Benthayer Gonbak

At a future cruise presentation yesterday. It was mentioned, with pictures, that there are similar canals and buildings in Chioggia and that if you’ve been to Venice you might want to check Chioggia instead. The ferry was mentioned as the better transportation. They seem excited that the new port is still accessible by Venice airport, and that there is plenty to see locally. hth

I remember Typhoid shots made my arm sore/stiff for days, that was the beginning series. In school I remember eggs being mean of the reasons certain shots weren’t available to some. Later it was a preservative. As for Moderna I have a cousin who was was in the hospital with a reaction to it. Her blood pressure skyrocketed, as did her husband’s. She was overnighted for observation I think he had one night. There are a multitude of reasons to have empathy for those who can’t tolerate some vaccines. In some cases that mean family at be around extended family because of an infant not getting a pertussis vaccine. As for mosquitoes, it really only takes standing water. And although I haven’t experienced too many bugs in port but I do remember a few. And yes, time of year can matter.

I do understand, the status of Yellow Fever breakout, I’m told, does change a bit but I certainly wouldn’t count on it. I wonder if those that were B2B would be able to fly directly to Cape Town for their second leg. I just don’t understand how staying onboard gets you free from Yellow Fever! Do mosquitoes really know they aren’t supposed to board ships?😂😂😂 Seriously though it may be the actual places you Go. For example, both Uruguay and Ecuador have Yellow Fever, but it’s higher up and farther inland than tours go. For what it is worth, the cruise director did say they are trying to bring bug spray on board. He was in the Cabaret then and seemed to imply that it would be there for use before tours! That thought made me gag, who sprays that many people indoors! I do hope you find a way to make your trip work. And that the threat eases up soon, although that may not be enough.

My recommendation would be to sail the reverse course. That reason being that many countries have restriction on entering them if you’ve been in a designated YF zone in the last 14 days. I believe South Africa is one of those. By doing the Cape Town to Lisbon, or similar your shouldn’t have Cape Town keeping you out, but you may still have YF countries not letting you in with a waiver. Their order may be tricky too as they may have similar entry restrictions! Hoping you find a way to succeed on this endeavor!

i found the combo interesting because we investigated a walk in tub. One problem that was pointed out was that you have to sit there and wait for the water to drain (and get colder, of course!) I do like the glass door though.

i don’t think I’ve seen a bathroom door opener in a cabin, just on some exterior doors! I really suspect that the walk in tub is for those who can’t step over and where there is a glass “curtain” that keeps you from the sit and swing over!

Most of the accessible cabins I’ve been in are roll-in showers which if the ship is moving means wall to wall water depending upon the drain placements. That said I’m never early enough to even see an accessible suite, so I can neither confirm nor deny them. There are people who don’t qualify for accessible that can’t pole vault over some of the tubs in cabin or European hotels! One of the easiest ways to tell a regular accessible room is often the door width. But I think some suites may have wider doors too.

I really don’t want some things Pre made, but ice cream and bread would be nice not to wait for! if I recall correctly it was soup I asked to be modified. Marinaded seems to not have been done either. I’m good to negotiate that a different quick sauce be used instead. Years back, I attended a mushroom risotto demo at Prime C. It takes about 20 minutes to make risotto so they cook it about 10 minutes, early. The chef said that way we weren’t waiting 20 minutes for rice.

Agreed, but I still was being told that they were still making something. Not so much on Azamara I guess.

Our first Azamara was a B3B. There was a tiramisu on the no sugar added. It was the first time I had had and it was when it was everyone’s favorite. On the 3rd cruise it came out totally different in appearance and taste. I asked the waiter what happened and was told they changed pastry chef. All I could say was “no kidding”! on Celebrity it was the chicken pot pie. All three were totally different and even in different size bowls The first one wasn’t even a ceramic bowl!

I tried preordering and they still wait until you show up to make it! I gave up and used to be able to navigate most menus or just ask for sauces to be left off. For nuts though that gets tough. Had a colleague who was highly allergic. She ordered a strawberry dessert, mostly, and a crisp shell it was in. The waiter said there were no nuts but when I bit into it I told her not to eat it. I wasn’t sure what I was tasting but eventually the waiter came back and said it had almond paste in it, as I recall. On another occasion a group of us were at lunch when her eyes got puff. She got home quickly but ended up having to call an ambulance for herself. She had extra meds at home, and an epicenter with her. I had someone in a beef house tell me the steak didn’t have any sugar in the sauce. It had been marinaded in ketchup. No you couldn’t taste it but I reacted to it! There are a lot of things that have unsuspected hidden things in them, like gluten in some vinegars etc. (my step mother is a celiac sufferer) What often makes sauces shiny is sugar even when the sauce isn’t sweet!

