallet from evaporating.) Our son was born in Alaska and I can assure you there was plenty to occupy him during the summers. The memories are still exhausting. 😵

There are no roads to Juneau; all access is by air or sea.

The "backtracking" rules apply - with conditions - within continents, not countries. The main conditions are: You're allowed four flights within each continent your ticket covers, except you're allowed six within "North America," which includes Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. That's in addition to the intercontinental flights, so for example on a 3-continent ticket (Europe, Asia, North America) you'd first count the intercontinental flights (3) then 4 in both Asia and Europe (subtotal 11) but then 6 for North America would put you at 17, one more than the ticket allows. So you'd have to reduce the plan by one flight somewhere within some continent. Remember this is counting flights, not destinations, so if you want to go from, say, Chicago to Fairbanks, you'd need 2 of the 6 allowed flights in each direction, because there's no nonstop from ORD to FAI and you'd have to change planes in someplace like Seattle or Anchorage. You're also only allowed one nonstop transcontinental flight; the rules list the states that form the endpoints, e.g. California and New York, or Florida and Washington, or Michigan and Nevada, etc. (A similar rule applies to Australia, e.g. Perth to Sydney, etc.) However that still means you can zigzag a lot, you just can't use all six flights to bounce between the east and west coasts 3 times in both directions. You're also allowed only one flight to, and one from, Alaska, and only one to OR from the mainland to Hawaii (so Hawaii has to be your first or last destination within North America, if you get my meaning.) The other main limitation has to do with stopovers (24+ hours.) You're only allowed two stopovers in the "continent of origin," so with, say four flights eligible in Europe, assuming you start the ticket in Europe, you could stop over twice but the stopover would have to be in conjunction with a plane change somewhere. For example, say you start the ticket in Oslo, you could fly to London and change planes to Qatar and stop over, then fly to New York. When you land in New York you'd still have two intra-Europe flights left and one stopover. So maybe at the end of the trip, you fly from Tokyo to Paris, stop over, then from Paris to London for a plane change only, ending back in Oslo. That's your four intra-Europe flights done (OSL-LHR-DOH, CDG-LHR-OSL) and two stopovers (Qatar and Paris.) Hope that makes sense. One of the things to bear in mind is that every flight counts against the 16, even "surface" segments where you land in one city and depart from another. Even changing airports, e.g. JFK to La Guardia, or Heathrow to Gatwick, or Narita to Haneda, counts as a segment. It's also worth noting that while the cost per flight is reasonable, there's nothing to prevent you from using the ticket's flight allocation strategically. For example, intra-Asia flights can be very affordable, so using the RTW to get you to, say, Bangkok, but then riding some economy airlines around southeast Asia outside the RTW, returning to Bangkok for the next RTW segment, can extend your travels economically. Like I say, there are lots of rules, but there are lots of tricks that you can exploit to leverage the ticket. Here's a pdf of the current rules sheet - oneworld Explorer 21Apr22 (ctfassets.net) If you want to do a deep dive, the Oneworld board on Flyertalk (which I moderate) can be a useful resource. oneworld - FlyerTalk Forums

Here's the Mariners' gate and bag policy: Gate & Bag Policy FAQ | Seattle Mariners (mlb.com) Clear bags only except for clutch-sized bags; no backpacks or similar. Since any game would start hours after you arrive off the ship, I'd just head to the airport and store your bags - Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) - Smarte Carte, Inc. - then ride the light rail back up to the Stadium station, which is a block or two from the ballpark.

The Solstice will be sailing from the Smith Cove (Pier 91) terminal which is NOT walkable from the Marriott. (Well, technically it is - around 2 1/2 miles, mainly but not entirely on bike/footpaths.) A taxi or Uber will cost around $20. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/fMGokhHaVJDKzapZ8 I'd just phone Anthony's - (206) 448-6688.

You know, they DO sell wine and soft drinks in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway... Maybe cold turkey for one or two nights?

