Hlitner

Not an issue. We will be cruising from Tokyo to Vancouver. But if one does buy a round trip on Turkish Air, and its business class, I believe that Turkish Air will pay for two nights in a 5^ hotel (in Istanbul) if a person wants the stopover. The procedure is a bit complicated so its best to call Turkish Air if one wants that deal. Hank

How do you categorize, "pre-paid gratuities" which is part of packages on most of the mass market lines? Or 18% added on to alternative restaurant prices, drink prices, etc. Do you think that is appreciation for services rendered?

If you plan on only going to a single village by train (i.e. Riomaggiore) than two single tickets make the most sense. But if you plan on 2 or more villages we think an all day ticket is a better buy. And keep in mind that the all-day ticket (Cinque Terre Card) does include a few other items (besides train fare). I also suggest, that if you are going during the high season, you consider purchasing a Cinque Terre card, online, since that avoids having to wait in the queue at the La Spezia train station. When we last visited, in April, the queue to buy a ticket was about 30 minutes...and this was not high season. Hank

For me it is a no-brainer, although others may disagree. But Cinque Terre (even with the overcrowding) would be our suggestion. If you ever take a cruise that gives you a port day in Livorno, you can easily combine Pisa with a visit to Lucca or even a short visit to Florence. If Pisa is really the place you must go, then you can combine it with a visit to Lucca. But you would need a rental car, or private tour to pull it off. Hank

It is not really a practical day trip as they are in opposite directions. Cinque Terre will easily take the entire day (you are not likely to see all 5 villages even in a full day). It is about an hour drive, south, from La Spezia to Pisa, which does not even consider the time to park and walk to the Field of Miracles. La Spezia to Riomaggiore (and the other 4 villages) are to the north. Hank

We will be on the Encore, but about a month before you board. Hank

We learned about the wonder of T-Mobile, while on a HAL Prinsendam cruise off the coast of Stromboli, Italy, A group of entertainers was in the Crows Nest (bar) late one night and they were all using their phones. I asked them if they got free Internet on the ship and they explained that they were using a land-based cell (about 10 miles distant). They told me they all had T-Mobile and it worked just about everywhere. When I got home, we switched our cell provider from ATT to T-Mobile and have happily used it all over the world. Hank

We once had a mini-bar charge, that did not show until after our cruise when we received a final statement. We called the cruise line and, at first, were told it was our word against the staff who had done the mini-bar inventory (after we disembarked). My response was, "we had nothing in our mini-bar because we had requested that our steward empty it the first day of the cruise." We even had a picture, on our phone, of the empty mini-bar. The money was refunded. To this day, when on any ship that charges for mini-bar use, we have our mini-bar emptied the first day. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the cruise line. I understand this makes me sound like a real cynic, but that is based on more than 50 years of extensive cruising. It is not just on HAL, but can happen on any line that charges for mini-bar use. On HAL and Princess we usually have drink packages that include soft drinks and water. We have our mini-bar emptied (including the soft drinks and water) and later restock it with soda/water we can get at any bar :). HAL charges us for using the soft drinks in the mini-bar, but no problem if we stock it with the same products, we obtain from the bar :). Go figure. Hank

Sure we use our phone on cruises (and everywhere in the world), but one does need to understand what they can and cannot do. On a ship, keep the phone in Airplane Mode, activate its WiFi and, assuming you have included (or paid) WiFi access use what is available. On most ships you will have the Web, texting ability (or Whats App) and on some ships you will be able to actually make/receive phone calls over WiFi (VOIP). On (or within about 10 miles) of shore it depends on your cell phone provider and your plan. If you have T-Mobile (like we do) than it is likely you can use your phone just about everywhere in the world without paying an extra fee other than 25 cents/min for phone calls. With other plans you need to inquire about your options (you will usually be able to get worldwide use for a monthly fee). When we are in Europe, South America, Latin America or Asia, we use our phone just like at home (we have T-Mobile) including for its GPS / mapping capability. I Hank

I am a cruise fan, not an O fan (although O is always in the mix). But, I strongly support the concept of non-refundable deposits! Why? Too many cruisers will book cruises, and pay refundable deposits, with the knowledge that they will not take some or most of what they book. We have actually met O cruisers that have told us they book 2 or 3 cruises, all sailing at the same time, and do not make up their mind until near final payment. This is not just an issue with O, but happens a lot with other lines. HAL often has $99 deposit sales, and we know folks who quickly book at least half a dozen cruises in order to secure their desired cabin. It is only around final payment that they cancel most of their bookings. Just look at the situation with airlines. You want a refundable airline fare, you are going to pay a big premium. I think that strategy also works for cruise lines. Some of the better lines do charge large deposits and impose penalties very far in advance. Those that book are serious players and have no intention of cancelling unless there is great cause. I look at some decent O itineraries more than a year in advance, they are are already near-full or into wait list status. If you call O they will urge you to get on the wait list because even they admit that many will cancel their bookings as it nears the penalty and final payment period. Even a line like MSC had moved to non-refundable deposits for their vary popular Yacht Club. Even though their deposits are quite low, it has been enough disincentive for faux bookings. Hank

