cherylgrrl

Thank you so much for your kind reply. I had an feeling it wouldn’t be simple! I’m going to continue us to try to find a private tour.

3 hours ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

Here is your problem ... you will anchor in Oponupo Bay on a ship of that size ... Al the car rental places will want to pick you up and take you to their office. Albert's no longer has the close office and will take you to the main town about 30 minutes away. You must return it to the same location and then when enough people are there for a return to the tender location they will take you. Figuring paperwork time & shuttle time will be around 90 minutes. 

 

Avis takes you all the way to the ferry dock office ... another 10 minutes longer than Albert's. 

For only 4 hours it might not be worth it. Of course with that many passengers it's going to be messy trying to do anything ...

 

FYI, ship tours will have tender priority ... don't plan on anything much before 9AM.

 

My suggestion would be to book a private 4 hour tour ... maybe a 4X4 tour. a 9AM pickup for a 4 hour tour shouldn't be a problem. 

 

Our cruise just changed itineraries and added a stop in Moorea. They haven't added any excursions so I'm trying to book something privately for my husband and I. I'm a bit reluctant to try to drive in such a place, but all the sightseeing tours seem to start at 9 am and our ship arrives at 7 am and leaves at 5 pm. With the tendering process and 3,000 passengers on our ship, I'm not sure we could book a 9 am tour and be certain we could make it. Some tour companies don't seem to pick up at the pier. 

How difficult would it be to arrange for a rental car for about 4 hours, so we could pick up a little later but still have plenty of time to get back on the ship? Can anyone tell me about Moorea rental car providers and how it works? Or do you think it would be possible to book a 9 am sightseeing tour with a 7 am arrival?

I want to book my first cruise on Ponant's L'Austral to Antarctica November 2022. It would be great to get a referral to help us both out! Looks like I would need your name and Yacht club membership number. You can reach me at cheryl at cherylhale dot net. Thanks in advance!

On 7/14/2021 at 10:21 AM, TMLAalum said:

I agree. We have completed online check-in and the app says 91 as does an email sent to me by Celebrity this morning:

10 Sep 2021Celebrity MillenniumSeattle, Washington, Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91

 

10 Sep 2021

Celebrity Millennium

Seattle, Washington, Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91

You can check for yourself -- Millennium is at Pier 66.  

This is very interesting in that my husband needs a new phone and his preference in a point and shoot camera is one with a great digital zoom! He is an Android guy while I've made the switch to an iPhone Pro Max. If he gets the Galaxy S21 Ultra we'll have zoom and dark scenes covered! (Although my major travel camera is the Sony A7ii.)

We just got back from a week in Seattle and are returning at the end of August for more time before a Celebrity Alaska cruise. We had such a great time we ran out of things to do! 

There are homeless in Seattle and it isn't pleasant to contemplate the lives of people who live in tents, especially when we are fortunate enough to have nice homes and the money to travel. If you avoid them or ignore them, they are pretty much harmless. A couple of times we passed by parks with someone yelling at nothing, but this is a mental health issue and not crime. This is found in most urban areas in the United States now, so you will have to restrict your travel destinations to the most exclusive and pricey to avoid it entirely.

That being said, I would heartily recommend the Belltown Inn at 3rd Avenue and Bell. I just stayed there for 6 nights at $169/night. No concierge, no pool, but nice rooms and a lovely rooftop lounge where you are encouraged to enjoy your morning coffee or happy hour. (See photo) There was also a fabulous takeout restaurant "Poke Bowl" a block away where you can fill yourself up on ahi, seared salmon, yellowtail, and a bunch of other seafood items with the fixin's for between $11.99 and $14.99. We took ours up to the rooftop lounge!

If you aren't planning to spend your days at the hotel and would like a comfortable, economy place to stay this was a solid choice. We'll be returning next month -- especially since we can walk downhill to the pier rolling our suitcases! (But check your pier location, there are two.)

On 6/22/2021 at 7:23 AM, P.A. said:

Recommendations for shuttle service to the Belltown area? We don't really want to take the railway with all our cruise luggage. We used a service several years ago and it was great but can't remember the name of it.

