WallabyGal
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Posts posted by WallabyGal
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I agree. Aug '15 is a long way away, but let's hope things have settled down by then-soon!
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Well you can laugh now, Bill...but come summer, we New Englanders will be doing the laughing :-). That said, I'm in Austin TX now, visiting Kimberly. Supposed to be 75 here today, yay. It's been relentless in the Northeast! I don't know how there can be so much water in the atmosphere! Someone's getting robbed! California? BTW, I'm going to Calif briefly 3/2-3/5. My return flight has a stop in Phoenix, but only 1 hr. Maybe next time.
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Hi Bill & Everyone on this amazing cruise!
I just wanted to chime in - I booked it & will be with you guys, yay!! My daughter Kimberly will be coming with me too - she's 25 now, & will have her 27th birthday while we're in Russia, woo hoo!
It seems so far away, but I know it will be here quicker than I know. Looking forward to getting to know you all!
Cheers,
Carol (WallabyGal, due to my love of those amazing critters. My mom grew up in Australia & I've been lucky enough to go there several times).
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JC Foster;
We met some ladies who were in category 3 on the same deck as we were (as well as Bill & Linda Rogers) in Category 2. We were curious about the room differences. Answer: none! We were midship, they were aft, the last room on the hallway, next to a door passengers couldn't enter (presumably leading to the engine or some crew 'stuff' -maybe crew cabins? No idea). So their room was identical to ours, just in a different location. I don't know what they paid, but presumably it was cheaper. On a big ship it might make a difference being midship or fore or aft b/c of movement/motion issues. But on a ship that goes 10 knots/hr. on a quiet river, it made no difference.
As Bill noted, you are probably on a lower deck, & maybe near the laundry. But otherwise it's not an issue I wouldn't think, & you're not in your room much. The differences certainly weren't as large as they are between categories on a larger ship.
Regarding being vegetarian - that should be no problem, she won't be alone. Chef Claudio is fabulous as are he waiters & maitre d'. Just talk to them. Vegan might be a bit more of an issue I suppose, but they clearly aim to please. My recall is that there was always a vegetarian offering each night though it might have cheese or eggs so vegans might have a problem.
Enjoy!
Carol
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Well said, Bill! I am in total agreement with everything you said - it was a fabulous cruise & Uniworld is truly hard to top. I too would be happy to answer any questions from people considering this cruise. I'm sure I'll be on Uniworld in the future, hopefully along with the amazing Bill & his fabulous wife Linda - could not have asked for better cruisemates!
Cheers,
Carol PS to others reading this, I'm the person with the dairy allergy (not life threatening) & have never been treated as well as I was on Uniworld in terms of helping me to be able to eat fabulous dairy free food. They topped a lot of restaurants I've been in too (where you order a Caesar salad w/no cheese, but it arrives with shredded Parmesan, oh, oops, sooorrry they say!)
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Hi Riandei (& others);
I was on the SS Antoinette last week also with amazing Bill & his lovely wife Linda. I want to echo what he said - it's fabulous!!! I've cruised on NCL & Celebrity, before & while I loved them, this is a very different experience. Much more personal in so many ways. Everything was super - particularly the attention from the crew. I have a non-life threatening dairy allergy & they could not have been better about helping me eat amazing food. The head chef (Claudio) actually sought me out the 2nd or 3rd day to make sure everything was OK - you'd never have that on a big ship. He shared recipes & loved to chat about cooking & food (me too!).
3 of us used the bikes on the spur of the moment - they say you can sign up in advance, but we didn't. It was fabulous! (though I'd have liked a helmet as I use in the US, but not a big deal). One couple biked from one port to another - & the ship tooted them as we passed them on the way into port.
On our trip as Bill said, smoking was not an issue. In my experience, smoking is worse in the cities & towns in Europe - I feel like proportionally, more Europeans smoke these days, especially, sadly, young people. The vast majority of passengers were American (I was surprised), a few Brits, Canadians & Aussies and 1 Panamanian & 1 Chilean group. No one from France, Germany, etc.
I think Uniworld is going "all inclusive" for tipping & liquor in 2014 (including cocktails which you now pay for). But as Bill said, read the fine print. It is a pain to get 1 or 2 Euro coins daily to give bus drivers & tour guides, but I'll echo Bill in that they were totally worth it. We gave our cabin steward(ess) extra, & I gave the chef & our waiter extra too b/c of their amazing help for me.
The friend I traveled with had been on Viking in China last fall & felt Uniworld was more upscale, & better in some ways, though not with the tipping (they included it - but she wasn't sure if it was because it was China). She thought the room was equivalent, but she'd been in a junior suite there, & we were in Category 2 on Uniworld, so I'm not sure if it's comparable. She felt Uniworld's food was better, but again, was that b/c it was China? She also felt the guides were far superior on Uniworld.
