sambamama

I came very close to missing a cruise once. I live in MA, and a friend and I were flying to Fort Lauderdale for a cruise in February. A big snowstorm was coming. We were the last flight out two nights before the cruise. Everyone else who tried to fly out the day before from NC up missed the cruise, and had to join later.

So in this era when airlines are charging more to check in at the airport than online, charging for you to pick seats ahead, where instead of a meal you get peanuts and a soda, you want an option to upgrade your carryon bag to a checked bag?? Well, I'd like to get upgraded to business class from economy, have meals on flights again, and have all flight connections be at least an hour! Airlines now sell flight connections of 30 minutes! My home airport has no flights to Cozumel where the connection is less than 40 minutes, and if you miss the flight, there is no flight on any airline until the next day! Most all the flights to Cancun have a 40 minute connection aswell.

Matt Barrett has a very useful blog all about Greece. It talks all about the islands, what to see, hotels, ferries, restaurants, how to get around, travel agents, just about everything you need. I have a 7 day Greek cruise booked and am using it to extend my Greece stay to a month or so.

You aren't going to find too many bargains for solos on HAL or Princess. Solo supplements will be 75% or more. Also watch with NCL as the studio cabins can end up higher priced than a regular cabin that you pay double for and they are tiny. Usually the bargains are found 90 days from the cruise and closer in, but that can be tough for air fare. She is right to keep looking at the solo cabin bargains posted in this forum.

My best advice, is if you have the extra time, go to wherever your ship is sailing out of in Spain (I am assuming Barcelona) and stay at least 4-5 days. Barcelona itself is wonderful, and there are numerous great day trips from there-Tarragona ( best Roman ruins in Spain), Girona, the Costa Brava coast, medieval villages, etc. You can do this on your own by the train, or book day tours (which is what I did.) Or if you have even more time, from Barcelona, go off and go to Madrid, or Portugal, or where by train, and then do your cruise. The last week will be totally relaxing, so go see extra places you won't get to see on the cruise. The problem with TA's is the ports are either on the coast, or you spend 2-3 hours on the bus one way driving there to see the sights, and then driving back, which makes for a long day. I remember doing that to go see the Alhambra and the Alcazar-both totally worth it-but still a looong day. All three of my TAs had fabulous weather, but you never know.

So will these changes be on all the ships by December 31?? Or is there a schedule? I have a 15 night Asia cruise on the Westerdam in mid January that's been postponed twice. I would have had Lincoln Center, which I loved, had it sailed in 2021. Hoping this happens for that cruise!

I've arrived at a smallish airport and found TSA pre check swamped! I was at Miami and a woman was foolish enough to send her purse with a long chain handle through the scanner on the belt and not in a bin. The chain handle got wound into the scanners belt and the line ground to a halt for 30 minutes. They would not let us divert to another line. I almost missed my flight. I was at Miami and the business check in line was as long as a regular line, and the regular line was huge! You never know what can happen. Me, I'd rather be early and kill time and see the sunrise at the airport than miss my flight.

Don't do this unless you have at least an hour. Personally, I wouldn't do this without 2 hours. Chicago is very, very busy and your plane could be late, they may not have a runway, a gate, etc. Your next flight is international and that makes it even harder to replace.

I've actually flown on Egypt Air. It was a 5 hour flight in Economy from Casablanca to Cairo. It was great, and the meal delicious! You may not want to cross them off the list if you get a good price.

Really, there are two best ways to see Europe. Either book a TA that starts in Europe, and fly in early, or book a land tour, IMHO. I find the Europe cruises A) very expensive and B) its hard to get inland. The river cruises are even more expensive as a single and you run a huge risk of them being turned into a bus tour. But perhaps money isn't an issue for you. Me, I'd rather vacation longer and less expensive. I book land tours that don't have single supplements, or if they do, low ones, or I travel alone (which is what I mainly do.) If you go by yourself, you can stay in Barcelona, for example , for 6 nights, explore it, and take some day tours from there. It has the largest Roman ruins an hour away from it, the Costa Brava coastline, and amazing medieval villages all available by reasonable day tours.

