I’d like to get to Alaska. I am not a cruise-line person - it just doesn’t match my usual vacation style - but I’ve heard Alaska may be the one time to try it. Sounds like a nice trip you had. Do you expect any opportunity to upgrade your cabin? I hear that happens sometimes.
What makes you want to go again so soon? Is it the atmosphere of the cruise and so a duplicate trip is not really duplicate?
Same. I’d only do a cruise because I’d like to see the shoreline from the water. Actually same for the Mediterranean. On one hand, I’d enjoy the views and generally enjoy being in the water. On the other hand, even pre-pandemic, cruise ships strike me as huge floating Petri dishes.
They are, but things have changed a lot on ships because of COVID. Everyone wears masks in public areas now, although they take them off for food and drinks. Everyone had to have proof of vaccination and a recent negative COVID test just to board the ship. There are testing facilities on board and procedures for quarantining and contact tracing when someone with symptoms tests positive. It is still a bigger risk, IMO, to travel on public transportation, where there are few, if any, such requirements for fellow passengers. I don't want to minimize the risk. It is still riskier than staying home and social distancing, but we can't stop living our lives until the crisis passes. That doesn't seem likely to happen for years, thanks to those who doggedly resist common sense measures to control the contagion. Businesses like cruise lines simply have to adjust by controlling their environments as best they can.
It is possible to take a land trip to Alaska, but that is probably riskier than a cruise, given that it is a red state, and it doesn't even have a statewide mask mandate. Only half the population is fully vaccinated. Moreover, you can't go everywhere, and places like Juneau are almost impossible to get to except by air and sea. You can only see the glaciers from ships that have special permission to get into the parks.
From our cabin balcony in Glacier National Park:
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Marjerie Glacier in Glacier National Park
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