markeb

No. The BEST way was a fully salaried, all expenses paid, three year tour in Bavaria courtesy of the US Army. Our own car, our own place. An hour and a half from Munich and about three hours to the Alps...

Le Spezia is basically the port stop for Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terre. But not next door to Florence (a lot closer to Pisa, but still not right there). You could spend a week around Florence, or Rome. Maybe even Naples, with Pompei and Vesuvius. It looks like it's about a 3 hour train ride from Florence to Naples, depending on the time of day (that's Google Maps not the actual train timetable). Rome is a little more than halfway between them. Pisa is about an hour by train from Florence. I really don't know about the other stops. Messina is obviously Sicily and not far from Mount Etna. If Barcelona and Cannes are places you really want to visit, especially if you have time to go to Barcelona early and stay in Rome after, then the cruise is going to give you a quick overview. If the Italy mainland stops are more interesting (really look Tuscany: Florence, Pisa, Montalcino, the surrounding hills) then I think you'd more appreciate a land trip to Italy and figure out how you want to divide your time. Florence to Naples is probably two hotel changes with Rome unless you day trip to Naples from Rome. Again, it's a breadth or depth question. You'll see more but less of it on the ship. Especially with the distance from port to the key sites in Italy. Either way should make for a great anniversary!

Are there stops on the itinerary that really interest you? Which ones?

This is not an easy question to answer. You're on a cruise forum. I see a couple of hesitant answers so far, but most everyone says yes, and assumes you'd want to see the same stops and move between them on a land vacation. If you want to "see Europe", whatever that means to you, you'll lay eyes on a number of places. That itinerary does have the advantage of beginning in Barcelona if you can go early, and ending "near" Rome, if you can stay late. You just don't get to experience any place. This is a Southern European cruise in June and it leaves almost all the ports by 6:00, which is about 2-3 hours before the cities even come to life. I'm a much bigger fan of visiting fewer places and experiencing them more. I don't generally like going somewhere and moving more than once. I'll usually find a central point and day trip from there. I realize I don't see as many places doing that, but I get to really enjoy the places I do visit. But not everyone has an opportunity to spend a week in London and go back later for a week in Paris. The cruise looks like a good cruise. I enjoy cruising, but I'd want to spend more than 11 hours in Naples...

Unless the OP is getting well away from an area tourists normally visit (and maybe not even then) isn't the best answer "contactless credit card or ApplePay/Google Pay"? I actually have to look at the pound notes I have left over from my last trip and makes sure they're not obsolete! I'd hate to have to track down a bank to trade them this summer! I almost never touched them...

This seems to be another consistent inconsistency. I just looked out of curiosity, and our 10N in November on Equinox has different menus (Luminae) for the 10 nights. I just looked and Equinox is doing the 10 night Southern Caribbean starting this weekend. Not sure what they're on right now.

Well, it was the 1990's. That's when we lived in Bavaria. You drink bier in Bayern... The wine regions of Germany are along the Rhine and Mosel rivers, so far west from Munich. And while I think there were good German wines then, I think there are much better German wines now. And most places in Munich at the time would have had one brewery's beer and mostly house wines, usually Riesling, and dry, half dry, or sweet. Italian or French places would have a much better selection, but I wasn't as into wine then as I am now...

That's pretty useless. One of the world's largest and most varied wine regions. If he didn't like Italian wines writ large, I don't know how he could be a sommelier (sommelier in title only).

Celebrity lets you save your pass to your iPhone wallet. You don't need connectivity for that. I assume you can do the same with Google Wallet.

And I haven't printed a boarding pass for any form of transportation in at least 10 years. I'll take my chances and save the paper.

The app is fine. Add it to your wallet in case the connectivity is bad inside.

First of all, that may be the best sommelier name ever! I've had that sort of experience on land at good restaurants. Obviously not 7 nights in a row. I've not found the shipboard somms to have that kind of sense of adventure. Maybe they don't believe the customer? Too many times when a California cab or an overoaked buttery chardonnay goes with anything. And a tendency to want to serve a wine before you've even looked at the menu, and continue to pour the same wine even after you've finished your course and moved on to the next one. I prefer when the somm knows their wines and the chef's dishes and knows which wines complement which dishes.

