Eightydays

Agree that the consensus is our immunity is higher if you get the vaccine and also had COVID.

Us too. Food in the OV was very good.

 

We were on the Nov. 3 sailing, and as someone who has done almost 20 cruises with Celebrity, I thought the food in OV had actually improved over the past several years.

 

Had a wonderful cruise -- and service continues to be great. The other cruisers also seemed friendlier than some past cruises.

We too will be going to Iguazu before our cruise and flying to IGU from Rio, and then on to Buenos Aires.

 

Based on my research on Tripadvisor, you have 2 options to get Argentine pesos on the way from IGU to Puerto Iguazu. The first is at "Atlas Cambio" which is next to a gas station on the way to downtown Foz do Iguazu, but not too out of the way. I actually located the building using Google Earth.

The second appears to be at the border crossing, at "Frontier Turismo & Cambio, Av. Mercosul 400 /Jardim Veraneio.

There also appears to be a large Mall on the main road in Puerto Iguazu that other posters suggest has a Cambio.

 

Hope this helps.

Hi.

 

Thank you for the information about the HOHO Montevideo bus. I have taken it before but never hopped off. I just went around listening to the tour and ended up,in the center which is very walkable. I enjoyed the Ramblas. As we are there on a Sunday, it should be filled with families and be relatively safe. I also always enjoy lunch at the restaurants at the port.

 

The Puerto Madryn tour for AR$ 800'plus the entrance fee and discretionary tips is being organized with our schedule in mind. My contact is Gaston Aliendom of Alora Viaggio aloraviaggio@hotmail.com. He has confirmed the pick up and drop off is at the port, with a bilingual guide. I am also fully bilingual and will be there as well. He also assured me that if he signs up enough numbers from our ship, he will arrange for a private tour for us instead of being added to his regular tour. For the price of AR$800 (app US$54 at 15:1 exchange rate), I will pay in AR$ both the AR$800 + AR$180 and maybe give any tips in US$ which they can then exchange at the higher BLUE RATE OF 15:1.

 

Another option is Sentir Patagonia for US$85 or AR$ 1300 plus the AR$180 for entrance to the reserve. The contact there is DIEGO Allende info@sentir-patagonia.com.ar.

 

Two good options options to consider. I will be in the Alora Viaggio.

 

Thanks Lari!

 

We will be on Celebrity's Infinity so unfortunately I won't get to meet you, but I very much appreciate your help.

We too plan to take the HOHO once around and then walk around the Center, Old Town, etc.

Have a great trip!

Hi Lari,

 

Can you tell me which operators you got info from for Puerto Madryn. During my research we found we could not use the companies that cater to non-cruise passengers and charge about 800 Arg. Pesos because the tours leave at 8:00 am and return at 5:00 pm, which won't work for us.

 

We are a party of 4 and are thinking of simply using a taxi service, but we would also be interested in doing a Tour because I can tell from my communications with our taxi driver that he does not speak much English, and my Spanish is woeful.

 

Also, based on my research you should be careful regarding the HOHO bus in Montevideo (although we will also be using it). The reviews are terrible regarding its frequency, but I am sure you can plan around that.

We are also on the January 3, 2016 Infinity cruise. My assumption is that when we are "cruising" we are close enough to land to have some scenic views of glaciers, forests, hopefully wildlife, etc, while on "sea days" we are probably beyond the 3-mile territorial coastline for each country.

I haven't done the cruise tour mentioned but I have been to Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley sites mentioned.

I assume on Day 2 you are really flying from Lima to Cusco, then visiting the Sacsayhuaman ruins and the Pisac ruins and market, before heading to your resort, which is actually in Urubamba, about a 45 minute drive from Pisac (or maybe even an hour).

That is actually quite a bit for one day, depending on what time you arrive in Cusco. Because of the likelihood of getting altitude sickness, you should take it easy once you get to Cusco and this itinerary is a bit rushed.

Also, Cusco is adorable with great restaurants and deserves a whole day, and usually most tours end with Cusco so you can start at a lower altitude and work your way up.

On Day 3, if you are going to Ollantaytambo, you should really spend the night there and then leave from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu on the next day. On the way from Urubamba, in addition to Chincheros you should visit Moray and Maras. Ollantaytambo also has wonderful ruins.

I agree that the market in Pisac is very good, but so are the stores in Cusco, and the Artisan Stores in Miraflores, Lima (and even the market in Aguas Caliente is decent).

In December it will be summer in Peru, but Cusco will still be a bit chilly at night. It might also be the rainy season (don't remember).

I think the hotels you mentioned should all have oxygen, but make sure you have the requisite medication from your doctor. Also, as mentioned earlier, it might be a good idea to reverse your trip (head to Machu Picchu first, and work your way back to Cusco).

Have fun.

Celebrity's January 4th sailing on the Millenium stopped in Bali for the scheduled 2.5 days.

I have been so busy that I have not checked these boards in eons. Have not even done a review of our summer cruise on the Silhouette, but will over the Christmas holidays so cruisers doing that itinerary next year can benefit from our observations, etc.

 

Anyway, I just found out about the new points system and was happy to find out that we am Elite+. I am not sure yet how the point system works, but we generally have cruise almost every year since 1998 when we discovered cruising. We tend to do longer cruises to Europe and usually get a verandah cabin. We did Concierge once but decided it really wasn't worth the extra money.

 

I must confess that the only benefits we generally take advantage of are the free laundry/drycleaning and the Internet minutes. We almost never go to the cocktail "hour," receptions, etc. We cruise Celebrity because we like the product they offer and feel very comfortable on their ships. We generally book a cruise because of the itinerary, and I assume that will continue to be the basis for choosing our cruise.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that perks are a nice "extra," but we definitely would not book a cruise simply because we have those "perks." In fact, we very likely will try other lines in the future because the Celebrity itineraries have become too familiar.

