visibilityunlimited

The Nieuw Statendam sailing from Barcelona April 22, 2023 to Rome April 29, 2023, is included in three different roll calls,  One for the April 22-29 leg, another for the April 22-May leg [Barcelona to Barcelona] and another for the TA April 08 from Miami to Rome April 29.  There doesn't seem to be a great deal of activity on any of the three RCs.   Is it simply too early, or  are passengers just not in a Roll-Call-Frame-Of-Mind these days?

My wife and I thought we were booked on the noted cruise departing Miami August 6, 2023 and arriving Rome August 27, 2023.  We were ready to make the final arrangements for this cruise when, BAM, we didn't have a cruise booked after all.  Our travel representative, not a direct employee of Oceania,  told us were only booked Miami to Barcelona.  Regrettably, it was the Barcelona to Rome segment of the cruise that was, to us, the major "draw" of this particular voyage.  In any event we are on "stand by" how ever Oceania defines that.  This brings me to the reason for this post.

I assume there are some seasoned Oceania travelers on this site, and I wanted to ask if there is a particular time when bookings may not be finalized?  In other words, will cancellations usually occur 30 days prior to the cruise date, or 60, or 90, or even 120?  Orr perhaps there is no particular time at all and cancellations are purely random?  We're not holding our breath that there is much hope of getting a booking on this cruise, however, if anyone cares to comment on experiences they have had with "stand by" on Oceania, I would appreciate it. 

I mistakenly posted a flight question on P&O cruises rather than this topic.  Moreover I don’t know how to move the post I made. Could someone explain how to move the post to this topic, or look at P&O for my pist “visibility unlimited”. Posted it a few minutes earlier than this post. Thanks for any help.

My wife and I are  older [70-80] and we would like to book a TA cruise  in the Spring of 2023 [Oceania or Celebrity or Holland America;  Florida to  the Netherlands or the Med.] .  However, we can’t nail down a flight itinerary to return home to Cincinnati because we are unable book anything for early May 2023 [our time to return home] this far in advance.  Additionally we are not in a position to “leave it to chance” what the flight arrangements could be.. I’ve looked at some hypothetical dates as far in the future as I can find and many of the flights home are , for folks our age, dreadful with multiple layovers and long delays at each stop. Some of the searches I’ve done have a total time from the European departure city to Cincinnati in excess of 24 hours.  So we’re in a conundrum. If we book a cruise, Oceania at least, wants a $3,000 deposit , which we would have at risk, to say nothing of other pre-payments, before we could confirm flight arrangement, and our possible future claim for canceling being “unacceptable flights”, isn’t going to be in insurable unless we could find some esoteric insurance that would likely be too pricey for us.  Any thoughts?  

Thanks for the responses; very helpful indeed.

Incidentally, I made my first inquiry on our Roll Call, but couldn't get anything definitive. Then tried "Celebrity" but still didn't get the information I needed. This post did the trick. An 8:40 departure sounds pretty tight, we might get a later flight to Glasgow and take the train to Edinburgh. Thanks again.

Have you booked the cruise? We were on a Holland America ship that went through the Gatun Locks and dropped anchor in Gatun Lake for several hours, then back trough the locks to the Atlantic for an early evening docking at Colón. We didn't get off the ship as the research we'd done indicated Colón, per se, isn't much. The ship docked at Colón only to permit those passengers that took a partial-day-tour (they disembarked when we were at anchor) to get back on the ship. Many reported the land tour was "okay, but not spellbinding".

If you haven't booked the tour, consider a cruise that goes through to the Pacific (assuming you're sailing from the Atlantic coast since you mentioned Colón). We went from the Atlantic to the Pacific and north to San Diego a number of years ago and felt that cruise was much more interesting that our more recent voyage to Gatun Lake and return.

When my wife and I are on a Celebrity Ship, the average age cohort goes up (we're both "pensioners"). So we fit right in with the description of the passengers being more mature with fewer children than might be the case on other cruise lines. Because of this we tend to dine in the MDR more than we would on other lines. We also select early or late seating (rather than anytime) as we get an opportunity to visit with people over a number of dining experiences, and share more interesting life stories than "where are you from and have you cruised this ship before?".

