Cruisingformetime

Another solo female cruiser here! I think the OP's friend is a little much, I've never had issues with being hit on by the crew or staff, and if it happens, a firm no suffices. If it doesn't suffice, report it to Guest Services and see whether you ever see that steward again.

I pay more attention to that sort of thing in port. I try to tour with other people, and I have my mother's wedding and engagement ring, and wear those when I go ashore. Believe it or not, a wedding ring visible makes lots of guys back off. I also watch my drink and do not leave it unattended for any reason, and get a new one if I have to.

Concur with the other posters here. Baltimore in winter is a grab bag. Maryland said "hold my beer" when Mother Nature said you can't have all four seasons in a week. However, it is chillier on the water. Temperature could be anywhere from 20-60F but is most likely to be in the mid to upper 40's. Add a wind chill coming off the water and potential rain, and heaven knows. Snow isn't common in December in Baltimore, but can happen.

Concur with the Nursery Road area, and with hooking up with the MARC Train. Remember, though, that parking is very limited at some MARC stations. Parking is good at BWI, at Odenton, and at New Carrollton, but any of the others, not so much. Airport areas can also be a bit pricey.

Tip: MARC has more than one line that runs between Baltimore and DC. Previous recommendations are all on the Penn Line, but you might give some thought to a Camden Line station as well if you are traveling during the week. The Brunswick Line runs north of DC and up into West Virginia, so is probably not what you want. https://www.mta.maryland.gov/ can offer more insight into schedules and stations for all three lines.

Be very, very careful hoofing it in the area around the Baltimore Cruise Terminal. Half a block can be the difference between tourist Baltimore and some very seedy areas, and people drive fast and stupidly around there. The areas around the Harbor, Fells Point, and Fort McHenry are safe, but only for about two blocks away from the water. I'd call the area around the cruise terminal iffy. You can walk it by day - there are underpasses - but you're passing close to some not-so-great areas of town. If that bothers you, consider Uber.

Tip: If you want something amazing and unique for chow, check out Little Greece on Eastern Avenue. There's a place called Ikaros, run by a Greek family with authentic Greek food that is to die for.

InsureMyTrip is one option. Check through your employer, too. Some employers offer associations with companies for discounts as part of their employee benefit package. I invoked one such and am insured through International SOS, which is turning out to be not just medical insurance, but safety and security assessments as well. Things like "is it safe to drink the tap water / buy off a food cart in X country?" "What immunizations do I need?" "What neighborhoods are at greatest risk of crime?"

3 hours ago, That sinking feeling said:

Is there something wrong with having an opinion on those things and more?

You must be either not widely traveled, or very unaware of yourself, to ask this question. Most countries do not offer the freedom of speech or the press that we enjoy in the United States, and in many countries, speaking one's mind on social or political matters is viewed as offensive, none of a foreigner's business, or both. Some countries have lèse majesté laws, and others have laws against foreigners involving themselves in local political events and demonstrations. In either of these cases, expressing one's opinion on social and political topics can get you fined, arrested, deported, or even assaulted. All of these outcomes can ruin a vacation in a hurry, for both you and your traveling companions, and for this reason, it is both wise and discreet to keep your social and political opinions to yourself when abroad. 

15 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

If you're a US citizen, there's almost no such thing as a "hassle" at immigration or customs when you're going to most countries (and by most, I mean the places most Americans go...such as Europe). You may or may not encounter a slow-ish line (which is fairly rare, most Schengen airport have very streamlined immigration checkpoints) but that's about it. 

It can be if you or someone in your party requires prescription or OTC medication to function, particularly if those medications are narcotic or psychoactive in nature. (Think: medications for depression, ADHD, autism, and a few other things.) These medications can be troublesome in customs if you don't have your paperwork in order. Or if you get caught behind someone who does have a problem, you can have unexpected delays even at the Schengen borders. 🙂 It's better to plan for it and not have it happen.

considers the replies

• "Don't travel with them." These replies are well-meant but unhelpful, since the intent of the query was to assess a feasible approach to managing a trip abroad with a close family member with no filters and lots of opinions. Thank you for trying, though.
• c-boy, thank you! That's a great idea. Some silent or coded cues to communicate when someone is out of line makes a lot of sense, because some people simply aren't aware of when they are crossing lines, and my brother is one of those.
• Talking to them in advance is definitely necessary. I am dealing with someone who has never been abroad before, and the idea that he isn't always going to be free to say anything he wants wherever he goes is quite simply foreign to him. The idea that doing so could land him in jail is not within his realm of understanding.
• True that it would apply to South America as well, but I don't really have any interest in that area of the world, so I hadn't considered it. Just not my thing. 🙂 Middle East / Asia / Europe is where I had in mind to go.

13 minutes ago, fendersrule said:

 

Walking outside can go wrong, you can trip and break your wrists.

