shorefolks

20 hours ago, tottenhamfc said:

Agreed. All I would add to this is it really should not have to be 60 pages of instruction to apply for a visa. Here is one example of computerization not being very efficient. If it was a paper application, you would get a photo taken like a passport and then fill out a form and take some copies of documents. Drop off and it would be done. Some may have not encountered issues on the app

but many have and once it starts it is very difficult to move forward.

Careful what you wish for. The last time Brazil required visas we with another couple took a train to the consulate in NYC to apply. Waited outside in a line in the rain for an hour. When we finally got in, the applications photos of my wife and myself were rejected while our friends were accepted. Same camera, same wall we stood in front of but different self-important, American-hating agent. Had to walk to a CVS a block away to get new photos. The visas are still valid (10 years from issuance), but now we don't need them for our cruise.

Does anybody have a lead on birding guides for the Amazon, especially in Manaus?

15 hours ago, Traveling Fools said:

 When will you be there?

 

March 26.

Thanks to all for the information!

Thank you. Could you share a link for bus information?

I am trying to arrange an early-morning ride from the ship to the MUSA park for a guided birding walk. What are the local options? Taxi, Uber, etc.? How reliable are these? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

We have sailed HAL before and will again this fall. We liked our previous cruises with them, although they were several years ago. We sailed with Princess this past November, our 10th cruise with them and the first time that we did NOT buy Future Cruise Credits. From our first meals, it was obvious that there was rampant cost-cutting going on. The steaks, even in the steak house, were just poor- very tough. Plus, the number of entree options was reduced in the MDR. To make things worse, the chef (not one of the Italian chefs that Princess likes to tout) assembled dishes using an odd and inappropriate collection of flavors and accompaniments, none of which seemed to add much flavor, interesting or otherwise. The International Cafe, by contrast, did its usual bang-up job, even better than ever. The service on board Princess was very good, as has usually been the case. All of the staff seemed very eager to please. Entertainment was of meager quality, and there was no staff show.

Whether the problem with food on our Princess cruise was due to the individual chef or overall cost-cutting, I can't say, but it was sufficient to make us look elsewhere.

A much better experience, food-wise, was the cruise we took in January with Oceania. (Yes, I know Oceania is a premium-priced line, above mass-market lines like Princess and HAL but below luxury lines like Seabourn.) As opposed to Princess where we had to try to pick a meal choice that we would dislike least, on Oceania we had a tough choice picking the dish we would like the most. Generally great food all around. This cruise, by the way, was to Antarctica and South America. I must say that the enrichment team (4 in all) were above and beyond, with numerous lectures regarding Antarctica. General staff were also excellent, with top-notch cabin stewards.

You may not see clam strips on menus because "fried clams" has come to mean "fried clam strips" in recent years. In order to get whole fried clams, you often have to look for "Ipswich clams." Those of us born at the Jersey Shore are called "clam diggers," an activity I frequently enjoyed before pollution regulations closed most waters. I would search for clams with my toes and then shuck and eat them on the spot, now no longer possible. All of the preceding is further evidence of the fall of Western civilization.

I would agree with BklynBoy8's choices. In Corner Brook, the Highlights will give a good overall view of what you like. In Sydney, it's a tough call between the Bell Museum and Fortress Louisbourg. We loved both when we took a driving tour of Nova Scotia. Both are historic, of course. The Bell Museum is fascinating and the area provides real context for Bell's work. The Fortress, with its docents and setting really puts you into the scene of what those colonists' life was like. Halifax is a nice little city with a lot of history. The park is very nice. Don't specifically take a tour to Peggy's Cove. Look at the pictures and  enjoy the scenery and quaintness. Spare yourself the disappointment of seeing the rocks covered with tour groups and of smelling the overflow from the septic system. (By now, the septic may have been fixed, but you can't fix overcrowding.)

We just got off a trans-Atlantic on Emerald Princess. It was our 10th Princess cruise, 31st overall, and the first Princess cruise where we emphatically did NOT buy a future cruise credit. Our biggest complaint by far was the food. Cutbacks were immediately noticeable. Cheaper cuts of meat were pervasive. Overall, the food was tasteless and lacking in variety. 

