azevedan

Hi, I'm looking for a tour guide who could give us a Copenhagen city highlights tour late in the evening.

thanks for any suggestions.

Has anyone done a private tour to the bioluminescent bay on Vieques? We have a port call until 9pm on Vieques.

As you are now aware, there are some on this forum who take extreme delight in lecturing others about all the ways by which their presumed ineptitude or stupidity yields exactly the outcomes they deserve. One wonders why such superior intellects decide to slum it down here with all us imperfect humans. Oh, wait - I answered my own question, didn't I?

Wow, that Delta timing thing out of DUB is crazy....or, so I would have thought. I guess increased security measures have led to changes.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/arrive-at-least-three-hours-early-for-flights-warns-aer-lingus-1.3175631

We flew back from DUB at the end of May this year (on Aer Lingus), arriving 3 hours early, and almost no one else was there. Breezed through security and immigration, and had tons of time to spare. Now, even Aer Lingus is recommending 3.5 hours (but still notes flights close 75 minutes from departure).

I think people in the islands are dealing with a lot of crap right now. Consider that they may have actually lost earlier records and are struggling to regain the information.

I likewise had to cancel a private excursion and a prepaid, non-refundable hotel on St. Martin. No one even knew what was going on with the hotel. It was through Travelocity, and the money got refunded. The hotel, part of a large international company, was not completely damaged as many others were, but is temporarily closed for repairs. Even with all that, I actually *just* got an email from them, over a month later (though, as I mentioned, travelocity processed the refund pretty quickly). With the excursion, it took a few weeks to hear back. My deposit was only $40....I told the owner to keep the money; it sounded as if he needed it. I considered it a donation to the relief effort. Note I am NOT implying you should do the same. I have no idea what your deposit was, or whether you have the means to waive a refund.

Additionally, I have gotten 2 of my excursions through the cruise line refunded, and yet they still owe me for 3 others, weeks later. And that's another big company! Yes - they've refunded some, but not the others, from the same cruise. Weird, right? Everything is messed up. With everyone.

We didn't cruise with teens, but a fair number of them were on the December holidays PG cruise we took a few years ago, and they seemed to be having a great time. There was a diving program...they got their certificates and did a lot of great diving.

Hi, does anyone have experience with how long it took a refund to be issued back to credit card? Were your paid excursions refunded at the same time?

thanks!

OK, so it appears to be about 10 business days. One excursion was also refunded; the others are still being processed.

Hi, does anyone have experience with how long it took a refund to be issued back to credit card? Were your paid excursions refunded at the same time?

thanks!

The 3 days in San Juan is because we got non-changeable airfare to spend some a few days there. Probably wasn't the best choice in retrospect.

A lot of airlines are waiving change fees. The difference in airfare may be an issue, however.

Really hoping Montserrat doesn't get dropped. From what I understand it is the only port out of the itinerary that didn't get severely damaged. Still not sure about what to do with the 3 extra days we have in San Juan. I guess the hope is most of it will be up and running in two months.

Have they announced the new San Juan itineraries for the Star Pride? I'm looking at the Dec 23rd cruise, but it's still showing all the old ports.

3 days in San Juan???

Thanks!

You can also just buy a medical policy to cover evac...we use our credit cards for travel insurance coverage and then get a medical policy for 'just in case'...saves a lot of money that way and we're still covered!

That's what we do, too. The medevac is pretty cheap. It only covers getting you HOME (not to the nearest hospital). It also covers me on business travel, which I do a lot.

I've made a successful claim against my credit card travel insurance. People should be aware, though....many don't cover travel delays/cancellations due to airplane mechanical issues. (Weather is covered.) That may be my final try for the airfare, which will be interesting, as I had charged the air travel to the airline-branded credit card, which I only got (at the same time I made the reservations) because it was free, got me the bonus miles just by buying the tickets, and gave me $100 back on the airfare.

The islands, of course, have a situation immeasurably worse than most of us. I have donated and hope others do what they can to help these people get back on their feet.

As for itinerary changes, people have lots of reasons for traveling. Windstar isn't a cheap vacation (adding the full cost of the cruise, airfare, hotel prestay, excursions, airport parking, petsitter, and incidentals, we were going to be up in 5 figures), so wanting to visit particular islands while not re-visiting other particular islands I personally do consider a valid reason to cancel.

