taxatty

Given losing Russian and various Black Sea port stops when the war in Ukraine began, and now Egyptian and Israeli ports being avoided for the time being, this is a significant portion of the world not presently visited by cruise ships.

Close friends of ours went on a Ponant cruise to Antarctica in 2022 and had similar comments to those of Aussieflyer, with the most negative ones being about the food.

As we all know, this "too bad" rule is basically universal in the industry. You should get some port fees refunded, but that's about it. Anything more is up to the largesse of the cruise line, as far as it's concerned.

If you don't need lie-flat seats to sleep and otherwise be comfortable on an 8 hour + flight, or because AA dynamic pricing business redemptions now often require a ridiculous number of miles unless you are very patient, get lucky and find something through Expert Flyer alerts or another method (another reason to only book one-way AA award flights), PE can be the sweet spot on AA if you use FF points. We've flown AA (and BA) PE using FF points several times across the ponds, but it's often 80-100% or more than economy if you pay in cash, which isn't so great. Sometimes you can book a good one-way AA PE cash deal within a few weeks of the flight, as we found once AKL-DFW-MIA.

If you'll ever use them again, as mentioned above, buy the boots for cheaper than renting. You can stuff them full of socks, underwear and other clothes so they are more efficient to pack than you'd think.

If you cancel an AA award trip using miles on a partner airline such as Qantas or BA, it can take a while for the miles and cash fees to be refunded--if a week has gone by and you haven't received the refund, calling AA is in order. In contrast, if you cancel an AA award trip using AA miles, I've always had the miles redeposited within an hour, with the credit card cash refunds coming in a few days or less.

On AA international flights booked through SS, upgrading with miles + cash was possible, but it took three calls to AA before finding an AAgent that was willing to put us on the upgrade waitlist, after being told by the first two that it couldn't be done. The initial upgrade was at the gate, and the return was by email two days before leaving. We also have AA status, which may have helped.

Food porn at its finest.

We do many cruises out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale as we live relatively close to both ports. Most people we speak with on the ships only seem to have flown in for the cruise, many only a day early at most, and then are catching flights out the afternoon of disembarkation day. Florida just happens to be where they get on and off the ship. My guess is that Disney, Universal, South Beach and the other major Florida attractions probably are seeing more of a downturn in traffic than cruise ships.

You can purchase door-to-door without flights and keep the pre and post cruise hotels along with (if you want them) the Blacklane transfers.

The same result appears to apply to pre and post cruise land excursions. We have paid between 40-60% of what the cruise lines wanted for the same types and quality of accommodations, transportation, etc. for land excursions in Europe and Southeast Asia. You just need to have a bit of DIY spirit.

Thank you--I've always wondered how this distinction applied.

No effect on the Cloud, at least for now.

We also greatly enjoyed the Rocky Mountaineer train--we went from Banff to Vancouver, with the overnight stop in Kamloops at a decent 3* hotel. The trip was extraordinarily scenic except for the last few hours into Vancouver.

There should be an SS service desk in the lobby of the hotel starting the morning before the cruise--you could always ask there upon arrival, and if you don't like what you hear, you could always then book a (likely cheaper) taxi or other transportation to the ship through the hotel concierge.

Barbara M. has commented on another social media website that "Silver Nova will be ready on August 14th and she is the most gorgeous ship you will ever see...Crew is working hard to finish up the last touches.. but they are minor last touches."

We just brought bottles of wine and some olive oil home from Australia after our SS cruise there using something like this- https://www.amazon.com/Vinolock-Reusable-Wine-Bottle-Protector/dp/B019HN0W30/ref=sr_1_6?crid=TTZQN2TPI5S6&keywords=wine+bubble+bags&qid=1691022009&sprefix=wine+bubble+bags%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-6. These went into a fold-up 60L duffle bag similar to this one as checked luggage, surrounded by some clothes and souvenirs as extra padding. https://www.rei.com/product/195807/rei-co-op-roadtripper-60-duffel. We bring the duffle bag empty in its pouch and it usually goes home full. We've now used this packing system several times without losing a drop.

IF you can get one. We tried for almost a year before our recent Adelaide to Darwin Ghan trip and a Platinum cabin never became available. You may have a better chance at a Platinum Cabin by buying the travel package you're considering. The extra expense is substantial.

Maybe SS could start by simply providing a decent, properly-cooked hamburger--I agree with others here that it doesn't based upon my SS experiences--but now there would probably be a $25 upcharge.

We just took The Ghan train in the opposite direction (Adelaide to Darwin) to get to our Darwin SS Kimberley cruise--it was a very worthwhile experience with excellent food and service and good excursions. The Darwin to Adelaide return trip adds an extra day and night that as shown on the map includes a stop at the Coober Pedy opal mines. Whether you like it or not depends in part upon how well you sleep on trains--we did better than expected.

This is a creative SS method for eating up (pun intended) a lot of the current $1000 per cabin OBC promotion for certain cruises.

We separately booked an extra two nights at a different SS-pre-cruise hotel and received an upgraded room. Upon request, as with canderson, the hotel allowed us to stay in the upgraded room for the third night for no additional charge--maybe you could do the same thing at the Athens hotel.

I wouldn't do this, however, if you plan on taking more luggage than you can personally carry or roll on a train.

Bingo!

You may also wish to consider taking the AA nonstop CLT-MAD flight, followed by what have become numerous, relatively cheap and fast trains from Madrid to Barcelona--it might work out better for you.