VMax1700

On 9/9/2024 at 7:05 AM, Hlitner said:

A visit to a non-Schengen or EU port (such as Kotor, Montenegro; or Dures, Albania) may be enough to eliminate those taxes on the cruise.

Schengen has no bearing on tax regulations.  It requires a port outside of the EU tax area, such as Gibraltar, a UK port, or as mentioned Kotor or Sarande, Denmark...to limit the tax liability.

Booked a GTY stateroom last week and noticed this paragraph on the HAL Booking Confirmation, which says it all!

@Lunalovegood_6

Ignore the information you have received about being able to cancel and rebook - that really only applies in N. America, certainly not in Ireland nor UK.  (There are workarounds, but usually only if you have previously purchased Cruise Deposit certificates from the relevant cruise line.)

There is no problem in mentioning the cruise line.  That is why C. C. has individual fora for each cruise line, and that is where you will find most relevant information.

This forum is mostly used by N. Americans and you will have to weed your way through the information to find the correct info for EU countries.

Even this thread being moved to the UK Cruiser forum shows how much the forum can be out of touch with the world outside of N. America.

However, welcome to the forum, it can be a great resource for cruise information as well as giving a few laughs.

50 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

Having given your question some thought,  Ihinking that you forgot, or did not know, that ship calls to Santorini are staggered, meaning they do not all arrive and depart at the same times.

 

They arrive and depart at different times of the dayfrom early morning  up until very late evening, meaning those which arrive early morning may leave around mid afternoon or early evening and those arriving mid afternoon may leave quite late in the evening. Those on more typical  day timings might arrive mid morning and leave late pm or very early evening.

 

As a result,  tenders from some of  the various ships will usually be running almost continuously throughout the day, with passengers from one or two ships being taken ashore and passengers from a different one or two returning to their ships depending on their timings.

Been there a few times but stayed onboard the last few!

I am aware of the staggered arrivals, but was thinking more if the safety aspect with 500 cruisers waiting on the dock.  Slowing the tenders will not help reduce those numbers but sending empty tenders would reduce numbers on dock and slow arrival numbers too.

But, not our problemo!

13 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

I believe that is a question only the authorities could answer.

Sorry, it was a rhetorical question, with head scratching involved.

If there are 500 passengers waiting for tenders back to the ship why would the authorities reduce the number of tenders?  It would make more sense to require an increase in number of empty tenders servicing the dock to remove the waiting passengers.

9 hours ago, ourturn said:

This is all such good news.  Yes I am on Aer Lingus through to Rome so I should have my boarding pass. It sounds as if I will be a lot more comfortable with my new timeline.  
Will having a small carryon affect any of these plans?

Can someone please tell me how to apply for the “Fast Track”?

Thanks again for all of the wonderful advice.  

Just coming up to 4pm on a Wednesday and the security wait time for T2 (Aer Lingus) is 5 minutes!  You can see the wait times in the banner at the top of the linked page.  It is also the link to purchase Fast Track.

https://www.dublinairport.com/enhance-your-journey/fast-track

The carryon will have no effect presuming that liquids are less than 100 ml each.

https://www.surinenglish.com/spain/more-than-million-visitors-up-july-spain-20240902134443-nt.html

Read about July tourist figures for Spain here.

2 hours ago, cruisinsusin said:

has anyone traveled with this groupTravelrite Australia Group ?

Google shows this is a "bridge cruise" so would guess that its a generally quiet group but I wonder about the usual size of these groups and therefore which venues might be reserved/off limits.thanks

I believe it is a group arranged by an Australian Travel Agency.  They arrange cruise plus flights plus hotels etc. for the group.  I don't believe there is any other bond between the travellers.

Again I would ask if anyone finds info on groups to please post to the latest thread.  It serves a twofold purpose.....first, i can use that info in the next update, and second, it gives me a source to monitor for further events!

I know what happens this side of the pond is probably irrelevant, but I just did that for a 2026 cruise.  Courtesy hold on Friday night and email to PCC on Monday morning (having first checked for any advantageous price change 😉).  

Monday evening I received Booking Confirmation with FCD applied as deposit.

All good.

Just aarived in Malaga this evening by air.  The flight was full.  The airport is very busy. Air traffic is using both runways, one take offs and one landings.  The car hire parking is quite empty of cars.  I booked a small car and have been given a Suzuki Vitara automatic for the booked price 😁. We will see tomorrow how crowdwd the street are in what should be the shoulder season.  

39 minutes ago, pmjnh said:

Our cruise ship stops for the day in Copenhagen. What is the best way to get to city centre from the Oceankaj? Will the port offer shuttles?

 

Thank you

We used the hop on hop off buses.  A stop at Oceankaj and numerous in the city centre.  Maybe not the fastest way in, but it worked for us.