We have never taken an airport bus in Athens, so others will need to help. However, we have used airport buses, elsewhere in Europe, and most had luggage storage (often underneath the passenger compartment). As to pickpockets, DW and I have learned (over 50 years of extensive travel) to always take precautions. Just following a few basic rules will make anyone less of a target, although nothing is perfect. For example, I never carry anything in a back pocket. When I put anything of value in a front pocket, I secure that pocket with a large diaper pin. DW carried her purse cross-shoulder and uses a large pin to further secure its zippers. When we are carrying luggage on trains, I carry a cable luggage lock (like a smaller bicycle lock) that we can use to secure our luggage to a train rack or some other fixed object. That makes it difficult for somebody to simply snatch a bag and hop off the train. Another simple idea, taught to me by a retired US Secret Service Agent, is to put a couple of wide rubber bands around my wallet before putting it in my pocket. It makes sliding it out of a pocket much more difficult. In all of our years of extensive travel we have only had 3 attempted pickpocket attacks and foiled them all, by these simple precautions and being aware of our surrounding, If anyone is curious where these attempts happened, they were in Arles, France: Bologna, Italy; and Istanbul. Hank

Guess that leaves public buses and the local trains/metro. Keep in mind that personal crime (i.e. pickpockets, purse snatching, etc) are a problem in Greece and public transit is a place where some of these thieves like to work. Having baggage can make you an easier target. I do not think it is normal for anyone to drag luggage onto public buses. I do not think anyone would stop you from dragging luggage onto the metro lines, but these trains can sometimes get quite crowded and having your hands dealing with luggage would logically make you an easier pickpocket target. If it were me, we would spend the extra money on a taxi if moving luggage. It will be interesting to see if some other posters have a different opinion. Hank

We posted about it on a live blog. All the overcharges happened with bar tabs when we both had the HIA package. The most common problem was DW likes to get Cosmopolitan's and HAL prices that drink $1 + 18% over their beverage package limit. Accordingly, the drink should be charged $1.18. But on the Westerdam it was routinely charged either the full price or double the full price. This happened despite the bar tenders claiming the drinks were entered properly. One bar tender was so frustrated he simply would ring up the drink as a gimlet...which was fully covered by the drink package. Every time we would go to Guest Services we would get the usual ("we will send an e-mail to beverage manager"). When I suggested they fix their system I got eye rolls. Finally, after a few overcharges and the Guest Services advice to simply keep stopping by to get it fixed, we requested a meeting with the beverage manager and/or Hotel Manager. Neither would meet with us and the overcharges continued several times a week..every week. The errors would only be corrected when we called each and every one to the attention of Guest Services who had to e-mail (each and every time) the beverage manager. The overcharges actually amounted to around $200 over the course of our 6 week cruise. What made this overcharge situation interesting was that several other folks, who were often at the bar, were also being overcharged. It got a few of us wondering how many HAL passengers are routinely overcharged for drinks (when they have the HIA Package) and never notice. A few drinking friends even speculated that it was deliberate and would amount to real money if it was happening across the entire fleet. Hank

Yep. I specifically mentioned them because both airlines do have flights to DTW...although not non-stop. In fact, I think with Jet Blue they would need to fly via Boston :). But strange connections will sometimes get the best prices. Hank

Sometimes you need to get a bit "innovative" with air, if the goal is to save money. You might want to check out both Jetblue and Southwest (for this airline you need to wait until they open up their bookings for that date). Those airlines do not show-up on all the various booking engines. Hank

It is about a 1/2 mile walk from the pier, We have never gone inside, so have no clue as to the restaurants/shops. As to Pizza, there are many good (and some outstanding) pizza places throughout Naples. DW and I have tried quite a few, and generally been underwhelmed (we obviously missed the outstanding places). For the best pizza we still swear by NYC :). Hank

Princess also has a similar problem which is not surprising since it's a sister CCL company. As long as one is willing to wait in a queue at Guest Services, you have a good chance that you can get any pre-paid (before your cruise) dining payments refunded to your onboard account. You will likely get the usual Guest Services answer which is "we will send an e-mail to the appropriate department" and maybe it gets refunded and maybe not. One other suggestion is that once you are aboard, use the HAL App to send a message (like an e-mail) to Guest Services. On our last HAL cruise, we had 11 overcharges and got tired of waiting in a queue at Guest Services (where Club Orange gets treated better than 5* Mariners). We started sending them messages, via the app, and the results were quite good (they eventually reversed all the overcharges). Hank

