TravelguruDanville

Hi Fellow travelers,

We have cruised a lot, primarily on Oceania, to very exciting ports in Europe, Asia and South America. Running out of new places to see, we are considering the following cruise in 2023. I am very concerned that, although I love pretty scenery, I need more than that to enjoy a lengthy and expensive cruise. I also book our own excursions and found that, when we did touch on Northern Iceland and Greenland on a prior Transatlantic cruise, there was little to do other than wandering around the town and observing folks’ life style. 
 

Would really appreciate others who have traveled in this area to give me their opinion re this overall cruise. Can’t wait for COVID to be over so we can return to Asia!

Many thanks!!

On 10/15/2020 at 11:58 AM, TravelguruDanville said:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the quick response! Shucks...I thought I could just join your tours! As mentioned, we are booked for 9/2021. Looked on TA, and Spain day tours received great reviews. Unfortunately they don’t have tours identified for Gijon or Villagarcia de Arosa  If you have any info on those or other recommended tour companies in Portugal or Italy, that would be greatly appreciated and save me hours of research!Many thanks!

Gail

Thanks for all of your recommendations Paul!! I’ve just reached out to the two you recommended. Just hoping this cruise will come to be! 

8 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I am assuming you mean me - Paulchili. Or do you mean PaulMCO?

We were booked on Marina this past May that had several stops in Spain and I had organized tours with Spain Day Tours.

Obviously that cruise was cancelled and I have nothing booked at the moment - waiting to see what the future holds.

I am happy to answer any specific questions about the tour company.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the quick response! Shucks...I thought I could just join your tours! As mentioned, we are booked for 9/2021. Looked on TA, and Spain day tours received great reviews. Unfortunately they don’t have tours identified for Gijon or Villagarcia de Arosa  If you have any info on those or other recommended tour companies in Portugal or Italy, that would be greatly appreciated and save me hours of research!Many thanks!

Gail

After hearing and reading about Oceania’s presumed policy that only ship excursions will be allowed for Amsterdam to Ven, yesterday I called Oceania and my TA and both said that is not true...third party excursions are fine.  Although we have time before final payment is due, we all need to hear directly from the top if this information is accurate or not!

BTW, our April cruise on Seabourn was cancelled this week by the company. 

I feel like I’m spinning my wheels starting to organize tours now, [and I spent so many hours on the three cruises that were cancelled in 2020], I want to know whether we will be cancelling or not!

Hi Paul,

I know this isn’t the correct board to ask this but I found your messages while I was on the general board for European ports. We are on Marina 28 day day Amsterdam to Venice Sept 20-Oct 16, 2021. While reading various messages, I saw you coordinating several tours in Spain with the same tour company I am exploring. I’ve only been reading the roll call board that is pretty sparsely populated. 

I’m assuming we are on the same Marina cruise? Your various posts have not included dates that I can see. Do you still have openings on any of the tours you have been organizing?
very interested in learning more. Many thanks! Just my husband and myself from the SF Bay Area. 

On 2/3/2019 at 12:43 PM, tennisbeforewine said:

Sorry about the video.  I tried to upload it, but it got about 1/10 of the way through and then just stopped.  However, John has posted a video on our Facebook page:  dianeandjohn st john - if you're interested.  

Today is a sea day and we're enjoying it thoroughly.  

 

Our guide in Trujillo was indeed Alfredo Mercedes, and he certainly IS the best.  

Hi, saw this post while I've been searching for a guide in Trujillo!  Would you please send Alfredo Mercedes contact information? gkoff1849 at sbcglobal dot net.  Many thanks!!!!

A suggestion: Most cruisers only spend a couple of days in Buenos Aires and are understandably interested in getting an overview of the area. Those planning longer pre or post cruise stays or for anyone who has been to BA previously and already taken a general tour, try to find a tour guide who can offer a specialized tour in topics that interest you.

 

I have been on tours that focused on

 

Eva Peron (Evita), with visits to 5 or 6 locations of interest including her offices, the Evita museum in Palermo, Recoleta cemetery, Casa Rosada, and the Teatro Colon, where she famously offered 2 peso night performances for her working class supporters after being scorned by high society, and a couple of other sites.

 

Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the "Dirty War," with visits to multiple sites including the former Naval School that was used as an internment/torture camp by the dictatorship to punish enemies of the state, the Madres offices, and an explanation of the aims of the various factions of Madres today--One group strives to find information about their "disappeared" children and to bring those responsible for their deaths to justice; another group advocates for the same causes their leftist children did, including the overthrow of democratic government in a Cuban/Castro/Che style revolution; and another group, the "grandmothers" or Abuelas attempts to find their grandchildren who were placed for adoption in the homes of families loyal to the dictatorship. With the help of DNA testing grandmothers are still being reunited with their grand children today.

 

Tango, Soccer, and Ethnic Buenos Aires (Bolivian, Korean, Jewish, Muslim, Japanese and Chinese areas), and "undiscovered barrios (neighborhoods) are other tours I have taken and enjoyed. I want to take a cattle tour next time I am there--a trip to the cattle auction in BA, the Mataderos section of Buenos Aires that used to be the headquarters for slaughter houses, and an estancia (ranch) near BA with an explanation of cattle production methods in Argentina that result in world famous steaks. Also on my list are specialized tours of street art and gourmet restaurants.

 

So many things to do in this fabulous city.

Hi,

Will be in BA several days before our cruise later this month and read with interest your specific tour ideas above. Tried to find these specific tours by searching google and TA without much success. Can you advise tour operators you used please!

Best to email me at gkoff1849 at sbcglobal.net since this forum would be hard to find your response!

