WisRiver

Last year when we did our Antarctic cruise on the Hurtigruten Fram, we spent two nights pre cruise at the Emparador Hotel. Room cost then was about $200 US per night. This was the hotel the Hurtigruten used for its first night of the cruise. A nice 4* hotel. After our cruise we spent three nights at the Hotel Pulitzer at a cost of about $100 per night. A very nice centrally located 3* hotel which enabled us to do a lot of sightseeing. Both hotels served nice breakfasts, were clean and had English speaking staff. If it were not for the fact Hurtigruten chose the Emparador for its pre cruise lodging, we would have chosen the Pulitzer for both our stays.

It may be hard to find a taxi that will just take you to Dzibilchaltun. If you go in the morning the driver will have a hard time finding a return fare. In the early afternoon (after you finish the tour and denote swim), there may not be many cabs hanging around for a return fare. If you want to do Dzibilchaltun and Merida, you may have to suck it up and pay to hire a cab or Uber for the day.

We have used the ship's laundry a number of times on repositioning cruises (we are 4* or were in Neptune suites). We had several accidents (shrinkage and colors running) with the laundry on our first use of the ships laundry. Now any clothes we pack are first tested by being laundered at home and put in the dryer This means nothing delicate or cold wash is packed, unless we want to hand wash or dry clean. Some of the older ships have self service washing machines which are nice.

I do not think I can help you about a canal cruise. We had visited Amsterdam several times before this last cruise stop, and had done a canal tour. On our most recent visit we had decided we wanted the see the Van Gogh as well as the Rijksmuseum in a single day.

The Rijksmuseum is about a 20 minute cab ride from the cruise terminal. Last year we were on the HAL Zuiderdam which made a stop in Amsterdam. We were off the boat by 9 AM. We had booked morning tickets for the Van Gogh Museum (about a quarter mile from the Rijksmuseum) and ate a quick lunch at the Van Gogh. We had also booked a 2 PM entry to the Rijksmuseum, and were done by 4:30 PM. It took us a few minutes to catch a cab, but we were back on board by 5:30 PM.

I would go to your ship, drop your bags, take a cab or Uber it to the museums, and cab back. While it will be a full day, and you will be jet lagged, you could easily do the Rijksmuseum, eat lunch and head back to your boat. It was easy to pre book the museum tickets. The lines seemed to be lengthy to purchase tickets.

We have taken several TA including several to Northern Europe, although none of them have been on Cunard. I do not know where the Cunard ship stops. Our experience is that the weather has been great until the Azores. Once the ship heads north, the weather becomes cooler and with more rain. This year we are on the Koningsdam leaving FLL on March 28 for Rome. We will work our way north and will be in the UK by early May.

We have had positive experiences with ArtViva, http://www.artviva.com/. However, we were spending a week in Florence on a pre cruise stay. ArtViva's offices are centrally located about a 10 minute walk from the train station. We used ArtViva for a skip the line tour of the Uffizi.

The Silcer Beach Club in Progreso is about 14 blocks (a mile or so) east of where the shuttle buses drop you on Calle 21 (the east-west street) and Calle 46. I have never been there, but it always looks busy on cruise ship days. I would not pre book an excursion, because it can be windy and cool along the beach. A cool, windy day on the beach might mean great weather for an inland excursion like Uxmal or Merida.

h2so4,

Like you, we are starting our Europe travels six weeks before we board our Viking boat in Bucharest, Romania. Currently we are scheduled to start our cruise at the Radisson Blu in Bucharest. We are planning to book rooms in the Radisson in Bucharest, but are concerned about a last minute change in hotels. We will not see our cruise documents. Our big box travel agency is hard to reach when we are outside of the US. I would hope there is a way for non traditional travelers to get their travel documents while on the road.

If you could speak Minnesota or Upper Midwest, you would know that pop is a carbonated beverage.

The embarkation day menu in the MDR is usually pared down because of reduced staff. In the past they offered three or four entrees ( fish, chicken or meat plus a vegetarian entree), soup, a couple of salads and dessert. We usually walk down to the MDR, and if nothing appeals to us, we go up to the Lido. On a couple of embarkation days they offered a reuben, which was disappointing.

If you have the ability to choose an excursion and you are in St. Petersburg on a Wednesday or Friday evening, consider going back to the Hermitage. It is open until 9 PM and after 4 PM almost empty. All the tour groups are gone and you can wander at your leisure. The last time we in in St. Petersburg, we obtained a visa, and were not tied to a particular tour. We could come and go as we pleased. We hired a guide for a tour that started at 4 PM. She spent two hours with us, and then we were on our own until closing. Since we were there in May, it was still light out. We walked over to the Bolshoi Prospect, and had a late dinner.

