BlewWater

There are a couple specific cruises I might be interested in booking, depending on stateroom availability.

Is there a way I can see if certain stateroom categories are already sold out, without going through my travel agent or clicking on Request A Quote?

The 2024 World Cruise (according to post #20 itinerary) appears to have more Days at Sea, and less port days, than Old Crystal had.

For me, the number of port days is a significant factor when I am choosing a longer cruise. I can enjoy sea days, but prefer fewer of them.  But, sometimes the comforts of Crystal override that! I understand that many cruisers have no problem with more at-sea days, and some people prefer them to port days.

Simply out of curiosity, I calculated the % of sea days [WC length] divided by [days at sea] for some World Cruises.

Here's what I found:

Silversea 2023:  23% of itinerary days are days at sea

Oceania 2023:  31%

Oceania 2024: 31%

Regent 2025:  34%

Seabourn 2024:  35%

Azamara 2024:  35%

Regent 2024:  38%

Viking 2024:  41%

Crystal 2020:  42% (included this one for my reference because I was on this cruise)

Crystal 2024:  45%

Holland America 2024:  51%

Princess 2023:  55%

Cunard 2024:  67%

My wife somehow removes the label from the original prescription bottle (she peels carefully and slowly), and then applies the label to a small zipper lock bag. It is my understanding that it isn't the original prescription container that is important; it is the label and information that it contains that is important. The small bags can be found on Amazon; search for zip lock craft bags.

On longer trips, we transfer prescription pills to these small labeled bags before we leave home, to save packing space. During our travels we use these bags to refill our week-at-a-time organizers. And we always bring enough prescription meds to last at least one week longer than our anticipated travel dates, in case of unforeseen delays.

Another strategy would be to have your doctor(s) give you printed prescriptions for each medication, and take these paper copies with you when traveling. Then the pills themselves could be taken in whatever container is convenient. But still label each container with a homemade sticker as to pill name, strength, etc.

Even with our transferring of prescription labels to small baggies, we still also carry printed prescriptions for international travel. This documents the pills in our possession, plus can be useful if there is a need to go to a foreign pharmacy.

Yet another option would be to ask the pharmacist to print out and give you new labels. Explain your purpose, and they should be okay doing this.

Magnets are allowed in checked bags, as well as carry-on bags.

Source: TSA (https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/magnets)

We have been bringing magnetic hooks and magnetic clips on cruises for a few years, and find them invaluable. I prefer the hooks, as they can be used to hang hats, clothes, cords, and many other items. And they can be used as a regular magnet (not using the hook part) to post printed items to the wall. On our last World Cruise, I think we brought a dozen or so, and used them all.

Amazon has a good selection. I error on the larger side, and have the Strongman 50-pound magnetic hooks, but there are smaller ones available.

Most come with a thin adhesive pad that can be applied to the circular magnet. I put these on to protect the wall from scratches, and make them slide around easier. I haven't found that the pad interferes with the magnetic strength at all.

Here's one I've found very helpful, even though it contains some items that don't apply to us.

Packing Checklist - World Cruise.pdf

I always expect costs to increase every year, especially with the current pandemic. But have travel insurance premiums really more than doubled in just two years?

I've received quotes for travel insurance for a 2022  cruise. I am comparing these quotes to premium amount I actually paid for a 2020 World Cruise.

My total insurable costs for the upcoming 2022 trip are about 10% less than the insured costs of our 2020 cruise.

But the quoted premiums are more than double what we paid for our 2020 cruise. I am comparing premiums for the same policy with the same insuring company. And quotes from other insurers are relatively similar, so I know this new quote isn't just an outlier.

What have other people who are regular purchasers of travel insurance experienced in terms of premium increases?

My understanding is that it is the label, and the information contained on it, that is important. Not the actual pill bottle itself.

When I use the last of the pills in a prescription bottle, I peel the label off the bottle, and stick it back on to a little plastic coin bag. Then I take that labeled bag when traveling. Transfering the label takes a little patience and practice, but can work quite well. If it doesn't stick well, I've used a piece of clear packaging tape to cover the label and adhere to the bag.

