Jamietravelstheworld

I will be on a Princess cruise that tenders to Moreton Island. What are the options for activities/excursions if one doesn't choose to do a ship excursion? From what I've read online at the Tangalooma Island Resort website (which I believe is where the tenders come in and where most of the ship excursions happen), activities at the resort are limited on cruise days to hotel guests and ship excursions only (no day passes). I'm not finding much else to do then other than ship excursions. Thanks.

I don't remember it being a big deal getting off the ship. Random bag checks for food were the main thing. Longer lines in the morning because everyone getting off at the same time.

It depends on the port. I did a cruise with many Japanese ports and some were very easy disembarkation and some were longer and more complicated. Will also probably depend on which cruise line and how experienced they are with working with Japan customs and immigration. So it's hard to give you a definitive answer. I don't however remember being significantly delayed getting off in any port, but also, I was on a smaller ship, less than 700 passengers.

Change to the later flight, not worth the stress. 

It’s Boxing Day, many places will be closed. Honestly, I’d do the Princess tour or find a private tour where the driver keeps your luggage in the car. Will be more expensive but much easier. I’ve done that on arrival before. 

I totally posted my above replies on the wrong board - meant to post them on my roll call, so sorry, I don't think I can delete from here.

FYI, in my above post about Taj Mahal, I realized I made a mistake - I have now corrected it so the information above is correct - but we are returned to Colombo on the 2nd day in Colombo, not the first.

44 minutes ago, FUNONBOARD2014 said:

We did Taj Mahal overland from Cochin and join the ship at Mumbai , We used Muziris Heritage India Experiences. It was a great trip, you can reach them www.TourWithLijo.con

At the suggestion of @FUNONBOARD2014, I reached out to TourwithLijo about an Overland Tour to the Taj Mahal and quickly received this response. It seems very reasonable and a packed itinerary. Much less expensive than Oceania. We would leave the ship in Cochin, India and rejoin the ship on the second day in Colombo, Sri Lanka and includes flights. I don't believe it would include any visas required for Sri Lanka.We could add a tour of Colombo if wanted.

Please let me know if you would be interested. As it's double occupancy, I would be looking for someone to share with, although it is possible we could ask for a single occupancy rate for the hotel rooms. My email is jamie.flaxman@gmail.com and I'm happy to set up a Zoom to discuss if others are interested. You can check out the provider at www.tourwithlijo.com. The tour description is below.

Has anyone done an independent overland tour to the Taj Mahal recently (last couple years), and if so, what company did you go with? My ship's overland is ridiculously expensive and sold out, so I'm looking for other options. The ship's tour departs from Male, Maldives, but other departure options would be Mangalore or Cochin, India, with a return to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thanks.

7 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

The problem often is that if the forecast says conditions might kick up before the last tender of the day is scheduled to run and can't, he doesn't want pax stranded ashore.

Just now, Jamietravelstheworld said:

I was talking with a crew member who said she saw when they dropped anchor and the swells were high then and the ship was struggling with staying steady for that. (I may not be explaining this right but that was my understanding of what she said.) If it was tough to drop anchor, imagine how hard it would be to line the tenders up next to the ship. 

1 hour ago, SophieM said:

Idle curiosity question to anyone who is on this cruise or the last one. How is the new cruise director doing? She seemed a bit of an odd choice to me, but what do I know??

I think she’s doing a good job. She got a great full day schedule out very quickly today when port visit was cancelled. And she seems to listen to passenger concerns/requests when possible. 

Thanks everyone. I just cancelled (postponed) the cruise. 

I have booked a cruise from Tahiti to Fiji for early 2025. After booking it I read that it rains 26 days a month in January in Tahiti so now I'm thinking of canceling. Can anyone who has been there in January tell me if this all day rain or tropical rain that comes late in the day? I know that Tahiti just had a cyclone go through, but that was early February. I want sun - am I likely to find that in early January in both Tahiti and Fiji or am I going to regret going that time of year?

I've been in Argentina recently, both Buenos Aires and Mendoza. There's no rioting. But while things are cheap for us Americans, this devaluation has been devastating for most Argentineans. They have much less money than they used to.I had Uber rides the other day that were 10-15 minutes long and cost me less than $3.00 but the cost of gas when coverted to gallons and dollars was about $3.50/gallon. In my calculation the Uber driver is losing money at that rate. Even though tipping for transportation is not the norm, I tipped generously. I talked with several locals who were telling me that they've had to move home with their parents to be able to survive - both rent and food-wise. And in some places with US cash I was receiving 1200 pesos to the dollar. (And I think my credit card is giving me around 965 pesos to the dollar.)

