curmudgeon98

That's good info to have. I always have a weakness for a dessert souffle. I used to like creme brulee, but the larger cruise ships we've been on last year (Princess and HAL), the creme brulee wasn't done well at all.

I've never been a fan of day-tripping Venice. I think that's how quite a few people end up disliking the place - you spend a lot of time walking through with a mob through the less nice areas around the bus and train stations. You can take the Alilaguna water bus (or more expensive water taxi) direct from the airport to various stops in central Venice. Yes, hotels in Venice proper are expensive and often a bit quirky, but that goes with the territory. Two things that might push me towards staying in Mestre would be: 1) handling your bags is difficult for you, or 2) you really prefer a modern standardized type of hotel.

We haven't done a TA or TP yet. I look at them sometimes, but have been a bit concerned about too many sea days for our travel habits. I see a 14-day April 6 one on Marina this year that might have suited us. One block of 4 sea days from Bermuda to the Azores, but otherwise a good mix. I'll have to keep a bit closer eye on Oceania offerings for this.

It's definitely something that needs advance planning and permission. In some cases there may be legal restrictions. Cruises can get caught up in old laws (in various countries) that were designed around ships as transportation (rather than entertainment) that restrict them from carrying passengers from point to point. It can also be the case that a port stop wasn't set up expecting actual entry (rather than day-trip) for customs/immigration.

I'm not a big fan of logo wear. I also found the jacket a bit too heavy on the trip (as well as too heavy to wear around home), so it got very little use. It was a nice thought, but not something I'd miss.

Everyone is a bit different, of course, but I don't think I would do Santorini as a day trip flying in. Staying a couple of nights might be ok, but it's a pretty touristy place. We were there twice last June on Azamara (one of those could easily have been the time Sue refers to). I looked at the port schedules, and noted that our first stop there had only two cruise ships in port that day, while the second had five. A light bulb went off, and the less busy day we visited the villages and had no problems with the crowds or cable car. The day with five ships in port, we did a boat tour of the caldera and never even went up the hill.

With Venice on a cruise, you need to understand where your ship is. Cruise ship docking has been moved away from the city, sometimes a LONG way away. Getting from the dock to the city may be a challenge. The area near the train station and bus stops is less attractive; you want to get well into the city. If you have an interest in history, the Doge's Palace is worth planning a tour. For the rest, wandering the city on your own would in my opinion be preferable to being with a tour group.

Really enjoyed reading this well documented report. We were in the region in May-June of last year. Two weeks on the Onward from Ravenna, followed by 12 days on land in Croatia/Slovenia. We didn't hit as many Adriatic ports on the ship, as our ship itinerary was more Greece oriented. I'll throw in a few comments from the peanut gallery on some of the locations we saw from a different perspective. Ravenna - we would have liked to have seen Ravenna before the cruise, but we had last-minute notification of the shift of departure port from Venice to Ravenna, so we stuck with our pre-cruise time in Venice (which we always enjoy) Koper/Slovenia - We had several days touring Slovenia by car, so a somewhat different perspective. Lake Bled is quite scenic, but I'm not sure I would have considered it worth the long bus ride. Postojna Caves would be a significantly closer alternative (though Jazzbeau was avoiding cave options) - it has an electric tram to take you deep into the cave system, though plenty of walking once you are in. There's a fairly standard style of kremsnita (creme cake) in Slovenia which is pretty good, but we had some homemade in a little gostlina (gasthause) which was even better. Pula/Istria - Truffle territory. We found some amazingly good food in obscure locations. The local prsut (dry cured ham similar to prosciutto) can be quite good as well. Zadar/Krka falls - A nice location. Not massive falls, but quite scenic. If you have the chance to enter the park via the boat trip from Skradin, that would be a nice bonus. Similarly, if you have lots of time, there are scenic sections reachable by boat trip on the upriver side of the falls as well. Kotor - We just spent our day in the old town. Cats must have a very strong union there; they seemed to run the place.

Santorini is always tendered (and a good idea to plan your day ahead of time). Mykonos is a maybe. The others should most likely be docked.

We primarily cruise in conjunction with other land-based travel (and don't do extended-length cruises). If we do a couple of weeks on a ship, we might likely add a several more with "planes, trains, and automobiles" where extra baggage is a definite hindrance. It can make for a bit of dissonance in the ship environment, unfortunately. I don't bring blue jeans on a cruise, but I might stretch a point with black ones (and shoes that are multi-purpose but not flashy). There's no simple answer for the cruise lines. If you do too much exclusion of those who don't want to bring coat and tie, you start to push away one set of customers. If you get too casual, the environment stops appealing to another set.

I was mildly annoyed on our Seabourn cruise in Alaska last summer over the suit-and-tie bit for the formal night, especially because it was too drizzly and cold for Earth and Ocean. With an outdoor oriented cruise I begrudge the luggage space; we tend to do land-based travel before or after cruises, so schlepping around extra stuff (or giving up one of the nicer meals in the restaurant) is a negative. Other than that, I was comfortable with the overall ambience. Silversea seems to be more into dressing up, so I don't really consider them. Regent may be more to our taste, and we are looking at trying them next. If the right Seabourn cruise came up, I could put up with the occasional formal night. While they aren't at the same level of luxury, Oceania and Azamara have been decent options for us as well.

Thanks much; it makes sense that way, but I thought I'd check.

