Ruth

7 hours ago, JD in MD said:

We are on the same cruise with you, Ruth, and have spent the last 2 days so frustrated trying to find a somewhat reasonably-priced hotel in Athens for 2 nights prior to the cruise. They are all booked! What's going on? We tried Athens Gate, Hera Hotel, etc.; all solidly booked. The ones available want $500+/night which is too much for our wallet or had something wrong with them. We finally booked the  Athens Key Hotel. The problem is none of the tour operators have it on their list for hotel pickup and drop off for tours which is why we are staying in Athens for 2 nights. So we had to list a nearby hotel for pickup for our tours! 

Good luck to you finding a room.

JONI

 

I finally found a hotel as well. It's crazy. Not sure if it is some big holiday or what. I was having the same problem. 

Athens Hotel

Need recommendations for hotel with rooftop terrace view of Acropolis, breakfast and spacious room.

Please help!

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The cruise port is about 8 miles from Athens, but with traffic it seems like more than 10.  We do not recommend staying in Pireaus and most cruisers opt to stay in Athens and simply grab a taxi to the port on the day of the cruise.  There is a rather upscale marina area (with some decent restaurants) called Marina Zea, which is somewhat closer to the port.  But we have never seen any advantage to staying in that area and still prefer somewhere in Athens within a few blocks of Syntagma Square.  There are plenty of restaurants in Athens (all price ranges) with one our long-time favorites being a place called Daphne's.  Lots of first-time visitors prefer to dine in one of the restaurants/cafes that offer a view of the Acropolis.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank, I found a hotel just down from the Daphne's Restaurant. Truly appreciate it. We will go to Daphne's on our 1st night. Thanks!

Any suggestion for Hotels in Athens. 

Need hotel near cruise port & restaurants within walking distance.

19 hours ago, Super Curly said:

I emailed him last week about a possible tour for Dec. 2 and have not heard from him either.

Hello Super Curly,

Just wanted you to know Capt Mango wrote me back today....Stated his email had been down for a while.

9 hours ago, Super Curly said:

I emailed him last week about a possible tour for Dec. 2 and have not heard from him either.

Weird -I wonder if something has happened to him. Ok, now that I know it wasn't just me. I will think it must be bad. So, I have to figure out what to do now. Our tour was for November 13th. I was just check in with him before we departed. 

Does anyone know if Hawksbill Adventures -Capt Mango is OK -I booked with him in July for a November tour but can't reach him now.

I wanted to confirm pickup location and time for our November 13th tour, so I emailed him multi times this past week. He has either had something bad happen to him or he is a poor communicator. Not sure which. But now I guess I need to book something else, since I am not receiving a reply. Any suggestions?

How are the Muster Drills now being conducted?

We board Nieuw Amsterdam November 20th would like to know.

Thanks!

Can someone tell me how the Muster Drill is being handled. We board the Nieuw Amsterdam in November out of Florida. Wanted to know if we were all going to be pilled up againist one another on the Promenade Deck?

Just wanted to be prepared. Thanks

14 minutes ago, sandycruzr said:

I love it!!!

You got to smile about it -otherwise we would all be crying!

Our cruise out of Auckland, New Zealand was cancelled. However, we still had our Cruise Critic Sail Away Party and didn't miss our Muster Drill. Even had a beer doing our Muster Drill. Making the best of it!

Wow! You got to love cruise critic's -a world of information and a lot of choices. Thanks all.

Need Day Room in Auckland. Flight isn't till 7:40 pm after disembarking from cruise ship. We have been to Auckland multi times. So just need a resort/room to hang out in for that time.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Tips when booking a African Safari -Our ship stopped in the port of Richards Bay, South Africa. We booked with Extreme Nature Tours with a small group of Cruise Critic's. However only days before we were to arrive in Richards Bay, we all received an email that there was 64 people on the tour. Wow bigger than a cruise ship tour. We had to have transportation to Hluhluwe Safari Park. Extreme Nature Tours supplied poor transportation for some of us to get to the park and return to the ship. Transport vehicle #2 had no air. Two of us almost had heat exhaustion. Stop twice in route, one time for a person to throw up. Arrived back to our ship and found out vehicle #6 had no air. This is an hour and a half drive. Wrote the owner Peter and he got quite verbal with me and my husband. He verbally attached us calling us liars. So basically calling all in vehicle 2 & vehicle 6 liars. Our transport vehicle had to have the van door open for us to make it back to port so we could have a breeze, which was hot but allowed us to return. Very dangerous. So don't use his transport vehicles to the park. Use your own. Met a couple on board that took a taxi there and view the park for 1/2 of what we paid and had a window view to take photo's. We saw their photo's they were fabulous.

