jpalbny

The low key nightlife is a plus for us. More room on the dance floor.

Don't you mean, "with other children on board..."? 😉

Enjoy the rest of your trip! Thanks for taking us along on the cruise.

A "lightly used" ship available NOW, which can be used to generate revenue, is probably a smarter investment than putting that money into a new build. The latter will not generate cashflow until it's launched...and with delays, who knows when that will be? Also, demand for cruising is high now. Who knows what it will be down the road? Make some money on your investment now. Assuming of course, that you can find crew to staff it! So yeah, I'm not surprised that a quality used ship would be kind of a hot commodity now. No wonder there's a bidding war.

Pete Best! Remember the chaos when he put out an album called "Best of the Beatles"? Technically correct but definitely misleading! Enjoyed your trip details and postings. Glad it was mostly a good experience. PS. Just saw your flight problem on another thread. Hope that gets sorted fpr you. Good luck!

Lucerne is easy enough to visit independently. We did that a few years ago with Chris's Audi (European delivery program was the best). Also agree w/ gnome12 that the trains are convenient. You could still do this trip by car if you want - we did a variation of this before our Uniworld cruise in 2014. We landed in Zürich the day prior to embarkation and picked up a car at the airport. The next day, we drove to a few attractions in-between Zurich and Basel. Then we dropped the car at the Basel Airport and took Uniworld's transfer to the ship. You could do the same if you want to drive - pick up in Zürich, drive to Lucerne, end in Basel. Then you might be able to do a few more things in the Lucerne area, like Mt. Titlis. But if you don't want to bother w a car just take the train. Easy, either way. Good to have options.

Lucky them! We were just there on April 1st. First day that the upper lakes trails were open. Breathtaking. Looking forward to your impression of Dubrovnik. Hope the crowds aren't too terrible.

LOL @Canal archive. No worries. I think only @Kenster (and our host, of course) realized that I was joking. Despite the wink emoji! It's a very serious bunch here on the River Cruise forums...

I do not use it for purchases. I suppose you could in a pinch but using a debit card as a credit card can eliminate many of the protections that you get from a credit card. They are really good with the Forex rates. I check every time and they are within pennies of the bank exchange rate, and they refund the ATM fees very reliably. It's almost impossible to beat. Is it worth it? For me, it is. I also have BoA which charges no Forex fee at foreign ATMs within its network, which does cover a decent amount of countries, but not enough to cover everywhere we want to go. It took some work to get that perk, as they usually add 3% Forex fee even within network. So now that is competitive with Schwab, IF you can find the right bank in the right country. But I still will keep the Schwab card. We actually each have a card for the same account, which is handy if you're in a place where there is a low limit on withdrawals. It's free and there's really no disadvantage to having it. The cards stay in my "travel" wallet. When we go overseas I pull out the travel wallet and add a few other cards, grab our appropriate foreign currency stash for the country/countries we're visiting, and we're off.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Enjoy your post-cruise stay in Stockholm!

Best wishes Lois.

Neat itinerary. We're on the same ship one year earlier (next March), Bali to Singapore.

Maybe bring two... you can coordinate with the passengers in the cabin next door. One magnet on each side of the wall? That way you each have one! 😉

Krka is really spectacular! We went there (from Split) in April. It had been rainy so the falls were really pumping. Luckily there were no cruise ships in Split yet when we were there as we were traveling just before the season started. Glad your flights worked out but we are avoiding Europe this summer. We'll head back later in the year. Looking forward to more reports and pictures when you have time. Enjoy this beautiful part of the world.

Happy Sailing, Lois!

Bon Voyage Lois! Looking forward to the updates.

Not a lady, but I travel with one... 😉 She wears any/all of the last three options on informal nights. And those options look very nice, if I don't say so myself.

We were on board last November. Not recent enough fpr my liking, but we had a great trip. Lots of food and other photos on my trip report - if you want to get a sense of what it was like. See link in my signature.

I bet the RS5 could outrun this car. But they would undoubtedly call for backup.

Ah, Rønne! That's a blast from the past. I went there for a weekend in January 2002 for my sister's wedding. It was downright chilly, and dark most of the time. My little brothers decided to go swimming in the Baltic despite the cold weather. I went in up to my shins but no more than that. The reception was lots of fun. Flying home with a hangover...less so. Looking forward to seeing what Bornholm looks like in the summer!

Suspect that you're right. The Crimean restaurant that we visited in Kyiv (called Musafir) had very different cuisine. I don't remember that particular dish on the menu but when I checked online just now, it is there! Sounds tasty.

Second your recommendation for the Schwab debit card. You just have to plan ahead a little because they won't let you withdraw the funds for 3-4 business days after you deposit them. So either keep a balance in the account to allow for withdrawals, or plan ahead a little bit. And I also won't pay the exorbitant exchange rate to get currency ahead of time here. For Europe we always have a few Euros lying around from the last trip. But my stash is quite low after I went on a spending spree in Italy last week - and used up most of what we'd brought. Will have to replenish our supply on the next trip. ETA: one other tip. Watch out for dynamic currency exchange! It's come to ATMs in the last few years too. If they offer to bill you in your home currency, decline. The exchange rate is always worse.

Second that - we stayed in Oslo on our own a few years back and hopped the ferry to this very interesting part of the harbor. Isn't there a Viking ship museum there too? (from the 9th century, not one of the current Viking river cruise boats 😉 )

Я хочу їсти. я зараз голодний! Have a great meal! Can't wait for the pictures.