rayho94066

I am flying back to SFO so I need to clear customs and immigration at first port of entry, meaning Houston, Miami or LAX for UA, Delta or AA.  I have Global Entry so immigration is nothing to me but I need to and hate to claim luggage and check back in again.  I've done Polaris out of SFO to Asia and not impressed with the SFO Polaris lounge or seat, I will take Qatar QSuite over Polaris anytime.  So I will take Copa and spend couple days in Panama City.  Also, for the person about penguin poop, I've been told they would hose off whatever you need and you can keep them in the mud room, no need to bring any outerwear back to your room.  But bottom line, D2D is not a good deal unless you can dictate what route you want on the first go, even that, it is at least a few thousand dollars cheaper if you book your own, speaking of Business class in my case only.

Thanks all for the info shared, we are booked on the Feb 2025 bridge because we just came back from India and could not or would not jump on another trip right away.  I just want to add something to the Silversea air, originally I was going to book D2D but then remembering the nightmare I had with several South American flights home on other trips, not to mention the limo ride to/from airport to home is worthless to me.  Not sure if things have changed now, you have to do US customs and Immigration at first port of entry into USA, so if you happen to fly out of Miami or Houston or NYC then may be it is fine, but I fly out from SFO so if we fly with any US carrier we would be connecting via Houston, Miami or LAX coming home, likely needing to claim our luggage and clear customs and check back in again even with the same airline/booking.  So for me the best choice is Copa connecting via PTY (AeroMexco works for us too but I want Star Alliance miles), decent lounge and straight back to SFO from there, not to mention lie-flat seats which LATAM or UA never offered.  I paid quite a bit of money to sit in basically premium economy seats that they call First Class, not to mention they are always late.  So do your research if you plan to do D2D.

Is wine by the bottle offered with a beverage package? We have the basic but are considering upgrading.

Package is for by the glass only, if you like wine like Nickel, you would have to buy bottles. If you plan to buy bottles, it does not make sense to upgrade unless you are going to drink what they offer by the glass. I am still on the Infinity on the way up to Valparaiso, if I have time I can check to see what they have by the glass.

Thank you so much for posting the wine lists. I very much appreciate it! I am quite looking forward to our first cruise on the Silhouette in March. We have the classic beverage package, but I assume we would not have access to Nickel and Nickel, Far Niente or wines in this price range for example? Or would we need to upgrade to premium? What about port and champagne? Can we get wine by the bottle? And finally, do you tip the Sommelier and how much?

I don't have the list for the premium package "by the glass", but if you like Nickel & Nickel and that price range of wine, you would have to buy by the bottle. The best price is to get 3 bottles and get 15% discount, but the markup on Nickel and similar Napa wine like Caymus is close to 100%. I also found out that the discount is flexible and up to the cellar master, I got several bottles of Opus One a bit cheaper than I can buy them back home. You will have to pay 18% gratuity on everything you buy, so you can tip extra if service is really good.

This is a wonderful cruise but all the good stuff are from the land tour portion and not the river cruise itself. The ship is very old and small and Viking would stop leasing it as of our cruise, they will start leasing a 1 year old ship after our trip. We happened to have to cross over an Avalon ship during the cruise and that is a much nicer and modern ship than ours. Staff onboard are extremely helpful and friendly, food is just average and quite a few people got sick most likely from food including my wife. We are quite happy with the overall trip with the exception of Viking air, DO NOT let Viking arrange for you air travel, they booked us on the worst route possible (30 plus hours with multiple lay overs while option of less than 16 hours is available at similar or cheaper cost). Most people on our trip complained about the air arrangement and those complained and objected repeatedly got better arrangement and treatment, including one person that emailed the CEO of Viking after getting no response from anyone from Viking. The hotel stays at Siem Reap and hanoi are wonderful but all the hotels are pretty much standard for all other cruise companies. If I have to do this again, I would choose AMA or Avalon, sorry Viking, you just have to do better.

We leave for our AMA land river tour early November. We sent our passports to Vietnam embassy and they were returned within a week. Had to get a multi entry visa.

Since we start in Hanoi and fly to Cambodia we are waiting to get our visas for Cambodia at the airport.

If you are arriving at airport in Cambodia, why would you not get e-visa? Their website lists all the ports of entry that support e-visa.

I don't know who you are sailing with but Viking doesn't recommend e-visas for Cambodia soyou may want to check with your cruise company.

