jsn55

Oh so true! I am always astonished at the number of travellers who don't seem to grasp the results of more than 2 years of virus hysteria. Somehow they think the whole travel industry has magically healed itself overnight. The complaints are quite a revelation into what a customer service department has to put up with ... on a gynormous scale these days. Customer service in travel is a huge problem all the way around ... but people to staff the CS department do not grow on trees, they're hard to find and harder to train. I do think the travel providers could try harder, I'm sitting on thousands of dollars of first-class airline credits... all three airlines involved insist that I call to straighten out whatever the problems are preventing me from rebooking these credits. But nobody will answer the phone. IT departments are obviously under-staffed as well. It's no wonder travellers are so angry and unhappy. I finally got one airline to cooperate, and will have to work a little harder on the other two.

Who knows what best is for your group? You're smart to read the reviews. We did Alaska with HAL out of Seattle and liked the ship just fine. But we're easy to please. I keep hearing that NCL has terrific evening entertainment. But ... if you like Princess, why change?

I have no idea how you could cram all that stuff into a little roller bag and a tote. Amazing!

Oh my, I know exactly what you mean. I'm not much of a shopper, but it's fun to browse around for maybe ten minutes. My husband loathes forced shopping, or any shopping at all, actually. On our Yangtze cruise, Viking stuck us in some monster jade factory in China for a nearly inedible lunch, followed by NINETY MINUTES of shopping. We were way out in the boonies somewhere and were literally prisoners. Never again will I join a ShoreEx without knowing what kind of 'shopping' is going to be included. I always pay for my ship's shore excursions ahead of time, a separate transaction from anything else. If I'm ever held captive by a shopping trip of more than 15 minutes with no warning, that ShoreX will be refunded by the cruise line. If they have an issue with my request, I'll just dispute the whole amount I prepaid for all of them.

Yeah, required might be enforced ... no torn jeans, flip-flops, short-shorts in the MDR , jackets for men, that kind of thing that wouldn't get in most pax' way. The cruise lines always spell it out.

Now that you mention it ... But I do like Bud Light, makes the perfect Minnesota Bloody Mary.

Now THIS is the way to evaluate a cruise! Deal with reality, put some thought into it, and go have a good time.

COOL! Good friends were sailing with you ... I've been dying to know all the details, so this was a most interesting post! Apparently Avalon behaved in the first-class way that makes us all so loyal. Very happy y'all had a great cruise experience ... for them it was the first European trip in 3 years.

Hazeleyes, if you had grown up in a town of 200, you'd understand this mentality. It was part of life. Everybody watched everybody else all the time, just in case they did something 'scandalous' and could provide fodder for the gossips.

I'd say sailing out of SF would be fewer kids ... but check the school calendars to be sure there's not some kind of 'break' during the time you want to cruise. Interesting to note that we are on Royal Princess over Christmas to celebrate OUR 50th anniversary. We never mind kids (find their antics quite amusing usually) except those kids whose parents pretend they have no responsibility for them.

I'd just buy a dual-voltage hair dryer. If yours instructs no voltage converter, it would probably fry immediately. I used to have that problem with my sound machine, I'd always run it on batteries in Europe. Last time I checked, a voltage converter was VERY heavy. As for a 'good 220v plug' ... are you talking about adapters or voltage converters?

We've sailed on many different cruise lines. I pay for whatever we want with the booking and have never experienced any of the hustling that people complain about. My husband enjoys tipping in cash directly to the people who give us good service. But maybe I just didn't notice, I've never had the slightest problem with "No, thanks".

Layers, of course you already knew that one. I'd bring some soft comfy slip-on shoes for wandering around the ship, a baseball cap that fits tightly to keep the hair out of my eyes when walking outside, a fluffy scarf, mittens/gloves, shirts with chest pockets so I don't have to carry a purse, thick socks to wear around the cabin, and my faithful very long 'raincoat' that always keeps me warm, no matter where we are.

Used to happen to me after plane rides. Starting wiping everything down on the plane that we could possibly touch and now rarely experience any respiratory issues. I suspect it's the humidity levels and air flow that allow a bug to attack.

You're right. I thought our OP would figure it out him/herself when I advised to be sure the next flight had seats available.

Yup, go for it. Just have your Plan B. Arrange for lounge access and figure out how assure two seats on the later flight. I'd not try, the last thing I want after a relaxing cruise is stress making the flight.

Phooey, one of the things we liked best on Queen Victoria was lounging with a glass of champagne along the route to MDR on formal nights. Sequined sheaths with matching stillettos, anyone? It was great fun.

I like to know this stuff too. I don't worry about any of it, I just like to know the potential of tendering instead of docking, the possible congestion of 'quaint downtowns'. It makes a difference when planning adventures on shore. I use 'whatsinport' dot com. Lots of great info and links to the schedules of each port.

So true! I drive my cruise TA nuts because we have no interest in booking any kind of 'Queens Grill' or 'Haven' or whatever cabins is 'special areas'. We'd enjoy the luxury, but not our fellow pax gazing around and sniffing at the rest of the hairy horde on 'their' ship.

Always good to win one!

River or ocean?

Has anyone used a SkyRoam (now Solis maybe) portable hot spot? I think I paid $50 for the unit and a 24-hour pass was $10. I bought one years ago, tested it with my laptop and it worked fine ... but I never had to use it while travelling. I'm thinking that it might be worth it to just chuck the whole ship's internet and use my own hot spot. Curious to see if anyone has any experience with SkyRoam/Solis on a cruise.

The important thing is that you KNOW that you can't dance. Pity those people out there who don't know that they can't dance.

Get a room on the beach; I'd call them to be sure of an early checkin. Many hotels have 'day rates', but get the details before booking. Enjoy your day and board your flight relaxed and happy.