We used Seattle Airport Transportation and got a great driver with a luxurious SUV. We were glad we didn't opt for Uber because it was a zoo at Arrivals and so easy with someone there waiting for us. (This was July 1 so there was a lot of holiday tourism going on.) Cost was about $60. We took Uber back during rush hour but it was a reverse commute so quick and easy -- $42.

If you are a first-timer on Seabourn and cruising on or before December 20, 2021, I can get both of us $250 on board credit through Seabourn's Referral Program. Contact me at cheryl at cherylhale dot net and I will register you for the credit. 

33 minutes ago, 487 said:

 

May I ask what exactly is the Western Digital solution?  My husband is looking for a way to backup his pictures while we travel without having to take a laptop. Thanks

I bought the WD My Passport Wireless Pro. It cost about $170. There is a solid state version that is more expensive, but this has worked fine for me.

A great warning to all of us who pay megabucks for expensive cruises then risk the fruits of our photographic labors due to lack of backup. A couple years ago I decided not to carry my big heavy DSLR with me on a 2-week river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. Since I had a nifty Samsung Galaxy phone that took great pictures I thought I would try freeing myself. When we arrived in Amsterdam, a team of pickpockets nearly knocked me over in a bus and stole my phone. Won't do that again! And now I make sure all my phone pics are backed up to Google Photo and Amazon Prime Photo. Google Photo works really well, Amazon Prime not so much. But eventually I get the photos uploaded to Amazon for two backups. But now my Sony A7II has a reserved spot for every trip.

I recently went to Antarctica and didn't want to drag along my laptop. I found a neat Western Digital solution. I can stick a chip in and have it automatically copy over all the files, leaving the originals in place on my camera chip. Much less weight and I was also able to use the device's wifi capability to copy over selected pictures direct to my iPad so other cruisers could ooh and aah over them! 

At home, I must have 4 or 5 copies of my pictures folders going back to 2003. Probably my most precious possession! I still need to rent a safe deposit box and store one of the drives off site... 

Just a question about the electrical outlets. Since we have so many electronics that have to be charged, I was thinking about bringing adapters so we could use the 220 outlets. Can you by chance tell me what kind of plugs they were? We have both the 2-prong European and 3-prong UK types. 

Thank you for posting the very interesting and useful information!! My husband and I are leaving on the same trip from Santiago on Feb. 24. I realize you haven't signed up for kayaking, but I wonder if you might have talked to others or could ask at the Excursion Desk what the policy is about cancelling kayaking reservations. I've written Seabourn customer service and they only give me the generic policy regarding shore excursions and spa treatments. Other posts from previous cruisers have said that many people book several kayaking sessions, then if their first one is a go they cancel the subsequent ones. Do you know what the current policy is?

Thank you so much... have my coupon! 

Hello Seabourn Sailors!

I just booked an Antarctic cruise, leaving February 24 from Santiago. I have my booking number and my email address is cheryl@cherylhale.net -- would be very grateful if someone can provide a referral coupon!

Thanks!

Am about to book an Antarctica cruise on Seabourn. It leaves from the San Antonio cruise port 70 miles from Santiago, Chile. Any advice about an airport transfer?

Thanks in advance!

Cheryl

Absolutely no smoking inside. Only at open deck. On the sun deck there are also restrictions. A dedicated smoking area.

 

 

No, you are not allowed to bring alcohol but as mentioned no one checking luggage.. However alcohol is not expensive only at the ship. In Norway alcohol is expensive and only sold in special store. Buy some tax free at the last airport before Norway.

 

 

In our cabin there was a kettle. I did not find the coffee that bad but not a problem bringing your own coffee.

 

 

Personally I do find a 12 day cruise too long. IMO too much of the same. Different ports north and south bound, however most stops are very short. I’ll recommend the 6 days from Bergen to Kirkenes and then combine it with additional days pre- or post cruise. Stay in Oslo few days and then take the train to Bergen with a possible stop over in the Flåm area. Also spending some days at Lofoten or in Kirkenes.

