helvic

Hi, we want to go out to Shark Valley during our pre cruise stay in Miami but are having difficulty planning our journey there from our hotel in Brickell. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

many thanks

Nick 

We  were emailed this today, and have already booked.

They gave us £1500.00 off for cruise only and have found the flights for £900.00 .

But I do feel for the people who lost their Cuba cruise having been there in 2018 it’s such an amazing place and a great shame about the current embargo.

We are looking at our first Viking Cruise, but it has 4 tender ports.

This is something that we have not done for many years, also not on a newer ship.

My other half is a bit nervous about this how easy is it on the Viking ships.

Thank you 😊

we are here in April 2019, trying to find out where we Dock.

From what I have found it should be in the city as we are a smaller ship.

Has any one done this cruise and where did you dock?

So nothing has changed.

We went on four private tours , used four different cars and drivers ate in two privately owned restaurants.

Every penny we spent went directly to the Cuban people.

No nothing has changed.

We have had this happen a few years ago on two occasions.

How many people don’t check and how much do Carnival earn from this.

One of the many reasons I will never cruise with them again.

I think you all need to take a closer look unblinkered at what is happening in Cuba, we certainly did. After spending four days on private tours with local guides that worked for themselves NOT the Cuban government, so we can honestly say we had unbiased views from them.

We used taxis and restaurants that again were privately owned.

The country is changing..... not as fast as they probably want but the other side of the coin is locals don’t want quick fixes or to follow other countries in ways they might come to regret, plus more change was announced last week. Most of what Fidel had put in place is being revoked by Raul.

There is much investment in training youngsters to have skills that will help put the country back in its feet whilst preserving its beautiful buildings. Education and health care is better than many western countries!

The cruise ships going are helping greatly, the money is being spent on renovating the buildings in Havana , child care and building care homes for the elderly.

What You also need to look at is what they had before Castro it was a lot worse.

But as generations change people forget hence why the current generation want change.

Everyone we met was friendly and happy.....can that be said of our countries? So maybe they have a lot of things right? I certainly think so

We are Just back from Havana, we spent 3 days with Nestor from FerTours.

One day we had a driver and went out to Vinales which is absolutely stunning, we also stopped at the orchid gardens and a tobacco farm. Next we spent a day in Havana, the old town is beautiful and of course had an open top car for a memorable ride.

We then headed to Cienfuegos where Nestor again met us to continue our tour of Cuba.

Nestor our guide was not only knowledgeable and accommodating he had a wonderful sense of humour. I would say probably the best 3 days we have had in our 10 years of cruising.

So FerTours are thoroughly recommended.

Hi again! May I ask how you found out about Fernando Hernández Mora? I couldn't find any reviews on Trip Advisor under Cienfuegos and was hoping that others had written about him. Thanks!

I think you could be looking for FerTours, hope this helps.

Hi we have booking 3 days with FerTours, he will customise his tours to suit time and what you want to see.

An open letter to Oceania.

A lot has been written on here about tours in Cuba.

Some cruise companies are now using the new regulations to force people to take their tours.

I now read that some of your agents are using this tactic.

You are better than this.

Can You please clarify the situation.

Can people book their own tours if they booked their cruise after June 2017?

Please post on here what the position is, we can all then get on with planning our cruise without any more undue stress or confusion.

Please no more as we say in the U.K. we have flogged this to death.

Hello, we are Nick and Anne from the UK and booked this cruise a few months ago. It will be our first time in FP although it's been on my wife's bucket list since she was 10!!

Anyhow we are reading all your posts and getting so excited. Lots of people mention Patrick in Bora Bora and we have signed up with Ruth n Larry for their day with him.

Our question is Has anyone done the Polynesian Night tour with him? It certainly looks and sounds wonderful.

So polite

Thank you, they never told us that when we booked.

Deviation fee ????

I think the word we are all looking for is CONSTRUCTIVE .

Reviews should be to help you fellow travellers , not to take out an issue you have with the cruise line.

Yes twice, and please don't call me a liar.

Twice on Cunard we have had another bill from them.

Both times it was for the mini bar ,which we never use.

Phoned them and we then got a credit.

You have to watch them.

The real issue here seems to be that we have all (PG and QG) been mis-sold this product. If a company chooses to change their 'offer', that's their prerogative, as long as it is advertised as such, in advance. Customers can then make an informed choice. That's not what's happened here.

This is what I tried to get across to Cunard, I was told by a senior customer service manager to take it up with ABTA .

The lady in David Noyes office told me to take it to a third party IE a solicitor .

They are not nice people and truly don't seem to have any customer service after they have your deposit!! Truly astonishing attitude from Cunard.

We booked princess grill for a short cruise in November after I showed my wife the lovely menus on the Cunard website .

Only a few days later the new a la carte menu was on cc.

I phoned Cunard who told me nothing had changed and they would email the ship to get the menus, this went on for two weeks....still they would not admit that they had downgraded the menus.

So emailed David Noyes all I got back was a bog standard letter.

I phoned the sender of the letter and after 35mins on the phone they agreed to let us down grade to a balcony cabin, after all why pay for PG if it's no longer worth the money.

The whole point is they sold me something and then changed it and not just a small bit, over 20 items had been taken off the menu, no more requesting for special dishes etc.

I will not be ripped off by any one.

Yes they care so much, they take 50% of the tour price. That really helps the locals.

That's me off back to Cunard .:mad:

So we go to a nice Caribbean island, get off the ship and without leaving the port we can visit some local market stalls and sit on a beach surrounded by wire. Sounds like fun.

A gunman shot dead an elderly German tourist on Venezuela's Margarita island on Friday, authorities said, in the latest incident illustrating the country's rampant crime.

Goldhahm Hors Kurt, 76, was killed outside a shopping center on the Caribbean island, the Public Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

Venezuela's murder rate is one of the highest in the world, and the South American nation's reputation for violence is a big hindrance to efforts to develop tourism.

Venezuelan media said Kurt had arrived on a cruise ship and was shot during an attempted robbery.

"We're so sorry about the German tourist's death. The security forces are after the criminals," Tourism Minister Andres Izarra said via Twitter. He said another foreign tourist had been injured in the incident.

The murder last month of Venezuelan former beauty queen and soap opera star Monica Spear on a holiday to her homeland from the United States produced an outpouring of national mourning and galvanized attention on crime.

President Nicolas Maduro was due to unveil a new "pacification" plan at the weekend, but opponents say some 20 or so prior plans under him and predecessor Hugo Chavez have failed to address the roots of violent crime.