Hlitner

We are on the Quest where we have a “Guest” British chef who is doing a few events. This includes a $250 pp dinner! That makes Le Dome sound like a bargain🤧 Hank

There is a term “spitting in the wind” which arguably applies to the OPs concern. That being said, after more than 1400 cruise days we have never met an “influencer” on a cruise. Cruise/travel agents may get “fam” cruises, but that is usually very limited. Some agencies do enough bookings to get a rep aboard some cruises (who often host events for their charges.)” Hank

No need to deal with PCCs. If you have already booked one way (using the online system, you will not be able to add another flight with the online system. But you can simply call HAL and ask the reservations folks to add another flight. If they do not know how, you simply request to be transferred to the real Flightease folks who can easily add other flights. There is also a direct number (almost secret) to get to the Flightease folks (I do not have that number on my phone). Am a little surprised that PCCs do not always handle these things, but we have never had any use for PCCs so have not experienced that kind of frustration. Hank

Been to Bucerias, many times, and enjoy walking around, the beach, and a meal. There used to be an excellent rock group that played at a local venue, but they are long gone. Some folks fled to Bucerias to get away from all the development in PV, but now Bucerias is also becoming over developed.

HAL used to have a Grand Med cruise that was round trip from Ft Lauderdale and about 60 days in length. We did it twice, and the joke was that they would back up the vans from the nursing homes at embarkation and be back ti reload at disembarkation. Seriously, the cruise worked well for those who could not or would not fly. They were very enjoyable voyages for those of us who liked many sea days (had 23 on one voyage). Hank

I will confess that being on Seabourn (where we are now) avoids all these hassles. No tipping, no add ons, no charges for caviar, etc. We now need a spreadsheet to keep track of the extra fees on most mass market lines. And given all the overcharges we had on our recent HAL cruise, I think even HAL needs a spreadsheet to keep track. On an upcoming Princess cruise they have listed 38 separate lines of perks included in our “package.” We will need a checklist to keep track of the used/unused. Hank

The perks can become decent when you have a lot of days. For example, we are now on a longer Seabourn cruise where we get two free bags of laundry per week. That is worth over $100 per week and nice on a longer cruise. Celebrity has free cocktail hours for frequent cruisers which is nice for those who do not purchase drink packages. HAL gives free laundry and discounted or free meals in their alternative restaurants. Bottom line is that each line has their own perks, but the best ones go to those with hundreds of cruise days. Hank

No. There is a restaurant area (close to the port towards he left of where you come ashore, that is popular for many eating venues. We just chose one, at random, which turned out fine. I suspect that any of the cafe/restaurants in that area would have been fine.

Tough question. As long as your connection meets the airline’s minimum connection time (which should be the case if they sold you the ticket) the airline will simply put you in their next flight that has available seats. These days that can sometimes mean being stuck for days. This happened to us 2 years ago at DFW when AA could not find us seats for 2 days. If you are on your way to a cruise….kind of sad. Hank

On the Seabourn Quest, at the moment

There are tuk-tuks all over Lisbon. Not sure why there is an advantage to booking a tour vs just waking up to a driver and negotiating a deal. We were just in Lisbon on Monday and could have found plenty of tuk tuks within a block of our hotel

Never even got to Belam. We were pretty jet lagged and just enjoyed walking around the Rosario area. The weather in Lisbon has been perfect, about 78f now. Sunday night found the city very alive with folks enjoying the perfect summer evening. Hank

Hmmmm. I suppose the same folks who use an elevator to down one floor in a ship would love that hidden elevator :). But seriously, at our ole age we might look for that elevator when we get back to Malaga. We thought it was walk or a vehicle/bus.

It doesn’t, but the post office just tosses it in an overflow basket once your box is full. That is kind of the dirty secret.

Our post office is very cooperative. But if they give you a hard time about holding mail you can simply rent the smallest mailbox, at the post office, and have your mail forwarded to that box. The mail is then held as long as you want. Hank

ROFL re alternative side of the street parking! It will take me about 3 hours to drive into the city, today. It may take me another hour to find free on the street parking (possible in the neighborhood we are visiting). Like New Yorkers and many frequent visitors, we know the rule that apply to the nearby streets. I can actually park from Friday until Tuesday morning with the right spot. We actually consider parking, when we decide when to drive into the city. One has to arrive at about the right time (and day) if they want to increase the odds of finding on the street parking. ARGH!

