mlbcruiser

Yes, we do have a morning flight. Plus we can use the Royal Caribbean transfer service. If your flight is after 10:30 AM, you can use it. It might vary according to port & airport location, I’m sure, due to different distances and airports. Another thing that might enter into that is how many major airlines happen to be flying back to the US the day of debarkation that’s probably an unlikely reason. There are others on our same cruise who have flights at 11 AM and they were also told they could use it. In fact, I think the line has to work with people who booked their tickets through the cruise line, and if they were signed in early flight, the cruise line must know if they would be able to get them there or not. Thanks for replying.

The problem with some of us on this cruise is we have quite early flights. Royal Caribbean will not guarantee to get someone to the airport if their flight is before 1030 am. There are pax with 10:55 & 11am flights so it’s cutting it very close. I’m sure wherever they deliver the luggage, we’ll have to take it through security, etc, ourselves and won’t have much time. Thanks for the info and you are probably right.

We have only used ship transfers from our ship to the airport on debarkation day once and it was quite a number of years back. We will be using them again for a morning flight out of Amsterdam. Saw a post that made me wonder if Royal Caribbean will put the luggage in the cargo hold under the transfer bus that the passengers are on or will they transfer that luggage separately? There Was a post about someone barely getting their luggage delivered to the airport before their flight took off. It would be especially good to hear from someone that has experience when doing this in Amsterdam or other European cities. Thanks for any info!

Good to hear! Thanks.

Ibis Amsterdam Center Stopera. better price than most and pretty good reviews. Certainly close to the center of things and transport, etc. Plus not real far from the port. I realize all hotels in 18 are not always of the same quality etc. but we stayed in an ibis in France less than two years ago and it was very good on all counts.

Thank you for the info. We are already booked elsewhere but I know many people like the Holiday Inn Express.

Taylor Swift is turning out to be the reason for the extreme pricing on the hotels in Edinburgh. I only found that out last night. The same thing happened to us in Edinburgh, which I’m not sure maybe I have mentioned. Our trip was originally going to start in Scotland. That is not the reason we are not going to be in the U.K. this trip now, though. However, at the time I had decided we were going to stay in Glasgow instead to Skye from either city. I actually have found a number of accommodations that would be suitable. Booked something last night with the ability to cancel, if necessary and the total price is about $100 more in total than I wanted to pay initially. Base price is fine. It’s those extra fees…. The ideas of booking slightly outside of town are good ones but after thinking it over, we decided since we’d likely enjoy being in the center of things a bit more, we might as well, since the price is very reasonable considering the situation. Really appreciate all the advice and help! Thank you!

Cotswold Eagle, yes, that was one of the hotels I had seen. There were several others. I recall once started with XO in the name. There was a Mercure did the south and another modern hotel in that area but it sounded like there was a 10 minute walk for transportation. Something called the RAI is in that area. There are a number of others but the locations aren’t as great as being in the city center of course. I had planned to spend some time looking tonight, but too many things have come up and I haven’t gotten to it. FreestyleNovice, thanks for the great link! It certainly names several areas. Sometimes hotel descriptions do not say the name of the community or area they are actually located in. I did get a Frommers Guide at the library and there is a great map yet simple map tucked into the back flap, as well as a number of maps on pages in the book, which are much more helpful than anything else I’ve seen. However, I would never expect someone else to do that legwork for me! People on here are so good about sharing information that it’s all adding up together to help me get a better handle on finding someplace. Thanks again!

I appreciate all of the information above and don’t have time right now to look up hotels that I saw that were more reasonably priced just to prove they are out there. However,I did realize that those were not that close to the city center based on travel time listed to the airport. Was hoping there were some in that range closer in, though. We will have to take a cab from the airport to the hotel, but I was hoping we wouldn’t have to spend a fortune getting from the hotel to the port by taxi. I know a couple of those hotels were in the area marked Noord (so northern area I guess). I’m not really opposed to the southern district either, but just want to make sure of the names of the areas I should be looking at and to find an area that isn’t pretty “sketchy”. The only sightseeing I am hoping we get to do is possibly visit the Zaanse Schans (sp?) area and maybe do a late afternoon or evening canal cruise, though we have done one before. (Always a pleasant thing to do.) So staying in a place which would not be very difficult to get to where we can access those things would be helpful. As far as the price, I’m hoping not to spend more than necessary as the stay in Amsterdam is basically just to wait until time to embark on our cruise. Decided to do an extra night’s stay just to adjust to the time a little bit before we get on our ship. Thanks to everyone who took the time and made the effort to reply. Anymore suggestions welcome!