I loved having the laundry on board. ( On HAL, I don't need it as I get free laundry.) I went to the Specialty Steak House twice, and it was great. I had heard the pastas on Princess were great , and that was true also. There was some trouble as a couple of the bars had no idea how to make an Amaretto Sour, which I found odd, as it isn't that uncommon of a drink. It was sometimes difficult to find a lounge chair near the pool, but that happens. The worst thing was losing two ports, and one they should have replaced as they knew 5 months before they were not going there. HAL would have replaced it. I really minded losing Cartagena, but it was weather related, so nothing could be done.

I've used K look many times! They are great!

Are you overnighting there? If so, you will see more if you book your own private tour and stay the night. I just stayed 9 nights there so much to see! !

HAL offered some special itineraries when they still had the 1200 passenger ships like the Ryndam. I did a 20 night South Pacific RT out of Auckland that went to Tonga, Fiji, American Samoa, the Cook islands, Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, and Niue-amazing!

There are upgrades versus upsells. Upgrades are free - if you book an inside guarantee, and you get bumped up to an outside (that just happened to me again.) I book guarantees almost all the time. An up sell comes a month or so before the cruise. Your TA or you gets an offer to buy a better cabin for a certain amount. It is limited to one category up- you can go from an outside to a balcony, for example. But move fast- - they go quickly!

I wrote to the Office of the President, as I always have. Always before, it was answered by the Assistant to the President, or the Vice President in charge of Marketing, or someone like that. This time, it was simply answered by a "resolution specialist" who didn't even give a last name and in so many words called me a liar. Yes, I know, I was shocked to get a rude letter. I've written to many, many companies, and never, ever gotten a rude letter. I've gotten letters not agreeing with me, but never accusing me of stating a lie. (She said I was not telling the truth about being offered a large amount of shipboard compensation to rebook my cancelled cruise for 2023 ($800.) ) She said that maybe at best $100 had been given. It was another resolution specialist who called me (and he gave me his first and last name. He told me she used a template and did a terrible job of reading my letter and responding to it. I can't remember who I wrote to Princess, but it was one of the executives. There was a MAJOR problem on the Panama canal tours. It was a stop where you had to tender. They did not have enough tenders. There was not nearly enough adequate shade, and people had to stand an hour or more in blazing sun. There were many, many elderly people, and people in wheelchairs. There were only a few crew there, and one junior officer. People were fainting. There wasn't any water either. The crew did nothing. Tour buses would return and drive up, or taxis return, and people would cut the line, causing even more problems. We (the passengers) started policing the line ourselves and moving elderly and wheelchair people out of the sun. We also started telling crew members to get water and wet washcloths to these people. I have never seen such chaos, and I don't know how they avoided having a major medical incident. No one ever replied. It wasn't something I myself was looking for compensation. I just happened to be one of the first people who began policing the lines, and getting the elderly people into the shade. I also started talking to the crew and to the officer. (I was a Naval Commander's wife-I have no problem exerting authority!)

I sailed solo on Princess this past January (it was my first time on Princess) on my third Panama Canal cruise. The solo meetups were when I had my dinner scheduled, so I never made any of those. Princess does not have fixed sitting, which is what i prefer as I am picky and I don't like subjecting a different waiter to that every night. So my choices were go to Anytime dining, which on this cruise was a disaster-having to wait 30-60 minutes every night which I hate, or I could arrange the same table with the same waiters every night at the same time, which is what I did. That worked out well. I had arranged several tours, so one night I ate dinner with people from one tour. I was seated in a very small section of the dining room, so I got to know the people in that section well, and it was like having dinner companions. There were plenty of activities if I wanted to meet people, but I was very happy just lying in the sun and reading a book. The ship was lovely, and all sorts of great entertainment. I think you would have an easy time meeting people if you wanted to. I will say Princess had just started the new lanyard system, so you can do anything with your lanyard. It worked like a charm, although it was strange having your cabin door unlock before you get to it!

