tupper10

I am hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday today however it was celebrated. I am thankful today for this wonderful group of people. I love traveling with you to all the different ports that I will probably only see through your pictures. I also want to thank you for all the caring and friendship that is shown to all who come here whether we post a lot or not.

I suggest you go to the board that says Caribbean and look at each port you are going to be at- there are recommendations on that board for all these ports. Have fun and enjoy.

In our local paper they said that the FLL airport lot is full but nothing about the cruise port lot. I would be prepared for major traffic in the area as our roads have been a mess as usual.

Try using Safari that seems to be the only one that works for me- Chrome and Firefox is the spinning ball.

We loved Pompeii and Herculaneum and they are both very interesting to see. If anyone goes on a trip to this area and has some time in Naples go to the archeological museum - visit the private room where some of the risque items are kept from Pompeii. We did enjoy the entire museum and you see the colors of the mosaics a bit better in the museum.

We used flightease and asked for ticketing once final payment was made - it wasn't an issue. This was well in advance of our cruise. Of course the airline made changes right up until we left and then of course our flights were delayed but we did mange to make our connections.

Purchasing the hotel through HAL charges you almost double what you can do on your own since the rate is per person not per room. I suggest you book the hotel on your own. Also note that taxi fare is regulated from the airport to the hotel/cruise port so it is generally cheaper than an uber. You need to fly in at least one to two days before your cruise leaves given what is going on with delayed canceled flights. We stayed downtown, not by the port since we wanted to walk to see the sites, and have loads of restaurants nearby. I suggest you do a web search on one of the larger sites to see what is still available and the cost and then book through the hotel's site which is generally cheaper. We always book a refundable rate. For airfare we did use flight ease. We had no issues with flightease at all - we got our seats right away and when we paid final payment we asked for our airline tickets to be issued to us which HAL did. Good luck and have fun. Vancouver is a great city.

In Sorrento there is a train that takes you right to Pompeii - it takes about 1/2 hour and is an easy walk from the station to the entrance. Wow the weather is really impacting cruises this year. I do hope you reach your excursion provider.

There is a transatlantic that leaves in late June 2024 that goes to both plus does the entire Canadian maritimes and ends in Boston. It leaves from the commercial port in Amsterdam not in central city.

It isn't hard to pack if you think layers. Many hiking pants come with roll ups so you can make them into capris so you can wear them for hot/cold weather. One or two sun protector shirts (Columbia has long sleeve ones with roll up sleeves - I wear them for casual dinners too since they are a button down shirt) and a sun hat and you are good to go. Then layer the hiking pants - with long underwear for the cold. Buy some performance tops with a high neck - REI has some great ones - they are lightweight and warm- and are quick drying. A fleece, and then a water proof jacket for the cold. Hat, gloves, and you are set. The issue is wind not so much the cold. HAL has a great laundry service so figure this into what you pack - we did laundry every other day and it was returned by the same day or the next day. Also just know that the ship shops sell wonderful jackets for layering - at least they did during our Alaska cruise and many bought them vs packing one. They were waterproof with hoods and a lining so all you needed underneath was your silks, a turtle neck top and a fleece or sweater. BTW they also had some nice fleece tops as well in case you have a lot of OBC. We loved Antarctica - it is hard to explain the incredible beauty of it to those who haven't been there. We feel incredibly blessed that we got to see it.

On our recent 14 day Alaska on formal night most men just wore a collared long sleeve shirt and a pair of slacks. We saw some jackets/ties but not many. For women, one pair of black slacks and a couple of nice tops is enough. My suggestion is to bring long underwear, warm hat, gloves, sunglasses, and a jacket you can layer this should fill your suitcase!! The best thing is to use the HAL laundry service and not pack for 7 days but perhaps 3 to 4 at the most. The turn around for the laundry was usually same or next day service.

It is worth it and yes you may have bad weather but even then it is still incredible to see the icebergs jutting through the mist.

@cruising sisterSo happy to hear that Baby Murphy is doing better. Please keep us posted. Jack scary about that allergic reaction. Glad it was taken care of. Vanessa sorry to hear you are still in pain. Maureen so glad you finally got the approval -it must be a big relief to you both. The cruises people are on sound wonderful and wow to the Seabourn cruise - we are enjoying following along. Terry it sounds like you are doing so much for others and have daily things to take care of for everyone- I don't know how you do it but hope that you are taking some time for yourself. Terry - I hope your husband is feeling better and that you are getting some much needed time with no hassles. Here is hoping that you get to go on a relaxing cruise soon. I hope everyone is having a good Saturday. I am enjoying the beautiful weather here - finally we can go outside during the day and breathe.

Sorry to hear that you had to cancel your trip and are now out a significant amount of $$. In my experience it never hurts to ask the person at the next level, in writing, but this is totally up to you.

In my case the Personal Cruise Consultant I was assigned did nothing at all. He never returned a phone call or an email. On the one cruise that I did not use a travel agent (since I thought the PCC would actually respond to my calls/emails) it ended up, if I had an issue I just called the 800# and called back at different times until I got an agent in the US. I found that the others just went by a script and could never answer any of my questions. Now I just use a travel agent, much easier for me.