Coming back to this question for clarification, was the $300 credit per person, or per cabin? It's not really that big of deal, but we are looking at a cruise where they don't have non-concierge basic cabin availability, and we'd prefer to book our own lodging (for a longer stay pre-cruise - we'd book our own air as well).

I did a bit more research and saw that Artania might be old, be she was reported to have gotten new engines 6-8 years ago, so is probably able to meet recent emission standards. I suppose that could be true of other ships docking there as well.

Is that a recent change? I've been aware of various restrictions around burning bunker oil, as well as some movement toward requiring ships that are docked to use shore power. LNG also seems on the forward direction, but I wasn't aware of any cruise ships actually using it yet. Looking at the Flam port schedule, there seems to be quite a variety of ships, ranging back to the rather elderly Artania. I can understand local community concerns about cruise ship emissions, especially in such settings, but I wonder if there are other factors involved; maybe a limit on total passenger arrivals. I don't have any direct knowledge, so I'm prepared to be educated.

Just don't bring the little individual serving bottles... On a recent HAL cruise I noticed about a dozen little prosecco bottles abandoned at the corkage table by someone who realized that adding $20 per 187ml bottle was a bit over the top. I have thought about bringing a jereboam and seeing if they would do the same $20, but it would take us a while to get through that much wine.

This year we had pretty good internet on Princess (Mexican Riviera) and quite bad internet on HAL (Eurodam Panama Canal). Interestingly, the HAL internet got magically much better the last several days after our Aruba port stop; it made me wonder if they were still in "Alaska" settings and trying to use the wrong satellites until someone set it properly at the Aruba port stop. I think of "good" internet as having a messy site like CC work well, maybe being able to use facetime or wifi calling, etc. We don't stream video, so I don't pay much attention to that.

I haven't seen it on board. Maybe on the ships that have the "freestyle" blending machines. I've heard that the security screeners, especially at stopover ports, aren't super picky about sodas coming on board despite the official policy, but I've just learned to adapt. I drink diet Mt Dew, and in Europe that's pretty much unobtanium.

That's a nice itinerary. The Venice bit may be a little funky - the ship is not likely to dock there, and if it does, it will be way over in the boonies of the industrial port. Interesting question if NCL would try to do something like tender there. If you end up with an extra day in Trieste instead, I'd suggest doing something like one of the cave complexes (Postonja) in Slovenia that day. On debarkation, it's an easy train trip into Venice from Trieste to spend your last couple of nights.

If the price is in your budget, that's a nice area for an Azamara cruise. In that area the ports are a big focus, and Azamara tends to include some smaller interesting ports. Not as much going on on the ship, though. I wasn't impressed with NCL when we did a Med cruise with them several years ago, so I would generally pick Celebrity over them. Pretty much all the cruise lines sail in the area, so there are other choices as well. Venice has become a very awkward port with the ship restrictions, so keep that in mind. Lots of nice ports in Croatia though.

I've really appreciated some excursion descriptions where they get really specific: "x.x miles, yyy steps, paved paths, unpaved, rocky etc". Even then, specific weather conditions can change the impact quite a bit - high temperatures or high winds can make a trip a lot more strenuous than it would be on a nice day. Reading the descriptions closely, and maybe doing a bit of maps "street view" can be helpful. Of course, there's also often the problem that somebody else who goes on the tour thinks they can handle "strenuous" because they walk a mile once a week. Mykonos and Rhodes are good candidates for doing on your own, at your own pace. If the "Best of Mykonos" tour includes Delos, I understand that can be a challenge in hot weather. Similarly, Rhodes can include quite a few stairs depending on what ground they are trying to cover.

The current Fusina ferry route runs from a little marina/cafe and parking area to the west. The problem is that there is no direct path from where cruise ships can dock and the ferry - it's about 1.5 mile walk to get around the various boat storage and construction yards.

There are definitely some challenges with any of the options. Some of these may get ironed out by next year, but I wouldn't bet on it. While it appears that they have finished the additional two berths at Fusina (giving four total for smaller ships), there is very little infrastructure for handling passengers there. The current Fusina to Venice ferry would not connect well with cruise ships, but there may be a plan to improve that. Chioggia is quite remote as well. I don't think either port will be exactly convenient for cruises, but there are no great options. As much as I like Venice, I'll probably avoid it as a cruise port for a while.

In Punta Arenas we book a tour from one of the licensed guides on the dock. 16 passenger van, so less of a zoo than the big busses of the ship excursion. $25 for transport. Add $5 for the monkey stop, $30 for the river/crocodile tour. Also stopped at the standard gift shop/cafe where most tours stop, and did a drive through of the town. Had a great trip with "Jimmy". In Huatulco we walked through the pleasant harborside resort area, then took the nicely laid out "corredor turistico" walkway over the hill into the La Crucecita town. We wandered around for a while and had a great lunch (El Sabor de Oaxaca) before heading back. Taxi is an option if it is rainy or you don't want the walk. It can be worth spending some time looking at satellite view on Google maps (or street view) to get a feel for the areas.

I consider this a complete non-issue. I've seen covid spread through fully-vaccinated groups quite readily multiple times. I view the vaccines as (hopefully) providing protection against the impact of the illness, not the spread. For cruises which travel a long distance from quality shoreside medical facilities, I can see a stronger case for requiring vaccination (though medical certificates of health condition might be still more relevant).