ubarpants

I'm working on planning a family cruise to Alaska and have some questions about travel documents.  What's the best resource to talk to a human who has correct and binding answers for this?  I know the cruise line customer service staff is pretty famous for uninformed answers that no one upholds.

If it helps, the question is whether we could cruise from Vancouver with an under-16 minor US citizen who probably won't be able to get a passport. The State Department's website indicates that kids under 16 can enter Canada with proof of citizenship only--presumably a birth certificate in his case.  We live in driving distance so no air travel is involved.  I've cruised from Vancouver before but I have a passport and I don't remember the details of the paperwork checks. I have the same question around the White Pass rail trip too.

Otherwise, we'll settle on cruising from Seattle but the itineraries are somehow so much worse.

1 hour ago, ociana said:

My hubby has a shellfish allergy and they cooked shrimp last on the grill, after he was done getting his servings of meat from the grill.  The other couples seated with us totally understood and were fine with it.  

Perfect, I was hoping it would be something relatively straightforward like that! 

Has anyone experienced Gunbae with a shrimp/shellfish allergy?  I understand that my husband and I will likely be seated with at least one other couple, but since he's allergic to shrimp, it would either need to be the very last thing cooked on the grill or not served at all.  This doesn't seem entirely fair to the others so I was curious about how it's handled.

We'll be in a suite so I guess we can just alert our roadie and let them handle it?

Does Virgin even have a loyalty tier program? One turn off for me on other lines has always been the "I'm a triple diamond star club platinum member" people who seem to think that they alone are keeping the line in business and are thus more important than any other paying guests.

Otherwise, I am looking forward to a lot of these differences. I don't like the mdr concept and I've never been in a pool on a cruise so it sounds like a good fit for my cruising style!

Did you visit the rock star retreat at Bimini? I haven't been able to find much much description and I'm wondering what makes it special.

How does Gunbae work if you're a party of two?  Are all the tables large and involve sitting and cooking with strangers, or do they have some smaller options?

Thanks for the insights, all!  Makes total sense to see what people think of the US sailings.  I agree that Oceania and Azamara are definitely a different class, but when a suite on Virgin is the same cost as oceanview on those two, wheels start turning in my head.  I appreciate all the info and opinions.

I'm starting to gather ideas for a late summer/early fall cruise for 2023.  No one seems to have itineraries out yet but I see a few things I like this year.  One of them is the Adriatic Sea & Greek Gems on Virgin but I'm not sure if it's the best choice for what we're looking for and would love feedback.

It would just be me and my husband traveling, and we'll be in our early 40s. We've gone on three cruises before: NCL Sun to Alaska, RCL Serenade to the Baltics, and RCL Harmony to the Caribbean. I liked how the smaller ships felt less crowded but I didn't like how they both seemed outdated.  

We're looking for something a little different/higher level this time.  We haven't been impressed with the food on our past cruises--it always seems a little cafeteria-like unless we spring for the upcharge restaurants.  We aren't heavy drinkers but generally find the free coffee to be super gross. In terms of entertainment, we do like the cheesy cruise game shows but don't enjoy jugglers, magicians, or song/dance routines (usually the music for these is not from our era).  We dress up for work so we like to chill out on vacation and aren't fans of formal nights at all.  Also, we've never been in a pool or hot tub on a cruise; it just doesn't appeal to us with the crowds and the sanitary conditions.

I'm currently considering Azamara, Oceania, and Virgin.  It looks like a basic suite on Virgin would be about the same cost as an oceanview on the other two.  Assuming we're equally happy with the itineraries, what do you think?  I'm concerned about the entertainment on Oceania, and the free food on Azamara, but I recognize those are both smaller and more intimate than the Virgin ships.  At the same time, I don't really care one way or the other if the staff remembers my name or if I make friends on board.

Maybe it would just be better to wait until there are more sailings and make a determination at that point? What do you think?

Hi all, I'm just starting to look at Hurtigruten for a potential trip in 2022 (because if I can't travel, I can at least PLAN travel, right?).  I'm pretty confused because I see a few options on their website--the traditional coastal trip with the 34 short port stops, and then these other expedition itineraries going from Bergen to Honningsvåg round-trip, with longer stays in a smaller number of ports.   These are the ones called "On the Cusp of Spring," "Summer Along the Coastline," etc., on the US site. These latter itineraries are interesting to me because it seems like they have some aspects of regular cruising, with meals included, longer port stops, etc., but are more focused on the journey instead of the casino and belly flop contests! 

