Gopherpharm

On 3/5/2022 at 3:47 PM, notamermaid said:

 

 

And to whet your appetite and increase your excitement further I have decided to re-post that video clip on castles as intended before I saw your post. This I posted in 2021 when it came out but I find it such a pleasantly short and good introduction to the Middle Rhine valley that I would like to share it again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XElvTqJVWA

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Gorgeous thank you! I can’t wait to see all this in person (departing Amsterdam 4 weeks from today)!

My cruise stops in Cologne, Koblenz, Boppard, Rudesheim, Germersheim, Kehl, and Breisach. Forgive my naïveté, but will I need cash in any of these places for food/souvenirs? My life is pretty cashless these days but wanted to plan for what I might want to withdraw from an ATM before departure. 

That being said, If you have a Swiss covid certificate you can upload it to the green pass app easily (and for free)! 
 

the link in my previous post was to show that daily testing in the Netherlands doesn’t seem to be happening for vaccinated and boosted visitors. 

On 2/17/2022 at 12:10 PM, Heartfelttraveler said:

We will try to get an EU Green Pass.

It looks like the USA is now eligible to obtain one.  But it has to be done within 48 hours of arrival in the Netherlands.

We should have a Swiss Pass as we are spending a week in Switzerland prior to our river cruise.

I’m pretty sure you don’t need an EU green pass. https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiting-the-netherlands-from-abroad/requirements-for-proof-of-vaccination
If fully vaccinated, you need a negative test as part of entry requirements, and be able to show proof of vaccination (or a covid certificate a la the Swiss certificate) to enter museums etc. 

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

If it is like that for more than 48 hours at the time of your cruise, I shall get annoyed with those that make the weather. We normally have more than 50F or 10 Celsius during the end of March, at least on some days. Right now it is a bit on the cold side, but still normal for end of February. Minus 4 in the hills at night to plus 10 in the valley in the afternoons where it is sunny. I should take a short video on a sunny day to give you folks an impression of what it is like. Hmm, perhaps next week.

 

notamermaid

 

That would be amazing! 

9 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

If I may ask (and if it's allowed on this board) what brand did you buy?  We fly to Canada in June---praying that this onerous requirement is gone by then (coming and going).  We're fully vaccinated and boostered, doing all we can.

They are BinaxNOW and I bought through the Optum Store online. My colleague used these successfully coming home from Canada a few months ago!

On 2/26/2022 at 4:28 PM, sharkster77 said:

Does anyone think the US will drop the COVID test requirement to re-enter the country for vaccinated and boostered individuals at some point soon?  Most of Europe is dropping this requirement for vaccinated individuals.   It seems strange that I can travel from high-COVID/low vaxxed state to high-COVID/low vaxxed state, and no test is needed, but if I return from a low-COVID highly vaxxed country, I need a test.

 

I am praying that the CDC's adjustment of the mask recommendations is the first step in transitioning to life with COVID as an endemic disease, like the seasonal flu.  There needs to be some recognition that the situation in New England, for example, is nothing like that in the deep south.  I would feel safer in the UK than I would in some US states, TBH.

Here’s to hoping. I bought tests that come with a video “administrator” for returning to the US because they’re much less expensive than testing at the airport. 

On 2/26/2022 at 9:05 AM, notamermaid said:

My pleasure. A "Spring awakening" cruise. That is nice. End of March will already see many budding trees and sailing upstream from Amsterdam into the warm microclimates of the Rhine valley should give you a tiny bit more Spring each day if the weather is sunny.

 

Talking of info. I have not posted any water levels yet. So I will do that next together with some explanations for the newcomers to the subject.

 

notamermaid

 

I am prepared for temps around 50F and rain…so anything else will be a pleasant surprise. We are sooo excited. It will be our first time in any of these places!

