Dancer Bob

Much good information, especially from Jayayeff. My own experience: I've done 4 repositionings from Dubai back to Italy, I arrive several days early due to the time change. The urban sprawl and traffic remind me of a US city. Dubai can get expensive if you're not careful. The Marina terminal is on the opposite side of the city from the airport, an expensive area and not close to anything (the tram is not too far away). Taxis get expensive because of distance. HOHO bus for 2 days would be efficient, although not cheap. Metro is crowded at rush hour. Shuts down at midnite, many flights arrive after that. I've stayed in the Deira and Bur Juman areas, three star hotels I found quite comfortable. Many hotels say they're on a main street but are actually on a side street. Very confusing, many streets are numbered but seemingly at random. My last trip the taxi driver couldn't find the hotel because it was on a side street, but I had printed a map from the Metro station, so the station was all I needed.

Been a few years, but I recall a port bus that dropped us at the port entrance near the fish market. Nothing nearby, not at all like Muscat close to the souk. Not sure where the dock is in relation to the centre or what shuttles the ship might offer, but nothing I recall contradicts Zach.

It's been a couple of years since I flew Vueling, don't recall exactly what fare I paid or baggage fees, decent for a low cost carrier but would have been a bit of a zoo with that amount of baggage. If you're looking at IB Business anyway, I'd be inclined to go that route.

Salalah Oman. Dusty commercial port, nothing anywhere close. Very obnoxious taxi drivers. Ships often stop there- maybe Heidi13 knows, technical stop before Suez transit? Rio de Janeiro, port area grubby. Went to Copacabana, supposed upscale and well policed. The week after, there was a video of an armed gang robbing people on the beach. Add Dominica to the very long list of unpleasant Caribbean ports.

Firenze is being transferred to Carnival in the US next year, I assume this is before. Firenze was designed for the Chinese market, big casino and expensive restaurants and shops. Not popular with the European market. If itinerary is important, 16 days would be better than 10. Have not been on NCL Star, but I expect to be a much more American experience culturally. There will be more English-speaking solos. When I was on Firenze, it was only 1/4 full, there was not a critical mass for most activities. Without a drink package, Firenze will probably be more expensive. I'm booking non-alcohol soft drink packages now, seems to work out well. Food will be much more American on NCL. It is difficult to predict exactly what will be extra cost, all cruise lines are charging as much as they can now.

Never actually been to Aix, different line from Vitrolles (Airport MRS)/Marseille. I admit small and quaint towns aren't my thing. I would consider it too high risk to try right now. Normally Agde to Marseille has several direct trains, about 3 hours, two weeks ago it took me 10 hours to go half-way, gave up trying to get to Marseille til the next day (luckily I planned to arrive two days early for my cruise).

The last time I flew from BCN, Schengen exit took more than an hour for non-EU passports. If it's MSC, it's likely to be only hundreds of other cruise passengers trying to catch non-Schengen flights, rather than thousands. Low-risk, but a lot more than zero-risk. Where the ship has been is almost certainly irrelevant, Barcelona is not likely to be the first Schengen port.

The website is SNCF-Connect.com. I assume you are actually docking at La Seyne sur mer, looks to be about 2 hours with a connection Marseille St Charles. Warning: the French government recently raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, the unions are incensed, especially SNCF which had a very good deal, there have been major disruptions. Schedules are not confirmed until 17.00 the day before.

In Argentine Tango, the invitation is the Cabeceo. Eye contact, the man (very macho culture) nods as invitation, the woman nods as accepting, the man then approaches. (The initial figure is La Salida, the Exit, to the dance floor.) Sounds a lot like this. Another question, did you find Brazilian visas a hassle?

Interesting, thanks.

The last time I flew out of Barccelona Schengen exit took over an hour. Are you doing self-help debarkation? I suspect there's a good reason Cunard won't give you the earlier flight. What's your risk tolerance for purchasing a last-minute ticket for the late flight? 60%? 90%? 99.99%

You flew into Sao Paulo? Any comments on getting to the ship? We have a large Brazilian community here. I wouldn't disagree with "noisey".

Last time I flew from Barcelona, Schengen exit took over an hour. Rest from checkin to gate took about an hour. I'd be happy with this flight.

You only pay one set of port charges, so it's very surprising the total should be higher for1 than 2, unless a special promotion is involved, which is rare.

