Iamthesea

I second trying to do Normandy, if you can.

One of my favorite excursions was while docked in Civitavecchia, Italy. DH and I had been to Rome a couple of times before, but had missed a few of the smaller sites, like the The Aventine Keyhole and touring the interior of the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument. We took an hour long Fast train into Rome after walking to the train station near the port. The train arrived near St. Peters Square in Rome. It happened to be a Wednesday, so we dropped in on the Pope giving his Papal Blessing. 🙏 Afterward, we flagged down a taxi and asked the driver if she could take us on a 'speed' tour of a list of sites that I had already written down. She agreed. We knocked out 6-7 sites in a couple of hours. Our driver was having as much fun as we were! She would drop us off and either wait for us to jump out of the cab to take a photo, or come back with-in a set time limit to pick us up. After visiting the sites, we asked to be taken to a pizza place for lunch. She picked us back up after an hour and drove us to the train station. Back in Civitavecchia, we arrived at the port in plenty of time for all aboard. 🤗 So much fun!!! You could do the same in Paris. 😉

Do you mean CruiseDeckPlans? I am a Member and will look at the K'dam plan. Thanks for the tip. That was what I needed to know. Great! 😉

In the evening, it becomes Baristas Aperitivo – a lovely bright cocktail venue that seems to be ignored by the vast majority of passengers. Nope, I don’t understand why. Not least as Martinis is so cold that we found it actively unpleasant to sit there. Had no idea! We were on her last month. Regularly went to Baristas in the morning, however. We did enjoy Martini's. Just wish it were a little larger. Hard to find seats.

We originally booked the cruise with HAL within that 90 days (turned it over to our TA a little later on) but at the time of the booking, we had not yet sailed on that May 2023 cruise where we apparently earned enough to become 3* members. We will be sure and ask next time! We did so well turning the booking over to our TA (almost $1100 in OBC) that we don't mind missing out on another $100 OBC from HAL. Already getting $100 from them for the original booking. And I will check with Specialty reservations on the ship, so that we do not lose our origianl reservation. Thanks all!!!

Has anyone stayed in one of the Vista Suites that have 4 berths? Deck 4 appears to have two such staterooms (indicated with a rectangle on the Deck plans) and I am wondering where the berth from the ceiling is located. If over the single sofa bed, then it would knock out the overhead cabinets. I suppose the berth could be located over the main bed. Just curious if we decided to book that VS.

A little story about our Villa Eprussi de Rothchild experience. DH and I did not know about the shortcut around the sea wall/beach area until coming back from the Villa. We took a taxi after from the port after getting off of the tender. After touring the Villa (which we loved!), we asked about getting a taxi back to the ship. We were told that we would have to call one, or we could easily walk back. Taking the 2nd option, we began to walk down the steep drive of the Villa when a golf cart stopped and offered us a ride down. The young man worked at the villa and was heading back to town on business. He let us off at a hole in the beach wall and told us how to get around to the ship. Nice people! Hlitner - Several years ago, DH and I took a ships excursion to Cassis and had a lovely tour, and leisurely hot chocolate on the sea front (it was coolish that day) and then walked over to where we heard noise from a crowd of people. Turned out that we were in Cassis during their annual wine festival. Lots of dancing, free wine tastings, etc. Lots of fun!!!

This post reminded me to ask a similar question. Maybe it will help someone else, as well. We recently became aware that we are now 3* members after having taken a cruise in May of 2023. I noticed that we should be getting 25% off of Specialty Dining reservations (outside of HIA). Before receiving info on being a 3* member, I booked and paid for a reservation in Canaletto for an upcoming cruise. Payment made 1/17 of $59 for 2 persons. How do I get the 25% off? Also saw the following and wondered if it is automatic when booking, or do we need to ask for the OBC? For our upcoming cruise (booked back in 8/2023), we should get a $200 OBC, if eligible, but I mainly want to know for any future bookings. For future bookings, are any of the Mariner benefits automatic? NEW Mariner Society Loyalty Benefit Exclusive Mariner Society® Early Booking Bonus: Mariner Society® loyalty members can enjoy this new exclusive benefit of up to $400 onboard credit per stateroom, when select cruises open for sale.

That was a good deal! The more inventory, the less the cost to upgrade. I briefly thought about waiting until next week to see about getting the Signature Suite, but knowing how popular they are, and at 2 weeks out, I don't think the rate to upsell would go down any more. We are midship. The other two SS that were available are all the way forward, and the staterooms are smaller than a normal SS. Plus, the balcony is practical unusable on sea days. Forward Signature Suite

So sorry to hear of your accident. 😥 Hope the injury is not too severe. Your husband is a sweetheart!!! Did he like Ghent? On my upcoming cruise with DH, we have a chance to go to Brugge or Ghent. Since we went to Antwerp and Brugge by train last year, on a land trip, we are thinking of Ghent this time around. Also, thanks to your mentioning of Arnhem, I looked it up and am interested in touring the town. We have made connections there by train a couple of times and never thought about what the town would look like. I feel like we have missed something!!! Sorry that your river ship cannot make it there.

I wonder if the above BB King band will do the crossing and be onboard in 4 weeks for my cruise.

LOL Back to the drawing board! Thank you, again.

I would have stayed put, also. Doesn't sound much like an upgrade not knowing where you might end up. Recently had a similar situation on a Carnival cruise. We purposely chose the OV because the stateroom was larger than the standard balcony room (the "upgrade"), plus, my daughter did not want my grandchildren to have access to a balcony. If you see that there are several Veranda's available next week, it wouldn't hurt for you to call HAL directly. That's the best way! Do not wait for an offer.

Thank you. I replied on the other thread. Sorry again for the off-subject question. 😔

OK, thank you. When I did a search with Cruise Critic, Rotterdam, and 7114, I came up with THIS thread. Take a look at post #4. I must have misunderstood and thought that you were showing your own invoice.