Hlitner

When we cruised on the Ovation (out of Bridgetown) they started boarding about 11:30. Hank

1. There are no high speed ferries (or even slow ferries) between many of the islands and Barbados. 2. If there was such a ferry you would need a valid Passport to board that ferry since it would be international travel. 3. I think you are correct that folks will get home in an emergency, although not having a valid Passport could delay that process for many days.

Just thinking that most of the Eastern Caribbean is served by the consul located in Barbados. Wondering if they have taxis that can drive across the sea :).

LOL, I do think that some do think that the way to get change is to complain! For us, we got tired of complaining and have simply taken our business elsewhere, at least for now. My thinking has always been to vote with my money. What I have never understood is when folks constantly whine about a cruise line and keep booking that same line. Hank

With children/teens of that age we would suggest giving them a "project" of doing some of their own research and listening to their ideas. There is much to enjoy in Rome. We took our DD to Europe when she was 9, and visited 4 countries (using Eurorail passes). Now, over thirty years later her favorite memory was when her mother took her to buy a pair of shoes in Paris :). You would have thought the Eiffel Tower would have thrilled DD, but no, it was those shoes. She also fondly remembers one nice dinner where the waiter treated her like a Princess. Bottom line is that kids often have their own agendas. Hank

I could not help notice you only mention AA. Why? Use a good search engine (such as the ITA Matrix) and you will find one-way fares for under $1000. For example, you can fly Aer Lingus to MNP with one-stop in Dublin for about $900. And if you use Aer Lingus, you could even stop over in Dublin for a few days (no extra cost for air). Untied has several options but are more money at about $1441. And I am quoting one-way fares for May. Prices will vary depending on the day you choose. By the way, if you change your airport to Chicago (ORD) the price would drop to under $500 (one way) on TAP or a little over $500 on Aer Lingus. We have really enjoyed using Aer Lingus (on some flights to and from Europe) because of the free stop-over scheme. We have spent two extended trips enjoying Ireland, without having to pay any extra for air. Depending on your cruise line, you might find they have even better air options (especially with CCL companies such as Seabourn, Princess, and HAL). Hank

I understand the idea, but HAL crew will seldom confront a passenger. Just like they do very little to deal with chair hogs on deck, they do little to handle the Lido issue. I cannot recall ever being on any ship where folks were asked to leave Lido tables except when the venue was being closed. In fact, it is a rarity to see crew on any line, confront a passenger. We were pleasantly surprised on our recent Explora 1 cruise when we saw a Lido manager eject two ladies who had dared to come into the Lido wearing their robes (we call those folks "robe people"). It was fun to watch, and the two ladies were red-faced! I do not think that luxury line would tolerate card playing or knitting in their Lido. And being a new cruise line, they actually have the audacity to enforce their policies. Hank

As long time independent travelers, we have a few basic personal pet peeves which impacts some of our travel/cruise decision making. A major issue is one's "risk tolerance" and like many independent travelers we easily accept some risk. But we couple this with what I called "unforced errors" which is a term that speaks for itself. To us, traveling outside the USA, without a valid Passport, falls into that latter "unforced error" category. That being said, we do understand that for folks that only take closed loop cruises (subject to the WHTI rules) it is an option to accept the risk of not carrying a valid Passport. We agree with the posts that talk about folks trying to push their own degree of risk tolerance on others. It is no different than some cruisers, we have met, who are unwilling to ever accept the risk of getting off a ship on their own (these folks only take cruise line excursions). Those of us who have a lot of travel experience can only offer up recommendations/suggestions based on our experience. But in the final analysis all travelers will ultimately make their own choices and must live/adapt with the results. And no, DW and I would not even dream of going on any cruise without having valid Passports. Hank

We have very good memories of a day in Vung Tao. We were just walking along a road when a local taxi kept pulling up and asking (in good English) if we wanted a local tour. After he tried a few attempts we got into a conversation and hit if off with the guy. We negotiated a price (I think it was about $20 for a few hour tour) and off we went. After driving us all over town he took us to show us his home (his wife and children were away for the day) which was actually pretty impressive. Inside his small home he had the most beautiful tile floors which DW figured would have cost a small fortune in our own country. Truly a memorable day and the kind of thing that reinforces our lifetime habit of DIY. Hank

Those port hours (often awful with NCL) will pose a real problem, if you want to find a local whale watching tour. You might want to consider doing a NCL Excursion,..assuming they offer a whale watching option. Hank

