jbond

We were in the Caribbean one time and we made a large onshore purchase using the same credit card that we used for our sign and sail. Later that evening, we got a note asking us to visit the purser. The credit card company had closed out our card. Fortunately we had more than one card. I asked the purser how they knew about it and she said that they clear every account on a daily basis to make sure that funds are still available. When we got home we had several calls on the answering machine from the credit card company telling us that they suspected that our card had been stolen and that they had closed the account. We no longer use that company.

We may be a little confused. Santorini is in Greece. It's the top of a volcano and the bay is the caldera. It is spectacular. http://community.webshots.com/photo/206657...032533819gcpBGA You have to take a funicular up the side of the mountain. The more adventurous can take a donkey ride up and down, but we were told that you'll smell like a sweaty donkey all day. It's a tender port. If you go, don't stay in town, Fira, all day. Take a ride out to Oia. It is breathtaking. Like everyone else, I can't choose a particular port. I've never had on that I haven't loved. For sailing in and out, Venice is tops. It is beyond description, especially in the evening when it's turning dusk. I think that it is by far the most romantic city we have ever visited. I loved Marseilles. So historic and the bouillabaisse was to die for. I never in my life thought that I would sit outside a Marseilles restaurant, eating bouillabaisse and drinking a really good, cold, dry rose. It was like being in a movie.

We were there the end of June and saw lots of spouts, but no humpbacks. Sailing in the Inside Passage we finally came across a pod of orcas. They came very close to the ship.

Life's tough when you have to make such difficult decisions. :shocked: I'd vote 1,2,3. The only problem with 2 is that it's a long way to travel for a seven day cruise. #3 isn't really a European cruise, the only place in Europe that it visits is Le Havre. It does stop at some neat ports. Guernsey and Holyhead are two very unusual places to visit. I loved Anglesey and from Holyhead you would be able to get out into the North Wales countryside and see some truly beautiful scenery. Tough choices. In a few weeks I'll be able to tell you how beautiful Alesund and Bergen are and what a great time we had in Amsterdam, Le Havre, Dublin and Greenock. If you want to see what we did in the Baltic, checkout http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/1 under Brilliance of the Seas. On page 3 you can also see what we did on our Brilliance Med cruise.

We have done four European cruises, with our fifth coming up in less than three weeks. We have done three Med cruises, the Baltic and next month we will cruise the British Isles/Norwegian Fjords. They are all port intensive. Only two sea days on a twelve day cruise. All our cruises have been on RCI. Like Skipper said, choose the one place you want to visit and start from there. We have not seen a lot of kids on the cruises, but then you don't spend too much time on the ship. The days are very full and busy. If I was to recommend one cruise for a first time visitor to Europe, I'd recommend the RCI Barcelona-Barcelona Greek Isles cruise. You get to visit Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and Greece.

Congratulations. We leave the day before you for England, but no docs yet.

It will be tight, but if you get off the ship promptly, you should have no problem. We missed a flight one time out of Miami, 11:50 AM. But we missed our call and screwed around for about an hour. Do you have ship's transfers or are you doing it yourself?

No, you need to have the visa before you fly to Rio. We booked a cruise on Royal Princess, Manaus, Brazil, to FLL. When we booked the cruise, Princess informed us that we would need a visa. No, you are on your own. We investigated the way to aquire a visa and it was from the Brazilian Consulate. The one in LA was closed down at the time and the closest was in San Francisco. You had to send them your passport and, I believe, $45 per visa. That requirement, together with yellow fever shots and malaria pills (both not mandatory, but highly recommended), the $150 plus per person airport taxes that we would have to pay extra to fly from Rio to Manaus and the crime rate in Brazilian airports caused us to change our minds about the cruise. For the Baltic cruise RCI informed us when we booked that we would require visas if we did our own tours in Russia, but they would take care of them for all ship's tours. Seems like a common practice among the cruise lines.

From the other boards, it appears that the guardians were two women who were mothers of two of the young men on the cruise. It also mentioned that the parents of the dead man had hired a lawyer and proposed to sue the cruise line. No specific reason for the suit was given, but they were apparently upset at the delay in RCI informing the Coast Guard.

In Juneau, checkout the Mendenhall Glacier. It's really impressive. If you have time, take the tram up Mt Roberts and hike the trail on the top. The views are spectacular. In Sitka, the Sitka Sound is beautiful and a great opportunity to see bald eagles really close up. Try and visit the Alaskan Raptor Center. You can really see the raptors close up. Skagway is the Gateway to the Klondike. Take the White pass railway tour. It's an eye opener and follows the Trail of '98. Ketchikan, visit Totem Bight Park and have lunch on Creek Street, the old red light district. The fish and chips are great. If you like beer, try the micro brews in the hundreds of bars on the seafront in every port. Of course, cruising the fjords is also a great time. We saw the Hubbard Glacier and also cruised Misty Fjords and the Inside Passage. It's a great cruise. You can see what we did at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/1 under Legend of the Seas 1-4. Each page has a brief description of the activities.

A passport is an official government document that certifies one's identity and citizenship. The passport serves two purposes: to regain entry to the country of citizenship (i.e. the United States) and is a requirement by many countries to gain entry to the country you are visiting. A visa is an official government document that temporarily authorizes you to be in the country you are visiting. Many countries require a visa to gain entry. The visa usually is in the form of a stamp IN the passport and is obtained from the country you are visiting. When do you need a Visa? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is subject to change almost on a daily basis. In our experience, the cruise line has always given us notice when we have booked the cruise. So far only Russia and Brazil have needed separate visas.