We add our vote for the Oceanview Café. It is an extension of the buffet, yes, but the alfresco experience makes it special; at least for us. This is particularly the case if the ship departs port later in the evening.

My wife and I are "pensioners" with adult children. For us, a special dinner, perhaps with a premium bottle of wine, would be much preferred.

We will arrive in Southampton at 5:00 am April 28 on a TA from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. If we opt for the "self help" disembarkation can we leave the ship as early as 6:30 am? More importantly will UK customs/immigration be open?

We want to catch a flight from Southampton to Edinburgh that departs at 8:40 am.

Thanks for any comments.

We will be on the Silhouette TA which is scheduled to arrive in Southampton April 28 at 5:00 am local time. My wife and I are planning to fly from Southampton to Scotland for a 2-week visit.

I read on the Roll Call for our voyage that one passenger experienced UK Immigration coming aboard the ship and cleared all passenger before arriving in Southampton. Another post on the Roll Call said the disembarkation had long lines of passenger as late as 10:00 am. We're in a bit of a quandry regarding the disembarkation procedure at Southampton. We want to disembark as soon as possible (not 5:00 am, but perhaps 6:30 am) so we can travel to the Southampton airport and arrive in time for an 8:40 am flight to Edinburgh.

I would appreciate anyone's experience on a TA arriving is Southampton with an early-morning arrival. Can one disembark early (6:30 am) or will disembarkation occur at 8:00 am or there about?

Thought it might be time to check in and read the rejoining ripples of my inquiry. As I suspected the genre of responses ranged from reprimands of "act like an adult, just get some clothes for crying-out-loud" to notes of commensuration "yea, it's like what happened to me when . . ."

WARNING: For those who approve of only twitter-length correspondence stop reading now. Others may proceed.

A little history. We've been to Europe several times both DIY land journeys and cruises (as some on the thread noted). The cruises have varied from superb to "if I only knew then what I know now". So lost luggage for us wasn't , in the scheme of life, the end of the world. However, I left out of the earlier post some of the bits and pieces that converged into the "perfect storm" of a conundrum that I thought worthy of posting.

While not newbies to international travel; we're getting older. With each year there is more medications and medical-related paraphernalia--to the point where just this stuff could fill a small backpack, not counting the dreaded CPAP machines which we both have. We were on a cruise earlier this year where we thought we'd be "smart" and take only carry-on luggage. We each had a wheeled carry-on, plus one of the new "mini-under-the-seat" things, plus a CPAP and, the allowed personal item (for my wife a handbag, for me a small backpack). We fought the darned luggage every time we had to move them and fully experienced the etymology of the word "luggage" [1590s, from lug (v.) "to drag"]. My wife and I agreed "never again".

This time, for the cruise described in the earlier post, we thought we'd be "smart" (again) by checking our luggage through from our home airport to Nice; specifically to avoid lugging luggage for the 12 hour layover we had at Boston. By the way, the 12 hour layover was not our choice, the airline canceled our booked flight that would have resulted in a reasonable layover but nothing even close to the 12 hours we actually experienced. A less than perfect beginning.

Now, permit me to offer some background to our seeming "bull-headedness" of not taking the "bull by the horns" (pardon the pun), and simply go out and buy clothes (like everyone knows you should do). Recall that we were told by both the airline representatives (both in Nice and the US) and the "reception" staff at the desk on the ship, our luggage would all but certain be on the ship before we sailed. When the discovery of no luggage was made at the Nice airport and for at least the next 5 hours, we continued to receive these assurances. Should we have ignored the experts?

