TMLAalum

Seems like it'd be more economical to grab a cab to the closest tourist tram stop from Port Melbourne, especially for 2 couples. Are taxis easy to get on a Sunday?

We stopped over both to & from Europe last May. Driving in Iceland is easy and will get you to places you may not visit on a tour. Do be careful about windshield chips and volcanic sand damage to the vehicle, though.

We stayed at the Hotel Lotus in Reykjavik, Hotel Berg in Keflavik and Eglis House in Borgarnes. Drove the Golden Circle with leisurely stops and the Snaefellnes Peninsula.

Icelandair economy was fine from the east coast since it's just a five hour flight to KEF.

My issue with this company is that they now don't take AMEX. My travel insurance is all tied to that card. What I would gain in OBC I'd lose in having to purchase insurance.

In the US the warehouse & gaspumps currently take Amex, but we've paid for all our cruises booked thru them with our airline-affiliated cards which are either visa or mastercards. So, hopefully you will be able to continue to use your Amex when booking cruises.

There will be a switch for us this spring when Citicards is replacing Amex as the only card accepted in the warehouse. I hope that I don't need a warehouse-affiliated card, since I already have an AAadvantage card!

We've not been contacted via the warehouse TA about any "upgrade" available to Elite & above Captain's Club members for our cruise next month:confused:.

Others on our roll call, who've booked directly with Celebrity, have been called with the opportunity to spend a bit more for an upgrade.

Anyone who booked via the warehouse club been given the chance for an upgrade?

We've been very lucky with our separate ff accounts booking simultaneously (after doing an initial dummy booking using just one account to be sure 2 seats are available). Having 2 reservations hasn't been a problem except for the time DH got a 1st class seat from ORD-CLE on the final leg of our AA flight home from Shanghai and I didn't:(.

Absolutely the sink needs to be inside the bathroom!! Hands that hold the t.p. to wipe the behind need to be washed in the bathroom. Having the sink in the main cabin means that hand has to open the bathroom door before it is cleaned:eek:!

Aside from the sanitary issue, I prefer to perform my personal care, e.g. tooth-brushing, gargling, etc., in privacy! There are times we have guests in our cabin for a pre-dinner drink while one of us is getting ready:o. Hard to enjoy socializing while the in-the-open sink is in use right nearby.

We used this company for a half day "Islands" tour out of Alesund. Excellent guide and fair pricing with no pre-payment/deposit required. I believe the minimum size group is larger than most though. Tours are available in most Norwegian fjords ports.

http://www.moereguide.com/

Just to clarify, are you talking about the side cabins on the very end of deck 6? These would be 6304 (stbd) & 6305 (prt) on Silhouette; on Solstice/Equinox/Eclipse: 6302 (stbd) & 6303 (prt).

 

We booked one of these, for our upcoming Mardi Gras cruise. At the time we booked, there were only a handful of balcony cabins left anywhere on the ship, but we had heard that these balconies were very large, and mostly covered (albeit partially obstructed). Hope we made a good choice! ;)

I've only the Solstice deck plan in hand so can say yes 6302 starboard (6303 port) are angled and bigger than veranda cabins 6300-6286 (6301-6287 port) which have larger verandas than other 2Cs except these with the biggest balconies of all 2Cs: 6240,6242,6156, 6158 starboard and 6155, 6157, 6241, 6243 port on the angled part of the midship and forward humps.

We will be in 6240 on our upcoming Solstice cruise and looking forward to the huge veranda even if the view is slightly obstructed looking down:D.

Has anyone taken the boat excursion to this naturally pristine island? It sounds like it would be a unique experience during our North Island visit, but I am concerned about how strenuous it might be. White Island is out of the question for us.

Thanks!

There are 8 portside and 8 starboard side 2C cabins on Deck 6 that have larger balconies that extend over the MDR blue jut-out. These are considered partially obstructed views, but the Sky Suites on Deck 6 also are over the jut-out so their verandas have the same obstruction: we were in one of those on our Adriatic cruise and weren't bothered by the blue extension off our veranda.

