ontheweb

That is not a problem I in any way intend to have. And I do tell my credit card companies even though they say it is no longer necessary.

I won't doubt you that fares under $50 exist, but I can say with 100% certainty that they do not exist on the cruise we have booked, London (Southampton) to Reykjavik.

I have been telling the credit card companies, but they keep saying that that is no longer necessary.

And at least on our London (Southampton) to Reykjavik cruise coming up, it is never free as there are absolutely no excursions $50 or less.

We each have 2 ports that we have excursions booked. I have the credit on each, DW does not.

Yes, we've been in that port and had a wonderful time.

Interesting, I have read complaints on the NCL board that passengers are summoned to the guest relations desk to get their cash back with OBC left, and not allowed to leave the ship until they do. They would rather have it credited to their credit card than to have to wait in that line.

My DW ice skates, and ice skaters go counterclockwise.

You never know. When we did a Baltic cruise, it never rained. And in St. Petersburg (I realize no ship is going there now or anytime soon), the temperature was in the high 80s.

Well, the day after I posted that, and my air came. Some bad, some good. Going to Heathrow not direct, but by way of Montreal is not good. Going home direct on Iceland Airlines (which we have flown on before and liked) is good, though we would rather have had an earlier flight time than 5 PM for returning.

Not a great start! The positive way to look at it is things have to get better! OOPS, did not see the next post that you were on a train. still things have to get better after that scare.

We started with Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas in 2002. The cruise was for our 25th anniversary. I suggested Bermuda as we would not have to fly (and who in late 2001 when we considered this wanted to fly). DW suggested Alaska. (We have since cruised to both.) I sent away for brochures from an agency I saw advertised in our local paper. It turned out (though I did not realize at the time that they only had advertised RCL). I saw a Western Mediterranean that I knew my art teacher DW would love, and we booked it. BTW, Royal Caribbean is now building ships too big for us to really consider. Our first 2 cruises were with that line, but none since.

I am sailing August 6th, and just yesterday read on our roll call a fellow passenger getting their air, so I too am getting hopeful it will be soon. And BTW, the poster of that said he was very HAPPY with the air provided.

Though we did not get any extra status on our first HAL cruise, we were invited to the past guest party. I assume this was because either our past sailings on either Princess, Carnival, or possibly both.

I've thought more about this. On your thread about your cruise mostly in Japan on the Westerdam, you spoke of numerous overcharges for drinks and charges for excursions that should have already been paid for in your package. You had to go to the front desk or the excursion desk to get these straightened out. Now if you had booked directly without a TA, you would have had CONTROL. With CONTROL, all you would have had to do was stamp your feet and shout out I HAVE CONTROL, you then could have using your CONTROL, made all these overcharges disappear without having to do anything else. Now do you understand the power of CONTROL! 🤦‍♂️🤣

Yes, control. So, if a problem arises, they can call HAL (or for that matter any other cruise line), and say "I have control of my booking, immediately fix the problem." Without control, they would have to call their TA who may very well do lots and lots of business with the cruise line, not just their booking, and have him or her advocate for them. Surely this "control" is worth a lot of money! 🤣🤣🤣

When he finally got them to assign him a sleeping cabin, he ended up having a security detail visit as they had not been notified that the front desk had given him permission and a key to the cabin.

Does anyone actually prioritize hull art when considering what cruise or ship to book? 🤦‍♂️

I agree that John Lawrence was a legend, and was very different from the usual cruise director. And I believe I mentioned the same naturalist on a Princess Alaska cruise. (Ours was in 2010.) Michael Modzewleski, correct?

BTW, John Lawrence who I mentioned gave wonderful port talks on our 2007 Baltic cruise was the Cruise Director, not an outside university professor. But it does seem like he was one of a kind.

It would be interesting to hear from him. Has anyone else noticed that he seems to be missing lately from the cc boards?

John Lawrence, who I am sure has long since retired gave wonderful port talks. We experienced this on a Baltic cruise in 2007. He spoke of what you could do independently as well as the cruise line tours. He even gave a talk about Copenhagen for those of us staying there a day or more after the cruise. This was on the Star Princess in 2007, a cruise for our 30th anniversary.

Yes, we had a wonderful day. And in fact, the first place we visited was the Munch Museum, a place my art teacher wife most wanted to see. We also went to the sculpture garden and the Viking Museum. We just could not due the transportation the way we originally planned. We saw the things we had planned on, just had to wing it somewhat. As a matter of fact, it was not much after there had been a theft at the Munch Museum. Security there was very strict.

I believe the Prima is 3000+

Isn't It Good, Norwegian Wood. I could not help myself as I just watched a documentary about the Beatles before going on these boards. Enjoy, Norway is a fabulous place.