It also bears mentioning that my wife is barely-5-feet-tall and I am an out-of-shape "pensioner" who purchases clothing from the limited "big and tall" selections even when at home. With this in mind, it was not quite the cake-walk of just sauntering to town and picking up a few things before we sailed. We were in Monte Carlo; not near the typical US suburban mall. I must admit that at this early "unfolding" of the saga, I was just a little skeptical of the assurances we were getting and I went on line to see what might be available in the way of basic clothing stores. I did several searches on "where to buy clothing in Monte Carlo" and several other variants of the inquiry. This is more-or-less typical of what I found http://www.10best.com/destinations/monaco/monte-carlo/shopping/clothing-stores/ or maybe this http://www.montecarlosbm.com/luxury-trip-monaco/visit-monaco/shopping/ or http://www.montecarloshopping.com/. After looking into this, I realized we probably weren't even dressed well enough to gain admittance to the shops, let alone purchase something. And if we could get in, we would have likely dropped a couple thousand dollars for two changes of clothing for the two of us. I could only imagine what the battle would have been with the airline to get compensation for such purchases.

But that was only one day, a pragmatists might argue, what about the following day? The next day we docked at Ajaccio. My wife spent until around 11:00 am on the telephone, internet, and face-to-face discussions with the ship's staff inquiring where our luggage was and, if anyone knew where it was, when we might get it. etc.The responses in so many words were "we're working on it". Before departing the ship to purchase clothing, I again searched the internet for where we might purchase some clothing with a similar search phrase I used in Monte Carlo except I changed the name to Ajaccio. A sample of what I found: https://www.corsica.co.uk/shopping-and-markets , https://www.zazzle.com.au/corsica+clothing. (Apropos for a 70-something?) I then tried "clothing stores Ajaccio Corsica" and got https://www.yelp.co.uk/search?cflt=shopping&find_loc=Ajaccio%2C+Corse-du-Sud. "Finally some addresses", I thought, so my wife and I walked around Ajaccio for the next 2 hours up Rue des Marie to Cours Napoleon where we hit pay dirt (we thought). We were able to purchase some replacement medical/hygiene supplies (that were in the lost luggage); we were directed by the pharmacist to the Monoprix. It was a good recommendation and my wife found a few "one-size-fits-all" items as well as socks, underwear and a hat. I was not so fortunate. The men's department was a small back corner of the store. I did get socks and underwear, however, the selection of basic shirts and slacks was very limited in numbers and more limited in sizes (no "big and tall" here). As we walked further, stores were closing for siesta so we returned to the ship to get a bite to eat (the ship's buffet was closed by the way). I went back out after lunch and continued my search for clothing, walking Quai Napoleon to Bd. Danielle Casanova to Rue Bonaparte to Rue Fresch back to Cours Napoleon to Place Abatucci then back to the ship. Most stores were closed during my second search, and those open were of the "souvenier" variety.

By now it was nearing dinner-time and the ship's boutiques were closed until we left port. As we were not dressed for the specialty restaurant we had reservations for, we again went to the buffet, we were becoming regulars. That evening when the ship's stores opened we headed there to select some casual wear for me from the "bounty of items" available. At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I quickly realized the term "bounty" is a relative one and, as I was expecting, no "big and tall" here. In the earlier post I mentioned the $80 golf shirt. I didn't buy one of those and settled for a "markdown" at $70 and a belt (mine had broken during the day). Neither slacks nor button-down casual shirts were available in my sizes. I'd have settled for a pair of "jogging pants" but these were not to be found. End of second day.

A critic might say "that was only 2 days, did you give up and decide to just feel sorry for yourself"? On the contrary, on the third day we planned to again spend the day shopping for clothes, but only after taking the first 2 or 3 hours telephoning, emailing, and talking face-to-face with the ship staff to continue to try to track down our luggage. We received no information from the ship staff or from any airline; we had to initiate everything. During these morning hours we began to pick-up some mixed signals from the ship's Concierge, the airlines and the airline "apps" my wife had on her phone. Permit me to give examples of the mixed signals/messages. Our luggage had been found and it was in Boston, Paris CDG and Nice all pretty much at the same time. The Concierge said we might get our luggage the next day, or the day after that, but certainly the day after that. Good news, huh? So we headed ashore to buy clothes in Olbia, Sardinia. We soon learned it was Ferragosto (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin) and everything was closed except for the eateries and some extraordinarily tacky souvenir shops. Back to the ship. . .again.