On 12/12/2021 at 11:26 AM, Psoque said:

You might want to wait until next year to see what is going on then.  But if you want, you could obtain the QR code (which works for all EU/Schengen/NFTA countries) specifically from Switzterland (since it is most likely impossible to get it from Netherlands unless you get tested every 24 hours there, and I think Germany is only giving out the limited time QR codes, not the real one).  When I applied for it in October, it was free.  I just had to e-mail one of the Swiss Canton health departments (for us, we dealt with the Canton of Basel-Stadt) with scans of your passport face pages and the scans of your vaccination certificates.  It was free when we got this, but I heard some Cantons (not sure which ones, if not all?) are charging a small fee.  It is my understanding that these "real" QR codes are good for one year starting the date of your most recent vaccination.  So this also depends on when your most recent vaccination.  If your most recent vaccination was before April 3, 2021 (and if you haven't gotten the booster yet), you may want to get your booster then apply for the QR code.

Thanks, we ended up paying for Swiss Covid certificates. It feels easier to have a QR code to use anywhere they will accept it!

Thank you for the info!! We leave the US next month for an April 3rd departure from Amsterdam. Anxiously excited!

This thread has great information but I would love the contributor’s thoughts!

Our river cruise (Netherlands/France/Germany/Switzerland) is not until April 3. We have a pre-cruise stay in Amsterdam 3/30 and a post-cruise stay in Lucerne (independent, not a Uniworld extension). Would it be beneficial for me to work on getting Swiss certificates for myself and my husband now? We are both 3x vaccinated with Pfizer/Moderna. Anything to make our lives easier. 

We are doing our first river cruise on Uniworld in 2021! Have only heard good things. Very excited!

Well it was true! Bottles of wine were included at dining venues. Now a moot point I suppose...

On 7/11/2019 at 10:48 AM, jenf22 said:

You know, I was thinking this at first too.  But after looking at the pictures I'm wondering a couple of things - 1) How could he have put her up there so perfectly that an arm or leg didn't pass through the opening revealing there was no glass?  The ledge is only a couple of inches  and 2) the windows don't look very tall.  I know she was little, but wouldn't she have been taller than the opening?  Wouldn't he have hit her head if he stood her in the window?

 

So I really think it was just a horrible accident and the lawyer is trying to convince them it wasn't totally the grandpa's fault.  It's got to be a much easier "truth" for the family to handle right now.  So so sad.

1) Agree but perhaps this realization occurred as she was leaning forward/slipping out of his grip

2) the windows are at least 3 feet tall and if she was over 3 feet at 18 months that would be extremely abnormal

I agree that was a horrible accident. 

We got the premium plus beverage package as a perk for Sky this coming weekend. Am I reading this correctly, that bottles of wine are included at dining venues?? It’s a 3 night sailing. If so does anyone know what wines are included?

#1...if you can manage going to St. John on your St Thomas day you don’t be sorry!

All I can say is that show must be really amazing 😉 

On 5/10/2019 at 3:04 PM, mitsugirly said:

Ok, so only one other thing that happened this day that I want to bring up. This is my b*tch session so sorry in advance. 

 

We had went to the photography studio to take a look at our pictures taken so far. I know from past experiences that collecting your pictures during the week and putting them together never seems to end good for us. People will spread them out, take them-never to be seen again and so on. So, we have started gathering them nightly and taking them to the desk and having them hold on to them until the end of the cruise and then we'll pick what we want. (They have folders and cabinets they will put them in with your room number on them). 

 

Well, after gathering the pictures, we went up to the counter, and a guy helped us out.

 

Then our conversation went like this....

 

Him:  "Are you interested in our special? Tonight's the last night for it and it's only $69.95 for the package". 

He continued to tell me "For $69.95 you can have ALL of your pictures taken throughout the week...all of them!". 

Me: "Wait, what? ALL of them for $69.95?"

Him: "Yes, only if you do it tonight"

Me: "So there's got to be a catch to this. Is it only the port pictures?"

Him: "Nope, it's everything. Everything the photographers take of you during the cruise for only $69.95. But only tonight."

