wassup4565

My rules for me.

Every garment must fulfil more than one function, I must be able to wear it more than once in different settings. For example, a top/shirt that can only go to the dining room for dinner but nowhere else, cannot come on the voyage. A pair of shoes that are only for show with a particular dress cannot come on the voyage.

Black bottoms are good. Black leggings, black skirt, black pants, black shorts. You can spill on them, and it doesn't show. You can throw any number of colourful tops over them, and nobody knows they are the same old, same old. You can wear them to bed and to dinner on the same day, and nobody but you knows that your pyjama bottoms are making a dinner appearance.

Despite the weight (and it's a consideration b/c we have to fly to every port), I always bring my travelling medicine-woman kit. It contains something for: sea-motion sickness; blisters; colds; heartburn; sunburn; headache; really bad but not life threatening pain (Tylenol 3 or 222s); the green-apple quick-step; or, by contrast constipation; various stick-on bandages that will hold together any wound that doesn't need stitches; and an anti-bacterial cream. As I am a woman with a v-jay-jay, I also bring something for itchy-twitchy.

Why? The cost of buying these things on-board is exorbitant. And ashore, if you can even find what you are looking for, the instructions on the package may not be in your own language, and the price might be crazy.

I don't bring large quantities of any of these things. If my travelling companion is so bad off that I run out of something, it's time to see the doc and pay the price.

I would have answered, but it seems the OP cruised in September.

Luggage was our biggest issue when we took the trains as you describe. Depends how much you have, but we had one big suitcase each plus hand luggage and it was a challenge. CruiseMom's advice is a good idea, for leaving Venice.

We also had a lot of challenges on the leg from Rome to Civitavecchia. By the time we found our train, the car was already crammed with cruisers, with their luggage piled all over the aisle. People tried to help, but we had to climb over suitcases and drag ours along to get to our seats halfway along the car. It wasn't anybody's fault, as there was nowhere else to put the stuff. At Civitavecchia, it was necessary to haul the suitcases down a long flight of stairs, walk through the tunnel under the tracks, and then haul them up another flight to ground level on the station side. There was no help available. (Please, no lectures about travelling light. We had ground travel before and after the cruise.)

Next time, with big luggage, I'd happily pay for a taxi or limo from Rome to Civitavacchia. So for us, the trains all worked out fine, but the luggage was a nightmare.

Because of recent surgery, we could not do anything involving going in the water. We had nothing booked. Very pleased to discover a short walk after leaving the ship that a covered kiosk was set up, offering many options. We chose a three-hour tour for $25 pp, and it was excellent.

This was in an open-air, covered vehicle that held about 20 people. The driver took us up and down steep hills, narrating by microphone, and pointing out the features of the vistas. There was only one stop at a site offering cold drinks and smoothies, very clean bathrooms, and some interesting photos of flat-track racing horses and competitions in the area. We had a one hour beach stop, crowded beach but very pleasant, with $3 rum punches. Then back on the vehicle for more breathtaking views on the way back to the port.

If you have no plans in Tortola, you could do a lot worse than taking this simple inexpensive tour. It's a beautiful island, you should have a look at it. Our favourite feature of this excursion was a slow drive-by of a long mural depicting various stages of Tortola's history and culture.

Just returned from a port stop in Domenica. The market is fun and interesting, and Roseau, the city, is safe to walk on the streets near the dock (if you dock right downtown - we saw a P&O liner that was docked at a more industrial location - so it depends where you dock). I found a grocery store, a large pale green building, and spent some time looking at the goods available there and the prices - interesting. The river runs rapidly through Roseau, and if I'd had more time, I'd have had a look at that too. I spent some time on the gangway getting off the ship looking down into the clear water, watching the fish - yes, you can see them!

Sit on a terrace near the dock and buy a local beer for $2 and eat a delicious roti for a few bucks more. Watch people, soak in the heat, enjoy where you are.

If you can afford it, pay a taxi driver to drive you to Trafalgar Falls and area. If you get off the ship a little later than most people, you may find a driver who will take a lower fee because he didn't get a fare. We got a 3 hour tour for two people for $100. If you can get a couple more people, that's a really good bargain to see a beautiful natural island. Enjoy! We loved that place.

Everybody is different, and different kinds of motion affect us differently. My hubby resisted cruising until I browbeat him into it. He had been sick on small bush aircraft, catamarans, fast motorboats going through rough waters. He was sure he would be deathly sick on the cruise ship. We brought along every remedy anyone has ever suggested.

