Wayfairers

Never cruised out of Rome, but we hired a tour guide/driver to get us to the airport from a cooking school in Tuscany and asked for a tour along the way. With an 11am flight the tour part wouldn’t work too well. If you can be self assist - take your luggage off the ship with you - you can get off the ship as soon as they are cleared. That gets you to the airport quicker too since you don’t have to locate your luggage once you are off board. In your case, I would probably research taxi or Uber costs to the airport and also your cruise line may offer a shuttle, but you would have to check airport arrival times with that.

We typically take long trips - 3-7 months. I get toiletries together a few weeks before we leave so I can buy more if we need. I also take a quick look around my closet to see if there are any clothes, undies, winter wear, etc I need that I don’t already have or any that need to be replaced/updated. Then about a week or 2 before leaving, I pick out clothes and spend a few days fine tuning what I want to take then pack them. Rather have them packed than wear something I want to take without thinking and scramble to do laundry at the last minute. Even on long trips we travel light so not too many clothes and they are almost all mix and match. If we are taking a one week cruise then I start that process a day or so before we leave. My husband always picks his clothes out and packs 1-2 days before we leave.

The one with the itinerary I want

I would pick a cruise longer than 10 days during the school year. There will still be kids unless you pick a cruise line that is adult only, but fewer and better behaved.

I 2nd the suggestion to go to Jack’s Shack. Nice walk down the beach and a great place to hang out. I love Grand Turk for a beach day. On Curacao we usually wander around in town or have lunch at Jaanchie’s on the other end of the island - we’ve gone by bus and will be taking a tour that includes the national park on that side. Also thought about just taking a random bus and exploring wherever we end up. Always have fun visiting Curacao - we have 2 stops there on 2 of our upcoming 3 cruises so I am looking for new ideas. What makes Curacao one of your favorite ports?

Breakfast and Lunch in the MDR are good. Although the menu never changes, there are enough choices to try many different meals for those days you want a more relaxed meal. I agree, the Origin Story is worth seeing and will give you the interesting history of HAL. Download the Navigator App and use it to board, see the daily schedule, communicate with others on board (although beware, they aren’t notified when a message is received unless that has changed). Lots of great activities to choose from during sea days. Enjoy!

Thanks for the great information!

Thanks everyone! Great information.

Never cruised with Windstar, but saw a ship in port in Venice years ago and have wanted to sail with Windstar since that day. We prefer long cruises and typically either take a long cruise or do multiple cruises B2B. When you move to the next Yacht Club level while onboard, do you start the new perks the day you get to the next level or do those perks start with the next cruise?

If you booked through a TA, ask that person - our TA normally gets our deviation letters for us after I tell her what we want to do. That is with HAL, but I suspect that is how it works with other lines too. If you booked directly with NCL, I would imagine call their customer service

So many great excursions….the best ones have been Myanmar - I told the private tour guide we wanted local, not touristy for a 2 day tour. And we did! First day we saw unexcavated ruins (older than Great Wall of China) that had just been named a UNESCO site after a short hike through jungle so thick our guide had to make a path with his machete. That day our lunch was at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere with no running water in the toilets and I’m guessing the kitchen too - washed our hands in a cistern! Then promptly used hand sanitizer. 2nd day he bought us tickets to a ferry, then met us on the other side of the river. The only non-locals were us and the other couple on the tour and we didn’t know anyone on board and no one spoke English on the less than 30 minute ferry ride. Every bench was packed and folks walked the aisles selling clothes, a cigarette (not the carton), food, etc and loudly talking about what they were selling in a sing song voice. It was sensory overload and an incredible experience. The village where we disembarked was locals only and transportation was by bicycles and tuk tuks - we had a tuk tuk tour. We had amazing meals both days and have no idea what most of it was, but wow, we accidentally ordered spicy one day and could barely eat it! We also saw some local sites and attended part of a church service in a tent Alaska - don’t remember which port - Ship excursion -helicopter ride to the Mendenhall Glacier then put on crampons for a trek across the glacier to a wall that we climbed using ropes and ice axes. Dubai - Ship excursion was cheaper than using a private guide for a float plane ride - incredible seeing how the height of Burj Khalifa compared to other buildings from the air and how abruptly the city turns into desert. And, we landed right beside the ship!

