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terry&mike

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Everything posted by terry&mike

  1. One of the best guides we've ever had, Xuan is awesome. His web page is here: https://www.tourwithxuan.com/ Tell him Terry and Mike said hello!
  2. Cunard has some good itineraries to Canada and New England every year. For example, the Queen Mary 2 has a sailing departing from NYC on September 29, 2023 - you can do a 7 night and sail NYC to Quebec, or you can do a 14 night and sail roundtrip from NYC to Quebec and back.
  3. DH and I sailed the Mekong with Scenic in January of this year, had a wonderful time. If you are interested in reading about our experiences, here is a link to our post -
  4. Just want to second the recommendation of RomeCabs. I have used them many times over the years, and will be using them again next week. To clarify for you, RomeCabs is a private car and driver service (as opposed to a taxi/cab service) with an excellent reputation, they also offer some private tours.
  5. I think you will do better in finding people sailing on your itinerary over on the Roll Calls. Go to Roll Calls, and look for your ship and sailing date, and you will find a group of fellow travelers on your exact sailing.
  6. We sailed the Douro with AMA, but did pre- and post-cruise touring on our own. During our AMA sailing we had a day visit to Salamanca. We were bussed there from the ship, had a tour, an included lunch, and were given a bit of free time, then bussed back to the ship. The ride was a couple hours in each direction. The included lunch was wonderful, it was in a local hotel and was a buffet of many different Spanish foods (one of the best paellas I've ever had), and included some wonderful local entertainment of musicians, singing, dancing.
  7. I have a Med cruise on Azamara coming up in a couple of weeks, as well as a 22 night Amazon & Brazil sailing on them in November. These were both booked before the IT migration, and I'm going to hold off on future bookings with them until I see how things go onboard both these sailings, and how things improve on their admin side. A few weeks after our Azamara Med cruise, we will be sailing back from Europe to the US on the Queen Mary 2, a ship we both love sailing on. It's more formal than Azamara, and has a British vibe. Recently, I booked a 35 night Singapore to Cape Town on the Oceania Nautica for 2025, because I'm crazy about the itinerary. I've sailed Oceania before, and like their product and their R ships. They have some similarities to Azamara. In that "luxury light" lane, I have sailed Ponant (Antarctica), and would definately sail with them again. French vibe, wonderful food, great itineraries, but their prices have been really getting high; their Antarctica itinerary was amazing. I have sailed with Sea Dream (Caribbean), and enjoyed it, but it was a bit clique-ish for my taste, and agree with the poster above, lots of movement. Scenic is my favorite river cruise line, and that has me looking at some of their super yacht sailings, along with their sister line, Emerald, super yacht sailings. We also have a bike and barge trip in The Netherlands scheduled for 2024, but that's a whole different animal. We usually cruise 2-4 times per year (this year it was 5), and take several land trips per year. I'm mostly itinerary focused, and start with a booking on land or sea that appeals to me, and then - because I LOVE logistics - I build it out with other components on either side to other destinations or sailings in the same part of the world.
  8. One suggestion is that you could arrange a small group tour before or after your cruise with a company like Gate 1 Travel. We used them for Machu Picchu and they did a wonderful job. This way, you only have to navigate getting to and from the tour/ship, and they handle all the details. They have so many departures and tour options that something should line up. I am a person who loves logistics when it comes to travel planning, but the access to Machu Picchu via train, entry times, etc is a bit complicated.
  9. We did a similar itinerary on the Diamond Princess in January 2020 for 14 nights. We started in Singapore, but ended in Tokyo, with stops in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan. It was a wonderful cruise. We stayed at the Pan Pacific in Singapore, great hotel with an excellent location and impressive breakfast. If you have time, it's easy to add on Bali beforehand, as it's a very short and inexpensive flight from Singapore.
  10. Agree with going in a bit earlier for Cape Town, it's one of my favorite cities. Also, if you have time, a few days out in the Winelands is wonderful!
