Dirk

For Hamburg I would highly recommend to do a boat tour on the Alster and/or a harbor tour, for more information see the following link:

http://www.alstertouristik.de/English/home.html

The port is very close to the inner city and publish transportation is very good.

And don't miss the newly built "Elbphilharmonie", the brand new world class concert hall very close to the port. 

https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/tours

And if you love sea food, try the "Limen Fisch Restaurant" http://liman-fisch.com/en/#

Enjoy your stay in Hamburg. By the way, the appropriate way to say "hello" in Hamburg is "moin"  

I've checked the german website, the same room would be 1,799 EUR (=1,954 US-$), almost the same like on the US website.

We always are on MyTime Dining and never had problems in getting a table for two. Never had to wait more than 5 minutes, even during peak times.

Are this programs where you can watch the dolphins in their natural surroundings or is this about dolphins living in captivity?

Please keep in mind what you are doing to the dolphins, it's not their natural behavior to swim around with tourists and drag them through a swimming pool and being touched by anybody. They are forced to do so. In capitivity dolphins have a much lower survival rate than in wildlife.

For more information I recommend the following website:

http://us.whales.org/issues/swimming-with-dolphins

On 7.4.2017 at 2:09 AM, whenismynextcruise said:

These are not movie theaters. Nor is it dinner theater. These are professionals who are working extremely hard at their chosen career who are performing live for the your entertainment. Eating is quite disrespectful to them not to mention to the people sitting around said eater listening to them crunch on Fritos or ooh and ahh at the deliciousness of their chocolate cake.

 

Everyone should enjoy their dessert before or after they attend the theater.

I agree 100%. I find it a bit disrespectful to eat in the theater, not only to the artists on stage but also to the the seat neighbors. There are enough places to eat on the ship, so there is absolutely no need to do it in the theater. 

 

 

 

4:) The itinerary includes Msarsaille France, Pisa, Rome, Naples, and Palma de Mallorca.  How awful are the cobbles on the streets?  I know you can find streets that are not cobbled, but is it going to detract from the joy of visiting these cities?

 

 

I've been to some of this great ports, so here is my view:

- Rome: The biggest problem could be coming to Rome. The ship will be in the port of Civitavecchia, which is approx. 70 km away from Rome city centre. A guided tour will probably go to Rome per Bus, another choice could be the train. But the trains in Italy are not very wheel-chair-friendly. The best option could be a guide private tour in a car, but this id definitely also the most expensive one. And don't forget that Rome is located on 7 hills, so it is not very flat and always an ups and down. 

- Naples: The port is is in walking distance to the city centre.

-Barcelona: The port is about 3km away from the city centre, there are shuttle buses wich bring you to the city. The station in the city is close to the "Ramblas", the main shopping street in Barcelona.

-Palma: same as Barcelona, also a bit outside the port.

Public restrooms could be a problem in any of this cities, as well as public transportation.

During peak times one has to wait a little bit longer for an elevator, so what? I am on vacation and have all the time in the world and who cares if I am coming 1 minute too late? I will never understand why people are on stress mode when being on a cruise ship. So, when you have to wait make the best of it, gives you time for some social studies and people watching :-)

I did western Med in late September 2016 and would not hesitate to do it again, even October would be fine. The weather had been absolutely fantastic, only had 30 minutes of rain and a quick thunderstorm in Mallorca.

Watch out for the attached sign. There you can exchange currency, shouldn't be a problem on a Sunday. 

Have you any Euros? The exchange rate for the EUR is much better than for the US-$, they charge an extra 10% fee for Dollar exchange.

If you only need some money for tipping, you could use your Dollars, people are always grateful for that.

I would not hesitate to do the Med in October. Last year we did the  western late September and early October, temperature always was in the low 80s. In Mallorca we had 1 hour of rain, besides that 13 days of sunshine.

I would prefer May, June or September. July and August are very hot. Two years ago we spent 3 nights in Rome after our cruise and since then I know why the Romans leave their city every August.

I also would spend sone nights in Venice. Moist of the tourists are staying only a few hours in Venice and the city is totally packed during daytime. A whole different experience late at night and during early morning hours, you will love it.

And July/August is also high season for the "Meltemi"-Winds in Greece, which can last several days and may reach 8 Bft. 

The greek isles are definitely worth a visit, especially Santorini is an absolut highlight and should be on everybody's bucket list!

