vinonme2

Last week I received the cabin I had originally requested but this morning I upgraded to a Lanai.

Now the planning begins!

32 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I know that this topic (booking though HAL vs a discount on-line site) is often discussed on this board and I really do not want to start another one, but I just wanted to share a great experience I had today with my HAL PCC.

 

Around 9 am I email my HAL PCC the following:

 "I noticed a fare decline in our Dec.  XX, 2019 cruise (#XXXXX) of $45.00 per person.  Could you please check this out for us?

 

If you need to call me on this, best might be my cell phone today"

 

At 10:15 am (they start work at 10 am my time) I got this email response:

 

"

Done!  Your new base fare is $XXXX.00 with same promos and obc.  I resent the booking confirmation to you .

 

Have a great day!"

 

What a quick and easy way to save $90!  And I generally do this at least once on each of our cruises.

 

 

 

 

What an interesting post, thank you.  Confidence and accessibility with your travel agent is so important, it's nice to hear a positive result. 

29 minutes ago, Floridiana said:

It's the deposit then. We were on the same 89 night cruise. Loved it! No deposit though. We are always looking at several lines and decide based on the itinerary.

Since the $100. deposit per person is fully refundable, there is nothing to lose by doing so and it certainly doesn't stop a person from checking other cruise offerings. 

4 hours ago, Floridiana said:

 

 

Seems they only sent it to previous world cruisers.

No, this will be my first world cruise.  I did do the 89 night South Pacific/Grand Asia last Fall and also had booked my $100. deposit with HAL but I don't know how much that had to do with it. I was told they were notifying people in the order they had placed their deposit. 

This afternoon I received a "Welcome Back" email from HAL for the 2021 World Cruise. The itinerary is shown and by accessing the payment section, I was able to see the fare.  

The cruise is on the Amsterdam (a cruise agency web site showed the Volendam).

According to world cruise dept., the cruise will open up June 18.

9 hours ago, Floridiana said:

 

Which sites? Never mind, found one.

 

Site I looked at showed the ship was the Volendam. 

My agent called me a few days ago and said, according to HAL's world cruise dept., the 2021 world cruise will be announced late this month.

7 hours ago, ptsaint said:

Hi - we are booked I could not find this thread yesterday and started a second one - will ask admin to merge them or just provide a link to this one

I have already connected with a couple of tour companies re seeing the big 5 - missing a couple of sea days - let me know if your interested in this type of adventure it will be limited to 8 or 10 people total

excited to do this cruise!

From all the posts, it's hard to tell - are you and Ann working together regarding a safari tour or are you both planning to offer separate tours?  

I'm traveling solo and very interested.

Gloria

Received my official booking and pricing today for my lanai cabin. I am traveling solo and looking forward to visiting Africa.

 Ann, I am very interested in the safari private tour you are checking out. 

Patrice, were you on the Koningsdam Fall of 2017 and part of a private cooking class in Civitavecchia?

Gloria

6 minutes ago, thinfool said:

There is no credit given between lines under the Carnival umbrella.

Many would like this, but as it is, there are often so many upper status passengers on a cruise that they have to have the cocktail meetings more than once.  And the status-given laundry service is backed up for days.

 

I've sailed Holland America multiple times - latest being last Fall and this  month, and I've never experienced laundry service being backed up for days. My laundry has always gotten back the next day.    

What ship did you experience backed up service?   

16 hours ago, AndreaB said:

I believe you will be able to embark from Boston on October 3rd, New York on October 5th or Ft. Lauderdale on October 8th. HAL is targeting the end of May to release the official itinerary and pricing. A proposed itinerary was given to those of us on the Prinsendam and Amsterdam. Looks very interesting.

 

Andrea

You are right. The 79 night Grand Africa Voyage starts in Boston Oct.3, etc. (Note to S&B - I'll be seeing you!)

The 2021 Grand World Voyage is 128 days, Jan. 4 to May 13, 2021, interesting itinerary.

Your travel agent can get you the itinerary for each but pricing has not yet been announced.

 Supposedly the Grand Asia will not reappear until 2021. 

I've got deposits on the Grand 2020 and Grand 2021, just waiting for pricing.  

Thank you!  My dear daughter in law is so excited and it's contagious! 