At the end of this, the third day, we were pretty disgusted. We had also come to a clothing "fork in the road", so to speak. We had booked private tours for the fourth and fifth days. We had 3 choices: 1) forego the tours and shop for clothes, 2) go on the tours and ask the tour guide (and the two other couples) to drop us off to go shopping and come back and pick us up to resume the tour, or 3) go on the tour as-is (for me, wearing the slacks and shoes I was wearing when I left home). We went with "3". The tour was great, but walking around Rome for most of the day in mid 90 degree heat resulted in some pretty mephitic clothing at the end of the tour. Before dinner on this, the fourth day of the cruise, my wife headed to the laundry so I had something "fresh" to wear for another visit to the buffet.

The fifth day was much like the fourth. The tour of sites, this time in Campania, was remarkable, and our guide was the best ever. I must admit, it completely took my mind off clothing--or lack thereof. The heat and humidity bordered on unbearable and we returned to the ship exhausted. When we walked into the room there were the two, long lost, pieces of luggage. Dirty, missing some hardware, a rip, a missing strap, etc. etc, and tags galore. But they had clothing in them. So end the Tale of Two Pieces of Luggage.

Before closing it bears commenting on the notion that some who joined the thread thought we were in some way suggesting the cruise line should do something for us. Some who posted seemed to think we were expecting some kind of "hitting a fiscal jackpot" with the cruise line as the payor. We didn't and don't have any thought of this. But, on the other hand, we didn't experience the cruise line's advertisement spin about unmatched or other superlatives to describe their service to guests. What we would expect is that this cruise line (and other cruise lines as well) might initiate a system to truly coordinate lost luggage with the airlines--perhaps even issuing to cruise guests some type luggage tag (made of metal or other durable material) to attach to the luggage before leaving home. The tag would include an itinerary of the ship and contact phone numbers, email address, etc, etc. so that lost luggage can reach a ship one-the-move. While on the matter of role of the cruise line in all this, I forgot to mention in the first post there were a number of other couples who were in the same boat (sorry for the pun) we were: lost luggage. The scene at the ship's reservation desk was ugly with a lot of shouting, pointing of fingers, shaking of fists and other confrontational goings on. It was tempting to enter the ruckus, but my wife persuaded me to remain calm(ish). I think she believed I might have a stroke, then she'd have had that to deal with too.

So, no thought of "hitting a jackpot" and our thought in making the post was to inquire about how to get the attention of someone who could make something positive come of this event; maybe as simple as "a new genre of luggage tag". If a cruise line was the first to do something like this, it could be used in marketing, at least until others caught on.

What did we learn from all this? Basically "luggage and airlines don't play well together" and when coupled with a cruise it becomes serious. If we have to fly to board a cruise in the future, which is likely as we don't live on the coast, we're both thinking of wearing quick-dry tops, bottoms, underwear, and socks for all flights and another two changes of the same things (maybe in different colors) in a backpack. Then when luggage is lost we can do laundry every three days. Moreover, upon arrival at the ship, sans luggage, immediately head out to buy clothes spending money like a "drunken sailor" (a figure of speech, not intended as anything derogatory to any seaman/seawoman) and getting sworn affidavits from all clothing sales clerks confirming our purchases were not extravagant. We'd also keep copious notes, record conversations and take photographs in preparation for the plethora of paperwork for the airline (or the travel insurance) to recover the cost of purchased clothing.

That's all folks.

I have empathy with your situation: "first cruise ever" and threatening weather systems. Take comfort in the fact that the cruise line has nothing to gain, and a great deal to loose, to disregard big Atlantic storms. Next, as others have said, unless you have an "extraordinary" travel insurance plan, you won't recover the cost of your voyage.

The weather may be cloudy and likely some precipitation, but a quick check of the plethora of IRMA possible tracks on the internet, the latest hint at a more westerly route. Bermuda is approximately 600 miles east of the East Coast, so the storm would have to take a rather abrupt turn to the east to hit Bermuda.

