donaldsc

I am sure that instant latte is about the same as instant coffee - horrible. If you can afford to cruise you should be able to afford a cup or 2 of good coffee every day. DON

I did not realize that you were Canadian as your ID does not list your home. Sorry. DON

I must be missing something. If you tested positive in Buffalo why would they let you into Canada. As a follow up should they have let you into Canada. As a follow follow up if I were a resident of Canada my attitude would be that you should stay home so you infect Americans and not Canadians. DON

I suggest that you repost on the France board on CC. DON

https://www.taxifarefinder.com/ DON

Have you or your TA called (not email but called) HAL on this issue. DON

You don't have to spend anywhere as much and you don't have to be on a brand new super luxury expedition ship to see Antarctica. According to CC rules we are not allowed to discuss TA or other ways to purchase a cruise. However a bit of WEB searching should help you in this area. DON

Circle Cruise Line - https://www.circleline.com/sightseeing-cruises?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search - CL - G%2FP - Prospect - Brand - Outside NYC - 2021&matchtype=e&keyword=circle line cruise&cid=12889427267&agid=127189189888&device=c&placement=&creative=517966897829&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search - CL - G%2FP - Prospect - Brand - Outside NYC - 2021&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl92XBhC7ARIsAHLl9al-GbCh-ueP3tPFqI2sc64LaQ7A4jCwM1hRLrMYHSqt7OdBV_NDoWYaAq_SEALw_wcB DON

I am trying to figure out Welcome Pickups pricing. All the sites have have logged on to figure out how much it is going to cost me to get from Athens airport to the Athens Marriott by taxi say that the fixed price cost will be 38 E which seems fair. The sites also say that I am better off booking on Welcome Pickups which is priced the same as the taxi price. However when I log onto the Welcome Pickups site I get a price of 76 E. If makes a difference I have to enter 2 people and 2 suitcases onto the Welcome Pickups site. Am I doing something wrong? Has the price for the airport to hotel been raised because of inflation and increased gasoline costs? It the 38 E taxi fare old data? As a side question - has anyone taken the 14 E metro bus from the airport to city center. Thanks for the info. DON

I just got a reply from the guide. She can handle 6 people. The total cost for the 6 of us would be 300 E so that would be 50 E per person plus some incidental expenses. I like to keep my private tours small so the total group will be 6 people. As I mentioned - we will not be stopping at the Virgin Mary's home and I should also add that I am not into spending time shopping. If you are still leave me your e-mail address and I will contact you off CC. I always do my private tour arrangements off CC and I have neve had any problem w that. DON

We did an Azamara that went to Svalbard a few years ago. Svalbard was pretty neat. The problem though was you spend 3 days of the cruise in order to do Svalbard - 1 day to Svalbard; 1 day at Svalbard and 1 day from Svalbard. Not sure if there is any solution to that problem unless you book a dedicated Svalbard expedition trip which I would be willing to do. I personally felt that the tradeoff of 2 wasted sea days (I dislike sea days) was not worth the 1 day in Svalbard. DON

The same way that I locate my wife on a ship. We set up a time and place meeting place in advance. If one of us wants to change it, we go back to the cabin and leave a note. I agree w the people who say that their cell phones get left in their rooms. I really don't think that it is necessary to lock it in your safe as some have suggested but it does stay in the room. DON

One thing that has not been pointed out. You have a group of 13 people of different ages and probably different interests. Why does everyone have to do the same things at every port? DON

You are going to be spending half of your land time traveling to and from Paris. Makes absolutely no sense to me. DON

We have bought from this place for years so we are obviously satisfied w their stuff. https://salmonetc.com/ DON

+1 on the auto museum. It is a world class collection. I have been in Fairbanks 3 times and have visited the museum each time. If I went back to Fairbanks I would go there a 4th time. As Mellybell said - one of the really neat things about the place is the juxtaposition of period correct clothing with the cars. Another good thing about the place is that because it is a hidden gem it tends not to be over crowded. DON

