ravinblue

We are thinking of booking the 2025 Voyage of the Vikings, 18 days from Rotterdam to Boston - a great itinerary. However, the pricing is way higher than similar length voyages on HAL. Oh well!. We have always cruised in verandah  cabins, but because we wouldn't use the balcony much because of the expected cold weather and to save some money (almost $5K for the two of us), we are considering ocean view cabins. They are all either obstructed view (right behind lifeboats) on deck 4 or on non-obstructed on deck 1. My concern with the deck one cabins is that deck 2 has bars, casino, dining rooms, theater, etc. and that there would be a lot of noise.

Has anyone stayed on deck one in a Vista class ship? How was it?

I found out that there are no ATM fees if I use a Bank of America "partner" which in Turkey is TEB. There are no TEB ATM's listed at the airport, but there is one a short walk from my hotel. I'm still not sure if I really need Turkish lira or whether I can just used a credit card - I'm not much of a shopper and likely won't eat street food.

On 1/29/2023 at 5:45 AM, TLCOhio said:

Agree that if we are going to be in an area for a longer period that the bank ATM's tend to give the best rates and are very accessible, etc.  Those airport exchange desks/booth tend to rip you off with bad exchange rates.

How about the ATM's located in the airport? We have a few days in Istanbul preceding our IST - Athens cruise on Viking in May.

I just returned from the 11 day Tahiti and the Tuomotos tour on Star Breeze. We anchored in Cook's Bay and the tender took us to a dock near the Hotel Kaveka, I think. The port talk made it sound like this was routine, so maybe the other site in Oponohu Bay is the exception. Also, if the ship does not start letting people off until 8 AM, the tender ride does take a few minutes, so let your tour company know that you might be just a little late.

Thanks for the opinions. I will say that that similar questions have been asked before and there are always answers from those who  always tip even where it is not customary and that is fine. But I was actually more concerned with the mechanisms of tipping on a snorkel boat where everything tends to get wet. I don't remember anyone ever tipping on scuba boats when I used to dive in Hawaii and the Caribbean. But, I think I have some sort of water-proof wallet lying around here somewhere.

We haven't cruised Windstar since 2002 - since then we have been on Celebrity, Viking, HAL, and Princess and tend to do mostly independent excursions and generally tip the tour leader at the end. We will be cruising French Polynesia soon and doing all Windstar excursions (Covid!), which are all quite pricey. In addition, many of them are snorkel trips where I was not planning on taking a wallet. Do most people still tip?

18 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Are they still holding final payment due at 90 days or are they extending it?  I am thinking that we may not know until October if it is a go or not.

I posted this on our roll call for the October 17th sailing yesterday:

For those of you who are nervous about the Covid situation and are considering cancelling, I called Windstar today to confirm their policies. The  cancellation policy is completely different from what is on the website and what is on the "invoice" sent you. 

23 hours ago, TakingFlight said:

 I heard from someone at Windstar this week that they will not be canceling the Tahiti cruises because the Tourism Board is allowing visitors into FP. Although that is true it’s not the way I want to see Tahiti-masked and under lockdowns and curfews. I rescheduled next week’s trip to next year.

By rescheduling (versus cancelling), did you lose any money already paid?

3 hours ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

More than likely the same excursion, just from a different PU location. One of our favorite places to snorkel though I wouldn't call it Strenuous ... your drifting. As long as your confident on maneuvering your self as your drifting though the coral/water you will be fine. If your a bit big though the middle there can be places where you could scrape yourself if you can't maneuver through the passage. I've taken at least 15 rides through the drift snorkel  .... only once did I gat a little scrape but then again I'm a bit 'rounded' 🙂

 

Here is the drift ... something the Better Half and I put together.  Enjoy  ....

 

 

5 hours ago, Zukini said:

That sounds like it's the same excursion. I wish they were listing it on two separate days for our May cruise. Right now, they're only offering that excursion for Taha'a on our trip, and there's only one available slot left, so my wife & I are waitlisted. 

Thanks. Looks amazing!

I started looking at the Windstar excursions. It looks like you can do the same snorkeling trip from two different stops. Is this one:

Tahaa: Coral Garden Drift Snorkeling (Strenuous)

3 hours - Approximate Tour Departure 8:15 AM • $0.00 $135.00 

Ride by covered motorized boat to the west coast of Tahaa to discover the beauty of the island. You'll leave the boat and walk across an uninhabited motu(islet) off the coast. Start your snorkeling experience from the other side of the motu, and your guide will lead you as the current will carry you through the shallow lagoon on the way back to the boat. The area teems with a spectacular variety of tropical fish and amazing corals. The richness of this coral garden is unique in Polynesia.

the same as this one?:

Raiatea: Coral Garden Drift Snorkeling (Strenuous)

3 hours, 30 mins - Approximate Tour Departure 8:30 AM • $0.00 $129.00 

Ride by covered motorized boat to the west coast of Tahaa to discover the beauty of the island. You'll leave the boat and walk across an uninhabited motu (islet) off the coast. Start your snorkeling experience from the other side of the motu, and your guide will lead you as the current will carry you through the shallow lagoon on the way back to the boat. The area teems with a spectacular variety of tropical fish and amazing corals.  The richness of this coral garden is unique in Polynesia!