I'm on Diadema heading for the Canary Islands. Announcements are made in Italian and English, Portugese is in printed material only. I have two tablets, one from the US (proprietary OS, many apps don't work) and one from Mexico (most apps work). On Firenze last year, for both “app not available for your device”. IT Help had no workaround. Spoke to one of the English-language hostesses about this the first day (there are two on this trip), she said she is finding this very common with US phones. BUT- I was on Sky Princess in January, their Medallion app didn't work either (Canadian group; everybody had problems). US providers upgraded their networks to 4G LTE last year, I had to replace my US phone (which has never worked in Canada, for political reasons). Canadian providers did not want to spend the money, so Canadians now have obsolete phones which cannot roam in the US- I'm pretty sure there's a thread somewhere on CC about this. This whole thing is way more complicated than it appears, an equal mix of fat-cat greed, programmer incompetence, and crooked politics. The cruise lines are adamantly refusing to publish specifications about what hardware and software is required for these oh-so-wonderful ideas. I expect this will be catching a lot of people by surprise in the coming years as systems change.

At the present time, there is considerable disruption in rail service (RER) due to the political situation, I'd plan on an hour to get out of the airport, at least an hour to your hotel (varies wildly depending on location). Don't know how you handle jet lag, but I'd plan on dinner and then sleep.

I'm currently finding the biggest problem to be the two-factor verification that 13dwc mentioned (this happened in Mexico too). Make sure you have a second credit card from a different provider.

How many hundreds of people from your ship, and maybe other ships, will be heading to the airport, frantic to do the same thing you are? Even 1 PM might be stressful.

I'm on Diadema in a couple of weeks. We stay in the EU. A health declaration is required but a test is not. Are you sure your information is up to date? I always travel in an inside cabin. Buffet hours are much more restricted than on an American ship, but I manage fine. I was on Firenze coming back from Dubai last year. I was not very impressed, but the ship was only 1/4 full, obviously there was not the critical mass for Costa to provide all the usual services. There was still a concentration camp atmosphere. What's free depends on whether you buy the cheapskate, nothing-included fare. Water is available with meals, coffee in the morning. Most people think the Premium fare (whatever they call it now) offers better value. Policy can also change cruise to cruise.

SNCF has a very generous plan and is a prime target. The union is juggling between pressuring the government and losing the people who are going to have to pay for it- many don't even have full-time jobs. SNCF-Connect.com publishes schedules at 17.00 the day before. You have to go through several menus to get to Provence region. This is happening often enough they're getting xell-organised.

Another question that should have been asked- How many days early are you arriving? I was recently scheduled to fly into MRS. Due to delays and cancellations, I was re-booked for two days later, with no assurance that flight wouldn't be cancelled too. I was able to change to Toulouse only one day late. I had planned to arrive two days before my cruise (schedule changed, long story, not relevant here), I would have just barely made the ship.

Just got cut from Platinum to Gold, probably going to lose that soon. Priority boarding was one reason they had to start cutting points. In Savona, there would be hundreds for priority, it was less hassle to pick up a priority card, then go for coffee and board with the hoi polloi. If the restaurant wasn't busy I might end up with in effect anytime dining, but otherwise not much of value. Never used things like robe or pillows, I'm far, far more concerned over cutbacks to entertainment.

Don't forget politics. In January the French government raised the retirement age, which created a lot of unhappiness and disruption at SNCF. This last weekend for the entire weekend most trains were cancelled, sold out, or replaced by buses. Schedules are posted at 17.00 the day prior, which doesn't work for planning months ahead. Remote but possible are track washouts (Beziers 2019) and derailments (Carcassone 2022). You definitely need a Plan B which might not be advisable for the OP.

Dancing is movement in time to music. Check your dictionary. Ballroom dancing is even more specific. So there IS a written rule what you mean when you use the word. Further, the context of this thread is with a partner (posture) and in a social environment (courtesy); As i pointed out earlier, courteous does differ by place and time, so you do have to spend a couple of minutes observing. But it's no more complicated than "Don't block the elevator doors", which I would expect of any sober Cunard passenger.

The dress code is an excellent comparison. A few years ago I came to the stunning conclusion that what I'm wearing makes no difference to how the food tastes. But Cunard won't let me into the dining room even though it's my cruise. (My last time on QE the buffet was excellent, and more fun anyway.) If I head for the golf course with my tennis racket to hit my basketball around, they won't let me, even though it's my tee time. On just about all US ships, the focus is on heavy drinking and eating, with lowest-common-denominator entertainment, as well as cheaper than Cunard.