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This discussion is timely and helpful for me. In planning for our Marina cruise next May I inquired about a deviation to arrive three days early in Lisbon and to stay four days over in Amsterdam. I knew about the $175 pp deviation fee but was surprised to see they also added $250 pp for the flights I had requested, for a total upcharge of $850. We live in New York City, presumably a gateway city, so routings should not be a factor. We certainly expect nonstop flights for JFK-LIS and AMS-JFK, but perhaps they are planning for layovers and the $250 pp charge is for the nonstop flights I requested. We will, of course, be booking our own flights.

If I read your article correctly, Marina is now scheduled for refurbishment in October 2022 rather than in 2023? I thought Rivera was being redone this year and Marina not until next year.

Thank you so much for the link to the Preisman cruise blog for this itinerary. It will be a great resource for us. I’ve read the Preismans’ blogs for several other cruises and always learned so much. Sorry to learn that Carol has passed away. As I recall, she always spent time upon first arriving in their stateroom engaged in “nesting” activities—a lovely concept.

Thanks to all who responded on this thread. After lots of back-and -forth, we’re now booked on the Lisbon-Amsterdam cruise. Now on to planning excursions and post-cruise travel. Not much Roll Call for this yet, so maybe will be using O excursions heavily. We were told only 140 bookings so far on this sailing. Thanks again for your input. Happy 4th — and happy sailing —to all.

Appreciate your more-than-2-cents-worth of comments! We are leaning to the Lisbon-Amsterdam choice at this point. The Reykjavik-London is 8/22-9/5/23 on Marina. I believe this might have been a reconstructed itinerary from a cancelled one that included St. Petersburg. It doesn’t appear in the earlier print line-up for 2023, but it’s been online for a while now. Enjoy your Barcelona-Trieste sailing. Love those port stops. Happy Anniversary!

Couldn’t agree more. We visited the landing beaches and cemeteries in on a 2-week land trip through Normandy in 2019, the 75th anniversary of D-Day. We used Overlord Tours for the WWII sites and Bayeux Shuttle for Mont St Michel and other sites. Both excellent.

Thanks, Hawaiidan. All good points.

Thank you, Pvbgirl, I agree. We spent two weeks in Normandy in 2019 by land and loved every minute of it. Wish we could spend more time in Basque Country, but one day in Bilbao would have to do it for us this time.

Thanks, Mauibabes. Hope to see the July 4th sale in a day or so!

Thanks for your rapid response, Hank. I know what you mean about London; we’ve been there often, especially during the 9 years our son lived there. But we do enjoy other parts of the UK.

My husband and I want to take a cruise next year for our 50th anniversary, and have narrowed our choices to two very different options—from Lisbon to Amsterdam, with visits to Bilbao and Bordeaux and days afterward in Amsterdam; or Reykjavik to London, with stops at several Iceland ports as well as several UK and Ireland stops. We have previously visited some of the ports on both cruises, but most will be new to us. We’d appreciate hearing from those who have done one or the other or both of these itineraries regarding highlights of those trips and and advice or recommendations to help in our decision making. We want to book by Thursday, to avoid the coming fare increases. Most of our travels abroad have been land trips, but we have taken about 9 cruises, including the Marina to the Baltics and Russia in 2013, when we were celebrating our 40th.(Coincidently, the above cruises are also on Marina.) Thanks in advance for your help.