If you have this problem there are insurance policies such as MedJet that provide medical evacuation to your home hospital as soon as you are medically able to travel. Check them out. Now if you are so sick that you can not travel there is no ship out there that has the on board medical facilities to handle your problems. DON

I agree that AQV does have a problem with their back office. However they have been responsive when I have called them w questions. Also your problem w the luggage tags is a bit of an over reaction. You print them out at home and cut them out. When you get to the cruise hotel you go to the front desk and ask to borrow their staple or some tape and attach them to your luggage. Really easy. DON

You can get a list of the ship tours on their WEB site at https://www.starclippers.com/us-dom/destinations/star-clippers-shore-excursions.html. Also I have had success when I called them or sent an e-mail message to them at info@starclippers.com. They usually respond within 1 day. I have a tour to Ephesus booked from the Kusadasi port stop. The ship tour is 69 E and the trip length is 3 h 30 m with a minimum of 12 participants. My tour will be $61 plus about $25 for entry fees each for a group of 4 people. Also the tour will be longer at 5 or 5 1/2 hours so we will have more time at Ephesus than you get on the ship tour. Remember that the drive time from Kusadasi to Ephesus is about 30 minutes so if you take the ship tour you loose 1 hour of your 3 h 30 m getting to and from Ephesus. I believe that she can take a group of 6 people but I need to verify it w her and also what the cost for 6 people will be. I will get back to you once I verify that she can take 6 people. I will have paid for the tour in advance before we leave for Greece. So if you do join is on the tour your would have to give us cash when we start the tour to cover your part of the tour cost. We plan to visit Ephesus, the Terrace Houses, an interesting village and perhaps a craft shop although I have emphasized to her that I don't want to waste a lot of time shopping. The guide is also a bit of a foodie so I asked her to take us to a good local restaurant for a meal. I should tell you that we are specifically not interested in visiting the home of the Virgin Mary. I assume from your e-mails that this is your first Clipper Ship cruise. It is also our first. However we met a couple on our most recent trip to Alaska who had taken several of their cruises including the 2 that I am taking and they assured us that we will love it. Also we have taken many ToursbyLocals tours and we have never had a bad tour from them. One of the great thing about their tours is that within the tour time constraints you can modify the tour to see what you really want to see. Sometimes we have even modified a tour program in the middle of the tour. I will get back to you once I get a reply from the guide on 6 people. DON

On our cruise the docs came very close to the cruise date. However I would call them and ask about the documents. DON

I have not driven to the Skagway Highway from Skagway to Whitehorse which I assume is what you mean by the Klondike Highway. Actually the Klondike Highway much longer 445 mile highway that connects Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse and Dawson City Yukon. The Haines Highway is much shorter and is also called the Haines Cutoff. It is a 146-mile drive from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines. I have driven that road and it is a really spectacular wonderful drive. DON

What gets me is that people spend thousands of dollars on a cruise and then buy a bunch of drinks per day at $10 per drink and they are too cheap to tip the crew. Yet they are willing to tip a dock worker $10 or $20 to carry their bags 10 feet when the dock workers get more money in tips per day than the crew on the ship get for your entire cruise. Yes. We all realize that the tipping culture on a ship is ridiculous and the cruise lines should just pay the crew the money that they are earning and should be getting. However this just isn't going to happen because the cruise lines don't want it to happen and because they can find good people who are willing to work under the existing wage structure. So all of you who are complaining about tips on cruises should just think about what it would be like if the crew was not there and pay your tips. Also be respectful and treat the crew members right. DON

A lot of that depends upon where you live. We live in Las Vegas. A summer forecast of "sunny w high temps between 100 to 105 degrees" has a really good chance of being right. LOL!! DON

I am guessing that the reason that they initially banned them is that some idiot decided to ride his bike around the ship. As we well know - idiocy does not stop you from cruising. DON

I have been to both places and I spent about 6 days in Haines one fall. As far as I am concerned docking at Haines in better than docking at Skagway. Haines is a real town where real people live and would continue to live there if the ships stopped coming. If the ships stopped coming to Skagway the town would dry up and blow away. DON