afzeluches123

Most places won't accept Euros. You might be able to use them in the markets in the old city in Jerusalem and maybe in Accre and Nazereth. Some places might accept US$.

Most places in Israel, including Taxis accept credit cards with no problem.

All other places - Israeli Shekels

Never done this, but since there is a very strict border check I think the only way to pass from Aquaba to Eilat is through buses or Taxis and you'll have to switch taxis at the border. Then when you reach Eilat you can take a bus but they are not very frequent. Taxi will cost a small fortune.

Since American football is not a popular sport here, I doubt you'll find a public place that will broadcast the game. I'd suggest that you get yourself a decent tablet, find some free wifi spot (most malls have them and so are usually hotel lobbies) and watch the game through the web.

I posted on this before but things get even weirder than they were..

By now we did 4 cruises with RC. Our last one was on the 5th of July this year.

Before the cruise, on the RC site I was a gold member and the cruise points listed were 29 (don't know how...prior to the last cruise we had 3 cruises, each for 7 nights, and I believe 2 of them were before they changed the score system).

All the cruises we did as a family. My husband, my kids (now 14 and 18) and myself.

Yesterday my son got an email that welcomes him to the platinum category of C&A after reaching 30 points.

Neither me nor my husband got such a mail and when I looked at the RC account I'm still gold member with 29 points, and the last cruise is already documented.

Since its not yet 2 weeks after the cruise is there a chance I'll get more points?

Great Review, can't wait to hear the rest.

We'll be on board the Oasis on the 5th of July.

I wrote Rcldining as was recommended. Got a reply after a few days that my request was forwarded to the ship, and today I got an Email from the Restaurant operations coordinator that our request was granted and I even got our table number.

Thank you all for your inputs.

Request a table for four on your cruise reservation.

Resrevation is already done and paid for. Should we ask our TA to do that?

Hi,

We'll be cruising on the Oasis this coming July (can't wait already).

This will be our 4th cruise. All previous cruises we were a large group (minimum of 8 on our last cruise). On this one it's only 4 of us (2 parents, 2 teens).

Will we be asked ,or even "forced" ,to share a table at the MDR with people we don't know (that might be nice but also might not)? Or will we be allowed to have a small table for just the 4 of us?

I've been on three cruises during World Cup and all three times I have been able to watch the games in room, in bars or in thr Concirge Lounge.

Unfortunately he won't be able to watch Israel.

Yea..Bummer (about Israel...).

We will be on borad the Oasis during the Soccer World cup semifinals (July 5-12).

Honestly, I couldn't care less, but my husband would love to see those games.

Does anyone know if there's a chance the game will be broadcassed on any media in the ship?

All sites will be open during Sukkot. I would recommend on renting a car especially since you've been here before and your able to get around with a GPS. Yad Vashem and Massada have self guided tours available. During Sukkot, if I'm not wronng, there will be a Kleizmer festival in Safed during this time which should be very nice ( though crowded ).

I looked it up and must correct: The festival in Zafed is in August and not during Sukkot.

We will be arriving in Israel during Sukkot in October for 6 days leaving on Friday Oct 17 for Venice to catch a cruise. This is not our first time in Israel but it's our first time in Israel together. We are very young seniors. We'd like to see the tunnel tour, Yad Vashem, the Old City, Masada and the Dead Sea as well as visit Safed. We are planning to stay in Tel Aviv for the first couple days. As you are a resident, you would know what sites we can expect to find open during the holidays. Would you suggest that we rent a car, hire a guide or book day tours?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

All sites will be open during Sukkot. I would recommend on renting a car especially since you've been here before and your able to get around with a GPS. Yad Vashem and Massada have self guided tours available. During Sukkot, if I'm not wronng, there will be a Kleizmer festival in Safed during this time which should be very nice ( though crowded ).

You have to take into your timing account the fact that trains to Jerusalem aren't very frequent (from the train site, I found that you have a train once every 2 hours ) and it takes about 2.5 hours ride from Haifa .

