shorefolks

Our first HAL cruise isn't until next year, but I will certainly keep that in mind. Thanks.

We did an Antarctica cruise on Princess a few years ago in a balcony cabin. While I would certainly agree with those who stress the need to roam the various outside locations and spend the majority of your time there, I would also say that having the balcony enabled us to really make the most of a lifetime opportunity that will be over much too soon. There are periods during the day when you just don't have time or desire to change decks, but you want to get a quick look anyway. A few steps to the rail can reward with you with sights like a penguin taking a nap on a desk-sized berg, a whole flock of penguins porpoising through the water either toward or away from the ship, whales of every size and species, or a huge albatross effortlessly soaring along next to your cabin. Even if there is a resident naturalist who uses the loudspeaker, many of those sights might not be enough for him to mention if he is even on duty at that time.

Also, don't forget the many hours of daylight you will have. Many of my best sightings took place during one of those interruptions in a night's sleep that have become a standard part of aging. Finally, I must mention my favorite memory of Antarctica. Because the weather was relatively warm (Antarctic summer, after all), I had left the sliding door partly open to enjoy the fresh air. The next morning I was awakened by the sound of nearby whales spouting. You don't get that in an OV. You won't get to Antarctica many more times or maybe at all. Spend a little more and make the most of it.

I had two FCCs due to expire in mid May. I called Princess at most two weeks before, and they were happy to extend them two years. Of course, once my TA announced Memorial Day sales, I used them up immediately!

This is one reason why NOT to take included air. In addition, you will not get the extra miles that come from paying for a flight with the carrier's credit card, nor will you get any other benefits. The latter might include just-in-case things like medical evacuation or lost-luggage coverage. On a 2-couple trip to cruise from Tahiti, we discovered this at flight check-in. Fortunately, my airline status allowed us to skip the fees plus check the other couple's bags under my name for free. Unfortunately, in the case of Tahiti, we still had to pay the fees for the flight back from Tahiti to LAX.

We rented a car for the Ring of Kerry, but it turned out to be a ring of rain - torrential rain. Plus traffic was heavy. Turned back at about 10 percent of the route. Went to the Blarney Stone and then a session at the pub.

Exactly why we preferred the Dingle Peninsula. Traffic on the Ring was very heavy, especially from the huge tour buses. One cut across a curve and forced us off the road. We hit a rock hidden in grass and bent a rim.

It has been a few years since our last visit, but I can tell you that a self-driving experience there is well worth it. You can't beat being able to stop at an out-of-the-way pub or just being able to take a quick photo of ruins in the middle of a cow pasture. As to the age limits on renting, that varies among the several companies. When you shop for price, make sure you ask about it.

I would also concur with the recommendations on seeing the Dingle Peninsula and Newgrange. Different experiences, but neither should be missed.

We sail four lines: Celebrity, NCL, Princess, and Oceania, in current ascending order of preference- but that could change after any given cruise. With the obvious exception of comparing the lower three to Oceania with its higher price structure and concomitant higher level of amenities, we have honestly noticed variability within a cruise line (among ships, among cruises, among staff personally encountered, etc.) to equal or exceed that between cruise lines. Yes, there are particular characteristics of each line that, to us, are better than those of other lines (no line gets everything perfectly right), but our choices might not be the same as yours or those of some other cruisers.

The most important element of deciding on a cruise is an honest self-examination of which elements are important to you. Then try to see which line/ship/cruise best matches those elements- but be prepared for all of your work to run afoul of the actual circumstances you encounter. We generally love the food on Oceania and look forward to meals, but a noro-inflicted cruise last winter involved such poor dining room management that each meal was a frustrating ordeal. Still, we did not hesitate to book a cruise on the same ship for this April (but in a different area which we have wanted to visit).

Our cruising decisions are based primarily on itinerary and secondarily on price. A Celebrity cruise this December had rather poor food but, if the itinerary and price were favorable, we would book Celebrity again. As mentioned above, our favorite of the three, more "mass market," lines is Princess. Still, if the others schedule cruises that are of greater interest to us, we will sail with them instead. Bottom line: it is all about what is important to you personally- with some good luck thrown in.

Interesting. The menu in Blu has not been changed in the last five years. Or at least it hadn't back in july this year. Has it been changed since then?

 

 

For people reading this I'd be a little bit wary of this kind of sweeping statement. Whilst it's true Aqua class is regularly more costly than concierge class, in reality you will sometimes find that aqua class cabins are cheaper than some concierge class rooms!

I don't know if the menu has changed. I'm just saying that was the impression we got. We found the sauces to be oppressive.

