Hlitner

We assume you are aware that Icelandic Business Class is not your typical business class, but rather something akin to other airline's premium economy Icelandic's Saga Class (what they call business) does not have lay flat seats. We still think it is a terrific deal, but some folks are disappointed when they see the seats. Hank

A nice benefit of using Icelandic is the ability to do a multi-day stopover in Iceland. In the past we have also used Aer Lingus which allows multi-day stopovers in Ireland (either Dublin or Shannon). It is a great way to extend a vacation with a land trip without incurring any additional airline costs. For a cruise we are taking next year, out of Tokyo, we already booked direct with Turkish Air (recently voted the best European airline and also known for terrific business class) and built in a few day stopover in Istanbul. I think many folks, who can manage the time, miss out by not taking advantage of the stopover potential of many airlines. As to EZAIR (and similar programs with other cruise lines) the once amazing deals (especially in business/first class) have all but disappeared. Two years ago we booked a one way business class trip from Prague to Washington. DC for only $1000 using Seabourn's version of EzAir. Try to do that today! Looking at EZAIR prices to Japan, for 2025, the prices are off the charts and almost identical to booking direct with the airlines. Whether this is a temporary set-back, or represents a new policy of the airlines, has yet to be determined. Hank

We have used EZAIR, many times, and never called Princess. It is relatively simply to use their online booking engine. But the 5 day limitation (which also applies to Seabourn, HAL, etc) simply drives us to booking direct with the various airlines. Hank

I agree and would not consider taking the train to Paris with the early 6pm ship departure. But it is possible, if one is willing to settle for only 3-4 hours in the city. As to an excursion, 3-4 hours in Paris, using a bus, means there is very little time to see or do much. One can certainly drive past a few places and make a quick stop, but that is not much, given the price the cruise lines charge for excursions. With such a short port day in Le Havre, we would suggest doing some kind of tour of the D-Day beaches, cemetery, etc. I cannot help but wonder if the tour operator cancelled the Paris excursions because of that short port day. Keep in mind that the cruise lines do not operate excursions but are simply booking agencies for local tour providers. It is a crazy summer in Paris with the Olympics and ParaOlympics. The city will be more crowded than usual, and then there are issues with political unrest, strikes, demonstrations, etc. Paris normally quiets down in August (when many French go off on their summer month-long holiday) but this summer is going to likely be the exception to that rule.

Our normal style is to spend significant land time pre and post cruise. The best of both worlds. Leaving a cruise for more than an overnight, seems like a financial loser.

This thread got me thinking about next year. The reality is that Italy is so full of tourists (Overtourism) that a few more probably will not make much difference. Go this year, next year, or any year, and if you go to popular tourist places you are going be shocked at the crowds. We were recently in Milan, and spent a pre-flight night at a hotel near MXP. Walked over to a nearby restaurant/bar, in the middle of nowhere, only to find the place absolutely packed, no tables available for nearly 2 hours, etc. We are used to Italy, but this was a big surprise as this was only a local bar/restaurant! Hank

Pireaus is a very passenger friendly port and the Greek authorities do not cause much delay. Once your ship is cleared (this generally takes no more than 30 minutes) you can just walk-off, through the terminal, and out to taxis or the street. On your return there is the usual metal detector/X-Ray screening. Hank

Although we do like Nice's Old Town, it is a place to spend no more than half a day and perhaps return for some of the restaurants. Nice has transitioned to a local tram system, so buses to go out of town are generally caught on the edges of town and can be accessed by using the tram line. As an example, the #400 bus goes from the bus depot, located near the Nice Cote d'Azur airport, to St Paul de Vence. Also consider that renting a car is pretty easy, and that does give one a lot of flexibility. We often like to combine a drive to St Paul de Vence with a drive to Antibes from where we can continue along the local road (that is near the sea) back to Nice. A car also makes it easy to drive up to Eze Village (they have parking right in front of the main entrance), to Grasse (for perfume lovers), etc. Hank

