Sue81

never got sick on any of the ships I've been on (someone asked above), got a tad quesy on one at age 19, crossing fromn San Francisco to Hawaii third class on the President Cleveland, to Honolulu. Slept in a room with 6 ladies in a bunk bed room , lady ate poi all the way over in top bunk, and heard the water slosh all night, Was way down in ship to sleep and the thought of it sort of made me ill, but had great Asian food on a picnic type table all the way over, took 5 days as I recall. Learned how to make fish nets, and play majong from the people on the ship. I was the only Caucasian, all Asian folks. Had a great trip, my first of many after a greyhound bus trip from Indiana to San Franciso. Reminising here, sorry.

thursdaysd

Thanks so much for the report. Very useful - and well written.

I don't have a problem with sea-sickness, but have sympathy for those who do. I was once (long, long ago) on the Calais-Dover ferry going round in circles for hours waiting for the seas to calm enough to make port. Thought that if I didn't get sick then (unlike most of my fellow passengers) I could take it off the list of things to worry about. (Did have a touch of nausea, but I figured that was from seeing all the other people being sick.)

Sue81

cost of Pres Cleveland San Fran to Honolulu in 50's was $100. no extra for great Asian food.

StCirq

Loved this report. Thank you!

Those bikes in Amsterdam are really something, aren't they? Between them and the trams I felt very, very lucky to come out alive the last time we were there.

Not ready for a river cruise yet, myself, but the day may come. In the meantime, Morocco beckons in December.

menachem

Just don't step into, walk on or stand in the bike path. Whenever I cycle in Amsterdam, I see tourists do that. I've had to "rescue" people from a bike path where they were standing, figuring out directions and their map. Bike paths are red tarmac. Lots of tourists think those are an extension of the sidewalk. Also I see many tourists walking in the middle of a street, three abreast at least, blocking traffic: many of those streets are bike - only, recognizable by the red tarmac and bike signs painted all over. Same goes for the canals: stick to the sidewalks, don't walk in the middle of the street.

john183

trvlsolo2 - thanks. Our hotel in Amsterdam was the Hotel Okura and in Lucerne it was the Hotel Astoria. The cost for the Lucerne extension was $699 and Amsterdam was $549. The hotel rooms alone when I checked online at these hotels were about this same cost. But by booking through Viking all transfers (including handling the luggage) and breakfast were included. I suppose we could have looked for cheaper hotels but we really did not want to have to deal with our luggage on this trip so we were happy with the price.

Sue81 - you have certainly had some wild adventures. Sounds like you have had a lot of fun times in your life. In my younger days we used to sail a 16 foot Hobie Cat off the beach at Daytona in to 8 foot swells. Never had a problem with sea sickness -thank goodness.

thursdaysd - thanks. If you didn't get sick in rough seas while watching other people get sick, then you are correct. You do not need to worry about being sea sick. LOL.

StCiq - thanks. My wife said Amsterdam was the most harrowing city for walking she has ever been in because of the bikes and the trams. I have not been to Morocco but it looks fantastic.

menachem - my wife had to "rescue" me a few times. I just kept walking in to the bike lane.

I forgot to mention this in my report. Everywhere on this trip, and I mean in every city and on the boat, we were bothered by a certain kind of bees at every meal we had outside. All the servers kept saying they were not a big deal and "probably" would not sting us. My wife is seriously allergic to bee stings and carries an epipen in case she is stung. So almost every meal was spent shooing those darn bees away from us and our food.

thursdaysd

I was just reading a piece by someone who lives in Paris complaining about bees appearing during outdoor meals. Apparently there are now a lot of bee hives on top of buildings in Paris, but that would not explain yours.

Scootoir

Such a shame about your souvenir illness. That has happened to me so many times that now I go prepared with antibiotics and cold & cough remedies. The saving grace is when it happens it has been at the end of a few trips.

dugi_otok

john
I also liked your report. Thank you!
The question I have for you is: Will you go on another River Cruise or will you return to your previous type of vacations?
I have previously rejected River Cruise vacations because of the high per diem and the High/Low water cruise cancelation/interruption possibility. But my current feeling is to spend the $$$, my children's inheritance, and splurge on a Crystal River Cruise.

