sleepingcat

Las Palmas is one of my favourite ports to visit on a ship. you walk off the ship and you are in the city. the old city is full of history, and the museum focusses on Columbus and his departure to cross the Atlantic. there is loads of pre-Columbian art to see as well. (to reach old quarter you will need bus or taxi). also walkable from the ship is the beaches area of the city with a nice beach, and lots of jolly cafes etc. One time we hired pedal cycles from a place about 5 mins from the ship. the city has dedicated cycle lanes all over the place. the hoho bus picks up from the port gates if you like that option.

it would appear they dont want you to realise that La Rochelle is one of the most lovely seaside ports in Western Europe with a beautiful historic harbour, lovely 18th c buildings, market, nice beaches, parks. and some nice restaurants of course. and you can visit it easily with a short taxi ride or bus direct from the cruise terminal. Previously on this thread there has been some detailed information about how to get in to the centre and what to see and do.

We quite like meeting different people on different evenings. That said, on our last cruise we met more than one couple who had asked for and were given the same table for two every evening for the whole cruise. WE ve also got ourselves seated at a table for 2, then been spotted by people we had previously shared with and moved to their table to be sociable and sit with them, thus causing a temporary bit of chaos. I think the restaurant staff are pretty good at accommodating all kinds of requests.

For my first trip to Australia in 1987, I purchased a hard sided Delsey. since then its been round the world several times and its still doing fine. I noticed soon after that a lot of aircrew used Delseys, so that probably tells us something about what will withstand the worst that baggage handlers can do. I take it on cruises as it seems to always fit under the bed so its like an extra drawer to keep stuff. OH has a hard sided samsonite, which has travelled unaccompanied to NZ so that we could meet up with our cruise/ formal clothing in Auckland for our return cruise to the UK, Even his dinner jacket was in good shape.

You dont say what you are planning for Akaroa, but honestly the wildlife cruise out to see the tiny dolphins (and lots of other wild stuff) was one of the high points of our entire NZ trip - recommended!

Hi KL, if you havent already, I suggest you post your qu also on the board for the cruise line you are travelling with, and give the cruise date. you ll likely get replies from folk who ve been on the actual itinerary you are doing. I ve seen lots of postings about SpainDayTours on the Spanish ports section. BTW we ve been to all the ports you mention out of Southampton and have not used a tour co in any of them. Its pretty easy to put together your own interesting day. But it depends on what you want of course - we like cafes, wandering, train trips, museums....

Please give some feedback to Saga if you havent already. Our experience last year on SoA, though dealing with a different disability, is that guest services and excursions staff were keen to learn and adapt. Ours concerned going ashore with fellow passengers who both had visual impairments.

H a gain Wlbox. We rented from https://www.affordablemotorhomes.co.nz/collections/motorhomes their vans are not top quality as I think they mostly buy in used vans from the big hire companies. but lovely people and convenient location in Christchurch. I had seen consistent bad customer reviews of the big operators (and we had terrible vans from Maui in South Africa). since it looks like hiring a camper is a runner for you I ll post more info later as I ve got a hospital appointment this afternoon and need to concentrate on that. nb everyone there are some terminological issues here as campers, motorhomes, panel vans, etc etc all have slightly different names in US, UK, Aus and NZ, I will attempt to elucidate later !

NZ has lots of wonderful scenery and opportunities for walking, we loved it. And much of it is not really on the coast so a land tour is good. We had a month in NZ and then boarded a ship to return to the UK. We had a camper van for the South Island ( 3 weeks) and a car for the north island (1 week to get us to Auckland for the ship). We never booked ahead for anything (even the sea crossing south to north is easy if you dont have a vehicle), so we made up our own itinerary as we went along, and got good advice from locals and other travellers. Re driving in NZ, I dont think any of us from Europe or the busy parts of the US could really imagine just how wonderfully quiet, laid back and friendly the south island is, some routes you will hardly see another vehicle. We flew direct in to Christchurch and hired from there (the camper was prebooked ). We visited from late January to late February, this meant the NZ school holidays had just finished, so it was quieter, but the weather was still warm and good for walking but not too hot. for us this fitted in well with UK cruise ship schedules for our return cruise. Good luck and have a wonderful time. have a look at posts on Australia/NZ ports, there is lots of good advice there, though I couldn't find my own posts to signpost, sorry!

I havent seen these press reports, however I am pleased to see various points around disability being discussed on this forum. Despite being fully covered by the Disability Discrimination legislation, people with visual impairments are grotesquely discriminated against on many occasions by providers of holiday accommodation and entertainments. Often this is is more through ignorance than through actively wanting to discriminate. Many people seem not to understand that most visually impaired people live independently and go out to work successfully through their lives, as well as, often, bringing up a family. I am a community sighted guide for persons with visual impairments, and used to work with guests at the local hotel here in Teignmouth which was owned and run by a disability charity (it has since been sold, shame). Last year OH and I cruised with another British line, and on board were a couple who both had visual impairments. They were more than able to navigate about the ship and look after themselves (after all they've been doing it at home and at work for their entire lives and they had been on several cruises before). On one occasion we went ashore with them to act as their sighted guides, as a one off port call on foot was more problematic. This allowed all of us to give feedback to the guest liaison director on the ship, who was quite ready to admit that they could change some things and do better. Hopefully P and O can make use of the poor experience described above to improve their information and their processes.

