iancal

I believe that any port can be dangerous if you do not use some common sense, exercise basic caution, and maintain an awareness of your surroundings.

Thieves are present in all ports.  They  prey on  the 'easy targets'.  

The trick is not to make yourself an easy target by your dress, your actions, or your inattentiveness, etc.

If you think that this cannot happen where you happen to live you are fooling yourself into a false sense of security.

Understand that several luggage manufacturers have two lines.  One that ends up in specialty stores.

Another line specifically for department and discount stores that regularly advertise for 50 percent off.  It also ends up in those so called 'factory outlet' stores.

Years ago the owner of a luggage repair shop that did luggage repairs for a major airline pulled out a few bags in for repair and showed us some of he differences.   Especially wheels, zippers, etc.  

Brand name does not always signify a well made product.

Maybe a Med cruise in  October 2023.  

We are doing land trips.   Five weeks in Portugal this summer.  Two months planned for a snowbird trip to Thailand and Malaysia this winter.

We are no rush to board a cruise ship at the moment.   We do miss it since we routinely pick one up as part of our land travels. 

Not even shopping for cruises at the moment.    I suspect that there have been lots of changes   Should be interesting once we get one booked at some point.  

I believe that many people spend far more time understanding and analyzing a $100 toaster oven or microwave than they do  understanding the attributes of the airline ticket, cruise air or otherwise, that they are buying.

Just like toaster ovens and microwaves, all airline tickets are not the same when it comes to attributes.

The unfortunate few find out the hard way during a SNAFU or during inclement  weather.

Our Italy rentals have all been purchased through Autoeurope.    It has usually been Hertz or Avis. We always get a standard.  We prefer a small Fiat Panda because both carry ons will fit in the back with the cover over them.

We tend to avoid renting from Airport locations especially if there is a large premium.  

We have had great luck in the past with autoeurope rates for one way rentals.  Pick up as we leave Florence, drop off just after the bridge when entering Venice, etc. 

I second ZLT's.  A fair number of the speed camera traps do not work.  If you see the person in front of you slow down suddenly that is a very good indication that the speed camera in that location is functioning!

Also be prepared for unmanned filling stations.  You deposit your money, the pump dispenses the amount of fuel purchased.  I found it a bit disconcerting at first.

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I want to correct a misconception.  Contactless credit card use has been somewhat common in Europe for a few years prior to COVID!  Americans (not familiar with Europe) should also be aware that, in Europe, it is almost unheard of to allow a credit card out of your sight.  Unlike here in the USA where merchants and waiters might take your credit card out of your sight to run the card, in Europe the norm is to bring the credit card user to your location or put it in a terminal within your view.    In Europe we would not normally allow anyone to take our credit cards out of our view.

 

Hank

We live in Canada.  Contactless has been the norm for years. Same in Europe and OZ.  Well before covid.  Never realized that chip cards or tap and go was such an issue prior to reading about  it on this forum.

As a matter of practice we would never let anyone take our credit cards out of our line of sight.  Or anywhere else for that matter.

Restaurants bring portable units to the table.  We either tap or we insert and enter our PIN number depending on the restaurant and the limits that they have established.  It is not uncommon to tap for any purchase under $200. but have to insert and verify with PIN for anything over.

Exact same for our travels in Europe, Australia, and SE Asia.

10 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

On road trips, my gauge for safety is "if I get a flat tire now, I'm driving on it".  Had that feeling in east St. Louis one time after taking a wrong exit.

 

On foot in cities, I scan ahead constantly and will sometimes cross the street when we don't need to because of somebody I've noticed down the block. 

 

 

We did the same in Rio a number of years ago.  Went into a jewelry store to exchange some money (rates were 25 percent better than the official bank rate at that time).  Came out and sensed that we were being followed.    

We walked back to our hotel, stayed in our room for a half hour then went back out.

We had a similar experience in Miami.

The measures are only as good as the loopholes.   The practice of Canadian airlines seems to be to deny any and all claims straight off. Then wear down the customer until he or she accept as much lower amount of 'voucher' rather than actual payment

We had a seven hour delay coming home from Faro, Portugal on Transat this past June.  What did we do for seven hours?  Look up the EU regulations and practices.

https://onemileatatime.com/guides/europe-flight-compensation-eu261/

We put in a claim to Transat for 600Euro each.   It was paid within the 30 day window as prescribed by EU261.

