donaldsc

Many of them but none of the ones from the lines that the OP has mentioned.  I like small ships.w less than 1000 passengers.   All of the ships from those lines ar overly large tubs or are floating amusement parks  in my opinion.

DON

On 4/26/2024 at 12:32 PM, ddled said:

I know that-it was just a challenge to see if their system was what they claim.  I have never had it sent, will never again, but get tired of all the promotion of the app as a time saving strategy. I arrange cruises for other people on a volunteer basis, and it helps to have some personal experience. Having said that, the irritation for their incompetence is real, and they failed the test. I sent an email to the head  of their customer relations-want to bet about me getting a reply?  They constantly advocate doing this through the app, says it saves time. Always like to have concrete proof about a company that I deal with.

Let me make sure that I understand.  This whole thread is basically about a fake booking that you did tot test Princess' customer service just in case you actually decided to book w them  Do I have it right.  That was a waste of time who thought that you were serious and tried to help you.

I apologize if my description of your post is not correct. If it is correct you owe the rest of us an apology.

DON

On 4/24/2024 at 5:28 PM, ddled said:

We are on Princess in June on an Alaska cruise/land package, on Royal. The app would not, for 2 weeks at least, allow me to get my medallion sent to me. Couldn't load it said. Everything else worked. So I called Princess to get it sent before we sail so as to cut some of the embarkation time. Got some rep, and if that is indicative of their customer service, shame on them. I had to literally yell at him to stop his sale pitch to me-excursions, dinners, premium package, wifi, special occasions, and on and on. We are Platinum on Princess, and any moron can see what there is to buy on the website. The call took 40 minutes! I asked for a supervisor and he refused to connect me. We have cruised 32 times, and I have never had this kind of treatment. All I wanted was for them to send me the 2 medallions so I could have them before we sailed. When he finally got it done the delivery date is 6 weeks! He told me there must be something wrong with my phone.  He said their computers were running bad. Said they were having problems with the app. I don't have any cruises booked with Princess right now-I may not do them again. Have liked their product,  but when I spend thousands of dollars with them I expect a rep on the phone to do what I ask for.I realize that he probably gets a cut for any thing he sells, and their ships are full and they can do anything they want to do to us, but it does not mean I have to like it!!!

If you had picked it up at the dock it would have added maybe 2 - 3 minutes to your embarkation time.  Why did you bother to wait on line.

DON

4 hours ago, no1racefan1 said:

Gathering has begun! I've started making a pile of the things from around the house that I want to bring but might be easy to forget. 

I doubt that it is going to be so cold that you need the chemical hand warmers.  If you get cold hands just take a pair of gloves.  I am sure that you have checked the long range weather forecasts for the posts you will be visiting at least once,  If not there are many good sites that have long range forecasts.

DON

6 hours ago, John Bull said:

The problem is not the French people (honest😏), but the French language.

 

English is the world's second language and many fellow-passengers will have some grasp of English - perhaps even a grasp of American 😛, but if you don't speak French you'll find inter-action with them often stilted and wearing.

 

But in the Canaries you'll have the edge over them cos English is widely-spoken 🙂

 

JB 🙂

I am glad that you said this as I did not want to and stir things up more.  I realize that the idea that many Americans have that everyone else in the world has to be able to speak to us in English is ridiculous and self centered.  However we definitely found that when we were clearly lost and had no idea of what or where to go next the people in France were definitely less helpful that people in other countries.  There were people who did help but many did not as compared with other countries we visited.  

DON

1 hour ago, clo said:

Is all your 'leisure travel' on cruises? If not, do you have a separate system for keeping track?

No but the name of the file folder makes things obvious.  File folder

"1998"; Sub folder "Grand Canyon"; sub sub folder "Day 2_Phantom Ranch"

defines exactly where and when the photos were taken.  These photos are obviously different from the contents of the file folder

"2024"; subfolder "Norway"; sub sub folder "Feb 23_Trondheim" folder.  