Thanks for the heads up, I called Viking and they are of no help as they told me they do not know validity of Cambodia e-VISA. After re-checking the Cambodia e-VISA website, none of the Cambodia sea or river ports support e-VISA entry, but most other river cruises companies will assist you in obtaining the VISA upon arrival while you are still on the boat, Viking is pretty much the exception. I would not be home from another trip until sometime in November so it may not be practical for me to send our passports in separately for Vietnam and Cambodia VISAs, so instead of spending under 300.00 for Cambodia and Vietnam VISAs, I'm almost forced to do this through the partner of Viking and spend 500.00, or I will just get the Vietnam VISA and obtain the Cambodia VISA when we arrive at the river port on our own, though there would certainly be some delay for doing that.

Never mind, found out that we can do e-VISA for Cambodia and drop off our VISA application in San Francisco for Vietnam. Our daughter told us that it is a bit cheaper to get it at the airport upon arrival but I will probably just get it here.

The guides english is very easy to understand. We did not find it necessary to exchange any money. Everyone has accepted our US dollar.

Thanks for the review, we are doing the exact same thing 02/16, Bangkok pre and Ha Long Bay post, just curious how much local currencies we should bring for the 3 countries, you mentioned dollar was accepted everywhere? Also, you mentioned getting your own visa for Cambodia and Vietnam, is that multiple entry for Vietnam? I think the place Viking suggested costs around 500.00 for both of us. Do you just send in your application directly to Vietnam and Cambodia embassies in the states?

Thank you for your sharing you experience about this wonderful adventure.

 

You posted:

 

"3. Not sure how effective insect repellent is, but the StingEze as recommended on Silveursea’s website is effective after the bites, we bought it from our local drugstore. We got lots of bites on two islands, especially the one that has the flamingos."

 

Like you we experienced biting flies. I was the only person not to be bitten. I used Avon Skin- So Soft Bug Guard Plus- Very Water resistant Insect repellent with SPF 30 Contains Vitamin E.

 

I plan on bringing it on our next adventure to the Artic. I have heard that the bugs in Greenland can be aggressive.

Thanks for the info, we brought insect repellent but kept forgetting putting it on by the time we finished coating ourselves with lotion and sunscreen. I noticed one thing and told my wife that too, I used Clinique sunscreen on my face and neck and I did not get a single bite in those areas, so maybe the mosquitos did not like that?

Good info. We were on xpedition a few years back, but are going again with Silversea next year. Do you happen to remember the wines served? I am sure they are all South American, which is fine, as long as they are drinkable.

I only drink red wine so I can only comment on that, they served maybe 6 different reds, mostly from Chile and Argentina though there was one Merlot from Ecuador, I actually regret not trying that as our guide in Quito told us that Ecuador wine though not well know is better than other South American varieties. Anyway, I think they were Malbec, Syrah, Merlot and one Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec from Chile. I drank mostly Cabernet while onboard, it was not bad and drank like a 20.00 wine, quite good as far as free wine goes. On one of the days they actually had a wine tasting thing but I did not attend, the tasting seemed to consist of all the wines served on the ship.

Just came back from the Western route and want to share some of our experience:

1. Transfer - if you arrive in Quito the transfer is excellent, they met us at the airport (only 2 of us) and took us to the hotel and explained everything. If you are staying more than one night at the Marriott and want to go out for dinner, you may want to use the private taxi contracted with the hotel, cheap and safe, you can also call for a pickup from the same company. Oh, and do not miss Zazu, really good and reasonable.

2. If you have never been to Quito, you may want to consider arriving early and spend at least couple of days in Quito, a day trip to Mindo is nice in addition to Quito old town and the equator. Actually, if we have to do it all over again, we would arrive a lot earlier and do the Amazon or more birding ventures.

3. Not sure how effective insect repellent is, but the StingEze as recommended on Silveursea’s website is effective after the bites, we bought it from our local drugstore. We got lots of bites on two islands, especially the one that has the flamingos.

4. Trekking pole, useful if you have them. There is really only one hike that we need them and we probably could do without them.

5. Sun hat, must have, make sure you have the big floppy rim with chin strap. For that matter, bring lots of sunscreen too.

6. Sun shirt, I think you would need at least 4 or 5, unless you plan to have them laundered on the ship. Get the quick drying ones, they should dry within a day or two. The problem is not sweat, we got sprayed quite a bit in the Zodiac and we do not like to reuse salty clothes.

7. Hiking pants, I think you would need at least 2 to 3 pairs, again, they can get dirty and salty from the spray and wet landings.