We will be doing the 11 day Windstar Star Breeze Tahiti & the Tuamotu Islands cruise this October. My wife and I are experienced snorkelers and, in fact, are PADI certified scuba divers. However, we gave up scuba several years ago as our age, the hassle of dealing with the equipment, and the ever rising costs seemed to make the cost benefit ratio tilt back to snorkeling.

Anyway, the descriptions that I have read about the ship's snorkel excursions always talk about the importance of wearing water shoes. Aren't people wearing fins when snorkeling? I can swim a lot longer with fins than without.

Any other snorkeling tips or excursion recommendations would be appreciated.

I'm not an epidemiologist, but I do have some experience with infectious diseases having practiced pediatrics for 39 years. If you are asking when the cruise companies and/or the politicians say it will be OK to cruise, then my guess is as good as anyone else's. 

If you are asking when I will cruise again, it will be when I am immune to this virus, either by a vaccine or from getting the disease and surviving. Now, that may change if there are good treatments discovered or if the virus miraculously disappears with warm weather or something, but I am not hopeful for either of those scenarios.

Cruise ships have always been a great incubator for germs, but when the major risk was catching a cold or intestinal virus, the risk was worth it to me. But, the fatality rate for this disease is too high. 

I am currently booked on the Celebrity Expedition for March of next year. I visited Machu Picchu on a separate trip with Friendly Planet 2 years ago and have used OAT in the past as well. Both are great companies. My suggestion is to do the 7 day Celebrity Galapagos cruise, then get yourself to Lima to meet the Machu Picchu 7 day trip with either OAT or Friendly Planet. Both are priced in the $2 - $3K pp range. I believe that would get you more time in both places for less money.

We have cruised Celebrity 4 times, but are considering Crown Princess in the British Isles next May. I have appreciated reading all the opinions on rooms, cabins, pools, etc. Any comments on Princess's WiFi? We noticed a huge improvement when Celebrity went to their XCelerate technology a couple of years ago, much faster than our recent HAL or Viking cruises.

As most have said, the extra hours (for sleep?) on westbound TA’s are easier and more fun than losing hours. However, I prefer to arrive in Europe without the jet lag that a flight from California engenders so that I can enjoy my land touring in Europe. Being retired, I’d rather deal with the jet lag when I get home. I also do better flying westbound, avoiding red eye flights and arriving home to go to bed close to my regular time. Arriving in Europe in the early morning with little sleep the night before when you typically can’t check into your hotel yet is also problematic for me. So, as far as the cruise itself, westbound is better, but for the overall trip, I prefer eastbound.

We are leaving for our first cruise on Viking (Empires of the Mediterranean on Viking Star). On HAL and Celebrity, we always brought some magnets that were useful for attaching things (calendars, maps, notices, etc.) to the walls in our stateroom.

Are the cabin walls in Viking Star metallic?

We are staying at the AthensWas hotel (near the Acropolis Museum) the night before our cruise embarks. Rome2Rio states that Uber or Taxi to the Piraeus port would cost $12 - $15 - that sounds too low?

It also seems that one could take the Hop on Hop off bus to the port, but I am concerned about luggage.

The Metro would be cheap, but seems like too much walking with luggage.

Comments?

We will be on the Eclipse sailing Southampton to Miami this fall. The unlimited internet package is $287. Before I spend that much, I'd like to be certain that WiFi will be useably fast those days in the middle of the Atlantic. Can anyone who has done a TA since Celebrity "upgraded" their system (?do they call it Xcelerate or something) care to comment?

Thanks,

Frank

Posters are mixing up at least three different classes of "disease":

1. Gastrointestinal illnesses (diarrhea and/or vomiting): the most common is norovirus but there are many other viruses, bacteria, and parasites that can cause problems. As one of my medical school professors told us, they are spread by "eating sh*t" - in other words, a person who is ill with a GI disease, wipes himself after using the bathroom and then touches things before thoroughly washing or disinfecting his hands, leaving the microscopic fecal particles laden with the germs on whatever he touches. Then you come along and touch those objects (e.g. in a public bathroom, the buffet line, a handrail, etc) and then you transfer them to your own mouth.

2. Respiratory illnesses: colds, influenza, sore throats and then the complications from those, like bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, etc. The sick person touches his nose or eyes or coughs or sneezes or blows his nose and again nearby objects carry the offending germ, waiting for you to come along and transfer it to your own nose, eye, mouth, etc. So, in addition to hand washing/disinfecting, one should avoid touching handrails or anything else that many people's hands have been on. Using disinfectant wipes when first checking into your stateroom and wherever else you feel comfortable doing it is a reasonable thing to do. Flu shots do prevent about 50% of cases of true influenza, but the vast majority of illnesses on ships are not influenza, but other respiratory viruses.