Many thanks!

Hi Ivi,

Enjoying your blog as we are leaving on Sirena in March retracing your steps from Buenos Aires to Miami

!

If you would be kind enough to post the tour company you used in Maneus and anywhere else, it would be greatly appreciated!

Our CC roll call is not active at all so all of the Tours I have been booking have just been for the two of us which is getting really costly!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers,

Hi - Our NCL cruise goes to Punta del Este,Uruguay and Montevideo, Uruguay at the end of March. I've been researching these ports on Tripadvisor, hoping to book a private tour, but there doesn't seem to be too much to do there in these ports and I can't really even find tour companies for Punta del Este. Has anyone hired any tour companies in these ports, or have any recomendations? Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi,

Not sure if you bicycle ride, but i just booked a 2 hour easy bike tour for Punta del Este with the owner of http://biketoursuruguay.com/ based upon recommendations i gleamed from these posts! Good luck!

Here is my review of our Jan 2014 Infinity cruise. Tours and tour companies are explained. We used SouthExcursions for most of our tours. Due to being three years ago, I don't have any emails saved. I suggest booking early, since tour guides are limited in some of the ports.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=248878

Hi,

I’ve just printed out your 14 page review of your SA trip to pull out the tour companies you used ( we also prefer guides to DIY and almost never use ship’s tours)!

Realizing your cruise went in opposite direction from our March 2018 Oceania trip scheduled from BA to Miami (I can still use your BA and Uraguay recommentations), I was wondering if you have cruised Brazil and could make tour recommendations for any ports there? Other than Rio, where we have been before and plan to fly up to the Falls for a 3 day side trip, we have lots of ports, including the Amazon, and our Sirena roll call has been the quietest of any roll call i have ever been on!

Any suggestions, much appreciated!

We did Los Angeles to Miami last month, transitted the canal October 16th and that was one of the few days we had rain, which started as we entered the first lock but only lasted an hour or so. It was hot and humid everywhere but on sea days there was usually a nice breeze which made it bearable.

 

Sent from my SM-T330NU using Forums mobile app

Hi,

On the Celebrity Infinity now...Nov 8-24, 2016. We had rain in the morning of our Panama Crossing Nov 15th) from Caribbean to Pacific and then heavy clouds balance of the day. Today in Pacific, our sea day, heavy rain all day. It's the tail end of the rainy season throughout this cruise and we have been experiencing some rain (lucky on all port days so far) high temps and high humidity. Should be cooler as we hit Costa Rica, Guatamala and Mexico, heading to San Diego.

Hi All,

Just to bring closure to this thread, it's been three weeks, and I still haven't heard back from customer service at Holland America :eek:

Sounds like there were at least three other couples who experienced the same issues as us on the same cruise! So I sent a pretty scathing evaluation regarding the restaurant only (because as I initially mentioned, we had no issues other than their seating process and the quality of the dinners). I'm curious to see if I get any response from customer service!

So we are still on the fence re our cruise next year! Most of the responses on this thread seem to indicate that on most of the other ships, requesting to be seated with others was not a problem. I wish someone who sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam would come forward!

Thank you all for your comments!

Sorry for the confusion...tried to be explicit!

We were on he open seating option and were traveling alone as a couple.

Hi Fellow Travelers,

We just returned this week from a 7 day Mexican cruise on the HA Veendam.

The purpose in taking this trip was to access whether to follow through with our 24 day HA Nieuw Amsterdam trip next year as we have never sailed on HA.

Although we were ok with most of the ship offerings, the maitre d REFUSED to attempt to seat us with other passengers at open seating dining unless we dined at 5:45 or 7:45...no exceptions. The dining room was not full...that was "their policy". We requested, we pushed, we cajoled...all without benefit of being seated at a larger table. With the only exception of one night when others invited us to sit with them, we were brought to a table for 2 each evening. Again, the restaurant was not busy and most of the 6-8 person tables were empty.

We have been on many different ships, both higher and lower end, and have never experienced this before.

We are very close to canceling our next trip but wanted to throw this out for other's experiences. I agree that the MDR food could stand much improvement too (as others have stated) but with eating off-ship at many of the ports, we can go light at dinner). But not being able to have dinner conversation with others, is unacceptable.

Would appreciate other's experiences, especially on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

Many Thanks!

Thank you all for your great advice and clothing suggestions! I definitely fit the demographics of Chicos, Clarks and scarves/jewelry to accessorize! Ducklite, what is the brand of those cropped pants you love? Husband will be happy too! One less suitcase full of "cruise stuff".

Have enjoyed the wine dialogue too! We usually bring some with us and buy along the way and have no issue with corkage. We believe that life is too short to drink lousy wine!

Thanks again for all your info. Looks like we will be excursioning by ourselves after all.

Cheers,

Hi All,

Asking my questions here as there are so few roll calls with Wind Surf. Although we have cruised extensively on other lines, this is our first for Wind Surf (June 11, 2014) Venice to Rome.

So here is my first question:

My husband and I cruise often and I love being an active participant on our roll call, creating private excursions for small groups. I'm not seeing a lot of cruise critic folks coming together to arrange alternative tours on the few Windstar roll calls I visited. Am I missing something? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

Question two:

From what I gleamed from the humorous (?) "give and take" from this thread, it seems that Wind Surf is casual (yeah)!!! We have been primarily cruising on Oceania for the past several years for the same reason. So what IS the dress for evening? (especially for men as I don't want to have the fight ("yes, you do need a jacket" before we even leave the house!). We are going to be celebrating big next year with back to back trips. We travel as light as possible so I'm trying to get a good handle on evening attire.

Many thanks!

Gail