cruisinsusin

too late to edit the above but adding that there seem to be 2 issues: 1st: is the gift card paid portion of the cruise fare insured using Chase since the specs say "all or part" paid with the Reserve card. 2nd: Are the gift cards refunded byHAL if cruise is canceled before final payment

The way I read the Amex travel insurance specs is that the entire trip must be paid with the Amex card so gift cards would make me uneasy, whereas the Chase Sapphire reserve travel insurance specs say "all or part" must be paid with the Chase card. Might be a good question for Steve in the TripInsurance store

We were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed our Cartagena visit last year.

We were on our veranda when maintenance came- it probably took 10-15 min with 3 staff placing shims and caulking

we were in 11209- we were very glad it was resolved with that repair and only had one sleep deprived night.

We had banging and popping in a mid ship sky suite on Ascent last week but maintenance was able to place multiple shims around the veranda door frame and then recaulk the seams and it was totally gone.

We snorkeled there as well- pretty good snorkeling- but took the seaplane. It was a cool experience and no motion sickness!

We were in 11209 and did have a lot of cracking and popping the first night but, after reporting it, maintenance came and placed a number of shims in the veranda door frame area and it completely resolved( even in the higher seas).

Enjoy David and Marcia! Transiting the canal is an amazing experience

We were on the Ascent in the retreat and disembarked this past Sunday. We each had premium internet access on one device. Easy to log off and then log onto a different device if desired.

My favorite too but not available on Ascent this cruise- we asked!

Hope @Salt Lifer doesn’t mind if I jump in - we have stayed at the Hyatt Centric before several cruises out of Ft Lauderdale and have really liked it. Not very far from the port or airport

The US State dept has great resources for the US traveler https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html.html?_gl=1*1ha5nld*_gcl_au*NTY4MTkxODM3LjE3MTE3NDc3NTc. drop down to the "learn about your destination " box and enter the countries to be visited. It will let you know about required visas, embassies, health issues and much more.

It had been years since we cruised with Holland. We did a 7 day cruise on the N.A. in January and saw very few children. We actually liked it so much we have several other HAL cruises booked. We will definitely avoid booking the 7 days itineraries during March/April.

HI @saltymac We used Grayson from Toursby locals https://www.toursbylocals.com/singapore-walking-tour-local-tasting-food-kampong-glam-little-india-tour-with-locals-grayson for a food tour that took us to 3 of the ethnic quarters of the city with lots of info re: the city and life( in addition to food!) We really enjoyed our time with him and he was very helpful in the pre-planning as we had someone with dietary restrictions. It is very easy and inexpensive to go to the Botanical gardens and the Gardens by the Bay using Grab ( the Singapore Uber equivalent). We really enjoyed SIngapore!