Another option that I've used is to have the prescribing pharmacy simply print the current labels and give them to me. Then I can easily apply them at home. I haven't had luck with this with mail-order pharmacies; only local ones.

The little zip lock bags are available in different sizes on Amazon, and in crafting stores.

For non-prescription pills of any type, I make a label or tag that clearly indicates exactly what the pill is, the strength, and the recommended dose.

I also get an actual printed copy of all prescriptions from my prescribing doctor(s) and take those with me. I've never had to use them, but have read a few stories where doing this greatly simplifies things if a person ever needs to get new meds while away from home.

travelberlin, thank you for your wonderful posts! They will undoubtedly help many people (including me) in planning their future cruising.

I have two questions that perhaps you could address: weather and water.

I assume you have had hot/humid days. Have you had any days or evenings on the cooler side? I'm just wondering if this is one of those cruises where one must pack for all extremes...hot, chilly, sunny, rainy.

Also, have you had mostly smooth sailing? Or have you encountered rough seas anywhere?

Here is a link that has some "Celebrity Today" daily bulletins posted for a 2015 Celebrity Solstice Alaska cruise:

www.1mpages.com/CruiseDailyBulletins.html#CelebritySolstice

There are also other documents and ship photos posted.

That might help give you an idea of daily schedule and activities on board before you book your cruise.

An excursion ("Wat Krom, Villages & Market") offered by Princess Cruises says in the description:

For those taking this excursion, I'm wondering what types of small gifts might be appropriate for the children? ...actual school supplies? ...toys? ...candy? ...something else?

We don't drink alcohol, and the room attendant would always exchange our welcome bottle of champagne for sparkling cider. On our recent (October 2015) New England cruise, the attendant said that Oceania no longer do this. It is a small thing, but those small details add up to make Oceania stand out above so many other cruise lines, so it immediately had me concerned that we would run into other issues also. Thankfully, we did not notice any other differences from our prior cruises.

My two cents worth:

It seems that those who have more knowledge about this topic are more accepting of mandatory handwashing.

First of all, many comments in this thread are aimed toward Norovirus. This is by far the primary concern, but is certainly not the ONLY thing that causes illness. There are many other viruses and bacteria that make people ill and can be spread via hands. I have been on numerous cruises where I have seen the number of people coughing and sniffling skyrocket between the start and the end of the cruise.

Purell with vf481 might not kill 100% of virus or bacteria, but certainly decreases transmission better than not using Purell at all. Handwashing might not kill 100% of virus or bacteria, but decreases transmission better than not washing hands at all. Using both might increase safety even a bit more. Granted, some people have legitimate concerns about the effect of gel sanitizers on their skin. But simply not liking it is not a legitimate concern.

Not all people with Norovirus have symptoms. It is possible to be infected with Norovirus, spread the disease to others, and not show symptoms.

Norovirus can be transmitted from someone’s hands to a surface just by touching that surface. That includes the cabin doorknob, handrails in the hallway, handrails in stairs, elevator buttons, menus, food serving utensils, buttons on beverage dispensers. Even seemingly innocuous items such as salt and pepper shakers. Washing hands in the cabin or bathroom does not mean hands will still be safe by the time one starts eating.

There are a number of medical conditions that cause one’s immune system to be compromised, but those people still functions just fine in everyday life. They usually are acutely aware of disease transmission and are very careful. What might be an annoying illness to most people can be a very serious problem for those with weak immune systems. It only takes one careless person to put these people at serious risk.

Those who are vigilant with their hygiene aren’t necessarily germaphobes. They are simply very cautious. Most of them think it is great when cruise lines try to enforce mandatory handwashing or mandatory sanitizing gel. They might appreciate the ships that have the crew serve up the food at buffets. They wash hands frequently, and might use hand sanitizer after touching the menu, right before beginning to eat. They avoid touching hand rails unless they really need to (it’s easy to use handrails simply out of habit rather than necessity). They use knuckles to press buttons. If they cough or sneeze, they try to do so into a sleeved arm, not into bare hands, and certainly not into the thin air. These precautions often extend to off-the-ship activities also.