He was never sick on the ship, and went through some of the roughest seas I had experienced on seven previous cruises. Why? Different kind of motion on the ship - it didn't bother him. He did get carsick on a taxi tour through the mountains though.

Bring every remedy and take something at the first sign of a problem. Get outside and breathe the fresh air if you feel queasy. Run away from anybody who is talking about being sick. And don't assume your other kinds of motion sickness will follow you onto the ship - don't make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Did this over the door thing, didn't make my life better.

What I do like is my magnetic clips. The cabin walls are metal, so magnets stick to them. Increases the usable real estate in a small cabin when you can use the walls to put your stuff. I bring magnetic business clips from Staples. I can clip the daily ship newsletter up on the wall, plus any reminders. You can also hang a hat or sunglasses, anything light, off them.

As your time to plan is short, and you haven't been to these places before, you could do worse than just getting off the ship and exploring the town near the port. That costs you nothing (except what you decide to spend), and each island is different, each port town is different. Excursions are fine, and they can take you to interesting places away from the town, but you can still have a great time ashore without taking an excursion, just walking around.

Another great option, if you have no plans, is to find a local taxi (they are always near the port on cruise days). Ask the driver what it would cost for a tour (say two hours) and if it's agreeable to you, let the driver show you the places he chooses - they are usually the nearby highlights. That will give you a taste of the island, and then you can explore around the town afterward.

I'd say it's late for trying to line up a set excursion, but so what? Take a short taxi tour, wander the town, you'll have a great time and discover a new place. And it will be less expensive than a pre-booked excursion, and much less than a ship tour. Have a great cruise!

Here's the difference about tablemates. With traditional dining, you share the table with the same people every evening. We have had wonderful experiences with this when those people are interesting and friendly. After awhile it feels like you are meeting old friends after each busy day - so much to share and talk about. However, we've also been assigned to tables where people didn't get along (the public defender and the hard-line cop at the same table - yikes!) and one where an older gentleman insisted on telling me the same stories every evening.

With MTD, you can choose to share, but the people you share with will be different every evening. That means if you don't enjoy someone's company, you don't need to eat with them again.

Don't miss Venice! It's unlike anything else, wonderful. As well, I would go to Ephesus again in a heartbeat. Pay the extra entry fee for the Terrace Houses there, - it's well worth the cost. And I loved the market in Kusadasi (Ephesus port). I bought a leather purse there for $75 that is the envy of all my friends.

I agree with CruiseMom, two days in Athens is a bonus. The ancient sites are wonderful, and modern Athens is also very fun and interesting in its own right.

BTW we took the train from Venice to Rome. It was very modern, very fast, and we had no issues at all with pickpockets or people trying to steal our luggage. Our car was full of well-dressed Italian business people. No trouble changing to the Civitavecchia (port) train in Rome, no problem making the connection, or finding the correct track. However, the train from Rome to Civitavecchia was old, slow, and very crowded, mostly with cruisers and their huge luggage. The Civitavecchia station has no elevators and if you encounter stairs (as we did) you will have to drag all your stuff on the stairs yourself - no porters in sight.

I love going to the Post Office in St Kitts! The first answer is correct, it is to the left as you come off the ship, outside the clutter of shops and bars in the pier area. It's perhaps a block or so along the road. It's quite formal and somewhat British inside, and I've never had to wait long for service. The stamps are quite interesting with local birds and plants. I'm always interested to see how long it takes for people back home to receive them.

You can buy Post Cards in the stores around the main traffic circle. Just walk straight ahead after you leave the port stores. You will go by a square park, and then come to the round traffic circle.

By circumstance, we booked a one-week vacation at a resort in the Dominican Republic because it was a family event. Had not been to a land resort in several years - busy cruising! In fact, we had just completed a TA on RCI a couple of months earlier. There was no comparison, hands-down the land resort won.

The food was better by an order of magnitude. Fresher; many, many more choices; more interesting food themes and variations. Just better all around.

Loungers - always lots available, both by the beach and by the pool. There was some chair-hogging/ reserving, but it didn't matter, because there were always more loungers than people.

The resort was all-inclusive, and that meant no extra charges for beer, wine, mixed drinks.

Activities - many were available free through the resort, and others had a surcharge - for example para-sailing. That cost $40.00 When was the last time you paid $40 for a ship excursion?

The cruise lines are no longer competing with each other. They are competing for tourist dollars.

We're booked with RCI for early Feb. If this upcoming cruise doesn't live up to the one-week land vacay at half the price, I will become a landlubber.

Thank you Blue Water, very helpful. I'm reassured that we can find a driver at the dock and arrange a tour that suits us.