Some examples: (1) the onion soup was indeed of the cheapest commercial grade, so loaded with salt as to be inedible (and I use a lot of salt myself); (2) a prime rib required a steak knife to be cut; (3) one night's dinner selections included "vegetarian" cassoulet (there is no such thing, unless you count canned baked beans), chicken drumsticks, and make-your-own empanadas; (4) the shrimp cocktail contained 4 miniature shrimp.  Dinner in the past would involve choosing the best of several good entrees; it is now down to picking the dish you will dislike least. The best food on the ship is from the pizzeria or the International Cafe, but you can't eat there all day, every day.

Entertainment was mediocre. There was no staff show. Enrichment lectures were almost non-existent and almost always irrelevant. Six straight days at sea became a chore.

On the plus side, the service was excellent from the usual charming group of Filipinos. However, the ship had only 1800 passengers. What would it have been with a full 3000-plus?

In sum, this was a very disappointing return to cruising after 3 years. We have an Oceania cruise in January to Antarctica. We were already looking forward to it very much, now probably more so. The contrast should be interesting.

On 5/3/2020 at 10:18 PM, shorefolks said:

No. April 11.

Yes. Took Option 2. All payments refunded and FCC in account. All's well that ends well.

No. April 11.

After comparing experiences with several cruise lines buying FCDs, we now only buy them from Princess. Their terms are much superior to what you find elsewhere. We sail about 2-3 times a year on 5 different lines (Princess, Celebrity, HAL, NCL, and Oceania) depending on itinerary and price, so it is not unusual to go a few years without being on a given line. Princess will happily extend or refund the FCD as you wish. They are perfect for us. I can not think of a drawback for the purchaser.

27 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

A few words with the Maitre d' would have resulted in either better service from that waiter or having a different waiter assigned to your table.

I'm aware of that, but that can be problematic in itself. (I'm a firm believer in not aggravating people who have access to my food or my toothbrush.) His behavior, while not ideal, merely added to a less-than-desirable situation. If encountered in an Anytime environment, we would have chalked it off to one night's bad luck and avoided his tables in the future. In Traditional, it unfortunately joined with the just-okay food, and the full-volume, cackling idiot at the next table to make dinner not something to which we would look forward.

We also are just off that cruise. Our views are somewhat different. I very much agree about the staff in general: friendly, happy, and eager to serve. Our steward was the best we have had in 30 cruises. 

We were less happy with the food, which I would describe as adequate, good at times, but a tendency to be repetitive. The executive chef is Italian, but we have honestly had better Italian. (Still, that is personal prejudice. For us, what is needed is less of a chef and more of an Italian nonna.) The Italian restaurant was better and had very good service. The steakhouse had some of the worst service ever: 30-40 minutes between courses on a slow night. 

The pizza remains great. Always a treat. The BBQ grill (hot dogs, hamburgers, and brats) had good food, but the personnel were achingly slow with no concept of production- strictly one order at a time. Three customers quickly became a logjam.

The biggest drawback for us is the lack of Anytime dining. (Having sailed the Pacific before, we knew this in advance. Very much liking the itinerary, however, we just gritted our teeth and went with it.) This became a real drag night-after-night for two weeks, especially because our chief waiter's act got old. He was probably the only Filipino we have met that was brusque and full of himself. He paid more attention to playing politics with his superiors than to providing service. He would utter his rote platitudes while keeping his eye on what somebody else was doing. His assistant was much better but was kept constantly running by his boss's many orders.

One big complaint we had was with smoke management. At no time (including middle of the night while looking for the aurora) was our balcony (deck 6) free from a very strong smoke odor. Just as bad, the stench seemed to concentrate in the otherwise-attractive small bar just outside of the MDR. We would have enjoyed a drink there, but the smell ruled that out.

The Pacific is indeed a small ship with all of the good and bad points that go with that. It is comfortable but has its drawbacks. Some people call it the best Princess ship; others call it the worst. I would have preferred a larger ship on this itinerary, but a larger ship might not have been able to make all of these ports. Each person has to make his own choice.

6 hours ago, wendyp247 said:

Yes, when I call NCL they tell me docking time is at 8am. Which leads me to believe the agents at NCL  are only providing info that NCL provides to them which appears to be incorrect.Not very reassuring . This will probably be my first and  last NCL cruise.I'll go back to RCCL ,Celebrity, Disney, Carnival or Princess who appears to be more reliable, when it comes to providing information on their Itineraries.After almost 60 cruises we are interested in the itineraries so we can visit new places. We only booked this cruise because we had two full days in Iceland. Now we we  only have one full day in Iceland but we'll make the best of it. I have not received an Itinerary change, only the people who booked prior to December received the change letter. My TA hasn't received any notification of the change either. 