Getting back to the food situation, we have never had a problem finding a place, to grab a bite, near Herculanium. We have always arrived by train (Ercolano Scavi Station) and stopped for something to eat on the way to the ruins. It is mostly downhill (from the station to the ruins) but, of course, one does need to trek up hill on the return journey. Hank

We have never seen this in Mexico (live in PV for the past 18 winters) although we have heard of it happening in some European ATMs (it has never happened to us in Europe). In Mexico we only use bank ATMs (HSBC, Santander, etc) and they all work with 4 digits. Hank

We really missed the Piano Bar on our last few HAL cruises. Now, we still find them on Seabourn (some cruises) and some Princess vessels (where they have a Crooners). HAL had some terrific piano bar entertainers (Stryker and Barry from Boston were two) and eliminating those venues was just one nail in the coffin of what drove us away from HAL. Hank

That is interesting. I think most who go to the Melting Pot (we go the Myrtle Beach location on an annual basis) would say they really enjoy the experience, but it is far from the best restaurant in town...any town. So how does a restaurant rise to the top of the pecking order? Some restaurants solicit their customers to post TA reviews (this helps get them a higher rating) and there are unproven rumors that some places might try to "influence" the rankings by "finding" folks to post. While I have no idea if this is true, I have learned to put much less stock in TA reviews from folks who have very few reviews. It is amazing how some high ranking restaurants will have lots of reviews from posters with only 1 or 2 posts. Draw your own conclusion. I do think a weakness of all travel sites are "rankings." CC is no different and one could certainly quibble with some of the ranking that have appeared on CC (over the years). When it comes to cruise lines, each line has plenty of "cheerleaders" for which their favorite line can do no or little wrong. And it also seems like a majority of cruisers only sail on 1 or 2 lines so have little basis of comparison to the competition. I used to call this the Volkswagon Effect. Consider a person who has only driven in VWs and says that VWs are the best cars in the world! To them, this is true, not because they are fibbing, but because they have no basis of comparison. I heard this on our recent Westerdam cruise when a lady told me that HAL was the ONLY line that she cruised, because it was the best. When I asked her what other lines, she had tried, the answer was NONE! Hank

Good discussion. When we first discovered the YC (on the Divina) we became instant fans and thought it was the best value in all of cruising (we cruise on many different lines). However, like many good things, time does cause some change. For those of us who are world travelers/cruisers, MSC is very limiting with its itineraries. And as the YC has increased in price, we have found better "value" with several of the more upscale luxury lines. We have no desire to take the short ferry-like itineraries that MSC has in Europe and their Caribbean itineraries (and 7 day cycles) are growing old. Funny thing happened to us a few months ago. We were about to book a 14 day Yacht Club cruise (Dec 2024) for our usual short cruise we take between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But then I spotted a Silversea cruise which was a much better real 14 day Caribbean itinerary, and we are talking about a luxury vessel with fewer than 400 souls (we love small ship cruising). The Silversea cruise actually cost us less than it would have cost to book the YC! Go figure. How did this happen? MSC has been gradually increasing the price of the YC, and for whatever reason, Silversea had a terrific deal in the Caribbean. And for our YC friends I can only say that as much as we like the YC, MSC is not even in the same league as SS. We will continue to try and find a way to squeeze a YC cruise into our schedule, but we are still finding the better values with the more upscale lines. The industry (and pricing) is always changing, but at the moment we think that MSC has lost some of its advantage. Hank

We love Japanese taxi drivers. They are clean, well regulated, and the drivers very professional. And you do not even need to open/close the door (they are operated by the driver). That being said, when in Tokyo we much prefer using the Metro or Yamanote Line since the traffic can make using taxis a bit frustrating, Hank

We have walked into town (it is a longish hike) and spent the day at a beach club. It is also possible to hire a local driver/guide and get a driving tour. Plenty of entrepreneurs in Nam who are happy to help tourists for a price. Nha Trang has become a pretty major tourist destination for Russians, and we met quite a few of these folks on the beach.