Can anyone imagine AC or Westjet actually acknowledging a claim or an issue, let alone satisfying it within that time frame?  As  previous long time business traveler on both airlines I certainly cannot.

The other revelation for us.  EU regs apply to EU based airlines flying to the EU.  The UK and Scandinavian country rules are similar.

 For us, that means next time, all things being equal, we will select a KLM, an Air France, Lufthasa,TAP, etc airline when flying to Europe.  There is so much more incentive for those airlines to build in reasonable timeframes and have on time arrival flights.

We bought a smaller bag and that became our limit.   We were forced to make choices and to only pack travel friendly, layered clothing.

Worked for us.

October is our favorite month for Med cruising and indeed for spending time in Greece, Turkey, or Italy.  At least four of our Med cruises have been in this time frame.

Last trip we were sunbathing in Cyprus at the end of October.  We have done the same in Sicily. 

 Our best time in Rome were four glorious days in mid November.   Light sweater in the AM, short sleeves by mid afternoon.   The bigger bonus....no crowds of tourists and great hotel rates and wonderful fall lighting.

You never know with the weather. No one can accurately predict it.  We typically aim for an Oct 20 something disembarkation just to be safe.  Land trips are different for us.  

When it comes to country entry requirements I certainly would not depend on what a CSR on any cruise line tells you.  

If the person is denied boarding it is not the CSR who will be left holding the bag and realizing the financial loss.

As other have said, check the entry requirements of each country/island against the passport.

We took an offer from RCI a few years ago to credit each of us $500. towards our cruise air fare. .

Prior to pushing the buy button we selected the airline, the route, etc. for our flight. 

We would never go for free air unless we were given the air details right down to airline, routing, times, and  fare codes. 

 This would be the only way that we could determine if it was really a savings and if the air was acceptable to us.

Just key in your departure and destination.   Then you will see all the possibilities.  

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

On one of our trips to Thailand I was about to hit the buy button.  I assumed that the airline had a $200 change fee just in case.

At the last minute I decided to check on the ticket's fare code.  Sure enough it was no change, no refund.

We changed to another airline who had a similar fare but their fare code allowed for a change @$200.

As luck would have we did have to return a few weeks  early from Thailand because of a family issue.   This was the first time ever that we had to cut a trip short. 

This ability to change saved us each a good chunk of change over the the cost of buying a one way ticket home.

16 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Because often the arranged air is via connecting flights, rather than direct;  you frequently do not receive airline and flight information until shortly before flight date - making it close to impossible to select desired seats.   You should only do this if you can be given airline information in advance - which will not happen until you pay fare in full -- and are given details re: participating airlines --- so you can make the arrangements yourself.  Letting some cruise booking person, or some intermediary, handle the booking is a recipe for disappointment (if not disaster).

That is why one has to truly understand what they are buying and NOT make assumptions about the product.

Why on earth would someone spring for air, 'free' or otherwise without knowing the airline, the routing, the seating, the fare code, etc????  

We travel frequently.  We would never, ever fall for a gag like this.   When it comes to travel we learned a long time ago never to buy a pig in a poke.  And never to assume anything. 

 This is nothing more than the old sales trick by a seller.  Have the price or the large discount move the customer eyes away from the product or the product attributes and the value.

Especially when you will not find out until it could be too late to make alternative, reasonably priced arrangements.

I do not understand why it would be a trap.

Unless of course you do not do your due diligence,  your shopping, our buy without understanding exactly what you are buying....and what you are not buying.

11 hours ago, mandwcruise said:

The notion that NA cities are also dangerous is non-sequitur: nobody here is cruising to Detroit or Chicago

 

The question at hand is how to avoid dangerous ports

No, but we are certainly aware of our surrounding and are careful with our belongings when we are in FLL, MIA, SAN, or LA when we spend a few days or more pre or post cruise.  And the same would hold if we were embarking or disembarking in other US seaboard cities.  OR St. Thomas.

What does it matter how or where covid was picked up.  Is that not a little beside the point?  

It could have been transmitted by any fellow passenger, crew member, or from the public whist on shore.  

The real issue here is the OP's description of the environment on the ship and how the cruise line did next to nothing to assist. 

Worse still, they suggested to the cruiser that he fly home and leave his spouse quarantine in Italy.  And that 'assistance' apparently  only came after multiple calls to HAL.  

Seems to me the cruise line 'dumped' them and the problem on someone else.

