NantahalaCruiser

Wife and I will be sailing to Canada on the Volendam this May. Have recent cruisers on Volendam seen any Cooking Demos or Hands-On Classes offered in the Wajang Theatre & Culinary Arts Center? If so and you participated, when and how did you register and what was the cost? Will they be less likely on just a 7-Night cruise?

Thanks

On 8/21/2023 at 10:23 AM, reeves35 said:

 

Love your picture of Oberwesel.  Wife and I stayed overnight in the top of the tower at Burghotel Auf Schönburg while on a land trip about 40 years ago!

When I was last on Celebrity - 3 years ago - II Bacio in the Oceanview Cafe did not offer all of the premium coffees that were available at Al Bacio - probably only 4 or 5 of the most regularly ordered coffees along with some tea.

3- As long as you keep one of the original persons on your reservation you can change any other persons with no added cost

4- If you were to substitute someone else for your SIL, then she would have no insurance claim since her reservation was used.  Thus whoever you substitute would need to reimburse her.

The very reason we will no longer be taking mass market ocean lines.  I was going to say, no more Nickle and Diming - but it's really 5 and 10 bucking.

11 hours ago, 39august said:

Didn't love the cans, but at least they were biodegradable. 

Since when is aluminum biodegradable?  Recyclable, yes.

5 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

I think the urban legend/misconception is that ALL nonstops with Viking have surcharges, when, as you say, CERTAIN nonstops have an added fee.  In our case the Delta--provided by Delta had no fee, but the Delta--serviced by another airline via codeshare did have an extra cost.

In early November we will have a non-stop Amsterdam-Orlando code-shared Virgin Atlantic operated by Delta with no extra cost.  Unfortunately, we will have 3 segments for Orlando-Budapest in October.

4 hours ago, Baggy178 said:

 

You sense wrong.

I've been visiting the US for half a century and owned property there for 20 years so I'm familiar with the tipping culture.

My rules are simple - unless it's a mandatory service charge I decide on whether to tip or not and also the exact amount. Sometimes it's more and sometimes it's less than the recommended amount but it all depends on the service I have received. For truly bad service I pay nothing and will happily explain to a manager why I'm not paying.

In this instant I'm uncomfortable with a tipping culture that only rewards certain members of the crew and implies it's the passengers' responsbilities to pay decent wages rather than the company itself.

And $400 is an outrageous amount to add to the cost of a cruise - be honest and upfront about it and add it to the bottom line when you sell the product.

So you're familiar with the culture but disagree with it - and thus go your own way rather than adopting the culture of a foreign land.

Some Americans do the same when they visit other lands and are called "ugly Americans" - so I guess "ugly" must now be applied to you also - congratulations.

On 7/5/2023 at 10:24 PM, sharkster77 said:

News on a Boston TV station just mentioned that 10,000 customers are owed a total of $80 million in refunds.  Getting a 20% discount on a cruise with the new owners?  I would RUN, run away from that offer---there are many other tour companies out there.

This is all an excellent reminder of why one should always get travel insurance through a third party whose offers include coverage for financial default of the cruise line.

After their pandemic-related financial problems, I'm sure they are currently more interested in firming up their core business than taking on a new business segment.

On 5/28/2023 at 3:42 PM, Tom47 said:

We have just finished a Rhine/Mosel river cruise, Antwerp to Basel.  The trip was mostly good, except that many of the pax came down with a viral infection(including us).  They provided room service for those who were sick and confined to their rooms.Pull down single beds were very uncomfortable and gave us back pain.  Food was good.  Wine and beer included in price. Program managers, and staff, including Captain  were  friendly and helpful.

One thing that left a sour taste for us was a bait and switch price.  We booked this trip in May 2020 for May 2021.  GCT cancelled because of Covid.  We had plans for 2022 and rebooked for 2023.  We had paid in full for the 2021 trip.  When we rebooked, they assured me that we would still get the same price and business air fare.  That proved not to be the case.  First they sent me a refund of $1110 and then demanded an additional $7500 because the business class airfare was only price Protected for 1 year.

We don't recommend GCT and will not use them again.  We have used Vantage Travel, but have read of problems with them and many unhappy customers.

Being verbally assured by a sales person is unfortunately generally not assuring.  What did your rebooked invoice show?

4 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

YES---Your are on the Grand European Tour, not the Rhine Getaway (Basel to Amsterdam, just 8 days--yours is 14 days).  Marksburg USED to be included in the Rhine Getaway, but not anymore.  Are you going to Heidelberg?  It used to be part of the Rhine Getaway as well, but was replaced with Speyer (Heidelberg became an optional excursion on the Rhine Getaway.