I am aware of the price anomalies that appear. I agree that concierge rooms can sometimes be higher than aqua. We watch those prices (and those of verandas) and look for the best buy. For us, though, Blu has lost its appeal as an added attraction of aqua.

We just completed our second cruise in Aqua (first was 2 years prior), both on the Millennium. Because we enjoyed our first cruise eating in Blu, we deliberately booked Aqua again and were not pleased. The "clean cuisine" concept seems to have been abandoned, as most every dish was overburdened with some sort of sauce that was usually inappropriate for the main meat or fish ingredient. That said, the limited number of entrees quickly reduces your options. Finally, despite the calmer, quieter atmosphere in general that one finds in Blu, the much-mentioned extreme proximity of two-tops produces just too many unsolicited and extended conversations with neighbors. (Obviously, if you love meeting people on cruises, you will adore this factor. We have nothing against meeting people, so long as they don't interrupt our meals.)

An additional factor when booking Aqua on Millennium is cabin location. Your choices are limited: forward on deck 9 or aft on deck 11. Our first cruise was on deck 9, and we hated the very large overhang of the deck above. As well, the jogging track was above us and the incessant pounding noise was very annoying. Accordingly, we chose deck 11 this time. Located aft of the stack, our balcony was subject to frequent coatings of soot. Our excellent steward did his best to clean it up, but there was a limit to what he could do.

As a result of the above, we decided to return to Concierge Class should we book with Celebrity again. There simply was not enough net advantage to justify paying Aqua prices again.

Having attended many a work-related formal event before we retired, my wife and I have no desire to dress formally now when we are enjoying retirement. At the same time, we refuse to join those who delight in trying to flout the published dress codes. Therefore, on formal nights we have always dined in specialty restaurants where we can legitimately keep to our usual standard of smart casual. One evening, before X ended formal nights, I was standing alone in an open area wearing a button-down dress shirt and dress slacks. A small group of people walked by, quite elegantly dressed. One woman looked at me, turned to her husband and said (a little too loudly) "What a crime"! Frankly, I was too amused to reply- and did not care enough to bother. Guilty as charged, I guess.

Two years ago, before we took our first cruise in Aqua class, there was confusion about whether Aqua did indeed get all of the perks of Concierge. (Not all of them were listed on the website.) It turned out that it was just another case of Celebrity paying little attention to their website and neglecting to list them all. I may have missed a posting about this now but, until I see a report to the contrary from somebody who has very recently sailed in Aqua, I would bet that all of the Concierge perks still hold for Aqua today.

Regardless, for us the attraction of Aqua is still Blu. Obviously, this is strictly a matter of personal taste, but we much prefer the "cleaner" manner of cooking there to the heavy (and more intensely-flavored) sauces usually found in the MDR. With the exception of Blu, we have generally not been happy with the food on Celebrity, and we prefer to sail with Princess or NCL before Celebrity. Others, I am sure, will disagree. As has been noted, however, the tables are definitely closer in Blu. For us, this is a drawback, but it sounds as if the OP might not mind, as they like to converse with other diners.

One additional factor is cabin position. We like forward cabins, and for Aqua this put us on deck 9 on the Millennium. That meant that we had a large overhang on our balcony from deck 10. It also meant that we were under the jogging track- which periodically made itself loudly known.

You might try Cruising Excursions (cruisingexcursions dot com). I have used them twice, albeit in Europe and not yet in the ports you mention. I was generally pleased with their tours, and their policy is complete refund when the ship does not get to port. I have booked with them in Puerto Madryn on an upcoming cruise for that reason. I refuse to book with operators that want advance payment yet do not guarantee refunds for skipped ports.

We like both NCL and Princess, with Celebrity an increasingly distant third. Although we sail mainly for itinerary, food is very important. Key to our enjoyment of the latter is being able to dine by ourselves at the time we wish. When on Princess, we always choose Anytime dining and decline to share a table. Although we are often told we will have to wait for a table, the "wait" usually involves standing to the side for, literally, one or two minutes. We rarely have had a problem with this. The mostly older, Italian maitre d's are quite professional and know how to manage a dining room well. As to the food itself, I would say that the MDRs are about even, but NCL definitely wins for the specialties.

By contrast, Celebrity employs an apparently Byzantine computerized system for table seating that will occupy the undivided attention of the young, female maitre d's who toss off platitudes without even looking up at passengers. Meanwhile, the line in front of their podium grows and grows. By the time you are seated, your attitude has soured any enjoyment you might get from the food- and their chefs really are not that good to start with.