 

 

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Great input! We'll have been cruising for 3 weeks before arriving at Bergen, so 12 days might be a bit excessive. We'll resupply with any alcohol we want to bring aboard on our Viking river cruise before we land in Amsterdam and transfer to our Viking ocean cruise which will get us into those expensive Nordic countries pretty quickly!

We'll be seeing Flam on our Viking cruise, but probably not enough time. Sigh. Will probably spend a few days in Bergen and a few in Kirkenes before flying home.

Thanks for the great advice! As Visa says, "Priceless!"

Smoking is forbidden inside the ship, but is possible outside. About everywhere outside, as far as I know, but I'm also very incommodated by cigarette smoke and I don't recall it has ever been an issue on any ship. The ships are vast enough to move away from someone smoking and it does seem that there are less and less people smoking.

 

In theory it is forbidden to bring alcohol on board, however if you have a bottle in your bag no one will take it away from you and indeed you can drink in your cabin (do not bring your own alcoholic drinks in public spaces). I've done that on several occasions and never had a problem.

I have been known to bring "rum runners" onto other "forbidden alcohol" cruise ships... with great success until once I packed them next to a (unknown to me) forbidden extension cord that was picked up in x-ray. But we solved that one on the next shore excursion (Puerto Vallarta) when we bought 2 bottles of good tequila at the Good Sam's Club for a reasonable price. (They hadn't confiscated my margarita mix earlier.) My husband went through x-ray and alerted the crew that he had a bottle of tequila. They waved him over to the check-in table where he offered up one bottle and kept the other! Problem solved! We aren't really such big drinkers, but sometimes it's fun to be naughty and get away with something. :halo::halo::evilsmile::evilsmile:

Interesting question about smoking.

I have no idea what the policy is, but during our 12 day RT, I don't think we *ever* saw anyone smoking, anywhere. I didn't even think about it until reading your question.

 

And we would have needed to move away if we had encountered much smoke; we would have wanted to move away if we had encountered any!

 

Funny... it now sort of seems like suddenly, while there, "smoking" had vanished.

(If only....!)

 

We didn't want to get off after the full RT ;) but that's just us.

(This happens towards the end of *every* cruise.)

In our case, we took the longer RT because we wanted more time above the Arctic Circle, to give us more chances of seeing Northern Lights. And indeed, we saw them... but on the return trip only.

 

The port stops are different (night vs. day) for each direction, but at least in June, you'd have plenty of light anytime, if you were awake.

We loved it so much, we are considering doing it again, in the summer, to see it all in a different season.

(But we have a list of other "must do" trips to check off first, before repeats. Maybe. This trip was indeed memorable.)

 

GC

Thanks so much! I feel much better now about the smoking situation. That would have been a deal killer for us.

We're looking forward to being that far north at midsummer. I did it once before, many years ago, on a Polish cruise ship on a booze cruise from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. The sun hadn't set yet at midnight -- magical!

My husband and I will be coming off a 2-week Viking river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam (a repeat from 3 years ago) followed by a 1-week Viking ocean cruise from Amsterdam to Bergen. We love cruising, but another 12 days might be pushing the envelope! We might just opt for the North leg of the trip out of Bergen. Now when we come back to see the Northern Lights, I agree that 12 days would be required to make sure we see them! I've seen them once, faintly, from Lake Tahoe. At first I thought there was a forest fire because it was red! Then when I watched the red color subtly twisted and moved, and I knew what it was.

Am considering booking this trip in June 2019 and am just starting my research. One thing I read was that the whole boat except for one small area was "smoking". From the writeup, I couldn't tell if this was inside, outside, or both. What is the policy on Hurtigruten? This would definitely be a problem for my husband and I.

Also, do they allow you to bring your own alcohol on board to enjoy in your cabin (or inobtrusively elsewhere)? It sounds like drinks are very expensive. Even worse, I've read that the coffee is very bad and someone wished they had brought instant. Can you get hot water easily? We might want to bring our own Starbucks Via.