I remember that! Not my favorite either.

😂 As a friend with allergies said, “what’s the matter with broccoli or carrots for color!” My husband reacts poorly to eating bell peppers too. My feeling is not only do they overpower many dishes, no food should be in every dish. The current craze is one of the health propers from a fairly cheap vegetable.

i like you idea better, but if you are vegetarian I only recall one, or perhaps dairy free is only one too. I don’t remember if the original Azamara menus had classic menus that included vegetarian, nor do I now know since I’m not normally being exclusive. on many ship bell pepper free has become nearly impossible. In all but Waldorf salads, on fish for fish and chips, and on bacon and mashed potatoes. I never found it in oatmeal though🤣🤣🤣 and constantly in beef stroganoff!

id be interested in what control you are giving up with a travel agent. A few will even check price changes for you! My agent knows my preferences and can find things I prefer easier than I can. I normally, make my own bookings onboard, but if not I have just sent an email that I need to book a specific cruise. When I booked the same cruise back to back he questioned why, it was room availability, but at least he noticed I might have mis asked!

i worked in a pizzeria , as a cook, one summer. We always had to rotate ovens as they would cool down. And if the had sausage on it that wouldn’t cook. Fortunately for the patrons if the oven wasn’t hot enough it stuck to the oven after sogging through and thus was impossible to remove or not at least tear! It isn’t really complicated to do it right, but knowing which ovens at hot enough again can be tricky.

i was on one of the ships, probably the quest, when I was tripping over the “upgrade” of the internet! When I later cruisedshen them, in a different area I couldn’t tell the difference!

And, most likely you wouldn’t be allowed to walk within the docks anyway!

im told that the ferry from the commercial port is 20-30 minutes! There were some maps on the Venice tourist website. i can tell you that the taxi drivers thought removing tourism from the cruise ship would be regretted soon. Similarly, some of the guides thought the vaporetti were doing more damage, with their swirling waters all day long, than the ships. personally I think they may reduce the number of ships and slightly increase the acceptable size but I think that it may take some more time as they measure some of the results of whether damage has been lowered and whether the merchants want the cruise ship dollars. They do have good influxes of regular tourist so they local shops may not notice too much, but the taxis may! i think the locals liked some of the calmness of the pandemic lockdowns. For what it is worth, we were there last May. The crowds had mostly come in by train. We found very few lines but then we weren’t at the main attractions. We did go to Saint Marks area but later in the afternoon.

Royal tried making non refundable deposits only, but now offers both for a price. Celebrity too!

We found Silverseas cancellation much higher! So high $1500 that our TA decided not to book the group on their ships. His groups are always new things to try, both ports and ships!

We had a similar excursion option in Buenos Aires. The tour left the day after we left port! We asked if there would be be boat or air shuttles to the buses!

Interesting, although we purchased our power strip in the US it actually has a European plug on it! I had wondered why less and less was being said about it in my luggage. While traveling from Australia we had our US strip we were using on land confiscated, however when we turned out to need it onboard they were able to have the electrician check it and certify it was acceptable to let us use. They tried to substitute an Australian strip but it wouldn’t take our US plugs and we didn’t have enough adapters. I’ve forgotten all of our configuration challenges on that cruise, but when they suggested we wait to see if we could purchase what we needed, in the shops, I lost it! If I can buy what I need, why can’t I use what I brought! we did learn to put the strip in our luggage after Miami took our strip and left it on land! This all happened when the rules were changing. The strip in Miami had been approved in Australia and was subsequently. We now prefer the European strip as its shorter and has helped in all sorts of situations like needing two extension cords and being given two that would require them to be tripping hazards!

I found directions in a backpackers type guide that suggested ice in baggies! So when I took my mother with me from Singapore to Bangkok I packed some small sandwich bags. She got ice in her drink that night, in the room! It’s a bit clumsy to keep the edges over the edge of the glass, but she was delighted to have the cold even if she couldn’t crunch the ice! Of course, the bags are one time use! i remember being able to eat any fruit that was peeled, in Italy, as a child. Then I was warned about oranges in Mexico still not being safe because of how they were irrigated.

I remember when the lectures weren’t separated and the lecturer had been to most of the ports. Shore also gave lectures about more specifics of some ports. Both used personal photographs that showed things like what the steps described as sand actually looked like. (They had timber at the rise and were deep enough to take at least 2 steps, or enough space that a wheelchair would fit! They also weren’t soft sand.)