We did an O cruise from Tahiti in January. We went straight from the airport to the port without getting a hotel room. That, and the total lack of facilities at the port, made for a miserable start to what should have been a glorious vacation. At the port the tent was used only for the luggage. Outside, there were a very few benches (seating maybe a dozen people at most) which were rarely in the shade. The meager lawn was covered with people (mostly in their 70s and 80s) roasting in the sun. The only indoor seats (a handful at most) were in the tourist information center which is a short walk along the waterfront. Whoever got there first stayed there for hours. There were a few cafes near the port, but we arrived long before they opened. There was a marketplace a few blocks away which was a classic island market and worth seeing. It did have some very tasty hot (and safe) street food. And that was about it.

Remember that when you arrive you will have been flying for hours. You probably did not sleep well. Your clothes aren't fresh and now you are sweating in the sun- and you have hours to go before you can board. As others have said, get a room and feel relaxed before you start your cruise. We wish we did.

We stayed in the forward penthouse suites on the Dawn and Star. The balcony is huge for those, but be aware of the increased wind factor. We also felt that the view through the windows was not that great. Still, the cabin size and the butler (we had a gem) made it a worthwhile investment. If don't mind the aft location (not our favorite), you might choose that.

We are just back from a tour in Peru. We used Peruvian Shuttle (http://www.peruvian-shuttle.com/en/) and were very happy. Despite the name, they provided scheduled, private-car pick-up and charged $25 total (not pp) each way for transport between the airport and our hotel in Miraflores. They are also excellent about communication via e-mail. Drivers are friendly and on-time, and the cars are quite clean.

The first cruise my wife and I took together was on the NCL Skyward to the Caribbean in the early 80s. The enforced regimen (set meal times, dress codes, table mates, etc.) was so unpleasant that we did not cruise again for over 20 years. When NCL introduced Freestyle, we decided to give it a try. We enjoyed it so much that we have been actively cruising for the last 10 years. As other lines have adopted versions of Freestyle, we have expanded our selections to Princess and Celebrity, as well as continuing with NCL.

In recent years, however, we have noticed that the general Freestyle concept (or its equivalent on other lines) has eroded and become gradually less workable. This has three causes: (1) the increased size of ships, with more passengers fighting for resources that have not greatly expanded; (2) the use of reservations for dining and, now, entertainment; and (3) on the other lines, allowing passengers who have opted for traditional dining to use the "anytime" dining rooms when they wish. The result is that walk-up dining has become much more of a hassle, with wait times on a recent Celebrity cruise averaging 30 minutes regardless of when we arrived at the dining room.

How to fight this? We have mostly avoided the larger ships in the past, but now we won't even look at them. Make dining reservations weeks or months ahead? No. That takes us back almost to where we were 30-some years ago. One of the things that we really enjoy about a cruise vacation is exactly the freedom to be spontaneous in our (lack of) dining planning. We will plan our excursions but not our meals.

No, what I see us doing is moving away gradually from the mass-market lines. Thus, despite my native cheapness, we just booked our second Oceania cruise- smaller ship, smart-casual dress code, and a much more relaxed feeling. All of which means that we have been driven to pay more to try to regain what we enjoyed in the past. Sounds an awful lot like airline travel.

From the sound of it, eurolady stayed in the room we had in 2010 when it was a Marriott. We had booked a standard room, and they gave us a complimentary upgrade. The living room was bigger than ours at home and decorated superbly. We loved the hotel.

If you do stay there, be aware that there is a very good wine store nearby. Go out the hotel front door, turn left, and take the first left (as I remember- better ask). They have a good selection of wines at all prices and, best of all, if you tell them you are boarding a cruise they will do a spectacular job of wrapping and prepping. It was so good that we just checked it with our luggage. After a delay in delivery to our cabin that made us a little nervous, a steward hand-carried it to us "because it seemed fragile." No hint of a corkage charge, either. Ah, the good, old days!

Just wanted to follow up on our Sifracar rental at Livorno. The agent was waiting for us at the Hertz counter in the terminal when we exited the ship. The paperwork was handled expeditiously. Surprisingly, there was no attempt to sell us additional coverage. The car had two minor scratches which the agent had already documented. I could find no others. We were told to leave the car unlocked in the lot next to the terminal with the keys over the visor and the GPS under the seat.

When we returned at the end of the day, there was no agent present. Therefore, I took many pictures in case I would need to document later that I had returned the car without damage. I also held onto my receipt from the lot where we parked in Lucca.

When we got back home, there was a temporary authorization for two days' rental on my credit card, which is reasonable practice. This disappeared after several days. The final charge was accurate; it was posted about 10 days after the rental.