What do you think about the 12-day round trip, as opposed to doing the 7-day northern leg of the trip?

There were many people returned to the Venice port who had NO IDEA of what to do or where to go. I saw no Viking representatives or anyone where the buses returned providing any information or assistance. My husband and I made it to the People Mover only because we had previously sailed into Venice and were familiar with it. Others who had pre-arranged transfers were completely confused when dropped off in a dark, empty port in an industrial area. Most did not know that water taxis cost hundreds of dollars vs. 7.50 euro for a vaporetto ride.

Prior to leaving the Viking Sea, I asked the cruise director about the best option for getting to a place where we could catch a vaporetto. He said to get off at the train station, because it was right on the grand canal and there was a vaporetto stop. WRONG! Turned out the train station our buses went to was the station on the mainland. Wouldn't you think the cruise director would provide correct information?

During the many hours we were waiting to disembark the ship at Trieste, there was ample time to hold briefings in the theater to tell people how to navigate the port and get to the city of Venice. Obviously, people should have been prepared but it is different getting into port in the morning vs. at 9 or 10 pm.

It was also interesting that our first stop on the bus was at the airport. The bus did not drop off people at the terminal, but at quite a distance out in the parking lot. There was a group of 8 or 10 people on our bus who wanted to pick up a shuttle to go to the Courtyard at the airport. After we dropped them off in the airport parking lot, the bus left and drove right by the Courtyard!

All in all it was confusing, hectic, and very stressful. Viking could have made it a much better experience.

Having spent 20 months raising a guide dog puppy for the blind, I can attest to the amazing amount of training these dogs go through. Not only is this training essential in executing their assistance to the blind person, but they also are trained to the point where they do not pose the typical problems experienced with pet dogs in public areas like airports, restaurants, and stores.

Yes, they are trained to potty on command on whatever surface is available--and not go again until their owner locates an appropriate place, removes their jacket, and gives them a command. Typically on cruise ships they are provided a small square of turf which is cleaned frequently by the staff. They do not lift their legs wherever they go (as did a "service" dog I was watching in the beautiful Banff Springs Hotel), beg food off of the table (as did a "service" dog seated with a couple near us in a Yosemite restaurant) or start fights with other animals. Even legitimate service animals do not generally receive this training, and so are problematic in travel situations. I agree that it is nice that more people are able to travel more easily with service animals, but there is a downside to their increased presence.

Air travel seems to have been more impacted than cruise travel thus far, but the number of people who have brought service miniature horses, service snakes, service kangaroos, service tortoises, service pot belly pigs, etc. into airline cabins attest to the possibility that cruise lines will have to deal with these requests in the future under the U.S. ADA regulations.

Thanks everyone! I agree, as a newbie to river cruising I'm not certain what to expect. I just remember a 12-day Mediterranean cruise where I seemed to be spending most of my time on a bus going to Florence, Rome, etc. but this sounds like it will be a lot less bus time!

We decided to split the difference and go with the Viking Grand European 15-day cruise. Not too expensive, not too cheap. Living on the West Coast, we wanted to maximize our time in Europe and this sounds like a wonderful trip.

Depending on the stock market, maybe our next trip will be AMA or Scenic Tours!

My husband and I have been on five ocean cruises with Carnival and Disney, and two adventure cruises with Uncruise in Alaska. We hope to take our first river cruise in 2015, probably one of the 2-week Vienna or Budapest to Amsterdam.

We would rather travel on a more upscale cruise line, but they all seem to include lots of organized tours. Our vision of river cruising is more about relaxing, enjoying scenery, stepping off the boat in a lovely town center and wandering. My husband and I love to research our destinations and explore on our own. After reading many reviews, my fear would be that the cruise would consist of a bunch of bus tours! Of course, we wouldn't have to join the tours but I'd rather not pay for them. It would be nice to have the option of selecting and paying for the tours we wanted to join.

Any thoughts on what cruise line is nicest in terms of service, amenities, food, rooms, common areas, etc. but with a minimum of tours bundled into the cruise price?