TedC

A world cruise isn't going to happen for us due to health limitations but it is still nice to dream about one or follow the yearly blogs as the world cruisers report on their activities. While I've always thought I'd love a world cruise I've come to realize from following the blogs that it isn't always the best way to see some of the great sights. A Nile cruise (if Egypt were tourist friendly again) is a better way to see Luxor than busing over from the Suez Canal. The multi day tours away from the ship are very pricey while you're still paying for time on the ship. On the plus side, of which there are many, only a world cruise or Grand Voyage will hit a place like Easter Island.

We visited Easter Island on a WC segment - Fla to SYD. Crew members said they can only stop at Easter Island about 25 percent of the time due to weather. We had light rain on our day and consider ourselves fortunate to visit that remote outpost.

Our longest cruise was 35 days - Boston to Rotterdam and back to Boston. We loved it - no repeat ports - but decided 35 days was our limit.

RuthC was on board , which made it special!

Another BIG plus was NO flying involved!

I have read on CC that many world cruisers never get off the ship - they've been there and done that!

As im reading all of your comments on here about the "as you wish" dining experience, its really not that bad...

 

...one thing to be aware about with the "as you wish" dining. TIPS. thats one thing i dont like about the freestyle with NCL.... there is a 10.00 a day,pp fee added to your end of cruise bill. I always have that taken off at the front desk,, and give personally to the waiters/waitresses, cabin stewards etc, that bent over backwards to help me.

 

Diane

Diane,

If you take off the autotip on HAL whatever you pass out personally has to be put into a pool that will be divided just as the autotip is.

Here's an issue I see affecting the wait staff compensation: Many people keep the autotip in place and give more to their wait staff - which they can keep. But if you don't opt for traditional dining and thus usually have a different wait staff each night, I believe people would probably not offer an additional tip.

Mary Ann and Bll,

Thank you so much or letting us tag along on your wonderful journey - and we're glad you arrived back home safely and with a minimum of hassle.

We were on the FLL to SYD segment and it was very interesting to learn about what happended after we left.

Thanks, again

Much thanks Bill and Mary Ann for your very interesting reports.

We were on the segment from FLL to SYD and saw the acoustic devices set up on lower prom - once was in Sydney and I can't remember the other port. In Sydney there were yellow banners stating "Security Zone stay 30 m away."

The numerous ferries and tour boats at Circular Quay didn't seem to be impressed by the suggestion. A police boat also was patroling the area.

As I recall, a Seaborn ship used sound blasters to repel attackers in the Middle East in 2005. This was the first time we'd seen them on a HAL ship. (Now "pirates" will have to wear ear plugs as well as eye patches.)

On the tissue issue: It depends on which hemisphere you're sailing on - northern (top) or southern (bottom).

I just booked online the Grand Hyatt in Tampa with a AAA promo rate of $149 for the club level floor, which is about half the regular price. Rate includes cont. breakfast and, apparently, snacks. Doesn't look like any shuttle available

What I like about booking there was no cancellation fee with 24 hours notice. Marriott and some of the other hotels wanted a cancelation fee of one night's lodging Plus Tax, for any cancellation, no matter how far in advance.

We are staying there two nights prior to our 14-night Veendam Deep Caribbean cruise next November.