goddessofchaos

I am considering booking this cruise but it is a big financial stretch for me. It does include a lot of extras though so hoping it will balance out. A few questions: would a cabin near the elevator bay be noisy? 4th Deck? (we have a hold on this cabin) Are the included excursions good for a first time traveler to the area? Better off private tours? We would be celebrating a special occasion so would like something elegant for that night. Any other information about this ship and this area would be greatly appreciated.:p

The one I am considering is 11 days departing Jan. 28 from Singapore. Kota Kinabalu, Nha Trang, HoChi Minh City, Sihanoukville, Bangkok, Ko Samui, and back to Singapore. I know the ship excursions can be expensive so will be researching private tours, local tours, etc. We will also need visa information so if anyone has that for Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore it could save me some research time. Any information about this itinerary or the Sapphire Princess - pros and cons - would be greatly appreciated.

I too am thinking of booking this tour with my daughter for my 80th birthday (from me to me!) I too would be very interested on any information, especially the ports and available excursions.

When I checked on Visas for China for a 2 day stop in Shanghai HAL and even the Chinese Embassy was confusing. I was finally able to learn that for our tour China waived visa requirements IF you had a cruise excursion booked although my friend booked the cheapest one and after that you were allowed on your own. Because you are also visiting Beijing this may or may not apply. I live in HI so visiting a Chinese embassy to obtain a visa wouldn't have worked for me, plus a regular visa cost close to $200 which I wouldn't pay just to spend a day and a half visiting. I believe it was possible to obtain the chinese visa by mail so call your embassy to find out for sure. On our cruise even after I verified that a visa would not be necessary for a cruise excursion HAL still had us sign a waiver as we boarded saying we understood we might not be allowed off the ship. I sure wish all of the cruise lines would get their acts together and present accurate information!

Thanks for an excellent review. I am considering a similar but shorter itinerary on the Viking Star in early February 2018. I imagine much of your information may be similar. I want to spend a few days in Barcelona at the end of the cruise but the cost for two nights that I saw seemed a bit pricey. Wondering about Air BnB or do you have to take the Viking reservation in order to get the airport transfers? Thinking of booking flights with Viking as well since you mentioned you thought it was a good deal.

I am considering this cruise 2/1/2018 and have found the comments here very helpful. It doesn't seem like the included shore excursions are all that good and I am concerned about Tunis and Algeria but would love to see these areas. What other countries require visas and what is the cost? Also, this is intended to be a very special birthday cruise so am interested in the food - are there regional options for each country?

Thank you so much for your reassurance! I shall see if I can find a cruise for the dates I wish and will cross fingers I can celebrate my birthday in this amazing and magical island country.

I have been searching for a cruise to Galapagos that covers Feb. 4 (birthday) and your blog was so informative. But I am now wondering if I can handle it. I will be 80 although I am reasonably active and in good health. I do seem to have a problem with balance though and am wary about walking on uneven rocky terrain. (I live in a rural area in Hawaii and my own property is lava and uneven for walking. Just try to take it slow.) This sounds so perfect though so would be willing to chance it.

My questions are: Might I have problems on excursions or getting on and off the Zodiac? And do you know of any Galapagos cruises that are end of January to beginning of February? I would hope there is nice enough weather - over 70 to mid 80s would be perfect.

I want to celebrate my Feb. 4th birthday on a cruise to an area that has pleasant weather at that time of year. (Southern hemisphere?) Looking for something from 7 to 14 days (flexible) and on a small to medium size ship. I am fairly new to cruising (first one this year) and I am hooked. I was thinking Galapagos, South America, Australia/New Zealand or open to other suggestions. So far anything that sounds great doesn't seem to cover that date, or if it does it is an extremely lengthy cruise. Adult daughter will accompany me and she will not be able to take too much time off from work.

I am open to just about any suggestions as long as it isn't one of the giant cruise ships.

Take a look at the schedule for Holland America's Prisendam. That might meet your needs. Also look at whatever Holland America ship is doing the west coast of South America.

I saw one Holland America that had great possibilities but it ended before my birthday which I particularly want to spend on the cruise (Feb. 4) I will keep checking since my first cruise was on HAL and I am now hooked!

New Zealand

I have been to New Zealand and would love to go there on a cruise. I would also love to spend more time in Australia so a combination would be a definite possibility. Thanks.

I checked this out and it sounds fantastic. Unfortunately it is quite a bit outside of what I and my daughter can afford. I would love to cruise the Galapagos but every one I looked at was outside of our price range.

This would be extremely different:

 

Celebrity Xplorer Galapagos cruise Quito Ecuador round trip 10 to 15 day routes

Silversea Silver Galapagos San Cristobal Galapagos to Baltra 7 days

Thanks. Will do.

I will be celebrating my 80th birthday in early February and what better way than a cruise? I would like to go to an area that is relatively warm but not necessarily uncomfortably hot. I would prefer a somewhat smaller ship geared toward older adults. Brazil? Peru? etc. Anywhere between 1 - 2 weeks. I would love to entertain suggestions.

Thank you! This is very helpful since this is my first cruise, have never been to anywhere in Asia and have no idea how to find the cruise ship once I get to Yokohama (which was why I was considering HAL transfer which I KNOW is very expensive. But I am an adventurous old lady so will try one of your suggestions. A lot will depend on what luggage I have but I plan to keep it light. :)

I am wondering if anyone else will be arriving at Narita on the 14th. My flight arrives at 2:55 and I have no idea of timing for customs, baggage, etc. I would love to find others who might be arriving that afternoon as well. My friend will be coming in around an hour later. Would it be better for a group to share transport or should I just arrange the (expensive) HAL transfer?

My friend and I will arrive at Narita on March 14 and she gets in at 4:30 pm. So not sure how long customs will take but I am wondering if anyone else will be coming in near that time and would be interested in sharing a taxi with us? I heard somewhere it is a bit less expensive than the HAL transfer but that could be wrong.

:cool:

TravelMoreandMore - thanks for your post. I have copied the information from the web site and will be checking with my cruise company to be sure all is good.

I too have a similar question so didn't want to post another thread. Looking at the dates of posts here they cover many years and it seems things change so I would like the most current information available. I will be traveling on the HAL ship Volendam which makes a 2 day stop in Shanghai in March. One visa company (CIBT) states no visa is required for my itinerary but the Chinese Embassy said I would need a visa ($200!) which I feel is exorbitant. There are also precautions from other sources that I could be denied boarding of the ship if documents aren't all in order. There is a great deal of conflicting information out there and HAL is not being helpful for this stop only. If anyone has visited Shanghai over 2 days while on a cruise - perhaps within the past year, I would really appreciate clarification.

I also imagine China could become very upset with the US in light of the behavior (re Taiwan) of our new President and change their requirements on short notice. I would hope I am just being overly concerned :)