Ahhh, the ole vanilla question. DW is not even a fan of Mexican vanilla (she uses stuff from Madagascar or Tahiti) but we do know some fans. There is a small vanilla shop located near our condo (it is behind a parking garage called Plaza Juarez) located near the Rio Cujale (about 1 block from the Malecon). It is called Le Casa de la Vainilla. But it is a one-man shop and he seems to keep strange hours. He does sell all kinds of good vanilla including real beans. I would think that Walmart (located across the road from the cruise port) sells real vanilla...but we have never looked. We know some folks swear by the "Orlando:" brand, but if we were going to buy that stuff it would be easier to just do it on Amazon :). I should add that real vanilla extract and beans are not inexpensive in Mexico.

Interesting idea, but not a big fan. Why? 1. It is expensive. Consider that one is paying to be on that cruise for those days, and many of us take pretty expensive cruises. and 2. Ships do miss ports (it seems to be more common in the past few years) which can make one's life difficult, if that is the port where you planned to rejoin the vessel. Hank

While we understand that some folks simply want to have local currency in their pocket, 50+ years of extensive world travel has taught me not to even think about getting currency, in advance. We are in the era of ATMs, and they are very common throughout Europe (including Norway). Northern European countries have also been moving more to a a credit card or phone-based culture where most things can be purchased with a tap or sweep of the phone. For a country, like Norway, that sitll has its own currency, we simply stop at a local ATM (when we first arrive) and get some Krone. The advantage is that ATMs generally get you the best exchange rates, and we have ATM banks that do not charge extra fees. Like some of the other posters, we always have a supply of Euros. When we leave Europe, we do not bother to convert Euros back to dollars as that kind of conversion comes at a high cost (10% is not unusual given the exchange rates and fees). If we are leaving a country like Norway and have a bunch of Krone, we might exchange it for Euros (usually easier and at better rates than changing for dollars). By the way, we will again point out that trying to exchange currency in European banks is often not possible. Many banks will no longer do currency exchange for non customers. We have seen more currency vending machines, which can be convenient, but do not offer the best exchange rates. Hank

That is the question, isn' t it! In our case, they cancelled just about 12 months in advance, which does avoid any airline issues. We have heard of cancellations within 330 days, which means folks who have already purchased air may be out of luck. Some cruise lines will offer to reimburse airline change fees, but that assumes one is in a situation where they can take advantage of a change. It does seem like several cruise lines, not just Seabourn, now play fast and easy with cancellations and major itinerary changes. We cruised, extensively, for over forty years and never had any cancelations or major changes. But in the past decade, it has been an increasing problem. Consider our upcoming SB cruise which is now round trip from Dubrovnik. When we booked that cruise, it was from Istanbul to Dubrovnik. Then, without explanation, SB changed the itinerary, changed the embarkation port from Istanbul to Dubrovnik, and eliminated two other ports in Turkey. To this day, SB has never explained why they made the change nor did they offer any compensation. Our only options were to keep the booking or cancel. We have also had major changes on Oceania cruises. The new Explora Journeys cruise line has also made a habit out of major itinerary changes (such as cancelling an entire season of Alaskan cruises) without any explanation. At the very least, we think the cruise lines owe explanations to their customers, but that is not the norm. Hank

The problem is that even long cruises are made-up of shorter segments. For example, we had booked back to back to back 14 day cruises (42 days) as a single booking. Months after booked, we were notified that the middle 14 day cruise had been cancelled, due to a group charter. As a result, we had to cancel the entire trip. Seabourn offered us a 10% future cruise credit, but since SB had already increased their prices, booking another cruise actually cost us a lot more money. Even our cruise agent (who has over 30 years experience and is used to dealing with high end lines) was surprised at the small amount of compensation, which did not even make us whole. The Group that chartered our cruise is a large US-based corporation that has also previously chartered SB voyages. Since the cancelled cruise was nearly sold out (a year in advance) there are obviously hundreds of unhappy customers. The bottom line is that SB seems to have no problem screwing regular customers to accept charters. What to do? Obviously, we have lost our trust in SB and will likely avoid booking any cruises more than a few months in advance. The only saving grace, with our forced cancellation, was that SB did it 1 year in advance, so we had not purchased any air. Hank

