Turtles06

I had the same thought. With a full day, I would not hang around Reykjavik, jet lag or not. The spectacular beauty of Iceland is outside the cities/towns. @skatie the Golden Circle tour is shorter than the South Coast tour (which is a really full day but well worth it), so perhaps that might work better for you. Enjoy your trip!

You need to post this over in the Roll Call for your cruise. If there isn’t one, you can start one. Edited to add: I see you’ve posted in the Roll Call forum, but instead of posting in the actual Roll Call for your cruise, which I believe is at the link below, you created an entirely new thread for your tour, which is not how the Roll Call forums work.

The OP’s post number 40 above says of his wife “it takes a lot of effort to stir the marzipan.” Sounds mocking to me. It’s possible this is all made up.

It’s not clear exactly when the OP’s wife knew what. In any event, what I find rather astonishing is that the OP actually booked these cruises without first discussing them with his (or her) wife and having it be a joint decision. (If I’m mistaken about that, I hope the OP will correct me.) I know everyone’s marriage is different, but my wife and I plan our trips together; I can’t imagine booking a trip unilaterally.

Sorry, it wasn’t meant to be. (Your “beware” language made it seem like you did not know that the guides should be tipped. I’m happy to know that was not the case.) And I’m glad that you enjoyed Edinburgh despite that poor experience with the guide. My wife and I were there not long after you — totally agree with you about the National Museum of Scotland. What a great place!

The guide should not have said what he did. Putting that aside, you didn’t really think it was a totally free tour, did you? Meaning that you tip the guide at the end. (Yes, it would be a free tour if you stiffed the guide.)

In February, we got a porter in the Terminal to help us with our luggage. We told him we needed a cab. We went thru immigration and then the porter took us across 12th Avenue and put us into a cab.

I suppose it may vary, but every time I’ve been on a ship docked at the MCT, the bow (“front of the ship”) has faced Manhattan, the stern has faced the Hudson.

You wouldn’t see the ocean from any cabin when the ship is docked at the MCT, because it’s sitting in the Hudson River. 😊

There’s a Costa Rica port of call sub forum on CC, at the link below. It’s easy to overlook it because CC has it filed under the geographically incomplete “Caribbean.” You’ll find good information there. I will suggest getting a small group from your Roll Call and booking a private shorex that includes a boat ride on the Tarcoles River and other interesting things in the countryside. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/120-costa-rica/ Edited to add: @CruiserBruce types faster 😊

Definitely a big annoyance factor. And speaking from my own experience, it’s also adults sitting there yelling “can you hear me now?”

This is Godafoss This is the Hoffellsjokull, a receding glacier that can be seen on a tour from Djupivogur. (Photos by turtles06)

I don’t know what you mean by “waterfall type excursions.” I suspect you don’t mean an excursion out and back to see a single waterfall and nothing else. Iceland has stunningly beautiful and varied waterfalls, and many tours will include one or more waterfalls along with visits to other places showing you Iceland’s spectacular natural beauty. In Akureyri, I highly recommend taking a small group tour (van for about 16 people) with a private tour operator and doing their version of the Lake Myvatn tour (which would include the magnificent Godafoss [waterfall]). Here’s a good description from one tour operator: https://sagatravel.is/sta020-lake-myvatn-classic/ I also suggest you do some reading and research (including in the Northern Europe forum) and get information about the places each of your possible excursions would visit and decide what interests you. And you’ll be able to get recommendations of private tour operators in the forum as well. Enjoy your cruise!

It is. But it’s usually visited on a Golden Circle tour out of Reykjavik, which the OP was not asking about.

The topic of parking at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, including whether it ever fills up, is frequently discussed in the East Coast Departures forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/317-east-coast-departures/ See, e.g. MCT web site, with link to MCT parking reservations page: https://nycruise.com/manhattan-terminal/parking/

Thank you for sharing Celebrity’s reply, which was indeed dismissive, as well as factually ridiculous. Celebrity certainly does not know, for example, whether guests were bothered by the vaping and left the casino and did not return during the cruise. And Celebrity also doesn’t seem to care about the second-hand impacts of vaping. It seems Celebrity has made a decision to do this “test” on a couple of ships and has decided the outcome of the “test” in advance. One of the reasons we enjoy Celebrity is its no-indoor-smoking policy. That policy seems in jeopardy now. ☹️

Thanks for your very kind words! I hope you have a fabulous trip, and lots of great food!

From what I've read on here, only cruise line tours.

And please keep in mind that the breakfast and lunch menus for suite guests in Moderno and Cagney’s are not menus of those otherwise specialty dinner venues. Moderno and Cagney’s are merely the physical spaces used for breakfast and lunch for suite guests on ships without a Haven restaurant.

"How the Panama Canal is Adapting to the Worst Drought in a Century" This is a very interesting article published in the Wall St. Journal a couple of days ago. (Per the WSJ, this link should not be behind the paywall.) https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-worst-drought-in-a-century-is-changing-the-panama-canal-50e58f13?st=cty0pgmi41rj1ol&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Thank you everyone for the very helpful replies!

Thanks, yes, I'm not a fan of blocking walkways or elevators.

Ruth, thanks so much for this. So I'm clear, what you are saying is that HAL will "call" the walk off group?

Thank you!

The thread title says it all. I'd appreciate knowing what options there will be for lunch on embarkation day, besides the Lido Market (which we try to avoid on such days). Thanks in advance for the information!