The reason I'm confused is that I can't find any reviews, trip reports, or even more concrete info (such as port timings etc.) on these.  I see that when people ask about doing more of a typical cruise on this line, the response is invariably that Hurtigruten is made up of working ships and it's a ferry system, etc., and that wasn't my impression for these expeditions.  I'm wondering if I've misunderstood what this itinerary actually is, or if it's a new offering or something?  I have more specific questions about this trip particularly but wanted to check my overall understanding first!

2 hours ago, M-H-B said:

I’m wondering also how they will know how you got to Sydney? Are they expecting people to self report/be honest or in this sort of situation do they get some access to immigration info?

I'm curious about this too; they didn't even stamp our passports on our last Hong Kong layover (and we left the airport!) so it may not be easy for them to tell, and I'm not sure a cruise line would get ready access to a governmental system like immigration data.

I stayed in 8586 in August 2019 and had similar noise concerns, but I was happy to find that the fire doors were closed every night by 9pm. We were never in the room during the day to comment on that noise, but I can confirm that we had no trouble sleeping.

It's a bit frustrating because it's also a self-fulfilling situation. They moved MTD so that it starts later than many would prefer. This leads some guests to switch to early dining (my family did so on our upcoming cruise on Harmony, even though we don't love the idea of eating at 5pm).  This switching then makes RCL think that early dining is so popular that they need to continue holding back room and keep MTD starting so late.  We would much prefer to eat around 6 but that's simply not an option in the MDR.

I just used Valizo today, as we disembarked and had a late (5pm) flight. It all went smoothly. They strongly encourage you to use the traditional disembarkation and not walk your own bags off as they don't want to spend the time meeting you in the terminal.

Also the terminal staff wasn't aware of the arrangement and told us that no one is allowed inside and we should take our bags ourselves and meet Valizo outside instead. This is not true, as we were approaching our bags we saw someone with a Valizo vest grab them so we knew they would be fine.

We got to the airport a little earlier than planned, easily found the office and retrieved our luggage. They did say that sometimes no one is in the office so you can't count on picking them up at a different time than booked.

Overall I would use them again for the convenience involved but I did wish they were a bit friendlier in communications, but maybe that's just an American view of customer service. I was very happy to not be one of the cruisers trying to fit an enormous luggage in the aisle of the public bus though!

1 hour ago, nattie said:

Just to report on my experience, we had a great tour! Masha (our guide) and Yuri (driver) we fantastic! Extremely personal experience, with no waiting time at any sights. And one of the days we were there was Sunday! Masha suggested couple different spots my DS would enjoy visiting AND we managed to fit everything on our list to boot! I would highly recommend the company and our guides.

Fantastic! Thanks for reporting back for future travelers.

No, we plan to take a taxi to the train station and take the train ourselves.

We're stopping in Fredericia this year and are planning to visit Jelling.  Hopefully I'll remember to report back.  I think the itinerary next year is a little different, but for our cruise, we chose this because it's the only stop where we'll be venturing out into the countryside--most other days will be spent either touring a city or walking through some sort of "Old Town" area.  We're planning to visit the Café Sejd in Jelling too, looks pretty charming.  We did want to try the bridgewalking but they aren't offering a tour in English on our day.

Also this is the Airluggage email I received if anyone's curious:

I was disappointed to receive an email today that my Airluggage booking is being cancelled as the company is ceasing operations.  Nothing is on their website yet and my cruise doesn't arrive in Copenhagen until August so maybe it's not immediate. 

I'm looking for alternatives as our flight leaves at 5:00 pm on disembarkation day.  I found Valizo which is a similar delivery service, but it seems like they have a flat fee for up to 4 bags and we only have 2 so it's nearly twice the cost of our Airluggage booking.  Otherwise, I found Luggage Hero or BagBNB, which seem to rent spaces in existing businesses to store your luggage (really cool idea but unfamiliar to me!).  The drawback is that we'd still be taking our big suitcases on the bus and metro which we'd been hoping to avoid.  I'm sure the Central Station has luggage storage but we weren't planning on going in that area on that day and there's the same transportation issue.

