Pumpkin Travels

Can you report on the weather along the way?  We’re sailing TA next month and don’t know what to expect temperature wise in the mid Atlantic.

thanks

We went with BoatBikeTours.com out of Amsterdam. Loved it. Not super super deluxe but a wonderful trip and we would do it again. We went from Brugges to Amsterdam, late May, 2019. Beautiful countryside, lovely towns, great company on the barge and great guides!

On 12/15/2022 at 7:33 AM, worcestergal said:

Thanks!  I’m looking forward to seeing your posts. 
We are now booked on Scenic in March, 2024 for the trip which includes Hanoi, HaLong Bay, Siem Reap and the cruise ending in HCMC. Even though it’s over a year away, I am really looking forward to it. 

Looking for ward to hearing about your journey and from franski about the trip on Emerald.   

We're still looking at lat 2024, already have a Portugal cruise booked in spring of 2024 on Scenic.

Hi worcestergal,

We’re thinking about the same trip although considering the Scenic Grand Indochine and Mekong for late 2024. The itinerary sounds amazing!

i can’t comment on AMA, but we sailed on both Scenic and Viking this year and would agree with terry&mike, Scenic was a cut above Viking on the European ships. The service was better and almost all of the excursions were included on Scenic which we liked. The food was more creative on Scenic which we very much enjoyed. 

On 12/5/2022 at 3:51 PM, mahdnc said:

i have been to Japan once on Nov 2019 for business for a week and my personal cell (Verizon) and business cell (ATT) worked just fine. Both phones were iPhones. 
 

Spectacular photo!

Thank you so much! This is so helpful!

Did your cell phone work OK for Internet service like searching maps or pulling up various apps?

Hi, we are from the United States and will be traveling to Japan on a cruise next year. We wanted to see if anyone has any experience with cell phone service on land in Japan. We are arriving several days early to adjust to the time change and will need to use our cell phones to get around and for other things.

Does anyone have any experience with their cell phones over there?  Thanks.

On 9/30/2022 at 6:52 AM, Los_Pepes said:

We did exactly what you are doing for my father in law this summer. He is almost 90 and we took him on what is likely his last trip. The guy is notoriously cheap and will grind a penny out of any situation. We took him a small/mid size luxury cruise to the Fjords in a great cabin, he flew business class (first time in his life), ordered fine whiskeys and champagnes that were not on the AI list, ate at all the specialty restaurants etc. No restrictions and pure indulgence. 15 years ago he would have been griping about costs and how we could have gotten a better deal if he had done X or Y instead of what we did.

 

He had an ear to ear smile the entire time and couldn't stop talking about it when he got back. It was very special to us all and no one complained about the extra few bucks we wasted/spent. We removed, to an extent, the cost consideration, and just went for it. Best investment we ever made. 

which cruise line was it that you took him on?  It sounds like something worth looking into.

The RCCL website says their pack n play is only ok for kids up to 24 inches height. What was your experience? All the Pack n Play sets we found online say they are ok up to 35 inches unless the kids can climb out.

We also read that there are bedrails but just spent about 30 min talking on the phone with RCCL and the rep said they do not provide bedrails.

Do y'all know if the mattress on the fold out sofa can be taken off and put on the floor so there's no risk of the kids falling out of bed?

Thanks for all the great info!! One question:

What did y'all do for sleeping arrangements for the kids?