There are a number of beach clubs. Just Google beach clubs. Also, Lamai Beach is also close and is lovely. It is a very laid back beach with cheaper hotels. I imagine a number of these, if you bought drinks and lunch, would let you use lounges and umbrellas.

I've sailed with Celebrity, RCLL, Princess, NCL, but primarily with Holland America. I am a 4 star Mariner with them, have sailed over 130 days, and started sailing with them back in 1983. Over the years, there have been some issues with cruises, and I've written to the line. Mostly I've received compensation for the problems. However, I booked a 15 day Asia cruise in 2019 that was to sail in 2021, paid in full early and it has been postponed twice. Each time I had already booked award flights, non award flights and some hotels. Each time, I got absolutely no compensation as a result. I've lost money as a result. I realize I am not alone in this and many people lost money as a result of COVID. However, HAL also canceled 6 other cruises and sent out an email canceling a TA cruise I was booked on, and then sent out an email three weeks later saying they didn't cancel the cruise and it was a mistake. By then I had canceled my flight. So I wrote to HAL and got the rudest letter back I've ever gotten from any company. I replied to this letter, and got an actual call from a concerned HAL employee. We spent 70 minutes on the phone, and at the end, he gave me $85 in shipboard credit, and upgraded my cabin to the best remaining ocean view on the ship (I was booked in an inside guarantee.) So sometimes cruise lines listen. (My letters to Princess fell on deaf ears-no one ever responded about a serious safety concern.)

I just had a long phone conversation with a, HAL exec. I explained to him that HAL is losing opportunities of getting solo cruiser's because of their high single supplements. He agreed with me and I think HAL may be making some changes.

I think a great way to see Europe is to book a TA that goes to Europe first, and then build in 2 weeks before traveling around Europe starting from your destination. So if you board in Barcelona, you can book a flight on TAP or Iberia with a layover in Lisbon or Madrid. Do some travel there, and then go to Barcelona. There are lots of lovely places close by train from there. I speak a few words of Spanish and French and I've traveled thru Europe, Africa, and Asia with no issue. I don't use buses, but use subways and metros and ferries and trains with no problem. Well, I used a bus in Mexico and once in Africa, but both were long distance and not local. I've never had a problem that I couldn't solve .

Organizing a private tour is a great way to meet people. 1) You get to plan a small group tour of what you want to do in a port and get people to join you, 2) you meet people ahead on the roll call, 3) you already have people you know in advance who may invite you to dinner or drinks, etc., and 4) its really fun planning a tour and its usually easy. Then on the cruise you get a tour with 8-16 people at a cost you like doing something you want longer than you would through the ship.

This happens on many, many cruise lines. I had a studio booked on NCL. The regular cabins dropped in priced to the point I was paying triple for a studio compared to a regular outside, and all were more expensive than a HAL cabin on a 14 day cruise from Fort Lauderdale than this 10 day from NYC in February where they would be lousy weather for 3 days. I cancelled and booked with HAL. HAL now has solo cabins on their new ships which are way up at the front, and are really small and cost about 180% for a tiny cabin. No thanks!

Holland America still has fixed dining. I sign up for 8 pm and ask for a table of 6 or 8. That usually works. I get sat at a table of 6 usually. But many times it ends up there is only one other couple and then I am alone. The maitre'd then tries to move me to a back up table. At lunch or breakfast, they group people so I'm fine. Princess only come as you are dining, which means you usually wait for 30 minutes or more. You can avoid that by getting the same table every night with the same waiter. I chose that, as I'm picky and I don't like waiting. But it meant I ate alone every night.

I just booked the August 31 2024 Celestyal Journey 7 night sailing from Piraeus! Really excited about this one. I will add a 4 night bus trip in, and probably 3-4 nights each on 2 small islands near Athens after the cruise.