cruisinggranmama

14 hours ago, Zanne208 said:

Woot Woot - Kansas City!

My team has been out for a while but since we are Pittsburgh's, cannot root for the Eagles. So Kansas it is!

how is the wifi that is part of the promo?

There are no excursions listed for Haifa on our September cruise. Nor does Haifa even show up in the list of ports under Shore Excursions. 

My Son-in-law booked a room for 4 at this hotel.  When he got there he was told it would not accommodate  4 although he was able to book it that way.  They had a non-connecting room with both doors inside a vestibule with a door that could be locked so only their 2 doors were within the vestibule.  It worked.  They did not charge him for the extra room - he's a good negotiator.  That said, Rome hotels rooms  are small and I would get 2 rooms.  Call any hotel and negotiate.  I think it was close to the metro which was super easy to navigate.

Best western Plus Hotel Universo

Location 
Via Principe Amedeo 5/B 
Roma, 
00185, Italy

Took our 5 grandkids to Pompeii July 2019. Boys aged 10 and 11 enjoyed it and seemed to remember a lot. It was HOT.  Girls 16, 14 and 9 enjoyed everything with no complaints. On a personal note, I find Herculaneum more interesting than Pompeii.  More of the city was "saved" because it was enveloped in lava and not destroyed by the pyroclastic blast. But Pompeii is more amazing perhaps because of the destruction. We all enjoyed Sorrento and the pizza and limoncello.  

We are cruising on NCL this July with the same group being 3 years older.  Also thinking Florence on your own. DH and I have been there many times. IMO, David is impressive and Pisa is interesting but we only spent 15 minutes there.  Never climbed any towers myself. We are also considering Cinque Terra. At 17, your son might appreciate that tour.

So many good options.

I don't think I'm much help here.

Gelato, gelato , gelato.  Can't tell you how many times I heard that at our Italy stops. I had to agree it is amazing.

This is a 3rd try for a July extended family cruise - 2020 and 2021 were cancelled.  Hope to see you there.

We like Avalon. They are easy to work with while booking and while onboard.

Went on a Nile Cruise and Machu Pichu with Avalon. In the latter case they were the tour operator for the entire time with local guides. The cruise director stayed with us the whole time.

Our Budapest to Prague cruise went off without a hitch. We only purchased on optional tour to Check Krumlov - I suggest it. We stayed 2 extra days in both pre and post hotels that Avalon uses.

We just returned from an Amsterdam to Basel cruise with the Rhine running higher that it has in decades. The first few days were fine then we were told the ship could only go upstream a little further and the Moselle which were supposed to cruise was too high to get under the bridges. Avalon elected to stay in Koblenz on the Mosselle for 4 nights while we were bused to our original Mosselle itinerary. We were given ample cash for lunches on the bus tour. Koblenz is very walk-able and many people went into the city to watch the Soccer matches with the locals. No problems. We did not miss a thing except being on the river. We left Koblenz in the morning rather than late afternoon as was planned to insure a good experience through the Rhine Gorge. From there we docked at another port to walk into the city. Then that was it on the river. Avalon put us up for 2 nights at The Radisson Blue in Zurich which was the closest place with enough rooms as passengers were stuck in Basel and other Rhine cities. Again bus tours and one add-on tour to Lucerne with lunch that turned out to be a perfect sunny day with a city tour and a trip to the top of Mt Pilatus. Great experience.

I guess I am saying Avalon went out of there way to make sure everyone was as happy as possible (read the terms of agreement for itinerary change).

There were 60 ships stuck up-river when we were on it. We felt that we had a wonderful experience even without the river behaving itself.

Food was very good and pleasantly presented even on the buffet. They have an early and late riser breakfast, lite lunch in the Panorama Lounge and wonderful bartenders who even learned to make a Manhattan they way my husband likes it.

We will go with Avalon again. Their loyalty perks are great.

We left Amsterdam on June 11 for the Rhine and Moselle.

It had been raining and was forecast to continue raining and it did.

Avalon finally had to take us from the ship to a hotel in Zurich for the last two nights. why Zurich? Hotels closer to Basel (our end point) were all booked from the total mess on the rivers. Only one optional cruise and no included excursions were cancelled as far as I know. We were transported by bus to all excursions after Koblenz so the Moselle part of the cruise on board never happened.

