iancal

We never seem to get loyalty points when we buy consolidator tickets from a TA. When we buy basic fares from AC we only get 25 percent credit.

Our first experience on Santorini was years ago. We spent four days on the island. We rented a motorcycle and toured each day. I think they did away with motorcycle rentals. While eating at 'Moma's she fixed us up to stay with her sister Kato Chania. Such friendly people. Second time was on a cruise ship. After an hour DW was suggesting going back to the ship...the place was a zoo. Very similar to our feelings about Dubrovnik. Last time we decided to pass Santorini by and not to bother get off the ferry. Perhaps we will go off season at some point. Might have another look at Mykonos. Been there once on a Crystal ship when there was no other ship in port! We were there until late evening. Naxos is a favorite of ours. Hoping to spend four of five days there in late September/October. Along with Milos, Folegandros, plus two others depending on ferry connections, and Crete. The trick with ferry hopping is to be flexible, spontaneous, and pack light IMHO. We have yet to do a small yacht cruise. On our list but we have not really shopped for one. I suspect we would do one from Turkey...perhaps from Bodrum, Marmaris, or Antalya. Saw a number at the dock area in Antalya when we were there. Our preference is to mix these longer independent trips with 10 or 14 day late booking Med or Adriatic cruises to break up the 'work' of independent travel.

We have been returning to Greece for years. One thing that I would add is that for most islands we have visited one day is not enough. On some a week is good, others three or four days.. One unfortunate thing about a one day cruise stop is that one only sees those few islands through the lens of cruise ship crowds. Many of these cruise ship stops take on an entirely different personality and ambiance in the evening when the ships have departed. But...it does provide a look for a longer return visit. Our favorite way to experience the Greek islands is with nothing planned except our air to Athens, home through another city such as Paris or London, a reservation and on overnight reservation in Piraeus . Then we island hop at will with a very spontaneous agenda that is always subject to change based on how we like an island and what the ferry schedules s are for the day we wish to leave. Last trip pre covid was a week in the north, a week or so each in Corfu, Kefelonia, and Zakynthos, two three days in Athens, then we hopped over to Cyprus for two weeks. Home through London from Cyprus. Air can sometimes be as inexpensive and more convenient than ferry depending on the route. If we pick up a last minute Med cruise, which we sometimes do, just prior to leaving home or while in the middle of travel we can easily adjust our travel to include it.

We keep going back to Greece for extended independent travel. Why.....travel in Greece is so easy and the people are incredibly friendly. Costs are reasonable. Our advice....visit Greece just after Orthodox Easter. Weather is good, spring bloom is in progress, and many types of accommodation are opening up on the islands. The owners are fresh, they are anxious for business and anxious to please. Not a crush of summer tourists. Or...go in mid Sept to late October. Better temperatures. Water is warmer. Far less crowds. The only downside is mid to late October. Those in the tourist trade are tired of tourists, some island establishments start to close and their owners return to the mainland. Best to arrange a Cyclades island hopping trip to end in Crete. Another option to consider is a short air hop to Cyprus. Inexpensive and lots of competition on the route. Last time we were there in late October it was in the high 20's every day.

Ditto. When we have 2 weeks of cruise and 5-7 weeks of independent land travel guess how we are going to dress and what we are willing to pack? But...we like to see people as dressed up as they like and enjoying their cruise to the fullest. Cannot imagine anyone criticizing a cruiser for being dressed up or going casual. Too many busybodies. Too little MYOB.

I am always surprised at how cavalier some people can be about leaving money owed to them sitting in a vendor account. This is not about 'loving' the vendor or being a loyal customer. It is about good personal financial management. We would never consider leaving money with any vendor unless we knew that we could absorb the credit within 90 days. Just ask some of the loyal Crystal customers who were owed money for months, years, and subsequently ended up on the unsecured creditors list with little or no hope of recovery. Not in any way comparing CCL to the disaster that was Crystal. Seems to be common sense to me to get your money back into your account rather than the cruise line account.

I believe that the difference is entirely about 'opinion'.

Why not make the decision once you have de-planed and are able to go directly to the tube?

Agree. Difficult to cut enough costs in a service based industry...or enough costs to make a dent in the cash shortfalls. I be be very surprised if CCL is not in the process carefully examining the current and projected short term operating profit/loss from each ship across all lines with a view to selling or mothballing the bottom feeders. Just as they most likely did at the start of the pandemic. Before or after a management re-org. At some point the point the bondholders, the lenders, and the major shareholders will be insisting on change.

You might want to wait until after the next share issuance or after CCL has floated the next set of bonds before buying more shares than you require to get the stock credit. I believe there will be more of both.

