Valley Girl of VA
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Posts posted by Valley Girl of VA
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They do not apply as this is a third party special rate booking.
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5 hours ago, Kimmus66 said:
Hello there, for those of you who have used "One Day In Provence" did you have a hard time getting a hold of them? I have emailed multiple times to ask questions and set up a private tour and I am not hearing back from them. I'm also checking my spam folder.
Did they reply back to you right away? Or is it usual to wait a week or two for a reply? I'm reaching out about a tour day in June.
I had no problem before with them but noticed in the past six months it has been very difficult to get hold of them.. I am going back to Marseille and wanted to tour with William again. I sent numerous emails and no answer. When I did get one after 4 1/2 months I found I had another question. Still waiting for an answer. At this point, I would not deal with them
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On 2/28/2019 at 4:56 AM, We-R-Off said:
Sounds amazing. We are planning to visit next year. We actually thought to fly to Buenos Aires a 3-4 days pre-cruise & visit the falls before the cruise. We thought to fly back from Iguazu & then check in to the ship. As it's staying overnight, it wouldn't matter if we checked in late afternoon. I understand Latam also fly there, did you consider them?
I did consider LATAM and that was the airline I flew down and back on. There were no flights at the time I wanted them from AEP. I do think they might have added more since I had booked this trip about eleven months out (used AA points to book on LATAM).
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Thanks so much Sing Bill. Appreciate your comments.
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I just did Basel to Amsterdam and was on the starboard side doing downstream. Almost all but 2 nights we were docked on the starboard side so when we looked out in the morning or at night we just saw a concrete wall.
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In 2011 we paid $2000 for a wool rug at the Carpeterium in Ephesus. This is a cooperative where they bring women in from the villages and teach them how to weave rugs. They can then go back to their villages and make rugs to be sold here. It was a very interesting visit as we watched them making rugs, had a lunch outside and then tea inside. I've been told there is little markup compared to buying it in Istanbul from one of the carpet merchants.
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No, when I did Colmar with Avalon a few years ago it did not. We walked around the center of town, went into a museum. It was wonderful but had nothing to do with battles.
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16 hours ago, dolllover said:
We can agree to disagree but I've been on a Viking river boat and you haven't. In regards to the size of the tour groups I've had small and large with both Avalon and Viking but with the wireless ear pieces it didn't matter the size because you can hear the tour guides. The quality of the tour guides on Avalon were equal to Vikings. Both were excellent.
I'm sure every boat you've been on has had good and bad reviews.
If the captain was negligent don't you think he was fired? Do you think Viking goes out of their way to hire negligent people?
I think you are asking silly questions "do I think Viking hires negligent people". No, obviously I do not but perhaps they are not as experienced. Whether the captain was fired or not, I have no idea - after all he wasn't on the bridge during the accident where two were killed. Regardless of whether they are inexperienced, negligent or just made a mistake, there are more accidents by Viking than any other cruise line. I actually googled accidents with other lines and didn't find any other than a cargo ship hitting an Avalon hip and AMADagio getting caught in a malfunctioning lock. Tour guides are great, fine and okay on all lines and the CD tried to gauge our reaction to our tour guides when we returned.
With the ear pieces you do not have to hover around your tour guide to hear but it is more awkward being in a large group particularly if you are all trying to see something as well as walking together in the city in a group. Much easier to travel in a group of 15 than 40, wouldn't you say? When we went to a truffle farm and even the vineyard, the owners/speakers did not have a microphone so yes, we did have to get closer to listen.
Yes, I agree - we need to agree to disagree based on our experiences and the information we have gathered that helps us make the decision of which cruise line to travel on.
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On 2/1/2019 at 5:21 AM, Fletch1 said:
Some very good points there......well said.
I found the same thing with my cruise in December regarding the size of the Viking tour groups - they were, in some instances, more than twice the size of ours.
Regarding my earlier comment about more cruise accidents on Viking, I agree that they have more boats on the river but when I was sailing on AMA a few years ago, the captains bridge was not lowered when they encountered a bridge and the two inside the bridge were killed - that is negligence and not from a fact of having more boats on the river. Follow this link Here is another bridge accident coupled with water issues. Here are some reviews from Vikings own site
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Avalon without question. When things do go wrong, other cruise lines appear to do a better job. Viking has also had more river accidents than Avalon
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We spent three nights in Prague pre cruise. We were able to pay for the transportation through AMAWaterways to get to our ship from Prague. Here is thee first of three posts that i wrote on our activities pre cruise in Prague, including a cooking lesson in a home: https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/prague-in-3-12-days/
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8 hours ago, TMLAalum said:
Yes, thanks VAValleyGirl!
