jsn55

I sailed NCL Pearl last fall, Quebec to Boston. Seemed to me that with the 'free at sea' deals, they were the best value. I anticipated being somewhat disappointed since our last cruise had been on Cunard, before the virus disaster. NCL was just fine and of course it was our first big trip in FOREVER. Weather was horrendous and we didn't care! The aft-facing balcony cabin was very small and I wouldn't put two people in it again, but we anticipated that and managed to live through it. We don't expect a great deal when we travel, want to be treated with friendliness and professionalism, dine on decent food and book enjoyable shore excursions. NCL did all that. We're sailing NCL Epic on the Med in October, I think NCL is very good value. While not Cunard, NCL is far better than Princess.

Yup, on a Viking cruise, we were locked into a gi-normous Chinese "cultural center'" souvenir shop for 90 minutes ... first they fed us some really awful food, then they announced that the bus would be back in an hour. To be accurate, the doors weren't locked, but it was out in the boonies, so we had nowhere to go. Our Tour Guide was actively running around urging us to buy things ... let your eye rest on something for 3 seconds, and someone swooped in and handed it to you. It's a shame, I would have bought a very nice jade horse had they left me alone. Next time I'll bring a snack and just stay on the bus with my book.

Theoretically, you're right. I think a Captain would tend to wait for any pax if possible. They don't want to cause us any pain and will do what they can. In the case of traffic to Warnemunde from Berlin at the end of the day, that's a popular excursion; there were probably others caught in the same mess. Personally, I don't want the stress of worrying about anything while I'm travelling. Morning excursions are easy, but I'd only book a full-day excursion from the cruiseline.

I got a big charge out of 'not knowing what safe means'. Your first sentence describes your query perfectly. I mean, we'll not be wandering around Cassis at midnight, but some port towns are known to be very rough, so it was smart of you to ask.

Hop On, Hop Off buses, usually double-deckers with open tops. My absolute favorite way to tour a city. Commentary via ear buds so you know what you're seeing, and a good map showing all 'the sights' and location of the bus stops. You hop on, ride for a while, hop off to see something, hop back on ... or you board the bus and just ride around the whole route. Whatever you wish.

I'd bring one that plugs in, but don't have the space to pack it, and I assume that the cruise ship wouldn't like it.

Hi all, we are cruising out of Marseillle on NCL Epic in October. The plan was to spend a couple of nights in Marseille to get over jetlag ... I have free nights at the InterContinental. Cruise is booked, air is secured ... and Marseille is hosting a World Cup the weekend of October 14. There's not an available hotel room in miles. I did find a nice place in Cassis, which I wanted to see anyway. I can't do train or bus, physical issues with baggage, etc. Other than just taking a taxi (just under an hour) from the airport to Cassis and then to Marseille for boarding, does anyone have recommendations for a car and driver?

I've read these warnings about 'medications' my whole travel life. I have always dumped everything into a bottle, one for AM, one for PM and put it in my carryon. When we went to China I considered being more 'formal', but never did it. Nobody has ever once questioned me, much less looked to see if I had a bunch of 'original bottles'. I take two Rx, the rest is vitamins, supplements, Aleve and sleeping pills. I generally use an empty bottle from vitamins/supplements to put everything in. I really don't know who is checking what ... and perhaps none of the authorities know either. I travel far too often to dork around with Rx labels and separate containers. Hopefully my next post will not be coming from my jail cell.

Can I LOVE this? One 'dinner cruise on laSeine' is enough for anyone, and no dinner cruise is better. The cruise is something that everyone has to do once, of course. But enjoy it for itself and dine elsewhere. I recommend cruising during daylight.

You gave me my laugh for the morning ... "immigration/customs" ... I use that term all the time because I can never remember who does what and when. I just follow the signs and do whatever they tell me.

I think that using your phone on a cruise might be just the thing for certain people who like to fiddle-diddle on their phone. For the rest of us, just use what works. I read the daily newsletter, I figure out my day, I go do it. Making dining reservations online wouldn't bother me, but I'm not going to use my phone to do any of it. Having your nose in a phone all day just seems like an excuse not to interact with others ... and that's just fine for those who want it. The bottom-line issue with technology is that it's fun to challenge yourself, until you get tired of no progress and go back to reality. Being forced to use the technology? A non-starter for almost everyone.

