CDNPolar

Let's hope that Azamara will see some sense when it comes to this. To impose a harsh cancellation fee on you when this requirement was dropped so short notice. Is there the possibility that Azamara will allow you to revise your trip to a later date (without penalty) so that you can get the necessary documents and Visa in place? There are going to be a lot of "Azamaraians" that will be caught in this kerfuffle.

My experience was some years back... 2015 to be exact and there were skip the line then, but anything could be different now.

Yes, the jury summons would be an issue, and I have to consider that because I got deferred on my last summons and expect to be recalled anytime now! Did not think of that.

Wow... this is harsh. This is no one's fault and you would think that a cruise line would have some mercy for folks caught in this kind of mess. Investigate your travel insurance to see if there is a way through that, OR, if you paid by credit card, then look at their cancel policy. We did learn through experience however that the Credit Card thing - for us anyway - because we paid the bulk on the credit card, but there were airline points involved, the CC would not cover us as you had to pay the full amount on the CC.

I am considering the exact same thing... using WiFi when on the ship and WhatsApp for friends and family, but if actually needed, I would activate Rogers Roam Like Home for the day and use it to get whatever done. That cost may be less than the sim and less hassle too! Oh, and be careful with your Bell roaming if you do activate it. If like Rogers, the activation follows your home time zone and is 24 hours from 12:01am to 11:59pm. So if you activate it when it can go over the midnight period, you will be charged for two days, not the one that you thought you were using it in. This is my understanding anyway. I may have said this already, but our new method will be: buy the eSIM for data wherever we are - we like having the data to search and map NOT activate roaming for our home cell number and rely on WhatsAPP and WiFi for iMessage Add a voice mail message to our home cell number that clearly states that "This mailbox NOT monitored, if important send an email." Nothing else - no name - no number - just that direct message.

The only saving grace for this one - over the recent Egypt situation - is that it will be almost immediate and online and good for 3 years I think.... Won't be a major worry to secure when it does kick in... unless you are on a no fly list.

You would be the type of guy that I would have wanted to bump into when I was much younger... Someone to just be kind and caring.

For all considering a Douro river cruise... This was one of our most memorable cruises ever. Antarctica and The Nile beat Douro, but then we ALWAYS fall to the Douro as the favourite after those two.

We have also had great luck after boarding the ship to be moved, changed, or added to an excursion. For optional, even if today they tell you that tomorrow is booked, go to the desk one hour before and ask to be included and often you can be. There is great flexibility on board and we have always found that the customer service on the ship is about accommodating you and not pushing you away.

Anytime that you can pay a bit more for a "skip the line" at an attraction like La Sagrada DO IT. Lines there can be stupid long.

Personally, we have gone electronic with everything and the only physical mail of importance is the arrival of a new credit card or something like that. I would fill out a mail forward request and have it all go to a family member if I thought that there would be something of value.

All very confusing and complicated for everyone on a trip or about to embark... Not saying that anyone's information shared here is not accurate, but for your own sake and making sure that you are preserving the cost outlaid for your trip that you are checking your own verified accurate sources. My understanding is that a Visa or any entry requirement is ultimately the passenger responsibility, so don't rely on the cruise line or tour company to tell you that they will take care of it, because in the end you could be out the cost of the trip, as cancelation insurance may not cover something just because you have an email from a cruise line. I am also not suggesting that the cruise line is not correct, but in a couple of different discussions here about this, there is so much conflicting information that I don't think any source other than the Egyptian Embassy knows for certain.

Enjoy. I am sure whatever wine tour you do will be great, but this one took us to - in our opinion - truly unique small wineries.

Took a bit of digging because the tour is not called what it was when we took it, but we booked with Viator and the offering now looks the same. (There are a lot of wine tours on Viator) The picture of the guy on the right in the white shirt with arms raised was our guide. I forget his name, but he is the one, and the pictures internally inside the booking are of the wineries that we went to - very old, very small, and traditional in their wine making. This will stay in memory for a long time. Please do let us know if you take this one and what your thoughts are! Oh, and as a note, because I am on the Canadian site of Viator, the pricing may be different for you.

