eurodl

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

you can fly to Dublin or Paris from AMS 

You can probably fly from SOU to either Dublin or Paris

You just need to decide  what works best  for you

 

Check this site for options on how to get there

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Southampton/Paris

Thanks LHT28.  I have looked at the website and it is very informative.  We will probably have to travel via train/ferry as DH doesn't like/want to fly.  I like that rome2rio show all the options.

27 minutes ago, Cruise NH said:

For many years we took European vacations and never flew.  I would not get on a plane.  We always took Cunard back and forth leaving our car in Brooklyn.  Once in Europe we took the trains, if you’re not already familiar with the website www.seat61.com I suggest you go there.  It’s the bible on train and ferry travel. I can’t recommend it enough.

 

 I was on the Cunard world cruise in 2020 and had to fly home from Australia, about as far away as I could be…so now I can fly I guess.

 

 

I have looked at seat61.com and I agree it is very informative.  I like that he also has some videos so you can see what it's like.

Flying from Australia is a haul so anything is possible for you now!  🙂

2 minutes ago, nini said:

In all likelihood, the Rotterdam is fine.

However, we were not impressed with HAL and neither was our daughter and SIL. Both of our ships were fairly new. The demographics for HAL is an older population and it is SUPER quiet after about 8:00 pm. There were not many activities during sea days either.

We have come to really like Princess. You do not need to get a mini suite or suite to have a sofa on Princess; it actually depends on the ship and cabins offered. However, the Emerald does not have regular balcony cabins with sofas.

My DH would be very happy if we could find a regular balcony on Emerald Princess with a sofa.  Would you happen to know where they might be?  Calling in to Princess these days is very frustrating.

36 minutes ago, merryjewelhound said:

https://booking.eurostar.com/us-en/train-search?origin=7015400&destination=8727100&adult=1&outbound-date=2022-04-09

 I looked and it was about 2 1/2 hours. This was a bucket list type thing.  Cost can vary from 90$ to over $200.

We have never traveled on Holland as we happy with Princess and have status. We may someday try them but hard to start over again working towards perks.

Thank you!  We feel the same way about the bucket list item.  One and done...

5 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have never used a ferry in those waters but have taken the train between Paris and London.  In Europe we routinely use trains, rental cars, and ferries depending on where we are going and the schedules.  Will things be different in 2023?   Regarding ferries I think the trend is to less rather than more (except in the Greek Islands).  Europe has several budget priced airlines which offer a lower cost and are much more efficient than ferries (especially on longer routes).  In fact we are currently planning an upcoming European trip after a TA that ends in Monte Carlo.  Are thinking is to fly from Nice to Vienna (for a few days) and then take the train up to Prague.  While air makes a lot of sense to get to Vienna the train between Vienna and Prague seems to be a better option.    That being said you can certainly use trains/ferries to get to your desired destinations but you will pay a price in terms of time and hassles.  

 

Hank

We realize taking the trains/ferries will take longer but we have taken trains in US and enjoy seeing the scenery.  And if DH is more comfortable then that's a plus.  I've checked online and it seems pretty straight forward but it's always better to ask someone that's actually done it.  Appreciate your feedback.

35 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

We were on the Rotterdam TA (maiden voyage) in October 2019.

 

The ship is incredible.  Beautiful.  We had top notch food and the most caring and attentive crew that sails.  This is the flagship of Holland America Line and is the 7th ship to carry this name.

 

We traveled from Amsterdam to Fort Lauderdale.  

 

Ask me anything.

 

 

Thank you FlaMariner!  We've never sailed Holland before.  Have you sailed on Princess?  How do they compare?  We like the fact that the Rotterdam balconies have sofas whereas the Emerald's do not.  We've usually booked mini-suites on Princess and like having the sofa but don't want to pay the extra for a mini-suite for TA.  We'd rather use the $$ for the land portion.

Can you tell me your likes/dislikes regarding Rotterdam?  What deck/category cabin did you have?

Trying to decide between Holland Rotterdam balcony vs Emerald Princess balcony for TA from Fort Lauderdale to Amsterdam/Southampton respectively.  Does anyone have any preferences?  Have not sailed on Holland before.