Some good reading on River Cruises:
https://www.rivercruiseadvisor.com/2...cruise-prices/
https://www.rivercruiseadvisor.com/h...-river-cruise/
Riverboat Articles by Richard Turen | 3rd article addresses High/Low water issue.
https://www.rivercruiseadvisor.com/2...ss-of-its-own/

quokka

The "bees" were probably wasps - many people can't tell them apart, although both their look and their behaviour are very different. Bees are usually not interested in human food.

Sue81

HI also enjoyed your trip report. The sinus issue is probably due to the airplane air that does not get recirculated in the plane (cost issue, I think), thus so many people get this problem. Carry Simply saline with you on overseas flights, really helps. I get it every time on these flights. Glad you are home safely.

thursdaysd

About 50% of the air in an airplane is fresh. Getting sick is much more likely due to germs. BTW, the most germ-ridden item you encounter when flying is not on the plane itself, it is the touchscreen you use to check in (info from Conde Nast).

john183

thursdaysd and quokka - whatever they were, those bee-like flying critters were very annoying and concerning because of my wife's allergy to stings. They were also inside a lot of places that have doors open to patios or other outside areas. They really "bugged" us.

Scootoir, Sue81 and thursdaysd - Ha! Souvenir illness. I have not heard it called that before but it is so appropriate. This is the first time we have contracted a "souvenir" illness. Usually we come home tired but not sick.

dugi_otok - lots of good information, thanks. To answer your question, I'm going to take my cue from anyone appearing before any government inquiry in the past 20 or 30 years - or maybe forever. To the best of my recollection, I do not recall having an opinion about river cruising but if I did I'm sure it was in complete agreement with whatever you want to believe it was. Sadly, that is both funny and not funny. Seriously though, I don't know. I said above that I would like to cruise the Danube but I will have to do lots of research before I commit to it. Without a doubt I know we will do more self-planned trips even though they are more work because I love to plan trips. But we will try to make sure they are not as crazy as our Sicily, Malta and Greece trip. A whole different thing is I know we want to do an Alaska cruise but again, I need to do a lot of research before I commit to it. Hope you have fun spending your children's inheritance on a river cruise when and if you decide to do one.

kerouac

Forgive me for saying this, but I have absolutely never known anybody to be stung by the bigger creatures (not mosquitoes) unless they freak out and start swatting. I see this all the time. If a bee, hornet or wasp comes anywhere near me, I just let it fly around. It is usually gone within 5 seconds and I know that it has not come to attack me. But yes, I understand that some people have a phobia and can't prevent themselves from flailing around, which provokes the poor things, sometimes with unfortunate results.

thursdaysd

If you are thinking about Alaska and have doubts about cruising you might want to look into the ferry system. I haven't used it, but it is definitely a possibility if I ever make it to Alaska.

The Alaska Marine Highway | See Alaska by Ferry

john183

I have always wanted to be able to say this to someone and the opportunity is just too good to pass up. kerouac, I forgive you. LOL!

Personally I 100% agree with you and that is what I do. But my wife spent a day in the ER when she was last stung about 4 years ago. She had all the classic anaphylaxis symptoms and it scared the dickens out of her. The doctor's warnings about what might happen the next time she is stung also scared the dickens out of her. There is no way she can just sit there. Another thing about these bees, they did not fly off quickly. They would land on us and our food and crawl in our drinks. They were also under the tables landing on our legs and there was a chance we would inadvertently make one mad just by moving our legs around and get stung. In the worst case scenario, if she did get stung and we had to use the epipen then look for a doctor/hospital/ER in a country where we do not speak the language - that would not be good. Anyway this is way more than you bargained for and I apologize. For 99.9% of people you give good advice.

thursdaysd - jeez I wish I would have known about this marine highway system in my young single days. It sounds like a great adventure. I need to look at it in more detail to see if our group might like it. Thanks for posting this. It might just spark someone (maybe even me) who clicked on this thread to learn something about the Rhine River cruise to go on an Alaska Marine Highway adventure. Good stuff.

Carolmom

Thanks again for the great info. We are going to plan our own trip for our next vacation, but will definitely keep the cruise option open. (Nearly decided to grab a 2 for 1 deal for the Rhine this November, but we are holding out for the UK in the spring.)