This seems wrong to me as if you are stopping in Egypt, then why would arriving on a cruise ship be different than by air? Also in other discussion topics somewhere on CC, it has been asked that Okay, so you don't have the Visa, then you don't disembark in the country - right? This was pushed back on because there is no way for a cruise ship to know or to bar someone from disembarking the ship in Egypt based on holding a Visa or not. I think that this is taking the cruising industry by storm and with such short notice that they don't know what is up and what is down.

I used to think that an all gay cruise was just a big drunken party of men cruising men... I used to think this but that was from friends that did all gay cruises in the 80's and 90's and that is why they went. This was also the group of men that I knew that frequented bath houses and did partner swap parties. None of this was for me. Now I get that you can find people with your interests by attending areas where your interests are - like at the parties, or at the pool, or at the jigsaw table...

I have probably said in the past that I don't want to do all gay cruises, but in reality I would but there is not enough variety in the itineraries for me to focus on an all gay cruise. I want to see every part of the world on a cruise ship....

We were just told on a Viking River Cruise that these vouchers are not going to be offered for sale at some point in the next year. We were also told that Viking will honour all vouchers purchased - you can purchase up to ten - and they will have no expiry date, but that the selling of these vouchers on the river ships will cease soon. Also good to remember, as this has been confirmed that if you buy these vouchers - which you can only buy on a river ship - you cannot apply to any currently booked cruise. The cruise that you use them on - ocean or river - must be a new booking with a booking date later than the issue of the voucher.

Suggest that you ask this question in the LGBT forum.

I guess that is one of the limiting factors with some cruise lines and air - what are the gateway cities. What lines will fly you from London?

Whether fishy or not, the Canadian Government travel site has now updated to say the following so I think that we have to take this as serious... Entry and exit requirements New entry requirement Starting October 1, 2023, Canadian passport holders will not be able to obtain a visa online before travelling to or upon arrival in Egypt. You will be required to obtain a visa from an Egyptian embassy or consulate abroad. If you travel to Egypt on an electronic visa on or after October 1, 2023, your visa will be considered void, and you will be denied boarding and/or entry into Egypt. If you are planning to travel to Egypt, you should contact the nearest Egyptian embassy or consulate before you go. From: https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/egypt#entryexit

This all makes good sense - especially going the day before. Going the day before takes the stress our of trying a service that you don't have historical information on. Regardless, going the day before in winter is advisable from London because you can be in a blizzard there and it is clear here, or the opposite. Have you checked out the 144 Google Reviews? They are mixed. I tend to rely more on Google reviews as they are often more realistic.

My brother lives in the London area and is always interested in alternative ways to get to Pearson. He has never heard of this but also has never used RobertQ. I played around in this company's site and unless I am mistaken, it seems to only drop at Terminal One? Am I missing something? If you are flying a Terminal 3 carrier are you out of luck and have to transfer terminals yourself? If you don't find someone with experience with this company and you don't want to drive yourself, I would go with RobertQ as I know they have been around forever. I have seen their vans on the 401 for as long as I can remember. I would go with the experienced one. They may be more expensive for a good reason.

Frustrating to say the least and I feel for your situation. Please keep us updated as to how things go for you.

Each has their own reasons for booking the cabin that they do. Some will be price, some will be to have more space, some will be for a balcony. The truth is that for me having a balcony is kind of to alleviate a certain claustrophobic feeling that I have when in a cabin without. I have cruised in cabin without balcony, but don't like it. Our first river cruise cabin was - as I call it - in the basement with a window that was at my shoulder height. That meant to me that from shoulder height down we were under water! Yikes! I made it through this cruise because I had to but I had to not think about the window and where we were when in the cabin. We are not ones that sit on the balcony endlessly or even enjoy our morning coffee on the balcony. We are ones that go to the decks to get the 360 view of where we are more often than look out our cabin window or balcony... BUT after Covid and the stories of folks that were locked in inside cabins for weeks, now I don't think I could ever cruise without at a balcony on an ocean ship and a Juliette balcony on a river ship. Again, everyone has their reasons and their needs and that is why there are so many options!