PhD-iva

On 4/19/2024 at 10:09 PM, GeorgeCharlie said:

We were in Lima the fall of 2022 and would strongly recommend you consider taking the ship supplied shuttle to the airport.

 

The port used by cruise ships is located in Callao (14km west of Lima) and is a industrial port, which has large transport trucks operating 24 hours per day. This means most taxi and tour buses are not allowed into the port area.

 

The immediate area round the docks is known to be very dangerous. If you are taking a private arranged transportation, you will most likely be picked up at the port gates, which are fair distance from where the ship docks. We had to take a ship supplied shuttle just to get to the gates. When they drop you off at the gates, you are essentially in a large slum area!!

I agree with the advice in this post absolutely. About 18 months ago I disembarked from a cruise ship and was being picked up by a private tour guide. All passengers not using cruise transfers had to take the cruise ship provided bus from the cruise dock to a staging area outside of the port gates. This area is so dangerous that the lima tourist police had a three person presence there, although this was during the day. I’m not sure if it’s a 24 hour police presence or not.

In the past, cruise ship tourists would debark and be left in this staging area. Thieves would drive by on a motorbike or in a car and rip their suitcases/bags out of their hands and drive off. I was accompanied by experienced male residents, so I felt safe (along w the police presence).

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

But there is spare money to order new ships…….plus past is the past regarding that. 

There is no “spare” money. New ship builds are business investments that must earn a return for investors! 

I am also interested in this. I tried to paste a link to get yourguide.com with information about a hop on hop off in Oslo. Something is goofy with my Internet today, or something, so I’m not able to paste a hotlink here for you.

I will be following your thread, so thanks for this.

I booked my Japan excursions today, the day they opened, for my Tokyo - Vancouver Riviera cruise on 25 April 2025. Might end up rescheduling Japan to a future year if my very expensive Cape Town to Doha on Regent in 2025 is a go.

I’m still trying to fill out my 18-day port intensive cruise in NW Europe this August w excursions using local providers. It’s a lot of work! Only doing 2 ship excursions on the more remote islands, as a safeguard.

On 4/14/2024 at 3:09 PM, organizedhome said:

Thank you for all the different perspectives; I’ll take the comments under advisement—but rest assured, we are delighted to be aboard.   

I appreciate your perspective and observations posted (on this non-private forum). They are helpful to others to evaluate onboard conditions, which are always subjective.
I hope that you are able to resolve your concerns and to enjoy the rest of your cruise.

I suspect some people need to be entertained (more than me….). I generally can make new friends on board, several different ones. So, I am likely changing it up by hanging with different groups at different times.

Sorry O isn’t for them…..

1 minute ago, Pcardad said:

You had a mandatory Covid test on the pier as a requirement to boarding?

I think you misunderstood the post. I think the post compares 2 difficult embarkations, one of which included a COVID test. JMO.

On 4/21/2024 at 7:44 PM, CardowMD said:

Not sure who K&B is, but I hope it’s not Nov 5 cruise.

I LOVE Boogie & Kashia! Great way to burn off some cals on the dance floor. Their party rocks!

7 hours ago, DrHemlock said:

It's a simple typo, probably caused by auto-fill, but I can't resist:

Brood Coffee is just the thing when you're having a bad day -- the more bitter, the better -- though perhaps less appreciated when it accompanies room service breakfast before the day has even begun.  Oh well...as Joe E. Brown said at the end of Some Like It Hot, "Nobody's perfect!"

HaHa! Must admit, not a typo - it was a “wine-o”!
I knew it looked off, but I was feeling no pain….until about 10 minutes later when the correct spelling hit me! OUCH!

On 4/19/2024 at 9:28 PM, WESTEAST said:

Adherence to dress code is gradually slipping - recently, did see passengers wearing sweatshirts with jeans in Speciality restaurants which is a real stretch of the so called 'country club casual' dress code. Not sure how one defines 'nice ones' as price tags can equate to ripped nice jeans. O's website reads "...... for evening dining, elegant casual resort wear is suggested. We request that casual jeans, shorts, t-shirts, baseball caps, sandals, or tennis shoes not be worn in the restaurants after 6 PM. Baseball caps may be worn in the Terrace Café after 6 PM." Realize this subject has been beaten to death on various forums but on recent cruises we've noticed that the elegant casual resort wear is heading in the wrong direction IMO and unfortunately, Oceania is not enforcing.

Sometimes luggage goes awry, in which case the maitre’d knows that pax don’t have much choice.

Hopefully this explains what you saw……..

5 minutes ago, REDSTRIPETYPE said:

THE BAD

Like most cruise  ships, the coffee was horrible.

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your cruise enough to go on Oceania again.

