Nebr.cruiser

It's possible; I really don't know. Many things may have changed, since we did this itinerary, especially with Covid. Also, our Chris was not an especially young man, probably late 50's?

Agree. And many other desserts.

Before I opted out, (because of age), I used to get called at least once a year; my husband maybe only once. I never had to serve, cases were either settled out of court or jury picked before they got to me. But, big inconvenience as the county seat is about 35 miles away, in the few cases I had to actually go.

When we were there we just got off the ship and found a car and driver that took us to the area for boat tours to the Ballestras. That was such a highlight that we are doing almost the same cruise again this year and plan on doing the same. This was pre-covid, but at that time there were plenty of taxi's/cars waiting for passengers.

Depending on weather, shorts or capris with a nice tee. The only photo we take is the embarkation photos, normally.

We are sailing in May too. Not too worried about the ship as we are sailing for the ports and there are only two sea days. Plus, outstanding price!

I've been called for jury duty before when we were scheduled to cruise. No problem with calling and telling them, at least here in Nebraska. They postponed it with no questions or paperwork required.

It was some time ago, definitely pre-Covid, but I believe it was an operator called Chris (or Christian) the Van Man. We had about 12 or so people in a nice van and he had a trailer that pulled behind for all our luggage. The meal was not included but was at a very nice BBQ place on the way back to Santiago. We had docked in Valparaiso.

We did too, on our first SA cruise. We did a walking tour of Valparaiso, which was so wonderful. Very neat city, yes somewhat like San Francisco in the day. The tour also took us to a winery; dinner at a nice restaurant, short tour of Santiago and drop off at the airport.

We've always just traveled all over the world with meds in daily type pill container and usually nothing else. For last winters trip to Australia and New Zealand we were much more careful, reading all the rules about meds. Did a lot more grouindwork, ie, list of meds, labels, letter from doctor, etc. etc. We flew through everything in Sydney and no one ever looked at or asked for all our paperwork. I guess? it was worth it for peace of mind, knowing we'd done everything we could to be compliant.

I don't know about a hotsheet. There is a major travel agency that makes it very easy to see what single supplements are; unfortunately, I don't think we are allowed to discuss agencies here by name. My sisters got a South America 18 day cruise with Princess and the single supplement was only 10%. They are barely paying more than my husband and I and each have their own cabin for a change, instead of sharing.

Years ago, (early 2000's) we had to cancel two major trips because of serious illness of elderly parents. At this time, I don't remember the companies concerned, although I could probably figure it out. In both cases I believe they were well-known companies. At this time, we were below Medicare age. The first, a trip to 3 week trip to China, we cancelled about two days before we were scheduled to leave as my mother had a major heart attack. The second time, my husband's mother had major surgery and complications that cause a second surgery and over a month in the hospital. That trip was a river cruise in Europe plus extended time in Austria, Switzerland and Venice, again about 3 weeks. In both cases we received full refunds of our trip, according to what our plans provided. Yes, we did have to provide extensive proof that it was not wise for us to leave our ill family members, which did take some quite a bit of leg work and a paper trail for proof. Probably 4-6 weeks after filing, in each case, we received full credit.

Like some others, I just don't have the patience to watch many you tube videos. I don't need to know every detail either; After about 50 cruises, I'm pretty comfortable with what ships are like, and have never been on a ship that I didn't like anyway. Sometimes, mostly due to weather, a cruise might not be ideal, but mostly the ships are fine. Go with the flow! I actually avoid most posts here or anywhere on the internet if it involves watching a video!