The EGGED site is not the easiest to navigate, however by utilising the Trip Search facility I did manage to get a timetable and map of the 448 bus stops in Ashdod. The closest stop to the port appears to be not #13 Ha-Namal Junction but #15 at the end of Sderot Ben Gurion, by the map's reckoning about 3km from the port area. I don't know if this road could be navigated by foot, but a taxi ride to this stop is probably preferable to going to the Ashdod bus terminus. Any comments from locals would be appreciated.

From the Central Bus Depot in Jerusalem, the easiest way to the Old City would be to use the Light Rail along Jaffa Rd.

To those who would urge us to utilise a guided tour, my objection, based on comments I have heard from others, is that the tours try to take in many sites, and the visit to the Old City, which is our main interest, is too rushed.

Thanks in advance for any comments or advice.

The area by Ashdod port is not pedestrian friendly so a Taxi might be a better option, though knowing our taxi drivers, they would be kinda reluctant to make such a short ride...

I am pretty sure that there isn't any. The bus companies went over to magnetic cards like metrocards and oyster and any deal that they have is per person on his card. I will be back in Israel next week and will try to get more info

I agree with Badatz - there are no shared tickets. The magnetic tickets are per specific route, and personal.

You make it sound like there are demonstrations and road blockages every day and all day. This is not the case . There might be one once or twice a year.

 

A bus can also get a flat tire or blow an engine. That is more of a realistic posibility

 

Like always use common sense and leave enough time on both ends

Another realistic scenario that has to be taken into account are times when there are VIP visitors in Jerusalem or a very large public event (like the Marathon this Friday).

Is this issue a problem only with online booking through RC, or also when you book with a TA?

Where do you see your balance and/or OBC?

Wait a reasonable amount of time. Remove items and give to RCI employee. When chair hog returns smile and say something in a foreign language and pretend you don't speak English.

Liked !!!!!:D:D

On our last cruise a couple of years ago we noticed a group of "hogged" chaires that were empty for at least 2 hours, and when the group appeared finally, they were guys from my country. Felt a bit ashamed, but since we only "hog" chairs in our own country when "you can't beat them...", I was only pissed off as anyone else.

I might try to do as you suggested next time, even if they do speak my language...

Is there such a shuttle? How much does it cost per person? If not, how much will a taxi cost 4 persons plus luggage?

Thanks

We cruise in July.

Mentally I already started packing...

Thanks all for clearifying this.

:D

I don´t think you can book on the RCI US Website not being from Northamerica, so likely you Need to find a good US TA, at least that´s how it worked in the past. Now that I have my US TA I haven´t looked into booking directly anymore, but as a protection of their Europe department I doubt they´ll let you book directly, just as many lines try to discourage People from booking via US TA´s.

We used an online company which its name I understand I can not quote, to find a TA in the US who gave us an offer better than we got in our own country and we got lots of on-board spending money (I think that the major difference between TA's is On-board cash).

Anyway, it was fast, and we saw the reservation on the RC site a few minutes after we transferred the deposit.

In the first times we cruised RC we paid gratuities at the end ot the trip through envelopes given to us on the 6th day (or so), and we gave the tip by hand to the room attendant, head waiter, waiter and helper.

2 years ago we prepaid the gratuities, and still got the envelopes and felt awkward and weird to tell everyone we prepaid and that's why they're not getting anything with the envelope we got.

This coming cruise we booked through a TA and didn't prepay. Now I read in the RC tips that if we didn't prepay the tip will be deducted automatically from our on-board account.

So what's the difference? Its as if we pre-paid, right?

Anyway we don't have to give anything by hand to the pepole we're supposed to tip (unless they extremely worth it).

Do they still give you envelopes?

RCCL does not have a mandatory dress code. Rather it's only "suggested guidelines".

 

For what it's worth no longer bring formal attire and I always eat in the MDR never feeling out of place.

 

Enjoy your cruise !

We've been Schlepping our formal attires on our previous cruises, but decided that on the next one, we'll do without. It takes so much needed suitcase space and we feel quite ridiculous with them.

So we'll just wear nice clothes (I'm still not sure weather it will be a dress or a nice pants suit for me) and that's that.

they are reusing coat hangers:rolleyes:

 

Not brushing the towel animals teeth anymore

lol:d