Another vote for Levi. We went on a tour with him last Feb. First-rate! Very reasonable cost for an adventurous, interesting day.

Maybe you can get him some goggles and go to the beach.:rolleyes:

I was hoping for something better. Might as well stay on the ship as wear goggles all day on the beach : ((

We will be in Antigua in early February. Been to Nelson's Dockyard more than once, and would like to see more of the island this time. We cannot do beaches - hubby will have had cataract surgery soon before our trip, and the doc says no swimming, no beaches because of the sand.

A taxi tour sounds good. So aside from beaches and Nelson's, can you suggest other interesting places and sights to see when we are in Antigua?

We have taken the bus to Nelson's Dockyard three times, and we find the trip on the bus is a very interesting and enjoyable part of the trip. To get to the bus, you walk straight ahead off the pier for a couple of blocks. The street you want is Market Street, and there you should turn right. After a few minutes' walk, the street has a Y junction, where there is a strange statue of a head. Keep right as you pass the head. A short distance later, you will find the bus terminal, and if you are not sure about where to get the bus to Nelson's Dockyard, ask and you will be helped.

The bus is very inexpensive, and sometimes it's big and not crowded. Sometimes it's smaller and more crowded. It's all good. Just squeeze over and it all works out! You will roll along through small villages and countryside - pretty good tour - stopping to let people on and off. Nelson's is the last stop and you can't miss it. It's very easy to find the return bus just outside the gate of the Dockyard complex, and we've never waited more than 15 minutes, either direction.

Inside Nelson's, if you are looking for a reasonable and delicious light meal, find the bakery. They have dandy sandwiches, treats and fruit drinks at very good prices. After you've looked at the historic features in the dockyard area, be sure to walk along the water where the millionaire yachts are docked. It's how the 1% live, but it's also how their crew live. Enjoy the trip!

We will be in port at Tortola on Sunday, Feb. 8/15 from 8:00 to 5:00. Hubby will have had cataract surgery, and his doc says no swimming and no possibility of blowing sand. However, we're active seniors, and we've never been to Tortola before. Don't want to hide away! Any suggestions for an interesting day?

Is the National Park with hiking trails an option, and worth the effort? We are still pretty spry, but not up for gruelling hikes.

There is a Botanical Garden in Road Town. Worth a look?

I've seen some suggestions that it's easy and not horribly expensive to find a taxi near the port and arrange for an island tour. Anybody done this? And obviously, we don't want a tour that takes us to some beaches with free time - beaches not an option for us. Where else to go in a taxi?

Is it worth it for us to go to Virgin Gorda under the circumstances?

Any ideas you can contribute will be very welcome!

Lindy

I felt I should post this because I received so much help and advice before our trip. Paying it forward.

Based on a report here, we rented a car to pick up at the port in Le Havre, to drive to Mont St Michel in our 10-hour window (best scenario). The guy at the rental car pickup was late arriving, and when we asked for the auto shift, he told us this was not possible. Okay, we half-expected that, and one of our group of three was therefore the designated driver with the manual-shift Renault. The other two were map-readers and trip directors.

As the driver of that Renault, I can tell you it was not my best car. The rear window was a tiny oval, very difficult for backing up. As well the car had no acceleration - I'm not talking blast-off here, I'm talking people honking behind us on the giant upsloping bridge even though I had my foot to the floor, and the car was behaving like a slug.

The navigators had an even worse problem. Despite two up-to-date maps, none of the signs on the roads corresponded to the names of places on the maps. We were headed for Caen, but no road signs directed us there. I can't tell you how many roundabouts we circled multiple times trying to find a clue. Once on the big autoroute, the signs did indicate Caen. We had decided if we could get to Caen in good time, we would continue to Mont St Michel. And then we encountered the farmers' protest, blocking the autoroute with angry tractors, moving at 20 kph.

By the time we got to Caen, we had abandoned M St M. Had a lovely lunch in Caen, and then decided to visit the War Beaches - not my choice, but one in the car wanted that. Best decision ever. I thought it would be unbearably sad and unbearably commercialized. BTW the road directions were great. And it was not sad. It was dignified, beautiful and peaceful.

With several hours in hand, we decided to stick to secondary routes for awhile, and there followed a couple of hours of driving through gorgeous little old towns on twisty roads through French countryside. Gobsmackingly beautiful. Stopped at a pretty big grocery store and bought French bar soap, jam and chocolate at regular prices.

Our best moments from this trip are those beautiful old villages, Caen (which is a destination in its own right), and the War beaches, so small, so profound.