 

I mean, you're getting into that level of territory. For many of us, the "port city" is familiar. My SO is from LA, so she knows all about Long Beach, the traffic, and realistically how long exactly it gets to port in the worst possible case. She also takes that flight all the time (Boise to LA) and it's never, ever been delayed. Not to say that it won't "ever, ever" be delayed, but it's very low risk. Let's say it's delayed? You still have a half day to get there....there's flights from BIO to LA that are 30 minutes apart.

 

I think people make blanket statements to "ALWAYS" fly in the day before. In most cases, you should. Connecting flights are a good example. That's double the failure points, and connecting flights "usually" imply a flight time that's well over 4 hours, and it "usually" implies getting less sleep.

 

But a 3 hour direct flight (2 hour flight with time zone difference) and getting to an airport 7.5 hours before your sail off while being 2 hours away from port in an acquainted city, with plenty of sleep (getting up at 6 AM is not hard), in a month where the weather is quite nice, then I don't really see a lot of risk.

 

We land in LA at 9:00am. If we give ourselves 2 hours to get to port (realistically) from the moment we land, we'll arrive at 11:00am. 11:00am is our target, although it's a 3-4 hours earlier than when Carnival expects us to show. And we all know how this works--being early means you're still going to have to wait quite awhile to board.

 

Who wants to make a bet that I'll have time to check out Queen Mary before sail off?

 

Calculated risks can sometimes make sense.

 

If it's familiar, the risk is much less than if it's new. Also, if your embarkation port is not in the United States (the case I was talking about), absolutely fly in the day before, because you have to add customs and passport control to all the other hassles that can happen.

In the end, it's your vacation, not mine. You have my opinion on the matter. (I'm also one of those people who likes to watch pier-runners with a drink in hand.)

16 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

True. Luckily I'm always full of energy even with no sleep. And I've been to Barcelona a few times already so I kind of know the city on the back of my hand.

I got stuck doing this in Copenhagen, first time out. Solution: hail a taxi. 🙂 I could have gotten myself there on public transport, but metro directions in Danish on no sleep was a non-starter. 🙂

9 minutes ago, dd likes to cruise said:

 

Agree. Why put yourself in the position of “his handler”. 

When it's your twin brother... 🙂

This is for those of you who have done world / Europe / Middle East / Asia cruises.

Have you ever done so with a traveling companion who simply cannot keep their opinions to themselves, on the ship or off of it? Sex, religion, politics, it doesn't matter. How did you deal with this (preferably without the use of duct tape, although duct tape might be an option....)

On 2/9/2020 at 7:09 AM, Jeter02 said:

my theory is if you can find a flight that will land exceptionally early in the morning I see no problem flying day of. I've done it in Seattle la and now I'm looking at doing the same for when I go to Barcelona.

Even this can go wrong. though it's true that red-eye flights land early. The problem with that is, what happens if the toddler in the row behind you is wailing their poor little head off the whole flight and you don't get a lick of sleep on the plane? Now you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar city, on a time crunch and possibly in a foreign language, to start your vacation, on no sleep. Speaking from experience, guess how much fun that is?

It's worth the money to fly in the day before. If you've never seen the city, take two days.

Thank you for the information! Question -- is the train/subway stop at Radhuspladsen complete? If not, when is the estimated completion date?

I did solo in a studio on the Breakaway in 2017. The lounge was nice, and sometimes the door was held open and sometimes not. It just depended on what was going on. I got to meet neat people and I never once was lonely. If you do a studio, pack light, those cabins are the size of a watch pocket but were all I needed.

I know the ships transfer are very expensive but in this case I think its worth the money.

Taxis in Copenhagen are also really expensive. I just got the pier-to-airport transfer off the Getaway for USD$30, which is about half what I would have paid for the same ride in a taxi, and they transferred my luggage all the way to CPH for me. Very worth the cash, especially when you saw the line for bus #25 from Oceankaj.

I have a Canon 70D DSLR that I used for the majority of my shots on my most recent Baltic cruise. Occasionally I didn't feel like carrying all that around and used just my iPhone 6s, for example for shots I wanted to take of my food or an impromptu "oh my goodness what a gorgeous sunset" photo, but the DSLR gave me exposure compensation, adjustable ISO, and a custom or automatic white balance feature, all of which were very useful in places where flash photography was not permitted or not helpful. I had a camera bag that was wonderfully compact, slung over my back or across my body at my preference, and the actual camera part of the bag was located in a weird spot on the side of the bag that made it easy for me to get to and hard for a pickpocket to open.

What camera you get probably depends a lot on your itinerary. If you're shooting underwater, flash photography is worthless. I liked the little waterproof Olympus point and shoot I had a while back for the Caribbean, but I like having the DSLR's power and options for Europe, for example. I hope that's helpful.

(Slightly OT) At the risk of being a party pooper, posting photos of your vacation to social media while you're still on vacation isn't a very safe thing to do. That's like posting a big sign on your Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat/Tumblr/Pinterest page that says "HI I'M NOT HOME, PLEASE COME ROB ME WHILE I'M ON VACATION". I know it's fun to make your friends jealous, but it's much safer to wait until you come back.