We have been to and through London many times. First of all determine how much time you will really have after taking into consideration deplaning, clearing immigration, time to get to the tube, time on the tube to where you want to go in London. Then do the reverse and add some time for margin of error. After you have done that consider what may happen if the airport is backed up. If there is a security alert (which in our experience can add at least an hour to the security lines), or if there is some sort of delay on the tube line (which we have experienced). We have been off the plane, on the tube, and in Kensington within an hour. We have also breezed through security when flying from LHR. But we have also experienced the opposite. It can be a crap shoot.

Our experience....at any given point in point for a popular 7, 10, or 14 day itinerary where there is lots of competition any one of Princess, HAL, or Celebrity can offer the highest or the lowest price of the three. And those prices can change overnight...up or down depending on demand. Especially inside the final payment window. We see very little difference between these cruise lines. We see far more difference between ships within each fleet and between different sailings than we do between the brands.

Understand the terms or your credit card agreement as they pertain to challenges/ charge reversals.. Particularly the maximum number of days between the charge and the challenge for non delivery. Never, ever pay for a cruise with cash/debit. Don't pay more than 540 days or so in advance...the limit of most issuers credit card protection. Once you have accepted an FCC offer your credit card protection ends. If your cruise is cancelled by the cruise line insist on a cash refund. If you have not rec'd the refund in 60 days initiate a credit card challenge.

In our case the other two ships were HAL Zandam and Celebrity Infinity. Neither was at the top our our list so it was fortunate for us that Princes presented the best value for us. When it comes down to those three cruise lines the ship, time in port/itinerary,, and price trump the logo on the funnel for us all day long.

We had three choices. HAL, Celebrity, and Princess. The itineraries were the same. We selected based on price. Princess had a one day sale with CAD at par. The bottom line delta between Princess and Celebrity was 30 percent, with HAL closer to 20 percent. We could not justify the differences in price.

There is no right answer. Just do what is 'right' for you. We have absolutely no issue booking with agencies or cruise line offices in other countries if the saving is substantial. In our experience in can be. We often buy travel products from sites that are not in NA. Air, cruise, hotel, AI's, tour packages. There can be a substantial difference in pricing (and T's &C's) in shopping out of county web sites or in dealing direct with out of country vendors. Including cruise lines in our experience. The only thing that matters is that you get what you want booked, when you want it booked, at the price that you are happy with , and with the level of service that satisfies your requirements. The rest is noise level.

We use a TA and the vast majority of our communication is by email. She is a high producer and prefers email. Says she can get much more done for clients like us who only email for a quote on our selected late booking cruise. All we want is a balcony cabin and a cruise line booking number. The other reason is that many of our cruises are late booking done while we are on land trips. All of our Med cruises and our TA have been done this way. Booked while we were in Europe. So email conquers any time zone issues.

We flew Sky several years ago from Santiago to Montevideo. It was fine. As I recall we had a choice. The flight was about $60. The next closest was a KLM at approx $230 but the departure/arrival time was less than convenient.

For those intent on taking public transportation my comment would be that it you have more than carry on the bus is far better. Why? When you reach the bus you simply place your bag (s) in the bottom luggage area of the bus. Going by train...you have to lift them up and down to the train and (depending on the train station) lug them up and down stairs to reach another track platform. We took the bus at Termini for no other reason that it was there when we arrived at the station. It was about to leave, so we jumped on. Train or bus did not matter to us since each of only had a fairly light carry on bag. Had we had each had a heavy bag, or two bags, our choice would have been the bus hands down.

Other than during covid, we have been purchasing international at least twice a year. Europe in the fall, SE/Asia Australia in the winter. Our experience is...you never know. Our lowest price to Asia was booked 10 ten days or so prior to departure. We booked pre covid air to Greece six weeks out. It was 25 percent lower than if we had booked four months in advance. . It was the same price four days out. Each airline has their own revenue maximization logarithms based on supply and demand. At the moment it all seems up up up. Next May is a long way off. I would start shopping in January.

Clearly a first world problem.

Not changing our travel....hopefully We are monitoring the situation in various airports. We may well change our favored routing. We will not book until we have an understanding of how to book/route. It may be that we do not book until a two or three weeks prior to blast off.

I am of the opinion that some people loose a little of their logical thinking ability when they are on a cruise. Or try overly hard to impress their partner. Retailers like Park West and Diamonds International have built their business on it. The cruise lines continue to get a piece of this action through rents/commissions or from ' port store recommendation' fees.

Depends on how much luggage you have. We have taken the bus a number of times to and from the airport to Glyfada and from the airport to Piraeus. It was a non event for us but we only have one smaller bag each so luggage was not a concern.

We did a google search when we were considering Greece a few months ago. Many came up on the map and most indicated price, languages spoken, and whether one could make a reservation. In Athens and in the suburbs toward Piraeus. We would have required a PCR test at the time. The Greek Government established a max. price of 60E, though many were at 40E. No idea if antigen test prices are also controlled.