Tallinn is an awesome port. It was so enjoyable, one of my favourites. We took the ship's walking tour. It saved us so much time and we had a delightful tour guide that had a great sense of humour. We learned so much about the town and about Estonia. They accepted US$ in Tallin as well as credit cards and prices were very reasonable. Buy some flowers at the flower market to take back to the ship. In Stockholm, a visit to the Vasa Museum is a must do. Because we wanted to see so much, we took a ship's tour and visited the Vasa Museum, the Royal Palace and the medieval town of Sigtuna. A busy day, but well worth the effort and money. They accepted US$ with some restrictions. In Oslo you must visit the Viking Ship Museum. It's incredible. The dock area is very attractive and pleasant to explore. There is the A kershus Fortress that you can walk around. They will take US$, but we found credit cards more acceptable. Helsinki is a delightful, spotlessly clean city. It's hard to walk around, spread out. Again we took a tour because we wanted to see everything in one day. We went out to Porvoo, a quaint medieval town, about 30 minutes outside the city. It was a great trip. No trouble using US$ or credit cards. Don't miss the Temppeliaukio Church, the "Rock Church". It's carved out of solid rock and is most amazing. Hope this has been helpful. It's a great area to cruise .

I agree with the above regarding St Petersburg. You can do private tours with Red October and they will take care of the visa for that tour. We overnighted in SP and left the ship three times. Each time we had to go through Russian passport control. Each of the three tours were ships tours and it made it a little easier. If you do overnight, go checkout the ballet, it was a great experience. We were on RCI's Brilliance and did all ship's tours. I don't know which ports you will be visiting, but I have a photo album/review posted at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/1 under Brilliance of the Seas 1, 2 & 3

We cruise for anniversaries, graduations and just plain old vacations. The reason I like to cruise is because it's so easy. No decision making, everything taken care of and it's also good value. We live in a rural area. Clean t-shirt and jeans is considered smart casual, plaid shirt and jeans is formal. So we enjoy dressing up and living the pretend high society life. Even though cruising has changed over the years, I still think that it is a very glamorous way to vacation.

RCI has a rule that doesn't allow individuals under 23 years old to share a cabin, unless they are married. At least one person has to be 23 or older. When it comes to serving alcohol, RCI's policy is that 18-21 can buy and consume beer and wine, over 21 they can buy any kind of alcohol. Again a parent or guardian, over 23, must sign a waiver for the 18-21 y.o. There was an interesting post on another board about a couple getting married and having their reception on board an RCI ship. The bride was only 20. The bride's mother had to sign a waiver to allow the bride to drink champagne at the reception.

He's not an alleged alcoholic, unless you've found some other information. His blood alcohol level was above the required maximum, which is quite low. Drinking doesn't mean that you are an alcoholic.

I agree with you there. However, if any one gets sued, it will definitely be RCI, they're the ones with the deep pockets. A sad reflection on our times.

The way I read that is that the four young men consumed alcohol in their room and in the guardians room, no mention of consuming it with the guardian present. Also, the video tape showed the four young men, again no mention of the guardian. Any idea how old the guardian is? I believe that on RCI you cannot cruise by yourself under 23, you have to have an "adult" with you. The age requirement is 23, so the guardian could well be just another young man, like one of the four.

The kid was 21, don't you think he had any responsibility. We don't even know if the guardian knew they had liquor on board.

Yes it's Kon Tiki, guess the name on the boat was a dead give away. :) But, it's not St Thomas.

I agree. It's not worth worrying about and you can't do anything about it. It does make the cruise line excursions a little cheaper, or at least no more expensive, they are priced in dollars.

We sailed Adventure last year, but we were on deck 9 in a balcony cabin. It's a fantastic ship. Which itinerary are you doing? We did the Southern Caribbean. If you want to see some of our cruise, check out our photo album at http://community.webshots.com/album/443215490zEmNPO/0

The Monarch is a very old ship, we sailed her back in 1998. She has just had a recent refit, about a year ago. Food wise, I think that RCI is about level with Princess, maybe a tad better based on our last few cruises on both lines. We have never done a 3/4 day cruise. The itinerary out of LA doesn't thrill us and Florida is way too far away for such a short cruise. Our daughter did the four day over the New Year and enjoyed it. She said it was relaxing, service was great, but it was cold. But as Keith & Rita pointed out, there are no bad cruises. Cruising out of San Pedro is also a breeze. You can park so close to the dock, just a couple of hundred feet walk.

At our age(70's), medical coverage is a major concern. The main reason that we take insurance is to cover any medical emergency or evacuation. Coverage for trip cancellation, missed airplanes is OK, but that isn't a break the bank situation.

We have sailed Adventure and Voyager. You will enjoy the ship , it's awesome. Tipping. You tip at the end of the cruise. RCI does not automatically deduct tips for dining room and cabin service. You can have them added to your Seapass account if you wish. You will receive a form half way through your cruise telling you how to do this. RCI will give you tickets to put in the tip envelopes. If you want to use cash, you will get the envelopes on the last evening in your cabin. Tipping for drinks is automatically added each time you order. On the ship don't miss the ice show. You need to get tickets from the pursers desk, they're free. Take your kids ice skating, it's free and they have free skates for everyone. Your kids will need long pants to skate. Play miniature golf, roller blade and sign up to climb the rockwall. On Voyager, our grandkids didn't want to get off the ship in port, they were having such a great time on the ship. I can't help with the ports, not sure which ones you'll be visiting. If this is your first cruise, you are going to have a blast.