That Renault was its own special experience, but we don't always get to choose the horse that carries us.

We like inside fine. How much time do you spend in your cabin anyway? Resolve to spend more out and around the ship - many nice places to hang out. Plus, you are getting the same food, entertainment, and ports as people who paid much more. Enjoy! We do!

I will be in the DR in three weeks to visit my niece, and will try to find out what is actually happening at AmberCoast/Puerto Plata area. I know the opening of the port has caused great excitement and optimism about increased tourism, but I don't know if they actually have the organization to handle hundreds of cruisers well. Will report back on that. The government takes a high hand on tourism, but sometimes there is not much follow-through on the ground.

As for the beaches, in theory, every beach in the DR is open to anyone. That is enshrined in law. But in practice, the big hotels and the gated condo communities stake out a beach property and then make it impossible to get to the beach unless you are wearing their bracelet. Certainly, no one can stop you from walking onto any beach, if you can find a way to get to it, and if you are walking along the beach and run into a hotel property, they cannot (and won't) tell you to get off the beach. They don't own it.

I wouldn't swim at any beach right near Puerto Plata - suspicious about their sewage handling in a very old city that doesn't seem to have up-to-date infrastructure.

Best bet might be to google hotels near Puerto Plata, and contact hotels directly about whether they offer a day pass for their facilities. Check several hotels, as prices may vary widely. If you can find a price you like, you could get beach chairs, the beach, lunch, and all-inclusive drinks for the day at one price. Try it - I would.

We took a North Atlantic crossing in early Sept this year from England to Boston, via Faroe Islands and Iceland. We did our research, and learned that average temps in the Faroes and Iceland could be as low as 12C (low 50s F) with strong winds, often rain. We packed our woolies, rainwear, and good waterproof warm shoes.

We wore everything we brought, sometimes a lot of it at the same time in layers. The weather was as predicted in the Faroes and Iceland (and in the sea in between). This was all okay with us, as we really wanted to see these places, and they are what they are - weather included. After Iceland, it was a straight shot to Halifax. Four sea days of cloud, rain, very strong winds, and cold temps. The ship was bucking up and down 20 foot waves.

By the time we docked at Halifax, the sun was shining, and we were wearing shirtsleeves and flip flops.

Would I do it again, no. Am I glad I did it, yes. And on that bitter crossing from Iceland to Halifax, all I could think of was those Viking explorers and also the crews of the Corvettes in WWII.

The taxi industry in the DR is kind of wild west. These drivers will try to quote you any outrageous price and hope you take the offer. They expect to you bargain, and will use any tactic to try to keep the price high - keep your eye on the ball, they want your business and you are their prospective customer, maybe the only one they have. I hate bargaining, but this is a port where you must bargain hard. Try to get them down at least 40%. If they won't go down, walk away - they will probably run after you. Know what you are willing to pay - 60% of what they started asking. Go talk to another taxi, and put the pressure on. I hate doing this, but that is the Dominican way. Same thing goes for anything you think you'd might like to buy - don't pay more than 60%

Dominicans are not thieves or violent people, but they are hard bargainers and they always want to to a deal and get the best of it. One more thing, if the driver demands more money than you agreed on at the end of the ride, throw the agreed price at him and walk away from the car. That will be the end of it - what is he going to do? There is no metre in the car. But please don't cheat and pay less - these are real people with families to feed.

I love the country and the culture. I hate the bargaining, but I am a visitor so I have to get along in their country.

Have a great cruise - there are no better beaches than in the DR that I have seen in all my travels in the Caribbean.

I was last in the DR a year ago in June, near Puerto Plata. Been going there for 25 years, and I have a niece who lives there. This is not a dangerous place. Probably the reason there were armed guards is because local people are protesting along the roadside because they were turfed out of their houses to make way for the new port. This is the government chasing away the protesters because the government doesn't want tourists to see protest signs and unhappy local people.

Puerto Plata is an interesting small Caribbean city - a little disorganized, with a few little noisy motorcycles running around, but nobody is going to harm you. They are delighted the port has opened and hope it will bring some much-needed tourist dollars. Local businesses have been gearing up. You are fine to take a taxi to PP, and have a walk along the Malecon - the boardwalk, have a local beer. NOBODY in PP is going to harm you, they want your business. There are plenty of reliable local tour providers who have been serving the All-Inclusive hotel guests for many years - use Trip Advisor and find a reviews.

It's a wonderful island, with many waterfalls, beaches and activities. It would be a shame to stay inside the compound the cruise line built.