I love reading on a cruise, especially while sitting on the balcony or by the pool. I prefer the old style with a "real" book. On my last cruise I've read six books, four of them from the ship's library. And I always leave purchased books in the library, so other folks may enjoy the books also and I don't need to take the books home.

The bars are not a good place for reading, when I am sitting at a bar (especially the R-bar on Navigator) I prefer people watching :-)

I've just checked the actual prices for my "Canarian and North Africa" cruise out of Southampton (Sep 29), the package would be 51.02 EUR (= 55$). And according to the website this is the price including 20% discount. A bit expensive for a 14 night cruise, so I think we will do it without the drink package. I have never spent that much for my drinks on my recent cruises.

My next cruise is on the Navigator ( September 29th to October 12th 2017)

Don't worry Mason.

We can do that when I am back home, please send me your adress via message or email me: [email protected]

10 pictures for 164 $ on the Navigator right now

Hi Mason,

As Kathy mentioned I am on Navigator right now (until Oct. 1st), so I could buy you the model this weeknand send it to you when I am back in Germany next week.

Just let me know if you are still interested and I will do that for you!

Dirk

1. How is the wifi on Navigator? Has anybody used it since the "upgrades"?

I am on Navigator right now and I must say that voom is working pretty well. We had some problems during the first two days in the North Atlantic but since we are in the Mediterranian Sea it is good. I always can stream Netflix and Amazon videos and listen ti my spotify. Had some issues wirh Periscope, but now it is also working fine😄

Is it possible to log on with f.ex. an iphone and use it as a personal hot spot for an ipad? So one could use two devices even if one has the 1-device package. Or will this somehow being blocked?

Always 1 pm on my cruises so far. And luggage came between 2pm and 5pm.

Always 1 pm on my cruises so far. An luggage came between 2pm and 5pm.

have a drink at the R-Bar before dinner

Wonderful itineary, we did a similar one on the Brilliance back in 2013, here is my experience:

Copenhagen: The ship docked about 300 m away from the famous mermaid. And from there it was also an easy walk to the city centre (about 10 Minutes to go), everything is in walking distance. I remember a candy store "Somonds Bolcher / Street: Nørregade 36 / www. where you candy fantastic hand made candies. They produce candies for the royal danish family and is is definitely worth a visit.

Tallin: Also in walking distance to the city centre (15 minutes walk). It is a small city with an incredible medieval centre. In about 1-2 hours you can walk through the whole town. There are a lot of good restaurants were you can sit outside, and enjoy watching people and the estonian beer or their special liquor called "Pepper Schnaps".

St. Petersburg: As Wobble mentioned you have to book an official excursion if you have no visa, otherwise the russians don't let you in. St. petersburg is a very impressive city, too much to see for only one day. Take a trip where you can see the "Emiritage", definitely a must-see. The russian tour guide was not very friendly to us. But that was because we are from Germany and their city suffered very much in WW II, so that should be not your problem. I would avoid the gift shops where they guide you to, to expensive and "touristy".

On our tour we haven't been to Oslo and Bruges and we stayed on board in Helsinki, so I can't say anything about it.

But Bruges is also a wonderful old city where you can walk around by yourself. But the city is about 20km away from the coast, but there is a good public transportation from Zeebrugge (I assume that the ship docks there) to Bruges.

In Estonia, Finland and Belgium the Euro is the currency, but you also can pay with it in St. Petersburg. Even in Denmark we paid with Euro's. I have no idea if they accept it in Norway. So you won't have to change money in every port.

Enjoy your cruise and I don't think that the Baltic is too rough at this time of year.

The last time we could book the wine package was back in 2014 on our transatlantic cruise. We always enjoyed it very much and it's a pity that they don't offer it any more.

But of course they still have a wine card with a huge variety of different wines (bottles or glasses). And if you don't finish your bottle they keep it for you and you can finish it the next day in any restautant or bar on the ship.

And don't forget, you can bring two bottles on board (per stateroom), that will reduce your wine costs.

Dirk

We always choose MTD because of the flexibility that we have with it. And we only made reservation for a certain time once. I don't like the idea of making reservations for diner, otherwise I could do the traditional dining. I like the idea to go to diner when I am hungry and not because i have made a reservation for a certain time, but that is just my personal preference .

Even when the waiting line seems to be long, we never had to wait more than five minutes to get a table for two. I only would recommend to make a reservation when you are a group of more than 4 people.