58 minutes ago, Wandering Writer said:

Thanks for your replies. We've found a Viator tour that will pick up from the pier. Our only concern is making it back in time for sailing. We've decided to pack overnight clothes in our backpacks and if worst comes to worst and we don't make it back in time, we'll have to overnight and catch the ship at the next port. It may be a little expensive at that point but we don't know when we might have the opportunity again. A little adventure is good for the soul. 🙂

Where is the next port?

42 minutes ago, 0106 said:

It is the last Norwegian cruise of the season in October.  I also booked the transatlantic that follows it to sail us home.  Regardless of the Northern lights, I am excited to travel north of the Arctic Circle.

You have a great chance of Aurora Borealis sightings in October as the night skies will be darker.  We had some sighting in early September 2022 on Rotterdam.  The captain turned the lights out on the upper decks and quite a crowd of pax and staff where up top.  It was cold and exposed up there!

1 minute ago, slavetoabunny said:

We had to check in with them prior to the tour to give the our weights for the flight.  They took my cell number at that time.

Ah ok, now I have it!

21 days after the cancellation is slow to respond about an expensive tour.  Disappointing to say the least.  

Having a case number is reassuring, but having the refund would be better.  I know it is no help to you, but considering that the refund was not processed onboard, it may take a little longer to feed back to your booking and then the attached credit card.

I would be calling them Tuesday morning and requesting to speak with a supervisor.

1 minute ago, slavetoabunny said:

The tour operator called me on my cell phone.  We were sitting in the Chalet at our meeting place when I received the call.

Is it usual for the tour operator to have clients cell phone numbers for tours booked through HAL?

(for clarity - never been to Alaska, so don't know how it works.  Just seem unusual for the tour operator to have contact details for indivuals).

24 minutes ago, slavetoabunny said:

One of the excursions we had booked in Denali (Arctic Air Adventure on August 10th) was cancelled by the tour operator an hour before the excursion because they didn't have enough people.

voicemail on your phone?  Do they usually have the client's cell number?  

Just asking, it seems strange.

13 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Well, that certainly explains it.  Thanks.

yes our experience has been that if you have HIA then you receive credit for the maximum number of days!  So 7 day cruise with HIA = 7 + 7 = 14 credit.  If you have a suite then its another multiplier!  7 + 7 + 7 = 21 (hello free laundry 😁).

21 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

We just had our account updated following our recent cruise.  The spending credits are equal to the number of days of the cruise.  We didn't spend that much onboard, on excursions, or any other onboard purchases that would give us that many credits.

 

I don't really want to question it, however, as it gets us closer to our 4 star level.

Did you have 'Have it All' or in a suite?

As you say, no questions!!😉

1 minute ago, bronzevernis said:

I didn’t know it was a holiday weekend in the USA. I’m from the UK. 

I have the boarding passes now, just no barcodes and no digital boarding pass in the app yet. 
otherwise all checked in, full balance paid. 

Labour Day on Monday so its a holiday in both USA and Canada.

But seriously, relax, it is quite normal for the boarding passes to not have barcodes until +/- 7 days from sailing.  Also, it is not imperative that you have them on your device or on paper.  You will just present your passport and it will be good to go.

2 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

We will have about $1200 of SBC and free crew appreciation so we will probably what and purchase on board.  Everyone just has to run the numbers and see what works best for their situation. Just like people ask is the HIA worth it - it depends - if you drink a lot and take ship tours then HIA is probably good - if you don't drink and do private tours then probably not - you just have to run the numbers and see what is best for your personal situation.

Absolutely works for you.

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

@VMax1700 @Quartzsite Cruiser I decided to take a chance on the Northern Lights and booked this cruise while onboard.  There are 3 ports above the Arctic Circle.  All ports will be new except Bergen which I hope to see on a sunny day.

That looks a great itinerary.  Lerwick is lovely, but a tender port and can be missed sometimes.

As to Bergen......on our four visits there we have had one sunny day.  On the other three the precipitation has been moderate twice and torrential once.  So good luck!

Let there be calm!  

They will appear, it's just not an exact science yet (in the HAL world).

Remember that this is a holiday weekend in USA.

When you get to T minus 7 days then start to show slight concern, but providing you have paid in full and the website is showing that checkin is complete for all passengers, then you are good to go.

We have done it several times, but only with our own car.  It is a 90 minute drive in perfect conditions and if traffic is bad it can take a lot longer.  You really need to park in La Linea and walk across as parking on the rock is difficult.  Also you lose a lot of time in the customs line both directions.  Remember you are leaving the EU and entering UK Territory.

I am sure there are coach tours to Gib from Malaga, and there is a bus to La Linea https://www.avanzabus.com/ bus timings are not really suitable for day trips from the port.