We spent almost six weeks in Australia/New Zealand in February and March of this year. We had a fabulous time, with a couple of problems, noted at the end. After we arrived in Sydney,did a Princess cruise up the coast to Port Douglas. The weather and stops were great; very hot, for sure. Very unusually, for us, we did Princess tours at all the stops because of the logistics--all ports are tendered, and it was hard to find independent tours that fit our time schedule--and enjoyed them. Then we spent five days in Sydney. We learned to use the public transportation and went to all the iconic spots. We also took a one day tour to the Blue Mountains which we enjoyed a lot. Sydney is a wonderful city--and I'm not that fond of big cities--but loved this one. Then we took an RCI cruise to New Zealand. Again, we lucked out with great weather. We did independent tours in all the ports. The highlight was Hobbittown--really exceeded expectations--and The fiords. But every stop was so scenic. After that we flew from Sydney to the Uluru areas. Be prepared for extreme heat--most days were around 108. We spent 4 days here, doing a tour package that included all of the main sights and quite a few extras, such as dinner under the stars, field of lights, etc. We also journeyed to King's Canyon. If doing this part again, I would go to Alice Springs area rather than King's Canyo, or just head back to Sydney. While the Canyon is beautiful, it's not all that different from many, many areas in our desert Southwest, and it was a long brutal (first bus was very warm) ride there and back. I think 5-6 hours, one way. I did enjoy seeing the outback in all its vastness and we saw wild camels, dingos and horses. Tours at Uluru start at 5:30 in the morning due to heat and are generally done by 10, otherwise it would be unbearable and maybe dangerous. Evening tours were still hot but doable. The flight over, especially, was tough; we were in economy and so tight; also flight ended up being almost 18 hours because we were in holding pattern above Sydney for almost 2 hours. Coming back we had bulkhead seats, which was better, and the flight was 13 hours. Next time I'd definitely want to go at least premium economy. The big downside, for us, was that we all got sick towards the end, my husband and sister much more so than me. The RCI ship had many, many people coughing and obviously sick. The last couple of days at sea we all tested, as they were really sick and me a little. We all tested negative for Covid. And we tested twice, once more when we got to Uluru. They were feeling rotten enough that they missed a couple of the tours. At home, we all tested positive, and I tested positive for two influenzas as well. Good news is that we all recovered and were never sick enough to need extra meds or hospital. I'd do it all again--different itineray, seeing places we missed like Melbourne, Darwin, etc.--in spite of getting sick It was the trip of a lifetime.

We were in Athens one day on a previous cruise and loved it. We're planning on spending an extra day or two there pre-cruise. No, sadly, we don't go to Rhodes. We enjoyed Mykonos--just walked around the charming town, didn't do an excursion there.

Hoping we will continue to be the only ship in port! We start in Athens, day at sea, then Santorini, Ephesus, Mykonos and several stops in Greece before returning to Athens.

Just looked up our itinerary. Our ship, Celebrity Infinity, is the only one listed in port, and we are there from 8-10pm. This sounds great! Is it possible or likely that more ships will port that day, (May 18, 2024) or not?

Thanks everyone. I had looked for the answer on their website, but I did not see anything about drinks other than alcoholic. I see now that soft drinks, coffees, teas and juices are included. Not smoothies, shakes, etc., sadly. They place I looked on Celebrity website made it seem as if we had to have a different package for non-alcoholic. I guess I just didn't click on the 'what's included' tab.

We have the drink package (plus grats, free wifi) for the first time ever for a cruise in May. Strangely, it was more expensive to buy this cruise without the package. We hardly ever drink--maybe a few glasses a wine at holidays--and have never had a drink package, or even bought a drink on a cruise. Not teetotalers, just don't really care about it that much. What else can we get with our package? Soft drink? Specialty coffee? Smoothies? We may have a drink or two, since it's included, who knows?

We'd tip $5 to $10 pp., depending on the length and quality of the tour.

It just depends, but if we are on shore at lunch time we usually find a nice looking place, preferably with outside eating and a view (if weather permits) and eat ashore. It's part of the experience for us. At the least we stop for something to drink. I don't think we've ever gone back to the ship just for lunch and then gone on shore again. If we are only on shore a few hours, when we return to the ship, we probably won't get back off.

Huh, strange. Cruising from San Pedro last year, my sister didn't have a medallion, they had a bunch extra and just did something to it (programmed it for her room, name,etc.?) and gave it to her within a couple of minutes. Same scenario in Sydney in February. They had stacks of extra medallions in an area at check-out.

I don't know for sure, but I bet just the regular medallion.

I don't believe that any taxis or other transport can deliver you right to the ship. There will be buses or shuttles at the gate to the port to take passengers to the ship. It definitely is a cargo port. Walking is also not possible, as far as I know. But, it was no trouble taking the shuttles, except of course for moving luggage.

Yes to the above. My sister didn't have hers; took all of two minutes longer than us, if that. I'm not sure I'm ordering ours ahead anymore.