TakingFlight

That’s a perfect description of the tour! A once in a lifetime experience.

We did the transit with Windstar in early February. Weather was ideal, maybe reached 80 degrees so warm but not too hot. I would avoid doing the Canal in July/August.

I was so hoping that Endeavour would go to the Arctic in the summer. I would love to sail on her in the Svalbard region. But at $20,000 per person the cruise is priced way out of my league. Will have to explore other options.

Makes sense and seems very logical. How things should work and how they actually work in the cruising universe are a mystery to me most of the time.

You had me going there for awhile-I think you mean Richard Thomas in the play. I believe Richard Harris passed about 20 years ago. Although he would have made an excellent Atticus Finch.

Our cruise is in October. Our friends were able to make reservations online for 8 of us in each of the specialty restaurants. We did this the day reservations opened for our category. We are all in A concierge cabins.

I checked in for my cruise using my Mac which was able to handle the picture taking with no problem. Do you have a PC or laptop you can use?

I use hiking poles whenever I hike for all the above reasons. In Antarctica when I was dealing with my camera around my neck and stopping to take pictures I found it easier to use only one hiking pole and that’s really all I needed for the terrain we were walking on.

The brief description on the website doesn’t really describe the excursion we took. Yes, we went to the museum for a brief stop, we drove through town and then spent quite a bit of time in the pocket going to several different places. I don’t think I would do an excursion that just focused on the town of Colmar, although it is quite charming.

We did the Rhine Getaway in 2017. At that time the optional Colmar excursion was led by a man originally from Australia (I don’t remember his name). This was by far the best excursion I have ever had due in no small part to the guide’s ability to bring the WW2 history of the area alive for us. We went to the museum in town and also to several other sites such as where Audie Murphy took his stand. Very moving.

Hope springs eternal. Although the pricing may put me out of the market.

I followed your Crystal posts with great interest as I had my first Crystal experience last July. I so appreciated your open and positive attitude. I loved Crystal and was devastated when they went under (although I was ok financially). I too will have my first Oceania experience in a few weeks and am looking forward to it. Maybe we will find a new cruise line to call home.

And I forgot to add that Petoonya acquitted herself quite well with her Polynesia dancing!

As my DH says, stay in the back of the crowd and above all DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT! But nothing really to worry about as all the honeymooners on our cruise seemed more than willing (and able) to participate.

I can’t agree more with Petoonya’s description on #4. We had the pleasure of experiencing H2O Bora Bora’s superb snorkeling excursion with Petoonya and her DH on the first week of their FP trip. It was truly the highlight of our trip.

Thank you!

For those who have done the Ama Douro cruise do you know what port house(s) you visit during their included tours in Porto? We will be in town a few days ahead of our cruise and I want to make a reservation but don’t want to duplicate the ship’s tours. This recently occurred to me and I will call AMA when I return home from Moorea. 😊

We had the crew talent show on the Spirit in Tahiti a few days ago.

Great answer to my reply! I can work with that.

Sorry about this since it’s a bit off topic. I get the impression that the goat cheese soufflé might be tolerable even for those who don’t like goat cheese (like me), meaning that it is so mild as to not be offensive. I love strong cheeses but the taste of goat cheese does not agree with my palate. Opinions? I know you have them! Then we can get back on topic. Thanks!!

I have sailed on both Ama and Viking river. There are many, many positives for both lines. I must say that the Viking longship design is truly brilliant. They have engineered the ship such that they are able to have a large outdoor area in front of the lounge with tables and chairs for dining and relaxing, enjoying the view. The equivalent on Ama was a tiny area with four very small tables, one of which was designated for smokers. I really missed having this space on a recent Ama cruise. And the dining room on Viking was huge, light and airy. On the Ama ship I felt like I was dining in a cave, dark and crowded. So it’s not all about the number of passengers. I felt more crowded on Ama with 120 passengers than I did on Viking with 190. That said, I am no longer booking with Viking due to their payment policies. I have an Ama Douro cruise coming up and am looking forward to it.

Sorry if I sidetracked the thread to talk about the Monaco GP! We can talk about how full the ships are again. I’ll be in Tahiti August 4 and will let you know how many passengers we have on that sailing.

The included seats were in the top rows of the K Grandstand which I think was one of the best places to view the race (unless you spring for private arrangements in one of the many apartments around the track). Even Bob Varsha, our F1 expert on board, was impressed with the location. We were able to see several different parts of the track and we were directly across from the yachts in the harbor that have a front row view of the race track. We were not covered but we had our ponchos for the rain. It didn't rain very heavily or continuously-we had a few short showers. Rain makes the Monaco race more interesting so we really didn't mind. It was quite warm and we dried off quickly. One drawback for those who are mobility impaired was the long walk from the tender dock to the grandstands. I think it was over a mile each way and we had to maneuver between a crush of people. But that's all part of the excitement of race day in Monte Carlo. I looked at the price for next year's GP cruise and I think it's quite reasonable, especially with your Yacht Club discount. The price will only go up from here so I highly recommend booking now for this once in a lifetime experience.

As you can imagine, our Wind Surf Monaco Grand Prix cruise last month was full. For many of us this was our third year in a row booking the cruise and finally we were able to sail. The crew was challenged with what I believe was their first full cruise since restarting cruising but they handled it very well. It never felt crowded onboard, unlike the experience on race day in Monaco with masses of humanity. It was all great fun, though and so glad we were able to experience it.

Joel is right on with his assessment of the situation. Hilton was not running their shuttle into Rome when I stayed there. You could take the Leonardo Express train from the airport each day but what a hassle. We had two nights after our cruise before we flew home. We chose to spend the first night in Rome proper so we would have easy access to the sights. We had arranged transport to the Airport Hilton with Rome Cabs for the next afternoon and everything worked out perfectly. Wishing you the same.