I only cruise on small, "all-inclusive" lines --- the Regent Seven Seas, Crystal or Seabourne lines. The ships only carry around 700 passengers. All liquor is included. Sure, the price of the ticket is higher, but the quality of the food, wine, etc. is far superior. My last cruise was 31 days aboard the Regent Seven Seas Mariner. (In 2008, we sailed Australia, New Zealand, and then sailed from Auckland, NZ to Los Angeles, stopping enroute in Tahiti at several of her islands, and a couple of other small, Pacific islands....there were several consecutive sea days because of the distances we covered.) There were 450 passengers on board. In each restaurant, the maitre d' and the sommelier always recognized us, catered to our preferences, and there were several restaurants from which to choose, plus 24-hour, full-menu room service. AND, there are no "seatings". Dinner is served from 7 p.m. - 11 p.m....come when you choose. The food -- all meals -- was simply superb. Towards the end of the cruise, when there can, indeed, be too much of a good thing, I began requesting simple food not on the menu. And the kitchen always delivered. The wines were delightful --- French, German, Australian, New Zealand, California, etc. And I always appreciate being able to order a glass of champagne, wine or cocktail without being charged....one requests the drink and it appears, without signing any chit, charging any card, etc. It's an elegant way to travel. On my last cruise, we sailed with a well-known Australian wine expert (we were in the southern hemisphere), and for several days running, we attended delightful wine tastings, and learned fascinating facts about the wines produced in Australia and New Zealand....No charge; all inclusive. Also on the last cruise, interested passengers were able to sign up for the gourmet dinner (seating was limited), for $200 each. The food and the wines consumed were truly exceptional! Because of the price of these cruises, children are not found on board. And this allows the kitchen to focus entirely on adult menus. Also, there are no "midnight" buffets on these types of cruises; breakfast is served, as is lunch, high tea (with champagne, wine, tea, etc.), and dinner. And, if a guest is hungry at the odd hour, there is the 24-hour full-menu room service....with the ability to order something NOT on the menu, if one desires it. I love traveling like this, delight in the quality of the food, its lovely presentation, and I especially like the ability to come to dinner whenever one's personal plans dictate the time. Twice during the last cruise, I coordinated with the maitre d' of the restaurant I'd chosen, and I hosted a dinner. I selected the guests to invite (there were 12 of us), selected the day and time, and the ship's staff did the rest: sent personal invitations to the guests, arranged the pre-set table in a secluded spot so conversation was easy, alerted the wait staff who would serve us (and the sommelier), and ensured a delightful evening was had by all. For these dinners, the guests chose off of their menu, and I totally relaxed....no planning required, no cooking required or dishes to wash afterwards or bills to pay...all the passengers had already paid their "all inclusive". Such a civilized way to travel! So, I save my money and take a grand vacation like this every few years, so I can have a truly memorable, and very special experience!

They weren't "limping" - they were being towed. And then a tow line broke, so they couldn't pull hard with the remaining (one?) so were moving at a very slow rate. When they evacuate a ship, they do it into some other floating object, almost always a small craft, such as a life boat. I doubt that they would evacuate such a cruise ship into life boats unless the main ship were either sinking or at risk of doing so ... and such would not include overflowing toilets. I don't know how easy, or not dangerous, it would be to move another large vessel alongside, then tie them together and move the 4,000 people from one to the other, even if the sea were calm. Perhaps it could not even be done at all. Even to move 4,000 people from one ship to another a few hundred feet away would be a huge, and somewhat, risky, enterprise ... and the helicopters would need to travel to land, or have another ship with fuel aboard to sit nearby, in order to refuel. Even though sometimes I need to flush my john up to three times in order to get the job done ... ... I prefer that to the conditions dealt with by the people on that ship ... 'cause my john hasn't overflowed yet. (And it'd be much easier to deal with, even were it to do so). ole joyful

We did a land and cruise trip on Princess Sapphire. We did the whole trip through them but honestly, we could have easily did the land part ourselves. The did a good job, though. We did the land part first and I liked doing that way. They had us flying into Anchorage late one day and leaving the next morning on the land tour. We flew in a day early so we had an extra day and a half there. We took a train to Denali, that was fun. There are a couple of tours on Denali State Park, one goes much further into the park then the other. The one we took started early in the morning and lasted about 12 hours. It was great. Try to get a seat on the left side of the bus, it has better views. We saw lots of animals. We also got lucky and Denali was completely out, it's so often covered with clouds. On the boat we had a mini suite. Our kids (ages 21 and 16) shared an inside cabin down the hall. Having the suite was helpful with 4 people. I suggest at least getting a balcony but you will have a good time even if you get an inside room. We really loved Glacier Bay, the boat spent all day there. Not all boats go there, I recommend it. In Skagway we rented a car (reserve in advance) and drove ourselves into the Yukon. It was so much cheaper then having someone else drive you and the road was fine. I recommend doing this, with your own car you can stop and go as you please. Take plenty of warm clothes but also take some lighter clothes. We had a couple of days in the 70's on land but a couple of days on the boat were cold. I was fine with a winter coat, hat, and gloves. I also like the anytime dining option that Princess has. We could eat anytime we liked. We could make reservations or just walk in. We never had a long wait if we didn't have a reservation.

" Except for Santa Barbara, there is no 'wine country' along the coast." I think it depends what someone considers as "along the coast". Our coasts are cool (delightfully so) and vineyards need to be a bit away from the immediate coast, typically just a range of hills away in valleys. It's less than an hour from Santa Barbara to the Santa Ynez Valley, the local wine area, and just a shade over an hour from San Francisco to Napa or Sonoma. Same is true for vineyards and wineries near Monterey, San Diego, etc., I think these areas are considered coastal because they're near the ocean and have weather influenced by it. Real "inland" means the Central Valley - good for growing table grapes but too hot otherwise and the site of only non-premium bulk wines like Two Buck Chuck, Franzia, Gallo's historical ops, etc.