Starlaker

Mimmy , does the ship itself do the night cruise in Budapest or is that an optional tour on a separate ship?

That's right, Starlaker. If you're on a Viking ship, you will have a night cruise along the river after dinner. Hope you have a great trip!

Awesome Mimmy! Thanks for your quick response. We are doing this cruise for our 50th anniversary in July and are looking forward to it so much.

Do I understand your post about your last night in Budapest correctly to read that the Viking ship does a nighttime cruise along the river? I was going to sign up for a nighttime boat tour, but won't need to id the ship does that.

I read the same warnings about cruise lines holding us back for our private tour in SPB. We were down at the Princess ship exit first thing that morning and they could not have cared less. We were off and on our way before the ship's tours.

Thanks GradUT. You confirmed my thoughts. Thanks also for the suggestions for alternate touring. We lived near Frankfurt from 1972-1976, but never got up to the region around Warnemuende.

Sauer-Kraut, The last time I was in Berlin was in 1973 when the wall, mine fields, anti-tank barriers, guards, watch towers, etc. were all in place. The wall and the ruined buildings in East Berlin left a deep impression. We are doing a Baltic cruise next year with a stop in Warnemunde. Most people seem to be taking the side trip to Berlin from there. From the pictures I have seen of Berlin now, it looks like a modern city. I am sure that the contrast will be interesting, but I am afraid that I will be disappointed in seeing the modern Berlin. I am not much into big cities. Would rather spend my time in the countryside or in quaint small villages. What do you think?

SP is one of the places where you don't want to do it on the cheap. There is so much to see and you will regret it if you are there and don't take advantage of the opportunity. A group tour with one of the tour companies would probably be your most economical alternative. The ship tours are more expensive and you don't see as much. We and another couple toured with Red October and it was worth every penny. The driver dropped us with our guide at the door, we had early admission, no lines, and he was waiting at the door when we left each site. We are going back next year and will go with them again and plan our itinerary to go back to those places we want to spend more time at and go to the places we missed last time.

We enjoyed the market and the church square in Helsinki, but certainly wouldn't trade it for Tallinn. Tallinn was our favorite stop. I am looking forward to going back next year. There is so much to see there.

"If you are expecting fancy ports with lots of upscale things to do, then an Amazon cruise is definitely not for you. The Amazon is a relaxing, slow-paced, back to nature, peaceful cruise. I loved sitting on the veranda or at the back of the Terrace Cafe just watching the jungle go by, with the occasional house, boat, tributary, or person waving to us.

Twiga, you said exactly what I was going to say. We did this cruise round tip from Miami 11/27/10 - 12/21/10 and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We saw some smoke in the distance at the first part of the river, but none of the smoke reached the river. The towns are mostly primitive, but that was what we found so interesting. Watching them load the boats in Manaus was fascinating. Our first day in Manaus we went back the River Negra on a private tour with three other couples. We saw lots of wildlife - toucans, monkeys, caimen, pink dolphins, and lots of birds and butterflies. We stopped at a village along the river and went to their school. We all took gifts for the school - pens, pencils, paper, toothbrushes, soccer balls, etc. The second day we took a cab to the Opera House. The square was beautifully decorated for Christmas and the opera house was magnificent. We then went to the market and saw some really gnarly fish laying out for sale. So very interesting. In Santarem we went in to town on our own and took a small boat out in the river to see the meeting of the waters and then rode around a marsh where we saw lots of different water birds. We also enjoyed wandering through the shops in town. We didn't go to the show in Parintins because it was so hot and we didn't want to be with the huge crowd that goes there for the show. Instead we hired a bike cab to take us around town. There is a very interesting church and cemetery there. I didn't enjoy Boca de Valeria as much. It was interesting to see a native village and see their homes, but all the children wanting to take your hand or have their picture taken with their pets (for $) bothered me somewhat. I understand that on ship days, families bring their children in from all the surrounding villages. I certainly don't begrudge them the opportunity to make some money as it is a very poor area.

As Twiga said, this is a very relaxing cruise with the opportunity to see some lovely scenery and experience an entirely different culture. P.S. If you stop at Devil's Island, be sure to take lots of water. I have never been so hot in my entire life. Don't know how those prisoners survived. Many didn't.

