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I went with Quark last winter, and it was fantastic. Quark did a fabulous job and I would definitely go with them again.

 

I detailed my trip here: http://66degrees.karenjacot.com/ if you want to read more about what Quark trips are like.

BoulderGirl - thanks for your blog posts. We've booked Quark for March 2017 specifically for their landings and have already begun shopping for gear. I was most appreciative for your insights on what you packed but DIDN'T use.

What needs to be done pre-cruise in regard to Vietnam Visa ?

Depending upon country of origin, Vietnam has changed fees and paperwork requirements for this year. We will need separate passport photos and a copy of the primary page of our passport in addition to the application.

In looking around on CC I have found it interesting that the fees and paperwork involved seem to be different depending upon the cruise line.

Just off Millennium. Had steak tartar in the MDR and was NOT impressed. Mayonnaise has no role to play in the dish and yet it was used as a base. Beef was over-processed to a mushy state. I would have been better off with a raw hamburger patty from the pool grill and a sunny side up egg. Don't remember seeing lobster in the MDR but we didn't eat there every night.

With only one month to go before our ' Highlights of Indonesia' cruise, those of us travelling half way round the world to Singapore to board the Millenium have heard nothing official from Celebrity at this point, other than travel agent being told that there is not a problem!

 

Any others who're booked on the January 4 sail away, heard anything positive??:confused:

Academical - First, welcome to CruiseCritic. Please come by the Roll Call for the January 4 sailing. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2064042&page=15

Rustyztwo has been doing yeoman's work with =X= corporate trying to get clarifications and website issues cleared. The bottom line that I can see is that "no news is good news". Hopefully that holds true 3+ weeks from now.

Like Rusty, I too am not a happy cruiser. I posted a note on our RC regarding the Galapagos issue which was particularly troubling since we had done that cruise a few months earlier so the subject and memories were fresh. It would seem that with all the connections of Chandris and RCI these things could be solved or better yet, prevented. Why is it that we never hear of any of these issues with other cruise lines? Are they immune or willing to pay the piper whatever is required?

Komodo was the main draw for this cruise and I've been training carrying my wife piggy-back while running just in case a dragon got away from the ranger. ;)

It would be a long way to fly to not see what you set out to see. We can make up Bali or substitute Tahiti at a later date but seeing live dragons in the "wild" was going to rank up there with see blue footed boobies and giant tortoises.

Maybe we're jumping to conclusions, but the timing is not working in our favor for getting this resolved in a little more than a month.

I have really wanted to stay out of this conversation, but I can't stand on the sidelines any longer. A couple of quick points & questions:

1) When =X= or any other line offers "Pre-Paid Gratuities" as a perk/incentive to book, where does that money come from?

If you follow the logic of those that believe that Gratuities, Service Charges, Hotel Charges (or whatever else you want to call them) added to you bill on a daily basis actually goes to the crew - then it comes out of the crews' collective pockets. Why are they so willing to play with the crews' gratuities??? That money paid in, and promotions paid out, comes from the general operating funds of the cruise lines. And you shouldn't believe otherwise.

2) With the exception of management, all of the hotel staff are co-employed. They are recruited, screened and hired by an agency in or near their country of residence and are offered contract positions based on their experience. Their contracts have certain guarantees, including wages, which are not subject to the whims of gratuities or passenger load unless they work in a bar setting in which case they know that a certain percentage of their income might be subject to gratuities. Once aboard, they are supervised by management.

The fine print in the "Gratuities" section tries to make anyone wishing to opt-out feel like a completely worthless human being.

I really wish we could get out of the psychological games that all of the main stream lines are playing and just price the cruise as it is with no add ons. If the price is too high, the market will work its magic.

This will be our turn around day on a B2B and we are wondering if there is much to see in Civitavecchia, we are not shoppers, or is it better to just stay on the ship?

Thanks for the advice.

If you haven't been to Rome, that would be the time to do it. Either on a private tour or self-guided via the train and taxis once in Rome. We did the turn in 2011 and 2012. In '11, we hung around the city, found a busy local market a few blocks from the port and just wandered through looking, had lunch at a "local" restaurant off the beaten path, and just generally walked around and took in the sights and sounds. In '12 we hopped the early train to Rome and took taxis and/or walked to all the sites we wanted to see and still got back to the ship an hour before all-aboard.

I would concur about the taxis being interested only in taking fares to the airport. We had overnight hotel reservations in Civita about 2km from the port and could not get a taxi to take us there. Thinking that there would be local taxis outside the port, we left the port via shuttle bus and found that there were NO taxis at all. We had to drag our luggage, literally uphill all the way:eek:, to our hotel. Not a pleasant way to end a very nice cruise.

IIRC, all of the car rental offices are immediately outside the port entrance.

We'll be sailing this itinerary on 5 Jan 2014, so we really appreciate all of the info here and on the RC for use in planning.

In that regard, could someone please tell us how required visas were handled for US citizens? Did you get them on your own, in advance, or did the ship handle everything and bill your stateroom account?

Thanks for your help...now back to your regularly scheduled cruising...:)