My first cruise was back in the days when the ships were smaller and the one my wife and I was on didn't have stabilizers (it was an old ship about to be taken out of service). We were in very, very rough seas in the Pacific in an El Niño year. We had our "wrist bands" and some Meclazine (which we didn't need) and did just fine (remember it was my first cruise too). The weather resulted in some interesting events (nothing dangerous) that could have easily been in a movie in the genre of "Blazing Saddles" or "Spaceballs" (if you're too young find a copy of one or both in some archive). Thirty years later we're still talking about this voyage when the subject of "were you ever in rough weather. . .".

Your post was recent, yet it noted a cruise in September "this year" (?) Is the cruise later this year or September 2018? In any event, we've enjoyed every port we've ever visited in Europe, but Amsterdam, Lisbon and Barcelona are among our favorites. I don't think you could go wrong with an itinerary that included these three. I particularly like the termination in Barcelona. We recently completed a 9-day cruise that ended in Barcelona; we tacked on 3 additional days and nights and these were the best of the entire journey. We wish we'd added yet another day (or maybe even 2).

Your cruise Roll Call is the path to linking-up with others to form a small group. We agree with those that have suggested private tours. "Private" does not necessarily mean it is one-on-one (or two). Our private tour in St. Petersburg was 16 people--much better than 40 or 50 and a large bus.

If you're the least bit adventuresome, check public transportation in the ports you'll visit before you leave home. For example, Helsinki has a wonderful tram system that with a day-pass transit card, you could see most of the city on your own. You can search on the internet "(name of city) map of tram routes" (or buses or Metro) and go from there.

As noted earlier, the smaller ships have an advantage of sometimes docking closer to the city than the mega-ships. I find this a plus, particularly if the ship is in port more than 1 day.

A couple thoughts on St. Petersburg, we were there when 6 of the 8 cruise ship berths were used and going through immigration was, well, a nightmare on an epic scale. I don't know much what one could do about this as most who visit don't have a Visa and need to join their tour as soon as possible (Imagine every person on multiple ships more-or-less going ashore at the same time). We were in St. Petersburg for three days, and immigration was a "breeze" the second and third day. Speaking of Visas, if you've not already do so, familiarize yourself with the Visa situation for Russia. Unless you really want an "over-the-top" immersion in Palaces and gold leaf, a 2 day tour in St. Petersburg is probably ample--we did the 3-day and it bordered on too much of a good thing.

My wife and I really enjoyed Tallinn, and if it was an indication of other Baltic State ports, I'd suggest you consider a cruise that would include Riga, Klaipeda or Liepaja. We also enjoyed Helsinki.

One other mundane, but important, item; Sweden, Norway and Denmark have different currencies. On our visit, un-manned kiosks for Metro tickets, etc. would not accept US credit cards--even those with so-called "chip and pin".

The Baltic region is fantastic, we've visited twice. Our first visit, in the Autumn, was overcast an rainy, we experienced beautiful weather on our second visit in May. Have a great time.

I'm late in seeing this thread, but we experienced something that may or may not be typical. We took a repositioning cruise from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. This was on a European line and the itinerary was fantastic, but the in-port time (arrival, departure and duration) was "strange" and there were no shuttles available when the port was distant from the city center. It was a great bargain, but, at least for us, not quite what we were accustomed to regarding time-in-port.

My wifeand I recently returned from a 9-day cruise in the western Mediterranean (welive in the US). We checked our luggagethrough from our local airport to Boston, to Paris and on to Nice, France. Weflew on two “partner” airlines. In Nice,we were to pick up our luggage for a transfer arranged through the cruise lineto Monte Carlo where the cruise began. Theship was scheduled to sail approximately 8 hours after our arrival in Nice.

When wearrived in Nice, we had no luggage. Thismeant we had only the clothes we had been wearing during the 24-hous of flights and layovers except for a T-shirt andshorts ensemble (unsuitable for day wear) my wife rolled up and carried in abackpack for sleeping “just in case.”