"Reason failure of device provider" ... what does that mean? Insurance reimbursement for flights may be tricky because so many airlines will issue a future flight credit. And probably the insurance isn't concerned with whether you USE those future flight credits or not. I've just filed a large claim on an Avalon cruise; including intra-Euro flights on British Air ... BA wouldn't issue a credit or a refund. Flights were valued at $918 and I paid for them with my Chase Ultimate Rewards. The international flights were easily rebooked with Virgin-Atlantic. It will be interesting to see what the travel insurance will have to say about the BA part of the claim. I do know that insurance people come to work every day expected to deny as many claims as possible. I advise diT to appeal the denial ... in writing, not on the phone. Never deal with this kind of stuff by phone!

I can't imagine how devastated y'all are. This seems like such a horrid, cruel move on NCL's part after the past several years of travel plans blowing up every time you turn around. I realize that the virus raised havoc with the economy and made it difficult to stay viable, but the point is to stay viable, and it's just a 'business decision', but cruising is far more than just booking a trip. I'll have a hard time overlooking a blunder like this when it comes to booking future cruises ... there's a lot of choice out there. I don't want to plan and research and dream for months and months, only to have the rug jerked out from under me.

Read my post above ... it takes a great deal of patience to get your info entered. If I had to do it all over again I'd not even start it ... I'd just show up with my paperwork like in the good ol' days. Just keep trying and one day it will work ... or don't.

There's no way to know how long the formalities will take anywhere, so you'll need to remain flexible. I believe that you do all this at your first port in the US.

I think 4 or 5 days before you depart, you should carefully check the weather for every port you'll visit. That should give you good guidelines on how many layers you need to bring.

I suspect there will be some 'formalities' to prevent you from doing this, either the ship or the port authorities. Not because it makes any sense, but bureaucrats rule the world. I suspect you'd never get a straight answer, so it may not be worth bothering with. Now I'm reading that you'd be trying to do this in a European port ... it would be most interesting to see if this would work.

I agree with ontheweb ... last boarding could be two hours before sailing, many factors affect that deadline. Unless I knew I could get back to the ship by 5 for an 8pm sail, I'd book something else.

You're probably not doing anything wrong ... just keep trying until it works. If it doesn't work properly after a month or so, call Customer Service and ask for someone to review your information and fix anything that might be hanging you up. Know that this may happen multiple times.

Far as I know, Princess is the only cruiseline trying to torture their pax with flawed technology. But the crew members are still the same ... they're interested in making you happy. Many ships have 'dine when you want' plans, but you can just go visit the host the first night and arrange to have dinner at whatever time you wish. You can read about the details of each ship in CC reviews. Then you can ask specific questions on the CC boards. If the cruiseline tries to force you into doing something like uploading your photo or 'getting in the green line' , just ignore all that. Appear at the pier with your documents as always, board the ship, and ask a crew member any questions you have. You might be most comfortable finding a cruise expert travel advisor (a real one, not online booking service) who can guide you through the realities of today's cruising as you plan the cruise.

I think you'd be quite unwelcome almost anywhere on the ship after 9am. Crew are frantically busy to do deep cleaning and turn the whole ship around.

Makes me laugh ... when I was wasting far too much time trying to get 'ocean ready' last fall, we took photos of each other but they weren't 'accepted'. No reason was given so I could fix it, of course. Ran through that three times. Then I dug up photos on my hard drive about 15 years old and uploaded those ... instant acceptance. It was cool to see my 'good' photo appear on my cabin door, much more flattering than what I really look like now.

You could price out a rental car to drop at LHR as well.

I don't bring big sweaters or sweatshirts ... I am far often too warm. That's why I bring the the windbreaker, a cardigan and a raincoat ... it's easier to shed right down to a shirt on a bus or in a restaurant. If it's COLD (like on the Great Wall of China in November) I wear them all. When others are shivering, I've never been uncomfortable

We didn't 'start' with it, but will never forget Radisson 7-Seas Athens to Istanbul. I sneered at the '6-star' rating, but it was indeed a gorgeous ship with service to match. We had a walk-in closet! Loved every bit of that ship, crew and itinerary.