2ashevillesailors

16 hours ago, sfjakey said:

We had a meeting of the minds and we are booked Frank and Sarah from San Francisco.  Safe travels.

Welcome Frank and Susan , look forward to meeting you. We are anxious to take this cruise. Will probably take ship tours in Japan. Want to see so much and will be watching for tours to appear. This cruise will be the longest we have taken. We have done a 21 day cruise and it had several sea days. We enjoyed the games and cabin crawl. I am thinking this will be a great ship, has anyone sailed on it before Carnival purchased it? Mary and Jim

There are several ports that we have not been to Amori,  Japan, Kushiro, Japan  Tokyo, Japan and Hiroshima, Japan. Looking forward to meeting everyone, Mary and Jim from Asheville, NC

We just booked this cruise on Carnival's new ship Carnival Luminosa. We are very excited about the itinerary.

Celebrity Epic for March 30, 2020 was to go into dry dock and it was cancelled (dry dock) we are sailing on that cruise and it is not on Cruise Critic. No able to chat with cruisers nor do sign up for Meet and Mingle. HELP we really want to have that cruise on this site. 2ashevillesailors,  Mary

THANK YOU! That is exactly what I needed. The UK site gives me everything I want, and then I can input those cabin #'s into the US site.

I tried to go to RCI, UK and didn't find it, help?? Thanks Mary S

It is quite possible that the Russians will go after the Princess excursions since they are a US/UK company. Whereas the private tours like SPB and Alla are Russian.

SPB Tours is ranked by us as one of the BEST TOUR Companies we have used. We have cruise a lot and they were really great! Mary

Three alternatives that I can think of:

 

 

1. Rent a car and go sightseeing leaving your luggage in the trunk.
   
2. If your airline participates, use the luggage valet program (straight from the ship to arrival at your home airport) but that still leaves you with your carry-ons.
   
3. Take a cab to the airport and check your luggage at Bags to Go (www.bagstogo.net) in each terminal. If you are disembarking on a weekend, you can take the free sun trolley airport link (www.suntrolley.com) into town for the day. If it is a weekday, take a cab into town.
   

Do you rent a car at the port?

Friars Bay is pretty remote - you want to make sure you have firm commitment re: pick up for return to port. Is there a particular reason for your choice? It is an OK beach - some times with annoying smell from nearby salt pond - but not all that special. There are other, more convenient, beaches.

We took a taxi to the beach and the taxi driver said he would come back and we set up a time. He NEVER came back. There was a group of people from Canada and they had a van driver, we asked if we could join them to get back to the ship and offered to pay. They wouldn't take money and they welcomed us for the return ride.

We now rent a car while in St Maarten!!

We are very interested in a visit to Caribelle Batik. For those who have been there, what were your impressions? I'm interested in observing the artists and purchasing a wall hanging. Clothing is not a big draw for anyone in our group.

They are excellent. Beautiful setting and fabulous Batik. Bought a shirt around 20 years ago and still it is in great shape. It is interesting in how the artists work and you get to see it all. I wash mine in cold water using Ivory liquid soap, with salt sprinkled into the water. It helps prevent the dye from running out of fabric and fading. You will enjoy your visit there.

I quit smoking 3 months ago and I don't have to worry about smoking areas any more!

Good for you! Not only will you be healthier but others will also be healthier.

I agree, we had the same thing on Vision's identical twin, Rhapsody.

We are in an aft cabin, where is it?

We were on harmony in the med last summer and while we had a balcony cabin some family members had insides and I was pleasantly surprised how good they were - quite roomy and nicely laid out. We like a balcony but the insides are actually pretty good.

And yes the free drinks packages are never free - as you say the price always goes up by at least the cost of the drinks package. If you are happy with the price I would go for it now - just my thoughts!

 

 

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I just called and they said it is $623.04 each US Dollars, that is $51.75 US Dollars per day.