We live in Puerto Vallarta, for 10 weeks a year, where we dine-out about 70 times (every year). After 18 years I think we could argue that we are "experts" on that city and its eating venues. A few years ago, when TA changed its ranking algorithm, their #1 restaurant was a popular (and decent) martini bar that did not even have food! I once talked to one of their bar tenders who told me that folks would come in, every day, asking about getting dinner, The bar did allow for pizza deliveries :). They also rank very high, a tiny place that is only open for lunch and serves a very limited menu aimed at vegetarians. Pity the poor person that goes there for dinner! Lately, they gave their top rating to a small coffee roasting/candy shop that also has some OK food...but would not be on most folks top 20 or even top 30. Another change in their algorithm now lumps places from outside PV (some over 45 minutes distant) with PV. Since TA is part of the CC family, we will be kind and say that the TA editors do not want to hear it, when it comes to criticism or suggestions. Look at their Myrtle Beach restaurant ranking (a place we also know quite well) and their #1 place (for years) has been the Melting Pot....a small national chain that does have decent (and overpriced) fondue! No way is the Melting Pot (an excellent venue) the #1 restaurant in that region,

This will be a long response and folks not interested in Ephesus should move on :). The first time we went to Ephesus (over 30 years ago) was on a Princess Excursion from Izmir, We did not get enough of Ephesus, but did later get locked inside a large faux jewelry factory (which forever turned me against cruise line exursions) until a near-mutiny finally got the front door unlocked (so we could leave). On our 2nd visit, DW and simply took a local public van/bus from town to the nearest stop to the ruins from where we hiked over a mile to the entrance. We loved that day, spent hours inside the ruins, and listened to many different tour guides tell completely different (and it turned out wrong) stories about various highlights). For our third visit, I contacted Ekol (a local tour company) and asked if we could hire a personal guide who actually had some decent credentials. We got an amazing guide, who was a graduate archeologist, and also friends with the curator of the ruins! (the last we heard that guide had moved to Russia). Seeing the ruins with the knowledgeable personal guide was somewhat of an eye opener in terms of history. The day was also a lot of fun and actually cost us less than large group excursions from the cruise line. We realized that many so-called "professional guides" were anything but....and often made-up "facts" as needed to serve their charges. I should mention that on two subsequent visits to the area we have traveled afar (once with a rental car and another time with a hired taxi) to places like Miletus, Didyma, Priene, and the fascinating town of Tire (where we drove to visit their weekly market). So, while I agree with you in principle (in terms of a decent guidebook or a downloaded walking tour) I do think that these particular ruins really cry out for a decent guide. We do not feel the same about many other ruins (such as in Rome, Pompeii, Borobudur, etc. where we have done fine with a little homework and books or online guides. Perhaps we are wrong, but its our story and we are sticking to it :). Hank

We are also long time users/fans of Tripadvisor. That being said, the current algorithm they use to order restaurants has resulted in something that is very bad, indeed. While we still like TA for the various posts, we personally suggest folks ignore their ratings order Hank

Kusadasi might be one of "my exceptions to our rule" of DIY. We have done that part of Turkey with a cruise line excursion, a private tour (for just the two of us), and DIY (including multi-day rental cars). This is one of the few places where I strongly recommend that every first time visitor book a private tour (whether for themselves or a small group). Having a professional guide for one's first visit to Ephesus, is well worth the cost. Our tour provider of choice is Ekol, but there are quite a few decent tour providers in Kusadasi (many have been recommended in the Port of Call board). Hank

At the risk of being a "cheerleader" for CC (I am), there are still many folks here on CC who are not aware or who do not use the "Roll Call" boards. For those not aware, these are blogs for each separate cruise where posters can exchange cruise-specific info including organizing private tours. It can be an amazing resource. I recall one cruise where DW and I were renting a car in Livorno to drive to Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre) and decided to look for another couple to split the cost. I posted on our Roll Call board, and within an hour I had several takers (we simply chose the first responder). Hank

