island lady

Wearing a dress...no pockets. Wearing dress slacks with pockets...don't have to ask the DH to carry my key card, tip money...etc. Not a fan of dragging along a small purse...or ever a large one for that matter. 😉

Packing a couple of bars of favorite soap is a no brainer for me. Don't like the soaps supplied in any of the cruises or hotels. We also pack our own very compact personal umbrellas. None of these take up much room, IMHO.

So does Bucky...he had to make another custom wooden box to hold them all. 😉

I keep it all here on CC in my signature....well...not all of them. Only the ones I liked. 😄

Yes, have been to Alaska 5 times. This last time we had our usual Seward to Seward B2B booked...when it was cancelled due to Covid. Kept the trip, kept the booked flights, and simply replaced the 2 week cruise with a nice stay in a cabin in Homer. That gave us 4 weeks to explore. Want to book the cruise and land based again, just waiting for RCI to post bookings for 2025 season...which I think comes out in November. Your plans sound wonderful!! 🙂

Easy way to navigate the shortages.....if the purchase price they have to pay has increased....it is suddenly "out of stock/supply chain issue" excuse from them. Go figure. 🤑

Nope. We kept firm to not leaving the fur babies for more than two weeks. The Wonder (for us anyway) was 4 weeks due to wanting to do the Med B2B before the 14 night TA. My fur faced girls passed away (miss them dearly), then Covid hit...pushing us back further. Now we are finally able to do the longer trips, without feeling guilty about leaving them...or deal with Vax and masks. Waiting for Alaska 2025 to post for booking...want to recoup the B2B we had on that which was cancelled also.

I will be there in October of this year....Viking. 😉

There are only 2 of them. Yeah, limited supply. 😉

Really? I have had many more nightmares with various other cruise lines. American Queen being one of the very worst. Uggh... Possibly the result of post Covid. So many cutbacks...so many short staff situations. Deal with it...or just don't cruise. There is simply no such thing as a perfect cruise line with perfect service.

We have Steiner binoculars that are compact and go with us on all trips that stay in our carry on bag, that we have had for years. Any binoculars that the ship provides, is just an extra pair for us.

I guess I am used to do it when I board...so it does not bother me much. We board early, then hang out in the CL/SL. While sitting there, waiting for our cabin to open, I do the reservations. I am open for which one or two to use...so almost always can get a reservation.

That is what happened to us the first time we tried it. It was a total cluster...just not worth the grief we got.

LOL!!! Case confirmed!! 😄 Have only done one TA so far, and loved it. Wonder's first arrival into PC...coming from Barcelona. Great ship to do that on.

Meh...one and done.

Agree...look at how popular TAs are. Many of us love sea days....Hawaii to the west coast is simply a TP. 🙂

Aww...I am so sorry Ellen. 🥹 I do feel for you, and worry all the time about how much I would miss Bucky.

I adore my old used model. 😄

We have decided to go back to Alaska again for June 2025. Covid shut down our usual B2B Radiance Seward to Vancouver in 2020. We still went up there, but just replaced those two weeks for land lubber cabin in Homer, adding to our initial 3 weeks land time. Hoping to try again for the B2B cruise, with the follow up of 3 weeks VRBO home near Copper river in Kenai this time. Hoping RCI will come out (maybe around November) with Alaska bookings for 2025....and get to keep it this time. 😉

Ah...I remember watching you and Laura get the award on Odyssey at the 1400 point. Sweet! I still consider "what is hers is yours". 😄

LOL...I remember being a total cruise newbie on my first 3 night cruise to the Bahamas. Seas were a tad rough, but not that bad. I could have sworn the dock was moving when we walk onto it from the ship. 😄

OK...thanks. 🤗 Somehow we should survive. 😉 Looking forward to the cruise. We should be quite used to smaller accommodations after the RCI World Cruise in a regular balcony cabin this December by then. 😄

We are back on Wonder end of October for B2B. Then December is WC first quarter. Constellation is Dec. 12th of 2024. We have a lot of Viking cruises booked now...cha ching..but I think we will enjoy them. 🙂 Also a B2B Columbia river cruise out of Portland with American Queen for June of next year. Starting to spread it out quite a bit now. 😉

LOL....going to be tough to be land lubber again once you have attained the "sea legs" for that long. 😄

Thanks!! 🙂 One of those bucket list trips that was put off for two years due to Covid shut down...hoping to make up for lost time in the next two years....while we are still alive and kicking. 😄