That it's not worth it if it's only the standard wines. But I'm only on my second cup of coffee this morning...

i kind of disagree with that, but it does depend on cost, time, and amount of OBC... I enjoyed that they had wines that I wouldn't have necessarily tried even in the packages. And some things that were probably in the classic package that were surprisingly good. You also discovered how good some of the somms are on the ship. One of the somms on Equinox in August WAS a sommelier and had worked in London (he was Indian). This was something he was doing to broaden his experience. In fact, I've got a recommendation for him for an Indian restaurant in London that I haven't been to. But that's a digression. The major downside is if you get a bunch of people without a drink package that just want to slam as much wine as they can in an hour...

Because it is fashion. And they don't know what the 80's are. Complement them on their look if you want to freak them out. If they think it's "old" they might stop it,

They've actually made a tremendous effort. You may not like it, but everything they're wearing or carrying has been thought out, down to the comb in their hair or back pocket. They didn't just come from shooting hoops, unless they're maybe 14. You can't shoot hoops dressed that way. Yeah, some try to get away with tanks/wife beaters, but not all of them. They've put far more thought into their dress than the people who grab the $20 khaki's from Kirkland in the size they wore 15 years ago, didn't try them on, and now either are flashing their ankle or walking off the hem as they try to close the fly or keep them from falling off. Along with a Kirkland polo and/or Hawaiian style shirt. But that's completely acceptable.

And I have sat in Broadway theaters in the heat of a Manhattan summer in July for an actual Tony Award winning performance, in shorts. With plenty of others dressed the same way. Had no impact on the ambiance. I was looking at the stage,

No. He will not feel out of place. He wouldn't feel out of place with a jacket either, but it is not necessary or expected.

Getting ready to order this. I keep hearing independent advisors (i.e., not paid by assets under management) mentioning this... The tagline is a guide to living rich instead of dying rich...

Hawaii: The 50th US state. Statehood was granted on August 21, 1959. The currency is the US Dollar. It is not a foreign country. There are no foreign transaction fees. This is not complicated. You also don't pay foreign transaction fees in the US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico, which aren't even states. Exactly. The US State Department and Department of Defense consider Alaska and Hawaii "overseas" areas for entitlement to cost of living allowances, but they don't consider it a foreign country. Because it isn't.

Back to the OP coming from Toronto. If Amtrak is a reasonable option for you, it will put you right in the heart of Manhattan and a short cab ride to MCT. Greatly simplifies ground transportation. Definitely arrive a day early! For airports, there is a ground transportation cost associated with all of them. It's possible the least expensive airfare will NOT be the least expensive transportation option! If you fly into Newark, look at the transportation options and costs into Manhattan. A cab will likely be horribly expensive since you're crossing state lines. A car service or Uber/Lyft will likely be a better option, but check prices. If you save $50 on your flight and end up with $200 of ground transportation charges, you may not have saved much. As stated above, there are public transit options from Newark to Manhattan, if you can handle your luggage on a train. But don't jump on the cheapest airfare without looking at what it will cost to get to your destination once you land! This board at one time was full of people who did just that... Of course there's an intangible on a direct flight. There may be more of those into Newark since it's a Star Alliance hub.

Just out of curiosity, what was he playing?

I was just thinking it had been 17 years since we last sailed on HAL. Montreal to Boston on the Maasdam. On that cruise they had a couple of really nice small ensembles playing some really nice music. But we were in our 40's at the time. Way too young... The Music Walk concept is interesting. The description is not as interesting, as it still seems to be stuck in a different demographic than it sounds like they're trying to attract. Much like Celebrity. When they say Rolling Stones, I somehow see Angie and Wild Horses, not Sympathy for the Devil. If they told me they were doing Jagged Little Pill... I have no problem with those of you that do, but as a general rule I have little interest in sitting around a piano bar. I just see Nick the Lounge Singer (Bill Murray) on SNL. Every now and then for a half hour, maybe, but the beer isn't that good, and a good Manhattan is hard to find on Celebrity (again, been awhile for HAL). But we're 23 years into the 21st Century and not all the music of the last 23 years is crap... End music rant.

It would take too long, and (should) be deleted. People have taken exception to a DEI decision of a Belgian company producing a beer like substance in the US...

Click here: https://www.celebritycruises.com/guest-terms/ Select US and English and look for the ALLCAPS sections, which are the changes. My email had no acknowledgement link. I assume they use silence procedure; silence is agreement, cancellation is disagreement. There are no other options.