stan vermeers

I use TravelGuard. Reason: (1) Someone answers the phone almost immediately. That person is knowledgeable and answers questions, as opposed to other companies who put me on hold or transfer me because the person answering does not know anything and is only a receptionist. With one company I was transferred 3 times and still did not get a good answer. (2) They are available 7/24 (at least when I have called). Important when overseas, on cell with limited reception. Need immediate contact. (2) As others have stated, call and tell agent your travel situation, what is important to you and they can recommend a plan. Example: I do not need to pay for rental car coverage. Insusuremytrip.com only lists a few plans from each company. The TravelGuard plan I chose (Travel Guard Plus) is not listed on Insuremytrip.com. Also, my travel agent has told me to get a lot of Emergency Medical Evacuation insurance. Years ago she had a client traveling in Mexico, and it cost over $200K to get back to California. A personal friend required a nurse to be flown from USA to Spain to accompany him on flight home to Nevada. Not cheap. I go for min of $500K medica evac. There are companies such as Medjet Assist that insure for medical evac only, but nothing else. This is cheaper, but limited.

Is there a shuttle at Newport Rhode Island. Oceania says they dock as a smaller ship. Thank You linda

Thank you cruise mom and John. I was hoping we would have in person port ideas. On VoV the auditorium was full. Sorry to see an impersonal way now. Linda

Hello Hank, Questions: We are on Westerdam Japan next April. We were on Voyage of the Vikings 5 years ago. Does Westerdam have a port lecturer? The lady on VoV was wonderful. We also had 2 other speakers on interesting things . We also really enjoyed Barry from Boston. A large group of us really enjoyed nitely. I would hope the same would be on this Japan cruise. (The one reason besides itinerary that we booked HAL.) We were on the Koningsdam in Nov. Our first cruise after pandemic. It was a cheap Mexico one, which we had done many times prior. That cruise was ok but not great...very slow service in dining room, alot of other small stuff, but just ok. Hope Japan will be better. Our favorite line is Oceania, but we cruise now on itinerary. Linda/Stan Vermeers

Thank you all so much for responding! We want to try a "new" cruise area for us. So encouraging to hear the area offers alot and no one mentioned a negative. Thank You, Linda

Oh Dear Not too popular area to cruise, I am thinking. Positive or negative would be helpful. Linda

Wondering if anyone who has done a cruise like this one has any suggestions for tours, etc.. Or is each port souks, mosques and desert? Would appreciate any recommendations! Also I realize that Dept. of State has Dubai at level 3. Love Oceania but can use suggestions for this area good or bad. Linda

Having sailed the Rhine and Danube for the Xmas markets,,, Loved both but would highly recommend Danube that includes Nuremburg. Rhine loved Strasburg. We used AMA for both of these a year apart. Ama went from Nuremburg to Budapest. All the ports were interesting, had wonderful markets. Rhine, I feel is scenic, markets good but not great. Either one is a wonderful experience.