curmudgeon98

I would note that the newer Oceania ships (Riviera, Marina, and the new one coming on line soon) would be much easier to manage with a wheelchair than one of the four smaller, older ships. Wider hallways, better door openings, etc. The smaller ships (sometimes referred to as "R-class") have their charms, but accessibility isn't their strong suit; it can be done, but I would anticipate more frustration.

SeatGuru used to be a great site. It doesn't seem to have been updated in several years, though, and has some pretty stale data. Another similar site which is more current is aerolopa.com Premium economy for international seems to have largely settled into slightly wider seats and better food in addition to more recline and legroom. Many airlines also have and sell economy seats with more legroom, but I haven't seem them dubbed PE lately. Flight legs within the US or Europe would likely be in standard economy. You should have at least one checked bag per person baggage allowance regardless of the ticket. Do be aware that some international airlines are a stricter on size/weight for carry-ons than domestic US.

An SF overnight gives lots of options. Even if you aren't into the city, it makes it feasible to hit some great locations. To the north, look into Stinson Beach, Muir Woods, Bodega Bay, or Sonoma Valley, or Napa. To the south, you can hit Half Moon Bay, Pescadero, Santa Cruz, or even Monterey.

Fusina itself is a truck ferry port, and doesn't have terminal buildings to handle cruise passengers. My understanding is that for space and security reasons, passengers are checked in at the old Venice cruise terminal, sometimes called Marittima. Passengers are transferred by bus (and luggage by truck) directly to the ship from there. Marittima is at the northwest end of Venice proper near the causeway from the mainland and accessible by cab from the mainland or airport. There is a "people mover" shuttle tram that can take you from Piazzale Roma (where busses and vaporetto stop) to Marittima for a euro or two. I'm not sure if a water taxi could land you closer than Pl Roma.

We had one socket in our cabin on Onward which was a "one size fits all" which supported US, UK, and Euro plugs in a single outlet. I assume it has some smart electronics behind to auto-switch the voltage as needed. It was a little confusing in appearance at first as I hadn't seen one of those before...

Barcelona is a favorite of ours. There have been good recommendations in this thread. I wouldn't hesitate, though, to just relax and wander around Bari Gotic, Las Ramblas, and Passeig de Gracia without trying to do more intensive sightseeing on the day of arrival. Sagrada Familia is amazing, but I'm not sure I'd want to pack it in with other sights while jet-lagged. A couple of other lower-key sites would be the "Magic Fountains" in the evening, and Poble Espanol. Check hours for them if interested. We've found cabs in Barcelona to be plentiful, clean, and pretty honest. They are typically around the size of a Toyota Corolla, and prices in the core area of the city aren't bad. We've also found the Metro to be clean, safe, and efficient (though be aware of possible pickpockets on public transit and the streets).

Well, that's a bit annoying, but not surprising. To some degree, I think the cruise industry brought this on by bringing ever larger ships in to port there (like Solstice). If they had stuck with smaller Seabourn/Oceania size ships it might not have come to a head. Personally, I think the "ecosystem damage" was more talking point than reality, but that area is already overrun by hordes of tourists most summer weekends (and some other times, like the recent Crosby Pro-Am) so it's not surprising that residents are less than enthusiastic about cruise ships. Santa Cruz has a small boat harbor in addition the a wharf, either of which could probably handle tendering operations, but I suspect the swells out where a cruise ship would be anchored might make tendering too often problematic. A similar situation applies to most of the other small harbors along the coast.

We did two weeks on Azamara in Croatia/Greece last year around that time. I think it's a more relaxed vibe, with smaller ship and less crowds. The food and service were a bit better. Entertainment more limited, but less of a factor on a port-intensive cruise. Biggest annoyance is the tiny bathrooms/showers in standard cabins. Drinks in the standard inclusion were a bit limited (more so than our previous Azamara cruises). We tend to choose cruises based on itinerary and how it fits into our schedules, so we do a variety of cruise lines, but we usually look to Azamara first.

I would suggest Oceania Regatta would be the most challenging for accessibility. The older "R-class" ships of Oceania and Azamara have tighter hallways, more "step-over" threshholds, and manual heavy doors. It can still be done, but not as easily. On the Oceania line, the Marina and Riviera (and the new ship coming later this year) are much more accessible, but those aren't in Alaska. Odyssey would be more accessible than Regatta. The itinerary may be more oriented towards smaller ports with tendering, or zodiac expeditions, though.

NCL is a line that is really obnoxious on tips for drinks packages. They often throw the drinks package in for "free", but then charge a hefty percentage of the overpriced list price of the package that ends up $20 or more per day. Part of the reason we were "one and done" with that line.

That's good info to have. I always have a weakness for a dessert souffle. I used to like creme brulee, but the larger cruise ships we've been on last year (Princess and HAL), the creme brulee wasn't done well at all.

I've never been a fan of day-tripping Venice. I think that's how quite a few people end up disliking the place - you spend a lot of time walking through with a mob through the less nice areas around the bus and train stations. You can take the Alilaguna water bus (or more expensive water taxi) direct from the airport to various stops in central Venice. Yes, hotels in Venice proper are expensive and often a bit quirky, but that goes with the territory. Two things that might push me towards staying in Mestre would be: 1) handling your bags is difficult for you, or 2) you really prefer a modern standardized type of hotel.

