Thoughts, impressions, and observations for the World Cruise.

[island lady]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

I spent the entire month preceding your boarding sailing on Serenade, and watched (and documented) the mad scramble by crew to cover/patch/hide all the warts so you wouldn't notice them. I'm glad you haven't seen or experienced what I saw and experienced that entire month. 

 

Warts....LOL...too funny. 

 

[royalcedars]

13 minutes ago, island lady said:

Not sure about the Machu Picchu...but I am bummed about the phone message I just got from shore excursions desk.  "Due to a lack of participation, your tour in Lima the "Taste of Lima" tour is cancelled".  Whaaat??  They cancel this tour two days prior,  that I booked over a year ago, that I am sure they knew exactly how many had booked...they just now cancel it??!!  Not happy.  This was an all day "foodie" tour I was looking forward to.  Crap.  

Perfect time for a private tour since you don't have to worry about missing all aboard!  Trip Advisor has quite a few highly rated food tours for Lima that still have availability.  Don't miss out!

[lovesthebeach2]

3 minutes ago, royalcedars said:

Perfect time for a private tour since you don't have to worry about missing all aboard!  Trip Advisor has quite a few highly rated food tours for Lima that still have availability.  Don't miss out!

As does Viator.

[ILCTCRUISER]

1 minute ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

As does Viator.

Trip Advisor owns Victor.

[lovesthebeach2]

16 minutes ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

Trip Advisor owns Victor.

Thanks! I didn’t know that.

[ILCTCRUISER]

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Thanks! I didn’t know that.

Have to laugh as I reread my post.  Should someone tell Victor??  Last I looked you could book cruises at the TripAdvisor website or the Viator website.  However, you’re pretty much looking at same tours.  I’ve also used Shore Excursions which is a company not the RCL Shore Excursions desk.  However, I believe the company was started by former RCL employees.

[CSHS1979]

45 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I spent the entire month preceding your boarding sailing on Serenade, and watched (and documented) the mad scramble by crew to cover/patch/hide all the warts so you wouldn't notice them. I'm glad you haven't seen or experienced what I saw and experienced that entire month. 

 

Well they did a good job, ship is fabulous and we've been 50 days now. What's behind us is nothing worth worrying about

[Hoopster95]

53 minutes ago, island lady said:

  This was an all day "foodie" tour I was looking forward to.  Crap.  

check out Lima Gourmet company… excellent!!! Wouldn’t be surprised if they’re fully booked however 
 

Also I was happy with Haku Tours… look them up. if you’re overnighting in Lima, their afternoon City tour + Magic Water full day tour is excellent.

 

or DIY walking Miraflores on the cliff walk is a must. Walk all the way to.Barranco, back up to Kennedy Park. (Map it out to see how far). Makes for an excellent day!

Edited January 27 by Hoopster95

[pstone1]

22 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Well they did a good job, ship is fabulous and we've been 50 days now. What's behind us is nothing worth worrying about

We were on here for 20 days in September and thought everything was wonderful!  The rest of the upgrades they’ve made are icing on the cake!  We’re very happy!

[CSHS1979]

4 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We were on here for 20 days in September and thought everything was wonderful!  The rest of the upgrades they’ve made are icing on the cake!  We’re very happy!

 

Some foljs are definitely the glass is half empty kinda people.

 

Love the smoothie bar behind WJ

Edited January 28 by CSHS1979

[CSHS1979]

Added a day in Lima, but no update on Machu Pichu yet

[pstone1]

21 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

Added a day in Lima, but no update on Machu Pichu yet

Thanks for posting!  We did not receive this letter yet, but just did a little research and have decided we’ll book a private tour first thing tomorrow morning for Lima, Day 2!  Hope you have a fantastic time on your MP adventure!

[taznremmy]

@CSHS1979  Thanks for posting this.  I haven’t received it yet.  Hoping you can make your tour to MP! 🤞

[Badatz2]

10 hours ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

Have to laugh as I reread my post.  Should someone tell Victor??  Last I looked you could book cruises at the TripAdvisor website or the Viator website.  However, you’re pretty much looking at same tours. 

