Paulhc

If your primary objective is to see the northern lights, don’t do it on a cruise.  If you want to travel in comfort and have an off chance to see them then a cruise is a great way to do it. The best way to see them is a land based trip to Tromso or Alta Norway, Iceland or Fairbanks Alaska in the dead of winter. 

I've been to Busan on business several times. Very nice city with some interesting things to do. There is a great Buddhist temple on the ocean very close to the city and the previously mentioned fish market is also interesting. If you google tours in Busan several companies come up and looking at the options can give you a good feel for what is available to do in the area.

Greece will open to US citizens next week, nearly a month ahead of their May 14th plan!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/04/14/greece-will-reportedly-reopen-to-us-tourists-next-week---if-they-meet-these-conditions/?sh=45f17283424b

A step in the right direction for our July Apex cruise.

34 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Does anyone have any insight into what Celebrity would do IF for some reason they have cruises scheduled out of Athens which are NOT cancelled, but US citizens booked on them cannot legally travel to Athens to board?

 

Would Celebrity refund the passenger or would you be dependent on insurance coverage at that point? And specifically what kind of coverage would be needed in that situation? "Trip interruption" or "Trip cancellation" don't seem to fit the circumstances -- would it be covered under some kind of blanket COVID coverage?

 

 

 

I'm a US citizen booked on the July 31st sailing. My booking allows me to cancel for any reason up to 48 hours before departure. While I fully understand that I may not be allowed into Greece by late July, my "plan" in that event is to cancel which will result in a FCC.

Now it is a whole different discussion on if that is a wise financial decision, but it is a decision I made and will live with the consequences.

I've read great things about the Grande Bretagne and the location looks perfect but the rate I'm seeing is around $700 / night (we are coming in 6 nights early) so that is a non-starter. I'm considering the Athens Marriot because 1) I can book on points which are fully refundable until 2 days before arriving and 2) the cash price currently is $150 / night if I decide to later switch to that which would pay for a lot of taxi rides (needed because the location isn't that great) and a day or two of a car and driver for some tours.

While I know a lot are (rightfully) skeptical that this cruise will go the other possibility is that Greece does indeed open as they say in May (or perhaps June) and everything, and I mean everything, gets booked up solid and prices go much higher. To me it is a good hedge to book something now that is refundable and be sure of having a place to stay and perhaps change it once things firm up.

On 11/20/2020 at 6:15 PM, johneb2 said:

We took the infamous cruise in March of 2019 in which we had to be evacuated.  (Old history now).  The main thing is we did get to see the northern lights, and it was near the time of the full moon.  What you will find is that the full moon can be both a help and a hinderance.  Remember clouds have more of an impact factor.  Overall, less light is better.  I am an amateur photographer and did get some very good pictures at that time, so I would not automatically dismiss going because of a full moon.  You did not say what month you are thinking about, as that can be far more important than the moon aspect.   Attached you will find one of my pictures.   JohnEB

Agreed, full moon does not equal automatically bad experience. Clouds are the number one issue and are “random”. One advantage of a full moon is that it lights up the landscape and gives you a more interesting picture.

Another factor is the time of moonrise and moon set. You will be very far north and the moon will not be up all night (most nights). What I did was plot moon phase, moon rise and moon set for each night to get a feel for the conditions. Keep in mind you will be gone for 2 weeks so if your criteria is a new moon while in Tromso there is probably only one date that fits that per year.

Long way of saying that moon phase is important but not the overriding factor. We ended up going during a full moon and had one night of spectacular lights (and a nearly full moon) and nearly two weeks of socked in clouds. Moon phase was irrelevant on the cloudy nights 🙂

We did this cruise in Feb. This is the only cruise I regret doing - in hindsight a land trip would have been much better.

My main issue was that you pay a lot of money to be on a beautiful ship with a great crew but end up spending most of the time off the ship huddled in the dark hoping to see the lights. We rushed dinner most nights at the buffet to make our excursions.

