Hlitner

There are usually no formalities when you leave the ship. You simply pick up your luggage and go on your way. On most of our cruises, the ship has been cleared in 20-30 minutes after the gangway is in place. Keep in mind that many of the transfer companies (we like Romecabs) charge an extra fee for very early transfers (often pre 7am). And if you do arrange a very early transfer, what are you planning to do at 8 or 8:30am when most of Rome is still closed. You might want to consider a 7:30 or 8 transfer and give yourself time to enjoy your last breakfast on the ship. Hank

All the posts are very good :). But I will reiterate that Pompeii can be a very hot place, and folks should be careful if they are visiting on a hot day. Parts of the expansive ruins can have you feeling like you are out in a dessert with very little shelter and no facilities (they do have facilities in one location which always seems like it is far away...when you need it). My advice is to enter the ruins with a bottle of cool water (you can buy water near the entrance). Also make sure to dress for the weather and wear a decent hat. DW and I really enjoy Pompeii, but much less so on a steamy hot day. Hank

Interesting to read the various opinions. I do not see a problem taking that particular cruise. We recently spent 35 days on the Vista and really enjoyed the ship. As to closures in the Med, that is very dependent on the ports. The ports on that particular cruise should be fine with the possible exception of Argostoli. Since we have never been to that island that late in the year, we do not know what will be open and closed. But places like Dubrovnik, Kotor, Valetta, Palermo and Rome do not shut down after the summer season :). As to the weather, we prefer earlier in the shoulder season, but one always rolls the dice when it comes to weather. Hank

While I will not encourage folks to rent a car, we have done a lot of driving in Italy (most recently last month) and have rented cars in Livorno to drive to Cinque Terre. Bottom line is you can probably get a car from Sifracar, delivered to the port, for about 100 Euros. Take another couple and you are paying about 30-35 Euros per person (you do need to fill the tank) to get to the villages. Our norm is to just drive up to Riomaggiore, where one can park, for free, along the approach road or head to the pay garage/parking lot located on the edge of town. When doing this on a port day, we leave the car in Riomaggiore and use the train to go to other villages. When we are in Italy on our driving trips, we have driven between the various villages (not easy to access a couple of them). Otherwise, you can try to book a private car/driver online or simply negotiate a deal with a taxi at the port (first come first serve to get a taxi). In either of those cases you will likely pay at least 300 Euros for the car/driver. For those wondering, "why not use the train" it is not a good option between Livorno and Riomaggiore. Not only do you need to get to the Livorno train station, but the train usually takes at least 2 hours (one way) and involves a change in Pisa. Driving will take 1:15 - 1:30 (from the port). We have also done this drive and come back early enough to make a quick stop in Pisa (we did this for another couple who shared our car). If driving into Pisa, one must be very careful to avoid penetrating the ZTL (limited driving zone) which is near the Tower. Hank

That does look interesting :). Thanks for posting the link. Looks like it might be worth the approximate $700 per couple. Hank

You might want to look at the thread about charters/groups "Seabourn is pushing group travel and charters on this blog. Is that what is happening with the cruises you are watching? I have no idea. But it does seem like SB has no hesitation on chartering (or doing large group bookings) on shorter cruises. They even seem to be doing this on cruises that are well booked (it happened to us on a 2025 European cruise). I will be very blunt. DW and I really like Seabourn (at the moment it is our favorite cruise line) but we are reaching a place where we no longer trust booking SB cruises more than a few months in advance. SB is quick to take our deposits, and later charter that same cruise and tell us to take our business to another cruise. And when SB does this kind of thing, there is very little compensation to make up for screwing-up plans already made To be very honest, we no longer trust SB and now figure any long-range SB booking is tentative! On our recent cancellation (done by SB because of a charter) they offered us only 10% off a future cruise. Because of several price increases, that 10% discount meant we actually lost money (on a future booking) when compared to the booked and confirmed cruise that SB chartered out from under many loyal customers. Some folks here on CC like to talk about being "loyal" to a particular cruise line. But these days, that "loyalty" is more like a one-way street with the cruiser going the wrong way. Hank

