harrodsfan

And just watched your video! They really did a good job! Thanks for sharing you special day with us!

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Congratulations! Sounds like you rolled with the challenges and had a good time!

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We have taken the bus from Seattle airport to Vancouver. 3 hours. Pretty ride. It stopped at the cruise terminal.

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I have never had a well cooked lobster tail. Too often it is dry and very chewy, I prefer whole lobsters boiled and then focus mostly on the claws which to me are the best part of the lobster.

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I actually get this working in London. I'm not making this up, but about 2 weeks ago someone I work with in London asked me where I'd traveled from this morning. Chester I said. And he replied "Is that near Chesterfield ?"

 

So don't just mock the Americans, people from London are just as bad !

Yes please don't mock the Americans.. some Americans have traveled extensively in the UK and know

where cities and ports are located. I once had a British traveler ask me if one could see San Diego, Los Angeles, and San francisco in the same day. (By car.) Some cruise lines will say Le Havre (for Paris.)

We did this trip in October. We did the Colmar in the morning.. 8:30 to 12:30. The other trip left around 1:45 depending on which bus you were on. We left the port around 5:30.

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I would not be able to walk with 15 drinks in a 24 Hour period..

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Bravo to all! And thanks!

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Loving your blog. Your map shows the very interesting fact that while traveling the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to Pacific one goes from west to east. Great trivia question!

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Last time we were in Buenos Aires we dressed very down and outright shabby. We went to a shopping. Center near our hotel with high end shops and everyone was dripping in diamonds and designer good. Lol. No issues the way we were dressed in BA but rio was a different story. Very scared. Italy is bad too.. someone tried to pickpocket me in Pisa, Rome and Venice. Didn’t go out of my hotel in Nairobi.

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I agree with the post that said stick to the us. We have done a number of Viking cruises and have found they would be fine if one wished to stay on the boat and not visit the top deck. But they are very very long ships... and transferring to any excursion involves stairs and sometimes long walks to buses. (One stop in Strasbourg involved 6 flights of stairs to the bus!!! )

Thank you for your very nice reply to my comments. It is interesting that we all have different opinions of travels.

Re the food poisoning...it was the Sunday brunch caviar. I had my portion and my husbands. I was ill about three hours after i ate it and it was not noro as I was violently ill for about an hour and then I was fine pretty soon after that. I read up on caviar and it is one of those foods that needs to always be kept ice cold. I think my portion had been sitting out.

The pretentious people were passengers. Just some of the people we met .. or more than we have met before. Especially on high end cruises. We pick cruises based on itineraries and not necessarily cruise lines. we have sailed, Cunard, Seabourn and Regent many times. Also Celebrity, HAL, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and even Carnival. This cruise was just an odd mix. At the end of the trip we did meet two very nice couples.

Regarding the Amazon.. we were expecting a more interesting River. We love River cruising and have done most of the major rivers of the World including the whole Mississippi, The Ohio, the Yangtze, The Rhine, The Irrawaddy, the Nile, the Mekong, The Danube, The Rhone and probably a few more I have forgotten. The Amazon was pretty much all the same which was much like the lower Mississippi.

Not a lot of towns. Or different vegetation. We sort of enjoyed Manaus. I was really looking forward to the Opera House but sadly the day we visited was the day after a big concert there and the whole place was very disheveled.

We also like a bit more culture.. And we did have rough seas along the coast. I didn't get seasick but i did find it hard to sleep.

We have been to over 100 countries and on many trips by land and sea. It wasn't our worst trip... that would be Egypt. (Interesting sights but the worst tour guide we have ever had. Also an itinerary from hell with a 2:30 am wake up call one day.) Sometime things just don't work out. and this trip just had more issues than most. Like i said we loved the pre trip portion. Buenos Aries was gorgeous. Tons of Culture. Iguassu falls stunning. But Rio was scary plus it rained the whole time.

Still our room and butler was lovely, the food good with the exception of the caviar. The port lecturer, Terry, was so interesting.

Not a horrible trip.. just certainly not our favorite.

