Bestbubba

We've just booked a 9 night Explorer ABC islands cruise for November 2020. UK price £986, US price including all taxes and port fees, £655 at the current exchange rate. Like others have said, you need to checkout all options. 

Sue 

1 hour ago, Mim Lloyd said:

I'm British too and will be sailing out of New Orleans in January 2020. I've got the Uber app, so we can use it when outside the UK too?

Absolutely! It worked like a dream in the US. We thought it might get confused because we used it to get from our airport hotel to Heathrow in the morning and then a few hours later used it in Memphis.... It's obviously cleverer than we thought! Have a great trip. 

Sue 

We are just back from our first trip to New Orleans. We loved it! We stayed at the Hotel Mazarin on Bienville Street in the FQ. Cannot recommend this hotel highly enough, it was wonderful, everything we had always imagined a FQ hotel to be. Check out the reviews, just posted ours, 5* without doubt. We arrived on the American Queen Steamboat and got an Uber to the hotel. Cost $7. As an earlier poster suggested, download the Uber app, what a brilliant service we received in both Memphis pre cruise and NOLA post cruise. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. We actually disembarked last week and I'm now an expert!

Down the gangplank, turn right, walk along with the river on your right and the mall on your left. If the shops aren't open yet, enter the mall through the glass doors opposite the large metal staircase. Walk straight through and exit at the Avis drop off point. We ordered an Uber from there and were checking in to the Hotel Mazarin 20 minutes after leaving the ship! 

Once again, thank you for your reply. 

We've just returned from our first AQ cruise, celebrating our 50th anniversary. It was superb, exceeded our every expectation. Every day was a delight. The boat, the staff, the food, the service, the entertainment, the brilliant hoho buses, all made this cruise a stand out for us. As for the calliope, it still makes me smile thinking about it! We've been enjoying ocean cruising since the early 80s, but this trip was a highlight from start to finish. You're going to have an amazing time I'm sure. Sue 😊

On 5/14/2019 at 11:16 AM, Calliope said:

Thank you for passing along your plan of action.  I had no idea about accessing the Avis return area, and it sounds brilliant! 

Enjoy your stay in The City Care Forgot. It's America's most European city.

Sorry for the delay in replying, we've been having such a great time in New Orleans! We fly home today, it's been an unforgettable trip. 

Update! We disembarked yesterday. Here's what we did.

Turn right as you leave the boat, walk alongside the river, enter the mall at the doors opposite the iron staircase structure (the shops weren't open yet so you can't enter through them) , walk straight through and exit, you will be at the Avis return area. Takes all of 5 minutes, perfectly flat, no stairs, very easy.

We ordered an Uber and were checking in to our hotel (Mazarin, delightful) within 20 minutes of leaving the American Queen.

Hope this is helpful and thanks again to Calliope for responding to my question which gave us the confidence to walk off independently. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I spoke to the purser today and she gave me a map. She said the walk was easy and we'd have no problems. So taking your advice, and hers, we're hoofing it!

We are having such a good time, anyone thinking about taking an American Queen Steamboat cruise, do it! For us, after 30 years of ocean cruises, AQ knocks them out of the water! 

I posted in the ports of call forum but thought I'd try here too. We are on the American Queen at the moment, Memphis to New Orleans. (as a side note, this is our first time on AQ and it has exceeding our expectations ten fold, it's amazing and we're loving every minute. ) So my question is, when we dock on Monday, will there be taxis /Uber at the dock to take us to our FQ hotel? On-board we're being told we really need to take the AQ shuttle, at a cost, to the Riverside Hotel and get a taxi from there. Can anyone shed any light on this? Many thanks in advance. 

We're arriving in New Orleans on the American Queen Steamboat. Are taxis available at the dock? We're being told on board that they're not, and we'll need to take the ship transfer to the hotel they use, and get a taxi from there. We're staying in the FQ and would rather go directly to our hotel. Any advice would be gratefully received. First time in New Orleans so a bit clueless! 

