DDaley

Amazing, I think Alcatraz is so interesting, plus a great Golden Gate view from there as well. And who doesn’t like a boat ride? Sausalito isn’t much but the city view should still be beautiful!

Hahaha, I alllllways have knee bruises after guiding my SINGLE carryon on travel days. You are a luggage haulin' champ!

But.... how?? Don’t you bring 5 suitcases? Plus J’s 2? How in the world are you rolling those off unassisted? Do you roll a few, leave them and go back for the others, then drag the rest to meet up with the first couple bags, staggered style? Do you chain them all together like a train?

Over here just hoping it’s cold enough on Christmas Day that I don’t have to swap my flannel pjs for shorts! It’s happened the last 4 years in a row. Luckily the forecast only calls for a high of 68ºF so I’m thinking I can scrape by!! Without checking a deck plan, are you guys neighbours on the same side of the ship? Or will your ATSes be across the aqua theater from each other?

Absolutely! I last visited Scotland when I was 14 and would love to see your pics. PS. Is this something people do? I have the nicest, most detailed Euro river cruise blog at that other place that barely got a single Like. Next time I’m bringing it to you fine people!

If I remember anything from the impressive @twangster blogs that swayed me to book Alaska, he took the train easily between these two cities to board a cruise after flying to Seattle. Definitely recommend a wildlife or whale watching tour, the amount of whales we saw was insane. We saw tons of whales in both ISP and Sitka! In Juneau I looooved seeing (what’s left of) the Mendenhall Glacier but don’t recommend a kayak tour to see it, haha. My hands were blistered for days! Are you planning anything for San Francisco? I always recommend a tour of the ROCK! Amazing views from there looking back at the city and the Golden Gate, plus touring Alcatraz is interesting, too. Make sure to buy these tickets early, they always sell out if you wait till the week-of.

Haha I would say both! He’ll say “I’m all cruised out” then 6 months later he sees a Royal commercial and gets the craving again! I just booked a ladies cruise and he was jealous.. Ohhhh I thought you were done cruising? I’ll get another booked for us right away! He has so little vacation time I don’t wanna scare him if he were to see the full booking list, hahaha. Surely our Celebrity cruise next fall will require a few non-paid days of absence, oooops.

Yep, exactly. I do this for my husband literally every time I book a cruise. I book 2-3 years out and he doesn’t need to be in the know till about 6-8 months out. I just call and get his C&A number added at a later date once he is privy to the sailing!

Wow I hope everyone I’ve tipped in cash just pockets it without mentioning it to Royal! This is awful.

We stayed at the Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam and found it to be perfect. Directly across the plaza from the Centraal train station and within walking distance to where the cruise ships depart from. We were on a river cruise but saw the Norwegian Prima embarking one of the days we were there. We took the train from the airport to the station and walked easily to the hotel with our luggage. The hotel was within walking distance of everything, we even walked to the Rijksmuseum! We easily hopped a train on the day we arrived to go out to Zaanse Schans to see the windmills and exhibits which I highly recommend! Great way to stave off jet lag.

Agreed. I have booked Mammoth Mountain here in California every year since 2016 and every year after I book I fill out the survey complaining about their horrible cart/check out experience. For 8 long years I complained and this year the entire experience has been revamped! A UX win! Royal please, we’re begging for the ability to search by cabin type and have THAT price show on the cruise results list!

Can I just say I’ve been singing the song from your blog title for WEEKS in my head (and sometimes aloud) and every time I read it I start up again! hahaha you’re a slave to the monay, then you DIE-IEEEE

Gotta see the mules! I am thinking Panama Canal 2026 may be in the cards for my 40th birthday!

Wow those lock pics are AMAZING! I just did the Rhine and the locks were all from such a low position since our ship was only 3 decks high (pic for reference). This is so cool to see it filling from such a high vantage point. Could you touch the wall from the lower decks? This is making me wanna book this itinerary sooner rather than later!

I wish I had seen this thread before my trip to Europe last month! I used Orange and the eSIM was so cheap (19€/2 weeks) compared to a Verizon International plan ($100/month) so I was happy with the consistent coverage through 4 countries over 13 days! I have one major complaint however, they provided me with a French phone number which was apparently most recently a cab company! I got calls day and night! I turned on Silence Unknown Callers but it was hilarious how often I was getting random calls. I even got a few texts with requested pickup locations in Paris! Easy enough to ignore and the service was great. In short, maybe don’t go with Orange! Happy to have found all these alternatives for next time.