Could be a website problem, but Viking currently shows Marksburg Castle as an excursion for the the Rhine Getaway

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/europe/rhine-getaway/2025-basel-amsterdam/index.html#itineraryday/5

On 7/1/2023 at 1:48 PM, sharkster77 said:

On Viking's Rhine Getaway cruise, the middle Rhine castle viewing is either in the morning or afternoon, with an excursion in the other time slot.  We visited Marksburg Castle in the morning, had lunch, then sailed the middle Rhine.  We arrived in Rudesheim late afternoon and could venture out on our own either before or after dinner.

 

Now, I believe Marksburg Castle is replaced with Koblenz, Marksburg is now an optional excursion.

 

On our upcoming Viking Budapest to Amsterdam cruise in late October, Marksburg Castle is an included afternoon excursion with a bus ride out of Koblenz.

On 6/23/2023 at 8:17 AM, bEwAbG said:

Any truth to the rumor I'm starting that the cheese plate is now just unwrapped Kraft singles? 

 

Supplier issue means it's really an off-brand substitute (Krafteez™). 

 

 

Up charge for Velteeta 🤑

In the absence of short cruises, I suggest you consider one or more day trips on KD ferries - for example:

https://www.k-d.com/de/schiffstouren/nostalgie-route

Note: change to English language in upper right of website

On 6/20/2023 at 6:28 PM, Got2Cruise said:

Just make sure you purchase 3rd party travel insurance and you’ll be fine. If you have a pre-existing condition it needs to be purchased within 10 days of booking. 

The number of days depends on the particular insurance plan - many use 14 days and some even more than 20 days

On 4/27/2023 at 10:38 AM, NantahalaCruiser said:

The different categories and different prices appear to be as they were back in 2006 - right before they were consolidated into an overall single price ceiling.  Someone obviously screwed up when they produced your booking receipt.

Sorry, typo - it changed in 2016

On 3/31/2023 at 1:46 PM, capecodollie said:

Either way this is a potential deal killer,  primarily because I have to wonder about the viability of their business.  Not to mention $800 out of my pocket.

 

You can reduce your business viability concern by making sure your travel insurance includes coverage for provider financial default.

On 6/15/2023 at 3:32 PM, Barwick Cruiser said:

A few years ago, can’t recall exactly when the change occurred, back then you did have to pay the entire cost of the beverage if it was over the classic limit. That changed a few years ago to now only paying the difference plus service charge on the difference. 

Changed back in fall of 2016 - same time as they changed to a single price ceiling rather than different ceilings for beer, wine and liquor

x

15 hours ago, jamscckmc said:

Very surprised at the cost of Celebrity’s cruise insurance for the retreat. We are in the cheapest suite. We usually buy the cruise insurance when reasonable. I’m guessing there’s better options out there. Anyone find a good company that will cover air and cruise cheaper than Celebrity’s plan?

Note that most alternative insurance providers include coverage for financial default of your primary vendors (e.g. airlines and cruise lines) while cruise line insurances do not cover their own financial default.  Rather low probability of bankruptcy now, but was not that low a couple of years ago.

On 6/14/2023 at 9:44 PM, Islander500 said:

Halifax, but was figuring this was a general question about how celebrity handles these HoHo passes anywhere.  But any help appreciated.  Ty

Depending on the port, the HoHo bus may have both a standard route and an extension of that route to the port - with the extension at different times than the main route.

On 5/24/2023 at 5:16 AM, FeebeeH said:

Celebrity is affiliated with an old (not sure if still even in existence) Greek shipping company called Chandris Line.  Showing my age here, but I emigrated to Australia on Chandris line (RHMS Britanis) in 1973.

Celebrity was founded as a subsidiary of Chandris Group in 1988 and merged with Royal Caribbean in 1997.  The Greek spelling of Chandris starts with the Greek letter "Chi" which looks like an X.  All of the Chandris ships carried the letter "Chi" on their funnels; and Celebrity continues the tradition.

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

No, DW was using the laundromat on Viking throughout our cruise – and then we had to find a laundry service in London to be ready for the DIY week following.  I was speaking in general, and thinking about the difference between that and our Scenic river cruise, where being in a suite allowed us to immediately send out all our laundry from the prior week in Holland and also keep up with laundry throughout the rest of the cruise so that we wouldn't have to worry about a laundromat in Paris.  It is really freeing – it's not about the cost, but about the ease of just sending out a bag whenever you have a few items piled up.  Priceless!

Yeah, it is about the ease, but also to some sight extent about the cost.  On Viking River, if I only pack 8 sets of underwear, undershirts & socks and send 8 sets to the laundry to get through the full cruise, it will cost me $88.  DW's will be something similar.  But I will probably spend the money rather using the sink - on the other hand, DW will probably use the sink 😎

Thanks very much to Pontac and Greysandy - guess the sink will be my friend 🥺