netpj

@Iamthesea We read with interest your post. How late was your ship in Civitavecchia? We will be there on a turnaround day and the ship sails at 5:00 pm so are curious how much time you had in the City and what was on your list to see. Presumably your ship stayed later than 5:00. Sorry for going off topic in this forum, but appreciate your response.

The outside dining area for Solis will be a welcome addition, especially in the Med. Does anyone have any updates on when Solis will appear on Ovation beyond sometime this spring?

We were wondering if anyone has sailed this particular itinerary, or similar, between late December and mid January?. Any comments on what could be expected regarding weather? We know it is not the ideal time of year but are intrigued by itinerary and the fact that it would be quieter than other times of the year. Thanks in advance.

On our present Viking cruise, the passengers are overwhelmingly American, perhaps to do with itinerary (LA round trip).. Our Seabourn cruises have had more of a mix. One other comment, Seabourn permits children despite the fact there are no children’s programs. Viking does not permit children as far as we are aware.

We second the views of Vineyard View and will just add a couple of comments. We were on Seabourn Ovation over Christmas. It never felt crowded, in fact we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. We are presently on Viking Star with a lot of sea days. The ship is beautiful, the crew outstanding, the food pretty good but to us the ship feels crowded on the sea days, lineups for the restaurant and often the World Cafe (where the food is often cold). We are in PH JS and agree it does not really match up to veranda accommodation on SB(bathroom in particular). We also agree about the pricing comments. One “basic” tip ur included with Viking along with several expensive options. We will consider Viking in the future but will likely book Seabourn first, again it is personal preference.

On a laptop, open your browser and type www.source.seabourn.com. That will take you to the home page where you can connect to the internet when you have set-up your account. Staff at Seabourn Square will be happy to help if you run into any issues.

@millybess We are also from Toronto and will be embarking on our first Viking cruise (32 days) in January. Out of curisosity, you mentioned in your post you transfer your booking to your TA, presumably in Toronto? Do you receive the OBC from your TA that was referred to at the beginning of this post? We are curious as we have not received anything from our TA despite doing a lot of business with this person over the years so were wondering if the OBC potential is somehow geo-restricted! Thanks..

On the subject of Uber or taxi, can someone please advise approximate travel time to Terminal 6 LAX from harbour on a weekday morning? Thanks!

Also, Oceania may have a hotel package which might include transfers. We usually find these packages more expensive than doing ourselves but might be something you could consider.

We are in n Barbados now and have taken cruises from Bridgetown port. All cruise ships use the same port which, depending on number of ships in on a particular day (including huge ones) can be chaotic both embarking and disembarking. No dedicated checkin area in terminal which is really a shopping area (we found a table outside the terminal near where taxi dropped us for checkin for Seabourn and Silversea so probably same for Oceania). Hundreds of taxis line up outside terminal for day trippers or disembarking passengers. Airport maybe 20 - 40 minutes depending on traffic. No hotels provide shuttles and there are no hotels in Bridgetown itself. You might want to look at the Hilton or Radisson hotels for relative proximity to port. Hope this helps and happy to try to answer any other questions.

We were lucky as our TA was informed about the Festival when he tried to book Old San Juan. We were able to get a lovely hotel in the Condado area and arrived late last night (Saturday). The streets were packed which is not unusual in this part of the City but we had no trouble getting here from the airport. Our driver said there shouldn't be a problem getting to the port tomorrow.

I think Terry @TLCOhioraises an interesting point. We board Dawn next week for B2B cruises. As we are cruising in the Caribbean we would not normally book shore excursions but thought we would "take advantage" as they are included in the price. Well, a few weeks ago we received an email from Silversea indicating that at least two of the excursions had been cancelled and to book new ones. Guess what - anything else that was of any interest or that we felt physically capable of booking were completely full so we've gone on waitlists. No mention of pricing reductions/credits if "included" shore excrusions are not available. @mitz18 - we may be on the same cruise - do you board in San Juan? Sounds like we received the same pre-embarkation email including information about crew wearing masks and other things which appear to be no longer relevant. I wonder if the 2:00 pm boarding time still stands?

We are sailing next week in the Caribbean. Although my old passport did not expire until July, the exact date of expiration would have been 2 days short of it being valid for 6 months. I was advised that I would not be permitted to embark as the passport did not meet the 6 months validity. I renewed it in November, almost 9 months before expiry - I agree with the previous poster - get it renewed now. I attended the Passport Office in person, paid extra for in person pick-up and had it within 2 weeks.

Lois, if possible could you please find out price for mani and pedi on the ship (ladies and gents). As we are travelling before the cruise it would be good to know if we should get land based nail appointments or use our OBC. Bye the way, when do the NFL playoffs finish? We don’t follow American football but we do follow English soccer (football).

On the subject of Red Hook - we have never boarded QM2 in New York, but will be next December for Christmas and beyond. Given weather that time of year, we will fly in a day early. Does anyone know of or where to find hotels in the Red Hook area if we don't want to stay in Manhatten? Thanks!