waylandertoo

we don't really have a plan - at first I was thinking of being a typical tourist and just booking a trip but after reading your response I had a bit of a word with myself, what on earth was I thinking???! A 2 day car hire would be an excellent opportunity to get out there and look at The Hoover Dam and one (both?) of the canyons (Brice and Grand) at our own pace. 👍

well that was an unexpected booking for us. Searching for a holiday to go on suddenly 'the stars aligned' and we found a 'stay and cruise' for early January 2024. A canal transit had been on our wishl-ist for a while but we could never find one that worked with our time-table - we had even considered going Cunard from Southampton to San Francisco, but we're not dress-up people and the thought of a monkey suit really didn't fill me with joy. Suddenly we had a short-notice message pop up - 4 days in Vegas (so in reality 2 full days) and then fly to LA for the Emerald... excellent! All we need to do now is figure out what trips to book - already excited 😁

interestingly we had a quick look at some tours for a price comparison and P&O didn't seem to be too much more expensive (unlike Princess when we went a few years ago). The biggest issue I had with P&O though was the lack of arrival/departure time giving us concerns about what we could book time-wise (I know that the tour companies are set-up to account for this but....)

This thread has come about because my wife found a lovely cruise (Silver Seas) Panama Canal and Machu Picchu which tickled our fancy and whilst it was (IMO) eye-wateringly dear it made up for that by effectively containing 2 desired destinations in one holiday and a bonus luxury train-journey. I have since been surfing the various threads and trying to take ideas on-board... I've seen SS called premium by some and luxury by others (certainly for my budget it seems luxury!) and I was then wondering about dress-codes on-board in the more premium priced part of the market. Actually another question is quite simply what's the difference between premium and luxury? We've only been on 2 cruises: Baltic on Princess; Alaska on HAL (should've been Celebrity but... <sigh> ) and thoroughly enjoyed both which has left Mrs W.too keen to try other ones, there is an issue though. Having spent 45 years needing to wear a suit and tie (for both work and school) I have no desire to now dress like that when I'm meant to be relaxing - indeed the thought of having to put on formal attire these days is, IMO, the antithesis of 'relaxing'. I do understand that for a lot of people the dressing up thing is a big part of the cruise (and I appreciate that we're all different) and so a lot of the pricier options seem to follow this dress-code idea - I guess partly down to age groupings on these cruises (though to be fair at 58 I'm not exactly a fresh-faced youngling)? I realise I'm waffling a little (a lot?) without getting to other questions so without further ado: - which of the more premium lines have a formal dress-code (for clarity now I'm retired I am strictly jeans and t-shirt)? - are all of the premium lines all-inclusive for excursions or only some? - are you obliged to share a table for meals? I am quite a quiet/introverted person who enjoys his own (and wife's!!) company and really have no interest in being part of "strangers are just friends you've not yet met". That's not to say I'm rude or don't engage, it's just not enjoying being 'forced together', get me talking and I'm liable not to shut-up 😁 - not keen on being waited on hand and foot (I'll pour my own water at dinner thank you very much) - neither of us are really drinkers (the odd cocktail or glass of wine, but that's it) so not really bothered about AI drinks, is that a negative? I'm sure I'll think 🤔 about more, but rather than waffle on I'll leave it at this for the time being... 👍

thanks all - really appreciate the information given (especially from a UK perspective). I do think that the Rhine cruise would be a no-no since for us that's a nice little 'road trip' without m/any difficulties (I love driving and so that'd be part of the holiday anyway). That said the Danube trips do hold a lot of interest since I am a lot less likely to go to Romania/Bulgaria on a driving holiday

Hi all, we're toying with the idea of doing a river-cruise at some point but we both have a few concerns/questions. - the obvious question has to relate to the possible age groups on these cruises (Rhine/Danube in particular). Whilst we're not party people neither are we old and we're not really looking to be either the youngest (or oldest!!) on this type of cruise. - I'd imagine that the cruise itself will be similar to a sea cruise but with no 'sea-days'? - if the cruise is Rhine/Danube would it be a full day ashore with time to do what you want trip-wise (like a sea cruise)? There are likely to be loads more queries I've got but these are the main ones at this point TIA

We've been looking around at possible cruises for both (possibly) this year for a short and (relatively!!) cheap cruise and one next year for a longer one with all that that entails. I've been puzzled to see that there seems to be quite a disparity in pricing between USD and GBP - I appreciate that the US pricing doesn't include port fares etc but even allowing for this there's still a 10% differential, which grates. Are allowed to use that US site to book? Is it worth it (in other words what intangibles have I missed)? Any thoughts?