I would never criticize folks that are happy to donate unnecessary money to airlines, cruise lines, or hotels (part of cruise line packages). But that is not our style, and we try to point out the options for folks who care. I will add that one of the most loyal O fans who posts on these boards advised me (and others) not to use O's air program for Biz Class. As to the new program bringing improvements, it is hard to imagine any revised program that would not have some improvements :). Speaking of cruise line air deals, we have seen a negative trend since the COVID restart. On some lines that used to offer amazing international air deals (international business would often be 1/2 to 2/3 of the lowest public fare) the good fares have all but disappeared. Where some lines would allow cruise lines to access the lowest business class fares (a "P" fare on some airlines) that has all but disappeared. I have no clue as to whether this is temporary, but we do find it annoying and expensive. Hank

Perhaps it will help to explain the Japanese system. When you exit or enter Japan, everyone must go through a face-to-face with at least one Japanese immigration official. In the case of cruises, it is handled different ways in different ports. In some places, the Japanese officials will set up shop in a lounge on the ship. Once they are in place, set-up all their laptops, make sure they are working, then they will start seeing passengers The ship determines how they want to organize the queue (the general rule is that their excursions will get preference). You must wait your turn, present yourself (with your Passport) to the Japanese official, and get the appropriate entry or exit stamp. In some ports, this will be done off the ship in a port building. How long does it take? Roll the dice. On our most 2023 cruise ( March-April) it varied from about 45 minutes to 2 hours! Much will depend on how many on your ship, how many Japanese officials, etc. In April-May of 2023, when we were on the Westerdam, we returned to Japan (from Taiwan) and spent nearly 2 hours waiting in the queue. Once we finally got to an official we were quickly cleared (and got our Passport Stamp) and then, within 5 minutes, had our Passports checked by 4 other Japanese officials (on the ship and on the pier). Will your clearance procedure be faster? Who knows? One thing that is certain is that you will need to go through the procedure (the Japanese are anal about following their procedures) whether it take 5 minutes or 5 hours! But no matter how slow or fast, you can be sure the officials will be polite. For us, the good news is that when we return to Japan, next year, our ship will have no more than 450 passengers :). We just hope that the Japanese send more than one official. Hank

The best tongue can be found at Katz's (in NYC) or some other NYC delis. The deli version is usually served, sliced, on decent rye. Tis a great deli meat, especially with some decent mustard. Hank

My assumption is that the any "O" air program sucks as it has for about twenty years. O is not alone as many cruise lines have lousy or no air program. In fairness to O, they are in the cruise business and not the air business. And based on our recent Vista cruise, they do a pretty good job with the cruise business :). Hank

An absolute waste of good money. If you simply want to see Fira you can just take the tender to the island (which lands you below Fira) and take the cable cars or donkeys up to Fira. Once in Fira, you simply walk everywhere. If you take an excursion to Fira your guide will walk you as a group and say intellectual things like "this is a jewelry store," "this is a cafe," etc. Like most Santorini excursions, it leaves you in Fira to get back on your own. From Fira you can wait in the queues (which can be very long) to take the cable car down to Gialos (the small port below Fira) where you catch a shore-based tender back to your ship. If you don't want to take the cable car you can walk down the donkey train (about 600 steps) or, some folks will actually take a donkey down (last month we watched a cruiser fall off his donkey and injure himself). Speaking of Fira, it is a clifftop town where the ony way to get around is on your feet! The town has hundreds of jewelry shops, plenty of eating venues and can be charming if not full of cruisers (and other tourists). Hank

Inside the Volcano? I assume you are speaking of the volcano in Grindavik, which has been erupting. Any tours to that place are now crispy critters. Hank

Chinese Baby Mice Wine! I kid you not....look it up 🙂 Hank

We know longer no the "rules" regarding crowds and the season. When we were in Mykonos, in April, the island was overrun with tourists (from cruises and land visitors). This used to be the so-called shoulder season, but to us, it seemed like prime season. Santorini was even worse (it was hard to even walk in Oia...due to crowds). Will this be the situation in October? Since the OP's cruise is in early October, my gut tells me things will still be crowded. The good news is that they day they are to visit, there is only one other ship. Normally I would expect early October sea water temps in the low 70s F (about 21C). But these days it seems like sea temps are on the high side, so perhaps they get the mid 70s. Hank