I think cruising works very well for visiting Italy, except it might take a couple of cruises. It's especially great if your cruise starts and ends in different places. For example, if your

cruise starts in Venice and ends in Rome (Civitavecchia) you will likely have almost a couple of days in Venice, and you can add 2 or 3 days at the end of the cruise to spend time in Rome. Since most cruises that start in Venice overnight there and you will have about a day and a half in Venice, if you go over a day or two earlier, you can visit Verona and Padua, or you can fly into Florence, spend several days there, then take the train to Venice and start your cruise.

 

Once you are on the Ship, you simply unpack and relax. Depending on the itinerary, you could visit the following Italian ports: Ravenna, Bari and Naples or Salerno.

 

In addition, however, you will get a peek at other countries you might not consider visiting, such as Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro -- all of which are wonderful destinations. Or your Italian ports might be combined with ports in Greece -- another beautiful destination.

 

What''s really great about cruising is not simply visiting these wonderful countries/cities, but being able to relax and have fun while being "transported."

 

Good luck!!

We too are hoping to visit Perast via the public bus. The last time we were in Kotor I wasn't sure what to expect so we just spend time in town.

No contest -- The Med!!

We did one Med cruise then went to Alaska, and after Alaska we did 4 more Med cruises.

We also did a British Isle/Norway cruise that you would probably enjoy if Alaska appeals to you. The natural beauty of the Norwegian fjords is breathtaking. Alaska was very nice but really does not compare (in my opinion).

We walked to and from the train station last year. It is about a 20 minute walk. You should talk a look at Google Maps and try to plot your route. You will likely find that when you get off the ship it is really early and not too many people will be around to ask directions, and most of them will not speak English, so it might be helpful if you can say "station" in Italian. My recollection is that you cross a small park and stay to the left of the tender port area (although this might depend on where your tender ties up) which takes you to the pedestrian area. Once the pedestrian street ends, keep walking straight for about 3 to 4 blocks and you will get to the train station. You will be walking uphill at this point, and can either take the stairs on you right or walk up a sloped road to get to the station.

 

We had planned on taking a cab to the station but there were none by the time our tender got in. There were lots of cabs at the station!

 

Have fun hiking the Cinque Terre. We had the best gelato in Monterosso (even better than Florence) and really great pizza in Vernazzo (I think).

Just noticed that this thread is still alive.

 

Last summer we took the train from Vigo to Santiago de Compostela. This was one of our favorite trips. The ship was cleared a little late so we took a cab to the train station. Cabs are on a side street to the right once you exit the terminal. The cab ride to the train station is between 5-10 minutes. I don't remember how much it costs but it was very inexpensive -- less than 10 Euros for sure.

 

The train right was very scenic, and once we got to Santiago, we exited the train station, turned right, and walked up about 8 to 10 blocks to get to the Catedral. It was very busy because last year was a special jubilee year. There was many pilgrims. The area around the Cathedral was really quaint, with cute little shops. We only spent a couple of hours and would have liked to spend more time, but town is very small and going to Santiago sure beats staying in Vigo.

 

When we got back to Vigo we took a leisurely stroll through the town back to the ship.

 

Unless you can do only minimal walking, this trip is very easy to do on your own.

 

Good luck!!

 

 

Oops. Just noticed that this post has a ton of typos. My apologies.

Just noticed that this thread is still alive.

 

Last summer we took the train from Vigo to Santiago de Compostela. This was one of our favorite trips. The ship was cleared a little late so we took a cab to the train station. Cabs are on a side street to the right once you exit the terminal. The cab ride to the train station is between 5-10 minutes. I don't remember how much it costs but it was very inexpensive -- less than 10 Euros for sure.

 

The train right was very scenic, and once we got to Santiago, we exited the train station, turned right, and walked up about 8 to 10 blocks to get to the Catedral. It was very busy because last year was a special jubilee year. There was many pilgrims. The area around the Cathedral was really quaint, with cute little shops. We only spent a couple of hours and would have liked to spend more time, but town is very small and going to Santiago sure beats staying in Vigo.

 

When we got back to Vigo we took a leisurely stroll through the town back to the ship.

 

Unless you can do only minimal walking, this trip is very easy to do on your own.

 

Good luck!!

You should consider Malaga. Athough it will be a 5-hour train ride from Malaga to Barcelona on the AVE train, there is so much to do in that area of Spain. In addition to spending time in Malaga, you can visit Granada, including the Alhambra, Ronda, the whites cities of Nerja and Mijas, and even Gibraltar.

 

That's what we are doing next summer before our Barcelona cruise, except we are staying in Marbella.

I don't know what time your ship gets to Vigo, but we will be there next Monday and plan on taking the 8:55 train to Santiago. You can get the schedule from the renfe.es website. The train station appears to be about a mile or so from the Port. The bus station is a bit further. We decided to take the train because the train station in Santiago is only a 10-15 minute walk from the Cathedral area. The train ride takes about 1 hour, 23 minutes.

 

The train schedule is not very favorable for the return trip. We have 2 choices: a 12:34 train back to Vigo which leaves us with only 2 hours in Santiago, or a later local train (about 1:15) that takes about 1 hour, 50 minutes to Vigo. There is a later train that gets in around 4:00 pm, but our train leaves at 5:00 pm so I am unwilling to take that chance.

 

Good luck.

However, if your ship actually docks in Toulon it is about a 20 minute walk to the train station.