Safari was good unless you are in the back seat and in the middle. In the middle back seat you can't move with the two people on either side of you. You can't take photo's and you can't view if the two people are taking photo's. Leaving you with you back on the seat and facing forward. Horrible seat and remember you are paying the same as ever one else.

TIPS:

1)Always ask how many are on your transport vehicle.

2) Always ask if the transport vehicle has air.

3) Always ask how long is transport to your location.

4) Always ask how many are going to be on the safari and if you have a window view. 

33 minutes ago, Werangels said:

 

Praslin is a very small island and there isn’t much to see.  The one place worth going to is Anse Lazio beach; stunningly beautiful.  There are a couple of restaurants serving fish, lobster, etc at the back of the beach.  

Thanks! Will have to add this to our list for the day!

Anyone have suggestions of small groups of wine tours? 

On 4/11/2019 at 1:52 PM, Trend said:

I found Heritage tours that will do this tour if you do not want self drive.

Thanks -Emailing them to see if they pick up in Richards Bay. Thanks

On 6/11/2019 at 5:47 PM, Mrs f. said:

We just did 4 days of wine farms in the Capetown area. Had a private guide. He picked us up and drove us to great wineries.  We bought 24 bottles of wine from the wineries we visited. Took them on board our cruise. My husband and our guide spoke and email to determine the wineries visited.  Btw...they call them wine farms.

Let me know if you want more info. We had a wonderful time.

 

Miriam 

marjim48@gmail.com 

I just emailed you. Wanted the name and email address of you private guide/driver to wineries outside CapeTown Please.

Traveling in Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico (these seem to be the worst) and through out the world street vendors whether on the beach or in town seem to all be bad. I figure you have to learn how to say "No" a hundred times. And then my husband turns to them with a firm voice and says "No". He is much firmer than myself.   

Can anyone suggest a tour guide in Praslin, Seychelles. We will only be there from 7:30 am - 3 pm. Any help will truly be appreicated. Thanks

Maputo, Africa -Dana Tours -Beware -More than Doubled the price for our tour because we were on a cruise ship.

Dana Tours doesn't honor their web-site prices for cruise ship passengers.

For the City Tour which is $30 per person. Emailed me back and for our group of 10 people wanted to charge us $75 per person. 

Letter to me from Dana Tours:

The rate will be USD75 per person (cost for minimum of 4 people as indicated in below email). You can have the vehicle and guide for a max of 5hrs so from 9am to 14pm works fine. Includes guide, vehicle and driver, port entry fee for the vehicle, entrance fees into the natural history museum and fort and a bottle of water per person. Excludes lunch which you can settle direct.

The description and price range of our city tour below is not applicable for cruise ship requests as the operation on this day is entirely different to the norm.

Use sub-contractors for cruise ship days

Beware Cruise Critic's 

Can anyone please suggest a wine tour company in Cape Town. We are wanting book with a company that drives you to the wineries and will pick you up in Cape Town.

Who can tell me about Richards Bay, South Africa & if Dilinza Forest Aerial Boardwalk should be on our list. I was going to book a day tour. We arrive at 6:30 am and depart at 10 pm -We have lots of time. Anyone have a suggestion for a tour guide?

2 hours ago, Omega1 said:

It would certainly be worth considering  splitting your time with 2 or 3 nights in Franschhoek to immerse yourselves in the wonderful food, wine and scenery.

Thanks -I plan to look into this know. Was planning on day tours -Now looking into spending a couple of nights -Thanks

On 4/8/2019 at 3:13 PM, Omega1 said:

Are you staying in Cape Town for seven days or are you splitting the time with somewhere else?

Larry & I are planning on staying in Cape Town for several days! Who else is?