Cienfuegos

I've stayed in several Tru by Hilton locations. The rooms are small, the amenities are sparse, the price is relatively cheap. Four people in the rooms I've used might be pushing it for me...

We missed the port of Falmouth on the Cornish coast due to rough seas on our Trade Routes trip. Too windy to enter the port. The next day we passed through the Bay of Biscay (north of Spain, west of France) where we encountered the seven deck waves.

The North Sea and the Bay of Biscay (north of Spain, west of France) have had rough seas since the days of the Vikings. Some of the turbulence is the result of post-hurricane tropical waves, usually in the late Summer and Fall. Current Viking ships handle the rough water very well. We sailed through the remains of hurricane Lorenzo with waves crashing on deck 7, and warnings to use handrails, avoid unnecessary travel, etc. Sitting in the Explorer Lounge / Mamsen's with a cup of hot chocolate (my wife) and a beer (me) was delightful.

I've observed the same result, at least for domestic travel. I live between Miami and Orlando, so BrightLine is a definite advantage. Miami has far better service to South America, but Orlando is catching up with European access.

BrightLine's premium tickets include access to their delightful lounges. Complimentary beer and wine with sandwiches or snacks. Breakfast time offers coffee, sweets, fruit, yogurt, etc

My wife and I had to cancel out of a short Celebrity cruise to Spain and Portugal this past season. I thought Celebrity's description of physical activity required on excursions far exceeded that of Viking. One excursion mentioned "moderately strenuous" with walking on stone staircases that may lack railings as an example of what moderately strenuous means. On our Viking Cuba trip, that level of detail might have been helpful for some guests. The historic hilly, cobble stone streets did not agree with all walking guests.

Yes. Google maps shows 11 places near the Dania Beach Casino and just west of the airport for week + parking. And several south of the airport.

Even with four crossing gates, people still do ill-advised things on the tracks. There was a collision in Stuart as a vehicle pulled onto the tracks, and paused for congestion ahead. The gates came down behind them, then in front of them. The occupants bailed out, the car was destroyed by the 35 mph train. Trains slow down for the Stuart bridge in town. All BrightLine trains are equipped with forward looking cameras to document the situation prior to any trespasser etc encounter. To my knowledge, they've had every lawsuit thrown out.

I believe Florida now requires gas stations which pump over a minimum amount of fuel to have backup power to run pumps in a power outage. Same thing with cell phone towers. I believe it''s 96 hours of service.

The airports in south Florida have seen a lot of weather, and can handle it. But, travel may be delayed a few hours, etc. Fort Lauderdale has had issues with flooding over the past few years. Antiquated storm sewer system, too much development. If the hotel tells you its lot floods, I'd take that warning very seriously. I-95 and I-595 are mostly elevated and on higher ground in the Fort Lauderdale area. I don't drive the Turnpike in that area.

Some travel agents will also help with the cost of car service to/from the ports, etc. It's definitely something to ask about in your initial consultation. But, I like to remember these are independent small business people, and they are sharing their compensation with me. Our TA helped with our need to cancel a trip, even though he wasn't going to make a dime on that trip other than the insurance commission. That means a lot to me.

I appreciate the overview of the Panama Canal Railway trip above, it was very similar to our trip. My wife and I enjoyed the Panama Canal Railway trip in 2018. This was via Celebrity. Transferred in Gatun Lake to a launch which took us to buses shore-side. The buses went directly to the Colon railway terminal. On the edge of a busy freight yard, with many containers, etc. We boarded the train, but had an opportunity to view the brightly colored buses on the other side of the fence. The outbound trip was interesting, the guides pointed out places to expect tropical birds, the decaying wreckage of many Canal Zone facilities. At the Panama City end we were bussed to the Miraflores locks where we saw a ship moved through. The buses then brought us on a panoramic trip through modern Panama City, and back to the train. There was a sorting, as some guests boarded the train, and others got back on the buses for a ride back to Colon. On arrival in Colon train station, the buses took us on a quick tour of this third world, very impoverished looking city. The ship was now at a dock. Cruise passengers left the buses and proceeded through a passageway of crowd control barriers with local residents offering a wide range of items for sale through the barrier. Heavily armed security folks were present. It wasn't an especially comfortable situation for me. I don't know how the low lake levels and limits on lock use would affect current cruise operations into the lake, and back out.

Viking seems to make an effort to recruit and retain good lecturers. On our Trade Routes voyage in 2019, the focus seemed to be on art / architecture history and how trade delivered substantial wealth. At lunch, one lecturer mentioned that she has contracts with three or four cruise lines, and tries to keep a balanced relationship with each. On our Cuba trip, one lecturer was a former US state department officer with several years service in Cuba. He presented a huge amount of information on the vintage vehicles in use, how replacement parts are sourced, what to look for when we're on the street, etc. Later, he offered a perspective on Cuban agriculture, the politics of sugar in the word market, etc. There was an abundance of personal slides, short video, etc.

The Jacksonville cruise port is not located near any resorts / beaches. Lots of freight activity in the area, but not many hotels in that section of town. Mapquest shows me a Holiday Inn Express one mile from the Cruise Port, and several other chain locations on the south side of the river, just off the east beltway. I-295 bridge spans the river at that point. These include Hampton Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, etc

Many bread folks will argue over the quality and taste of Baltic rye grains versus rye grains grown in the United States and Canada. Many US bakers will add higher protein white flour to dark rye flour (milled, with the bran remaining) to get a loftier bread than one created from rye alone. Mamsen's bread is much more in the European style. I'd agree with the suggestion to check local Jewish or German butchers / delicatessens,and any Russian, Polish etc food suppliers. Great River Organic Milling in Wisconsin is a good flour source for bakers who want to make their own dark breads.

My favorite Mamsen's treat is the brown bread. A wonderful dark rye. Great on its own.

The Miraflores exhibit center is very nice, several stories high, located adjacent to the original locks. When my wife and I visited in 2015, there was a huge exhibit on the construction of the new canal waterway.

we missed Falmouth, England on the Trades Routes cruise in 2018. The Master said it was too windy to attempt a docking, and that was that. No compensation sought or received.

Your head gets an even better view from the stakes in front of the Tower...

Venice in the evening is a magical place. Uncrowded, reasonably well lighted, delightful. Tourists have left, restaurants are open, most shops are closed The vaporetti run until late into the evening, so hop-on, hop-off is easy.

No dispute on that. Although reasonable people will differ on what constitutes resource raping versus preserving the smaller fish on which the community depends.

In the US, several indigenous communities communities have treaty rights recognizing the right to hunt salmon, seals, crabs, whales, as their ancestors have enjoyed for thousands of years. This has created friction with commercial fishing interests who are often limited in catch size, seasons, etc. Treaty rights usually trump what people of another culture thousands of miles away might consider inappropriate or wrong.

That's good to know. Thank you. E-Z Pass didn't have that feature when I tried to do that a few years ago. "This plate number is currently registered to another account" or similar

Split has a wonderful city green market just outside the Diocletian palace gates. It is a fine walking city. On our Celebrity visit a few years ago, we were tendered in to the center of town, just down from the ferry terminal. Split is the terminus for many ferries serving the Adriatic islands. At one time, ferries also went to Ancona and Venice.

I don't know if it's still the case, but some code-share arrangements used to be bulk sales. Lufthansa would sell United 50 seats for every Miami-Frankfurt flight in June. United cut LU a check and the seats disappeared from the LU inventory. If the seats didn't sell by two days (etc) from liftoff, they would flow back into LU's inventory. United would pay a penalty, and walk way. Or United would eat the empty seats. A lot of consolidator last minute tickets are created that way.