Getting a bit off topic, but finding the best international fares has become anything but routine. I assume that "yield management" programs have become more complex (we now are in the era of AI) but the old rules do not seem to work. We have an August booking, round trip, to Dubrovnik. Booked a "back up" flight about 8 months ago using the Seabourn booking engine with their Flexair option. This locked us in on our chosen flights and price, but we did not need to pay until about 60 days prior to the flights, and could cancel (no penalty) at any time. Our air deal was not good (in terms of price) but we did choose our desired flights. We figured that we would eventually (using your 6–8-month rule) find a much better deal (either through Seabourn or on our own). Not only did this not happen, but the prices on our flights continued to climb...right up to last week. We are talking Business Class from the east coast (we looked at 5 airports) to Europe where there are plenty of flights and competition. It did not matter. Bottom line was that the booking we made (using the Seabourn air web site) 330 days in advance were the best prices! Go figure. Last year we had a similar situation with flights to Japan. Our early booking (about 330 days prior to the flights) were actually a very good deal (using British Air and JAL). Later prices (on the lowest cost options) were nearly 50% higher. Everything I have learned, through 50+ years of extensive travel, no longer seem to matter. I have no problem finding the good cruise line fares, but when it comes to airlines it seems like deals are unpredictable...especially for Biz and FC. Even using miles can be a real nightmare. Just saw a post about some flights to Europe costing 100,000 miles! On the other hand, we did see (today) there are some good off-season deals on Biz Class to Paris. One never knows what they will find. Hank

Yep, HAL has long had that on their MDR rotating menu options. The way that line has been trending I would expect them to soon charge an extra add-on for that item :). Hank

O's silly pricing, over many years, with air, without air, with SM, without SM, with custom air, etc. is one reason why we never cruised on "O" until this spring. We cruise on many different lines (17 to date) and are used to dealing with the various air programs. O's was the worst...especially if one wanted international business class. So now, we look at the new posted policy and shake our head. The post says the custom air option opens 270 days prior to prior to sailing. That flies (pun intended) in face of the normal airline reservation system which opens 330 days in advance of a flight. By having custom air use 270, anyone using custom air would be disadvantaged since reservations for specific flights would have been opened up to 2 months prior to when O would even look at the flight(s). When booking international air (especially first, business and premium economy) timing can be very important. I will tell you that the other cruise line companies (CCL and RCI) generally open-up their cruise/air reservations 330 days (this is generally based on the disembarkation date). I should also mention that no other cruise line, with whom we deal, charges extra fees for their air programs (including custom air). I should mention that our recent Vista cruise ended in Trieste. We ultimately flew home from Milan, after a couple of weeks in Europe. With CCL brands this would not have been a problem and we could have used their system with no extra fees. In the case of O, it was less expensive to simply book our own Biz Class back to the USA. I might add that most of the other lines have decent online booking engines (for their air) which allow folks to see all the applicable flights, change airports, etc. Hank

Like the OP, we are not fans of long bus tours and even less fans of large group cruise excursions. In Reykjavik, we have simply rented a car (twice) and drove the Golden Circle on our own, at our own pace. The drive was quite easy (with the help of our phone's map program, and once on the Golden Circle route, there are plenty of signs Hank

In the last few decades, both Iceland and Greenland (including Prince Christian Sound) have grown increasingly popular cruise destinations. Quite a few cruise lines have started to include TA cruises that have stops at those two places along with some Canadian ports. We have done several of the longer crossings that involved Iceland, Greenland and Canada and they are among our favorite itineraries. The OP might want to consider that the posted schedule excludes quite a few lines (i.e. Seabourn, Windstar, Oceania, Holland America, Regent, Silversea, etc). Hank

