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3 hours ago, paul929207 said:

We have had the wine package on every Princess cruise for years. It is available at most cruises that are longer than a week. Because it is not offered on all cruises, it is not on the Cruise Personalizer. You have to ask for it.

Our cruise is longer than a week.  I have queried Princess about wine packages for our cruise.  So far, no reply either to my email or my query on their Facebook page.  Just strange.

3 hours ago, Whitetrike said:

Got off Regal 11/18 and did not see a wine package.  The package they did have was a "drinks" package that included mixed drinks and spirits!  Was priced per day and limited to I think 10 or 12 drinks per day!

Yes, the 'drinks' packages are listed and ridiculous.  But wine seemed to be by the bottle only.   Just strange.

Booked on May 10, 2019 Regal Princess--Copenhagen >Copenhagen.

I find only individual bottles listed so far on the Princess site.  On CC the most recent discussion I have found so far about wine packages on Princes is from 2008 and 2006.

We have sailed on HAL several times, thrice on RC, once on Celebrity.  We have always bought wine packages prior to sailing.  HAL and Cunard have wine package.  I am finding only individual bottles of wine.  Am I missing something on their site? 

Thank you so much for the great comparison of FO and HAL cruise lines.

One of our concerns has been dress code on FO. We are both retired, live in the desert Southwest and suits/sport coats are rare. Here being dressed for dinner (for men) is a pair of slacks and a nice shirt--could be Hawaiian, short sleeved or long; just not T-shirt or less.

We each own one blazer, two ties each and two dress shirts each. Never wear them unless on a cruise. (Not at all on the last cruise-never to be repeated Celebrity :loudcry:-and only once on the previous Med. cruise-HAL)

It seems that on FO jacket and tie are required every evening and more formal dress, for men, on certain other evenings. HAL has a 'dressy' night or two per cruise, but realizes that being dressy does not mean a coat and tie in all societies, so no problems.

That and the, for me, boring English cuisine are huge negatives. We will likely stay with HAL.

Oh, and we love the Lincoln Center performers on HAL! Learned from yesterday's search that this has been expanded from the original 3 ships to 8 of the HAL ships.

Again, thank you very much for the input.

We have sailed on several cruise lines. We keep coming back to HAL (Holland America Line), mostly since we live in the U. S. But I read much about Fred. Olsen Line and would like to know from cruisers who have sailed on both lines which they prefer and why. Thanks.

We have sailed on several cruise lines. We keep coming back to HAL (Holland America Line), mostly since we live in the U. S. But I read much about Fred. Olsen Line and would like to know from cruisers who have sailed on both lines which they prefer and why. Thanks.

No longer. Each person may bring on one bottle of wine at the embarking port. The only exception is if HAL has a shore excursion to a winery or where wine is the focus, then you may bring one bottle back. I believe this is the current rule.

Thanks for the update.

# 2 Take wine to drink in your cabin , you can bring 2 bottles of wine on board at every stop .

Is this still true in 2018?

Depends on what language you want to speak and how much you want to spend. Go to www.cruisetimetables.com and select Mumbai as a Port of Call. Costa, Seabourn, TUI...There are lots more if you want to go the other direction. Lots of segments of world cruises, most seem to go that direction...EM

Thanks. This is a great site. Fortunately, we do speak more than just English, though it is our native language. So not English speaking lines are definite possibilities as well.

Thanks to all.

I finally was able to get a reply on IM on the Celebrity Facebook page. Have established contact with one of the sales reps. He is a very nice guy and has been very helpful.

I have a couple of questions for Celebrity and need to reach out with an email. Hate telephones. These ears do not deal well with telephones. Prefer email.

Anyone have an email address for anyone in Celebrity US? A sales rep, perhaps? My previous contact is no longer with Celebrity and his email address is dead. It just gets kicked back.

Celebrity UK has an email address and will reply to email, but they cannot provide answers to some of the questions I have about two 2019 cruises through the US office.

TIA for the info.

Not sure where to post this but decided to try here.

In November, 2019, Celebrity has a b2b cruise from Rome to Dubai; Dubai to Singapore.

Does anyone know of any other cruise line that does a similar relocation that includes the Suez Canal and Petra; west coast of India and ending somewhere in southeast Asia? Could be Thailand, Singapore or other port.