We haven't done a TA or TP yet. I look at them sometimes, but have been a bit concerned about too many sea days for our travel habits. I see a 14-day April 6 one on Marina this year that might have suited us. One block of 4 sea days from Bermuda to the Azores, but otherwise a good mix. I'll have to keep a bit closer eye on Oceania offerings for this.

It's definitely something that needs advance planning and permission. In some cases there may be legal restrictions. Cruises can get caught up in old laws (in various countries) that were designed around ships as transportation (rather than entertainment) that restrict them from carrying passengers from point to point. It can also be the case that a port stop wasn't set up expecting actual entry (rather than day-trip) for customs/immigration.

I'm not a big fan of logo wear. I also found the jacket a bit too heavy on the trip (as well as too heavy to wear around home), so it got very little use. It was a nice thought, but not something I'd miss.

Everyone is a bit different, of course, but I don't think I would do Santorini as a day trip flying in. Staying a couple of nights might be ok, but it's a pretty touristy place. We were there twice last June on Azamara (one of those could easily have been the time Sue refers to). I looked at the port schedules, and noted that our first stop there had only two cruise ships in port that day, while the second had five. A light bulb went off, and the less busy day we visited the villages and had no problems with the crowds or cable car. The day with five ships in port, we did a boat tour of the caldera and never even went up the hill.

With Venice on a cruise, you need to understand where your ship is. Cruise ship docking has been moved away from the city, sometimes a LONG way away. Getting from the dock to the city may be a challenge. The area near the train station and bus stops is less attractive; you want to get well into the city. If you have an interest in history, the Doge's Palace is worth planning a tour. For the rest, wandering the city on your own would in my opinion be preferable to being with a tour group.

Really enjoyed reading this well documented report. We were in the region in May-June of last year. Two weeks on the Onward from Ravenna, followed by 12 days on land in Croatia/Slovenia. We didn't hit as many Adriatic ports on the ship, as our ship itinerary was more Greece oriented. I'll throw in a few comments from the peanut gallery on some of the locations we saw from a different perspective. Ravenna - we would have liked to have seen Ravenna before the cruise, but we had last-minute notification of the shift of departure port from Venice to Ravenna, so we stuck with our pre-cruise time in Venice (which we always enjoy) Koper/Slovenia - We had several days touring Slovenia by car, so a somewhat different perspective. Lake Bled is quite scenic, but I'm not sure I would have considered it worth the long bus ride. Postojna Caves would be a significantly closer alternative (though Jazzbeau was avoiding cave options) - it has an electric tram to take you deep into the cave system, though plenty of walking once you are in. There's a fairly standard style of kremsnita (creme cake) in Slovenia which is pretty good, but we had some homemade in a little gostlina (gasthause) which was even better. Pula/Istria - Truffle territory. We found some amazingly good food in obscure locations. The local prsut (dry cured ham similar to prosciutto) can be quite good as well. Zadar/Krka falls - A nice location. Not massive falls, but quite scenic. If you have the chance to enter the park via the boat trip from Skradin, that would be a nice bonus. Similarly, if you have lots of time, there are scenic sections reachable by boat trip on the upriver side of the falls as well. Kotor - We just spent our day in the old town. Cats must have a very strong union there; they seemed to run the place.

Santorini is always tendered (and a good idea to plan your day ahead of time). Mykonos is a maybe. The others should most likely be docked.

We primarily cruise in conjunction with other land-based travel (and don't do extended-length cruises). If we do a couple of weeks on a ship, we might likely add a several more with "planes, trains, and automobiles" where extra baggage is a definite hindrance. It can make for a bit of dissonance in the ship environment, unfortunately. I don't bring blue jeans on a cruise, but I might stretch a point with black ones (and shoes that are multi-purpose but not flashy). There's no simple answer for the cruise lines. If you do too much exclusion of those who don't want to bring coat and tie, you start to push away one set of customers. If you get too casual, the environment stops appealing to another set.

I was mildly annoyed on our Seabourn cruise in Alaska last summer over the suit-and-tie bit for the formal night, especially because it was too drizzly and cold for Earth and Ocean. With an outdoor oriented cruise I begrudge the luggage space; we tend to do land-based travel before or after cruises, so schlepping around extra stuff (or giving up one of the nicer meals in the restaurant) is a negative. Other than that, I was comfortable with the overall ambience. Silversea seems to be more into dressing up, so I don't really consider them. Regent may be more to our taste, and we are looking at trying them next. If the right Seabourn cruise came up, I could put up with the occasional formal night. While they aren't at the same level of luxury, Oceania and Azamara have been decent options for us as well.

Thanks much; it makes sense that way, but I thought I'd check.

Coming back to this question for clarification, was the $300 credit per person, or per cabin? It's not really that big of deal, but we are looking at a cruise where they don't have non-concierge basic cabin availability, and we'd prefer to book our own lodging (for a longer stay pre-cruise - we'd book our own air as well).

I did a bit more research and saw that Artania might be old, be she was reported to have gotten new engines 6-8 years ago, so is probably able to meet recent emission standards. I suppose that could be true of other ships docking there as well.

Is that a recent change? I've been aware of various restrictions around burning bunker oil, as well as some movement toward requiring ships that are docked to use shore power. LNG also seems on the forward direction, but I wasn't aware of any cruise ships actually using it yet. Looking at the Flam port schedule, there seems to be quite a variety of ships, ranging back to the rather elderly Artania. I can understand local community concerns about cruise ship emissions, especially in such settings, but I wonder if there are other factors involved; maybe a limit on total passenger arrivals. I don't have any direct knowledge, so I'm prepared to be educated.