newbrunswicker

We did this cruise on the Idi in November 2022 and stayed at the Pullman Montparnasse. It was a beautiful hotel across the street from the train station. 

We are just recently off Viking Idi and stayed in cabin 100, first on the right. We had no problem with noise from the reception area. It was a great location. 

We disembarked on Sept 2nd and it was credited to our MasterCard on the 17th. I thought it would come as a cheque in about 6 weeks but they must have changed that procedure. 

Hi, recently off the Sky Princess to Norway. Being Canadian, purchase of on board credits was offered at a rate of 20%. I purchased the maximum allowed and after purchasing excursions and drinks had a fair amount of OBC left. On my last 3 Princess cruises the left over OBC was sent by cheque in about 6 weeks and was in US funds. I use this refund as I spend 3 months in the US in the winter. 

This time the refund was credited to the Mastercard it was purchased on. It came through in about 2 weeks. It was converted at the current exchange rate although the bank would take their usual 2.5%. 

Is this a change in procedure as it has been 3 years since sailing on Princess. 

We too just did a Christmas Market cruise on Monarch Queen in December. This is our 3rd river cruise with Gate 1 and all were excellent. I haven't cruised any other river cruise lines so not able to compare but I have found level of service to be on a par with Celebrity or Princess for ocean cruises. As Honey-Jan said, only free wine or beer at supper but your glass never goes empty. 

Glad to hear POD49, we have a Christmas Market cruise booked for Dec 13th. It was supposed to be on the Monarch Empress but was changed to the River Voyager. It looks like it is a fairly modern ship. 

We did a Christmas Market cruise from Frankfurt to Amsterdam with Gate 1 in December 2019. We saw the markets in Frankfurt, Mainz, Koblenz, Cologne and Dusseldorf. The only markets we were bussed to were the ones in Frankfurt and that was because we were not docked right downtown where a lot of the river cruise ships were docked. They were docked right next to the main market. At all the others we docked within a short walk of the markets.

In 2020, we did a Danube River cruise at the end on November, also with Gate 1. Although not billed as a Christmas Market Cruise, the markets in Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest were open. In Vienna we were docked a long from the city and had to be bussed. The market in Bratislava was a very short walk from the dock. In Budapest there were 2 main markets which were walkable to but maybe a half mile to ¾ mile from the dock. Hope this helps.

I just recently had to cancel a cruise and received the refund to my credit card in 12 days. 

We have done 2 river cruises with Gate 1 and have been totally satisfied. The price can't be beat and the ships were in great shape. I have not cruised with other river cruise companies so can't compare them but we have done many Ocean cruises with many different cruise lines and the service and quality of food was very similar. I would not hesitate to do another cruise with them.

22 hours ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

It's about $30 and pretty efficient though it will appear like a total circus show.  Make sure that you don't contact Uber on your phone (or you will likely incur a $5 cancellation fee like I did) as you get a pin number from one of the attendees managing the Uber car line and then you tell that pin number to the driver once you get in.  The Uber cars are lined up usually already and you just take the first one available in order after obtaining your pin number.

 

 

 Just to clarify, can you  get the pin number from an attendant at the LAX-it lot. From the posting about Uber at Lax it seems like you request your pin  before getting to the lot.

Hi Bayou cruiser. I live in the Saint John area. The drive from the cruise terminal to the airport is 20 to 25 minutes in good traffic. I am not sure the date you will be here but right now there is major road construction all over the city. Getting to the airport in the morning probably wouldn't be a problem but getting back into town in the afternoon could be. 

We have B2B cruises on the Emerald Princess for next February. After seeing the OP I checked our Feb 29 Panama Canal cruise which was booked at a $1.25 rate and now OBC purchase rate is showing $1.35. But our Hawaii and Tahiti cruse on Feb 1st which was booked at $1.30 is still showing a rate of $1.30.

Thanks. 

Just found this thread now. Does anyone know if this took place and is there anywhere to see the questions and answers?

