Linda-E

Thanks for the great review! I'm looking forward to a similar tour.

I contacted Spain Day Tours in early July about a Vigo tour. They said they would confirm us once they had the minimum number of people for a group so I said I'd fill the group from our roll call. Although I sent them all the names and email addresses, it took them 11 days to let us know they couldn't accommodate us. I have booked and participated in private tours all over the world, as well as booking them for my clients, and this is by far the worst company I've ever encountered.

I'm happy that we can do a taxi tour. Can you please give me an idea of the cost so we can make sure to have enough Euros.

I contacted Spain Day Tours in early July about a Vigo tour. They said they would confirm us once they had the minimum number of people for a group so I said I'd fill the group from our roll call. Although I sent them all the names and email addresses, it took them 11 days to let us know they couldn't accommodate us. I have booked and participated in private tours all over the world, as well as booking them for my clients, and this is by far the worst company I've ever encountered.

DH and I are on the Rotterdam, Norwegian fjords cruise, August 29, 2015. Sadly, no one else is signed up for our Roll Call.

Can you please post pictures of your cabin and balcony? Are all four aft balconies the same size?

Thank you!!

Thank you Ms. Lutoff-Perlo for speaking with us.

My husband and I have a couple Caribbean cruises booked for 2016 and 2017 and would like some additional information about the overnight stops. I hope that the overnights will provide us with opportunities that are not possible during the typical daytime hours in port.

Are there plans for some onshore nighttime activities like the Azamara Azamazing Evenings or cultural/culinary excursions? One of my favorite excursions was a ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Best of luck in your new position.

I am looking forward to your next installment. Hope you are continuing to have a wonderful cruise.

Could you please post some photos of the aft of the ship? We are particularly interested in the aft facing balconies on the Baja deck - wondering how deep they are and what furniture they have. Also - do the Caribe deck balconies have loungers, or just tables and chairs?

Thanks for any info you can provide. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Thank you! I appreciate your input.

gjh123 and jenf22,

Can you please email me the contact info for the companies whose tour you have arranged?

Thank you.

My DH is speaking at a conference in The Hague in early September. We'd like to add a cruise to the itinerary and we are looking at either the Caribbean Princess or the Rotterdam 7-day itineraries.

The ms Rotterdam sails from Rotterdam to Eidfjord, Alesund, Gerainger and Bergen. The big plus is the logistics of being able to fly in and out of Amsterdam with easy transportation to Rotterdam and The Hague.

The Caribbean Princess sails from Southampton to Stavanger, Olden, Hellesylt/Gerainger and Bergen. The cruise is significantly less expensive but a much larger ship and more complicated logistics for travel to and from Southampton.

Any thoughts on these two itineraries? What are the must-dos in these ports?

We are very familiar with Princess but haven't cruised HAL in a long time. What type of entertainment and menus can we expect on the Rotterdam? I know HAL has a liberal smoking policy - will this be an issue for us enjoying our balcony?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Looking at this cruise for late August. There are few reviews of this ship in Europe so it's hard to know what to expect. We are frequent Celebrity and Princess cruisers, but have had good experiences on two HAL Caribbean cruises in the past.

The ms Rotterdam sails from Rotterdam to Eidfjord, Alesund, Gerainger and Bergen. What are the must-dos in these ports? What type of entertainment and menus can we expect on this Netherlands-based ship? I know HAL has a liberal smoking policy - will this be an issue for us enjoying our balcony?

Thanks.

Thank you all. I really can't tell much from the photo but I'll stick with the aft.

My DH and I are looking at a Norway voyage in August on the Rotterdam. There are a couple aft facing cabins available. Can someone please post a photo of the aft end of the Rotterdam? Do you know if the aft corner cabins have a wrap around veranda? Is there noise from the stairs I see on the deck plans?

Thank you for your help!

The book was Peter the Great by Robert Massie. It's very long but a great intro to St. Petersburg. I'm still finishing the last 100 pages.

Escargot were available every night on our Constellation cruise in May. They were on the small side but quite yummy!

We were also on the May 20th Baltic cruise and had a fantastic tour with Dancing Bear Tours. There were just 10 of us and the personal attention was amazing! In our 400 days of cruising, Julia was one of the top 5 tour guides we have ever had. She is very well educated and well informed and was able to answer all our questions (and we had many)! Our group ranged in age from 50s to 80 and our tour was pretty active. We saw everything we wanted to visit.

The highlight of our tour was a visit to the Grand Chorale Synagogue. We also did a subway ride (3 stations) on the way back to the city from Peterhof, a morning visit to a local market, and a canal cruise. We had no issues with road closures or traffic delays.

Each of us were given a personal audio receiver with lanyard for use in the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace. On the first day, we had a great tour of the Hermitage, including the Treasury (Gold and Diamond) Rooms and grabbed a quick lunch there. On the second day, we had a really yummy 3-course Russian lunch at a restaurant near Peterhof. The food was pre-ordered so it didn't take a lot of time (meat or fish was chosen in advance).

I think the small groups (Julia will handle groups of all size, but I would not want to do this with more than the 10 we had!) and excellent pre-planning makes Dancing Bear stand out from the rest. Julia recommended a book for each of us to read before we went in order to better understand the city's history (to be fair, only one of us finished the whole thing). She gave us a parting gift of a video of the Hermitage so we could see more of the extensive collections than we had time to view in our half day.

Does anyone know where Laura Goor, Future Cruises Sales, is now?

Kathy

Laura is on the Constellation.

Hi Anni,

Thank you for all the valuable info both here and on your website. We are going to be in Warnemunde on May 22. Can you please recommend a couple of nice restaurants for lunch and dinner and a nice glass of wine?

Thank you!

Thanks for the informative review. We are on Constellation (our favorite!) on May 20. Do you know if Damian and Graeme will still be onboard in Europe? In the past, we've often seen changes right before or after the Transatlantic.

Hi Linda,

 

John Grantham is expected to be Connie's CD in May. I was unable to find out who the Captains Club Host will be in May, but it will not be Graeme, as he's leaving Connie before the Transatlantic. Sounds as if he will be doing short stints on a couple of Celebrity ships before heading to Century.

Thanks Andy. Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Connie is one of my favorite ships (second only to the Journey, of course).

Have a great cruise Andy!

It would be great if you could find out who will be the CD and CC host in Europe in May. Generally, there are lots of changes before and after the Transatlantic!

I selected Dancing Bear tours because of the excellent reviews (they are #2 on Trip Advisor, second only to SPB. For our group of 8, we are paying the same as other tours are asking for 12-20 passengers. In addition, Julia has been extremely responsive and was very willing to customize the tour to include the Chorale Synagogue, subway, farmer's market, and a visit to the Gold room in the Hermitage. I'll post a review when we return in June.

Hi Danish Viking,

I noticed that the thread was closed. Maybe it got too big.

Anyway, glad to see that you are back. We can't wait to visit your wonderful city in May!

Linda

Hi folks,

A belated Happy New Year to you all.

We are cruising the Baltic on Connie in May and will be eagerly awaiting any staffing news.

Linda

Guest relations Pearline Morgan

Executive Chef Rene Rojas

Thanks. This is very valuable information. We leave on the Summit on Saturday and will be sure to post when we return.

Smooth sailing to all