Me: "So what about the photographers that set up around the ship with props? Are those included in the $69.95 price?"

Him: "Yep...EVERYTHING! Even the pictures taken around the ship like in the MDR or by the pool and even embarkation"

Me: "So if it's only $69.95, why wouldn't EVERYONE on the ship do that then? That makes no sense."

Him: "I'm not sure. It's a great deal."

Me: "So when we see the photographers set up around the ship with a back drop, we can go to each one of them with no limit every night?"

Him: "Yes"

Me: "So there's no limit?"

Him: "No. You can go to each set up every single night of the cruise. The only "limit" is you can only do 6 pictures at each setup. How many are in your cabin?"

~me now thinking~ "Well, there are 4 booked in our cabin but 1 of those people belong to my older daughters fiance in another cabin and since she's his relative, she's in most of the pictures with them."

Him: "Well, since she's booked in your cabin, any pictures that include her are free with the package as well, even if you are not in them."

~Um ok. That meant that most of Kendra's pictures were going to be free too because Shawna was in most of them. The weird thing was, he never once asked me to prove she was in my cabin or anything. He just asked me to show him a picture of her in all the other pictures and they'd be included.  

Him: "So would you like to do the package for $69.95?"

Me: "Absolutely! Here's my card and I'm going over to get the other pictures as well" 

 

Then I ran off to grab Kendra's pictures with Shawna in them. 

 

When I returned, he gave me the slip to sign and ..... it said $269.95. "WAIT WHAT? You said $69.95 and you just charged me $269.95!!!" He started back tracking...well it's $269.95. I said over and over...NO! "You said $69.95 four times and I repeated it back to you several times and you assured me on the price." His reply was "Well, it was the $299.95 and now it's $269.95 and I was just saying the $69.95 is the changed part" WHAT THE HELL-O ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????? You don't just "cut off" the first two hundred dollars of the price and quote the $69.95? At this point I'm pissed and I don't get pissed...like seriously, pissed often. My husband said..."ahhhh, the bait and switch program at it's finest!" I was livid. 

 

He said "No problem mam, I can remove it". 

Me: "Ok, remove it and charge me the $69.95 you quoted me!"

Him: "No, I can remove the charge all together and we won't do the package"

 

After going back and forth a bit...he knew I was pissed, the hubby and I talked it over and decided that we usually pay about $150 in pictures each cruise just buying them individually and Kendra usually spends about the same (or has been known to do the professional pictures and dress up and spend over $500). So, I said "I'll just go ahead and take it but this is BS that you did this to us!" I figured I could split the cost with Kendra and still pay less than I normally do.

 

I remembered that there were a few pictures of us that I wasn't going to originally buy and went back over to grab them as well and when I returned and handed them to him, he handed me yet another receipt.

 

I said "What's this?"

He said "I credited your account and took it off". I'm totally confused now.

Me: "What do you mean you took it off? We are still getting the package right?"

Him: "No, I removed the package and charges"

Me: "OH MY GOSH!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS? After I just told you we would take it. What type of salesman are you? I can't deal anymore...get me someone else. I'm done with you!"

 

He went over and grabbed a lady...I explained the entire situation to her and all she had to say was "Do you want the package or not?" Like no sympathy, no getting the supervisor, no discount, no nothing! She just charged my card and then told me that they still had to take my pictures from me and they would not release them until the last day of the cruise. 

 

This whole situation put the worse taste in my mouth and I'm totally convinced they hired incompetent people in the photography studio. We had been there for well over an hour and I was so done with the situation and had it not been so late, I would have insisted on a manager or someone else to speak to. 

 

Or course, I would continue the week taking as many pictures as I could get our bodies in whether or not we were dressed up. It didn't matter. 

 

But, I wanted to let everyone out there know what kind of crap they pulled on me. It was NOT a misunderstanding. I did NOT hear him wrong because it was repeated, by him and myself, over and over during the long conversation. This is some BS!!!!
 