Bravo to Princess for their efforts! And bravo to the original poster, who unintentionally is helping to make the cruise ship a safer place via the conversations provoked!

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Singapore in Transit

12/29/14

 

Had a great day in Singapore today. We had already spent 4 days here and still had many places to visit. Before we used an MRT pass to get around the city, this time we hired a private driver who took us to all the places we missed, and some places we didn't know about.

 

Khuhan (khuhan.sg at gmail.com) met us at 8am in his comfortable Mercedes limo cab and off we went to conquer Singapore. The weather predicted rain so I created an itinerary that took that into consideration however, it really never rained. Lesson learned, lose expectations and use a knowledgeable driver!

 

...

How did you first learn about Khuhan, and make your initial arrangements with him?

Thank you for posting these! They are very helpful to us while we plan our Alaska cruise in 2015.

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Bleuwater, if you're still around, kudos on your exceptional travelogue of your Tauck river cruise. It's simply outstanding. You also mention that you have previously taken Tauck land trips. Which itineraries? Do you have travelogues for any of them? Thanks!

Thanks! The travelogues take a lot of time, but are fun to do. Yes, we do have them for some of our other Tauck land-based tours. I hope you enjoy them; here they are.

Best of Ireland:

Spain and Portugal:

Paradors of Northern Spain:

Classic Italy:

We went on our first river cruise last year. We chose Tauck because we had been on a number of their land-based tours and have been thoroughly impressed with them. I wrote an extensive review of our experience here:

http://www.1mpages.com/ReviewTauckRiverCruise.html

Hopefully that will be helpful. If you end up chosing Tauck, I don't think you will be disappointed. Indeed, it could very well cause you to be disappointed if you travel on other river boats after that!

Happy travels!

Here are some scanned daily bulletins from the Victoria Anna that might help give you an idea of day-to-day schedule on the ship:

http://www.1mpages.com/CruiseDailyBulletins.html#VictoriaAnna

How do you know that other companies do not pass the gratuities on and what other cruise lines do you base your comparison of tour guide quality?

I don't think I said that other companies do not pass the gratuities on; sorry if my post wasn't clear. The point I wanted to make was that I have been on other cruises (and land tours) where gratuities were advertised as included in cruise fare, but there was still an expectation that gratuities would be forthcoming directly from the guests. I did not find that on our Tauck river cruise.

Tauck, unlike many other tour companies, considers Day 1 as the actual first day it starts, not the day you leave home. Calling Day 1 the day you leave home has always seemed like a misleading marketing gimmick to me. And that is a small example of many little details that sets Tauck apart from others.

My input to the tipping discussion:

It really is more appropriate to compare gratuity practices on Tauck river cruises to other Tauck tours, not to other non-Tauck traditional cruise lines. On Tauck land tours, gratuities are included for everything except the Tour Director and driver. Guests rarely tip extra to local guides, local drivers, hotel staff. But gratuities are almost universally given to the Tour Director and driver, and sometimes quite generously. I found that most river cruise guests followed these same guidelines even though Tauck states that on river cruises also include gratuities for the Cruise Director and the Tour Directors. Perhaps this reflects the fact than many Tauck travelers are repeat customers and know the routine.

Tauck river cruises include all gratuities, and they state that this includes "ship staff, drivers, local guides, Tauck Directors and Tauck Cruise Director". One of the other little things that sets Tauck aside is that they really do mean this. Tauck has a good reputation with these people; my understanding is that Tauck takes good care of them. Because of this, Tauck seems to be able to attract the better ones.

On our 24-day Grand European cruise with Tauck, there were only a few isolated instances where anyone gave tips to local guides or drivers; the vast majority did not. We did hear about a number of people giving tips to their stateroom attendant, but this was not routine; it was done when service was felt to be above and beyond.

However, many people gave extra gratuities to the Cruise Director, and to the Tour Directors. During a conversation I had with one of them, I asked about this. He told me that these gratuities are not expected, but definitely appreciated and are not uncommon, which matched what I observed.