We will be there in 36 days, staying at the Panoramic Grand. How did you get to bid on the 1st class upgrade? I'd be interested in trying our luck!
BTW we love both of your US locales!
When we booked our tickets they asked us if what price we would pay to travel first class. I added in our amount and a few days before the flight, we heard from them.
So you like both of my locales TMLA alum! Most people don't notice it. My third locale is playing in the Super Bowl this weekend - originally from Boston and I have the accent to prove it 🙂
Enjoy your trip!
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2 hours ago, caneable said:
To quote the title of a much loved Brit comedy, “Absolutely Fabulous!” One of the very best reviews I’ve come across, it really made me feel as though I was there! Thankfully my wife and I will be in just over three weeks time. It’s giving so much practical advice even if you aren’t planning on staying at The Melia. No doubt I’ll be back with a few questions as time passes, but thank you so much for taking the trouble to post.
Steve
I'm flattered. Thank you for reading and posting your comments. Have a wonderful time.
Jane
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Was there last year and just getting around to writing my blog post on it. Hope you enjoy it: https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2019/01/31/iguazu-falls-have-you-been-there-or-heard-of-them/
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12 minutes ago, Coral said:
I was sort of sad to read your last blog. I sailed in November along the Danube with Crystal and did not have all the drama you did with switching of itineraries and I was pleased with my cruise. I agree - it is a weird balance between seeing the town and seeing the markets and I erred on seeing the markets as I am not sure if I will return during November/December again. We also had less "sailing time" during the day and we did spend longer days in ports.
On the flip side - your markets looked more varied compared to the ones I saw. I agree though - it would be best to do a train/hotel trip to see the Markets.
I thoroughly enjoyed your blog and wish I was retired (or had more time) so I would have time to create such a great blog like you did. I am sure it will help many in the future when researching this type of cruise. BTW - I also enjoyed your Falkland Island blog when I was on your site!
You are so kind to take time and and let me know that you enjoyed my blog posts. I agree, every cruise, every sailing is different and if I did the exact same cruise again next year I'm sure I would have a very different opinion. I think we must know to take opinions like mine with a grain of salt. Yes, that was what happened on my cruise and may never happen again with the combination of having an itinerary change twice, a rookie cruise director, change of stateroom locations without our permission or even notifying us. I think if you hear these complaints over and over, then you need to give some credence as to what is being said. Thankfully, I've been on AMA twice before and knew how good it could be.
I have more posts coming up and hope that you have subscribed to read all that I will be writing about as well as a cruise I'm inviting anyone on. Please feel free to write me, if you want, at janeschwalm@gmail.com
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Final blog post on this cruise: Did I enjoy it? Would I do it again? Read to find out: https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2019/01/25/did-i-enjoy-this-cruise-my-personal-opinion/
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If you decide to add on a few days after your river cruise ends, Dusseldorf is a good choice. We enjoyed the time but now it was time to go back to Amsterdam to go home: https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2019/01/24/dusseldorf-to-amsterdam/
My next blog post will be my reflections on the river cruise and whether I would go again or not.
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My latest blog post about after the cruise. Getting off the ship in Amsterdam and going to Dusseldorf by train: https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/dusseldorf-germany-by-train-tram-and-foot-christmas-market/
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Here is our last day on the boat in Amsterdam and our tour there. Also, we went to Centraal Station to purchase train tickets for the next day: https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/arriving-and-leaving-amsterdam-what-we-did-and-saw/?fbclid=IwAR3LvfnkvCkABtqjXgBU0XiLDi5ixETgFwlAJIun9IrSZa6EKR7zLPjEfZQ
Coming up will be my comments about the cruise and whether I would recommend it or do it again.
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I loved staying in Marseille and had no problem with any tensions between different cultures. We did get out of the city and go to Aix as well as Cassis, which I would recommend to see the calanques on a boat tour. In Arles they have a small colosseum like in Rome and the day we were there, there was a bullfight. Outside of Arles is Avignon where you can tour the asylum where VanGogh and see where he painted each. Across the street were some Roman ruins as well. If you look at my profile picture, it was taken in Arles. I've attached two picture for you to see Arles
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One of the best tours we ever had was with William of One Day in Provence. He is one of the owners and a very professional tour guide. We spent time going over what we wanted to see on our private (four of us) tour. He has lots of great suggestions and I highly recommend that you try this tour company. I'm in the process of booking again with him for when /i am in Marseille this spring
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Just a few more days on this blog about the river cruise but I plan on continuing posting of what we did post cruise on our own.
Jane
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Koningsdam Code Red in St Thomas
in Holland America Line
Posted
I'll see you on the ship as we are cruising then too!
Jane