So pleased to read you are upgraded with all YC perks included. This really will be a cruise to remember and I bet MSC has just found some loyal future cruisers! Enjoy every moment 😊

Many (many!) years ago we did a repositioning cruise on the Costa Romantica. Miami back to Europe via the Caribbean. After the first week, as we started the Atlantic crossing, we had a note in the cabin to say the daily gratuities had dropped from X to Y for the remaining days of the cruise. It was a significant drop and caused "tanto" confusion! 😊

15 hours ago, miaandmum said:

hi, can anyone for the uk advise.  on my last 2 cruises with RC last year they voided/blocked my credit card once it had been used onboard.   i spoke to my credit company (barclaycard) to find out why as there is never any problems with my account but it seems RC have an issue with barclaycard.  im looking to get a differnt credit card to avoid any problems again.   apart from mastercard has anyone one had a problem using post office or virgin money credit cards?

Sorry to be a bit dim, but were you allowed to use this card and then it was

"blocked " or were you unable to clear your account and had to find other means? I only ask as we have just taken out a Barclaycard Platinum card as they don't charge FX fees and were intending using it on a forthcoming RCI cruise. 

Sue 

1 hour ago, gatlinburg said:

we sailed on Meraviglia out of Marseille.  Loved it there, and were onboard the Ship by 12:00pm.  Balcony cabin was nice and spacious enough for two adults, and our children loved the converted Sofa/bunkbeds.  Pools were all heated nicely, especially the outside Atmosphere pool.  Hot tubs could have been warmer, but just fine.  Drinks were good, food was adequate considering our normal food on a working weekday when we're not on a Vacation.  Staff was lovely, and we did not find the Staff overly pushy at all with their Sales.  We had pre-booked several things, so they pretty much left us alone.  Loved having the Laundry package.  The Gelato onboard and bread was delicious.   Enjoy.

Thank you so much for the info, now we're even more excited! We're Princess /Celebrity cruisers mainly, but have sailed most of the mainstream lines. We were more interested in the itinerary than the ship so it was a bonus when we were delighted by both. We found Musica easy to navigate, our aurea balcony cabin (an upgrade) on deck 12 a good size with enough wardrobe space for this serial overpacker! The staff were friendly and eager to please, the food was mainly OK, the risottos were outstanding. The gelato on deck was fantastic. We really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world, even when neither party could speak each others language, somehow with good humour and a lot of hand gestures, we always managed to enjoy the interaction. I'm sure you'll have another memorable cruise.... you just need to find the airfare 😉

We're the opposite! Our first MSC cruise was last year on the Musica, loved it. Rio to Venice. Doing the Meraviglia TA in September, we've never been on a ship that size, can't wait. 

Hope you find something affordable and can book your Mediterranean cruise. The sail away out of Venice is magical! 

Not sure if we're allowed to name other travel sites on here, but in case we can, try Skyscanner 😊

I used the similar link on the UK site and had a reply within 24 hours. I was still unclear about certain things so  immediately replied via their email and they got back to me within minutes, I was very impressed...... actually I was stunned😂

We're taking our first river cruise, Memphis to New Orleans, in May. We're very excited and hope the weather will be pleasant 🤞

I'm not having a problem logging in to Tapatalk (probably spoke too soon!) but can't see any roll calls. They're all listed but when I click on the actual ship, it shows nothing. Anyone else had any luck? 

Sue 

33 minutes ago, cocksparra said:

@ sue& steve......me too lol. I go on Seaside end of Jan. I will be taking a bag of paste to stick them in the bars lol

Sounds like a plan! Looking for the Pritstick as I type 😉

1 hour ago, cocksparra said:

2018 Drink Package Comparison Guise with DRINKS ON US.pdf

 

Found this on my Pad when I booked in July

Thanks for posting the lists CS, I've printed it off. I'll need an extra suitcase just for all the printouts I'm taking on our Meraviglia cruise next September 😁

6 minutes ago, sidari said:

704 will be the Restaurant and Bar while 431 is likely to be the Classic.

Thank you, now we have to wonder what the Classic will get us! 🤔

Sue 

1 hour ago, sidari said:

Your sea pass card contains a code on the front which tells the bar staff and servers what package you have 534 is Classic, 536 is Deluxe if you had any of those booked before November 12th.

We upgraded from restaurant drink package to classic the week before all the changes. On our booking it shows as 

UPGRADE 704 - 431

Any thoughts on what that means? 

Sue 

I received this reply to my email. I'll be taking it with me on our Meraviglia cruise:
Dear xxxxxx

I have looked into this for you and I have been advised that you will receive the drinks package you paid for as it was booked and added to your booking before the drinks packages were amended on 12th November.

Kind Regards,
Sophie Betchley
Booking Manag