We’ll be needing a hotel for 2 nights in Amsterdam prior to an ocean going cruise. Hoping not to have tp pay more than $200 per night in early July and will need one with an elevator (which would be next to impossible to find in a B&B). Wondering about areas where other cruisers tend to stay (?). To qualify that, I mean not a $900 per night Marriott, for instance. (I actually saw that on the TA hotel list today) I’ve also seen other relatively nice looking hotels for under $200 a night but they are likely far away from where we need to be. I realize I am a little late in search but the date of our mine trip just recently changed. I’m having a little difficulty figuring out the names of areas that would be within a fairly short taxi ride of 10 -15 or so minutes from the port. It’s not always easy to tell what the name of the area is that a listed hotel is actually in. (The search features on this site do not list the port or Central Station). We’d like to stay someplace where there are moderately price restaurants around that is considered a fairly safe area. We’ve spent a couple of days visiting this city before and did get around a bit by tram, so being not super far from it would be a plus. DH is somewhat disabled and will use a folding travel scooter. He can usually walk short distances and climb s flight of stairs (when there is a bannister), but I’ll be handling our two 26” suitcases & a carryon, lugging them myself. . Since the scooter fits into a car trunk snd can be folded like a rolling suitcase, that’s why we’re planning on getting a taxi to the ship instead of using some other method. I would love to hear some suggestions and get some input from those in the know or who have had similar hotel needs. Thanks for any helpful information!

Yes, we’ve been on the waitlist end of things, and once something opened up and someone I knew got their money back and another time it did not come through. I’d be surprised if there is a waitlist for what we are thinking of, but you never know! Thanks for your comments.

Just in case, anyone else reads this thread, I was just able to verify via Royal Caribbean’s chat feature that the cancellation must be done at least 48 hours before the ship arrives at the port of your excursion, just as some of you said. I appreciate that all of you took the time to share your knowledge and experience re this.

Thanks for this information. I know some lines will give you your money back quite close to the excursion if someone else books your slot. What we are thinking about really isn’t an excursion. It’s a ferry ride, actually. However, you don’t get much time at the destination before you have to go back. When I called customer service at RC today today, I had a bit of difficulty getting a reply. The agent kept telling me he couldn’t give me a reply unless he had my booking number, which I didn’t have with me at the time. He also said he couldn’t look it up by my name and I think that’s probably not the truth. I finally Asked why he wasn’t able to give me the answer to the question since it is just a general knowledge question and I just wanted to know the Royal Caribbean policy. He then answered, saying you have to cancel it three days before embaration. That’s why I asked on here because I don’t think that’s accurate. I know that you have to BOOK an excursion three days before you board however. Thanks to all of you for your replies. I was sort of hoping someone could provide a link where I could see this on Royal Caribbean’s website or app. I don’t doubt anyone’s experience at all though. Thanks again!

Wondering what the rules regarding cancellations are if someone decides to cancel a short excursion they have booked? Is it three days prior to boarding the ship or is there a window once on board that is a certain number of days before the short excursion? Hoping someone knows for sure and will reply. I tried to find it, but somehow I missed it even though I know it must be there somewhere.

If you have contributed some good information. A little surprised to hear of the heat in 2018. Interestingly, I am worried about all the things we need to pack. Or I should say I will need to pack since I pack for my husband. Likely be hot where we live and then we have to go South to Texas for a wedding in route to Amsterdam. That means extra stuff to have to bring and especially hot weather clothing. It will likely be very hot where we are going in Texas. I have to agree that chair lift is a great idea. With regard to what countries provide such amenities, and what countries don’t, we’ve traveled to a lot of places in the world, and I have never ever seen one of those in a restaurant. What you generally will see are elevators, which work well and come in handy for different types of reasons. But I admit it is a wonderful amenity! I think a good layer of Scotchgard is going to be our shoe water protection, lol. And more than one pair of shoes for when we are out and about on land. I appreciate all the information and advice.