One last note: the GPS performed flawlessly and might not have been needed for just city-to-city travel. However, it had been pre-programmed by the agent for all of the most common tourist destinations (including municipal parking lots), and this was very helpful. Amusingly, though, where it really came in handy was returning to the terminal within the pier area. There were times when we could see our ship but not the path to get to it through the very high stacks of containers and equipment. No matter. The GPS took us right there.

In sum, I was most satisfied with Sifracar and would use them again.

Having been snorkeling for 50 years now, I wouldn't think of NOT bringing my own gear. When I arrive on-site, I already know that my mask provides the amount of visibility I want and does not leak, my fins give the power I desire and fit my large feet perfectly (nothing worse than having your feet cramp because the rental fins are tiny), and I don't even give a thought to how my snorkel drains. I rinse my equipment back in the cabin, and they dry it in the shower. Each to his own but, for me, being able to enjoy the snorkeling and not worry about equipment problems is more than worth the downside of transportation, cleaning, and storage.

Select does work great for late diners.. Those who want to dine before 730 need trad or a reservation if they don't want a pager. So the op wants to eat earlier than their reserved time, select probably could not provide it without a wait and causing others to have waits. Just the result of most wanting to eat before 730.

This was decidedly NOT the case on our recent Silhouette cruise. We are late diners, preferring 8:00 or after. Eight out of nine nights that we went to the MDR we had a pager for 30 minutes waiting for a table for two.

Add that to the Manhattan-type arrangement of only several inches between adjacent deuces strung out in a line. Then combine both factors with what we found to be a fairly boring menu, and dining on the ship became the worst part of every day. We had two nice meals in Murano and Tuscan Grille but, with the raised add-on prices for those, they very well should be.

Just got off such a cruise at Civitavecchia, and there was no customs interaction at all. However, don't let that fool you into cutting things too tightly getting to the airport. We had an unexpected delay searching for one of our bags because it was apparently the victim of a dyslexia-type sorting error with its group number (6 read as a 9 and the numbers reversed). "Stuff happens."

One of the reasons that we cruise is that we love the sea and we love watching it. For us, an enormous reason to prefer bed-by-bath is that we can sit on couch and chair with a close view of the ocean. That is particularly pleasant when we are eating, whether it be coffee and danish before going to breakfast, a room service snack, or sundowners with in-room appetizers.

We just got off the Silhouette and very much missed the above because our bed was by the window. It definitely detracted from our enjoyment of the cabin.

By the way, those who lament awkward access to storage, go to Princess, particularly the Grand Class ships. They simply do it much better. We cruise both lines and, when we are on Celebrity, we hate the storage layout.

I certainly respect your decision to use your credit card auto coverage benefit in place of buying extra coverage in Italy. We never purchase auto rental insurance in the US, but always do so in Europe.

 

Let me be the devil's advocate for a moment... You pick up your rental at the port and drive off for the day. During the day the car is damaged. You'll need a police report at the very least for your credit card coverage.

 

When your cruise is over you'll need to contact your credit card company where you'll be referred to their insurance department or insurance carrier. Without going into everything, let's agree it's going to be a hassle you don't need to endure.

 

What if the damage occurs within a couple of hours of the ship leaving? Are you going to risk missing the ship in order locate the police to get that report?

 

Sifracar representatives may not even be at the port to check you in, having left for the day. Are you going to feel comfortable leaving a damaged vehicle if that damage is not covered by their insurance?

 

In the whole scheme of things, is it really worth saving €10 to €20 by not buying full coverage for the day? For me the answer is no...

 

Lew

And I respect your point of view, as well. At this point, I do not know just how much the "full" coverage would cost, but I am sure it will be offered when I pick up the car. I will make my decision at that time. If indeed it is only a trivial amount, I might lean toward taking it. I suspect it won't be trivial, though.

Yes, accidents happen and, no, I wouldn't be happy going through all of what you quite plausibly describe. Still, the sum total of non-trivial add-ons for our many overseas rentals (frequently in Italy) would be enough to make me lean toward relying on my credit card coverage.

We divide our cruising among NCL, Celebrity, and Princess. We make our decisions according to itinerary and price. While we enjoy all three, we probably think of Princess as our favorite for some fuzzy combination of factors, mostly an accumulation of small things. That said, we do like NCL very much and wish that the other two lines would adopt NCL's casual atmosphere. Because we do not pack formal clothes (having had our fill of formal occasions when we worked), on Princess and Celebrity we are forced to go to alternative restaurants on formal nights. On NCL that is never an issue, although the selection of such dining locations is much more varied on NCL anyway. I think you will enjoy your cruise.