ginnyks

Anyone familar with the "Flixbus" from Tronchetto station in Venice to  Ravenna(via Trieste 180-Pala de Andre?

 

We wanted to take the train from Venice (santa Lucia) however I guess it is too early for August schedules.   

On 9/23/2023 at 7:16 AM, davud said:

We were cruising in Hawaii the last time there was a government shut-down. There were no problems with the cruise or the trip home, BUT we had tickets to visit the USS Arizona. All national parks and monuments shut down and so our tickets were canceled and eventually refunded. Very disappointed and hope to make it back someday.

we might have been on your sailing, it was a big disappointment for us (children of WWIi vets ) also not to see the USS Arizona... no other issues with our flights or cruise.

Thank you for your suggestion regarding Brasov.  We booked a day excursion (on our own) to visit Brasov and visit the castles.  I will try to look at the phenomenal woodwork and think of my late father who taught me to appreciate craftmanship.  We are always in awe at the European churches and how many had been restored after WWII.. 

I am so happy to read your recent experiences on the Ullur and the Passage to Eastern Europe!  We will be doing the cruise in November 7 startng with a hotel stay Bucharest.(JW Marriot). We plan to say a few days "on our own" and wonder if we should stay near the Parliament or in the Old town area.  We have been reaearching restaurants, cafes, hotels and of course sights to see and experience.  Any suggestions for Bucharest?  We have been to Budapest a few times and can not wait to experience the area again!  

We also are waiting to see what RCI decides for 10/17 cruise!  

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Horizon was our first cruise, 7 days from NYC to Bermuda.

we fondly remember when Horizon sailed.out of Philadephia to Bermuda our first Celebrity cruise!

Whew!! Thought that I was losing it!!!

Our condolences ..with the recent loss of my 92 yo mother and her burial, my husband and I are considering what you had done.  Thank you for explaining the details involved we truly appreciate your sharing.

We are scheduled to board the Voyager when you disembark in Copenhagen...the 10th.  Your DH has the same comments as mine does that I must visit every church and fort I see! Will be looking forward to your commentary! 

We have dealt with the NH agency for years then for some reason changed to a group out of FL that also has other vacation experiences.  Covid has hit everyone/every organization hard! Our current travel advisor seems stressed out  as she is working out of her home and tries to follow up within the day. ( Even at 8pm !)  We have had a number of Covid related cancellations as did/do many others.   Unfortunately we now have experienced snippy answers/comments from our once greatly appreciated & respected travel advisor.  Her frustrations with RCL, other cruise lines...even her customers...have greatly changed her attitude when dealing customers.  No wonder!

Do yourself a favor...stay the night before at a hotel by the port..Civitavecchi.  Who knows what can happen with the flights, even next year. For us 10+  years ago we took a few days in Rome and enjoyed the sights then stayed over night at Civiavecchi.  We were relaxed when we arrived at the port.  

Our OBC from the rewards on our  BOA card were initially to be used on a  2020 cruise...that ended up being cancelled  due to the virus..  A BOA rep had helped us after RCI rep couldn't.  It  was re-applied to another RCI January 2022 cruise a B2B. The first leg of the  cruise  we cancelled now the reward is lost somewhere.    I unsuccessfully tried to regain the OBC or our points back.

John&LaLa .... have you been checking the Voyager Aug 10 roll call?  We definitely need to revive it! 

 

We are also on the Aug 10 cruise on the Voyager and are very happy with the current change of ports even without St Petersburg.  Somewhat uneasy about going to the Baltic nations with the current situation but also need to use FCC .  We had planned a similar cruise in 2020 with Klaipeda (Memel) and was so looking forward seeing that port as my grandfather had immigrated from the region in 1913. 

