Mrs. Claypool

We will be in Greece and Turkey in October. Last month in Europe I wore a pair of good walking sneakers but I still got so tired of the cobblestones and uneven surfaces. My feet felt like chopped meat at the end of some days. So I just bought a pair of Merrell hiking shoes for Greece. They’re not much higher than sneakers, but they have a sturdy construction and thick tread. I’ll wear them on the plane so I won’t have to worry about the size and weight if I were to pack them.

Is there a map which shows the route?

We did the same cruise on the Venezia last month. The food was fantastic, the best I’ve tasted on river or ocean . If Tomaso from Slovakia is still the head chef, then you’re in for a treat.

I received a 14-page e-filing in this case, in which Mark Healy objects to my claim, among several pages of others. It goes on to state that "if a claimant disputes this Objection to their claim, then within 21 days of service of this Objection, such claimant must contact the Assignee via email at crystalclaimsobj@moecker-crystal.com to attempt to resolve the dispute". I am I the "claimant" referenced here? Am I personally supposed to take this action? Emily

Last month on a European river cruise, one of the guests had a medical emergency. An ambulance met the ship at the nearest dock and took her and her husband to the local hospital. This was in Italy and according to the couple, the hospital and its services were horrendous. This was confirmed by the crew member who escorted them to the hospital and stayed to provide support. Fortunately, she was cleared and released to return to the ship. If not, she would have had to remain in those very unpleasant conditions for who knows how long? You may want to look into an insurance company that provides medical evacuation service back to your own hospital at home in case of an emergency. There are quite a few available. We use MedJet.

We were in Egypt last month and the Sound and Light show was not operating. The word was that it had shut down “temporarily” but none of our guides could tell us when it would be open again.

I finally tracked down the correct information. The show was part of the British television show Globe Trekker. It was broadcast by PBS in the U.S. They had a series called “Tough Boats of the World”. One of the shows took place in Egypt and was hosted by a young woman named Holly Morris. The original broadcast took place on May 7, 2017. Holly started her Nile cruise by sleeping on the deck of a felucca and living out of her backpack. Then she transferred to the Sudan, where everything was beautiful and luxurious, and she was seriously underdressed!

I have a knee-length black skirt that rolls up into nothing which I always throw into my suitcase, in the event of an “emergency” fancy occasion. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once remarked— “The sense of being perfectly well-dressed gives a feeling of tranquility that religion is powerless to bestow.” 😁

Abject apologies! It was a different young woman traveler and my brain evidently morphed her into Samantha Brown. Unfortunately, now I cannot remember the name of the show or the host. However, I will be in Egypt again next month. I will keep an eye out for the Sudan and if I pick up any worthwhile firsthand information, I will certainly post it here for you.

Samantha Brown (PBS) did a show on Egypt several years ago. She sailed on the Sudan and had a lot of good things to say about the experience. Yes, it did look fascinating; very old-school, in the Agatha Christie manner. In 2019 we sailed past her as she was docked in Luxor, but we were on Uniworld.

I throw in a black skirt, as well. Just in case an emergency “really classy occasion” should arise.

We were on a Seabourn cruise last month that stopped at Saigon for one day. The ship arranged our visas and they cost us $55 each. However, we were told that if we wanted an overnight visa or longer, we should contact the front desk. Perhaps that would have increased the price?

Costco has just started selling boxes of Portuguese tarts in our local warehouse. Check your cold case section. 😉

We just returned from an Encore voyage. The public restrooms had both cloth and paper towels. I certainly agree with all those who have posted above; the bathroom in your own suite should be your first choice for any purpose!

We took UNIWORLD’s 2-week Cairo and Nile cruise back in 2019 and enjoyed it so much that we’ll be going on the same cruise with them again in 2 months time. Excellent guides, interesting itinerary and comfortable ship. We had hoped that the Grand Egyptian Museum would be open by this time, but they just keep pushing it back to a later date. Sigh!

I also recommend “Tour With Xuan”. Xuan worked carefully with us before we had even arrived in Saigon, to make sure that the tour would meet our needs. He answered all our questions very quickly and clearly. Xuan met us at the cruise port exactly on time and he dropped us back off exactly on time. Everything in between was beautifully arranged and at a very reasonable price. Not only was every minute of our tour filled with something interesting to see and do and learn and eat and drink, but spending time with a lovely person like Xuan Le was a pleasure in itself. His email address is tourwithxuan@gmail.com An excellent guide and a wonderful tour!

In Singapore, we booked a tour through the Secret Food Tours website. Our guide was Edwin Lee and he was just excellent.

We have taken river cruises with Crystal, Tauck and Uniworld. We were very pleased with our experiences on all 3 of them. Crystal stood out in terms of dining. Which is a moot point now, of course. So I can heartily recommend either of the other two lines.

We are booked on this year’s Rivers of the World cruise in May and it does include the Nile. I expect Uniworld wants to change things up from year to year to attract repeat customers, so we may see the Ganges some time in the future.

We are US citizens, so this information may not apply to you. However … We have a Seabourn cruise next February that includes stops in Cambodia and Vietnam. Our TA checked with Seabourn and we were told that the ship would arrange for those two visas and put the charge on our shipboard account.

It’s listed in the itinerary under Day 6 - Rudesheim.

One evening Tauck took us to Schloss Ehreshoven for dinner and a musical performance and a tour around the castle. As they had promise, it truly was a magical night!

We have just finished passing through the Middle Rhine on the Tauck MS Inspire. No swapping, no busing and no bottom scraping. Plenty of passenger ships and barge traffic going through both ways. We even saw a very large barge loaded with containers!

We arrived in Munich this morning to overcast skies. We took a walk to the area around Marienplatz for an early dinner. It was a lovely cool afternoon after our awful heatwave in California. Then, halfway through dinner— Crash! Thunder and lightening and a downpour such as I haven’t experienced for years! No umbrellas with us, of course. It went on for hours. So we arrived back at the hotel looking like drowned rats. But all my husband could say was — “What would Notamermaid think about this?” 🤣🤣🤣

We were in cabin 216 which is mid-aft. I didn't notice any diesel smell. Honestly, I can't remember smelling any unpleasant odors anywhere on the ship.