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14ersco

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. notamermaid, Thanks for the Danube water levels web site. Will be cruising Budapest to Bucharest this spring and those gauges will be helpful in knowing about potential flooding. In regards to the New York City water system it was actually a large environmental project that has kept their water so pristine. Back in the 1800's the city started buying vast tracts of land to preserve undeveloped and within those land tracts they built reservoirs and aqueducts that feed into the city. The land is still undeveloped and the water still does not need filtered. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK566285/ https://dec.ny.gov/nature/waterbodies/lakes-rivers/new-york-city-water-supply
  2. For the Ama app you will need to wait until 45 days or closer to your cruise before it will allow you enter your booking number and last name to see your cruise and shore excursion options. That is what the app posted to me yesterday. You do your online checkin on the Ama web page after final payment.
  3. Followed up with your border info, Andorra not EU or Schengen, that border crossing may take some. This will be our first trip in a couple years where we are not on the eastern fringes of Europe. Thanks for all the information, and we will plan time for Zaragoza.
  4. Thanks for all of the great information. We already have our super fares (no changes) with Renfe, so no visiting Zaragoza this trip. Going to Andorra is part of our plan to visit all of the countries of Europe where will not be entering a war zone or taken hostage. For Andorra we will be hiking the UNESCO World Heritage valley, so the Caldea is good to know about for after the hikes. Based on your suggestions about mobile data I rechecked our phones plan and our data/texts are unlimited in Andorra. We do plan to give our ourselves an extra hour to return into Spain.
  5. For renting a car in Barcelona is it better to use Sants train station or the airport? Background, we already have visited Barcelona for a few days before another cruise and at that time traffic in town was somewhat heavy due to the Metro being on strike. This time we are planning to go to Andorra after our cruise, followed by taking the train from Barcelona to Madrid out of Sants. So, we need to get back to Sants after Andorra anyway.
  6. We have not yet taken our 20-something on an Ama Waterways cruise, but plan on in the future (need to plan a cruise when university is not in session). On our previous Ama cruise there was onboard a fitness director. He led daily before breakfast stretching classes and post dinner walks (beyond the announced shore excursions). If the ship was staying late in a town he would lead whoever showed up on a somewhat spontaneous walk around town. One evening it was just him and I walking along the banks of the Danube. If the ship was on the move after dinner he would lead the group on walking around the perimeter of the top deck.
  7. We just did what you are considering, had a cruise around Japan cancelled due to the pandemic and then we booked a land tour this past summer. For our land tour we used Inside Japan Tours https://www.insidejapantours.com/us/ to arrange our land trip around Japan; Tokyo, Kyoto, Koya-san, Himeji, Hiroshima, Kanazawa, Tokyo. Inside Japan Tours does offer guided tours, but we used a variation of one of their Self-Guided Adventures. They booked lodging and most transportation, plus a few city tour guides. We just had to use their detailed personalized guidebook to get from point to point and with English most everywhere it was fairly straightforward. Our best decision ever, no rushing back to a ship, so we could linger over the long days and into the night.
  8. OP, thanks for the info on staffing and room issues on the Dawn. We will packing extra antiseptic cleaning towels before we board the Dawn later this year. Ignore the cheerleaders, there are plenty around here.
  9. If you are arriving early enough in the day I would recommend not staying in Mestre, just an industrial port. From Mestre you can take the train to Bologna (gastronomic capital of Italy) for your overnight and in the morning take the train into Ravenna. Actually, if you have the option, flying into Bologna is better for Ravenna, if you don't plan to visit Venice. Bologna has a monorail directly from their airport to the central station. You can check the time schedule and reserve Italian trains on the German train site bahn.com
  10. There are a couple ways to avoid being fined for tolls in Slovenia. We had done a land tour in Slovenia last summer, after our cruise ship was redeployed. The pass for tolls can be purchased at gas stations. Until finding a gas station stick to the local highways and avoid the expressways (the majority require the toll pass). The Rick Steves guidebook goes into more details on purchasing the toll pass. Great places to visit in Slovenia from Trieste that don't require using the expressways are Skojan Caves: https://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/en and the Kolovrat Outdoor Museum (WWI battlefield): https://www.kobariski-muzej.si/en/exhibitions/guided-tours/guided-tours/201803271701139202/the-kolovrat-outdoor-museum/
  11. It is NCL that is ripping off the groups that have people in their cabin under 21 y/o. NCL gives absolutely no drink package, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, to those under 21 y/o, but NCL still charges for "Free at Sea" if the 21 and overs in the cabin want their alcoholic drink package.
  12. Google maps has this for the KGB museum: https://viru.ee/en Kompressor web page says they can make gluten free pancakes: http://kompressorpub.ee/en/
  13. Look directly on the web sites for the attractions you are interested in, many are currently closed on Mondays, but during the summer months will be open. Kiek in de Kok and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral will be open. I'm using a Google browser to translate the pages. https://linnamuuseum.ee/en/kiek-in-de-kok/visitor-info/ https://nevskysobor.ee/index.php/o-khrame/poryadok-raboty
  14. On the bahn.com site there are also regional options available (see post #2) The cost is 28 Euro for the first passengers and each additional passenger (up to 5 total) are 4 Euro each. For Lubeck it is Schleswig-Holstein Kleingruppenkarte day pass: https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets This allows you to take almost any train to your destination (see website for restrictions, potentially the ICE trains). If you before you go download onto your mobile an offline map from Google maps for the area of interest, plus add favorites for the stations. I have in the past been given a list of all upcoming trains or use the bahn app. In our previous land trips in various parts of Europe bahn.com was releasing timetables about 2 months out. So we are waiting until next week to book our regional passes for Kiel and Warnemunde for our late June cruise.
  15. Princess - for Glacier Bay and that Princess Cruises was one of the first into Alaska so they usually get priority. We have only used Princess once, specifically for Alaska and the itinerary. Have been on NCL and Royal Caribbean cruises and Princess seemed to be slightly more traditional cruising. If cruising Princess I would recommend booking the Ultimate Balcony Dining package as soon as you book your cruise. A gourmet meal for just your party on your balcony. Sitting on our aft balcony while being wined and dined cruising through the Inside Passage was one of the highlights of our Alaska trip.
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