We were toldby the person representing the cruise line who met us in Nice that our luggagewould "probably arrive on the next flight and be onboard the ship beforeit sailed.” My wife insisted on filing a claim before we left the Nice airport;thank heavens she did. If not, we likelywould have never seen our luggage. Neithermy wife nor I speak French and filing the claim was a bit difficult and we wereconcerned some key information could have been missed in translation; we didget a copy of the claim form including the claim number. The airline representative in Nice also noted“our luggage should arrive before the ship sailed.” She said that if, by chance, it didn’t arrivebefore we sailed, it would definitely arrive the next day, as others weremissing their bags as well. As asubstitute for our luggage and all our belongs and personal effects that werelost, we each received from the airline a tooth brush, 2.5ml of toothpaste, 5mlshaving gel, a plastic razor, a one-use deodorant “wipe,” two cotton swabs, athin white T-shirt (way too small for me) and a 5ml tube of “Fabulous Serum.”

When weboarded our ship, we were again told by the Reception staff “your luggage willbe on board before we sail; it almost always is.” It was not. In hindsight we now know that no one had anyidea where our luggage was when we boarded the ship as well aswho-knows-how-long-afterward. Weimmediately contacted the cruise Concierge (who was the person handling oursituation), our travel insurance company, and the airlines again (this time aUS representative who was just going off-shift in the middle of the night UStime). The airline representative said the airline would pay for"essentials" to a "reasonable extent," but other than thiswe received no information about the location of our luggage. Moreover we saw no visible results that wewere receiving any assistance for the ensuing days except for comforting platitudes such as "we're doingeverything possible" and "your luggage will certainly arrive tomorrow,"and -- best of all-- “this happens all the time, we’ll take care of it.”

I mightadd my wife had installed the airline “apps” on her iPhone for both partnersbefore we left home so we could track our luggage. The only time it was working (we think) is whenwe left home for Boston; the app indicated “your luggage is aboard.” On later days when she tried using the apps,they indicated our luggage was in Boston, Paris and Nice, all at pretty-muchthe same time. For a time, the appshowed nothing at all concerning our baggage. As of the writing of this post, theping-pong-ball luggage locations are showing again. But at this point in timethat’s neither here nor there.

Back tothe unfolding of events: during the balance of the first day we boarded theship and for the four following days our luggage was who-knows-where; it couldhave been in Boston, Paris, Nice, or Tombouctou for that matter. All we knew for certain was that it wasn’twith us. We provided baggage “tracking” numbers, the number of the “claim” wefiled in Nice, physical descriptions of the luggage, and each time we spokewith someone we noted we had included a specific day-by-day itinerary in theoutside pocket of both pieces of luggage with the complete cruise itinerary.. It should not have been difficult for any ofthe entities we were dealing with to know where we were every day of our trip,including arrival and departure times for the ports visited.

Over thecourse of the 5 days without luggage (and 12 days hence—we’re now home) we’vemade phone calls sent emails, etc. Noone we’ve talked with at the airlines, cruise line or travel insurance companyhas expressed any interest in the fact that our cruise was for the most partseverely corrupted for 5 of the 9 days, (a cruise which I might add wasexpensive--at least for us "pensioners"--on an "upscale"cruise line).

No onewe've contacted grasps the fact that we were for all intents-and-purposesstranded in our room for the first 72 hours. We went on a shore excursion the fourth and fifth days only because wehad pre-booked them and would have lost an additional $700 that was non-refundable. We went on the excursions wearing the sameclothes we were wearing when we left home. Yes, we washed our clothes (such as they were)once a day. However, I had to stay inthe room with no clothes while my wife did our pitiful laundry consisting of 2shirts, 2 pants, 2 pair of underwear and 4 socks. The cruise line magnanimously offered to sellus clothing in their boutiques at a 25% discount, but this was of little helpas we needed shoes, underwear, so-called "country club chic" attire,etc.--not logo emblazoned hats andshorts, jewelry and designer-trinkets (all at costs that made our eyes watereven after the 25% discount). I wonderif the airline would have considered $80 plus another 20% VAT “essential and reasonable”for a golf shirt.