After quoting your experience to my TA, she suggested I call NCL myself. (I had held off calling because I was hoping she could get a more reliable answer.) I did call them and was quickly told that arrival time was 8:00 a.m.  I replied with the history of the situation and was then put on hold. After some time, the agent came back and said it was 6:00 p.m. after all. Is that true? Who knows?

By the way, our last scheduled cruise on NCL was cancelled after we had purchased the airfare. Somebody please tell me why I should have any confidence in this company.

6 hours ago, wendyp247 said:

We booked in December , after some of you received the changed in itinerary letter from NCL. The itinerary showed two full days in Iceland , as it still does on NCL we stem, which is very misleading since 2 days in Iceland was the main reason we booked this cruise.  I have not received a letter with any changes .We already have a non refundable airfare booked so we are committed to this cruise and will make the best of it.

 

 I spoke to my TA today, they called NCL and the supervisor at the "Big Box TA spoke with a NCL supervisor and confirmed arrival is to be at 6pm on 9/8. Our TA was very apologetic and said they are following up to make sure NCL changes their web page. and told me they don't like to sell cruises that  are misleading  and have the wrong itineraries. They were clearly not happy with NCl.  They have not received any written notice from NCL about the itinerary change.  We’re new to NCL and not impressed with such a big discrepancy in the port arrival time . We are seasoned cruisers,  50 + cruises and never had anything like this happen on another cruse line . NCL is not making a good first impression. Hopefully, there won't be any more unforeseen changes on the cruise. 

I've quoted your posting to my TA who today received an answer of 8:00 a.m. from NCL. At this point, I don't believe anybody and will probably cancel before final payment next month. 

Boarding in Singapore recently, we had three bottles for the two of us. There was no table set up yet, but the security agent (not a HAL employee) said we had to leave the third bottle for later delivery to our cabin. Although highly doubtful we would ever see it again, I had no choice. Two days into the cruise, we still did not have the wine. I inquired with Guest Services, and they apologized. The bottle was delivered later that day, and our account was charged for the corkage. This is the only port where I have encountered that procedure.

This trip was a particular disappointment birding-wise. Air quality was abysmal throughout and even a Vietnamese tour guide said "There are no birds in Vietnam." Never before have I had a cruise of this length where port stops yielded not a single gull or tern. To make it worse, increasing severe bronchitis kept us from going ashore on two different days. 

Some birds of interest:

Singapore: Common & crested myna, house crow

Koh Samui: Little egret, Oriental turtle dove, Spotted dove, Striated heron, Black-naped oriole, Pacific swallow, White-throated kingfisher, black kite

Bangkok: Little egret, Oriental turtle dove, Asian house martin, Fork-tailed swift, Peaceful dove, Milky stork, Large-billed crow, White-vented myna

Sihanoukville: Pacific reef egret

Nha Trang: Pacific swallow

Da Nang: Sooty-headed bulbul

Ha Long Bay: Black kite

Sanya: Black kite

Hong Kong: Black kite

From the rail: Absolutely nothing. Not a seabird, nor a whale, a porpoise, or even a jellyfish. The few black kites in the last several ports acted in place of the missing gulls, scavenging dead fish.

On 12/19/2018 at 5:55 PM, Whiskeyjack said:

Very cool birds.  I've always wanted to bird the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.  Birding islands is interesting to me because of their endemic species.

Thanks. I've been birding for a lot of years and on islands for about 35, since our Caribbean honeymoon. Two bits of advice: (1) Hire a professional guide for a session. In one day they will teach you volumes; (2) Never, ever be in a new area without sufficient guidebooks. The frustration will kill you. Obviously, there will be times when cruising when we have to make tough decisions on how much weight to carry, but I have regretted it whenever I cut back. Good birding.

Some birds of interest:

Lisbon, Portugal: Black-headed gull, Yellow-legged gull,  Harris's hawk (Saw this bird of the American Southwest perched on the terminal building opposite the ship. What at first looked like a snake in its talons resolved itself into leather jesses. I later learned that there are over 70 falconers in Lisbon. Obviously, this bird was a bad investment by one of them.)

