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.

Ooh hopefully it clears up a bit for you and the Vintages to take the tram up. With that heavy fog you wouldn’t get to see a sweeping view from the top! Juneau was my favorite port. The Red Dog Saloon is worth a glimpse inside, if only to see the sawdust floor and dust-coated gold rush memorabilia on every surface.

Love this. As a millennial who lost my dad in 2017 and my mom earlier this year, I so wish we’d used more of what I inherited in this way! I would love to trade it for traveling with them! Please, whatever you do, don’t be swayed by the Green Onion Mexican restaurant literally half a block from your hotel. I made this grievous error before my Nav cruise in June; sure it’s okayyyyyy, but it’s not want you want which is real taqueria Mexican! If you’ve any meals left to be sorted I highly recommend a brunch at The Court of Two Sisters and a dinner at Mr. B’s Bistro! I also really liked our walking tour of the Garden District but it can no longer go into the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 which was part of the allure of the tour. If you’re heading out to any plantations, I always recommend Whitney as it’s the only one presented from the perspective of the enslaved people instead of the owners. Very excited to read your blog, the canal is on my cruising bucket list!

OMG I would love to have a camera view of their door! Who are they dragging in?? Do they go willingly or question their choices upon arrival? I love seeing a blog for a ship I was on so recently! Quantum definitely feels weird on the interior.

I had my first layover there last month and never knew the Home Alone franchise was actually filmed in the airport! I hummed Run, Run Rudolph the entire time. hahaha It’s cruise day!!!!!

I can’t wait to hear about the matching dresses! Will they use it as a real peacocking moment to lure in admirers?

I am with you both on safety masking in uncomfortably tight or audible cough-y conditions. I masked on the SeaTac bus from Quantum last year and then later heard people got Covid from that exact part! I am just back from Europe (sneaky trip report currently going down at that other place in my sig) and brought masks, hand wipes, sanitizer, Emergen C packets and tissues expecting to have to arm myself but didn’t need any of them! I was on sooo much public transportation and chartered buses through the cruise line and never saw anyone who looked or sounded remotely sick to set me onto my handy supply! I know they could’ve been sneaky but it set me at ease to see people covering their mouths and always using the hand sanitizing sprays we passed. And the breakfast buffet was a dream! Serving spoons regularly wiped down/swapped out. Shocking, I tell you!! I hope you see eagles and whales and bears, oh my!

Yes! A perfect plan! I wasted room in my one carry-on for 3 dresses and a skirt and it was so cold that I only wore my one pair of jeans and one sweater to every dinner. Learn from me and bring more than one sweater!!! haha My pullover Mammoth sweatshirt also got some dinner action and my poor dresses hung in the closet until being re-packed.

It was originated in San Diego but called Souplantation here in Southern California and it was the bEST!!! Because it only had the one P I was always wondering if it was Sou Plantation or the Soup Lantation. Strangely everywhere else, including Northern California, it was called Sweet Tomatoes. Not sure why! So very heartbroken to have lost access to the focaccia pizza. Awesome, these are actually skateboard tricks! Pop shove it was one of my first too! But on land haha

Hahaha! I am out here representing Gen Y aka the Millenials with my map love. In high school my friends would print instructions from MapQuest (that still sounds so ancient) but I never did because I could find any address in my hefty Thomas Brothers spiral-bound book map! PS I just googled that and even though they got bought by Rand McNally in 1998 they still print physical Thomas guides for LA and San Diego! Little win! haha

As a map-obsessed individual I am so happy to see this! I just got the longest map for my Rhine River cruise, it folds out a million times and is taller than me at 5’7”. My mom worked at a map store in Boston in the 90s, I think that’s where my love was born.