We arrive in Malaga on a Monday, when all the museums are closed. We can walk, eat and shop. Any suggestions for a day trip that does not involve a long drive. Thanks

Last year we spent the night at the Embassy Suites on SE 17th Street. In the morning before we took a taxi to board our transatlantic, I walked over to the Total Wines and Publix to get wine and snacks. In the same shopping plaza there is a breakfast/lunch restaurant called Joe's Diner. We ran into a couple we had met on a previous cruise who had flown into FLL earlier that morning. They took an Uber from the airport, had breakfast at Joe's and were going to Uber to cruise terminal at about 10 AM. They had their luggage and were reading the papers while they waited. Joe's is a good place to wait since it is close to Total Wines, TJ Maxx and a grocery store.

In May, 2017 we were docked in Zeebruge. We took the free shuttle to the port entrance. We had read that the train and bus drop you at the edge of the central city. We shared a taxi with another couple. I think the taxi was 40 euros each way, The taxi dropped us at the central square. We spent a great day walking around town, doing the canal tour and eating a great lunch. We walked back to the taxi stand, and caught a cab back to the port entrance. Doing the taxi worked out to 20 euros per person and we were dropped in the center of the city.

There are two double decker bus companies in Merida. One is called Turibus and operated by ADO, the big regional bus company. I think Turibus has a stop on street beside the cathedral. The other bus starts and finishes on Calle 55 across the street from Parque Santa Lucia. I think their name is Carnavalito.

We also enjoy gin and tonics. Since we usually do transatlantic cruises, we have plenty of time for a late afternoon G & T. We buy several six packs of small bottles of tonic water at a FLL grocery store along with a half dozen limes. We buy a bottle of gin from HAL (you can order individual bottles of liquor without the added mixer).

On our first cruise in the Mediterranean we had a one day stop in Civitavecchia. We were a group of six, so we decided to book a private tour with Rome in Limo. We added on a private tour guide for the Vatican. We had a great day. With a larger group, you move at the rate of the slowest person and have no choice of stops. We had a English speaking driver in an 8 passenger van. He picked us up at 8 AM. On our way to Rome, we planned our stops. We were able to get park to various sites. We skipped a going to the Spanish Steps, Colosseum or the Forum. We saw Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Campo de Fiori, and Piazza Narvona, We had a quick lunch, and then spent two hours going through the Vatican with a private guide. We had a good orientation to Rome. We were back to the ship by 5 PM. Our trip was expensive, but costs were shared among 6 people. A great way to make a first time visit to Rome.

Several years we did a back to backEuropean cruise that started in Civitavecchia, returned to Civitavecchia and then went on to Fort Lauderdale. We reprovisioned in Italy before setting off on our transatlantic. I watched them load from my veranda. There were trucks that appeared to be from Holland with dairy products and boxes and boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables. There seemed to be at least 20 semis unloading various products. Of course there were pallet loads of soft drinks, beer, and liquor. It appeared to me that the provisions were from the EU. The cans of Diet Coke we were drinking on the crossing were labeled as being processed in Italy. My assumption is that when the ships are in the Med, they are being provisioned from the EU.

One of my aunts (my family is from southern Missouri) described chicken fried steak as neither chicken nor steak. She said it is shoe leather dipped in flour and fried in lard.

We will be on the Koningsdam transatlantic in April 2018. We will be stopping in Horta and Ponta Delgada, Azores. Last year we did a tour of Ponta Delgada, but this year we want to explore on our own with a rental car. It will be hard to get lost if we keep the ocean to our right and the mountains to our left. Does anyone have experience with rental car companies in either port?

We winter near Progreso and have eaten and most of the restaurants along the malecon. While some have better food (Eladios and Flamingo) and others are disappointing (St. Bonet and Crabster), we have not contracted any food borne illnesses. Most food safety experts will say that its your dirty hands that will make you sick. When you dip that tortilla chip, the chip will have everyone your fingers picked up during the day. If you wash your hands in soap and water (every restaurant will have someplace to wash your hands) and use hand sanitizer, you stand a very good chance of staying healthy. I would not skip the good local cooking because of fear of food borne illness.

If you are talking about American football, Barlovento on Calle 80 between the lighthouse and the beach has American football games in Spanish. However, I have not been there on cruise ship days. I think they have music for cruisers.

We have done four transatlantic cruises (Fort Lauderdale to Europe). One of the big issues was finding a one way fare back to the US. The major carriers (Delta, American and United) charge a hefty premium for one way fares. Budget intercontinental airlines such as Icelandair, Norwegian Air or Condor charge more reasonable fares. Some of these airlines may not be in business in 2019, e.g. Alitalia. Nevertheless, I would budget US $750-1000 per person for a one way plane fare for 2019 and hope for something cheaper. The cheapest fares will be on high traffic routes such as London/New York. This year we planned our itinerary to end our trip in Amsterdam because we could get a reasonable one way fare back to Minneapolis in Icelandair.

I have used a Olympus waterproof TG-4 for the past several years. It is compact point and shoot with 4x zoom. My Olympus may not give you the same quality pictures as a high end DSLR. However, it fits in my shirt pocket, and I do not worry if the weather turns bad.