In the summer Victoria can be pretty packed with visitors; not my favorite time personally. Obviously Butchart Gardens is a big draw, but it might be useful to consider Vancouver's garden offerings if that's an important thing for you. Vancouver's Queen Elizbeth II Park has gardens that, while not as large as Butchart, can rival Butchart in terms of beauty. In addition, the Bloedel Conservatory (which you might recognize from numerous TV shows shot in Vancouver) is a fantastic environment, full of tropical plants and birds. Unlike Butchart Gardens, admission to the park is free; there is an admission charge to the conservatory, but nowhere near as much as the pricey Butchart Gardens. Not far from Queen Elizabeth II Park is another botanical gem, the VanDusen Botanical Gardens (also accessed with a small fee.) These gardens include a maze, lots or regional species, fountains and a lake... That's not to mention the wonderful rose garden in the magnificent Stanley Park, one of Vancouver's gems, nor the fascinating Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese garden in the city's vast Chinatown. For Seattle cruise departures (it's the Seattle cruises that stop in Victoria as their PVSA requirements) there are also garden visit possibilities, the most notable of which is the Bloedel Reserve (same family) on Bainbridge Island, accessed by the scenic ferry from downtown Seattle. This makes for a fabulous day trip from the city. Just some suggestions.

If you change your request to Dungeness crab, you (and especially your wallet) will be much happier.

Doc's Marina Grill at Eagle Harbor - About – Doc's Marina Grill (docsgrill.com)

You'll be traveling north through Puget Sound, (aka the southern part of the Salish Sea) until you enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates Washington and Vancouver Island, then out to open ocean where you'll hang a right and continue north to the west of Vancouver Island. Aside from the Seattle skyline, the passage through Puget Sound will involve sights of forested land and mountains on both sides of the ship. If visible, on the starboard (right, east) side of the ship you ought to be able to see the high Cascade peaks of Mount Rainier (south and east of Seattle) and Mount Baker (north of the city, close to the Canadian border) as well as other mountains in the Cascade range. To the west/port side, you ought to be able to see the Olympic mountains, in Olympic National Park. Once you're in the strait, the Olympics will be to the south (still port side) of the ship, and on the north side you'll be able to see Vancouver Island. There might be some towns visible at a distance, such as Edmonds, Everett and Port Townsend, plus Port Angeles at the top of the Olympic peninsula, but nothing too close. Although it's not common at all, there is a nonzero chance you might see some orcas en route, and of course lots of seabirds. Hope this helps.