18 minutes ago, merryjewelhound said:

We mainly do repositioning cruises. We are signed up for the Enchanted repositioning to the Baltic but that is another thread. We have gone to Southampton several times. Once we stayed in London and another we took a Taxi to St Pancras.  we got on the Eurostar to Paris as we wanted to go thru the Chunnel.  We absolutely enjoyed every bit of it. We have learned to pack lighter for going to cities after cruises. Dragging large suitcases is HARD. We mainly take public transportation. As far as transatlantic cruising. I like playing Trivia and the guest speakers on Princess. Audiobooks and kindle downloaded are helpful. We did a cruise in Dec 2021 and internet was great. Now you have to pay for it but worth it with 5-7 days crossing the Atlantic. Weather can be iffy. We did a crossing smooth as glass. The one ahead of us had broken china.  

Thank you.  How long did the train from London to Paris take?  I'm trying to schedule our land time to make sure we have enough days.

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have taken many (several dozen) TA cruises with multiple cruise lines (including HAL).  We are also very active and independent land travelers (in Europe and elsewhere).  If your plan is to go directly to Paris from your cruise we would agree that disembarking in Amsterdam is preferable to Southampton.  Actually the best place to disembark would be Le Havre (we have done this a few times with an early disembarkation) but in this COVID era it might be difficult to arrange.  If we wanted to take the Rotterdam to Europe and then go on to Paris we would ask HAL if we could arrange to disembark a day early in Zebrugge if HAL would agree.

 

As to Ireland,  Aer Lingus used to allow long term stop-overs (I think up to 2 weeks) in Ireland on flights between the USA and Europe.   The stop over did not add any additional cost to the airfare so one could fly from Paris to Dublin, stop for 1 or 2 weeks, and than continue on to the USA.  I do not know if this is still the case (much has changed with COVID) but you might want to explore that option.    We did two such trips where we stopped over in Ireland, rented a car to enjoy Ireland, and then continued our flight (back to IAD).

 

Hank

Thanks for the information Hank.  I forgot to mention that my DH does not like to fly so we would be taking the train/ferry from SH to/from Dublin and to/from Paris.  Have you done either?  We did consider disembarking early but my TA said they no longer do that.  Maybe by 2023 things will be different.

On 12/12/2021 at 7:00 PM, Louise245 said:

I am not the Op but I am following since we are booked on the Rotterdam from Fort Lauderdale. We did a few TA going West in the Fall but never the Spring one. 
We are leaving from Fort Lauderdale going To Amsterdam with 2 stops in the Azores then Cherbourg, and Bruges. 
I guess it will be cooler than the Fall TA. I would have like to hear what was someone experience even if  I know that with climate change the weather is all over the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are looking to do the same in 2023.  Narrowed it down to Rotterdam or Emerald Princess.  I'd love to see your review once you sail (assuming you are going in 2022?).

We are looking at doing something similar.  The hardest part is figuring the timing on the cruises to and from Europe.  We have found combos with 3, 4 and 5 weeks on land.  It also depends are where you want to end up (Southampton, Amsterdam, Rome, Spain).  You will end up take Cunard either east or west bound as they are the only ones I have found that do transatlantic throughout the year.

We are looking at doing a Transatlantic cruise to and from Europe/Ireland.  The timing of the 2 cruises is the difficult part.  We have narrowed it down to Holland on Rotterdam and Princess on Emerald.  Both are 14 days.  Holland ends in Amsterdam, Princess in Southampton.  We want to go to Ireland and possibly Paris if time allows.  There is a train from Amsterdam to Paris.  We are past Princess cruisers but have not sailed on Holland.  Return will be on Cunard.  We would appreciate any input from anyone that has sailed on Rotterdam or have taken a transatlantic cruise.  We are looking at April 2023.

Thank you for your help!

