nordski

30 minutes ago, Xcelsior said:

I'm on the same sailing.  I don't have any travel documents and I'm not going to worry about it - I'll just show up at the terminal and then it's their problem.  I'm dealing with OBC and shore excursion issues.  I booked direct so at least I can get through on the phone lines now.  From my understanding they are having a problem with shore excursions being deducted from OBC as the system is calculating Canadian dollars and US dollars at par.  They' are supposed to be working on a fix. I'm not holding my breath!

Canadian dollars at par with US dollars? That doesn’t sound like a “problem” to me. 😀

3 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I am not seeing included air for a similar 2025 Viking cruise. It’s a little more expensive, but true that their prices include basic excursions and specialties. Ending in Montreal would be super convenient for us though!

I thought of you when I saw that itinerary. You would certainly know your way around the city!

1 hour ago, tgg said:

I think it's at 15 night cruise sailing on July 21, 2025. Reykjavik Iceland to Montreal. There's an overnight in Newfoundland.

Thanks for posting this.

The return itinerary is slightly different. Perhaps most notable a stop to visit National Historic Site  L’Anse aux Meadows as a replacement for St. John’s in Newfoundland.

This provides an interesting choice.

3 hours ago, ohcsim123 said:

Our ship arrives Civitavecchia on 04/28/2024 at 6:00am preceding a four day stay in Rome at a central location. Given the long time between docking and check-in, I searched for a combination transfer/tour and received a quote from Stefano's Rome Cabs which looks attractive.

 

They propose to pick us up at 9:00am at the pier and drive to Ostia Antica for an approximately 4hr self tour of the archaeological site/town with plenty of time for a leisurely lunch. The drive then to our central Rome hotel should arrive mid-afternoon. Our transfer can be "shared" to reduce our pp cost.

 

I have no experience with Rome Cabs so I cannot endorse them although they have many good reviews.

They are worth a look if you have a similar itinerary.

 

John

 

We have had a number of experiences with RomeCabs, the second one Stefano himself was our driver. We have never had a problem with their services and once they successfully solved a challenging problem for us. 
I hope your experience is just as positive. Please return to share your impressions with us, especially the visit ro Ostia Antica.

7 hours ago, the mice said:

Betsey, glad you are OK and spared the flooding where you are.  Sorry to hear about your son-in-law's farm.   

Are you going to get more rain this weekend?  That's what's forecasted here in NY.  

We are fortunate that we are on high ground above the Hudson River and other than some plantings, mostly ferns, battered by the torrential rains, we didn't have any issues.

However, north of us, lots of areas were not so fortunate.  West Point is across the river and about 20 miles north.  Cars were up to the roofs in water, and some roads totally washed away, caved in, etc.  A real mess for sure.  The county north of us had major flooding, too.  

Thanks for providing more information. Good that your area was largely spared.

3 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

At the time, it was said it was a once in a 100 year event 

These “once in a hundred year events” are becoming rather too common for my liking.

One thing I will never miss about living on a farm is the dependence on the weather, and we never faced what you have encountered.

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

https://www.wcax.com/2023/07/11/parts-interstate-89-closed-emergency-shelters-open-across-vermont/
 

Thank you, @nordski. It is the worst flooding in the state’s history. My hometown of Montpelier is under water, as are many other towns. And many, many roads washed out, where rivers have jumped their banks. My son-in-law’s organic farm was flooded in such a way, which will render any crops they couldn’t harvest in advance unsalable. We here in Burlington are safe and dry, with power, and feel very fortunate. 

Thanks for the update. I had read that much of the worst of the flooding was around Montpelier but Burlington was also mentioned.

I hope that the federal and state governments will quickly come to the aid of those, like your son-in-law, who have suffered such serious damages.

As such a unique event, this must be quite traumatic.

I do hope that Mackdogmolly and other posters that live in Vermont are avoiding the worst elements of the deluge that seems to be centred on that state.

5 hours ago, Riocca said:

I think it’s a feature of the Versonix Seaware system which offers best in category as other cruise lines using it seem to be the same, however the same system used onboard has the ability to show available cabins so we can only hope that it is an option that could be implemented for the general website.

You can get to available cabins but it’s a real pain, you need to go through the booking process until you see the allocated cabin then there’s a pencil and pad icon if you press on that a list of cabins in that category becomes available. However it’s important not to save the details if you’re signed in as it will save it to your account and I can’t see a way of removing it.

This works for me but the list was of 5 club continent suites so I don’t know if that is the total inventory available.

Really appreciate the time you took to describe your system.

These are wonderful suggestions.

We have often chosen Option 2. It provides lots of flexibility and sitting around at an airport for a long period of time is a situation we try to avoid.

2 hours ago, curmudgeon98 said:

I would look at getting a private car service to do a day tour.  Ask them for suggestions about itineraries that you might like.  We did this with Athens and Corinth last year.  I've heard RomeCabs mentioned positively on CC.  We've used CivitavecciaPort.org for car service in Rome and have been satisfied.

Good suggestion! I think RomeCabs will definitely organize a city tour as part of a transfer.

20 minutes ago, uktog said:

Thanks, my frustration is I do have time today and then not until after the 10th - I also had time during last week but on that call, the agent gave completely wrong information.  Had I had the right information then I wouldn't be needing todays call! - Perhaps if they had competent staff taking the calls Monday - Saturday I could live with the position today.

That is certainly frustrating.

My memory may well be failing, but I  seem to remember that even before leaving Royal Caribbean the Azamara offices in North America were only open Saturday mornings for weekend services.

So I wouldn’t expect you will receive the needed attention from Azamara offices on this side of the Atlantic.