  11. Vietnam is one of our favorite Asian countries. Great food, friendly people, lots of interesting sites, beautiful country. We were there on the Diamond Princess in January 2020, just before Covid. Ported at Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang, and Nha Trang. I was traveling with a large group of friends, and we used the same guide in HCM and Da Nang, Xuan Le (tourwithxuan.com) - to this day he remains one of the best guides I have ever experienced. You can find lots of great mentions and reviews of him on CruiseCritic. In Ho Chi Minh we did an city tour that visited temples, markets, and many other sites. In DaNang we visited the lovely town of Hoi An. In Nha Trang, we took a long walk along the boardwalk, had an amazing seafood lunch, and got massages. We liked Vietnam so much that we returned in January of this year and traveled independently for 2 weeks there, as part of a longer trip with Cambodia and Thailand. We visited Hanoi, HaLong Bay, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh on this trip. Of course we connected the wonderful Xuan again, in HCM. We stayed for several days in Hoi An as we wanted to have clothes made - this town is a hub of tailors. In HaLong we took the longer sailing of 3 days/2 nights, so that we could go out to the less crowded bays, stunning place.
  12. The post below is from a blogger who is on the Journey, in Norway, currently, and is part of a communication they received from the Cruise Director - The average age for this voyage is 70 and probably a touch higher than our typical, which I would put around 67 – itinerary and length of voyage always play a factor; longer and more unique itineraries tend to pull in a more experienced crowd. The current guest count is 562 after a few late arrivals, and the max capacity is just under 700 – 694 if I recall correctly. Fun fact – the Journey is one of 8 identical ships originally part of Renaissance cruise lines that were only around for a couple of years in the early 2000s. The ships were numbered R1-R8, and the Journey was R6. Azamara now has 4 of that fleet, and Oceania operates the other 4. I’m sure I’ll see you around more, so feel free to ask anything else! Cheers, Stephen Millett / Cruise Director”
  13. We did a land trip in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia a few years ago. During the trip we stayed 5 nights at a lodge along the Chobe River and the game viewing was incredible! We did game viewing from both land and river, and saw so much wildlife every time. Being on the water and watching herds of elephants (including several babies!) come down to the river to bathe, drink, play was magical. I think you will have an amazing journey.
  14. Hello, I wrote a review on our first Transatlantic crossing on QM2, in an inside cabin. I will try to post a link below. This was in August 2022. (We are sailing again on QM2, from Hamburg to NYC in September 2023, in an inside with a window over the lobby.)
  15. I can see where this would be a possibility. My "friend group" wanted to do a bike and barge style sailing during tulip season, and needed 9 cabins. We identified our dates for 2024 in advance, and when the sailing opened up for sale, we all booked within a day. These ships are smaller than your river cruise ships, the one we booked on only has 18 cabins total, but you can see where a group that is waiting for something to go on sale could book up availability. We booked 16 cabins on one sailing back in January 2020 for a Japan and Southeast Asia sailing on an ocean cruise line.
  16. May I ask if you were sailing a Hurtigruten ship? If so, that would explain it. Hurtigruten began as a mail carrier and ferry service in the Norwegian fjords. It still operates with some of this same mindset, and there are several of their sailings that allow passengers to book on/off at varying ports in Norway.
  17. We stay in Trastevere, we are among those who walk everywhere. On a rare occasion, we may take a taxi back to our lodging from dinner late at night (but likely would still walk). Depending on where we are wandering to, it's anywhere from a 5 minute walk (places in Trastevere) to a 30 minute walk (places farther away), so not too bad for us. I will mention that at home we are daily walkers, usually walking 4-6 miles per day at a fast pace.
  18. I agree with this assessment. Azamara is one of my favorite cruise lines on the oceans, and my favorite lines on the rivers are Scenic and AMA.
  19. I have not had any problems with Klook, or my bookings with them.
  20. We spent 6 nights in Tel Aviv last January and very much enjoyed it. We were traveling independently, as part of a land trip we were doing in Israel, Jordan and Cyprus. We stayed at Fabric, a charming boutique hotel, that was walkable to many things. Our first day, we did a walking tour with a guide from withlocals.com for a couple of hours to help us get oriented; I don't see him on the site right now, but there are several other guides there. For the other days, I had mapped out areas we wanted to visit - Nahalat Binyamin craft market, beach boardwalk stroll, Charles Clore Park, old town of Jaffa area, and we explored on our own. We also took the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for a day, and explored there using a walking tour from a guide book to see it on our own; there are also several day tours that go from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem you could book, if you prefer.
  21. I have used Rome Cabs many times, and will be using them again in September. Great company.
  22. I have used Klook several times in different countries in Asia for different types of tours, it's kind of like the Asian version of Viator but more popular in that area of the world. I can't make a comment on the Singapore Pass though, as I did not purchase that. I did a Hop On/Hop Off bus in Singapore, and a food tour, and then walked a lot.
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