donaldsc

What I would do w your France, Barcelona and Greek Islands itinerary would be to do your Barcelona touring and fly from Barcelona to Athens. A trip to France, Barcelona and Greece would be a really cool trip. DON

What difference does it really make if you have to pay 11 months before your cruise or 3 months before. The cost is the same. Paying early gets it over with, Before anyone responds w the "Viking has use of your money" comment, it the cruise costs $10,000 which is high and you could have made 5% on your money which is high, your loss from the early payment is only $250. Big deal.

I agree w you with regard to the hotel director or captain although the captains on Azamara have been more friendly and available than other captains or at least they have been in the past. The cruise director can be more important as they should be out and about and be interacting with the passengers. I would not pick a cruise on the basis of the cruise director however. DON

I may be missing something but if you want a Greek Islands cruise why would you pick a cruise that departs from Barcelona. Wouldn't it make more sense to find on that departs from Athens? DON

You are sort of stuck on this cruise. After this cruise are you going to ever cruise on Princess again or will you return in spite of the way you were treated. I would be in the "never again" camp. DON

We are not allowed to recommend specific TAs on CC. However there are travel agents out there that do only Antarctica cruises. Do a Google search to find them. Tell them exactly what you want and I will bet that they will find one that fits your needs at a lower price. This worked wonderfully for me. DON

It seems to me that you have some responsibility in this transaction. You should have noted the payment due date on your calendar and paid it in time. I use Google calendar to keep track of stuff that has to be done at a specific date and Google calendar has the option to send me an e-mail or text message as many days as I wish of the date. I am sure that Apple has the same feature. As far as I am concerned a final due date is a final due date and the cruise should be cancelled with relevant penalties if payment is not made in time. Why call it a "final due date" if it is really a "sort of final due date" and if you miss it it is OK w us. DON

Check out Weather Spark. DON

Many of us on a cruise are of the age that we just do not look good in a swim suit. Include me and my wife in that group. You can't help how you look in a swim suit when you are at the pool but please spare us when you are in the buffet. DON

Are you saying that you want to avoid a ship that has a planetarium or you want to avoid having to book the planetarium visit. It isn't clear from your post which one. If the former how would the presence of a planetarium on the ship impact your cruise? I would guess that if you have ever been to a real planetarium any planetarium on a ship would be a pale imitation of the real thing. DON

We always carry a copy of our vaccination card w us at all times. Seems like an obvious and simple solution. I also have a link on my phone that connects me with our state vaccination record WEB site. DON

Any of the American riverboat cruises if she does not want to travel. If she can handle an airplane trip do any of the riverboat cruises in Europe. DON

Cruise lines often mess up their scheduling so there may not really be a problem so wait a few days and check again Then call Seabourn or your TA if you have one. Not e-mail them but call them. DON

I typed "really good photo spots" into Google and got a bunch of hits. I have no idea of how good they are. DON

This happens lots of times. DON

Just remember that we can not recommend TAs. DON

This is a direct quote from the Princess FAQ page when I typed in "Passport" "A valid passport is required for all international itineraries including Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, India, Central and South America, Panama Canal (partial and full transit), Caribbean voyages that visit Martinique or Guadeloupe, South Pacific, Tahiti and World Cruises. Although US and Canadian passport holders are not currently required to sail with a passport on most domestic itineraries (including Alaska, Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, Hawaii, and Mexico), Princess highly recommends they are carried" Also "PASSPORT REQUIREMENT WHEN MINORS TRAVEL WITH ONE ADULT ON VOYAGES GOVERNED BY THE U.S. WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRAVEL INITIATIVE (includes travel within BERMUDA, CANADA, CARIBBEAN, HAWAII, MEXICO, UNITED STATES) When minors are traveling with only one adult 21 years of age or older, Princess requires that all guests must be in possession of a valid passport. We have implemented this requirement because we want to ensure that your party remains together should an emergency arise that requires one or more in your party to be disembarked in a non-U.S. port. We cannot guarantee that all members of your party will be allowed to disembark with just a WHTI-compliant document or birth certificate. Failure to present a valid passport for all guests traveling together will result in denial of boarding without refund of the cruise or cruisetour fare. I will bet that the average American thinks that any place and definitely any island south or not necessarily even south of the US is the Caribbean. For example we have seen many posts on CC where the OP did not realize that Bermuda is not in the Caribbean. Americans do not have a great knowledge of geography. Witness the person-on-the-street interviews that one used to see on the late night talk shows where they asked people geography questions. Yes they select the clips to only show people who had a minimal knowledge of geography but I would bet that it was not hard to find such interviews. Now this does not excuse the people who did not read their cruise documents. Also Princess is not off the hook on their reply that question since I believe that since there are some Caribbean islands that do require a passport. Bottom line is to be safe and just get a passport. DON

They are too frugal to spend the money. DON

It was probably from a Princess employee who was sick and tired of dealing with self entitled customers who could not be bothered w reading their cruise documents and just had to say what he was really thinking when he had to deal with these people all day. His coworkers are probably cheering him. DON

Where? When? Budget? Interests? How long? Etc. Maybe you could provide us with just a bit more info. DON

Until the delay the Real ID Drivers License yet again. How many times has it been postponed. DON

I believe that I read once that some overseas excursions or tours will not take Americans because of our tendency to try to sue for any problem. I may be wrong on this however as I tried to find the link on the WEB and could not find it. DON

I just got this in the e-mail. https://destinationalaskacharters.com/. Don't know anything about this company and I don't currently have any trips to AK planned but their trip options look intriguing. DON

I have not plowed my way through this entire thread but did the OP's parents book the cruise directly with Viking or with a good TA. If it was Viking this is yet another reason why you should book with a good TA. DON

I have not read all the posts but one of the big advantages of Azamara over the Genormous of the Seas monstrosities is the small size of the ships and the fact that they can get into ports that the large ships can't get into. Even if the large ships claim that they get into a port often it is in an industrial area far away from the tourist area where you can't even walk off the ship because you might get hit by a big crane. Often Azamara can dock right in the center of town. As an example and this was before Venice thankfully closed down to large ships our Azamara ship docked at the San Basilio Cruise Terminal (look it up on Google maps) which meant that we stepped off the ship and we were right in Venice instead of being in a large cruise terminal. This type of thing happens in many towns. Another thing. Azamara can get into a lot of places where the large ships are not welcome. To me the difference is that with Azamara the destination is the point of the cruise. On the large ships the ship and not the destination is the point of the cruise. Different strokes etc. To me if my only cruise ship options were on one of the Genormous type ships I would stop cruising. My last 2 cruises were an AK cruise on a ship that held 180 passengers and a full rigged barkentine sailboat that had about 120 passengers. DON