Cadiz & Donaña NP, Spain: Black-headed gull, Yellow-legged gull, Grey heron, Eur. spoonbill, White stork, Greater flamingo, Greylag goose, Pochard, White-headed duck, Short-toed eagle, Common buzzard, Eur. kestrel, Crane, Purple swamphen, Eur. coot, Black-winged stilt, Eur. avocet, Common sandpiper, Green sandpiper, Slender-billed gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Eur. kingfisher, Lesser short-toed lark, Crested lark, Crag martin, Meadow pipit, White wagtail, Zitting cisticola, Cetti's warbler, Sardinian warbler, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Black redstart, Great tit, Chaffinch, Eur. goldfinch, Magpie

At Sea: Great shearwater

Lanzarote, Canary Islands: Common raven, Berthelot's pipit, Sandwich tern, Cory's shearwater

Tenerife, Canary Islands: Chiffchaff, Common blackbird, Plain swift, Blue chaffinch, Atlantic canary

Cape Verde: Berthelot's pipit, Purple heron, Cream-colored courser, Common ringed plover, Whimbrel, Common greenshank, Cape Verde Swift, Grey-headed kingfisher, Black-crowned sparrow-lark, Greater hoopoe-lark, Blackcap, Brown-necked raven, Spanish sparrow, Iago sparrow, Common waxbill

At Sea: Red-footed booby (including white and brown forms, as well as the brown form with white tail that is common in waters nearing Brazil), Masked booby, Magnificent Frigatebird

Recife: Cocoi heron, Blue-chinned sapphire, Common tody-flycatcher, Great kiskadee, Social flycatcher, Southern house-wren, Rufous-bellied thrush

Salvador: Masked water-tyrant, Tropical kingbird, White-winged swallow, White-rumped swallow, Chalk-browed mockingbird, Brown booby

Cabo Frio:  Neotropical cormorant, Brown booby, Kelp gull, Magnificent frigatebird

Some years ago we went in search of Lindbergh's grave and found it in a church cemetery a bit beyond Hana. We later realized that we had gone beyond the rental-car "forbidden" line. The next day, we decided to retrace our steps and continue around the island. While the gravel road was not at all bad (and we were in a sedan), part of the road was a one-lane path around blind curves and over the water. Even though there was a short barrier at the edge of the road, it was one of those experiences that are better to have behind you than ahead. In that the sights were not all that interesting, I would advise against going beyond Lindbergh's grave site.

Just a moment ago, the HAL Documentation Department confirmed to me (for the third time) that a visa is not necessary for U.S. passport holders on that cruise unless they have a connecting flight in mainland China on the way home from Hong Kong. We will get an e-mail to that effect 90 days before sailing and then again in two more follow-up messages. The fellow also said that Guest Relations should not be issuing these advisories, whether true or false, but should transfer passengers to Documentation.

Part of the confusion stems from China changing (loosening) the restriction as recently as May. Citizens of 59 countries, including the U.S., do not now need a visa for Hainan Island. Where a visa would be needed is where the passenger returning home has a connecting flight in a mainland China city.

On our first cruise with O, we and two friends booked concierge balconies. We then took an upgrade to a PH and were instantly sorry. Yes, the extra space was nice, but the room was laid out all wrong. The table at the foot of the bed proved to be a menace during nighttime wanderings and was quickly moved to near the sliding glass door. Worse, though, was the couch placement. It was set back so that there was no good view to the water. On the outside end, there was a useless small window set too high for convenient viewing. If you enjoy the sight of the water, this will be very annoying.

We have sailed several times since then with O and have happily gone with concierge balconies each time.

A note on shore ex from O. Many places, like in the South Pacific there are simply not enough resources to supply the ships passengers. O simply uses up all the available resources and the option of doing it your self is impossible or next to impossible

The Caribbean on the other hand is, at every port a giant shopping mall of vendors. Alaska too.

Many Med ports are this way as well

.

Plan in advance, its always possible to book a bunch of shore ex when you first can, and then , If you can, get replacements from non O tours and cancel your O booked tours. That way you have some insurance you will not get shut out.

A corollary to this is that what you find dockside may not be worth the money or risk. On a South Pacific cruise we thought we might take one of the dockside snorkel tours we were told would be available- until we saw what was there. One look at the under-maintained, over-filled boat killed that idea. When you have grown up around boats, you know better than to take that chance.