@Kazu- As I understand it @Cruzin Terri used points only to pay for her airfare on one credit card - the Chase card. The points have been returned to this card. This as you say should not count as paying for anything on a credit card. She paid for her cruise on Amex -which is the card that has the travel protection. Since she paid in full for the cruise using Amex she should be able to get the travel protection associated with this CC. I do hope when she speaks to someone at Amex they will give her the coverage for her cancelled trip.

Terri given that you paid in full for the cruise with your Amex I would say that you paid the total amount using your Amex card. I would NOT take the decision of the customer service person as the final answer. Please go to Elliot.org to get the names and email for the corporat office of Amex. I would politely tell them that you used the card to charge the entire cruise and therefore want the travel insurance to be honored. Sorry I couldn't just email you but it doesn't work for me when I click it. Graham- Have a wonderful birthday today!! Glad to hear that Sam is back home and hopefully now for a long while. @JazzyV I know what you are going through. Last year I had to cancel our cruise due to back pain. I finally gave up trying PT, shots etc and had the surgery. Though I did have nerve pain after it due to the manipulation, for about a month, it was gone after this, and I have been pain free for months now. Sometimes unfortunately surgery is the only answer. I hope the PA at the neurosurgeon can give you an answer to your issue which will allow you to live pain free. Happy cruising to so many here - glad everyone got to go away. Sad for what is going on in our world. I always think of the song Where have all the flowers gone - and the line 'when will we ever learn' - it seems never. I hope this is not too political.

@sdc67 I tend to get seasick - the trick is to take the medication ASAP, I use dramamine since I don't care about being tired. The ship has some meds at the customer service desk or you can buy meds in the shops. Before the medicine starts working just go outside the fresh air really helps. I know how hard it is to move outside but it immediately helps.

@JazzyV just a heads up, when I had my epidural it took about one week for it to kick in and before it did I actually felt worse not better. @Cruzin Terri so sorry to hear you had to cancel your trip. I hope things work out for you and that whatever caused this is resolved soon. Sorry to hear that @kazu's flights were delayed from FLL. Bon Voyage to all that are leaving for cruises or are on cruises. The weather in South Florida is finally habitable after one of the worst summers on record for heat and humidity. We could not go outside for months during the day. For the last week we have had days in the 80's and nights that are cool. So much better. Sending healing thoughts to all who need them.

In the future if you can fly in and out of west palm beach. It was rated one of the 3 best airports in the us. It is about 45 minutes north of Fort Lauderdale.

@mamaofami so sorry to hear about your DH's return to the hospital and just what you didn't need is the smoke detector going off all night. Try and take a nap today if possible. It is so sad that so many are ill or dealing with a lot of pain that interferes with sleeping. I read on one of the live from threads here that the Amsterdam is not going to Guatemala but instead is going to El Salvador. Those who are posting said they are not getting off the ship given the situation there. Thinking of everyone who posts on this thread and thank you for all of your great pictures of the ports. I can travel in my arm chair to many places that I doubt I will ever see in person. @marshhawk I hope had a safe flight and transfer to the hotel in Rome. I also hope her cat sitter came through for her. We are waiting for a big rain storm today in very warm South Florida. The weather has been in the 90's. Not much on the agenda today -a visit to get some blood work done and then staying inside to avoid the storms.

@JazzyV and @dfish I couldn't help but read about your pain. As someone who suffered greatly with back pain and did the steroid shots as well - which brought temporary relief, after suffering like this I bit the bullet last spring and had the back surgery. I just want to say if that is what is recommended to you by your doctor, it is not as bad as you think it will be given all the new techniques used. I was essentially up and about within a day of the surgery - they won't let you leave the hospital until you can walk. Yes I had pain after the surgery but my husband who also had it did not. It has been a great relief to me that I no longer wake up with the excruciating pain I was in prior to the surgery. Sometimes surgery is the answer.

We just got back from our cruise and I wrote on the laundry order, cold water wash, no perfume and hang to dry on many items - everything came back fine. We were so happy with the laundry service we know we can pack much lighter on all our future cruises.

We were way towards the back on deck 7 - the entire ship received a notification on Saturday night that there would be no hot water after 8:30 AM on Sunday due to an issue with the hot water. It seems that they weren't able to fix the issue during Sunday's change over in Vancouver. We had hot water the entire trip.

Happy Birthday to @JazzyV and Happy Anniversary to @Cruzin Terri. Healing thoughts to all those with medical issues. We are back from out 14 day Alaska cruise - we both have colds - no Covid, and hopefully will feel better soon. @Nickelpenny glad the weather has improved. When we left the ship on Sunday they said they were turning off the hot water due to an issue with it and would be fixing it during that day. Sorry to hear it wasn't working for you. Safe travels to all that are cruising. And wow about canceling flights. We were lucky that though our flights were delayed we managed to make all our connections, though on our flight from FLL to Lax with our connection to Vancouver we literally walked from one flight right onto the next one since we were delayed and then sat on the tarmac since there was no gate available to us. Flying is no fun at all anymore but it has to be done if we want to travel.