ILCTCRUISER

Sunday disembark. You should be OK with a 12:45 flight. I’d disembark as early as I could, which is what we tend to do anyway.

It will depend largely on rush hour traffic on 405. Do you disembark Sat or Sun?

Booking flights has all to do with schedules and fares. When we can, we really like using Long Beach (LGB) for cruises out of LAX. Hop, skip and jump from ship to airport and usually in morning you’re driving opposite rush hour traffic. Long Beach airport area? Wasn’t that where Steven Douglas worked?

Does anyone remember the movie Moon Over Parador with Richard Dreyfus and Raul Julia?

We stayed in the Barranco district for a few days pre-cruise. If anyone plans to visit again, may I suggest Casa Republica Boutique Hotel.

We stopped at same churro shop. Of course, these Haku tours are uniform.

Isn’t that dome amazing? The grand days of hotels.

A very likely reason.

It’s interesting that these balconies seem much more “open” to the public. Might they have been renovated and windows added?

We did an all day “walking” tour of Buenos Aries a few weeks ago. Booked through Viator. Only three of us. Guide was an English teacher on summer vacation. Nanci and me. Other person was from Andorra. Meeting someone from Andorra? What are the odds? “Walking” because we did use bus system since attractions in BA are spread out.

Looks like a lot of fun. Need to try sometime.

Enclosed balconies are representative of the time when Spain was under Moorish control. Veiled women could go out onto the balcony and lower their veils w/o being seen.

Twangster has hit the nail on the head. We’re on an 25Oct TA on Adventure. It was originally a 13N but was changed to a 12N. Initially, RCL didn’t offer ANYTHING. Complaints came on strong and RCL then prorated the cruise for all, whether you complained or not.

We had a good experience with Haku in Lima.

Have to laugh as I reread my post. Should someone tell Victor?? Last I looked you could book cruises at the TripAdvisor website or the Viator website. However, you’re pretty much looking at same tours. I’ve also used Shore Excursions which is a company not the RCL Shore Excursions desk. However, I believe the company was started by former RCL employees.

Trip Advisor owns Victor.

Gratuities! And on some luxury lines flights are “included” in fare. They usually do offer a fare w/o flights. Important to do apples-to-apples comparison. Of course, the luxury lines are pricey but when you back out a fair value for all of the included amenities the difference in fares between main line and luxury line shrinks quite a bit. Of course, if one is upper tier on RCL (daily drink allotment, Wi-Fi, other discounts), the price comparison tends to blur. We’re D+ on RCL, Elite on Princess and some loyalty rank on others. Becoming Pinnacle on RCL? We tend to think of it this way: What do you get? Two Hershey bars and a Coke?

We still have some RCL bookings into 2025. However, today’s RCL is not the RCL we knew back then. Permit me to say it once more: We want to be on a cruise, not a carnival ride. Maybe it’s our age. RCL has a lot to offer, but we’re no longer in the target demographic and haven’t been for some time. Have been sailing Regent and have started to research Atlas and Explora. Explora is MSC’s luxury brand. Have friends who sail Silverseas and they like it a lot. Have sailed Celebrity but it’s been a while so not sure if we fit the demographic there.

The shot with the rainbow is a major Wow!

Before we arrived at Ushuaia we had to stop at Port Williams to clear customs. That's what we were told was the reason for the stop. Very early in the morning. However, Ushuaia was our first port in Argentina and that’s not your situation. More confusion: Port Williams is in Chile. EDIT: We didn’t dock in Port Williams so the fact that Port Williams is in Chile may not be an issue. We sat in Channel so, I guess, Argentine customs could have come to us.

Visited Stanley earlier this month while on Regent Splendor. If you make it back someday, yes, book an excursion to see penguins. Others booked an off-road adventure which they enjoyed for the scenery. That being said, there’s not much more to see/do in Stanley.

Well, the Earl Scheib reference certainly suggests your age! Haven’t heard that name in a LONG time.

Aha! Yes, another reason why RCL may have scrapped the acrobatic events. The same happens with the aqua and ice shows. However, with those it’s probably easier to reschedule since they take place in a dedicated venue.

Probably both matters. @island lady, there is the liability, And part of the liability has to do with what @RFerringtonmentions: need for certified riggers. No rigger, no show as I’ll hazard a guess that insurance coverage would stipulate the need for a professional rigger.

Also recall that this was the area that housed all of the rigging equipment to fly acrobats when they did Centrum shows.