Highlights depend on your own taste. We once went to PV on a cruise and were sharing a dinner table with 3 other couples. They voted that we should be their guides in PV. So we took them from the port into town on the local bus (10 pesos per person) and to some lower priced bars. That turned out to be the entire day since they enjoyed sitting at the beach/bar, eating cheap Mexican food, and drinking 1 dollar beers! LOL. Many cruisers will just take a taxi to the Rosita Hotel, which is at the north end of the Malecon. They then walk the entire Malecon browsing shops, eating venues, etc. You can go off the Malecon to walk up to the church, As you get near the Rio Cujale (which separates Centro from the Romantic Zone/Old Town) there is a flea market a few blocks towards your left. They sell mostly tourist junk, but crusiers seem to enjoy it. You then continue over the Rio Cujale into the Romantic Zone (where we live) to look at the shops, art galleries, restaurants, etc. There are taxis around town (and a few taxi stands) so it is easy to get a taxi back to the port. For those that want to take a day trip to the beach, the Los Caletas tour (it will be offered by your ship) does provide a decent beach day with OK food and nice facilities. If you are there until later at night (some ships stay until about 10 or 11) they will offer an excursion called Rhythms of the Night (also located at Las Caletas) which is a decent, but pricey. Going to Los Caletas involves a 45 min boat ride (from the port). Hank

You won't get much argument from me or most folks about the lousy trend in airline seats...especially in economy. The FAA has mostly stayed out of the fray only dealing with safety (not comfort). I am a long-time proponent of personal responsibility. Before we book a flght, we look at the assigned hardware (type of aircraft) and check the seating situation on both the airline's site and other sites (such as seatguru). If we are not happy with the seat situation, we do not book that airline or flight. For us it means that some airlines, such as Frontier, do not get any of our business. We often fly Business Class on longer foreign flights. In those situations, our preference is usually for non-US airlines since we have found that many foreign carriers have better seating, better service, better lounges, and better food then we get on some of the US carriers. Look at the various surveys of the best airlines in the world and you will generally not find any US airlines in the top 10. We do have an upcoming flight on United (not an airline we have ever liked) because we want to try out their Polaris Class...not to mention they have opened a big Polaris lounge at IAD. But for another flight from the east coast to Japan, we avoided all the US airlines and booked Turkish Air (one of our favorite Business Class airlines) which not only saves us money, but gets us a few day stop-over in Istanbul. We would have considered Delta (their Delta One seats are quite nice) but their prices were about double what we pay Turkish Air, and Turkish Air does have better food/service in Business. Hank

Not always! Many banks, especially in northern Europe, will not exchange currency for non-customers. I have sometimes seen signs, in bank windows, making it clear they do not change currency. There are sometimes free-standing currency kiosks, or even currency exchange vending machines, but you are not going to get a favorable rate. The best deals are either from an ATM (which is how most folks get currency) or using a major credit card with no foreign exchange fee (i.e. Chase Sapphire, AMEX Platinum, etc). As to getting Caribbean currency (for a collector) the easiest way is to buy something with dollars and ask for change in local currency. Hank

Hmmm. Every time you open your mouth? LOL. Not to worry as first timers are just as welcomed as long-time veterans. In fact, let folks know that its your first cruise and many will offer you advice :). Hank

Interesting points of view. Those of us who have a lot of travel and cruise experience (in my case it is more than 50 years) always suggest that flying-in at least 1 day early (for domestic ports) and more than 1 day for foreign ports, is wise. We would only consider gambling on a same day flight if we were comfortable with a Plan B, in how to catch-up with the trip. For an embarkation in Copenhagen, where the ship is in nearby Arhus the following day, is a good example of where one might take a chance. On a closed loop Caribbean cruise, we would not gamble. While we understand the arguments for flying in the day of....those folks should consider "what if they are wrong" and miss their ship. Can they catch up without spending a lot of extra money? Is it even possible? For those cruising without a valid Passport, it can be a problem. Also be careful with trip insurance, because most policies have a clause requiring a flight be scheduled to arrive X number of hours before the scheduled embarkation. So, if your policy requires a 6 hour window, and your is scheduled to get you to the port 5 hours before your cruise, you will collect zero insurance if you miss that cruise. The other reason for arriving days early is for folks with checked luggage. Luggage seldom gets lost, but more commonly misses a flight, or gets mis directed, and will usually catch-up the following day. That is not good if you are already out to sea. Hank