Bothpieces of luggage were sitting in our room when we returned to the ship at theend of the fifth day--when our cruise was over half gone. The luggage was tattered and torn with piecesmissing and looked like it might have really been to Tombouctou, and beyond.

So, whatdoes one do to get the attention of someone high enough in the food chain atthe various companies that we believe have some culpability in this 5 daydebacle? We’re not expecting any entityto refund the total cost of the cruise, but we have been unable to get even asimple acknowledgement of the frustration, humiliation and severe impact thishad on over half of the activities we’d planed. Many times during those 5 days people on the ship who we didn’t knowwould come up to me and say. “We see you still don’t have your luggage.” Nice, huh?

It seemsas though with every company we’ve contacted, if we are compensated (as theother party sees fit) for “delayed baggage” that’s all that matters. Those lost5 days don’t amount to the proverbial “hill of beans.”

So, ifanyone out there has experienced something similar, kindly let us know how youwent about finding someone (anyone?) who was not totally indifferent and whowould just take the time to acknowledge such and experience was more thansimply “delayed essentials” and tatteredluggage.

We didhave one thought: My wife took a photograph of me sitting in our room, with atowel draped discretely across my lap, while she went to do our laundry. I'm thinking of posting this on a social mediasite—not for laughs but to show what occurred over those 5 days. The post could include the names of the entities’whose representatives comforted us by expressing, in so many words, “it willall be okay.” I thought a fitting title might be "Cruising with noclothes" or “It will all be okay.”

We are another couple on the May 19, 2017 Silhouette Baltic Cruise. If anyone reading this is following the other threads describing this cruise, don't get your hopes up, this thread will not have the comprehensive descriptions and the professional quality photographs you'll find on the other threads.

My wife and I usually meander on serendipitous DIY visits when in port and frequently visit places or try things that are a bit off the proverbial "beaten path". I though I'd try to describe a few such wanderings in the ports visited on the Baltic cruise.

This first post is a trial to see if I can even attach a photograph. If it works I'll post a few others, if it doesn't this will be the beginning (and the end) of this thread.

It worked. This picture is a reminder that when you stop in Warnemunde (Rostock) you will have ample time to venture off on your own to see the smaller places in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region. We met a fellow passenger on the ship while waiting for the public bus from the ship to the hauptbahnhof in Rostock. We started talking and learned she was a German expat now living with her husband in Wales. The three of us decided to head west together and visit Wismar. We took the train to the Hanseatic city and spent a large part of the day there including a fantastic lunch at an outdoor café on the Town Hall Square. This is a photo of the Gewoelbe historic house across the River Grube.

This may not be read as it is now the end of April, but in any case here goes. Is there something particular you are looking for in St. Petersburg? We'll be there in late May and one of our ALLA Tour stops is on Nevsky prospekt, the street that is described as THE shopping street in St Petersburg. From what I've read there's everything on this street to purchase from soup to nuts.

We're not big shoppers when we travel, but just for kicks, I did a 5 minute search on the internet and found sites for some retailers mentioned as being on Nevsky prospekt; I assume you can purchase merchandise on the sites. This isn't as "authentic" as shopping in the actual store, but it is an option. Note that US Customs (and maybe Russian Customs) may have something to say about what you can have shipped, so do some research.

The earlier post about a not-so-nice experience on a tour by one of the "major" tour operators in St Petersburg is the first such report I've ever heard. For whatever that's worth.

Book a tour on one with one of the tour companies noted. As suggested by others on this thread, request some additional "shopping time", I suspect your request will be honored in some way. Enjoy St Petersburg.

Is there anyone on this cruise but has not posted on (or does not read)the Roll Call? If so, are you going to the performance of Pagliacci at the Mariinsky Theatre on May 28? If so, please respond on this thread. Thank you.

My wife and I are on the Celebrity Baltic Cruise in May. We are planning to visit Schwerin and Wismar the day we're in port. In our case, the cruise traffic is heavy and we'll dock at Seehafen on the east side of the river. We'll have to take a taxi to Lutten Klein or directly to Rostock for a train to Schwerin. If your ship docks at Warnemunde your travel to Rostock is quick on the S-Bahn.