You can also book the triple and double sized 2C verandas on the angle of the humps midship and forward with lifeboat obstructions that come to the veranda deck or go for obstructed 2Ds on the angle with lifeboats that come to the rail.

Thinking outside the box for our cruise next year in/out of Amsterdam, we used our AA miles (30k economy mile level pp) to fly AirBerlin to Berlin, where we will spend 3 nights. From there we'll take a train to Prague for 2 nights and from Prague fly Easyjet to Amsterdam for 2 nights pre-cruise.

All this extra travel to cities we've not yet visited for less than the r/t fees by going thru London!!

Our return from AMS is on Finnair via HEL ot ORD to CLE again at the 30k level. The departure time for this itinerary is 11:55 am and at a better time than flights connecting through LHR.

Economy to Europe is fine for us. Once we get our US carrier booking #, I call the partner airline for their # which typically differs. Our Finnair seats were assigned without charge. We will have to pay a fee to reserve our AirBerlin seats. Both airlines have the 2x4x2 economy cabin configuration which we prefer.

We've been very lucky in our overseas travels using ff miles. Looking forward to our 1st/business AA 62.5k flights to AKL next month on AA & Qantas, and our return from SYD using UA miles at the 80k level in lay flat Business seats on AirCanada 2 class planes.

So we book via a big box TA. From what I understand if an upsell offer is made it would be to the TA who then has to communicate it to us, right?

Has anyone gotten the upsell offer via their TA? And offers are made ONLY via email, correct?

While it'd be great to get such an offer for our NZ/OZ cruise next month, I'm not optimistic. However, I would love even the slightest upsell for our August cruise, so what can I do to increase the odds of being sure we get the notification if it's made? Call Captain's Club, call our TA???

Looking at CLT's website, it appears there are 2 Admiral's Club lounges. Is one a better choice than another? We've a long layover there enroute to BNE via LAX holding 1st/business tix for the flights.

Via the roll call...

I've organized 2 private tours for our British Isles cruise and DH & I are participating in others. All companies are requiring downpayment at time of booking + most want payment in full prior to sailing!

In Ireland, the tour operator allowed each party to submit their downpayment directly to him with remainder to be paid on the tour. In Scotland, I paid 25% downpayment for a group of 16 and will be expecting full prepayment from participants before the cruise, since the operator wants full payment 30 days out. We will be paying the organizers of our Inverness tour and Tattoo transportation in Edinburgh beforehand as well.

On our upcoming NZ/OZ cruise, I've also organized 2 private tours. "Wicked Wanders" out of Tauranga NZ will collect full payment the day of the tour, and "EyeSeeTasmania", which allowed individual deposits from participants, will collect the remainder when we arrive.

On previous cruises, only "Tours of Puglia" out of Bari required a deposit which was minimal so I didn't ask for reimbursement ahead of time.

So to the OP, don't rule out a tour just because the organizer needs the $$ ahead of time. Just request copies of communications from the tour provider from the organizer. Personally, I cc provider communications to all participants so they understand my liability and the reason I am requesting their payment to me since I've put my $$ out as the provider requires.

Which is worse...wearing a baseball cap in the MDR or taking it off and putting it on the table:p?

The Europe itineraries come out tomorrow for Captain's Club members. If the 2017 schedule includes an overnight for the Tattoo in Edinburgh, you might want to book it asap. And if you prefer ship tours, book Celebrity's Tattoo excursion quickly too because it was sold out months ago.

We booked our Tattoo cruise 9 months after the schedules were published- verandas were too pricey for us, so went with an OV and only a few of those cabins were available!

For us, the ports-of-call + the Tattoo, not the weather, were the deciding factor in booking this cruise.

Good Luck!

A British Isles cruise was never on our radar because we've spent weeks in Scotland, England and Ireland and the ports were not exciting to us.

But because my SiL has a British Isles cruise on her bucket list, I began looking at Celebrity's offerings. When I saw the Aug. 6th Silhouette 14 night out of Amsterdam that overnights for the Tattoo in Edinburgh, I was amazed that we'd only been to 2 ports previously, not counting Edinburgh, which we've visited but not during the Tattoo! Plus it leaves/returns from Amsterdam which was a city on my bucket list!