1 hour ago, Whitby100 said:

We’re visiting our eldest in Ottawa 🇨🇦 And are currently under a tornado watch as a thunderstorm rages.  Lots of haze for last few days, but no smoke smell.  Celebrations are on hold downtown as storm hopefully passes.  

That’s a lot of potential excitement. I hope you do get to enjoy some celebrations.

Our eldest lives in Brooklin. She keeps trying to talk us into moving there.

2 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

@nordski, Happy Canada Day to you and all of the other Canadian CCers!

It has been very hazy here in Burlington, too, so not healthy to spend too much time outside. Fortunately, still have those N95 masks!

Thanks. Our eldest is supposed to go family camping north of Montreal next week. Interesting that the air has been better there so far.

I will tell her that, as attractive as it is, the area around Burlington is not an option at this point if conditions worsen at her destination.

1 hour ago, Tom47 said:

Happy Canada day also.

Thanks!!
 

They are opening the Dome for the Jays game so air quality may have improved.

1 hour ago, Tom47 said:

I stick with wine on cruises.  My then 21  year old granddaughter wanted me to buy her the full drink package on 52nd RCI anniversary cruise last year. I bought everyone a drink package, under 21 non alcohol.

On another note, we are getting smoke from Canada wildfires.

The article mentioned that Gen Z was seen as a growing market for nonalcoholic cocktails etc. I am certain cruise lines will monitor this change in tastes. 
 

As you can imagine we are also “enjoying” our Canada Day with a noticeable haze. When one gets up in the morning it is time to check the weather and then the Air Quality Index.

This is becoming a little too dystopian for me.

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

So yesterday I procrastinated by working on some River Cruising Sticky updates.  Today I spent time in the garden, then rewarded myself with some Walker's shortbread Scotties and a G&T.  I felt very British!  [Note to self: schedule another trip to England and Scotland...]

I have just read a newspaper article that a nearby touristy town just held a “Craft Gin Festival” honouring World Gin Day. 
 

I must admit that despite the kind and helpful suggestions of posters such as Uktog, I tried a G&T on our British Intensive Cruise and, well, I was underwhelmed. I have decided that I would only partake again if sitting on the porch of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. So missing the festival was not a loss,

But the deeper purpose of the article was to announce that one of the popular displays at the festival was for a company producing alcohol-free gin. ( I know, you just can’t trust the colonials to respect any tradition. ) It also described how Generation Z in general are trending away from alcohol drinks. 

If that generational trend continues, then what will be the impact on cruise line revenues?
 

8 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Yes, it’s really a shame.

Actually I wasn’t surprised at the decision on our cruise, so I wasn’t proactive in pushing our case. You are much better informed on these issues than we were.

In late 2019 we were not permitted to apply our free nights on board since the qualifying cruise had to be completed, and we were also told that the office in Miami had to approve application of said nights. Others reported that they were not held to this policy.

Perhaps we should have been more forceful in our request, but there certainly seemed to be variations in application of the “rules”.

5 hours ago, Riocca said:

Might not be relevant but we booked our own flights from the U.K. to Fort Lauderdale with Air Canada, by pure chance I found out that AC had cancelled one of our outbound flights and rescheduled it with a totally unsuitable flight and down graded us with no refund. Fortunately I was able to cancel and replace with Virgin Atlantic/Delta flights but it was considerably more expensive. So in our experience AC has history in making changes and not notifying passengers.

 

Unfortunately AC’s reputation has taken a hit recently. Specifically in the problem you encountered and also in terms of handling luggage.

I cannot find the history of our cruises on the Azamara site and I now realize that my own cruise records are in a shambles, but I think our visit to Marseilles was on a B2B in June of 2018. 
More research on my part is needed.

We really enjoyed Marseilles on a DIY tour. The Cathedral visit alone was memorable.

Several years ago we were docked at a more industrial location about 15 minutes from the usual handy spot.

It was no problem as there was a constant free shuttle. Apparently, as Riocca points out, that docking location is an anomaly.

5 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

From Pursuit Ireland Intensive, we have 588 guests.  

 

We had the complimentary pink double decker buses provided by the port of Belfast. 
 

We picked up a hop on off bus and then had lunch at the Crown. 😀

Tonight the Azamazing evening.

 

Perhaps the best HOHO bus tour we have experienced was the one in Belfast. I know a lot depends on the guide, but the route itself was quite informative.

12 minutes ago, uktog said:

I believe it is my job to narrow down the range of options and to ask a TA only to formally work with options that are realistic in terms of cost, timings, other considerations (flight times and costs being one).  They do not know my frequent miles details in terms of how many points I have with each airline or hotel loyalty points)/

You are overlooking the perfectly realistic reasons why others will not use a TA when they are working with a long list of options.

I repeat I do not considerate fair to the agent or to other customers to tie the agent up for so long to work through a range of options.  As @Riocca has correctly highlighted, the economic model most agents are working to has changed and we have to recognise that.

Please respect the views of others who do not share the use a TA mantra, it is very very hard to find one in the UK just now and even if I could I would never usurp their time by presenting them with a long list of possibles just to get commission ultimately on one booking

I, too, “narrow down the range of options”, not just to respect the agent’s time but also mine. Sometimes it takes us a while to clarify the viable choices and it is inefficient to do so through an agent. The Azamara website is presently making clarification difficult for many but I am confident that full functionality will return.

Thanks for this interesting thread!

Raised in Ontario, we are familiar with many of the waterways/ports you are experiencing and enjoy your enthusiasm for them.

We have looked at the Viking itinerary on the Great Lakes but it is very expensive. Probably because they have built a special ship that can navigate the Welland Canal and there are more stops in Canada.

This cruise appears to be a nice alternative.