Loving your review as always!

We had a very similar interaction with staff on Freedom but having to do with dining. They insisted we had late seating but I had booked early seating and had proof...and were just overall NOT helpful. I requested to speak to a manager and they said he was busy. We liked the Freedom overall but that interaction really rubbed me the wrong way. 

10 hours ago, Fastman said:

 

Thanks for the Sept weather info. Very helpful! Any mosquitoes in Sept?

 

Itinerary is Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria.  Any recommendations on shore excursions to do (or avoid) during Sept?

 

We didn’t encounter any mosquitos. We did need sunscreen on our glacier bay day though!

We did whale watching and a short hike to the Mendenhall glacier in Juneau. The glacier is pretty far away. We saw this before Glacier Bay and College Fjord, so in retrospect we would have skipped it, but if you aren’t going to GB or another prime glacier viewing area you might want to see Mendenhall. 

Skagway we took the train up/bus back. Definitely recommend. When we returned to town we had some spare time and decided to take a plane ride over Glacier Bay...this was actually my favorite experience of the trip! We just walked to the airport and we joined some other tourists for our ride. The views are like nothing else!

ketchikan we did a rainforest hike. This and all our excursions were through shore trips and we had no issues. We like smaller groups - there were a total of 8 guests plus a guide on our hike. We saw banana slugs, ancient trees and a baby black bear. 

Didn’t stop in Victoria so I can’t offer anything there. Alaska is amazing and I’m sure you will love it!

3 hours ago, Fastman said:

 

Hi gopherpharm!

 

Wife and I are going to Alaska mid-Sept this year (2019) on the Bliss in a mini-suite. Any advice/recommendations/etc you can give for that time of year would be very much appreciated!

 

Is there anything specific you have questions on? What’s your itinerary? Here’s my general advice:

 We saw temps from 40 and drizzling to 75 and sunny. Definitely bring a lightweight raincoat that you can layer under, a hat and gloves, shoes that are good for walking and can handle moisture. We loved using our binoculars from the balcony and from the pool decks and promenade...lots to see! We didn’t bring true winter coats and instead opted for layering (at the coldest, long sleeve shirt + sweatshirt + fleece jacket). 

On 6/7/2019 at 8:58 AM, sun_lovin!1 said:

My family and I have a Greek Isles NCL cruise booked for 7 nights from Venice in May of 2021.  We also picked the $50 per port as one of our perks.  We are staying in Venice 2 full days pre-cruise as well. I'm looking forward to your review and suggestions as to what to do at each port and what to see in Venice!

We did the ciccheti bar tour with Alessandro (along with some of our fellow cruisers) a couple nights before the cruise. It was so much fun, highly recommend, especially if it’s your first time in Venice. 

We spent a lot of time on our balcony and out on deck too in September...I’m imagining the weather to be similarly variable in May.

Was on the 8th day Adriatic cruise that left on July 8th. 3rd time on Star (great destination, but lacking big-ship activities). The best and least talked-about improvement I saw was replacement of the wall panel next to balcony with a more functional one. The old one had a narrower table that stuck out so much that it blocked access to balcony when the sofa-bed was open. The new one has a wider table which does not stick out as much and allows easy access to the balcony (even with sofa-bed open). Other improvements in the room:

 

- Two USB plugs for charging in the wall panel (the left most plugs in the pictures)

 

- Slot above the plug in the wall panel where you can put your phone/tablet during charging to keep the table clear

 

- USB charging plug under each light at the two sides of the bed (hard to find if you don't know they are there)

Was this a regular balcony cabin or a mini suite?

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Name changes can take longer than you think. If your trip is less than 3 months after the wedding I’d wait on changing your name until after the trip.

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Sailed on Carnival in May for the first time in years. Was nice to see Your Time Dining offered but every night it was at least a 20-30 minute wait for a table, never had that happen in NCL main dining rooms.

No wait even at prime dinner time (6:30-8?) Impressive.

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