Ouch! We get it, believe you, and would advise you are unlikely to get much sympathy on this particular blog since a big majority here are HAL fans. Even though we are 5* Mariners, there are no more HAL cruises in our future, When it comes to HAL Guest Services I have sometimes thought they should be named "Guest No Services" since their answer to most issues is "we will need to send an e-mail to the appropriate department." Not sure you want to hear this, but part of the problem is that the folks handling excursions, the Spa, and the casino staff are all contractors (third party companies) and not actual HAL employees. On our last HAL cruise (Westerdam) we got caught in a blame game between Guest Services and the Excursions Desk (they each pointed the finger at the other and nobody fixed the issue). This causes issues on HAL and many other lines (using third party contractors is very common within the entire cruise industry) Do not hold your breath on ever hearing from HAL, but sometimes miracles do happen. Hank

Great "catch" and thanks for posting. Hank

Interesting choices. We would go to Carcassone (been there twice) although we would do it on our own with a rental car. But an excursion is a fine option for those who like excursions. As to the Canal dur Midi, I do not even understand this as a a few hour excursion. The Canal du Midi is a very interesting journey for a longer barge trip (be it on a small group cruise or a self-drive barge). Friends of ours did the Canal du Midi, with one other couple, and arranged to pilot their own barge. They had a ball and told us many stories about dealing with the locks :). For those not that adventurous, the Canal du Midi can be done through various French companies such as Le Boat. Hank

My own preference is to look for the best deals on decent carriers. From MIA to HND (Haneda is a better option for cruisers out of Japan) we would either fly Air Canada, via Toronto or Turkish Air (a personal favorite for business class) through Istanbul. The nice thing about Turkish Air is you should be able to arrange a stopover in Istanbul, which breaks up the trip and gets you to a fabulous city for a few days. Either one of these airlines will likely save you several thousand dollars, per person, over most other options. I do practice what I preach and we have actually booked Turkish Air to get to Tokyo next year. We broke up the flight in Istanbul so we could spend a few days in one of our favorite tourist cities. Hank

Between Pit and FLL, we would probably book Southwest or Spirit as soon as they open flights for the dates. They both have a few non-stops with good pricing. For a flight time that short, we would not be too picky about the airline. Any other airline is going to cost a lot more and involve at least 1 stop. Hank

About 1 mile and not an issue for walkers. We are used to helping cruisers who think walking from one end of the ship to the other is too long and a single flight of stairs is for others. Hank

I do think it is unfair (and inaccurate) to call the Plaka a "flea market." While many self-respecting fleas would not even think of shopping in that neighborhood, it is a a series of real streets with real stores, restaurants, cafes, etc. DW and I routinely stroll through the Plaka neighborhood since we simply think of it as part of the Athens experience. If you want a true flea market, then Monstiriki should be your destination, especially on Sundays when it is a true flea market (and a lot of fun). For folks that want higher end shopping, it does exist in the Athens area. Like most large cities, Athens has multiple neighborhoods, each with their own "thing." One can go over to Omonia Square and find other kinds of shopping (including some large department stores). If you want a high end suburb with higher end boutiques you can take the Green Line metro all the way out to Kifissia (an upscale area). The reality is that cruisers generally go to tourist areas and seldom explore any of the better suburbs. On one of our visits, DW and I stayed on the Green Line (this is the metro line that starts in Pireaus) to its other end in Kifissia. We enjoyed walking around that decent suburban town, browsed several of the boutiques, had lunch in a classy cafe, etc. It was all fine and we could have been in any decent suburb in the USA. But the truth is that we missed being in the Plaka, Syntagma Square, gazing up at the Acropolis, etc. The truth is that most of us are tourists, when we travel, and we want tourist things :). Hank

DW just handed me her phone with a toilet picture. Yes, the instructions were in multiple languages including English. Some of the buttons are labeled: Stops rear or front washing, Adjusts the water pressure during rear or front washing, cleans the nozzles, Use for rear washing. Press again for oscillating spray, Adjusts the temperature of the heated toilet seat, etc. And finally, if you look hard enough you will find a button labeled, "Flushes the toilet!" I did notice one other comment. "The Shower Toilet will not spray any water until you are seated. The Occupied seat sensor prevents accidental spraying," And keep in mind this is just a public commode. She also showed me another toilet picture that did not have any English. She figures 1 out of 4 was not too bad :). I will admit that the heated toilet seats were quite nice. Not only was that the case in public places, but our hotel toilets were all heated. I imagine that Japanese tourists who come to the USA are very uncomfortable on our cold toilet seats. Hank s