They are so interconnected that when I called Trip Advisor customer service it went directly to Viator.

[pstone1]

14 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

Also I was happy with Haku Tours… look them up. if you’re overnighting in Lima, their afternoon City tour + Magic Water full day tour is excellent.

We just booked that tour for our (now) second full day in Lima!  It’s with Haku Tours but through Viator, as round trip transportation from the Port was included.  It looks great and in addition to the City Tour, it includes the Monastery with a visit to the catacombs, dinner, and the Magic Water Fountains for $105 each!

[ILCTCRUISER]

47 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

We just booked that tour for our (now) second full day in Lima!  It’s with Haku Tours but through Viator, as round trip transportation from the Port was included.  It looks great and in addition to the City Tour, it includes the Monastery with a visit to the catacombs, dinner, and the Magic Water Fountains for $105 each!

We had a good experience with Haku in Lima.

[Arzeena]

16 hours ago, orville99 said:

I spent the entire month preceding your boarding sailing on Serenade, and watched (and documented) the mad scramble by crew to cover/patch/hide all the warts so you wouldn't notice them. I'm glad you haven't seen or experienced what I saw and experienced that entire month. 

Sorry, not the way I would want to spend a wonderful cruise......counting warts and documenting patchwork. 😁. Was there nothing more interesting to do?😉

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, pstone1 said:

We just booked that tour for our (now) second full day in Lima!  It’s with Haku Tours but through Viator, as round trip transportation from the Port was included.  It looks great and in addition to the City Tour, it includes the Monastery with a visit to the catacombs, dinner, and the Magic Water Fountains for $105 each!

Hope you will post pictures. I would love to see the Monastery and Magic Water!

[island lady]

16 hours ago, royalcedars said:

Perfect time for a private tour since you don't have to worry about missing all aboard!  Trip Advisor has quite a few highly rated food tours for Lima that still have availability.  Don't miss out!

 

We won't.   Have plans to tour on our own.  

[island lady]

The letter was on our door very early this morning.  Another of those commercial ports, no walking on pier...shuttle to terminal.  From what we can see...huge truck traffic back up trying to come into the port.  Enterprising locals setting up their stands on the dock.  😉  

 

 

[orville99]

16 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Sorry, not the way I would want to spend a wonderful cruise......counting warts and documenting patchwork. 😁. Was there nothing more interesting to do?😉

Thoroughly enjoyed our 28 night Panama Canal B2B and was simply providing updates requested by the people who were going to be on the WC that asked if we could give them progress reports on the promised upgrades to the ship.

 

Sorry if documenting what was requested rankled some people, but reality is reality.

 

[island lady]

Getting ready to meet in the Safari lounge for our tour of the Ballestras islands to see the birds (including Penguins), Sea Lions, and Seals.  Found out is a good idea to wear a hat ....not just for the sun...but bird deposits as I noticed on a review.  😄   Pretty much just overloaded open speed boats to take a few spins around the rock island (no landing on it) out in the middle of the harbor.  Ehhh...something to do.  😉 

[island lady]

First day in Lima, we are touring on our own with friends.  She is fluent Spanish and will be our tour guide, so I promised to pick up lunch tab.  😉 

[island lady]

2 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We just booked that tour for our (now) second full day in Lima!  It’s with Haku Tours but through Viator, as round trip transportation from the Port was included.  It looks great and in addition to the City Tour, it includes the Monastery with a visit to the catacombs, dinner, and the Magic Water Fountains for $105 each!

 

Thanks!  Will look that up.  Touring on our own with friends first day, but will research (if there is anything left) tours for 2nd day.  🙂 

[orville99]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

First day in Lima, we are touring on our own with friends.  She is fluent Spanish and will be our tour guide, so I promised to pick up lunch tab.  😉 

Always the best way to experience a new city if you have the chance. During my business travels through Europe, I always tried to build a "free" day into my schedule so my local counterpart and I could tour the city before we were walled up in a conference room somewhere.

 

BTW, did the MP tour groups get off OK? Hopefully their excursion will go as planned.