Avalon went out of their way in my opinion to give everyone the cruise experience they were expecting. They could not control the water levels. At one point there were 60 vessels upstream of Manheim going nowhere. We spent 4 night on the ship in Koblenz and that was a fine place to be "stuck".

On days were were not able to come back to the ship for lunch, we were given ample cash to cover that meal. We were refunded some portion of our cruise fare for the last two nights we were not able to spend on the ship.

I only heard one complaint from one passenger who had come aboard strictly to sit on the boat, relax and enjoy the scenery.

Avalon added a Lucerne tour to the itinerary because of our deviation. It was one of our total sunny days and although a full day out of Zurich was a great tour. Others went to the Black Forest that day and were not impressed.

Rain did not stop any tour and we only got really wet in Kindefdijke. It was a shame because it was an interesting and walkable stop. We walked back to the ship and had a drink.

The day we toured the Rhine gorge was beautiful and sunny. A little cold up on top, but the provided blankets made everyone comfortable.

I commend Avalon for their excellent handling of a situation out of their control.

Another question...

 

I'm not trying to say anything bad about Avalon. I know we are just going to love our trip. But I'm hoping those of you who have sailed with them can help me.

 

We are sailing Budapest to Prague on the Danube.We have a fewf extra nights in Budapest & Prague.

From the description of our tours in our major cities it doesn't appear that we will do inside visits to pretty much most of the sights.

 

We don't want to do a lot of inside visits but we definitely want to do 3 or 4 that I have chosen in each city.

I'm just trying to decide if I should skip them in Budapest & Prgue (I know we will do Vienna on our own).

 

Thanks,

Chris

Did this cruise in 2014 and loved it. We spent extra time in both cities as well. The included excursions were very good. Ob our own, we did a night-time river cruise in Budapest that was wonderful. Got some great photos. Budapest and Prague are both very walk-able cities and both have great public transportation. Avalon's Chesky Krumlov optional excursion was well worth the extra $$.

Have a wonderful time.

From one Coastal North Carolinian to another (:D), have fun. I hope that you are able to cruise thru and not have any problems.

And ditto from another coastal North Carolinian. We are on Avalon Visionary Amsterdam to Basel departing June 11. Guess we will pass you, H2Otstr, along the Rhine at some point.

Have been watching this thread very carefully. The flooding is so said for so many living in the affected areas.

Watching the Port of Miami website. Bon Voyage. Take good care of our ship.

And watching he Bronco/NE game. Go Payton.

Will be watching the Eclipse sailaway.

Then later GO PANTHERS! (Since the Steelers are out, I have to go with the home state fellas.)

What a great experience! From the time we landed in Lima to take off in Quito everything was handled for us expertly.

Great hotels with all the amenities. Excursions were adventurous and doable. Never thought I could climb Machu Picchu but I did. Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Quito are wonderful.

The Galapagos Islands are fantastic. The small ship used for our expedition was perfect. Just the right amount of inside and outside space.

The naturalists were so knowledgeable.

I'm now an expert in wet landings from a zodiac.

Go and find out all the wonders of this trip.

5 at the most:

1. Tennis shoes if I'm flying

2. Walking shoes/sandals

3. Leather Flip flops for pool and walking around decks

4. Multi-color, sparkly flats for dinner

5. Wedge heel "thongs" with replaceable ribbons of colors to match outfits for formal dinners. They really look dressy with slacks or long skirt/dress

I don't carry the humidifier portion of my CPAP so it fits easily into my wheeled, carry-on bag. I do take it out for security (just the machine not the hose or mask) and it has been swabbed on occasion. I find the humidity at sea is sufficient and I don't need the entire machine.

On board, I ask for an extension cord which I plug in each evening and unplug each morning. I store my CPAP equipment in a drawer. I don't want other people handling the mask.

I too have the same problem on cruises especially if I'm doing a lot of walking on excursions. My doctor told me to make sure my shoes have good support and fit well and to get my feet up when possible. I was told that a diuretic (with doctors' permission) and increased water intake help too.

The ship's doctor on one cruise told me it's very common and sometimes includes a rash around the ankle area that can last a long time.