Alaskan Bonus Edition

I’d like to spend a short time mentioning the “extras” on the boat. Pop/Soda/whatever was an extra $6/day and was sold as a weeklong package to most folks. This was a great deal for people like my brother Mike who will drink 5 glasses at one meal, and a nice optional charge for people like me who drink lemon water only and didn't want to pay more for soft drinks.

Beer was $3/glass which I didn’t think was too bad. Most mixed drinks were $6-10 because you got to keep the glass that it came in. Dale was a gentleman and bought me one when we watched the evening show on Wednesday. Tom bought his dinner table a after-dinner cordial each night and our table one twice. We got to keep those little shot glasses too- a differant color each night to promt you to collect all 7!

On the boat there were also camera/camcorder sales going on and prices were about a $40 premium versus at home. Not too bad when you have a captive and pouting audience like Jim and I whose camera broke the second day at sea. They also sold gold chains for $1-4/inch. Not too unreasonable but the clasps made up for it. Several times during dinner and at every port the on-board cameraman took pictures of individuals and groups which they sold in the photo gallery the whole week. Mike and Lindsay take particularly good pictures. My pictures reiterate that I need to work out more. Dave and Rachel’s showed time and again that they do look oddly like they’re related… Pictures were $10-20 for individual snapshots/packages.

The only thing that was unreasonable in my opinion was the $5 for hot chocolate they were peddling on the decks when we were watching the Hubbard Glacier. Mom felt like it should be free. I’ve been too engrained in business school and didn’t mind them selling it (though I thought $5 was a bit steep) because you always had the option of walking inside and getting it free.

Any other side items people want to hear about?