If your agenda is to see the lights I think you are better off on a land tour. Now, if you want to see the arctic in winter and perhaps catch a glimpse of the lights then you might really enjoy the trip - the scenery is spectacular and the day time excursions were great. Also, if you want to see the lights in as much comfort as possible and don’t care about the money this is a great way to do that.

Keep in mind I loved the ship and will cruise with Viking again, just for me the value proposition of eating at the buffet and spending most of the night off the ship didn’t work. Your preferences might be different and this cruise could be the right answer.

23 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Download maps to your phone and you can navigate offline just using GPS (aka location) with no need for mobile data or wi-fi.

 

What I really want is an app that will map my day's wanderings using just offline maps and GPS.

I’ve found the app Geotag Photos very good at that. It will log your location with no need for a data connection. It is geared toward adding gps coordinations to photos taken with a camera that doesn’t have gps built in but I use it for what you describe above.

11 hours ago, odblnt said:

If I may add a question to this thread...

 

If someone has experience disembarking at Civitavecchia (after coming from Livorno - the Iconic Western Med cruise)...

 

What would be the earliest flight time to easily make at FCO?

 

I'm sort of looking at the 9am non-stop to LAX, and wouldn't be adverse to spending the night at one of the hotels at the airport.

It would be very hard to make a 9am flight. One idea, which we did, is to hire a car to take you to tour Ostia which is right by FCO. The driver waited with our luggage while we toured the site and then dropped us at an airport hotel. You can then easily make a 9am flight the next day.

We were in a PJS and I asked for wine for the mini bar. I was told that they could leave a bottle of wine but had to take all the other spirits. Since I drink cocktails and my wife drinks wine, I told them to never mine. I made a bad decision. Ended up running out at port to buy a bottle of wine.

Seriously stupid policy on Vikings part. $20,000 room and they quibble over a $10 bottle of wine.

I’m wondering what is the value added by using RIL for a transfer from FCO to our precruise Rome hotel? I understand that taking the train is easy but I have no interest in schlepping my luggage after an all night flight so I can clearly see the value of paying 40 Euro for a taxi. My specific question is what “extra” value does RIL provide over a taxi for a transfer? After reading this thread there is no doubt they provide extra value on tours, but my question is specifically on a transfer.

I found the 10-22 invaluable for capturing the grandeur of some of the interior locations... inside the coliseum, Pantheon, Vatican, and the basilica. The 17-55 covers the full range of outdoor shots. I couldn't imagine wanting to pack more, and frankly can't imagine a need for a longer lens anyway.

 

If you really wanted to go light, you could consider just taking the 10-22 and simply crop those shots in post where the field of view ends up being too wide for your desired composition. With a 7D you have 18MP to work with so cropping is not a bad option.

 

However, if you get a lens pouch for your belt that can hold both the 17-55 or 10-22 like I did, you can easily swap lenses when you go in/out of buildings and the added weight won't seem like a burden. In my view, the camera on a strap with a lens pouch on my belt is much more desirable than a camera bag.

Thanks for the reply! It's really helpful to hear specifics from someone who has been there/done that. I think I will take your suggestion and add a small pocket camera with a big zoom in case I want to take the odd zoomed shot and also to hand to others to take pictures of the two of us. I hate the thought of handing my big DSL to someone who drops it or worse runs of with it. :eek:

Hi Virtualrain - great and helpful review!

I have a couple of specific questions for you since "doing Rome" for me includes getting the pictures I want. You have the same kit that I have (Cannon 7D, 17-55mm and 10-22mm).

Did you feel you needed a longer lens (i.e. should I bring my 70 - 300mm)?

Could you have gotten by without the 10-22 (i.e. go light w/ just one lens)?

I'm not looking for lens recomendations as those are covered to death elswhere, just some feedback from someone who did it on what focal lenghts were handy and/or must haves!

Thanks!