newtocruiseinblue

Eze and Nice are amazing!!!

For Sicily, we took this celebrity excursion and loved it: Taormina and the blue grotto: Stroll through the medieval streets of Taormina and visit the Greek Theatre built during the 3rd century B.C. Wander the fashionable Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and the bustling main street of the Corso Umberto, lined with boutiques and cafés. Embark on a scenic cruise of the spectacular Taormina Bay, visiting the incredible Blue Grotto. Take a refreshing swim near Isola Bella and enjoy a refreshment of mixed almond cookies and cannoli with prosecco.

Beautiful pictures!!! Enoy!

Looking forward to this! Thank you!

My Holland America shore excursion bookings have been off-line for the last few days. I also checked on my husbands account and they are off-line as well. is anyone else having this problem is there’s some thing that I missed as to why they are off-line and we are unable to book? This is for an upcoming cruise in November that we were previously able to book shore excursions.

Very cool! I love it! Thank you for sharing. Great pictures!!

Thank you! I did not realized they had been changed so that makes sense!!! Your plans sound wonderful!

Vmax - any recommendations on what to see or were there any cool Hal shore excursions or experiences that you had? I’m so excited about this…or any warnings or advice? It’s at the end of april 23 on Rotterdam

Cool! Thanks!!

Just booked a five day Scottish adventure yesterday and I was surprised when I signed on and there were no shore excursions available. They did not show any that were available and sold out, there just weren’t any available. Too soon? Hopefully I’m not missing some strange restrictions in Scotland that prevent short excursions. I’m sure that they will come in time. We can always venture off on our own as well. this is my third cruise that I have planned for the upcoming year and I think my friends and family are getting tired of hearing about all of my wonderful adventures ahead ☺️

I wondered another question along the same line… if you could disembark early from a cruise? Would love to do a transatlantic but can’t do 14 days. We’re sticking it would be great if I could do the first seven days of the transatlantic and disembark in Portugal before it crosses the ocean

Does Holland America still do a daily happy hour? On our last cruise in 2018 there was a happy hour where you could buy one drink and get 1/2 off the next drink or something like that…any recent travelers know if happy hour is still alive and well? Thank you so much!!

Last April, We booked an OV cabin on Infinity for 7-night Greek Isles under Always Included. Can we change cabins within that category and keep our perks? Thank you!

This summer was our first time to have always included, but we tipped extra to our cabin steward and we also bought him a postcard at each destination and left the blank postcard with the tip on a daily basis. The crew at the time was unable to get off of the ship and we had a hard time figuring out something little to buy him in port as we knew that they have limited space… maybe he could use it to send to his family back home…we also provided positive feedback during the cruise and after in the review. We also tipped our waiter/helper and my husband tipped the hostess because she went out of her way to seat us at an excellent table every night. He also provided positive feedback on the review for these staff members. One “tip”: snap a photo of the names of your cabin steward and waiters, waitresses or any bartender or any staff member that helps you so that you have the proper spelling of their name for the review. it helped a lot to have a picture of the name when I was completing the review after getting home.

We did the Reflection Mediterranean this summer with our 16 year old and she loved it!! She met tons of new friends on board and they all still keep in touch with a group chat. Her favorite things to do were the pool, trying new foods/drinks/desserts, trivia with Dad, teen activities, silent disco for teens, she loved the coffee shop and the spa cafe. In fact, we still say to one another, “Meet me in the spa cafe” 😁 We wish we could every morning. Her favorite part was the ports and fun shore excursions!!

I see on the benefits that CC can request a cabin category upgrade, but there’s not much explanation on what that means. Any insight into this? Thank you! 😊

But, do you know if the Infinity has been refurbished?

Loved taking my 16 year old on her first cruise this year and she is a cruiser for life!

We LOVED Corfu!!!! We did Olympia and Corfu this summer!! Thank you so much for the wonderful information this definitely gives me a starting place and I’m so excited!! I can’t thank you enough!!

Booked on Celebrity 7-day in and out of Athens in July, 2023 and not looking forward to the heat. Our schedule is restricted bc of my teen daughter’s school schedule and my husband’s work schedule. This year we did Italy/Greece/Croatia; etc in late June and yes, we were melting. The only thing that saved us was shore excursions with a lot of water activities-boat rides, blue caves, beaches; etc. For next year - what nearby islands or beaches are somewhat easy to get to and worth it to stay before or after the trip? Thinking of doing 2 nights in athens and 3 someplace else that would allow us to enjoy greece on the water…thank you in advance!

We’ve visited Corfu twice and really loved it. The first time we took the cruise shuttle into town and did it in our own. Found a cafe off of the spianada and just relaxed. On our second visit, we visited Paleokastritsa bay (this is where the monastery is located) and did a boat tour and time at the beach with an excursion to old town. If I were to do it again, I would do a taxi tour and visit the bay, try to do a boat tour if possible because you cannot beat riding around in the beautiful sea green, clear water, then visit old town for a stroll around the little streets and eat at a cafe on thr spianada. A lot of people also really enjoy a tour of the Palace but I have never been there before. Enjoy!

We were expecting two chic nights because of the guidelines. Based on our experience, plan for an extra night. We just brought things we could repurpose. For example, a black dress that could be styled multiple ways. Enjoy your trip!!

We just returned from the med. We had 3 evening chic nights on a 10-day. I would say there were 2 groups that attended in the MDR - those that enjoyed dressing up for dinner and those that just went business casual ir casual. You see the occasional tux but, for those that dressed for dinner, it was dress pants, a button down shirt and a jacket. My husband only brought one pair of dress pants and regretted it. We brought our teen daughter and she wore a nice dress each night - not an evening gown but a nice dress. Your boys will be fine with dress pants and a golf shirt or button down. BUT - if you want to go all out, please do…I think those that do are fun!!

Yes, I do enjoy dressing up myself!!

I completely agree! And that was my point - don’t worry about what others are doing and enjoy!