We did a Gate 1 Christmas Market cruise last year and loved it. Got a great price on a Danube cruise, Regensburg to Budapest for this November on Monarch Princess so are going back again. We have not cruised on any other line so nothing to compare it to but we were very happy with Gate 1.

On our previous 2 Princess cruises back in 2015 we had left over OBC which we purchased before the cruise. On one occasion it was refunded on board, the other time we had a cheque mailed. Both times the refund was in US dollars. Back then when you purchased it in your cruise planner it said you were purchasing lets say $100 US OBC and it showed the price in Canadian dollars. I have 2 cruises booked for next year on the Emerald Princess and now in the cruise planner it says purchase $62.50 or $125.00 Canadian OBC which I assume means a $50 or $100 US on board credit but that is not mentioned. I did purchase one  $125 Can credit and in my cruise summary it shows a purchase of OBC of $125. I wonder if this how they may be able to refund in Canadian dollars in the future?

I got a Hometrust Visa Card last June. I had never heard of them but they were recommended on another thread here on CC.There was a backlog for being approved. It took about 6 weeks.  I used it on a trip to Portugal last fall and am using it now in Florida with no problems.

Thanks GMT and Notamermaid for your replies.It does appear that the Jane Austen has made it through as it looks like it is nearing Mainz at the moment. Now if only levels on the Danube would rise so the Monarch Empress can get to Regensburg. Here's hoping.

HI All, I have been following this thread with great interest. Thanks everyone for your valuable input. My wife and I are scheduled to take our first River Cruise on Dec 10^th. We are doing a Christmas Market cruise with Gate 1 on the Monarch Empress. It is scheduled to go from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. The ship is currently on the Danube doing a Passau to Budapest 7-day cruise and then returning to Passau the following week. It is then scheduled to do a Christmas Market cruise from Regensburg to Frankfurt.

I have a couple of questions for those in the know. As of right now is it even possible to get from Passau to Frankfurt. And if it can, is the Rhine Gorge passable for a 110 m ship. I have checked with Gate 1 who say at this time there is no planned changes to our itinerary. Thanks.

Does Tommy’s Taxis have a website or email? Thanks

tommystaxitours at hotmail dot com

We just recently debarked the Eclipse on May 10th. Six of us had prearranged a taxi from Tommy's Taxi to pick us up at 8:15. We had a 10:45 flight to London. About 3 or 4 days before the end of the cruise we were told the walk off would start at 8:30 so we emailed and changed the pick up to 8:30. The night before we were again told the walk off would start at 8:30 so we went down at 7:30 and there was already a long queue. The line started moving at 7:45 and we were off just before 8. A call to the taxi and he was there by 8:20 and we were at the airport before 9. The line up for taxis was very long. I would recommend you pre booking if you can.

Hi, just off the April 30th sailing. We are select with Celebrity and had received an email a couple of weeks before stating that Select and above could board at anytime after 10:30. About 5 days before sailing we got another email and this time it said Elite and above could board anytime after 10:30 and as our cabin was on the 3rd floor we should board at 3:30. I took a copy of the first email and showed up at 11. There were not many people there and no one checked to see if we should be boarding. I don't think you will have any problem if you show up early.

Thank you.

Hi guys. I know this has been answered before but I have been searching for 1/2 an hour and can't find the thread. We are sailing on the Sun on May 15th San Francisco to Vancouver. We have the $50 excursion credit and know we have to call NCL and book over the phone for this promotion. Can someone provide me with the dedicated phone# for doing this? Thanks

I couldn't get the link to work either but today when I go to the NCL site the prices come up in Canadian dollars which it never did before. I have an Alaskan cruise booked for next May and check prices daily. I booked my cruise through Costco Travel Canada and the Canadian prices NCL now show are the same as Costco's site. We have an ocean view picture window room booked. Funny thing is when I check NCL site today for the same type room there are only OD rooms available. It allows me to select this and pick my perks but when it goes to picking the room it comes up guarantee cabin. I thought if you got a guarantee cabin you couldn't pick the perks.