I am not a fan of CFAR but have long wondered about NY's policy. In many cases, CFAR is not even insurance but rather a waiver (of the penalty period provisions). Technically, that is not even insurance when it is sold by the cruise lines (who make it clear it is a waiver and not insurance). Hank

Truly sorry. So we shift the blame to "Euro" LOL. For the record, we recently walked down the donkey trail on Santorini, but Ravello is a "bridge too far."

There are some good solutions, such as GeoBlue, but unfortunately (for you) you happen to live in the one State that bans the sale of many decent insurance products. Our NYC friends all buy Allianz (apparently, they are licensed for sale in NYC). For those who do not live in those two States, GeoBlue costs under $400 a year for an annual policy that covers up to 70 days per trip. Hank

Have to smile at Marazul's suggestion of walking up to Ravello. We agree that Ravello is worht a visit, but that walk is not my style,..and I am a walker who thinks 10 mile strolls are just fun. You can catch an inexpensive local bus from the square in Amalfi or grab a taxi (if you can find one). DW claims that the best Limoncello she has ever had (anywhere) was in Ravello. Hank

There is a small port/pier area towards the left of the town, and that is where you will be dropped by your tender. From that spot, the entire town of Villefranche is within walking distance. There will be some taxis (first come first serve), but I am not sure of their fare to Nice (Old Town). It should be no more than 10 Euros per person, but taxis in France have been known to rip off cruisers. There are also regional buses and the train station, either of which can get you into Nice. The bus or train should be about 2 Euros. Once in Nice, they now have a decent streetcar/tram system to get around town, for folks that do not want to walk or grab a taxi. Speaking of old town, keep in mind that the Flower Market (do not miss this) is primarily a morning market and starts to wind down shortly after noon. We always suggest making the Flower Market the first stop. Hank

Nice is nice :). So what to do for a few days? Certainly take a walk to the Flower Market and adjacent old town. Although many folks seem to love Eze, our own preference is to go out to St Paul de Vence and, if you enjoy contemporary art, also visit the nearby Maeght Fondation. Eze Village is also worth a visit, but we have been disappointed in the quality of the shops...in recent years. I would suggest saving Cannes for another cruise that actually uses that town as a port. Monte Carlo does offer the palace/changing of the guard and perhaps a visit to the casino. DW and I are not fans of Monte Carlo, but we do understand that some do enjoy the town. In fact a couple of years ago we ended a cruise in Monte Carlo, where DW and I walked off the ship, into our reserved car/driver, and sped off for a few days in Nice :). Just a word about a walking tour of Nice (even if it is included in the Viking fare). Most walking tours will take you to the Flower Market/Old Town and also for a stroll along the Promanade. We agree with going to these places, but there is no reason to do it with 30 of your "friends" and a guide. The Old Town area is a place where you stroll around, enjoy the many stalls of the outdoor Flower Market, go into some of the shops. enjoy a snack or lunch (lots of nice places to eat), etc. When we have seen walking tours in that crowded area, the guides generally give their charges "free time" since it is an area for browsing, not for a large group tour. Then we see those folks stop at a cafe for coffee and a pastry, and nervously look at their watches because they are concerned about when to meet their group. You can easily do all this on your own, and not be concerned about being on a schedule. Hank

Would not say "for sure" because these days HAL can change any rule any day at any time. But, normally, if you are booked under a single reservation (i.e. cruise number) you will not get upgraded during the voyage. The one exception has been on "Grand Cruises" when upgrades were granted between segments. Hank