3. Allergies: (I think this is what posters mean by "sinus"): Totally depends on what you are allergic to. Being at sea is generally good for pollen type allergies but going ashore will expose you to whatever is blooming there at that time. Dust and mold allergies are another story and depend on the cleanliness of the ship. So, bring whatever allergy medicines that you sometimes need at home.

As other posters have noted, all of the preventive medicines and "cures" for colds (Airborne, Zinc, etc.) have been shown to be statistically no better than a placebo, so I won't waste my money on them. However, I do realize that placebos are somewhat effective, so if you believe in your whatever, I wouldn't try to talk you out of it. One's immune system in resisting these things is dependent on a lot of things, but, in my opinion, sleep deprivation and stress are big culprits.

Bottom line: handwashing, touching as little as possible, good general health habits, and luck.

Thanks. I kind of figured that. So, what would you recommend we do for our overnight stop at King's Wharf, 10:30 AM on 11/8 to 12 PM on 11/9?

We will be visiting Bermuda for 2 days as part of a Transatlantic cruise on Celebrity Eclipse this November. We are spending 9 days in Europe prior to the cruise (as well as visiting my sone in Washington DC for a week before that), so I really don't want to pack my own mask, fins, and snorkel. Another factor in not wanting to lug that stuff around is the weather that late in the year might preclude my wanting to snorkel anyway???

Are there snorkel rentals at any of the good snorkeling beaches? Or are there recommendations for boat tours (aside from those offered by Celebrity) where equipment is provided?

We are going on a cruise next week that includes the UAE, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Singapore - 7 sea days, 8 ports. It looks like the temperatures will be highs from the high 70's to the mid 90's ˚F (that's 26 to 35 ˚C). We've never been on a ship when it is that warm outside before. Are people comfortable on sea days dressing as they would if they were in port (i.e. short pants and short sleeve shirts) or would the ship's air conditioning make one feel uncomfortably chilly?

 

I completely agree about holding the camera at arm's length! That's one reason I rarely use my phone as a camera. But the bridge has a "live" electronic viewfinder. It's through-the lens, just not optically. Every bridge I've ever looked at is like that. Some point-and shoots do have viewfinders, but they're just looking out through the body.

 

I've never seen an underwater point-and-shoot camera with a viewfinder, but I suspect that's to reduce potential leakage points. Also, you can't really use a viewfinder with a mask in place, so they provide a large screen. Many years ago, I bought a disposable underwater camera for snorkeling. I had to laugh when I looked at the instructions. First thing was "Hold the viewfinder close to your eye." Seriously??? I just aimed in the general area of what I wanted and got a few decent shots that way. And a lot of shots of half a fish...

I had previously used a housing enclosing a point and shoot for scuba some years ago, but the camera technology improved to the point where these cameras were no longer adequate for me. I have not done any scuba diving now (for unrelated reasons) for several years, so I was not willing to pay the $$ for a "good" underwater camera for snorkeling. So, I just bought a Fujifilm FinePix XP70 just because Costco sold it. As you say, these are difficult to use with any precision and I need to delete a lot of pics and photoshop the rest to get a few half decent pics.

Almost nobody knows about bridge cameras, and you have to work to hunt them down, but I find a bridge to be the best of both worlds.

 

When I bought my first digital camera, the SLRs were way too expensive, so I bought a bridge camera. I had resisted digital for years, saying "real camera" vs "digital camera." After one weekend trip with the digital bridge camera, I got over my SLR/optical snobbery. I took the batteries out of my Nikon SLR and never looked back. I loved that the bridge was lighter, smaller than a SLR, and still very versatile, including a manual zoom. I was very happy to not be lugging around a camera bag of spare lenses, too.

 

You're right about the zoom on most point-and-shoot cameras. I find them very annoying, although they are getting better. In fact, my current bridge camera has the choice of motor or manual zoom. I'm amazed at how responsive the motor zoom is. I suppose my electronic "live" viewfinder uses some battery, but since I keep the viewing screen closed most of the time, I figure I'm not losing much.

 

The only weakness I see in the bridge camera is the low-light issue. Only the SLR with a wide aperture can give you really great low-light photos, but bridge gets close. And I can use the Aperture settings on my bridge to get shallow depth-of-field shots, which I use mostly for photographing flowers. (or cheat and use the "blur background" function)

Your points are well taken. However, I can't get past holding the bridge or point and shoot camera at arm's length in front of me to look at the viewfinder as opposed to holding the DSLR up to my eye. Faster and steadier and easier to see in a variety of lighting conditions. For me, that (usually) trumps the other points.

The HAL website shows a 14 day Baltic cruise 9/3/17 - 9/17/17 as the last posted cruise for the Koningsdam until a 12/20/17 Caribbean cruise. Nothing posted for 9/17 - 12/20. We were considering the transatlantic that was formerly posted as leaving Rome on 10/25/17, so I am anxious to see the new schedule.