NancyIL

I've been working on alternate plans in the event the Athens to Istanbul cruise gets cancelled.

RCI needs to do it ASAP. You can tell by current prices that a lot of people have already bailed on the Dubai to Athens segment, but those on the full world cruise don’t have that option.

Of course RCI won’t cancel the last 4 months of the World Cruise, but they will have to make a decision about the May 9 Dubai to Athens cruise, and possibly the Athens to Istanbul cruise after that. They waited until the last minute to cancel the Silver Moon sailings, so I hope they don’t wait much longer to deal with Serenade’s May itineraries.

For the UWC - do you mean rerouting from Dubai to Athens in May? I’m on the Serenade cruise just after that, and hope RCI doesn’t wait too long to decide what to do.

I'd choose ISP, as the whale watching there is very good, and there are more things to do in the other ports.

I was able to get the 5% savings a week after booking (a whopping $14.90) - but I didn't see a $50 onboard credit mentioned in the list of perks.

Update: After a week of hearing nothing from MSC about a status match, I resubmitted a request on my cellphone yesterday (Jan. 10). That time I received this onscreen message: “Thank you for registering for MSC Cruises Status Match program. Your submission has been received and will be reviewed shortly. Stay tuned to the email address you provided for further details.” I hadn’t received that message after I applied a week earlier, so I think my multiple requests at that time cancelled each other out. Today I received an email from MSC confirming my status match, so I now have Diamond Voyageur status!

Thank you. I applied last Wednesday (Jan. 3), but haven't heard anything yet.

How long did it take until your status match was approved?

I usually cruise with Royal Caribbean, but I have 3 Princess cruises booked in the next 18 months - including Sapphire in Alaska and Emerald in the British Isles. I haven't cruised with Princess since I was on the Star Princess in 2016, so I'm looking forward to my Enchanted Princess cruise next month.

I’m on the same Bulgaria & Romania cruise, so I’ve been thinking about a Plan B in case our cruise gets cancelled. My plane tickets are also nonrefundable, but I could make changes to them and pay the difference. I just hope RCI makes a decision about the itineraries of the two May Serenade cruises soon.

I'm looking for that information on DCL's web site, but they don't make it easy to find. I see that info now on another Disney forum: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/castaway-club/membership/

From Cobh - I have done the full-day shore tour with Butler's twice, and enjoyed it very much: https://www.ecoach.ie/

When the ship overnights in the last port of the cruise, is it possible to disembark on the first day the ship is in that port?

Jewel is also doing several British Isles cruises in summer 2024 - before it moves from Amsterdam. I'm on the June one, so I hope RCI doesn't cancel it!

We were booked on this cruise at one time, and had reserved the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City for 2 nights. We stayed there before another cruise out of Bayonne in 2008 and loved it. The hotel has a great view of Manhattan across the Hudson, as well as close access to both the train and ferry stations.

We were booked on b2b Jewel Norway & British Isles cruises in May/June 2024. Today I cancelled the May 30 Norway cruise and booked the May 27 Serenade segment from Athens to Istanbul - in an inside gty. The itinerary and price are great, and I'm just happy to be able to travel for a month.

I cancelled our only RCI cruise for 2023, then booked a Christmas Markets river cruise with Grand Circle.

They are sister ships, so I'd choose based on itinerary and price.

For most travel charges - I use Chase Sapphire Preferred: https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/chase-sapphire-preferred-card/

Yes, Harriett Lewis and her 2 adult children are continuing to operate the company.

OAT and Grand Circle are sister companies. OAT/Grand Circle and Vantage are run by brothers - but they are rival companies. (Allen Lewis, the president of OAT/Grand Circle, died in Nov. 2022.) I have taken 6 land tours with OAT and 1 with Grand Circle - and they were excellent. I also have 2 trips booked with them for 2023. However, I was booked on OAT's Turkey's Magical Hideaways for October 2019 - and they called me 6 months prior to say my tour was cancelled for lack of participants. I knew that wasn't true, as my tour date had been full. I speculated that someone wanted my single spot, but I couldn't prove it. I was issued an immediate refund without any problems, and I was able to book a Rick Steves' Best of Turkey tour for similar dates. The main reason I booked with OAT for 2022 was because they had really great prices after post-Covid travel resumed. I did have my August 2022 tour date to the Baltic Capitals cancelled 2 months out due to lack of participants (and I did believe them this time!), but they were able to put us on the same tour departing 1 day earlier.

Thank you for your wonderfully detailed review. My daughters and I did this same itinerary on the Crown Princess in 2010, and I’m itching to go back! I’m hoping my husband will agree to do it on the Regal next June. The only itinerary difference is Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands instead of Invergordon.

I was on your cruise, and there were plenty of gnatty bugs in Qaqortoq! I understand your sentiments, although I enjoyed the time I spent walking around Qaqortoq. It reminded me of some Inuit villages I visited in Alaska, and based on the limited shore excursions - I wasn't expecting to be entertained. There's a lot of natural beauty in Greenland, and I'm really glad we were able to sail through the gorgeous Prins Christian Sund. The captain made the best decision to choose that scenic sailing instead of the scheduled port stop in Nanortalik.

Thank you! I wasn’t keen on dragging luggage up and down stairs, and my husband wanted a reserved seat on at least one train. Therefore, I cancelled the tickets I booked several days ago (all but €6.20 was refunded), and started over. I reserved seats on the fast train from Venice-Mestre to Bologna, and the regional train from Bologna to Ravenna - with 17 minutes between trains. The new fare was €44 pp via Bologna, instead of the €15.20 pp we previously paid for two regional trains via Ferrara.