 

 Another cruise leaving from the US looks more an more attractive every day  

 

 

Our last cruise was on the Summit  Jan 14 - 25, 2020 leaving from San Juan, PR to the Dutch Antilles.  Everything seemed "normal" no inking of anything unusual occurring(in the real world) until we got in the airport to return home .  We noticed many face masks on fellow travelers waiting to board our flight.  There was a  general uneasiness and extreme pushiness as if people were trying to escape San Juan.  Many people were waiting to see if they could get on our flight! My husband and I wondered 'what do they know that we don't'; was "the news" edited a board the ship??  

 

Driving home from the airport we heard about COVID.    A few days later at home we came down with "something" that lasted about 10 days which included a very scratchy throat, bad headaches, some  congestion, body aches, extreme fatigue ...no fever though. 

 

We have had 6 cruises canceled in the past two years and hope to cruise in a few days...

Ed,  Thank you!  My hubby and I have enjoyed your running commentary.  Now we are looking forward to our cruise Feb 5, glad that we did not cancel this part of our first B2B!    Safe travels home!

Are they  requiring reservations for MDR for all meals?... The Windjammer?

 

We appreciate your posts and your positivity!!!

Schoenbrunn Palace, Vienna near the Danube?


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A few years ago on our “Rhine Get-away” cruise with Viking we were offered a copy of the words for this ballad as we were ready to pass the once treacherous river passage. Tears came to my eyes as I remember learning to recite the entire Heinrich Heine poem with my German class in high school. I could never carry a tune but I sang it to myself in the chilly morning early November air imagining the shipwrecked sailors who heard the singing of the beautiful maiden (siren) combing her golden hair.

We loved this cruise and have booked passage for it again in 2021.


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Yes, we could curse in both languages!  Still can!

I can certainly relate to that!! While teaching some 13 year olds 20 years ago I heard a choice German phrase out of the mouth of a ‘little angel’...I took him out to the hallway and said that I did not want to hear that and he was quiet shocked and told me that his grandfather said it frequently. I told him that I knew what it meant from my Opa and it wasn’t to be said in school. I heard a few other phrases from my childhood that I knew my high school German teachers would not appreciate ! I ( raised outside of Philadelphia )had 2 Grossvatern(one from what was East Prussia and the other from the Schwartzwald) along with ‘Aunties and Unks ‘ whose family had been in Nova Scotia for many generations. Now thanks to my late in-laws I can even understand a little Yiddish! (They forgot I understood some German) . What a mishmash !


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Sorry I was just going to state that we have enjoyed Viking River Cruises for years and were impressed how they handled the FCC from our cancelled Nov 2020 cruise.


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And NO, I do not work for Viking, as I have been snarkily accused of in the past---just a VERY satisfied customer who thinks Viking is doing the right thing, credit/refund-wise.

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Our Nov 202O Elegant Elbe cruise was taken off our “My Trips” section of their website. Now I guess that it will be a matter of when we will officially be noticed by Viking River Cruises.

Everyone stay well, safe and find happiness in these somewhat trying times!


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We also had issues with our e-docs for a mid May cruise. Called captns club rep and she said that they had been released to our TA the previous week (about 49 days out). I called one of the many travel consultants at the on-line agency we have booked through for well over 10 years. The customer rep gave me rather snappy response even though I told her that I knew when X usually released the edocs from previous cruises. The next day I rec'd an email stating that the edocs were ready. We booked another cruise the following week but not through that now overly large impersonal cruise outfit.

 

 

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This is mild compared to most of these posts but here is my addition:

 

About 10 yrs ago our cabin was near a large family group that included at least 3 generations and the partiarch used a scooter. One evening we noticed a child around 10 or 11 gleefully riding the scooter up and down the corridor while her grandfather was probably asleep. The grand daughter wasn't disruptive, she would stop to let people walk by and never really caused extra noise. She appeared to be joyriding a rather long time.

 

The next morning as we were exiting our cabin we heard her grandfather state beside his once trusty scooter, "I really can't figure out why it won't start this morning, I had the battery fully charged before I went to bed". My DH and I just smiled hello to them, knowing what the answer was. If the rider had been a rowdy brat the previous evening and caused trouble we might have dropped a hint or two.

 

 

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