We are looking at doing a Transatlantic cruise to and from Europe/Ireland.  The timing of the 2 cruises is the difficult part.  We have narrowed it down to Holland on Rotterdam and Princess on Emerald.  Both are 14 days.  Holland ends in Amsterdam, Princess in Southampton.  We want to go to Ireland and possibly Paris if time allows.  There is a train from Amsterdam to Paris.  We are past Princess cruisers but have not sailed on Holland.  Return will be on Cunard.  We would appreciate any input from anyone that has sailed on Rotterdam or have taken a transatlantic cruise.  We are looking at April 2023.

Thank you for your help!

We are looking at doing a Transatlantic cruise to and from Europe/Ireland.  The timing of the 2 cruises is the difficult part.  We have narrowed it down to Holland on Rotterdam and Princess on Emerald.  Both are 14 days.  Holland ends in Amsterdam, Princess in Southampton.  We want to go to Ireland and possibly Paris if time allows.  There is a train from Amsterdam to Paris.  We are past Princess cruisers but have not sailed on Holland.  Return will be on Cunard.  We would appreciate any input from anyone that has sailed on Rotterdam or have taken a transatlantic cruise.  We are looking at April 2023.

Thank you for your help!

Our original thought was the weather would be better in May plus it was less expensive. But seeing as it's one of the first cruises of the Season we were afraid that some things might not be open yet especially the tundra tour at Denali.

Thanks everyone.  We were originally booked for May 17 with land first. After reading the responses to some of my posts and checking the Denali NP website we moved to August 23. 

39 minutes ago, 2cat4garden said:

I was going to do that until I thought about how extensive the repairs to the Denali Park road will be after the Aug. landslide.

We considered that too but thought that would give them almost 4 extra months to finish the repairs.  Hopefully they are done by 2023.

We ended up moving our booking from 5/17 to 8/23/2023.  We were afraid 5/17 would be too early and we really don't want to miss out on the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  Hopefully we will get some fall colors too :-)

Debating between August 26, 2023 or September 6, 2023 for Alaska cruisetour?  Land first (10 days) then 7 day cruise.  We want to make sure we are able to get in to Denali for the Tundra tour.  Originally were going to go in mid-May but just found out that there's a chance that Denali NP might not open that early.

Thank you for any advice/suggestions.

This is all making me rethink our May 2023 booking.  Looking at 8/23 or 9/6 2023.  Anyone have any thoughts?

Update:  we ended up booking the 17-day Connoisseur Cruisetour on the Grand in 2023!

I currently have a cruisetour on hold.  I was going to make the deposit today but thinking I should hold off until 9/1 🤔

Thanks for the heads up. 👍

So I've been doing some additional research.  There is a 17 day Connoisseur cruisetour that would include Copper River and McKinley.  It is obviously more expensive but by the time we add the meal package and upgrade to the Tundra tour I'm estimating about a $350 difference but we would be getting 2 extra days.  My main concern with doing this is the 17 day tour is on the Grand which is an older ship.  It is due for drydock in 2022 so I'm wondering if they are planning on doing any refurbishment.  Grand and Sapphire seem to be similar in size.  I've read some reviews that the Grand is on her last legs and some were thinking she would not be coming back after the shutdown.  I would appreciate any opinions.

1 hour ago, shel003 said:

My agent said the tundra tour added about $70 (but I can’t remember if that was total or per person). I think it was per person.  I ended up going with a balcony room.  In the ship I’m on the balconies on the minis where the same size as the regular balconies rooms (there were a few larger angled balconies on very few of the minis).  I didn’t think the extra cost justified it.  However, I generally book inside cabins to save money so a balcony will be wonderful as it is.  Typically I don’t spend a lot of time in my room so an inside doesn’t bother me.  I splurged on the balcony because it will be my first time to Alaska.  Also being a wheelchair user, this will ensure uninterrupted viewing space in case the top decks are crowded.

 

I weighed the pros and cons of itineraries and for me, if the two tours are going to be the same price, I chose the itinerary that I really wanted to see.  Sure it doesn’t include a tour operator but since I haven’t been, I won’t know what I’m missing and am sure I’ll still have an amazing trip.  Just my thought process though.

We've done Alaska before and a balcony is a real plus IMO.  I wouldn't mind doing the Connoisseur if they had the same itinerary as Off the Beaten Path but I'm thinking Copper River will be a better option for us.  Thanks so much for all your info!