Thanks for the posts. We did this trip three years ago from Rio to Miami!

We loved our huge suite. I don’t remember anyone waiting in line to get on. The service was wonderful, however I did get food poisoning from bad caviar, Lost a day of the trip,

Of all the trips we have taken it was our least favorite until we got to dEvils island and the Caribbean. We have done the rivers of the world and the Amazon was our very least favorite. A bucket list trip that was a bust for us. We also found the people pretentious.

( odd because we have made lifelong friends on other regent cruises.) we also had some rough seas. I do believe in the ear plug method described here. I always wear ear plugs to bed on a ship. And during the day if it’s choppy. Also on airplanes. Oddly I don’t remember the heat. Like others posted we won’t be back to Brazil. ( but we did live Argentina and Iguassu falls was just amazing.

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I find the new trend for fewer drawers to be very annoying. ( both on cruises and in hotels! ) I particularly like a bedside table with drawers. Hard to find even in high end hotels.

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Really enjoying your blog! Thanks for taking us along!

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Day 0 - Fort Lauderdale

 

A little before noon we were down in the lobby ready to check out of the Embassy Suites and call an UBER for the short driver over to Terminal 26. The lobby was empty and there was no line to check out. I pulled up my UBER app and requested an UBER XL which is guaranteed to be capable of carrying 6 people or lots of luggage. We fell into the ‘lots of luggage’ category. Three minutes after I pressed “Confirm” a large SUV arrived. After our bags were loaded, we were on our way arriving at Terminal 26 eight minutes later.

 

 

The area outside the terminal was empty of any other arriving guests and we were greeted by several porters who took charge of our bags. A few minutes later we were in the terminal and cleared security without difficulty.

 

Once past security we headed over to some tall tables, that were being used by about 20 people filling out the standard health questionnaire and an expanded questionnaire that required self-certification that our required Yellow Fever shot was in order and write in the expiration date. We wrote in INDEF for the expiration date. Based on the wording of the questions it seemed that you wouldn’t be refused boarding if your Yellow Fever situation was not quite right, but you may be refused entry into the affected countries. No one inspected our yellow fever booklets in our presence during the check in process, but they were retained by the ship along with our passports.

 

The form also asked if we had already obtained any VISAs that weren’t in our passports so we wouldn’t be charged for them twice. We got the Australian ETA on our own so we circled that block and indicated we already had the Australian ETA.

 

After we had filled out these two forms we headed over to the 4 star and above line, which seemed to be about the same length as the 3 star and below line. However, the 4-star line had about 7 people processing guests and the 3 star line had maybe 5 people so our line did move a little faster.

 

We got into line at 12:22 and were at the counter at 12:50 – and on the ship and in our cabin at 1:05.

 

Along the way we stopped for our traditional sail away photo – always fun.

 

We are in a Vista Suite on Deck 6, starboard side. The room was ready on arrival and we met our Cabin Steward, Darma, shortly after we arrived. There was a note from the Hotel Director asking everyone to give the crew until 6 January before inquiring about the many special gifts and packages that were ordered because processing so many orders would take some time.

 

Our bags from the FEDEX shipment were first to arrive and we started to get unpacked. After we got most of the FEDEX shipment opened, we went out to get a snack at the LIDO and visit a few friends we had met on our 2016 GWV. Five of the 7 people from Table 52 are back and we are now at table 303 along with 5 other wonderful folks who we will share many dinners with in the days to come.

 

During the routine muster drill at 4:15 we ran into several folks from the 2016 cruise along with our favorite entertainers - Terry, Anne and Kat from Abba Fab and the Piano Man. They will be aboard thru Panama City and we are looking forward to their wonderful shows.

I took a quick spin thru the casino and was pleased to observe that the Amsterdam still has live dealers for Texas Hold’Em and is scheduling 2 $30 tournaments a day vice the $60 tournaments on other ships. This lower buy in should get more people involved. We were pleased to learn later that many of the old regulars from 2016 were back and ready for more Hold’Em action.