Well bear with me for a minute. Maybe this will be useless advice, maybe not. But some questions... First, how far out do you plan your trips? I think it's safe to say that cruisers tend to plan farther in advance than other travelers; it's not uncommon to see people talking about cruise plans two years in the future. Second, how much traveling do you actually do? I'm talking about trips where you fly for part or all of the travel, not car trips from Portland to Cannon Beach or Bend. A couple of trips per year? More? Domestic or international? Third, are you like me in that sitting in cattle class for hours and hours is something you'd rather not do? And fourth, do you have something of a bucket list of places you'd like to go or events you'd like to experience? --- I've written about this before, but during the pandemic years it was kind of a pointless exercise to talk about extensive travel to multiple foreign countries, when you couldn't even travel to Canada. But now things are loosening and reopening, so maybe it's time to reconnect with the idea. For 30 years or so the big airline alliances - Oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam - have published "round the world" or "RTW" fares, which allow passengers to purchase fixed-price tickets that cover multiple flights (currently 16 flights is the maximum) that take you around the world, starting and ending in the same country (with a few exceptions like US/Canada.) For the most part these tickets have a maximum number of takeoffs/landings (16) and all travel must be completed within 12 months following the first flight (not the purchase date.) The tickets are sold for travel in economy, business and first class cabins. The RTW ticket products sold by Star Alliance and Skyteam airlines are limited to maximum flown mileage tiers, ranging from under 30,000 to around 40,000 flown miles, with the cost going up according to which tier you use. Oneworld's main RTW product, the "Oneworld Explorer," isn't limited by mileage, but rather by the number of continents touched in the course of the trip, from three to six. They all require that you travel around the world, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the same direction (east to west or v.v.) as well as following other rules regarding specific routing. None of these are especially burdensome, but they're important. Importantly, you can zigzag and - within a given continent - backtrack a little, but you can't re-cross an ocean once crossed. Here's why I'm bringing this up. The prices for these tickets vary widely depending on where the travel begins (and ends.) Tickets for travel originating in, say, the USA can be almost twice as expensive as those where travel starts in some other country. Let me give you an example that might be relevant to your situation. Right now, a three-continent Oneworld Explorer business class RTW ticket for travel starting in the US carries a price tag, before taxes and fees, of $10,426. Ouch. The same ticket, but with travel starting in, say, Vancouver BC, costs $7,830. Better. The same ticket, but with travel starting in Norway? $5,326, like I said, almost half of the US price. That's for a 3-continent ticket: Europe, which includes the Middle East, North America (which includes Central America and the Caribbean) and Asia. A four-continent ticket (adds Africa, South America or Australia/western Pacific) has a base price about $500 more, but you're still limited to 16 flights. and so on. So back to the four questions. Let's imagine you fly (an hour and a hundred bucks) from London up to Oslo this September, where you board a plane that takes you across the pond and to Portland, as the first flights in your newly minted business class RTW tickets. With the Oneworld RTW product (with which you can fly on new Oneworld member Alaska Airlines) you're allowed up to six flights (of the 16) within North America (which includes the Caribbean, Alaska and Central America.) So back to the first question: where next? A winter cruise in the Caribbean? Or maybe Christmas shopping in New York? Join the snowbirds in Palm Springs or chase the northern lights in Fairbanks? Skiing in Colorado? You choose. Or come the spring - Cactus League in Phoenix or driving down the Blue Ridge? Ever been to Montreal or Quebec City? Costa Rica? Anyway, sometime after returning from Norway, you have to continue on the trip around the world. Maybe you have your eyes set on a cruise around southeast Asia. Okay, off from PDX to Honolulu, then on to Tokyo and down to... Singapore? Bangkok? Or maybe someplace like Vietnam, or Sri Lanka, or India. Then it's back to Europe, but maybe you spend some time in Jordan or Israel, Qatar, Oman or the Emirates on the way. You have to end up back in Norway by the middle of September, but maybe Italy along the way? Spain? You choose. Anyway, you find yourselves back in Oslo sometime before the ticket has turned into a pumpkin. In the course of this experience, you've flown in business class (or domestic first class) comfort, earned a giant pile of frequent flyer miles (and probably attained "elite" status in the FF program) and been to places that you haven't visited (or returned to others that were favorites.) It's cost something like $350 - $375 per flight over the life of the ticket - not bad for Portland to Palm Springs in first class, killer for Singapore to London or Hong Kong to Tel Aviv. If you spent $500 or so more for a four-continent ticket, you could skip Asia but instead fly from the US to Australia or New Zealand, then across to South Africa, then up to Europe to finish the trip, again, back in Norway. Koalas and penguins and lions, oh my. What all these things have in common is the willingness to plan out a year's travel in advance. And note, changing these tickets - timing, destinations - is MUCH easier and cheaper than doing it with "conventional" tickets - lower fees and more flexibility. Here's an imaginary map showing a possible route for a 3-continent Oneworld RTW ticket, starting and ending in Oslo. Here's the link to the mapping program which shows the route in more detail. This shows returning from Norway to Portland via British Airways' nonstop from London, then using Alaska and American Airlines to travel to San Juan for a Caribbean cruise, then back to Portland. Then, after some time, you'd travel on Alaska to Hawaii, then across (on Japan Airlines) to Tokyo, then south on JAL or Oneworld member Malaysian Airlines to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (maybe for a cruise, or maybe to enjoy some of the best food in the world) then on to London. Before ending back in Oslo, the route includes a visit to Israel (could be Jordan, Egypt, the Emirates...) then back to Norway, this time via Finland (using Finnair, another Oneworld member.) This would put something like 100,000 or more frequent flyer miles in your accounts (your choice of plans) which would be good enough not only to get you home from Oslo next year, but for additional travel outside the RTW. Or, you might decide just to start another RTW when you get back to Norway, this time maybe one that includes an African safari, or a cruise around Cape Horn from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, or vice versa. Or New Zealand? Nepal? You choose. I'll quit here. Maybe this is for naught, or you're not willing to make such a big investment for air travel. No harm, no foul. But in case it does intrigue you I'll be glad to try to answer any other questions. I know it's complicated, but it can really be worth it.