We will be in Athens on a cruise in early May and would like to do a small group night walking tour in local neighborhoods that would include stopping for a drink and food.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Gloria 

If my conversion is correct, the 60 ml. per glass times 6 glasses equals 2 glasses of wine (US style). Multiply that by 2 people and add a bit of munchies, for 24E sounds reasonable.  

I'm also interested in the cheese platter because it's all local cheeses.

I'm going to wing it and not make a reservation because I want to see the offerings and talk to the waiter before deciding on which flight, etc. to get. 

Should be a nice way to spend an hour or two!

Gloria

HAPPY SAILING!!  

Gloria

The 67E flight is 6 glasses, each 60 ml. It also includes "local foods" pairings.

The 71E flight is 10 glasses, - no food

There is a 99E flight with 16 wines -no food.

There is also a cheese platter for 24E -don't know if that was the price for 2 people or 1. Wine prices above are for 2 people.

I believe 60 ml. is a tad over 2 oz. 

Gloria

Pricing and reservations are now available on the Santo winery website. The tastings are done as wine tasting packages and range in price, for 2 people, from  E50 to E99.    There is also a guided tour offered at E24 and a cheese platter for E24. Glass sizes are 60ml.

No pricing was listed but I believe I saw pricing on another website that was all about the wineries in the area. If I find it, I'll post it.

Gloria

Hi again,

I finally was able to get thru to Santo Winery and was told they do require reservations. SO, I tried to make a reservation on their on-line form and it was not going thru. I went to their main page and on the bottom right corner is a "Chat" box. I got on that and was able to get more information with another way to make a reservation. I tried that and that also would not go thru. I "chatted" again and was then told that their system was not accepting reservations past 3/31 until April 1.  

SO, I'll be trying again next week and just wanted to give a heads up on what I was told. 

Gloria

Hi All,

A while back I had googled wineries around Fira and had seen Santo Winery amongst about 15 others. I've emailed them but never gotten a response and will try again today.  I'll be there on a Tuesday so I'm thinking chances should be good that they won't have a wedding or private function going on.

Gloria

We will be on a cruise and in Santorini on May 7. I know there are multiple small wineries inland but does anyone know of winery we can go to for a tasting that is walkable from either Oia or Fira?  

Thanks!

I can not comment on the Rotterdam but I just did the 89 night South Pacific Grand Asia cruise on the Amsterdam and had a lanai cabin. It was the first time I booked a lanai and I absolutely loved it! 

Yes, I traveled solo, and yes the cabin was a bit smaller, but the view was fantastic, to open the door and immediately be out on the deck was wonderful, and enjoying your reserved chaise lounges right outside your door was just perfect.

On 2/13/2019 at 5:34 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

In the interest of accuracy, there is no fixed rate for taxis from Civitavecchia to FCO airport or vice versa. Looking at two websites that provide estimates of fares, I would expect the fare for 2 people in a regular taxi to be approximately 100-120 euro, and in fact the official FCO website gives the cost as 120 euro. That figure is more in line with what I have seen others report here.

 

http://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en-/pax-fco-taxi

 

One MIGHT find a shared shuttle service for around 65-75 euro, if pre-reserved, but I doubt you'll find a regular taxi that will take you for $60....

 

Totally agree, the above was my finding also.  I was getting pricing for 2 people; naturally if there were more passengers the rate was lower per person. 

Thank you for your replies, they were very helpful.  After checking several recommended operators, I ended up booking the transfer with the company my CIvitavecchia hotel uses.  I've used them previously for FCO-Civit. transfers, they are reliable and prompt and ended up having the best rate. 

My flight is scheduled to depart FCO at 12:50 pm. I'm thinking we'd be off the ship by 8 AM which would give us plenty of time to get to FCO. 

Would be very grateful for recommendations of transfer service. There are 2 of us. 

Thank you again.

Has anyone had any recent experience with HAL bus shuttles from Civitavecchia to FCO?

I've used the HAL port to airport shuttles in the US with no problems. This will be my first time disembarking in Civitavecchia and I was wondering if the shuttles are available there.

Would appreciate any information on this. I'll be flying Delta and according to the FCO map, that will be T3. 

Thank you!