2 minutes ago, elycelynne said:

Hello!  From a couple of different sources it was indicated that Oceania isn’t very welcoming to solos in general (one of the examples was not wanting to seat a solo at their own table in a specialty restaurant).  Can anyone who has sailed solo with them give feedback either confirming or refuting this?  I was looking for a step up from Princess and was considering Oceania, but not if they treat solos as “less than”.  

I had my own table in Polo and know several solo women who always had their own table. Personally, I prefer sharing so I only had my own table once. I think the challenge is that the tables for 2 (which also are the tables for one) in the speciality restaurants may go quickly in the reservations so if you want a table for one, you need to make those reservations as soon as your reservation availability opens up.

I've only been on the Regatta (but boarding the Marina this coming week), and the cruise I was on was 3 legs. On the first day of each leg, there was a solos get-together and a lot of people came to it. On the first leg, the social hostess also did a solos luncheon. On the 2nd she said she was going to do a dinner, but never did. On the 3rd leg, we probably had 25 or 30 solo women. Many of them had traveled solo before on O's Insignia on the world cruise. O seemed welcoming to me of solos, but didn't do a lot to get the solos together, that had to be done on our own initiative.

6 minutes ago, sailorsun said:

Is the road to the airport OK from Valparaiso to Santiago 

It’s open but my understanding is it can be slow going due to fire trucks and such. 

1 hour ago, Mrs f. said:

Are you permitted to bring your alcohol drink that you got at Captain's Reception or Returnee's gathering to the dining room?  

Yes, it’s just like bringing a drink from the bar. 

12 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

Definitely not trying to be snotty. Just trying to encourage people to play by the rules. It is easy to bend them and IMHO O is being quite generous allowing us to bring wines aboard. 
Appreciate your feedback 

Mauibabes

Agreed. I was on a cruise last year where people took their own wine (by the glass) to trivia, dinner, etc all the time. May have been only one couple, not sure, but I’d hate to see Oceania take this privilege away like every other cruise line does. 

2 minutes ago, Paradocs2 said:

We are arriving and disembarking on March 14.  Sounds like it would be safer to hold off booking an excursion from Valparaiso to Santiago that day. We fly out from Santiago that evening.  Our prayers go out to the people of the Valparaiso region.

I am on a Santiago tour today. The guide said she took a group to Valparaiso yesterday. Road is open but slow going. A lot of restaurants are closed as they’re serving first responders.

i also met a couple who were in Valparaiso on Friday when the fire started. They said the city area itself was spared. 

I know this has been asked before, and I tried to search, but I’m on my phone and it won’t let me search this forum only (which I can do on my computer).

Is there a limit to the number of bottle of wine we can bring on board? And can we bring liquor on board? I have bought liquor to take home as a gift and am boarding ship next week. 

I am currently in Santiago and as of yesterday the highway between Santiago and Valparaiso was still closed and tour operators were being asked to stay away from Valparaiso through at least this week. 

4 hours ago, tottenhamfc said:

Does anybody have an idea whether the Port of Valparaiso is or will be affected by the horrible fire situation. Is it possible that Celebrity will move to San Antonio.

When does your cruise arrive/depart? I am currently in Santiago and as of yesterday the highway between Santiago and Valparaiso was still closed and tour operators were being asked to stay away from Valparaiso through at least this week. This doesn't answer your question but might help, depending on when your date is.

I very much enjoyed the Carnaval Experience this morning so thought I'd share this, https://carnavalexperience.com.br/en/collections/frontpage/products/tour-regular. At today's exchange rate, it was about US $20 for an adult, they have a discount for seniors with ID and for children (although there were no children on my sold-out tour). The tour is 90 minutes. You go behind the scenes at Carnaval and learn some of the history, see costumes, see some Samba dancing, watch a short video, get a sample drink, and there are a few surprises. As Carnaval is in less than 3 weeks, we were not allowed to take pictures of the floats being constructed or the costumes being made, but we did see some of this, and we could take pictures of examples from past years. I believe it's walking distance from the pier, if not, it would be a very inexpensive taxi or Uber ride. It's indoors, so on a day like today when it was downpouring rain, I was to have an indoor activity too. And we got lucky and saw another group rehearsing outside. Our tour guide spoke excellent English as well.

Bonine is great and I now use the scopolomine patches which have been a lifesaver for me. I've got the Drake Passage coming up in February and waiting to see if the patches will work for that.

Has your wife looked at the prescription scopolamine patches?  They have been a lifesaver for me. In really rough waters I combine them with generic Bonine, and I basically have no problems now. I've been on some small to mid-size cruise ships where half the ship is out with seasickness and I may lose my appetite but that's it. I've got the Drake Passage coming up in February and I'm dreading that, but hopefully, my system will work there too.