Very troubled by this thread :(. We previously cruised on EJ1, for 18 days, back in Sept-Oct of 2023. For most of our cruise there were about 450-500 onboard. We wondered, at the time, what would happen to the EJ if their ships are ever full (900) as the Emporium seemed to be inefficient. Even with only a few hundred. If they can't handle 750, what happens with 900? As the time of our cruise, we did post on CC our issues with the Emporium. While the quality of the offerings can be outstanding, the made to order stations, such as with omelets, eggs benedict, etc, can only handle a few folks at a time. If 20 passengers are waiting for omelets, it is not a good thing. And, if you go to other stations (while you are waiting for an omelet) you end up eating partial meals while your made to order items are being completed. Since our cruise, DW and I have discussed our experience on EJ1 (since we are considering a future booking) and think they need to revamp the entire Emporium operation. One possible solution is to make it somewhat like the Colonnade on Seabourn, where there is a combination buffet and table service (with some menu items). Also consider that Seabourn has an orange squeezing machine, in the Colonnade, that can be accessed by anyone (passengers or waiters). That sophisticated machine has a large hopper of whole oranges, and simply makes the fresh OJ when anyone activates the dispenser. On a typical morning, I might be seated at a table, order an omelet or eggs benedict, get some OJ (and have coffee served in a French Press) and than wait for my eggs. I can order sides (such as bacon) with the eggs, or simply go up to the uncrowded buffet and get my own bacon whenever I choose. That hybrid system works well. Hank

It has been more than 5 years and I have no idea what we paid. However, you should be able to call or e-mail them and get an approximate price. G7 is a huge taxi company (in many parts of Europe) and charge normal taxi prices. I would take an educated guess that from CDG to most Paris hotels would cost about 75 - 80 Euros. A way to save money, other than using the RER, is to book a shared shuttle (usually done in a large van or mini-bus). A few years ago we did try a shared shuttle (coming from CDG to the Left Bank) and did not like the experience. The problem was that we waited at CDG about a half hour (until some other passengers arrived) and, once in Paris, we wasted more time as our van dropped others at their hotels. These days we are willing to pay more for convenience. Hank

We are older than dirt, but still do book some cruises nearly 2 years in advance. On our side of the pond, it is usually (not always) possible to book with fully refundable deposits. In addition, many here buy travel insurance which does cover cancellation for good cause (such as a verified health issue). We also have some higher end credit cards (i.e. Chase Sapphire, AMEX Platinum, etc) that include travel cancellation/interruption as part of their benefits. While we also do plenty of last-minute bookings (sometimes within a few days/weeks of a cruise) this is not always a good strategy. Quite a few of the better itineraries (especially on longer cruises) do sell-out and even have waiting lists (this is common with Oceania). For folks who are "picky" about their cabin categories and location, waiting will often mean that the best options are sold-out. And finally, for folks who prefer to book cruise line excursions, waiting until the last few months may often mean that the most popular (and best) excursions are sold-out. Hank

15 years, WOW! Like I said in my post, shops are able to sell mailing lists and the buyers (who resell on the dark web) would have no clue as to the age of the information. My advice, to folks who do not want this kind of marketing is not to give out your info (name, e-mail, address) to merchants or excursion guides. Folks need to understand that their personal info has value...to merchants. Hank

EJ's entire philosophy seems to revolve around cuisine, and overall, they had the best food we have ever experienced on any line (including the luxury lines). As to our expensive dinner (we had enough OBC to cover the high cost) with Chef "Emma," it was about what one would expect from a Michelin 2* chef, with the exception of the wine pairings. But wine choices are so darn subjective. There is talk, on the EJ boards, that the expensive dinners in Anthology may soon be going away. My suspicion is that the venue is just not living up to the hype and many are not going to pay the price. But rumors do not always become fact, so we will wait and see. And since I know that you have a habit of enjoying luxury lines, I will admit that Seabourn is still my luxury line of choice (although we do have an upcoming SS voyage). Another poster, when comparing EJ to SB had a very interesting comment which was that "Seabourn has soul." I think that many SB fans would understand that comment. While the EJ1 is a gorgeous ship, the decor is terrific, the staff (with the exception of the guest relations folks) excellent, etc. etc., the line does seem to lack something (call it soul). But in fairness to EJ, when we were on the ship it (and the cruise line) had only been operating 3 months. As they continue to add ships (5 more coming) the product will likely mature and make some needed adjustments. It also sounds like the Aponte family may not be very happy with the first year of their luxury line. There have already been some changes, in senior management, including the recent replacement of the CEO. Hank

We used to use Pearson on some of our trips, since AC used to operate a commuter flight (small turboprop) from Harrisburg to Pearson. Business Class on AC was sometimes a real bargain, and our experience has been good. However, those commuter flights have since been eliminated which, for us, also means that AC is history. Person is one of my least favorite North American airports, but the AC Signatrue Suite Lounge is among the best airport lounges in North America. Hank