Hi Mick, we are looking at Symphony too (having just come off our first Oasis cruise and loved it-you said we would). Think we are going to wait till the current promo ends early May and hope the drinks package is re-introduced. It was in May last year and the price didn't increase hence why we booked Oasis when we did.

 

Symphony prices are high being a new ship but the flight times and prices are more agreeable than those to the US

 

 

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How much were the drinks package, I am thinking I must have missed the sale

I am not happy with the new look on Cruise Critic for threads. Very difficult to find previous threads written and go back and forth in order to answer or ask a question. 2ashevillesailors, Mary

We used Guided Tours Israel for two days this past October, they are excellent. We have book one day with them again in April. We might do two days with them again, there is so much to see in Ashdod and Haifa.

We have a cruise scheduled in Sept '17 that includes 3 days in Israel. I know in the past, Celebrity, who we are sailing with, has cancelled the Israel stops and replaced them with more stops in Greece. With the events in Jerusalem of this weekend, it caused me to try to acquire some info in past practices when events occurred that made the stop unsafe. Mainly, how far out did people find out and what options were offered? Does anyone expect the recent events to cause any of the lines to reconsider Israel for 2017?

 

 

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I don't think you need to worry. Israel has the best security. We went there in October for 3 days and had excellent tours Guided Tours Israel. Felt very safe and I think you will be fine. If you are worried about cancellation of cruise be sure to just have trip insurance to protect your investment of flight and cruise.

I own it's cousin, the Pacsafe Venturesafe 20L Adventure Day Pack. It's the perfect day pack for use in Europe. I use it on tours when I need to take along more than what will fit in my hidden pouch. I believe its a bit of overkill for just walking around Rome when all you're carrying is cash and credit cards. I use a camera pouch attached to my belt for my photo needs.

 

I respect your opinion, but hearing fellow cruisers relate their experience of having their pack sliced with a razor and losing valuable possessions is enough reason to consider a PacSafe product.

 

For me, a backpack is the easiest type of pack to use and if it's a PacSafe I don't need to worry about it being on my back. It's secure.

 

I love my PacSafe backpack it is so very comfortable compared to a regular type of backpack. Don't even realize at times that I am wearing it.

You only purchase the secret tour ticket.You get into the palace afterwards .

What is the Secret Tour?

I need to get to the cruise port from the airport. I will have two bags and a backpack. What are the best options to get to the port?

 

Thanks in advance.

Contact Civitavecchia Cab Service, we have used them about 4 times, say you want to join a group to the port and you found info on Cruise Critic. Give them you date, time flight number and airline and ship you are leaving on. You will be very happy with them. They have never let us down and were there waiting for us with a sign. We have also used them port to airport. The cost was approx. 15.5 Euros cash.

sign up with web@civitavecchiacabservice Mary

Good point. Thank you. We are there on April 16, 2017. I am not very familiar with different religious holidays but that's what folks on our roll call have indicated.

GrJ Berkshire Greek Orthodox Easter is April 16th, when we are in Athens on Vision of The Seas. Mary

Good point. Thank you. We are there on April 16, 2017. I am not very familiar with different religious holidays but that's what folks on our roll call have indicated.

It is Greek Easter, looked it up, Mary

You may get better responses posting on the Europe board, Greece ports.

Some years ago we spent Good Friday in Ireland, I thought everything would be shut, nope pubs open, most cafes open. You can never tell.

Thanks Gwendy I will do that!

Has anyone been in Athens, Greece on Easter Sunday? Looks like no tours, etc. what is there to do?

Well you can stack current OBC offer with cyber offer = $400 OBC

 

 

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How do you do that? Not sure of what I say when I call RCL?

Our last two stop on our next cruise in April 2017 will be Dubai and finishing Abu Dhabi. We would like to tour Abu Dhabi when we get off the ship but what can we do with the luggages? I understand it’s an easy DIY port, maybe doing the HOHO bus. I would consider a private tour if the tour company can also transfer us to Dubai late that afternoon for a 3 day post cruise stay in Dubai.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Take a taxi to you hotel and they will store it until you can go to your room.