6 different lines……. Royal Caribbean Holland America Carnival Princess Norwegian Celebrity

Good explanation. I’ve never quite understood how it works when you are on a cruise ship. If I come from the US, visit a Schengen port (the counter starts), stay aboard visiting Schengen ports for 30 days then spend time on land only in Schengen countries, before boarding another cruise that visits Schengen ports for 30 days before stopping in a non-Schengen port, I’m only allowed to be on land for 30 days? However, if any time during that trip my passport is scanned in a non-Schengen country by either land or ship, the timer restarts?

Wish those doing back to backs had the option to opt out of those announcements! 🤣🤣

Does anyone remember how long this ride is? I will ask shore excursions once we are onboard in a few weeks, but was curious now.

We started cruising with HAL when we were 41. We’ve been amongst the youngest on board, but never THE youngest. Even on our longest cruise (~90 days) there have been a handful of people 30-40s and usually some children. We are not typically late night people, but have gone to bed midnight or later many times on HAL after having drinks and good conversation with fellow passengers. On one cruise a fun pianist in the Crow’s Nest kept everyone entertained most nights - I believe he played until around 10pm or 11pm. It will definitely be a different vibe than Carnival or Royal though. I agree - it would be wonderful if your status was for Carnival Corporation rather than one part of that. A few years ago MSC offered status matching from any line if you took one cruise with them. If they can do that, Carnival could do the same for within the Carnival family!

We were on the Zaandam holiday cruise last year and surprised how much was closed in ports the entire cruise. We expected on Christmas and New Years, but many places are closed the entire week. We didn’t have an ugly Christmas sweater contest - but that would be fun.

We were at Yala in 2016 and I am really glad we went. The drivers radio each other about where the animals are and they all race to get there so yes, it does get a little crowded sometimes. something to consider is the vehicles - the ones we were in were tall had you had to climb up into it using a narrow ladder a few times. It wasn’t easy for some with any type of mobility issue. I’ve not been to Bundala and don’t know anything about it.

If your ship ever stops at Hambantota - Yala National Park is wonderful. We had a safari on a day trip with Shehan Safari and saw lots of elephants, a leopard, monkeys, white Pelicans, painted storks, kingfisher bird, mongoose, monitor lizard, spotted deer, boars, crocodiles, jack rabbit, bald eagles, fluorescent green birds, fluorescent blue birds, brown Pygmy birds, egrets and cows and I am sure I forgot to make a note of some animals.

It has been a few years since I’ve been to Muscat. My tour guide is saying it takes passengers a long time to get from the ship to the port and has asked me to leave the ship as early as possible to meet him at 9am. We are in port starting at 8am. I remember the taxi drivers being extremely aggressive at the port gate and really don’t want to wait there very long. I do have my guide’s number so I can WhatsApp him when we get there. I know there is a 3 minute shuttle ride, but does it really take an hour to get from the ship to the port?

Last visit our ship was there overnight. The first day our tour went to Galle seeing Stilt Fisherman, a turtle hatchery (awesome), a mask factory and a Buddhist temple. It was a fun day but the 3 hour drive to Galle was long. The stops helped. It was fun for one time because it was different. The other day we did a city tour and it was interesting. Highlights were the water temple where we saw a gorgeous wedding, floating market, peppermint mosque and a good street market. Next year we have a one day stop and are going to see Ingiriva. All tours with Blue Lanka. Really depends on what you like to do and how much time you have in port.

Good grief. No wonder I couldn’t find it!

Thank you! I looked for that but somehow missed it.

I am meeting a private guide in Agadir, Morocco and wondering how long the tender boat ride is so I am determine what time to leave the ship. Does anyone know or have a general idea?

I’ve got a private tour booked for Quepos, Costa Rica. Trying to figure out what time I need to leave the ship to meet the guide. Anyone remember how long the ride is on the tender boat between the ship and the dock?