 

The sail-a way party, complete with a live 3 piece band, started at 7:30 by the Lido pool – It was very lively and fun to walk around and bump into more people we had met from previous cruises. We couldn’t stay long as we had to get to dinner at 8pm.

 

The first dinner was fabulous – we had the prime rib and our 10 top was filled with engaging conversations. We were pleasantly surprised to see Presty, the assistant dining room manager, swing by our table for some quick hellos and to pass out roses to all the ladies. Presty is an outstanding manager and brings energy and enthusiasm to the dining room and makes sure everything run smoothly.

 

The menus will be posted on the blog along with the When and Wheres every day – internet permitting.

 

There wasn’t a show tonight, so we headed back to our cabin to finish unpacking.

 

As always - more pictures on the blog - along with the daily Where/When and the Menus

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You and you family are I n our thoughts and prayers! You message of thanks is so very inspiring.

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Regarding your visa question: you would be wise to obtain official information about the requirements from your travel agent, if the cruise is so booked. If not, HAL will provide the necessary visa information and that should be very accurate. But, I would also check with the individual countries websites as to information needed for visitors to be admitted. If one sees differences between what you are learning, being proactive to make clear what visa requirements exist would be wise, I think.

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Basio Badilla street in the Romantic zone has some interesting shops in Puerto Vallerta. My favorite shop is a silver jewelry shop called Cassandra Shaw. Some of the most interesting silver work i have ever seen anywhere. Reasonable prices for the quality. Lots of other shops in that area.

We are so happy we took the opportunity to sail up the Amazon to Manaus on the Prinsendam. One of our all time favorite ships! As to the Amazon: just go with realistic expectations. It is a great experience to travel for days on the Amazon, but the river itself will rarely provide a "WOW!" moment. It is long and sometimes very wide, usually brown, and most of the shoreline scenery is just hours of trees and muddy root banks. Don't expect much in the way of wildlife or exotic sights from the ship. The few "cities" you will stop at are sad relics from the obscenely wealthy rubber barons of old. But don't get me wrong; you will have wonderful lifetime memories from this journey - naturally the sense of how vast and essential the Amazon is as the only means of transportation and commerce for this whole interior region of Brazil. I will never forget the endless stream of ferries laden with produce, live animals, and hundreds of people waiting for hours/days in their hammocks onboard as the schedule is only to leave once the ferry is filled; the "meeting of the waters"; the river fishermen in their fragile boats, etc. But beyond that, our most real experiences of the Amazon were in the excursions we took away from the main river and cities and into the jungle/in dugouts along the small tributaries/walking among the huts in isolated villages, etc. I strongly urge you to embrace any of these types of experiences. Combined with the warmth of the Brazilians you meet and the company of your fellow passengers, you have lots to look forward to!

This is a very accurate report, being on the Amazon itself isn’t that interesting. If you like wild life then take tours. Still for us it was a bucket list trip that did not in any way live up to our expectations. We did it on Regent. We like more culture. The zoo in Manaus was very sad. Skip that. For interesting river trips suggest the Mekong, Nile,or upper Mississippi.

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We are on the Viking Rhine cruise and would not recommend the tours for gentle walkers. Each day it’s 3 blocks to the buses and about that back to the ship due to parking issues. The tours are 2 -3 hours of walking standing even if on flat ground. And this boat is very long!

Not coming back? Many of us loved this post and would love to read the conclusion!!

I thought I was the only disappointed person! Lol!

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We did this cruise three years ago. It was fabulous but not that cold at all. in the 50ies during the day. Didn't even wear a hat during the day. At night it was cooler but i never wore my down coat.

Mainz is better than Frankfurt

We loved the frankfort Christmas Market. Very large and lots of fun shops.

Wow! A stunning bride and a handsome groom. What an amazing video. The best I have ever seen. I cried and I don't know you. I think you will have a wonderful marriage as you packed the two essentials for a long and happy life.. flexibility and a sense of humor. And the background song was so perfect. Carnival should use this as an ad! Brilliant. Thanks for sharing your story!

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