I found MSC from a couple of Italy ports to Dubai and/or Abu Dhabi, but nothing beyond the UAE.

Thanks for the input.

Not sure where to post this but decided to try here.

In November, 2019, Celebrity has a b2b cruise from Rome to Dubai; Dubai to Singapore.

Does anyone know of any other cruise line that does a similar relocation that includes the Suez Canal and Petra; west coast of India and ending somewhere in southeast Asia? Could be Thailand, Singapore or other port.

I found MSC from a couple of Italy ports to Dubai and/or Abu Dhabi, but nothing beyond the UAE.

Thanks for the input.

Not sure where to post this but decided to try here.

In November, 2019, Celebrity has a b2b cruise from Rome to Dubai; Dubai to Singapore.

Does anyone know of any other cruise line that does a similar relocation that includes the Suez Canal and Petra; west coast of India and ending somewhere in southeast Asia? Could be Thailand, Singapore or other port.

I found MSC from a couple of Italy ports to Dubai and/or Abu Dhabi, but nothing beyond the UAE.

Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the input. HAL is looking better and better.

Sadly, HAL does not have any routing such as this Celebrity--Rome>Dubai; Dubai>Singapore (in the fall leaving the Med. season; the other directions in the spring going to the Med. season)

Thanks everyone for the input.

We are looking into back to back cruises for 2019 from Rome to Dubai; Dubai to Singapore. This is a month aboard ship and we would need to have laundry done along the way. On previous Holland cruises, we have always used a laundry package for a flat fee and it worked out great. Does Celebrity offer laundry packages? How much?

We are looking into back to back cruises for 2019 from Rome to Dubai; Dubai to Singapore. This is a month aboard ship and we would need to have laundry done along the way. On previous Holland cruises, we have always used a laundry package for a flat fee and it worked out great. Does Celebrity offer laundry packages? How much?

Thanks for the great input from all. It was especially good to have the links I can pursue.

I rather like the idea that tourists are not allowed in the buildings. They are just empty spaces and too many tourists inside could lead even to unintentional damage to these world treasures. I know other places where just the build-up of breath and moisture from throngs of tourists has resulted in irreparable damage to some sites.

In searching for information about day trips from a cruise ship to Petra, the most recent was 2012. Anyone who has made this excursion, an update would be much appreciated.

We are beginning to look into Celebrity cruises from Rome to Abu Dhabi and/or Dubai for late 2019. Petra would be one of the highlights to include, if possible.

Any online links to private tour companies that have proven good for forum participants would be tremendous.

Thanks.

Ah. Thanks. We have actually thought of Prague/Vienna/Budapest using trains between these cities. Hotels already seem to be very limited during the summer, so we are looking for apartments. If we stay outside Vienna it is an easy train ride to almost anywhere else we would want to go west and/or north of there. Then another apartment stay in Budapest would offer easy train trips to many other interesting areas.

I know Americans, especially, like their cars and road trips. We learned years ago really to like train travel. We both get to watch the scenery and often the route is nearly the same as, or adjacent to, the roads.

Thanks for the memory jog of Switzerland. Have not been there for decades and we have a friend living in Zurich.

Oh the possibilities. ;-)

Thanks. We have been looking at these areas but most are less that our 3 week minimum. Cruises to Switzerland? Interesting.

We have thought about a cruise + renting an apartment in one of the port cities for some weeks to fill out the 'heat escape' plan.

My husband and I live in the desert southwest, USA, and would like to be somewhere else during the hottest parts of the summer (mid-JUN through JUL). We would like to be gone at least 3 weeks, maybe more. We are retired but have the curse of limited funds. Dollar for dollar, cruising is our first choice.

We are tired of Alaska cruises and the fjords and Baltic. South America would be good, but it seems no one cruises that direction in the US summer (it is winter south of the equator).

We are open to suggestions. Thanks.

Glad to know the train is still running. I read a post elsewhere that said it was uncertain if it would continue, considering the economic downturn in Greece.

Did you have to get admission tickets to the site and museum beforehand?

We will be arriving via cruise ship on 23SEP, just for the day and would like to do this independently.

Thanks.