Edit: dist-upgrade with the --no-remove option will not work if there are packages to be removed.
I thought that's what you wanted? That will prevent you from accidentally saying yes to a d-u with package removals.
On another note, I could have saved myself a lot of time earlier this morning by just marking the packages to be removed for hold. I did that on my desktop a few minutes ago and successfully dist-upgraded. Of course, you have to remember to unhold the packages afterwards and if there are a number of packages to be removed
I don't see how that's ultimately different than cherry-picking packages to upgrade except that it's faster (and will break your system faster if you don't know what you're doing).
it may be better to just wait
Hallelujah! Another one has seen the light!
Seriously, if you're unsure about removals, ask here. Sometimes, you can safely let things go. Sometimes, you have to let something go and reinstall it to work around a bug (like the recent iptables bug).