4774Papa

We used CC to arrange tours, meet others and organize the Murder Mystery. Since our last Galapagos Celebrity cruise in 2022 haven't cruises. Instead, we are doing tours with Gate 1 Travel.

We are looking at booking this cruise with Gate 1 for the lower Danube. It looks great. Any tips? We have done Gate 1 before and their tours/cruises are great and the price is hard to beat.

We did a great Douro river cruise about 5 years ago. The Douro Valley is one of the most scenic in Europe. Porto is amazing and we spent a couple of days there after the cruise. Yes, you visit wineries and those were great, but we also had an excursion to Salamanca, Spain that was great.

I noticed that Celebrity pricing stopped the price bundling of cruise fare with the drinks package some months ago. That was good news, since for me as a moderate drinker, I rarely drink more than I get from the free happy hour as elite.

We haven't encountered drunks passing out or crudely dressed hyper party types on any X cruises, but our last one was in 2021. We lean more to Royal C., due to more favorable pricing. NCL was our first cruise line and we haven't done them in four years, but still don't remember drunks passing out. I have heard of that on the 3 day Bahamas cruise for NCL. I think shorter cruises tend to draw more party drunks. We like longer cruises that tend to draw more seniors.

Some Navy ships of other countries have diesel submarines that can switch to electric battery propulsion when they need to be silent. However, there is a limit on how long they can do this.

We have cruised with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and NCL and prefer them in that order. A few years ago Celebrity's pricing increased and we moved toward Royal. Now, we cruise very little.

Once we did a balcony cabin on an inexpensive cruise, we never went back to a ocean view window. We used to pick our favorite balcony that was always a bit more than some of those "Partially obscured" balconies on the lower deck. Then, one cruise, we picked a partially obscured balcony because we would be near friends and we didn't find it a problem. Now, we always look for the guarantee. Only, when we did Alaska with NCL (because they do Glacier Bay), we insisted on an aft balcony, which was fantastic.

Bo, We did two cruises in 2015 in Asia and both were excellent. The first was from Singapore to Dubai, with four ports in India and one in Oman. It was in the old class that preceded the M class, forgot the name. We loved that ship, but it was decommissioned soon after our cruise. The ports were great and we did five days in Singapore prior to the cruise as well as a two day tour of Malaysia. The second was the one of the best cruises ever. It was from Tokyo to Hong Kong and included four ports in the main islands of Japan, Shanghi, Taiwan, ending in Hong Kong. Wonderful cruise. Don't remember the name of the ship. We book based on itinerary and price and don't really care about the ship. I highly recommend any cruise that included Japan. Also, we did several days pre-cruise in Japan prior to the cruise. Do a three day Kyoto tour, don't miss it.

We used to cruise more on NCL until they price bundled the basic fare with drink packages, etc. that we don't want. Wife and I may drink a couple of glasses of wine a day, or maybe not. We rarely find NCL the best deal. We compare NCL with Celebrity, Royal C. and Princess and Royal C. usually comes out the best. NCL and Royal C. both have great entertainment, but Celebrity's dining is the best. Also, for ship design, we prefer Celebrity, then Royal and last NCL. Further, we like tranatlantic cruises and most of NCL's TA cruises are out of NYC, which eliminates them because of the cost for us to fly to NYC from JAX Florida.

This is not the same situation, but perhaps I could give it a shot. thanks

We are booked on a transatlantic cruise departing 22 April, which is 70 days from now. Need to cancel due to health reasons, preexisting, so can't claim insurance. I can still get a 50% refund up until 9 days from today. Does Royal C. have any other options like transferring to a cruise in the future?

Yes, supply and demand is huge for pricing, but when your initial prices (until less than 90 days before) don't attract customers, a cruise line will loose customers that book other cruise lines. X should have been smarter and offered better prices early. When planning a TA cruise booking early is important, since I have to plan our European trip as well as our one-way flight back to the USA. Booking those flights get very expensive when booked closer to the flight date.

We love transatlantics and compared X with Royal C. prior to booking for April 2023 from FTL to Rome. Royal beat the heck out of X's price. Now, less than three months from our cruise X has drastically slashed it TA prices. Now they are a small bit lower than Royal, but we book early, like around a year ago. Celebrity, how about offering better prices up front instead of the last minute.

My Son did a safari in Kruger a few years ago when he visited South Africa. He did the safari in Kenya and Tanzania with me this August and said that our safari was by far the best when comparing the two. We were able to see the great migration of thousands of wildebeests crossing the river, which is special. Also, we saw so much that was amazing.

Delta changed our flights so we don't arrive in Miami until a few minutes after Midnight. We will need to go to a Marriott hotel near the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.

The website Rome to Rio provides several options Taxi US$75–95 I will check on enrolling in Uber or Lift.

We go on a TA cruise from Ft. Lauderdale in April and return by air to Miami a month later. Our flight arrives late, about 9:30PM, so we will be looking for transport to our hotel in Ft. L to pick up our vehicle and spend the night before going home to Georgia. What is the best solution for transport? We don't use Uber. What would be the typical cost?

Yes, a few years ago X went to mandatory inclusion of drinks packages which mushroomed their prices. Later, they did allow bookings without the drinks packages, etc., still, their prices either way have remained non competitive. Interesting that Oceana being cheaper than X. Royal is still the best deal. Also, we once did an occasional cruise on NCL, but they still have the price bundling that makes them not as desirable. We only drink 2-3 alcoholic drinks a day and that is covered by being Diamond. I am always amazed when people tell me they drink 10-12 alcoholic drinks a day. Fine, but not for us.

If you do go to Portugal, don't miss visiting Porto and spend some days in the Douro River Valley. Take the train up to Regua or take a cruise up the river. While in Porto, I strongly recommend a wonderful B&B, it is the InPatio Guesthouse. It only has five rooms, so book early. It is the best ever and centrally located.

We have pretty much switched to Royal C., which has more affordable rates.

I have two friends that drank about 6 or 8 diet cokes a day and both had acid reflux.

We have a Royal C. transatlantic on Odyssey of the Seas in April 2023 and a COVID test was required. Has Royal changed the policy or is that just for shorter cruises?

Interesting, I love travel and have rarely taken a trip that was to stay in one place and chill. Another thing, grandchildren are 8 and 14 and they love the beach. Yes, they would like cruising, but there is the hassle of driving to a port (some distance away) getting COVID tests for everyone, etc.

Good point, I am the one that pays for all our vacations (wife and self) and aware that cruising includes much more than just lodging. Of course, if you take excursions/tours, then more $$$ can add up. My Son and his wife are still working, of course, they are in their 40s. We are in our 70s and live on an island in South Georgia near the beach. We almost never go to the beach unless we have visitors. Going to a beach house and splitting the cost sees a little like a waste to me, but for a family vacation with kids, I understand it is a way to relax. Heck, we relax all the times since we are retired, so when we travel, we want to do more than lay on the beach and read. Still, if he wants to do the beach house, we will go and enjoy the family company.