paul21

I recently took a river cruise on Uniworld in France, and it seems French labor law is being fully enforced now: Crew can only work 8 hours each day, 6 days a week or 48 hours per 7 days Crew get one day off per week Some cruise lines were caught violating, so now there is strict timekeeping with a badge in/out that takes a photo (saw it on the progressive dinner) There were also some other oddities, like the captain was French and the cruise director was also French which is probably another requirement but I'm not sure. I asked a crewmember about other rivers, and the standard Uniworld contract was: Crew work 10 hour days, 7 days a week Crew get one day off every 2 weeks Contract rate is the same fixed pay per week France has a 2 year limit now because of is desirability (hours vs pay) Half the crew are new with half veterans If I compare these two options, with 59 crew on two ships, the available crew hours are: Europe: 59 * (7 days a week * 10 hours a day - 5 working hours off per week on average) Total: 3,835 man hours per week France: 59 * (6 days a week * 8 hours a day) Total: 2,832 man hours per week This means France has 74% of the available hours as Europe for the same crew count. Since I've only been on one Uniworld cruise in France, and my comparison is Scenic, there were a few service oddities that I'm looking for some opinion on: The bar and sun deck were not or understaffed until 5PM with no one checking for drinks; no one welcomed us from morning until 5PM Dinner service was a bit slow sometimes, with empty plates sitting for 5 minutes or more on occasion Drink refills were pretty slow at dinner and lunch, but breakfast was fine Only one butler was provisioned for 6 occupied suites, and he took a day off with no replacement and didn't answer during the day from 9am until 4pm Overall the cruise was enjoyable, but I'm wondering if anyone has compared France and Europe on the same line to know if there is a service level difference? The crew were always busy when they were working, so I have no complaints about that.

There is a bag and a price sheet by garmet (2022). They do laundry every day from what I can tell. When in a cabin on Scenic that provides unlimited laundry we filled the bag every day during the cruise. The day before the special event (Scenic Enrich) we were told that laundry would be delayed due to demand. If you have something to get pressed for the special event then do it early. As far as the "free" bag goes, it does have a weight listed in the brochure. My guess is they don't have a scale because they didn't have a by weight pricing listed in 2022. The shower did have a drying wire available, but just in the shower stall itself. IMO since the Scenic luggage was discontinued in favor of an on board credit, I will just do whatever laundry and not worry about the bill. For a 7 night cruise it should be easy enough to bring the right items to not need laundry anyway.

Uh oh! I would expect ticketing to happen within 24-48 hours or so, and this is most likely the issue. I would just politely ask for your ticket numbers from the TA or Viking. I don't think they hold off on ticketing for accounting purposes. I don't know your particular fare rules, or the ones that Viking negotiated, but Lufthansa has text like this on a few I checked: "WHEN RESERVATIONS ARE MADE AT LEAST 14 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED AT LEAST 10 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE." or "TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED WITHIN 3 DAYS AFTER RESERVATIONS ARE MADE OR AT LEAST 50 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE WHICHEVER IS EARLIER." You'll certainly want ticket numbers within 72 hours of departure, else you won't be able to board.

For this one, the PNR you have for Lufthansa is part of Amadeus which is not what United uses. Sometimes tickets purchased through United use the same PNR for Lufthansa. What you can try is: 1. Get your ticket number; this is a 16 digit or so number; you can get this by going to lh.com and entering that PNR you have and then printing details or viewing receipt somehow (don't have a reference right now). If it says reservation not found, combine your first and middle name into the first name box, like John David Smith Jr => First:JohnDavid Last:SmithJr. Once you have that number, you can call United and provide them that and ask for your PNR (or just to assign seats on the phone). 2. Try going to aircanada.com and looking up your reservation there under My bookings. If it pulls up, you might find the United PNR there.