Fortunately the OP did not book direct.  He was eventually  able to have his TA go to bat for him. 

Is HAL a 9-5 PST business hours only operation, except during weekends and holidays?  Or are they a 24X7 organization that is always there for their customers?  Appears to be the former.

Cannot imagine anyone on this forum wanting to go through a similar experience.

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

We have sailed trans-Atlantic home at least six times after staying in either England or Italy.  Each time the cruise line’s connection gave a one way eastbound fare MUCH lower than any airline would offer.   But each time we would only be given the airlines’ link after paying fare in full -  which meant that to have effective airline choice (I prefer some lines’ equipment over others’) and to have decent seat selection you had to pay well before final payment date.  It has been a few years - but until just those few years ago most airlines would charge as much for a one way T/A as for a round trip.

 

When talking about one way T/A’s the cost benefit is great - and you book your flight, seat, etc. yourself with your airline of choice rather than risk letting some functionary select things for you.

We have had good luck twice  with BA consolidator fares from Toronto-Istanbul.  Better price, much better sched than cruise air.

We did a flight to Porto and then five days later to Rome combined  for slightly less than the cruise air offer.  The benefit being a week to explore the Douro Valley

 And we had great cruise air from BCN-Calgary on BA.  They were the same fare code  consolidator tickets as we purchased thru a TA on prior trips.

BA is good for consolidator tickets for us. Pre covid three flights a day to LHR, AM arrival and then at two, usually three onward flights to a final destination.

For some reason the only cruise line that we have had difficulty obtaining reasonable one way air quotes is Princess.  Not even in the ballpark.  We could never understand why this is.

57 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Exactly. I have always lived in big cities, it is my preference.  I will add to your list - don’t be stupid, if it is a dangerous area of that city just don’t go.  There are areas of my hometown which are not safe today and weren’t safe in the good old days either.  

There is one issue with that.....you cannot fix stupid!

This is EXACTLY why we are not cruising, not shopping for cruises, or planning to cruise until at least next year.  Nothing to do with any specific cruise line.

 Our decision has nothing to do with cost.  It has more to do with not wanting to be on a crowded ship  especially during meal times, not wanting to be quarantined in a ships cabin,  and wanting to be in control of our own travel options.   

Cruise lines are focused on revenue.  We believe our health is further down on their list of priorties.

We have been travelling internationally and will be doing so again in November.   More than likely for our winter snowbird trip. Independent land trips.  In past years we might combine this travel with cruises.   For us, cruising is not the only game in town.

Eastern Med.  But we are biased...we keep going back there year after year.  Also Italy, Sicily, and Aeolian islands.

Over the  years we have travelled to many countries.  Cruises and independent travel.

Despite all the cautions we still look at each other and roll our eyes when we see how totally clueless some tourists are.  

Just a few of the thing we notice on a regular basis when we travel...

-people who wear expensive jewelry, watches, chains, bracelets, earings, , etc.

-people who, when paying for something, open a wallet full of cash or credit cards instead of keeping most of the credit cards and cash hidden

-people who pay more attention to taking a selfie than they do to the purse or backpack that they leave beside them on the pavement.

-people who walk around with backpacks on their back and their valuables inside.  (easy target for a clever thief with a knife)  Same for carrying valuables on your person where pick pockets can easily access them

-people who hang purses and backpacks, etc from the back a chair or beside their chair in a restaurant/cafe

-people who pay more attention to the items in a trash and trinket store than they do to their own belongings  (same in Costco where we live especially at the food sample area)

-people who wander about in a fog with absolutely no sense of their surroundings.

Anyone can get assaulted, robbed etc.  But...you do need to keep your wits about you, not attract the wrong type of attention, and not act carelessly in such a way as to attract opportunity based thieves.

We are just as concerned when travelling to certain NA cities as we are to some overseas cities.  Can never understand why people seem to think their own country is so safe compared to others.

As a general rule we do not like bundling of any sort.  Happy to pay as we go.  Happy to book our air on our own or on these very few occasions where cruise air make sense. 

Our preference is to get down to the very basic balcony cabin cost, plus gratuities, and then add on those options that appeal to us. 

Despite numerous trips, we have only once found a one way economy cruise air fare from or to Europe to be particularly advantageous from a cost or routing perspective over what we could book on our own.

Just try asking for the free air without the cruise.

There is no free lunch.