In the past few years we have moved into a new era of cruise booking strategies. Most of the mass market lines (including Princess) now use "packages" as a marketing and pricing ploy. Nothing is written in stone and promotions are always changing the cost/benefit if packages. For many years, we have suggested that those of us who cruise on many different lines, and want to do comparisons, should try to value packages at their real worth to the cruiser (not the value put on them by the cruise line) and back into the true "cost per person/day." Once you do this, some interesting strategies can surface. You can sometimes find a luxury line (such as Seabourn) is less costly (and a much better value) than a higher category cabin/suite on a line like Princess or Celebrity. And some of the ship within a ship concepts, like MSC's Yacht Club, can often be a bargain when compared to booking a different line and buying the various packages. When it comes to Princess, watch for their promotions and last minute deals (for those that can handle last minute planning). Would we pay $64.99 for a drink package on Princess? No way! DW and I know how much we spend, on an average cruise day, for drinks and it is not $130. However, Princess does have "packages" that include drinks that are much more attractive. Hank

The proposed new fee, to drive a car into Manhattan, is also going to cause heartache for some folks. Will Manhattan become a city overrun with Uber, Black Cars, and taxis? I say this as we get ready to drive into Manhattan :). When a city prices itself out of the market, local businesses (hotels, restaurants, etc) start to suffer! I guess it is one of those "two edged swords." Hank

We have posted (in other parts of CC) about the growing trend (around the world) to ban or restrict cruise ships. In our own country (USA) we have seen locals support bans (or very severe restrictions) in Key West, Bar Harbor, Charleston, and probably some others of which I am not aware. Why? We have all heard the complaints about huge ships (some with over 6000 passengers) but the debate in Key West showed there are other issues. As a lot, cruise ship passengers are not major contributors to local economies. That anti-cruise crowd in Key West argued that cruisers are not big spenders and take more from the economy than they give. Cruise ships also seem to spur the creation of many touristy stores/shops which drive-out smaller locally owned businesses and cute boutiques. Just consider places like Diamonds International, Tanzanite International, Anything International, etc. There are still places that welcome small luxury ships while wanting nothing to do with larger ships. St Barts is a good example. Other ports have tried to limit cruisers with mixed success (i.e. Santorini). As both frequent cruisers and avid DIY land travelers we have mixed emotions. For example, we did think that Venice's ban/restrictions were an excellent idea...even though we have enjoyed cruising in and out of Venice. Standing along the water side near St Marks Square, and watching a huge megaship coming down the Giudecca Canal, was almost obscene! One did not need to be an activist to realize that this was not a good thing for the delicate shoreline underwater structures being damaged by overpressure not to mention the risk of a major accident. We also think some government agencies are their own worst enemies. The new trend of cruise ships porting at La Spezia is a good example. The Italians should have never allowed this place to be used as a cruise ship port and now they are having regrets. We think its only a matter of time until this port is closed to most or all ships. And we could list many ports in Europe that welcomed cruise ships and are now questioning the wisdom of such a decision. Hank

You have lived in CT too long :). The Parking Fees (at Manhattan or Red Hook) are already pretty steep. Hank

After our recent 6 week Westerdam cruise (with HIA) we are not so sure about the "convenience." HIA caused us more grief and not so sure we saved any money. We were constantly overcharged for drinks and had to constantly visit (or msg) Guest Services to get the incorrect charges removed. We also had hassles with our shoreexcursion credit which was only fixed after multiple visits to both the shore excursion desk (who blamed "accounting") and Guest Services (who said to talk to Shore Excursions). Our HIA did not include grats but our cruse agency gave us far more than enough OBC to cover that (and more). Hank

It has taken us up to a week. We have some advice (prompted by our own excellent cruise agent). We changed from using Fax to sending an e-mail and attaching the supporting documents as PDF files. You might want to resend using this method. This advice came right after the restart because many employees were working from home and sometimes Faxes sat in an empty office. The other advice (which comes from our own experience) is to make a hard copy (print) of your request (including the proof of stock ownership) and take it along on the cruise. If the credit does not show-up in your onboard account within the first few days of the cruise, simply visit Guest Relations with the documents and ask them to please deal with the issue. Hank

We would certainly look at seatguru.com for seat information to compare both aircraft (in terms of comfort). You also might want to give some consideration to the most convenient flights from SC, which might force your decision. I am not a fan of Newark or JFK (we fly out there in a couple of days). Both airports have more than their share of delays, Hank

A taxi for 14? You will be waiting until the next century. If you want to travel with a crowd that size you should consider pre-booking a mini-bus! Otherwise you might need as many as 4 taxis which could be a problem. Hank

We are also fans of St Germain and love the location of that hotel (Rue de Jacob). Not familiar with the place but added it to our own data base for the future. We once rented an apartment about 2 blocks from that hotel, and just loved everything about that neighborhood. Hank