The only critique I'd have is about hand sanitizing. On big boats you can't get on the ship w/o using hand sanitizer, nor can you go in the dining room w/o doing so. Here it was basically optional. More people got sick (colds, but a few did get a stomach thing - no idea if it was the dreaded norovirus) than I've seen before on any cruise (including my friend who got a nasty cold. Even the captain was sniffling at the end). I mentioned the hand issue strongly in my eval survey, & I washed my hands & used the hand sanitizer all the time. I felt like I was fighting off the cold a bit, but I didn't get sick.
So I heartily recommend the SS Antoinette & Uniworld - I plan to go again in the future!
Cheers,
Carol
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Fairfield - HOORAY! Now if they will only improve in general so they don't need to apologize. I remember how exciting flying used to be, & how people dressed up to fly, etc. I'm clearly showing my age which isn't THAT old, I was about 5 on my 1st flight, but it was such a different experience! But glad you got a nice apology!
I was surprised about what you said about United - they're not the best, but some years ago on my younger daughter's first solo trip (~9th grade) her luggage was 'lost' & never found. They knew pretty quickly at United that would be the case (never turning up), they figured it had been stolen since they'd put it on an earlier flight than she was on (she flew STL-ORD-BOS). Anyway, we were scheduled to go to Europe on a 2+ week cruise & she had virtually no clothes, not being a clothes horse. We madly went shopping, & I sent United a bill for almost $3000 (including things like her retainer, a library book she'd taken - she'd been at an archeology program in southern IL). To my amazement, they sent me a check quite quickly & an apology. The funny part was when I spoke to agents (daily as you can imagine) & they'd look at similar bags they'd 'found' & ask if she had 4 bottles of Johnny Walker in her bag by any chance. I hope not!
Cheers,
Carol
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Fairfield Nana - you are so right, Delta is awful! I had a bad experience w/them recently & not only trashed them on the customer survey, but then went to the website & complained there too. Very quickly they apologized & then sent me an Amazon.com $25 gift card. OK, not huge, but at least something, & made me feel a little better.
But Bill is right, all of the airlines just don't seem to care anymore. JetBlue used to routinely give out credit when flights were very late or there were other issues, but I just had a seriously delayed flight to Austin from Boston (their fault too, not weather related), & nothing. I don't have time to complain again right now.
Bill - was what you were talking about in going to Hawaii what happened to Sheila & family??? Horrible!!! She must be entitled to some compensation! I'd be screaming when I got back if happened to me.
Travel is just not what it used to - or IMHO - SHOULD be these days, sigh.
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Hi Castles folks;
I live in the Boston area & like Bill R. (Buck1949) I'll be on the Sept. 1 Castles cruise along with a good friend from LA. I just now feel like I can exhale again after last week. Happily everyone I knew running in or going to the Marathon was fine, but the lockdown on Friday impacted a lot of us, very surreal & unnerving, & of course there are those "weird small world" moments that so many people have had (people who left the finish line area minutes before the bombs; I was supposed to take my car for service early Friday to a dealership that was exactly in the middle of the area they 'secured' in Watertown, but luckily changed the date).
Anyway, sorry Banfieldspawn, but I don't play bridge well enough to join you. Do you play pinochle? I grew up with that & do like playing it - & even met some great folks on our Alaska cruise last summer that taught me a new version of double pinochle.
I just hope our flights aren't still impacted by the poor furloughed/sequestered air traffic controllers in late Aug. when we leave. I'm now really glad I booked a couple of days in Basel prior to the cruise.
Looking forward to meeting everyone!
Carol
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Hi Everyone,
Like Bill from AZ who I met on an Alaska cruise this summer, I am going on the Sept. 1 Castles on the Rhine (Bill actually persuaded me, yay!). I'm going with a friend from California who recently took a Viking river cruise in China. I've cruised a number of times on large ships, but my only previous river cruise was a 'you drive' one on the Moselle which turned out to be extremely stressful, so I'm looking forward to someone else throwing those ropes & tying us up!
I live in Massachusetts if anyone else is from the east on this trip. I plan to spend a little time before in Switzerland, probably Lake Lucerne, & a couple of days afterwards in Amsterdam as I've only ever been to the airport there.
Seems like a long way away, but it will be here before we know. Hoping to hear from others on the trip!
Cheers,
Carol
Trip Report NCL Jewel: Sydney to New Zealand
in Australia & New Zealand
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I'm actually going on almost the same trip on Jan. 30, 2019. Our Jewel itinerary doesn't include Melbourne (which we'll go to afterwards, my Mom grew up there & we'll visit relatives), and does include Marlborough. But a terrific writeup & really helpful. I've also been on the Jewel in Alaska so your comments brought back great memories. Thanks!