MEFIowa

Given the waste of bread and how it is used to fill people up with essentially worthless carbs, what you write sounds wonderful. Wife and I tell the server when we order at any specialty restaurant (on both Riviera and Sirena), "No bread please."

Hard pass for me on the sushi. Not something I enjoy. I hope to enjoy the once-per-cruise Indian dinner. Will be interesting to see if Sirena will have either come 8/28/24.

I enjoy physically reading a good daily newspaper. So at home that's the Wall Street Journal for me. Don't get my serious news from the Internet and don't waste my precious vacation time on the Internet. I love scanning a physical newspaper to quickly see and read the exact stories I'm interested in. And I enjoy sampling the Canadian and UK papers. Too bad they didn't have the Times (of London). Thinking last Nov it was Daily Mail and Telegraph. And have done A4 and A3 concierge only on RIVIERA. The BIG therapy pool there makes that quite wonderful on a day filled with excursions. Love to use it around 5-6 pm. Trust me, after walking 10,000 steps to the St. John's Fortress in Kotor, that big therapy pool was worth its weight in water that evening. And on any evening my wife wanted to take her sweet time doing her make up and getting dressed without being bugged. (Never have sailed on Marina)

IF you enjoy NEWSPAPERS, as I do, then READING the various American, Canadian and UK newspapers in the Concierge Lounge is appreciated. As for the food and beverages there, they are what they are and you either use and enjoy them. Or not. Have also pulled out some port tourist books in this lounge, too. And once the Concierge helped look something up specific to a particular brand of Mexican wine I had purchased. So make of it what you want. If at all.

First, study a map and you'll quickly see that Paris is NOT in or near the "Mediterranean". You might as well discuss Berlin, Geneva, London, and Vienna. Second, in light of climate-related issues, the "historical weather charts" really mean study the past 5 or so years. What 1989 or 1999 or 2009 were like is rather immaterial in 2024.

So you mean a real win-win-win-win... Lower prices, no children, great weather, enjoying excursions and ports. As opposed to traveling over Christmas & New Year or June-July-August.

Too funny... Yes, the weather is cooler. Say 65 deg F versus 90-100 deg F. Who does BEACH RESORTS in November in the Med? IF that is why you're there, that is the wrong time! But all the other places are open for business and yes, Virginia, there are tourists out and about from Barcelona to Marseilles to La Spezia to Rome to Naples to Messina to Bari to Venice to Trieste to Split to Kotor to Heraklion to Athens to Kavala to Istanbul to Izmir/Ephesus. NO shortage of flights to and from Europe!

And for Americans, that is called "school summer" and the "Holiday Season", when parents and children go on vacations. Along with hordes of others. Yet, the "off" season is often just tied to that. You're missing the peak tourist season when the kiddies out! We did the E. Caribbean off Sirena 11/2022 and had PERFECT weather. Same in the W. Caribbean off Riviera 12/2021. And off Riviera in the Med in November 2023. WEATHER is always a crap shoot. That can be true for June, July and August in the Med. Though sure you'll enjoy the Acropolis and Colosseum in 101 deg F heat! You and 50,000 of your closest friends in a line a 1/2 mile long. I'm sure trudging around the ruins of Ephesus is a blast when you're melting in the hot sun and sweating sheets like rain. So glad we walked our many miles back from the Old Walls of Constantinople in nice weather. Streets filled with people in the old districts north of the primary tourist area. (We took the #38 public bus out the 4 miles to get to them.) And yet both the 2022 and 2023 cruises were FULL. Riviera had only 719 passengers but that was in late 2021 with the COVID issues. (For example, O paid to do the testing in a tent next to Terminal J.) GO to a good weather historical page and SEE the actual weather in your places and in that time going back thru 2023, 2022, and 2021. That is the real world data.

And here is Southern Gary's November 2023 Tome to his cruise in the Med on Riviera in Novermber:

Southern Gary was on the same cruise as we were, at least for his half of it:

NO shortage of shops open. And NO problems with hordes of tourists, either. Though we rarely had another ship in port with us, and that helps. Just a fantastic time enjoying city after city. Including walking up the thousands of steps to the St. John's Fortress in Kotor. People were friendly and seemed glad our ship was there with the tourists. We sailed into Kotor early and there was fog so a bit hard to see much at 0630. BUT we also left at 3 pm in the daylight and got the full view of the entire trip out, including the man-made island with the church on it and the entrances to the underground Yugoslavian Navy Cold War submarine pens.

We were on Riviera Trieste to Athens (10/30-11/9, 2023) and Athens to Barcelona (11/9-19, 2023). I think we had just 2 sea days the entire 20 nights. So many excursions. AND we spent 3 nights in Venice prior and 3 nights in Barcelona after.... Our weather was literally PERFECT. We had one rainy morning in Kavala I remember. But we still did our excursion and the rain was done around noon so it stopped the light rain during the excursion. Talk about weather perfection in the Acropolis at walking Ephesus and on two separate weekends in Istanbul. Not to mention Split, Bari, Kotor, Heraklion, Messina, Naples, Rome, and Marseilles. I laughed in Barcelona because the locals were wearing winter coats and head gear. I had t-shirt and shorts. Was 65 deg F. I'm from Iowa, so perfect day! And since the ship doesn't stay too late in many ports, the sun going down around 5 pm didn't make any serious difference. We did divert from Livorno to La Spezia due to projected weather, but that was the only weather issue for the ship. She made all the rest of her scheduled stops.

When you board you can go to the reservation desk daily to see if you can add a reservation in a Specialty Restaurant. They do that day by day. Best shot there is you are willing to eat with another couple.

Fair enough. Spent 10 nights on Sirena 11/2022 (in a B2) but have 22 more nights on her 8-9/2024. I would, however, like to point out that many of us eat primary in the Terrace Cafe. And I find that buffet to be outstanding. We love to eat under the stars. And we've never eaten in the GDR (including our 30 nights on Riviera since 122021). Given that I don't see any detailed specific discussion of the TC and its food, I don't consider your food thoughts to be of much, if any, value. But that's just me. And I don't think you make any specific detailed discussion of the GDR.

Though I tend to approach the issue up front, by purchasing cruises that are on sale. Saving money directly. Now whether your TA will be so generous in such a case, during a deep sale, who knows. But the actual sale comes from O not the TA. And I wouldn't rely on a TA to keep checking on potential sales for the booked cruise.