DH & I booked this cruise in August- 9 months after the itinerary came out and prices were higher than any other cruise we've taken thus far. It took awhile to commit, and, when we did, we lucked out in that the cabin price of $3099pp hadn't increased but the promotions had! So we were able to Go Better for that price. And our TA is giving $500 OBC. Today the OV is $4049!!

If the same itinerary is available for 2017, I'd encourage booking as ASAP

Ironically, SiL/BiL opted not to take this cruise:confused:!

The 2017 schedule out of Southampton is very intriguing! I particularly like the Baltics combined with a Tanzania Safari:eek:.

When we boarded our last cruise, the representative noted our elite status, observed that we were with 4 non-elite traveling companions and directed us all to the elite line.

We wouldn't have asked that they be allowed this since all were experienced cruisers who could easily navigate the check-in process themselves, but were pleased that they could join us.

If you each open a Citicard American Airlines Advantage Platinum card, you will accrue 50k miles each based on a current offer. (You must have your Advantage Membership # before applying). You could also check out Barclaycard's Aviator which is affiliated with American Airlines and see what mileage perk they have.

Miles required at the saver level for business class when we booked using Advantage miles this past Feb. was 62.5k per person one way, but may be more for next year. Buying miles to make up the difference if needed, use your Advantage account for your husband's outbound flights and have him use his miles + purchase for his return flights = one r/t business for him . Then pay for your r/t business. It should be a lot less cash outlay this way than having to buy two r/t business.

Good Luck!

Our cruise was from May 9-16. We had 2.25 of 4 port days with sunny weather. The remainder was miserable. We had a heavy rainfall in Bergen that impacted our guided walk atop the Floibahnen- views from there were of foggy moisture. I'd hoped to shop in Bergen after our mountaintop visit, but was too drenched to enjoy the experience. In Geiranger, we awoke to sunshine and being earlybirds, enjoyed the waterfall walk in pleasant conditions, followed by the bus/boat combo tour. The bus tour couldn't get to Dalsnibba due to snow pack and we were lucky to make it to Eagles Bend, which had opened only a two or two prior to our arrival. For our afternoon boat tour, it poured again and the fjord views weren't! The heavy rain in both these ports literally made them a "wash-out".

We had beautiful weather in Alesund and Stavenger.

I know it can rain anywhere, anytime but when you are spending $$ to experience the beauty of the fjords, early May, which is impacted by both extreme wet weather and closures due to snowpack, would not be a time I'd choose again.

Does the Fuller's Vineyard Hopper still operate? It's not coming up anymore when I search.

So it looks like we will be taking the public bus to several wineries. I've downloaded the ferry & bus schedules, which have me very confused as I've not yet found a good printable map of the island with all wineries, distances etc..

Have any of you toured several wineries this way? Which wineries did you visit and how far were they from the nearest bus stop? Any lunch suggestions?

We are looking at January 18th. Thanks!

Great info, thanks for posting. If you don't mind, can you give me an approximate cost in Euro's for the transport from CDG to Paris City Center Hotel. Is it a private transport or shared. We will be a traveling party of 2.

We had a private transfer and as I recall it was around 12-13 euro per person each way. Our hotel was on a tiny street in the Latin Quarter and we were dropped off quite close to the entrance. For the return trip, the driver came into the hotel to fetch us.

http://sayshuttle.com/

Hmm, maybe I will ask Santa for a 30x zoom camera after all!

I booked SayShuttle for our group of 6 arriving at CDG and departing out of ORY. On time, professional and reasonable! On previous trips we took the Roissy bus and the RER into the city from CDG- both had their challenges for us in terms of luggage on the bus and obtaining tickets for the RER. Using SayShuttle (prepaid) was a great way to travel to our Latin Quarter hotel in that the route our driver took provided a mini-tour of the city and it was delightful be met at baggage claim- no schlepping.

PS- I am heartbroken for Paris.