We do regret not giving a gratuity to the Hotel Manager of our cruise, whose name was Marina. She was one of the Scylla staff. She was a very hard worker, and excellent at her job. Other than the Captain, it's clear that she ran the ship, and was responsible for keeping the level of excellence Tauck expects. And we did observe many instances where she went above and beyond in her duties.

If you have been on Crystal, Silversea, and Seabourn, then you are accustomed to top-notch cruising. Tauck has a similar reputation for top-notch river cruising.

But be careful when trying to compare river cruises with your past cruise experiences. While they are both cruises, and have some similarities, they also have distinct differences. Top-notch river cruising still is not quite to the same level as top-notch traditional ocean cruising. That shouldn't deter you from taking a river cruise; just have realistic expectations.

My wife and I took our first river cruise with Tauck last year. Our prior cruising experience was mostly Regent, Crystal, and Oceania. We found differences, but immensely enjoyed the river cruise, and found Tauck service to be excellent. When we do another river cruise, we will surely look at Tauck first. We wrote about our Grand European River Cruise here:

http://www.1mpages.com/ReviewTauckRiverCruise.html

Hopefully you will find it interesting and helpful!

I have a question about luggage with Tauck. We travel usually with one checked bag and one wheeled carryon bag for each of us. Would Tauck handle that or would we take it from our hotel room ourselves? We have two days in Paris on our tour and then board the train for Lyon and I am curious if we would be taking our wheeled carryon with us on the train? By the way-I absolutely loved your trip review! One of the best I have ever seen and so well written with a huge attention to detail!

Tauck will take care of getting your checked bags from inside your Paris hotel room to the train, and from the train to your riverboat room.

As far as your wheeled carry-on, that depends on you. If you would like it transfered by Tauck, you simply ask your director for another luggage tag (it's important that they maintain an exact checked bag count for each guest) and put it on your carry-on. Then it will be transferred along with your other checked bag. I have found that Tauck is very accomodating when it comes to additional checked bags.

If you prefer, you can take it on the train yourself as a normal carry-on. It has been a while since I was on the TGV train and I can't recall the space for carry-ons, but I imagine that space for larger carry-ons (like many that have wheels) might be limited as it is on many trains, so taking it yourself might not be the best option.

My wife and I took our first river cruise last year. We chose Tauck because we had already taken a couple of their land-based tours, and have been very impressed with their quality. Before choosing Tauck, I read many Cruise Critic posts about various river cruise companies, and have been reading them since we returned. I am convinced that we made the right choice. Our river cruise was wonderful, and typical Tauck excellence. If you are looking for top-notch, then Tauck should be very high (if not the top) on your list.

I am still working on our review of our cruise, but you can see most of it here:

http://www.1mpages.com/ReviewTauckRiverCruise.html

Hopefully it will be helpful to others who are conidering river cruising with Tauck. They have made a fan out of us!

I found this sobering reading list about pickpockets, scam, and thieves. Reading through it definitely increased my understanding about these scams, and will make me less vulnerable to their ploys.

• Wikitravel, "Common Scams"; "Pickpockets"
  
• Rick Steves pages
  
  • "Tourist Scams in Europe"
    
  • "Tourist Scam Alert"
    
  • "Tourist Scam Alert: 2009"
    
  • "Tourist Scam Alert: 2008"
    
  • "Tourist Scam Alert: 2007"
    
  • "Tourist Scam Alert: 2006"
    
  • "Tourist Scams, 2005"
    
  • "Tourist Scams, 2004"
    
  • "Tourist Scams: 2002"
    

   

  [*]Corporate Travel Safety, "Barcelona and Madrid Pickpocket Scams"

  [*]Facebook page, "I know someone who got robbed in Barcelona"

There are also some "Celebrity Today" bulletins on this webpage:

http://www.1mpages.com/CruiseDailyBulletins.html

They are from the Mercury and the Summit.

Huh? :confused:

I didn't understand that one either! I had to do a Google search. Well, now I know what a Bubba Keg is! :o