CCJack

I would say they are pretty equal, yes Cunard has 2 long fjords, but HAL has Bergen which would be a shame to miss if you are going to Norway. How about the embarkation city, have you been to both London and Amsterdam? If you have not been to one of those, then a pre cruise stay of a couple nights would be my plan and that would be the deciding factor between the two cruises. They both look like great cruises, have fun.

For sure if you have only one day, you want to stay in Old Quebec. It is very hilly but not that large. You can see quite a bit within a few blocks. As princeton says, Chateau Frontenac would be a great central point to work from. We did a walking tour through Tours Voir Quebec, which starts at the visitor center near the Frontenac. I remember it being a pretty slow moving walking tour and doesn't cover a lot of distance. I am wondering if it makes sense to try a walking tour and just drop off if the group moves too fast, you wouldn't be out much $ and you won't ever be too far from starting point. The tour guide may work with you a little bit allow you to wait on a bench and skip the farthest stop or something like that.

Our tour was in 2018 and Chris (owner) handled the emails with us and he found us a guide who was willing to work on xmas day. Their current website shows the same owner and also has a photo of their tourguides and our tour guide is in the photo, so she is still associated with the company. It was a great tour given most all businesses were closed on xmas day. Ours was a 1/2 day walking tour of Valletta and Mdina (with a short van ride between the two). Our specific tour I don't see listed on their current website but they could change the tour names from time to time. I think the fact they are in business in 2018 and still in business now is a good sign. Not sure why you are not seeing a lot of reviews, maybe they don't go through viator, etc. Malta is very interesting.. enjoy your trip.

sure, let me do some checking on my past emails with them and their current website and make sure it is one in the same, etc.

Agree, go to roll calls and ports of call. One very general tip, if you have not been on a Med cruise..... some of the ports are not nearly as "walkable from ship" as you may find in the Caribbean or Alaska, etc. Some stops in the Med are large cities and the ship may dock in an industrial area. As such, you are going to want a plan for each. Not necessarily an excursion but give some thought to transportation ahead of time. A few may be walkable from ship. Also, you may experience more traffic problems in large cities than what is typical for other cruises. Something to keep in mind in planning excursions. Have fun. We have really enjoyed our Med (and Adriatic) cruises.

this sounds troubling.. I would first check to make sure who the merchant is for the $500 charges to your credit card. If it is indeed Viking, then I would call and ask to speak to a manager at Viking and try to get it sorted out.

Well between Budapest, Venice and Rome, you have a great start on a nice vacation... those 3 are all great cities to visit. I like at least 2 nights in Venice first, in that way you have one full day. Venice can be crazy crowded mid day but mornings and evenings it can really empty out. I would suggest a hotel in Venice proper so you can walk in the morning and evening. 3 nights in Rome post cruise would be good. We have been on all 3 of those cruiselines in Europe and they are more similar than different. I would base my decision on itinerary and price, all 3 of those would work for me. Celebrity maybe a step up in food quality, etc. If you are considering 7-10 day maybe do the 7 day cruise and use those other days as land based stays on the front or back end. Have fun...

re-reading this thread, I am surprised no one has mentioned the book "the day the world came to town".... this is about all of the jumbo jets coming from Europe that had to land in Gander Newfoundland on 9/11 as the U.S. airspace was closed. The small town had to deal with thousands of passengers for many days. So much you don't think about.... Local Pharmacists overwhelmed trying to fill all of the Rx as people's luggage was on lockdown in the planes cargo holds for days due to terrorist concerns.... also local vets trying to rescue the dogs that were in those cargo holds. Plus, feeding and housing all of the visitors. Very interesting true story.

Thank you. I am concerned there may be something else going on such as NCL considering dropping the port altogether. Let's hope not.

EliseL can you give me an update if NCL finally posted Kusadasi excursions for your June cruise. We are on NCL for Sept 1. and there has been no Kusadasi excursions posted ever since we booked 10 months ago. When I call they say that Kusadasi is a port that sometimes it takes longer for them to secure excursions. Not sure if that is true or not. It seems that for your June trip they should have something posted by now. thanks.

For sure they will. Also since Delta was mentioned in this post, note that Delta has 5 classes for transatlantic flights, whereas other airlines still have 3. You will get class #5 from Delta. NCL does have a "new" option to request class. I am not an expert, but I did call them and inquire (about 6 months ago, things could have changed).... I was told that you tell NCL what you want (class, times, etc.) and they will come back in a few days with a quote. It has nothing to do with the BOGO price, essentially you are starting over and they are quoting you current market prices just like a travel agent would do.

A couple thoughts. We took the Celebrity Apex on the Iceland / Ireland cruise. It was great. Apex is fantastic. Many people recommend a land tour over a cruise for Iceland. After cruising there (and having a great time) I do see the rational in that recommendation. In Iceland many of the interesting sites are inland. You spend quite a bit of time traveling by road inland, and the views from the ship are not nearly as spectacular as Norway, for example. One option is to consider Iceland for a future land based vacation. A Scandinavia cruise remains on my bucket list, so I cannot comment. You can't go wrong with either of your options. Have fun.

I can recommend floating-amsterdam as well. That is who we booked with. It was a great canal cruise.

agree canal cruise. I would recommend the smaller boat tours. There are several companies that offer a boat for about 10 or 12 people. Typically they have a bar (actually a cooler) with a server and then the captain does the live commentary. These are not the big long boats you will first see near the city center that have the many seats and headphones you plug into recording. You may need to research and prebook a small boat company at 2x the cost of a big boat but i think a much better experience. I have done both. Have fun.

At least for viking, our included tours were great. Typically a short walking tour of port city, then we could go back on our own to spend time in a particular area that interested us. That is typical but not always the case. Some might be a bus ride to a site outside the port city and thus a longer excursion. Be careful with private excursions and DIY as it is possible they could move the boat during the time you are off and s private tour would not know that. Typically they should be very clear about that before you leave in the morning however.