I agree with you that the brood coffee is not good enough to drink. However, as compared to celebrity, there is no upcharge for any specialty coffee. Cappuccino, Café Americano, flat white, expresso, no upcharge!

Thank you for your positive attitude. I’m sure you will enjoy all of your future Cruises!

3 hours ago, flossie009 said:

…,,….. but there is the rear Galileo’s Lounge

 

 

Outside Galileo’s 

Lovely!

Am booked on Navigator in 2025. I think there’s no forward observation lounge. 😩

5 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

It’s still April 20 as we finish the first one and start the second one.
finally, our trivia team placed on the first April 20 and it was first place at that. Hopefully we can do a repeat of this on the second April 20.

As shown by the invite above, you have to spell out which April 20 you’re talking about.
We headed to dinner in the Compass rose, and there was a line. (this is very unusual.)

It seems everyone else wanted to get an early start on their evening, The clocks get set ahead two hours tonight as we head toward the international dateline.

We will have to wait and see what the second April 20 brings us. 
The question for us on the second April 20 is what pills out of our pill organizer do we take since we are having two Saturdays. 

This begs the question since you repeat a day on your cruise, do you have to pay twice for a “single date,” April 20??

🤔

5 hours ago, TashaDickens said:

Email to CEO has gone unanswered.

Not sure whether CEOs respond to complaints. Don’t they have minions for that?

I agree that RSSC & sister cruiseline Oceania have atrocious communication policies. 
You haven’t given me enough information to understand your concerns, but I can guess (given recent history) that you have at least one leg to stand on….

Most insurance policies exclude war, whether declared or undeclared. This is true industry wide. So sorry! 

7 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Unsure if this will be helpful or not, but throwing it into the mix anyway.

 

 This is a recent post I added to a thread when someone was asking about Rosyth and might be helpful to read, you only need ignore the parts which have no relevance for you. Post #4

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2992278-new-to-fred-olsen-and-rosyth-departure/#comment-67023712

A couple of points.

 

Yes, there is a building used on turnaround days but Rosyth is a working port and I do not know what that building is used for at other times.

 

Use of the bus for the teeny tiny short transfer to the ship was mandatory, as walking was not permitted.

 

I do not know where shorex coaches, drivers  and guides meet on days when ships have only a port call as opposed to embarkation, but they must meet somewhere close to the ship and it may be that you could contact the Port Authorities at Rosyth to ask your question as they will be the ones who know.  I looked and there is an e-mail contact form on the website

https://www.forthports.co.uk/our-ports/rosyth/

 

 

Thx! This is very helpful. I did hear back from Rabbie’s Tours, and they seemed satisfied with the information I had provided (from this thread).

Thx to all who have helped!

4 hours ago, Thejuggler said:

Rabbie's are a long established tour company that do dozens of tours every year. I am surprised they have not told you where you need to meet them.  

Their tours meet in Edinburgh, about an hour away from Rosyth port by bus. Their single departure time for the Hadrian’s wall tour is at 8AM (meet 15 minutes prior) however our port arrival time is scheduled for 8AM, so we can’t take the general tour.

Thanks for your response!

Thank you for your quick response! How close will the car and/or driver be able to get to the ship, or dockside if we are standing just off the gangplank? Maybe you would call that quayside?

Hi! I am organizing a private group tour with Rabbie’s Tours for some pax on our roll call and the tourguide/driver will pick us up at the Port of Rosyth. Where can I direct the driver to meet us/pick us up? The Head Office is requesting an address. When I google it, here is what I get:

Port of Rosyth, Fife Place, Rosyth, Dunfermline, Scotland, KY11 2XP

I would like to provide better information so we are not scrambling to find our driver when we dock! 

Thank you for any help you can provide!

I hope they have heard the concerns about “noise pollution” and will address noise issues in the staterooms that I read about on CC. Thin walls are part of the problem, even if not the only root cause.

8 hours ago, clo said:

Care to share your favorite?

Enjoy!

Holiday Biscotti, GDL.pdf GDL Eggplant Timbale.pdf Giada Chocolate and Fig Tart.pdf

5 hours ago, shepherd really said:

She's not even a celebrity chef.  She's just a person with a famous last name who pretends to be a cook on tv.   

While I no longer follow Giada, I used to watch her TV shows, I bought her DVDs and I cooked and baked many of her recipes. I have a lot of good recipes that I got from Giada. I definitely would say that yes, she is a celebrity chef.

I’ve since moved onto follow other chefs as I’ve previously mentioned, but I have absolutely no complaints about her professional competency (marital infidelity will not be mentioned. OOPS!)

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Thx Chat GPT! Now they can fire the Marketing Department!