Sandy R

We'll be flying into Vancouver in September for a coastal cruise, Vancouver to Los Angeles. Our daughter and her family are seriously thinking of relocating to Vancouver (to a suburb no more than an hour outside Vancouver). Our daughter has her Canadian citizenship because I was born in Canada. She wants us to look at a few upscale areas. We don't know where to start and you seem so knowledgeable, I thought maybe one or both of you could help us. Thank you for any input!!

Posters can give their opinions but the last word is the cruise line. If Princess has not required a YF inoculation prior to boarding, you won't be denied boarding for not having gotten a YF inoculation. If a port stop during the cruise requires a YF inoculation all passengers will be out of luck even if those who have been inoculated. Keep checking on the Personalizer. If a YF inoculation is required for a port stop, it will be noted on your Personalizer. A Princess agent told me, if inoculations were going to be required, passengers would have been notified before final payment. Makes sense to me!

Hi Greatam... I always read your posts with interest. Thank you for sharing your first-hand knowledge. We don't plan to do anything other the ship's itinerary, which calls for 1 day in each port. We board the ship in Santiago and ends in San Francisco. As I said in my previous post, at this point Princess has not required the YF inoculation. If they do, we will get it.

We will be on that March 3rd cruise as well. I read all the threads about immunization for S.A... especially for Yellow Fever. I e-mail the U.S. Consulate General in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The reply was: "A Yellow Fever vaccination is not required to travel to Manta, Montecristi, or the Pacoche Rainforest." (which is where we're going during our day in Manta) The reply continued, "Yellow Fever vaccinations are not required in Lima, either, unless you'll be going deep into the jungle in Peru."

So far, Princess is not requiring YF innoculations.

Your review was very helpful. Thank you. We're trying to decide whether to do the land and boat tour or just the land tour. Right now we've opted for the land tour. Did you speak to anyone who had done the land tour? Were they happy with their choice. When were you scheduled to meet the guide in the morning and about when did they return you to the area where you took the tender back to the ship? Did you have time at the end of the tour to walk around the dock area?

We booked Oriental Escapes for our visit to Bangkok in 2010. I did some research on them and everything I read was positive. They offer interesting tours at fair prices. They replied to my e-mails promptly and have the ability to do pick-up at the airport, while some of the tour companies are unable to do so.

We stopped in Petropavlosk 2 years ago. We opted for the ship's city tour. It's an amazing place... thoroughly Russian in feel and appearance, with beautiful snow-capped mountains as a backdrop. The last stop was the market place... where we were able to walk around among the locals. Wouldn't have missed the tour! Those that just took the tender and walked around a bit, missed the flavor of area.

Cacy... I don't think you're ridiculous. I doubt she could operate the sliding glass door, the handle is fairly heavy to lift and sliding the door open takes some strength but still... Okay, I think the chances of DD and I agreeing on a curtain is now down to 20/80! Even if DD thinks it's a great idea, I might talk her out of it! Maybe I won't even mention the curtain to DD. Anyone else want to weigh in?

Toto... you gave me a chuckle to start off my Sunday! Okay, as a grandmother, maybe I went a bit overboard (sorry for the pun). The fact is, I haven't even mentioned this to my DD yet. She might think it's a terrible idea. Actually, I have to say the chances of us agreeing on a make-shift curtain, is about 50/50! I definitely won't mention Beverly Hillbillies to her!

Thanks for all the replies. DD will ask the steward if a make-shift curtain can be done. If that doesn't work, Cruzman... you've hit on a great idea. I always bring duct tape (once, one of our luggage wheels came off during a flight and DH fashioned a wheel out of duct tap. It worked like a charm!) And, DD can ask for an extra twin sheet.

I heard somewhere (I think on the cc board) that a curtain can be rigged between the mini-suite sofa area and the queen bed area. Was I dreaming or have you heard of this? If DD brings a tension rod and light-weight cotton curtain (we won't be flying), can she rig something herself, to give them some privacy from their 3 year old, who will be sleeping on the sofa bed?

Like Roses2, our group of 8 also used Turansa on our Sept. '07 Panama Canal Cruise. Our guide was terrific. And, Antigua was amazing. I recommend them highly.

Yes to having done a private tour from Puerto Quetzal... we just did it on the Island's 9/20 Panama Canal sailing. My cruse review is under the Princess site on the CC board. If you scroll down after my review, there is info on our private tour. I highly recommend the company we used... air-conditioned van, driver, English-speaking guide and very reasonable. The drive from the port to Antigua is about 1 1/4 hours but oh so worth the drive. Antigua is a total photo-op and not to be missed.

Sandy

We booked with Have Fun Travel - e-mail: service @hftravel.com.tw

Our contact was: Augustus (special assistant to vice general manager

It was a great tour... we were very pleased.

Our tour lasted about 7 hours

Our itinerary:

8:30 am - Pick-up from Keelung - 9:20 am - arrival Taipei

Sights: The Grand Hotel (amazing), Longshan Temple (extremely interesting), Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (very interesting), lunch (Dain-Shui-Lou Chinese Traditional Chinese food... great food!), Taipei 101 (not to be missed), handicraft center (disappointing, skip it & go elsewhere).

Not included was lunch. Cost: 2 persons: NT$8,000 - air-condition car with a driver/guide, 4 persons: NT10,000 - air condition van with driver and tour guide... these were last October 2006 prices.

We stopped in Taipei last October and thought the city was wonderful. I also don't recall a tourist booth but since we had a private tour, we weren't looking for tourist information. Our private tour company customized a tour for us that covered the city highlights and then some. We especially liked Taipei 101 and the Grand Hotel. If you want the name of the tour company, post and I'll give it to you (the rules of the cc board).

Sandy