The advantage of this system is that I can tell you exactly what cruises I did in 1995 and I can also easily find photos from that cruise.

Each subfolder can also contain cruise notes, PDF copies of brochures and anything else of importance.  What I like about this system is that it is very easy to maintain.

DON

3 hours ago, AKStafford said:

The McKinley Princess Lodge is in the middle of no where, built to warehouse Princess CruiseTours. There's an hour shuttle ride into Talkeetna where you could do a Denali flightseeing trip or a Mahay's Riverboat advernture.

And just an afternoon at Denali National Park doesn't give you much time to get into the park. It the Natural History Tour or Tundra Wilderness Tour park of your package?

I will add that once you take the shuttle into Talkeetna there is not that much to do there besides the aforementioned flightseeing and riverboat trip.  Basically your stay at the lodge is a totally wasted day on your trip.

DON

Very simple.  I take lots of pictures.  I have my pictures organized by year; then cruise; then cruise date.

DON

I assume that you know that the Wilderness Lodge is in the middle of nowhere and 99 miles from Denali Village. Google maps which notoriously underestimates AK travel times says that it 1 1/2 hours to get from the hotel to Denali.  That's 3 hours of travel time. 

DON

I can't speak about this particular guide but I have done many ToursbyLocals tours in many places around the world and I have never had a bad ToursbyLocals guides.  Most of them have been wonderful.

DON

2 hours ago, mattR said:

How about instead of hugs people bring him his favorite chocolate bar or something like that?  He could share with his coworkers so they would all be happy when a bunch of strangers stop buy and give him a treat.  I know this brings up the whole candy from stranger's thing but if the people giving him the candy said his name and his moms name it could work? 

Also a dumb idea.  Just leave him alone.  He is trying to show some independence and all is mother is trying to embarrass him.  Doesn't she realize that kids can be cruel.  How is she going to behave when he goes off to college - call him every night.

DON

How long are you in port - not port time but disembarkment to last boarding time?  According to RometoRio it is going to take you 1 hr 30 m to get to Rome and another 1 h 30 m to het back and this does not include the time to get to and from the time from the ship to the CV transport hub.  How much time would you have to see anything in Rome.

Just my opinion but it just ain't worth it.

You live in Manchester so you can fly from there to Rome for a reasonable amount of money.  Spend several days in Rome.  Then take the train to Florence.  That gives you time to see both cities without rushing around.

DON

Was there anything at all during the entire day that you ate that she did not eat.  "Textbook food poisoning".  Are you an expert on the subject?

DON

Try ToursbyLocals.  Have used them for lots of excursions and they were all excellent.

DON

How important is it that the tour be private.  The cruise ships offer larger boat whale watching excursions and also whale watching excursions on boats that hold maybe 10 or 12 people.  We have done the latter several times and they work well.  

DON

Seems like we have had this discussion many times on CC.  I would suggest that the OP should review the previous posts to see if they can add something new to the subject before they continue this thread.  Most of the threads seem to cover almost everything that can be said on the subject.

DON

On 3/9/2024 at 10:11 AM, azappraiser said:

Booked on Norwegian Encore to Alaska on May 18-25, 2025, with a day in Glacier Bay.  I planning to bring the following bodies:

• Pentax 24MP K-70
• Pentax 16MP K-50

 

As for lenses:

• Pentax f/2.8 14mm Prime
• Pentax f/2.8 16-50mm Wide Zoom
• Pentax f/2.8 50-135mm Zoom Med Telephoto
• Pentax f/4.0 60-250mm zoom Telephoto
• Pentax HD 1.4x AF Rear Extender

 

Also bringing a lg dry-bag & desiccant for each body/lens, to warm up slowly and absorb excess moisture as they acclimate from outside to inside & vice versa.  Gear wouldn't be complete without my travel tripod and an additional monopod.

