summerclouds

Will do!

Thanks, AussieBoyTX for your reply. Most helpful. I have not written a cruise review before, having somewhat limited experience (two Holland America cruises) but I will give it a try when we return!

My husband and I will be on our 1st Ponant cruise, “From Malta to the Adriatric Coast starting May 29th As first timers we have a few questions regarding how excursions work on Ponant (our only previous cruising experience has been with Holland America (HAL)) We are English speakers and I understand Ponant provides an English version of the tour either with a separate group or with an English guide accompanying the combined language group. Our 1st port will be Syracuse, Sicily. Our itinerary shows us as arriving “early morning” and departing “late afternoon” I understand we will only be given times the evening before the port, though our Ponant consultant has indicated that it will probably be something like an 8:30 arrival and 5:30 departure (but emphasized that this could change) We are considering whether to book a Ponant excursion to the Archaeological Site & Ortygia which is listed as lasting 4 hours, but again with no actual time of day. At the conclusion of the excursion, according to the Ponant description, we return to the port and ship. Our questions are: 1. Assuming the excursion ends a few hours before the announced on-board time, can we opt to not return to the ship, but continue to explore on our own, have coffee or eat lunch off-ship and find our own way back to the ship? 2. This will be a tender port. A. Does Ponant run the tenders continuously throughout the day? Are they run on a specific schedule (for example, every half hour)? B. How far in advance of the on-board time would you advise we return to the tender pick-up point? 3. With the somewhat vague descriptions of arrival and departure times, how do folks handle booking 3rd party local excursions outside of Ponant? We would do this on HAL when there would be points of interest to us not covered by a HAL excursion. Is this feasible with Ponant? 4. Are there things I should be aware of regarding Ponant excursions that I’m not thinking of? Sorry for so many questions and appreciative of any insight you can provide us Ponant newbies.

One other thing that may distinguish a cruiseline policy from a 3rd party is what you get if you have to cancel. Some cruiseline policies will only reimburse you with vouchers/credits to use on a future cruise with them within some specified period of time whereas 3rd party insurers will reimburse you with cash.

Thanks to everyone for their sharing of experiences. Very helpful. We have decided to go with the B Level Veranda Stateroom. Looking forward to our first river cruise!

DH and I are booking the Rhine Getaway cruise (Basel to Amsterdam) In looking at the Veranda Staterooms, we see that they are categorized as A (Upper Deck rooms) and B (Middle Deck rooms) We have 2 questions about the A staterooms: 1. Do the A (Upper Deck rooms) get noise from the Sun deck and other things on the top deck above the A rooms? 2. What benefits do people see in being one floor higher than the B Verandah staterooms? We have read the pros/cons of having a Verandah vs French Balcony vs the Standard rooms (all very helpful in us learning what to expect) and have decided that for us the Verandah is our choice, just not sure about the A vs B. Thanks for helping first time river cruisers.

My husband and I have found our perfect itinerary, “From Malta to the Adriatic Coast” on Ponant. As potential first-timers, I’ve tried to do some research and reading, so I think I understand some of what to expect as English speakers on Ponant, but wonder if English-language stations and movies are available on the tv system in the room? Also, we are trying to get a handle on ship-board etiquette/culture. We understand that at dinner we should plan on dressing up, but are blue jeans acceptable at breakfast and lunch and in the bars and around ship during the day? At dinner in the Grill, would my husband be ok with dockers and a collared shirt, or would a jacket be needed? What about dinner in the Gastronomic Restaurant? Thank you, (and thank you JazzBeau for the answer to my earlier question on our tentative room)

We currently have an option on the “From Malta to the Adriatic Coast” cruise (May 29, 2024 to June 6, 2024) sailing on L’Austral. We have been assigned Prestige Stateroom 425 on Prestige deck 4. This stateroom appears to meet all our usual requirements (mid-ship with cabins above and below and around us; and with no connecting doors) This will be our first Ponant cruise. We are prepared for the cabin to be a bit smaller than what we have had on other lines. Is there anything else, as a first timer, about this cabin that we should be aware of, especially regarding noise levels? Thank you, experienced Ponant cruisers, for any advice or reassurance.

Sounds as if you did the exact same CruiseTour version we did back in 2015. We also did the cruise portion first. It is the only choice from our trip that I regret. You are correct that doing the land portion first would have gotten us Glacier Bay. Don't know if that difference still holds today, but I would definitely recommend to the original poster that going to Glacier Bay would make it worth doing the land portion first if that's what it takes.

We did Denali and Yukon on our cruise tour and were very happy with our choice. Only caveat is to pick one that gives you two or three nights in Dawson City. When we were in Dawson City on the two night version, I felt really sorry for those on the one night version who arrived in the afternoon of one day and left the next day. Not enough time to enjoy the area for the amount of time it takes to get there.

Are all the beers bottled or are there any locations on ship with draft beer?

We are doing Basel to Amsterdam in September 2022. We booked last October and paid the extra for Viking Air Plus. If you do air with Viking, the Air Plus can let you request the booking of your flights much sooner than Viking will book if you don't do Air Plus. This can let you choose your seat assignment much earlier, increasing the odds of getting the seats you want. Air Plus also lets you have much more input into the flights you get. We researched and presented our TA with 3 possible flights in order of preference and got our first choice.

I believe The Top of Strasbourg excursion was added as an optional excursion for the Strasbourg port on the Rhine Getaway last week (at least that's when I noticed it show up in My Viking Journey.) Though we booked our upcoming September Rhine Getaway cruise several months ago and selected excursions then, I try to check My Viking Journey once a week as additional excursions have become available in several ports since our initial booking. The Top of Cologne wasn't initially available when we booked, but we added it when it popped into My Viking Journey a couple of months ago. We're probably going to add the Top of Strasbourg as well.