Are there any other services like Airluggage and Valizo that would pick luggage up at the pier and transport to the airport while we sightsee?

If I book directly through RCCL, will the fare information be available through the website for anyone who links the reservation?  I'm planning to take a couple of family members along on my next trip and I want them to be able to access cruise planner to make entertainment reservations and get ideas for shore excursions etc, but I don't really want them to click on the "make a payment" link and see how much balance is outstanding if I'm footing the bill!

Same question goes for booking through a travel agent--my understanding is that it's not possible to make online payments in that case but is the link still active?  Obviously they can find out the cost if they want to, it would just be nice to have some kind of discretion around it.

7 hours ago, Danish viking said:

We talked earlier about the Fredagsrocl concerts at Tivoli each Friday.

 

The lineup is ready now and the term "rock" should be taken lightly. 

 

The type of crowd will be much different and also the size. 

If any of your planned Tivoli trips are on one of these days then just let me know and I will try to desribe what it will be like. 

 

 

 

https://www.fredagsrock.dk/en

I was just checking this myself and I'm pumped to see that I'll be there for Lauryn Hill!  That being said, I think we're more interested in seeing the Tivoli Gardens atmosphere at night and the concert is just a bonus.  What's the best plan if we arrive late afternoon and want to walk around, grab dinner, ride the ferris wheel, and catch a little bit of the concert?

When I contacted the bigger agencies for a private tour, it wasn't a great experience either. I sent a specific email with what I wanted to see, what I wanted to skip, and noted unusual pieces like wanting to go to the Hermitage late on Wednesday to see the peacock clock winding. All three of the more popular agencies responded with what looked like a form email listing their standard 3 day itinerary and didn't customize it for my requests. I ended up booking through a smaller company that's rarely mentioned here but well reviewed on other sites, mainly because they were the ones who actually read my request and sent me info that matched what I was looking for and were fantastic throughout the customization process.

Don't feel like you have to pick from the companies that are recommended here the most frequently. It seems some companies pay for these recommendations in the form of discounts, so there will always be a bias toward those.

I've been keeping an eye on prices and availability for our July/August cruise on Serenade in the hopes I can talk my husband into upgrading.  Right now, it's showing only guarantee cabins available for 2 people, but if I search for 3 people, lots of availability opens up (except suites).  We are still five months out but I'm wondering if any of those higher capacity cabins ever become available for 2 people, and if so, what kind of timeframe to expect for that?  I completely understand why they're holding them at this point.  Do I just need to cross my fingers for a Royal Up offer?

I'm happy to see a 2019 thread!  You've been so helpful in past years. 

I have a couple of questions about public transit:

1) If I buy the citypass via the website or app, would I just show the pass on my mobile phone to the bus driver?  How does it work when taking the metro?

2) Is there anywhere near Oceankaj to purchase a paper citypass ticket?

3) One site I read presented the harbor busses as an alternative to the canal cruises.  Would you agree?  It seems the route is shorter and of course the narration would be missing.

And one unrelated to transit--my ship is docking on a Friday and has an overnight in Copenhagen.  Our flight leaves at 5pm on Saturday.  I would love to see Tivoli Gardens lit up at night but I understand that there are concerts on Friday nights, so tickets are more expensive and there are more people.  Would it be better to go during the day in this case for lower crowds?  We aren't planning to ride many rides.

That's fantastic, thank you!  I'm sure we'll be happy with either Chops or Giovannis during sailaway.

Not to worry about the time of year--we're there during the summer and it'll be nice and bright pretty late!

The price for the 3-night dining package dropped to $60 on my sailing, so I nabbed it, but I'm thinking about the best place for that first reservation.  We start with an overnight in Stockholm, so I chose night 2 (sailaway day).  Stockholm has a scenic sailaway that apparently lasts for a couple of hours, and I'm hoping to be able to see some of it from dinner. Which restaurant would be best suited for this?  We'd be hoping for a 2-top near a window.

Also, $60 is a good price, right? It's been $75 the other times I looked.  We have a 13 night itinerary so I'm sure we'll be ready for a change of pace from the MDR and Windjammer!  Weirdly, the 4-night is $90 so it's more expensive per meal.