gnome12

John Bull's link in post 8 (quoted in your post above) should cover all cruise ships.

Just note that many promotions that say they end, don't actually; They continue to the next month.

Can you give a link please?

Not to be a nag, but I will repeat my note about some of the hotels I stayed at. They had outlets that would take all kinds of plugs. However, some of them seemed too loose to hold a type A plug properly; I found that the UK type (type G) would stay put. (There is nothing worse than to think that you have charged your phone or camera over night and finding out in the morning that they didn't charge at all.)

On a longboat the aisle is offset. The smaller French balcony rooms are on one side, and the larger balcony rooms are on the other. So the choice of cabin determines the side of the ship (except for the aquarium class cabins where there is very little view on either side).

Exactly as I mentioned. For Vietnam voltage is 110/220, and plug types are A (North American), C (European) and D (not sure where that is generally used-3 thick round prongs). You might find anything.

The one I looked at tells you that they use a mix of 110 and 220 volt and multiple different plugs in Vietnam.

For a whopping $5 per game!

You have your first whole day in Antwerp (unless you take the Brussels excursion). However, the ship docks right at the old town, and I would suggest you just wander over. If there are any museums that you want to see, that might be a good time to do them since you won't on the walking tours. Don't forget that you will likely be somewhat jetlagged; it is better not to try to do too much. (On my tulips and windmills in 2010, I didn't arrive at the ship until dinner was underway due to the problems with travel during the Icelandic volcano eruption so I can't tell you what anyone did that afternoon.)

Not a bad idea. I think that is why I had what I had; I don't normally travel with more than what is needed. Do the cruise documents at least tell you what is used on board?

What I found in the hotels were frequently multi-pronged outlets, which can take US/UK/ and European plugs (if not more). However, sometimes they didn’t hold my US plugs firmly enough to recharge items; I found using a UK adapter kept it firmly plugged in. I don’t remember what we used on board. Sorry.

I stayed at the Motel One Edinburgh-Royal in 2019. It is kitty-corner from Waverley railroad station. It is one long uphill block (or a long flight of stairs) to the Royal Mile. Right there were stops for the Airlink bus, the HoHo buses (all 3 lines) as well as some regular buses. Just across Waverley bridge is the new town. It was a fairly basic hotel, but I found it quite acceptable for 4 days. They also held a suitcase for me when I did a tour of the Scottish Highlands.

As someone who has done both, a European river cruise is completely different from an Asian one.

Unfortunately, here in Canada, there are not very many credit cards that don't have foreign exchange fees, which is why I have only one. (The banks make a lot of money off foreign exchange fees, and don't want to give up that lucrative area.) I always bring another card with me, but my intention is to only use the travel one.

It is only used by the moderators if they need to contact us.

The difference is if something happens to the card while away, it is not very easy to get it replaced quickly. I have only one credit card that doesn't charge foreign exchange fees; losing it would be a major inconvenience on vacation.

I sailed with Avalon on the Irrawaddy, on a ship that is almost identical to that used on the Mekong. There are no aquarium class cabins; all 18 passenger cabins are panoramas. The only difference is that they charge more for the higher deck. I must admit that I enjoyed the panorama cabin; I would sometimes open the window all the way and just relax on the love seat and enjoy the breeze. I liked being just above the water level; you can hear the water swish by. However, I don't think that I would pay a lot more for a panorama when aquarium class exists.

I just saved it to my computer as a jpeg and copied it in. (I tried the script first snd realized it doesn’t work.)

Mine looks a little naked compared to some of the other maps.

My problem was lack of oil. Whenever I had just done dishes or washed my hands touch id wouldn’t work. I generally have better luck with face id on my new iPhone.

When I started my last job, (before I retired), I was replacing a woman who had taken a year’s sabbatical to travel the world. We put up a world map and traced her route while she was gone. Then, when she returned (and I kept my job) we put up the map. Every year people on the floor would put in pins for all the places they had been to, so we could see how far people went. It was fun to start a new session every year. As to the map, there is a really good map store in Ottawa https://www.worldofmaps.com/ There are also lots of world maps on Amazon.ca.

I have been to L'Anse aux Meadows, and it is fascinating. But as @mystyhas pointed out, it is nowhere near where this cruise goes.

There are 2 kinds of Oyster cards; the ones the locals use and a visitor one. The visitor one costs £5 plus whatever you put on it. You can get a refund of unused credit, although only up to £10 from a tube station ticket machine. You can also get a refund at a visitor centre; not clear if you can get more than £10 back there. You will NOT get back your £5. The visitor oyster card also comes with some discounts which may or may not be of use to you. The regular Oyster card costs £7, but if you cash in the balance you get the cost back, in addition to the credit on your card. (I used my card to get from my hotel to Heathrow, and stopped at a ticket window on the way out to turn in my card and collect my refund.) On arrival in London, I picked my card up at the ticket window of the first tube station that I entered; they are available everywhere. Both the visitor and regular oyster card have a daily cap of £7.70. Like @Turtles06 I would never use a credit card for this purpose; if you lose an oyster card your loss is limited to the amount on the card. Losing your credit card can be much more of a problem.

Nobody's experience from August 2022 is going to be of any more use to you than the monthly averages.

Personally, I chose 417 for my 2024 cruise because it is slightly larger. It was explained to me that if someone needs an accessible cabin I would be moved, and it could be an upgrade. I'll wait and see.