8. Shoes, even dry landings could turn into wet landings depending on tides, we have Teva’s and found them not at all that useful, instead, I think it may be better to wear flip flops or crocs and carry water shoes or hiking shoes so you can change when you are on dry land. We collected enough sands from wet landings on beaches in our Teva’s that we can package them for sale on eBay.

9. Rain jacket, take a light weight Gore-tex windbreaker if you can, though it rained only couple of times when we were onshore, but if you have a DSLR it would help shelter it from the rain when you are not taking pictures.

10. Rash guard, if you plan to snorkel, it would be nice to have at least 2 so you can alter them when one is drying.

11. The Grill, food there is better if you like seafood since they always have grilled something from the ocean. For lunch, even though lunch hour starts at 12:00 noon, we found that most tables would be taken by 11:45am, so get there early if you want to have lunch there. You need reservation for dinner, but make it as early as you can - around 7:30pm, the reason is that you never know if it would rain and only a few tables are protected from the rain. It is nice to have the lava rock grill by yourself as it is cooked as you need it so food is hot and fresh.

12. Wine in general is good as far as free wine goes, so you need to have the proper expectation. Strange that they chill red wine as well, so you need to ask for non-chilled red wine if you want them served room temperature.

I think we will get hep A since that can be transmitted by people preparing food, we thought of hep B but since that is more limited to unsafe sexual behavior or bodily fluid exchange we think we would not need it.

The Silversea person told me that there is no requirement and I cannot find any listed on the web, can anyone confirm?

Towncars it is then, thanks for the input.

I'm looking for a reliable car service in Sydney for transfer from hotel to airport, does anyone have any recommendation? Blacklane is very reasonable and Omnicar is cheap, but the airport as well as my hotel suggest Royale which seems a bit expensive for the 20 minutes ride.

We are on the 23 September sailing on Silhouette with an overnight in a Venice. What do you think the chances are of a discount being offered in the restaurants that evening?

 

 

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I think it all depends on how much booking the restaurants got, there probably would be no chance if it is peak season for your itinerary, but if it is off season and the restaurants got no business then you have a good chance. My sister was on one cruise late in the season that they kept asking them and offering 40% discount for them.

Don't forget, Trevi Fountain is under reno. No water and a big fence. :(

I remember how disappointed we were one year we were there and they had a TV event and closed off the whole fountain, so we doubled the coins last year when we were there. But I heard even for the work underway now, they reserved a small pool of water or something so people can still toss coins and walk up to the mostly dry fountain. Also, if I remember correctly, Piazza Navona is not that far away, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is impressive as well, especially if you are a fan of Angels and Demons.

I assume you are doing a day trip during port of call, you can either walk from the dock out to the terminal gate then train station, but they provide free shuttle from the dock to the terminal gate and you walk to the train station from there. You can then take the train to Rome, most likely you want to get off at San Pietro then jump on the Metro to Spagna or Barberini and walk to Trevi, Pantheon is in the same area. Not much to see in Spanish Steps but merely a photo op, then you can walk or Metro one stop to Barberini for Trevi and Pantheon. I suggest you bring some pennies to cheat when you toss the coins into Trevi, or maybe not, coins collected are for maintaining the fountain. If you get the BERG ticket as someone suggested, that ticket is good for all train and Metro all day in Rome, so it is a good deal. Or if you don't mind spending a few more Euros, you can take the express train and pay for Metro, I think express train costs 16.50 Euros per person, pricey but very quick. I suggest you do your research and book tickets ahead of time and keep track to make sure there is no strike when it is near your travel day.

If you are serious about taking the train, just google for more information or wait for someone to reply. I'm sure you would have a wonderful time.

I'm booked on the Constellation 12 night cruise leaving from Rome in June 2015. We are interested in doing a 3 day pre-cruise, possibly with transfers from the airport and to the ship on departure day. Any information on this is appreciated. Thanks...