I am curious whether anyone has gotten travel insurance to pay off on weather-related changes to itineraries that aren't contemporaneous with the actual weather event. [unless, of course, you have the more-expensive "cancel for any reason" insurance.]

My hesitancy with "last minute" is the same issue I've got now - expensive airfare, especially since we travel over the year-end holidays when we have time off. [Although, here, booking through the cruise line might be the answer.] I guess if you have the idea "we'll do *something*", it would work out. With us, we have a travel bucket list, so we have particular locations in mind.

American has been all over the map on change fees but bottom line is they WILL waive them, just gotta get to the right person.

It wasn't the change fees. It was the fare difference.

American waived change fees. Fare difference would cost us another $1800 for the two of us.

Maybe because I didn't push it up to the right person. Maybe because we were going on the Dec 30 departure. Maybe because we were traveling from the northeast US. In any event, we weren't happy about duplicating all the same islands we had just been to.

I'm glad yours worked out better!

While they say they'll reimburse the change fee, that doesn't cover the difference in airfare. And American, at least, is charging a LOT for flights into Bridgetown. It would've cost us more than we'd already paid for airfare to switch. Additionally, we had already done the Windstar sailing out of Barbados less than 2 years ago (it was slightly different).

We just cancelled, as this vacation was causing me more stress than I needed. Of course, that's nothing compared to what the islanders are facing. :(

We'll figure out something to use the airfare on before the window closes. I told the StM private excursion operator to keep my deposit. His boats are all upside down or under water.

I'm not happy about Windstar not refunding the cruise deposit, but it can be applied to a different itinerary. Maybe the original one in the future!

Good luck to all. Good luck to the people on the islands.

We recently switched to the tribord full-face masks. Love it. Just make sure you get the real thing (there are a lot of cheap knockoffs out there).

Note: because they hold so much air, they're not good for diving, just snorkeling.

Another vote for snorkeling with contacts. I've never had a problem.

We take shorty ("swimmers") fins with us. Much easier to pack, as you say. Even just used carryon luggage for 10 days in the Society Islands.

They work just fine. I never had a problem, swam quickly with ease to follow (from above) manta rays and fight strong currents in Huahine, just using my legs.

"TSA Pre✓® participating airlines include Aeromexico, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Airlines, American Airlines, Cape Air, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa, OneJet, Seaborne Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin America and WestJet."

No AF.

I swim (with my googles) with my (soft) contacts, and always snorkel with them. I have snorkeled with both a 'traditional' mask and the tribord (only once so far). Never a problem. My contacts go through a timeline:

1. New/good condition - suitable for general wearing

2. Older - wear these for swimming/snorkeling

3. Time to throw them out

I will caution that I've seen complaints about knockoff tribords with water leakage. We ponied up for the real things.

The other thing that's nice about them is the panoramic view you get.

I must confess I didn't try diving down with mine.

Emergency Housing is what it is. If you are comfortable paying full rate staying in a homeless shelter with the issues, no fault of the residents that come with it, that's great. Others don't feel the same way. I wouldn't want to stay in a hotel with rowdy teenagers either. I would want to be informed so I could choose someplace else.

Well, I did stay at the HGI near JFK; it didn't seem to be a homeless shelter; the staff was friendly; our stay had no problems; the car was in a gated lot; everything worked out fine.

Your mileage obviously varies....but may I ask if you have actually stayed there?

The problem with the Jamaica properties is that NYC uses them as temporary housing for families. There might be many children crying and running through the halls, plus folks visiting the families loitering about the property. Not conducive to a good nights sleep.

Frankly, the worst experiences I've had have been in upscale hotels full of teenagers on school trips from nice districts.

I agree with hubby not to stay at the Jamaica,NY properties.

Huh. I'm a bit of a hotel snob these days, and I found the HGI tolerable. What's the complaint?

Forgot to mention you can also get parking for your trip at the local hotels with an overnight stay. We stayed once at the Hilton Garden Inn the night before an early departure (we live about 2-3 hours from JFK), left the car, and took the hotel shuttle to the airport (and a quick, cheap cab ride back upon return, because we didn't want to wait for the shuttle). The parking was in the same ballpark as the long-term lot; I actually don't remember which is normally cheaper because we got a discount for having Hilton status.

We have parked numerous times at the long term lot without any problems. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. The free train to the terminals is convenient.

I can't guarantee you won't have a problem; just that we never have had any concerns.