Lvwindstar007

On 4/5/2024 at 11:05 AM, -Lew- said:

 

That area is currently closed to cruise ship traffic.  See the following published on TravelPULSE:

 

Last updated: 7:35 PM ET, Thu October 12, 2023

 

Currently home to Europe’s largest cruise port, the popular Spanish city of Barcelona is restricting port access in an effort to mitigate the impacts of overtourism, an issue that continues to overwhelm many sought-after European destinations.

Following an agreement with local authorities to relocate cruise ships further from the city proper, officials have closed Barcelona’s northern port terminal to all cruise traffic. Passenger cruise vessels will now be required to dock at the Moll d’Adossat pier, situated furthest from the storied city center. 

 

 

Last year, the Wind Star was at the small pier in early November.  We were on a Holand American ship at the long pier.  FWIW: Jack in Reno

Keep in mind that the jet boat all day excursion on the upper Snake River would be difficult as the lunch stop requires an uphill travel on fairly difficult terrain.  The lower section of the Snake is onboard the cruise ship so fine to Clarkston.

We have two nights reserved at the Hilton Canopy downtown mid/late June.  It was highly recommended, and we are using Regency air for the first time.  $US 430 per night including taxes. FWIW: Jack in snowy Reno.  

On 2/3/2024 at 7:19 PM, Mahogany said:

Unfortunately, Icelandic doesn't have flat-bed seats in Business, which we've all gotten used to.

We are flying from Reno to Reykjavik in June with the SEA connection. Never traveled on IcelandAir before and will see how the business class seats work out for a fairly long flight.  Jack in Reno 

Were on in June but in Reykjavik.  I guess no Asian/Hawaiian Buffet?

Bonine worked great for my wife in the Bass Straits and the NZ to Australia crossings.

19 hours ago, Destiny0315 said:

The Oosterdam is scheduled for its next dry dock from Oct 8-20, 2023.

And we are scheduled to depart Athens aboard the Oosterdam on 20 Oct 2023.  We have a deck 4 rear balcony. Will report if anything is amiss.

Sorry: I guess I was confused my the email from Carnival that said:

"To ensure our under-21 guests don’t consume alcohol, we require picture IDs and no longer allow guests to bring bottled beverages on board."

I saw that cans and paper cartons with water or soda are allowed in small quantities.

Jack on Horizon this week from Miami.

We were just notified that for our Horizon cruise departing Miami 8 June(next week), NO water and NO wine can be brought aboard, even in you caryon.  FWIW: Jack in Reno NV

Sitmar Fairsea 1987  First non-USN cruise.

Yep I did both Carnival and Holland America and received notification of the credit within 1 or 2 days. 

From what I can see on the Windstar website there is either no Tall Ship meeting in Amsterdam in 2025 or else Windsurf is not attending.  Just wondering because We would be interested,

Don't know if Windstar uses the Savannah Hotel close to the port area but it was nice and quite a few of us on a Regent cruise to the Amazon back in 2018 used it prior to boarding.   We also liked the Hilton Barbados on the west side beach.  Very nice

We did the 4 day tour package in December of 2019.  We loved it, had great accommodations and sites to visit.  The hot springs and Arenal area were wonderful.   We did the cruise followed by the tour.

3 hours ago, TechSurfer said:

 

 

What I don't know:

• Anything about cost - it sounded like it was extra cost, but she certainly wasn't going to volunteer such valuable information!
• How many of these transfers run a day - i.e. how long we'll be waiting
• Is it their transfer or a third party, or just a ticket on a regular bus?  (I did ask and she completely avoided answering.)

 

 

We have used their bus from their hotel in downtown Panama City and it works fine.  They also have some snacks, water etc while waiting.  You can also take a taxi from the airport or your hotel.  I recall about $100 from the hotel area in PC so maybe if there were 2 or more a taxi might be less expensive.  The train would be nice but the timing has never worked for us.  We have used a taxi in both directions several times.

23 hours ago, Barrycat said:

This is turning out to be a less attractive addition to our previous segment, Auckland to Cairns. Windstar made some recent port changes, the cynical view would guess poor planning on the original ports , which left us with the new additions of Darwin, Kupang and Ende. Windstar doesn’t have any excursions on any of the three and Kupang and Ende have no “things to do” tours on Trip Advisor, rare.

Im stumped so if anyone on this on this segment found something worthwhile at any of these ports please share.

Windstars excursion at Komodo National Park is a ridiculous $399. I’ve booked one for $70 excluding pink beach. If interested post a response here.

Thats crazy for the Dragon tour. 1 1/2 or 2 hours max.  Its very interesting and they do it in small groups. If we were in Darwin we would try to do a tour to Alice Springs/Ayre's Rock if there is enough time and there probably is...but it would be overnight and expensive. We can discuss both if we meet on the previous cruise.  Jack in Reno

Every time we have been on Windstar or other ships without included drinks, I have calculated we saved a fair amount by not getting the drink package. We have cruised on PG twice and also on a long Regent cruise and perhaps drank a little bit more.  Either way you will have a great time in French Polynesia.

Lower (Deck1) gives a better ride in rough weather.  Near center of ship also helps.  We prefer slightly forward on deck 1.  Jack in Reno

Most importantly, the sailing ships transfer water from tanks on one side to the other as necessary to greatly reduce or eliminate roll/heel under sail.

6 hours ago, Psoque said:

Thanks.  If the taxi drivers are not honest, is there a better option to get to our post-cruise hotel?  We are looking at options in either Karakoy or Saltanahmet.

Its been a while but we liked the Erguvan Hotel in Saltanahmet  Great location and fairly priced at the time.

We did the cruise-tour combo on WS leaving from Colon and ending in Puntarenas with the tour following arrival.  It covered much of Costa Rica on the Pacific side and the Arenal area was beautiful.

Last year we did antigen test at the Vancouver airport prior to returning to the US and it took about 15 min for the result.

On 7/25/2022 at 1:27 PM, Strenz said:

Agree with J&MSails, some terrific suggestions. As I said Caribbean is for sails. If you have one night before Holland House is terrific, nice beach, great dinners, wake up and see the Surf. If you are  2+ nights before as we are coming from New England we love the Divi, nice rooms on the beach, nice restaurants, great pools, lots of outside dining and wake up and with your morning latte wall across the parking lot and see the masts. We also love the water taxi next door to the Holland House. We did before covid stay one night after the cruise it was always at the Holland House. 18 days is dreamy, we crossed the Pacific 19 days blissful. Due to our alumni status we get the laundry service for free it is great. I travel with a European size carry on and a big purse voilà always clean clothes! If you go you must let us know how much you loved it. Happy Sailing. 

Have stayed at both Holland House and the Divi.  Like both.  Holland House is small and may be hard to get in but in walking distance to the ship. Nice waterfront area. We  always travel a day early duel to possible travel interruptions.

Just now, Lvwindstar007 said:

Well we had about 7K in BA travel that expired for the second extension at the end of April this year so we found a cruise we liked (after canceling a Regent cruise) and went on a cruise tour anyway.  It worked for us but there were other couples stuck in Portugal or Spain for a few extra days.  We self tested positive on return home to Reno but were negative the day before travel home. YMMV

On 6/20/2022 at 11:56 AM, seaoma said:

 

What should we do if we have tens of thousands of dollars in FCC that has to be used before the end of this year?

 

I'm not happy giving that to HAL just because my fellow passengers won't do what it takes to keep themselves from getting sick, much less the other passengers.

 

At least, on HAL, I'm pretty much DAMed if I do, and DAMed if I don't.