You have plenty of time to plan, it all depends on your budget. You can totally book guided tours that will pick you up from your hotel and drop you off at end of the day or you can just do it on your own. Another factor is how big is your group, that makes a difference on transfers and tours. Assuming you have a party of 2, private transfers is only a little bit more than taxi or Celebrity tour bus, but you will get very good service. My 2 sisters from Toronto and myself all use RomeCabs for all transfers at one time on another when in Rome, there are others that are supposed to be just as good. For hotels, there are lots of boutique hotels in the city center that are reasonable and most would include breakfast. There are 3 or 4 hotels in Rome that have big rooms, do your research to see what is to your liking. We stayed at Boscolo Exedra because we like their rooms and it is very convenient for taking Metro. If you take your time, you can do Colosseum and Roman Forum in one morning, then whatever else not too important on its own. SelectItaly has the cheapest ticket for the Colosseum dudgeon tour, but you are pretty much on your own for the Roman Forum, but I'm not sure if you really need a guide for that. Of course, I've seem people using private guide just for 2 people there too, but I don't have that kind of money. Vatican museum and St Peter's Square and Cathedral is a one day thing, you can rush through it, but why? You don't want to rush when in Rome. They sell tickets for the Vatican museum and you could get it ahead of time or just get it there, tour group tickets always let you skip the line. Also, if you are catholics, you should get your tickets to the mass ahead of time if you plan to attend one. Even if you are not a fan of Angels and Demons, you should go visit Piazza Navona, then a short walk to the Pantheon, and a short hop over to Piazza di Trevi for photo or shopping. Cab is easy to hail in Rome but we found Metro to be very convenient and cheap, just watch your bags and wallets. There are only 2 lines and you will learn it after just one ride, they have maps everywhere and you can even download the map before you go, last I used it, I think it was 1.50 Euros to everywhere. Make sure you have plenty of 5.00 Euros, if the ticket machine refuses to take your money, chances are it is out of change, so make sure you have 1.00 Euros as well.

I know that Cafe al Bacio uses Lavazza brand coffee. Does anyone know type of Lazvazza coffee is used. I have discovered they produce several types of expresso beans.

I did not know they use Lavazza, they taste kind of weak. I use Grand Filtro Dark for drip and Top Class for espresso at home, they are cheap, kind of like supermarket coffee in Italy, but they are good. They have many espresso blends and many online merchants here sell them, they mostly come in 2.2lb bags.

- Day trip to Waikeke Island - great beaches, wineries.

- Auckland has a very good Art Gallery.

- The area around the waterfront (Viaduct Basin) is great to walk around and has excellent restaurants and cafes.

- You could do a day trip to Hobbiton.

- Rent a car and go for a drive through the Waitakeres, even out to one of the West Coast beaches - Pihi or Bethells Beach.

Beaches and wineries are nice, we are from California so we are kind of used to them, though our beaches are not as nice, but besides Tira, we are thinking of driving to Waitomo for the glow worm caves, Naked bus is cheap and nice too but seems like they take twice as long as driving ourselves.

Well, I always take the tour! I think having a guide offers so much more to just ambling around on my own. The guides at Zealandia are usually volunteers and share the 500-year vision for the restoration of the valley; plus New Zealand's wildlife evolved (or not) in splendid isolation to the rest of the world. Having someone explain how different our environment and animals are to the rest of the world adds real value, I think. If you want to linger after the tour, there's plenty of Valley to explore on your own afterwards. This amazing place is less than a 15 minute cab ride from the cruise terminal, so it's not hard to stay and play.

 

As a footnote, I live very near Zealandia, and every morning get the benefit of their conservation work in my garden as well. The kaka parrots are noisy tree-shredding ratbags while the tuis are one of the NZ songbirds and great mimics - there's one that sounds like someone's cellphone and that's always an entertaining start to the day!

Thanks for the tip, we will take the guided tour, it's free anyway. Do they always have cabs outside Zealandia? I guess we can always take the cab back to the cruise terminal if we are running late.

Are you going to be spending any time in Auckland on your trip to NZ? If so, I highly recommend a day trip to TiriTiri Matangi island, which is an open bird sanctuary. You'll see some very rare NZ birds there.

Tiri is number one on my list, but we will be arriving Auckland on a Sunday morning and the ferry leaves at 9:00am, I've had some email exchanges with 360 and they confirmed that their ferry does not operate on Monday, also Sunday in December would be pretty much booked in advance so a last minute attempt to get on is out of the question. So I am thinking of getting to Auckland on Saturday and book Sunday to Tiri in advance, but now I am trying to find out what is there to do in Auckland all day Saturday and Monday.

Hi there,

 

Following the questions regarding the earlier post. Are any drinks included onboard the reflection ship or should we buy the drinks package?

 

Thanks,

Katy

If you do any espresso drinks and fresh juices then for 16.00 a day for the classic non-alcoholic package is not too bad as you probably would spend that much a day. But for the classic alcoholic package, if I can spend 49.00 a day, I think there would be a problem with my liver. Of course, I do know people that can down more than 6-packs a day, but that is now, I wonder where would they be tomorrow. I always get the package free and I mostly use the discount that comes with it to buy more expensive wine, though the free espresso drinks and juices are nice.