The travel time from Rostock to Schwerin is less than an hour and trains run frequently. If you depart early from Rostock (8:25, you'll be in Schwerin at 9:20 so you'll have all day there. If you ship doesn't sail until 10:00 pm, there is no reason to hurry back. Enjoy Schwerin

My wife and I booked a Mediterranean cruise in August of 2017 including air only because it seemed like a good deal. We did not book directly through Oceania and, regrettably, didn't do our homework before booking; the result is it seems we'll get what we get relative to the air. We're in the dark regarding how many stops there will be on the flights between the US and Europe (going and returning home), what carrier we will be flying on, and the time between when the plane arrives vis-?-vis when the ship sails at the beginning of the cruise and the time between when the ship docks at the last port (Barcelona) and when the plane departs Barcelona. We are assuming the air will be "economy" (not a days that probably means some when not in the "main cabin" (?). We were told-- an "oh by the way"--Oceania doesn?t include transfers, so we will fend for ourselves in this regard.

We wanted to modify the air travel at the end of the cruise to remain in Barcelona a few days.

When we telephoned the TA we used (and subsequently Oceania), we got the same answer: there will be the deviation fee for each of us plus some "unknown difference" in cost of the Oceania air fare and what we want (which is a flight a few days later). We were told we could amend the booking and not have to pay the deviation fee but this required us to book a hotel in Barcelona through Oceania. When we checked this option it was crazy costly. We have decided to take whatever it is we get and know not to book "air included" in the future.

Berlin

Have you visited Berlin previously? If you've been to Berlin before and you know the particular places you want to visit and are somewhat familiar with the U-bahn and S-bahn systems, then a DIY visit would be possible using the train to Berlin and public transportation in the city.

If, on the other hand you've not previously visited the city and are not familiar with public transportation in the city, then a tour would be best. As you are aware, the travel time between Rostock and Berlin is several hours each way, and Berlin is rather spread-out. As a consequence, you will likely spend much of your time in the city moving from place to place in a bus or van with little time to visit at any one stop.

Some have suggested taking a tour of Rostock; this is a reasonable alternative and will permit you to more leisurely visit Rostock. You may also want to check on private tours available that go from Rostock to Schwerin and others that go to Bad Doberan (location of a functioning steam train). The private tours are accustomed to serving cruise passengers, so you should not worry about getting back to the ship on time.

Have you visited Berlin previously? If you've been to Berlin before and you know the particular places you want to visit and are somewhat familiar with the U-bahn and S-bahn systems, then a DIY visit would be possible using the train to Berlin and public transportation in the city.

If, on the other hand you've not previously visited the city and are not familiar with public transportation in the city, then a tour would be best. As you are aware, the travel time between Rostock and Berlin is several hours each way, and Berlin is rather spread-out. As a consequence, you will likely spend much of your time in the city moving from place to place in a bus or van with little time to visit at any one stop.

Some have suggested taking a tour of Rostock; this is a reasonable alternative and will permit you to more leisurely visit. You may also want to check on private tours available that go from Rostock to Schwerin and others that go to Bad Doberan (location of a functioning steam train). The private tours are accustomed to serving cruise passengers, so you should not worry about getting back to the ship on time.

We have not previously sailed on Oceania and will be on the Riviera sailing from Monaco on August 13 and ending in Barcelona on August 22. We have booked the cruise "package including air" through and online TA. We are assuming Oceania places us on a flight that departs Barcelona the day we arrive in port. We would like to stay in Barcelona 1 or 2 additional days. Does Oceania offer some type “upgrade” that we might be able to purchase without a “monetary penalty” (just the cost of the hotel upgrade) for not booking this at the time of the original booking? When we asked the TA about flying out of Barcelona a day or two later, he said there would be a $179 per person "charge", but we didn't ask about an "Oceania Upgrade" for the additional stay. Any suggestions?