aussiegirl

I just read a news report that the passengers on the Norwegian Star were notified after they had boarded this ship that the Antarctic portion of their cruise had been eliminated. Needless to say, the passengers were not happy. I'm sure we have all dealt with missed ports on cruises, but I'll bet that 100% of the passengers on this cruise booked it for the Antarctic experience, not the ports around South America. The cruise line will invoke its right to amend the itinerary, but expect to see lawsuits and bad press.

Thank you! HAL cruisers are the best. Declan was certainly a hoot!

I am (finally) organizing and labeling my photos from the Transatlantic cruise we took on the Oosterdam from Nov 1 -14, 2023. We attended a bunch of events led by a young South African Assistant CD and he's featured in a bunch of my photos. I thought I'd never forget his name because he was a lot of fun, but I have. Does anyone recall who he is? If it helps, his catchphrase was "Legendary!" Thanks!

Sleeping Cat and Edinburgher -- Thank you so much! Your posts were super-helpful!

Thanks to all for replying and giving such useful advice. (The-Inside-Cabin: That was SUPER helpful!)

Q1: Passports and visas are different "animals". A passport is proof of your citizenship. A visa is a requirement by a foreign government to allow you to enter their country. Q2: Once you have a U.S. passport, that is your best form of proof of your citizenship. Put your birth certificate back in your safe deposit box (or wherever you keep it) and use your passport exclusively. Q3: You do not need a passport to book a cruise, but you will need it when you check in online and when you board the ship.

We are sailing on the Oosterdam in November and will have a port-of-call in Lisbon on Sunday, November 5th. The ship is scheduled to dock at 10am and we'd like to get going as soon as possible as we want to do a self-tour to Sintra for the day. Can you tell me when we can expect to be able to disembark? (I assume that it's not a tender port, but please let me know if I'm mistaken.) Thank you for any guidance you can give me so that I can plan our day.

We dock in Lisbon on Sunday, November 5th at 10am. We are planning to do a self-guided tour of sights in Sintra and need to get to Rossio station to take the train to Sintra. Since we want to maximize our time in Sintra by getting there as soon as possible on the train, we are considering taking a taxi rather that walking to the station. If you have done this trip by taxi, can you tell me how much it cost? And any advice on getting around in Sintra (we plan to only see the Quinta da Regaliera and Pena Palace) would be appreciated. Thank you.