Here's the full details: RST: Passport check when checking your bag, "DOCS OK" on boarding pass; security screening MSP: Passport or biometric check when boarding CDG: security screening, 2E->2G transfer by bus; immigration into the Schengen zone at 2G (see https://easycdg.com/passenger-information/connecting-flight-connections-paris-cdg-airport/transfer-terminal-2e/ to 2G, your terminals may change before your flight) BSL: Bag collection and customs, where you walk through the "green" zone if you have nothing to declare (there is not typically any line or person to talk to unless you need to declare something) or red if you do AMS: Passport check when checking your bag, "DOCS OK", security check, immigration (eGates or at a manned booth) MSP: Immigration check (you declare customs to this officer), then bag claim, then exit customs (could be inspected but not so likely); now you are basically in a check in area as if you just arrived at the airport; re-check bags to RST, clear security again For the eGates at AMS, you can use them on departure only. They are automated turnstiles where you stick your passport in a reader and look into a camera. Since the Schengen still stamps passports, you will need an exit stamp to prove you didn't overstay your visa-free period. The eGate doesn't do any stamping, so if you choose to use them, you will need to ask an officer for an exit stamp. Alternatively you can just go to the manned booths, and since you will not be connecting, I would recommend doing that instead and arriving with enough time for any line there since it's easier. If you are connecting XXX-AMS-MSP then it may be useful. For your boarding pass CDG-BSL, the Delta agents may not be able to print that boarding pass for you in RST, and they may or may not in MSP either. You may find you landed in CDG with no boarding pass to BSL, so you can do a few things: 1. Go to the transfer desk, service desk, or ask the agent at the arrival gate to print a BP for your flight 2. Try to check in using the AirFrance app on your phone when you land--more complicated, but with a short connection it's worth a try 3. Follow the signs to exit into baggage claim, clear immigration and customs (with your rollaboard only), go to the Air France check in desk and get your boarding pass, walk to 2F, take the bus from 2F to 2G, clear security, board; if this is required to happen because you can't get a BP inside of 2E then you will almost certainly miss your connection, but you shouldn't need to do this Hope that helps!

On your outbound you will clear immigration (passport control) in terminal 2G, as well as re-clearing security most likely. That means carry on liquids come out etc. Your outbound immigration for the US is handled electronically by the airline but you will need your passport in hand to board in MSP, though some flights use biometrics now. Your luggage should be through checked to BSL. If you have something to declare you would do it in BSL, but it is an assertive process. You should be able to just grab your bag and leave if you have nothing to declare, via the Swiss side (BSL has exits to both France and Switzerland with customs officials for each country). On the return you will again clear immigration in AMS, but you can use the eGates for exit only. If you do, make sure your passport gets stamped by the officers nearby, or just go to the manned lines. When you land in MSP you and your bags will be kicked out into the immigration area. First you will do a passport check, then you will claim your bag and exit customs with it. Again customs requires you to declare as no one checks unless random. You will then recheck your bag to RST.

CDG connection: Technically it's an allowed timing with a minimum of 1h20m. Practically I wouldn't want less than 2 hours to make a HOP connection as that requires a bus ride as well (2E to 2G). The problem is the next CDG-BSL flight isn't until 5:50 PM. At any rate if you misconnect that early in the day you'll have several options including waiting until 5 (space available) or a 4hr train or car/bus ride. Delta may not be able to print your boarding pass either so you may want to try the Air France app if they can't. 2E to 2G is published as taking 40 minutes, but if you add walking time, deplaning, and any delay at security (you need to do passport control and re-screening) it goes closer to 1hr. I would recommend taking the AMS route over CDG if you can. You can take DL160 and KL1987 for example with a 4 hour layover in AMS. If you are in business you can access the Crown 25 lounge which has showers to kill some time. AMS has no buses so it's a bit more reliable, and their I-D connection time is only 1hr so 20-30 minutes faster than the HOP connection in CDG. HOP seats: Take your 6 character PNR from Delta and go to airfrance.us and go to manage my trip. You can pick seats from there for that flight only.

You might consider an adapter with a cord built in: https://www.amazon.com/European-Adapter-FOVAL-Mountable-Extension/dp/B09BZ972Y4/ A proper UL listed cord will have the max voltage stamped somewhere, typically 300V.