:). Just look under the "Ports of Call" section here on CC. It is broken down into the various parts of the world such as "Europe" and than further broken down in to regions such as "Mediterranean - Eastern and Western." You can also scroll down on this page (or any CC page) to where it says "Forum Jump) and find a list of all the CC boards (including the many Ports of Call boards). For years, we have urged fellow cruisers to not be shy and post your specific questions on the Ports of Call Boards For many of us, helping on those boards has become a labor of love :). I also suggest using the CC Search function (which you can limit to specific boards) to first search for your port (i.e. "Rome") so you can read prior posts (which will likely have answers to many of your questions). What we (independent travelers) cannot do is force folks to set aside their anxiety about doing things on their own. We can just make it clear that many of us have been doing our own thing for decades, have never missed the ship, and have had loads of fun. Independent travel is somewhat of a mindset, and it does take some time (and effort) to get used to that kind of travel. It means doing pre-cruise "homework." The reward is being able to do what you want, when you want, with who you want! Imagine a world where you do not lose valuable port time waiting for slow folks to get on and off buses, go to the rest rooms, finish their shopping, etc :). Speaking of booking your own private tours, there are some third-party "consolidators" that can help those who do not want to look for their own local tour providers. While I am not a big fan, there are companies like Viator and the very popular "Tours by Locals" that can make it easier (not always better) to book local tours. My own pet peeve is about cruise line "walking tours." In many ports, these excursions now cost around $100 per person! The idea of paying nearly $200 a couple for a walking tour in a port like Kotor (very easy to do on your own) is just something we find ridiculous. Yes, there are many cruisers that like these walking tours, but they might consider the alternative which is to get a decent tour book (we like the Rick Steves books for much of Europe) or just download to their own phone, a local walking tour (some are free and some have a small cost). Having a working smartphone has been a game changer for we independent travelers. I used to carry many pounds of maps/map books when I went to Europe, now we simply take our phones :). Hank

While I am no expert on the excursions "racket" we do have a little knowledge (always dangerous) of how it works. Unfortunately, "O" and all the other cruise lines are caught in the post COVID fallout that has decimated tour providers, worldwide. The cruise lines (of their third party tour desk operator) contract with various local tour providers who must meet certain cruise line-imposed requirements such as having sufficient liability insurance. During COVID, many local tour companies went out of business or changed ownership. In addition, they lost many of their long-time employees. Now, in countries like Japan, the local tour providers are struggling to get their operations on track. But just like here in the USA, many jobs are going unfilled! It has become increasingly common for all the cruise lines to cancel excursions (often at the last minute) because the local providers cannot accommodate the current demand. We saw this, first hand, last spring when we were in Taiwan (on a HAL cruise) where a tour bus driver simply quit and walked-out...while the bus was parked on the pier! We had to wait over 30 minutes while the local tour company managed to find another driver. During our Japan/Korea/Taiwan trip this past spring (on the Westerdam) numerous excursions were cancelled due to issues with the local providers. There was little that could be done by the ship's excursion manager (who worked for a third party contractor). Just 2 weeks ago, while on a Princess cruise in the Caribbean, we had a snorkel excursion cancelled in Belize...because the local contractor was not able to obtain the required liability insurance (this forced the cruise line to cancel lots of other excursions through January). For those of you who depend on cruise line excursions, you will either need to accept the situation or change your own shore-based habits. There are plenty of cruisers (including moi) that seldom take excursions because we prefer to either do our own thing (DIY) or join small group (or even private) local tours. Fellow cruisers either must learn to deal with the new reality, or just take what is offered by the cruise lines...including last minute excursion cancellations/modifications. There are many of us (independent travelers) who are active on the CC Ports of Call Boards. Most of us are willing to help folks who need advice on how to handle individual ports. I like to say that we help folks who are willing to help themselves :). The issue we all face with "O" is that we must deal with the fact that "O" often includes an excursion credit/component. For us, if means we book excursions in ports where we would normally DIY. While we do not generally like cruise line excursions, we go along with the "O" program because we have essentially payed for the excursions (whether we like it or not). For our upcoming 35 day Vista cruise, DW and I have managed to book the minimum number of O excursions (we hold our nose and click on the mouse). The alternative is to cruise with a different line that does not include excursions (one reason why Seabourn is our current favorite cruise line) and simply do your own thing. Hank

Certain onboard services are operated by third party companies that contract with the cruise lines to provide the service. The Spa is operated by one of these outside contractions (i.e. Steiner Group). The third party determine the prices which are sufficient for the to pay their staff and make a nice profit. The cruise line then marks-up the real Spa price to the price that is paid by the cruiser. It is the same in the onboard shops, photo center, art auctions, tour desk, etc. The cruise lines do take advantage of their captive clients to impose outrageous mark-ups. If you want reasonable spa prices, go to land-based outfits that must deal with some real competition. We live in Puerto Vallarta, part of the year, where various spa services can be had for a fraction of what it costs on HAL (or any ship). Consider that I pay about 100 pesos (which includes a generous tip) for a haircut (that is about $6) and I am overpaying! DW pays less than $20 for a decent haircut (and she is also overpaying). Bottom line is that if the onboard prices are too steep, simply take advantage of deals in some of your ports. Not only will you save a lot of money on the services, but you will also save even more money by not booking the marked-up cruise line excursions. Han