Okura is where we stayed for our one night in Amsterdam on the trip I have yet to write a report about. (We got a very good deal using Priceline or one of those sites, but then again we had to find our own way there, getting rained on in the process). We loved the Reijksmuseum. I also nearly got run over by a bike; I think it would take me a few days to get used to watching for the red concrete!

dugi_otok

Hi John
Meet another researcher. Or as my wife called it, over analyzing. In the early days of cruising you could actually board the cruise ships as guests when they were in port. So when I was "researching" ocean cruising at my wife's request, I arranged to board the Sitmar Lines Fair Sea( later to become the Fair Princess after a merger with Princess) when she was docked at Los Angeles harbor. It was sailing day for Mexico. We spent the whole afternoon on the Fair Sea "researching" the ship, crew, and food/drinks along with the new passengers and their invited bon voyage guests. My wife was sold. We soon took a Mexico cruise followed by an Alaskan cruise on the Fair Sea.

While on the Alaskan cruise we were in Anchorage. Parked next to us was the Sun Lines(Greek) Stella Solaris. The Stella Solaris was one of the first ocean liners converted to a cruise ship. Their passengers on the dock were raving about the Stella Solaris. So I put the Stella Solaris on my "research list". The next thing I know we are sailing on the Stella Solaris. The itinerary was port intensive, two Greek islands a day followed by 2 days in Egypt (bus from Alexandria to Cairo for an overnight in historic Marriott Cairo), pyramids, camel ride on a camel named Yankee Doodle Dandy, Sphinx, King Tut, etc. We then returned to the ship at Port Said late at night. The trip got even better. We were sailing to Ashdod, Israel to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The longest day-Old Jerusalem and Bethlhem- Western "Wailing" Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount, Garden of Gethsemane, Gates to the City, Walking the Via Dolorosa for Stations of the Cross, etc. Bethlehem for Church of the Nativity.Back to the Stella Solaris for sailing to Athens. Several Princess cruises followed over the years. As the ships got larger the quality and enjoyment decreased.

Fast Forward to 2004. I started looking for inexpensive cruises to bucket list locations. I found back to back cruises on Holland America which fit the bill. Final sailings of the Noordam 3 (being replaced by the Noordam 4). Rome-Barcelona-Rome 20 nights, $1200. Several Islands that I haven't been to was the real attraction.Some stops were repeats on the second cruise, but this allowed me to see more of the island. Sicily was 2 different stops(Palermo and Messina for Taormina. . Malta, Corsica, Menorca, Sicily, Corfu, Stromboli sail by at night.
There were several stops in the south of France, some for the first time, which allowed me to visit Sete, Aix, Marseille, Montpellier, San Tropez, Nice, St-Paul-de-Vence, Monaco, Eze. Italy stops included Rome, Florence, and Naples which are always worth a visit.

I found another gem to locations I had never been to. Princess, 21 nights, Sydney to Hong Kong, $2100. I even got an unexpected upgrade to Mini-Suite. Stops were Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Bali, Singapore, Ko Samui(Thailand), Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon), Nha Trang(Vietnam), Hong Kong. There were 12 Americans onboard, the rest mostly Australians. Made some new friends. Arranged private tour excursions via Cruise Critic. Really a terrific Cruise.

So now I think I will return to the land of my father (Croatia) or the land of my mother (Germany/Switzerland) with my usual car transportation or perhaps an ocean cruise to the Adriatic(Croatia) or a Danube/Rhine river cruise (German/Swiss)
. Then again that bargain ocean cruise to parts unknown may pop up.

john183

Carolmom - thanks. Have fun in the UK and maybe one day you will do a river cruise. We liked the Okura and I never did learn to stay out of the bike lanes when we were there.

dugi_otok - Nice to meet you. We both know there is no such thing as over analyzing. HA! You are in a league way above me in both research ability and travel history. I envy you in both things. I know I will never make it to hardly any of the incredible places you have been. Have fun on your next trip either in the countries of your parents or on that potential popup bargain cruise.

menachem

Did you have a meal at Okura? They've got a modern international restaurant, and a traditional japanese restaurant: their Kaiseki style cooking is famous.