 

And, IMHO these are "game-changer" accessories:

• Peak Design Slide Camera Straps
• ProMedia Gear L-Brackets
• Valleret V3 Pro Photographer's Gloves (thumb & forefinger tips fold back for real feel)

 

Bringing 3x 256GB, 1x 128GB, 2x 64GB & several 32GB for the wife's point & shoot.  Will be downloading sd cards daily onto 2TB portable HD & copy to 5TB SSD.

 

Should be fun, fingers crossed for good weather.  I've got Frog Togs & rain covers just in case...

Just my opinion and I am into photography but it seems to me that you are a bit over doing things.  My idea of traveling in scenic areas is to see things and experience the areas and not to see everything from behind the camera viewfinder.

DON

I am looking at a B2B on the CroisiEurope La Belle des Oceans ship.  It would combine their 8 day Magnificant Murdejar Art from the Andalusian Flatlands to Morocco's Imperial Cities cruise with their 8 day Cruise through the Canary Island Archipelago, eternal Springtime cruise for a total of 16 days.

I don't know anything at all about CroisiEurope except that most of their cruises are river boat cruises and these are not riverboats nor is this a riverboat cruise.  I can't find out anything at all about these specific cruises except that it is difficult to find any cruise that focuses on these areas.  The ships aree about 150 passengers which is a good size.

The price at about $500 per day is not bad.

One potential problem is that the company and the cruise sounds very French and we all know what the French people can be like.  Some people who have done river boat cruises with this company have said that almost everyone on the ship was French.

Has anyone out there done any trips with this company and especially trips on their non-riverboat ships.

DON

Suppose it is true that you will not get a refund if no whales are seen.  This leaves you w 2 choices. 

1) Cancel.  Then you will have a 100% certainty that you will NOT see whales.

2) Take the tour.  You will probably see whales but even if you don't you will have had an enjoyable scenic cruise in the harbor and you might see other stuff.

The right choice seems obvious to me.

DON

3 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I can tell you without even taking a sample home, that the water on every ship we’ve been on is better (usually MUCH better) than our tap water at home. We live in a hard water area, and the water is safe to drink, but tastes vile, even after filtering.

Las Vegas Hard Water Rating. 

According to Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD)1, Las Vegas has a hardness rating of 278 parts per million or 16 grains per gallon. This level of hardness is considered to be “extremely hard.” In fact, Las Vegas has some of the hardest water in the country!

DON

8 hours ago, TravelinGert said:

 

I did see the cabins aren't as large on Windstar, but I love some of their cruise options. If it were just myself size would not matter. My husband is a 6'6" dad-bod sort, so he at least needs a bit of extra space in the shower and bathroom areas. As much as I love those Windstar options, I may have to opt for something with at least better bathroom options for my husband's sake.

 

I've been looking at some of the 20-26 day cruises on Oceania and I really think we'd love the 22 day Istanbul to Barcelona on Marina although there is a 20 day on Sirena which also looks really nice over the period of our actual anniversary. They are a bit more than we had thought we would like to spend, but I think we could swing a concierge veranda on either cruise.

 

I want to love Azamara but the bathrooms are a concern. We could step up to the suites with larger bathrooms, but if we instead pick Oceania I found a video of a fellow my husband's size demonstrating he fits in even the Ocean View showers. My mother-in-law has now suggested we look at Regents Seven Seas. They do look very nice, but the pricing is a bit higher.

I agree.  The showers on Azamara ships are very small.

DON

3 hours ago, TravelinGert said:

I haven't even peeked at what Viking is offering yet. I'll take a look. Do you have a favorite Viking ship, Don?

All of the Viking ocean ships are essentially identical so it doesn't matter which one you cruise on.  Makes it easier as you can just pick  your itinerary.

DON

Why don't you verify just to be sure by contacting the tour operator directly.

DON

See if you can figure out who is actually doing the tour from the Celebrity tour description and contact them directly.,

DON

I arbitrarily picked one of the ships in the Princess fleet and had no problem finding out who he is on the internet.  

DON