deep1

Getting yelled at for fishing off my balcony... 😄
 

Part two: I forgot to buy travel insurance.
 
so what happened with my British Isles cruise is, after realizing I'd be spending the night at Heathrow (provided I could find a taxi on the day of the Queen's funeral… Good luck… ,) I thought, "hey, why not stay on the ship and just take the transatlantic back to the United States?" Sounded like a great idea. I went to guest services to do so and I forget why, but for some reason they just directed me to do it all on my phone. So I booked the cruise on my phone while standing in the atrium of the ship. Somewhere in the process, I either overlooked the offer for travel insurance, or it wasn't offered. (possibly because the cruise was only four days away.) And though I always buy travel insurance,  in the rush to get everything booked and settled, I forgot all about it.  
 
On day five of the transAtlantic, I thought to myself, "Wait....I never bought travel insurance." I figured it was too late and just hoped that would not need it.
 
On day six I needed it. I had all the signs of a detached retina and had to go to medical. We were looking at our very last stop on land the next day in Spain and then we would be at sea for a week. They arranged for me to go see an eye doctor in Spain the next day.
 
if it turned out I had a detached retina, they would need to do emergency surgery right away, and I would need to stay off an airplane for two weeks.
 
So I laid awake all night, picturing having emergency eye surgery in Spain, while the crew on the ship tossed my suitcases overboard onto the pier and sailed away without me. I was traveling solo and was wondering how much it would cost to have surgery, have my husband fly out to help me, and then how much it would cost to stay in a hotel room in Spain for two weeks and then find my way to the airport and then fly home. $$$$$
 
It turned out I did not have a detached retina and I made it back to the ship in plenty of time for sailaway and everything was fine. 

And now I never forget insurance or hotel reservations.
 The End

My wife and I were so eager to go on vacation that we spent all of embarkation day basking in the hot NJ summer sun, sipping many cocktails.
…And not a drop of sunscreen was used! (Which we did bring with us!)
Unfortunately, we didn’t feel the consequence of this until the following morning when we both experienced some extremely painful showers. And with 3 sea days and the first port being Labadee, we had to live off of the vending machine aloe for 4 days. I’m pretty sure we emptied the vending machine!
Once we arrived to Puerto Rico, we hit up the CVS and bought more aloe, which is when we realized that the ship vending machine aloe was super marked up! We knew it was but we didn’t expect it to be that much!
Lesson learned!

Getting yelled at for fishing off my balcony... 😄
 

Getting yelled at for fishing off my balcony... 😄
 

Getting yelled at for fishing off my balcony... 😄
 

Don't get me started... C+A misplaced 14 years and 40 points on me. I was emerald a few years back then kicked back to gold. Been gold twice, currently platinum for the second time.  Finally one of their agents figured it out that "Somebody" deleted my account and started a new one in May of 2017????? A couple of the old ones were found several weren't. I have submitted casino chip collection, my previous platinum and emerald pins, and photos. All falls on deaf ears and each time it seems like we have to start all over again. I'm at the point that I no longer care...  I have dealt with a few good people who cared and others that were flat insulting. If it gets fixed , "yay". If not it really doesn't matter.  Fiance' and I don't drink so the freebies mean nothing. 
 

We are sailing the Quantum in June.  Staying at the Warwick Seattle. 
We stayed there before. Sign up for their free loyalty program and they offer pretty good discounts.
Warwick Seattle | Downtown Seattle Hotel with Breakfast (warwickhotels.com)
It's walking distance to a lot of restaurants, Pike Place Market, CVS drug store is across the street if you need some last-minute stuff.  There is a nearby liquor store that you can grab wine if you want to bring some onboard.  Probably no more than a 15-minute Uber/taxi to the port from the hotel.

Decks 3 and 4 aft.  Main dining is split into 4 separate rooms as a concept they tried on the Quantum class (until Odyssey I believe).  Look for Chic, The Grande, SIlk, and American Icon Grill.  The menus and service is identical, only the decor is different in each room.

We always stay at the Marriott Waterfront. It's about a 15 minute ride via a shuttle to the port. The hotel arranges for the shuttle. There are plenty of food choices across the street as well. There are also lots of things to see within walking distance. Enjoy!

I'm doing the Northbound for the first time and have many of the same questions.
I used an MEI travel agent and booked Air2Sea, It's costing 2 adults traveling non stop from NJ to Vancouver, Anchorage back to NJ approx. $1300. Haven't used it yet so I can't offer any reviews but it was better than what we were finding on our own pricewise & I like not having to worry if we will make the ship or not. 
I booked through Wild Bear Safari in Icy Strait based on reviews from others. It's a small group type excursion, price was reasonable & Luke seems pretty chill.
I also need to eat crab legs in Alaska so I'm curious too!

There are two hotels that are nearby the Anchorage train depot.  Anchorage Hilton Downtown is about 1/4 mile to the south.  It is an easy downhill walk (literally downhill) from the hotel.  Another is the Comfort Inn Downtown Ship Creek.  This one is also about 1/4 mile away to the East and is a level path walk to the depot.

Here you go

 
 

Skagway is where we saw bears. Other than Denali I think that's the only time we saw them on our trip.  We hired a private tour guide that showed us all the sites and took us up to the Yukon Territory. A mother bear and her cubs were crossing the highway we were on. We got to see it out of the window of our minivan. 
What blew my mind was the idiots on the other side of the road stopped and got out of their car to try to see the bears closer 🤯 @CGTLH has photos somewhere of the bears.
My fave souvenirs were wooden salad tossing tongs that looked like bear claws!  I gifted them to someone and regretting not buying myself a set.

Let me guess.  "30% off and Kids sail free!"
I have not seen this new sales pitch except for every day for at least the past year.  RCL marketing department has the savviness of a lump of unbaked bread dough. 

I am not convinced that the sales are sales.   It seems like the prices are the same before, during and after the sales.  

Back on my couch fresh off Oasis. Resdy to start shopping again and all I'm getting is "Sorry , there were no r=cruise results that match the filters"? I start with a broad approach  like "Oasis" or a three month widow or four departure ports.   Tried different ships , ports , etc. NOTHING...  They say they have a sale that ends in a few hours... Are they going to honor prices if this glitch doesn't clear? 
 

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!

You each get it...
 

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!

On board Oasis. Recall seeing Matt give high marks for Port Barbecue. Well after a couple endorsements beyond his I gave it a try. BBQ I can normally take or leave but this was by far the best I have ever had! Addicted after one dose … Matt thanks for the heads up !!!