I had the same problem with aol last week when we were on the Marina. I finally gave up and decided that whatever was on there could wait. My friends knew I was gone and my kids communicated with me via Facebook. When I got back and opened my 93 emails, I found that I was right. I just erased most of them!

We just returned from a Western Mediterranean cruise. We were offered an upsell to a Penthouse Suite a few weeks before sailing. So glad that we took it. It was wonderful. Only problem is that we liked it so much we may be forever spoiled from going with a regular balcony cabin! We didn't really use the butler much, but we loved the space and the bathroom was wonderful.

Thank you so much for the detailed advice. We really appreciate it.

Please forgive me for hijacking your thread, but I have a question for those familiar with Barcelona. On our arrival day we are planning to take a taxi to our hotel from the airport to drop off our luggage, then take the Hoho bus around the city to get an overview of the city (and stay awake after an all night flight). The following day we have tickets for the Sagrada Familia for 9:00 AM. What is the best way to get from our hotel (Crowne Plaza near Plaza Espana) to Sagrada Familia that morning? After seeing the Sagrada Familia we are planning to take a taxi back to our hotel to pick up our luggage, then have the taxi take us to the ship. Does that sound like a doable plan or do you have a better suggestion. We can check in to the ship at 12:00, but don't have to be there until later as we sail at 7:00. Thank you for any help you can give me.

Yes Tansy, I am talking about air deviation. We always want to get in at least a day early in case of any flight delays and to get rested after long flights. We learned our lesson on our very first cruise. Our flight was delayed and we were the last ones on the ship before they pulled up the gangplank. Don't ever want to go through that stress again.

Thank you! That is a great idea to place a sticker over the old cabin number. I was trying to find a neat way to cross out the old and put in the new. Love cruise critic! Can always find an answer to a cruise question.

We were recently upgraded for our cruise that starts on 27 September. Our luggage tags are still for the previous cabin. Will we get new luggage tags before we go?

Hi Gig Harborite! I was just up your way yesterday to go to my grandson's JV football game and Friday night for the Varsity game and will be there Saturday for granddaughter's birthday party. With three active grandchildren in Gig Harbor, we can almost put the car on autopilot!

I don't have an answer for you about Seattle to Miami flights with Oceania. I do want to say that we have been very happy dealing with Oceania Air for our upcoming trip to Barcelona. I checked out the possible flights before dealing with Oceania Air and there were some really horrible possibilities. Oceania Air found us a better connection than I could find through the air search engines (Travelocity, etc.). You do not have to accept their first choice and you do not have to pay until you have accepted a flight so do your homework before you deal with them. Good luck!

The Prime Rib in Polo was the best I have ever had anywhere! Looking forward to having it again in three weeks.

Perfect! Thanks so much for the pictures. I have been looking for a cabin diagram. Now I am even more excited. Thank you so much!

We were just offered an upsell from a concierge veranda A3 to a Penthouse Suite PH2 on our Sept 27 cruise on Marina. It was a great deal and we snapped it up. We are very excited about our first suite. The cabin looks great.

Mystery solved. Apparently if your deviation includes arriving a day early or leaving a day later, you lose the $99 Premium Economy promotion. .

We are arriving in Barcelona for our cruise a day early and still have the $99 Premium Economy promotion. We paid the standard deviation fee of $350 for two and did not have to pay any additional upcharge.

Thanks Mskaufman. The bus lets us off at the old tobacco factory beside the University of Seville. On the map it looks to be about 3 or 4 blocks from the cathedral. We plan to take a carriage ride that takes us to the Plaza de Espana. The pictures of the Plaza are beautiful.

mskaufman, Your pictures are wonderful. We are taking the ship's bus to Seville and then doing Seville on our own. I figure that we will only have about 4 hours in Seville. My first priority is to see the cathedral. I also want to take a carriage ride around the city to see the highlights. Due to arthritic feet and knees, I am trying to minimize walking. In the time we have available, I don't think we will have time to see the Real Alcazar. We will have seen the Alhambra in Granada so I am putting the Alcazar at lowest priority in Seville. What do you think?

The trains in Spain run mainly in the plain. (Sorry, I couldn't help myself!) :)

Which HOHO bus did you use? Do you recommend it over the others?