We love Lisbon and would never be bored there. Another day trip is the local train to Estoril and Caiscais - very scenic and easy to organise just buy tickets on the day at the station. Trains are every half hour as far s I remember. We did it as a day trip from a Lisbon port call. The art museums are pretty good too, we went to the Modern Art one last time as the Guggenheim was closed on the day of the port call, but if you ve got several days you should find it open.

thanks so much Susan for the blog. the main thing I learned is that I definitely would not want a terrace cabin on Borealis, I just hadn't realised until I saw your photos that the whole of deck 3 is covered. If family matters settle down soon we are hopeful of an RTW or at least half a one this coming year. We ve done half a one coming back from NZ to the UK, and I really want to transit the Panama as well so here's hoping.

We c ruised with Saga last year, ex Southampton, and did not require apps for anything. As far as I can see from the P and O UK board, P and O is keen to encourage people to use their app, and not all are finding it easy. have a look over on the the P and O board if you havent already.

just in case you didn't do this on previous visit, there is a round trip all sorted for you https://www.norwaynutshell.com it does Oslo - Bergen and then round to Flam and the railway.

oh no completely wrong, forgot which board I was on. sorry everyone. !wrong company!

As far as I remember (it ws last year) you dont need to do anything. Saga will arrange the pick up time and will notify you and also tell you the contact for the taxi/car/limo provider , which will probably be local to you. In our case, the driver phoned us the day before to confirm everything. He was prompt and pleasant. The only issue was that he hadn't done the Southampton cruise run before so our knowledge of the dock gates was useful. Disembarkation was even better, with Saga's staff in direct contact with our driver and pointing us to the correct vehicle.

We came back from NZ to Southampton on Arcadia, that is to say, half a world cruise, 51 nights via Suez. Depending on your budget, have a look at the so called obscured view cabins. We had one of these and the view was anything but obscured! waking in the morning and seeing the Sydney opera house outside the window was one of the highlights of my travels. plus these are on the deck above the prom deck, so its easy to nip down stairs and use the prom deck as your balcony. (you can check the actual view in each obscured view cabin, there is a bit of the P and O website which has all the photos, ask your TA). and btw the best place to enjoy either canal transit imho would be on the outside deck immediately below the bridge, then you can see both sides at the same time, the transit of Suez was another high point among many on that trip.

And also, in our experience flying in and out of Cape Town, the trip from/to the airport may not be rapid. and processing at the airport can be somewhat slow. so all good reasons for caution. However another point, unless you have already had some Cape Town exploring time before your cruise, I would seriously take a few days staying there. we stayed on for five days independently after our group tour of SA had ended, and really loved the experience. We rented an apartment near the lighthouse, which was walking distance to the historic dock area, and the ho ho bus went past the door.

H first timer. You ll find you are not the first to ask your question. suggest you have a look at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/ and also post on the board for the cruise line you are sailing with. You could also see if there is a roll call for your cruise because other passengers may already be sharing info on what is needed. I suggest if you've been in Scotland in summer, its probably similar in Norway. ie it can be pretty cold and wet any time, so be prepared for everything, as suggested by others.

it is a bit hard to predict as its been 70 years since we last had a coronation. However, going by how people around the UK reacted to the day of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth's funeral, most people wanted to be at home on that day to watch on TV unless they were actually going to London. So that suggests that Saturday is the best day for you. Extra trains have been laid on I have heard to get people to London, so that might impact the timetable for Southampton - Salisbury. and check if Stonehenge is actually open. (because on the funeral day, some attractions and businesses closed for part of the day so that staff could watch the funeral, so I imagine that might happen for the Coronation as well). The plan for the Coronation weekend is that on Sunday there will be street parties and local events, and on monday its all about volunteering and voluntary organisations. The monday is a public holiday. Which suggests a lot more people on the move on the Sunday. However another option for you would be to join in the whole Coronation razzamatzzz in Southampton, the Council's website lists the timetable plus events some of which are free. https://visitsouthampton.co.uk/coronation

another vote for Salalah. On our world cruise it was an itinerary substitute because Egypt suddenly became too dangerous. Otherwise no idea why companies do port calls there. To be fair, some people on our ship did have a good day. And we are not great fans of Gibraltar either. I m pleased to have seen it and been up the Rock, but if we are on another ship that calls there I might not bother to disembark.

hi travrat, I havent been to Lorient but I do speak French. a bit of mashing around got me this site https://www.taxi-lorientais.com which should allow you to book something. I do notice good train and bus services as well, have a look on Lorient tourisme, which is in English. and it looks like people have posted on trip advisor as well. Bonne chance.

Noise is an issue for us so we ve never been on a cruise ship where we havent paid the higher fare rate in order to select our specific cabin. Then lots of research is required to find one with no noise hazards nearby. for me these are restaurant above or below anywhere near the theatres/disco/pub close to the lifts and avoid the laundrettes at all costs! Having said that, though, the noise baffling between cabins on many ships is so poor that you can hear next doors TV and participate unwillingly in their FaceTime calls home. I havent been on Aurora so dont know how it is for this. Others on here will help...

Ive had my hair cut and coloured on Arcadia and it was fine, that was on a RWC which is too long without a salon visit. my personal favourite pamper on board is a pedicure with all the trimmings so my feet look good as I wander to the pool! Worth knowing that the salon staff dont work for P and O, its a contract provider as far as I know, also that they dont just do hairdressing as far as I can see they get required to do beauty as well. And thirdly, they earn extra if they can sell you products.

is going in the Aussie autumn rather than spring any good? If so, as you ll have seen, almost all ex UK RWCs get to Sydney around the end of February so there would be a choice. You might be fortunate to find that two different companies could give you enough time in Oz. There are a few specialist TAs in the UK which deal with passenger travel on freighters and are very knowledgeable. I investigated a bit when we went to Cape Town, thinking we could maybe come back by sea, but dates didn't work. We ve certainly met people at sea who have come from Aus to Europe on a freighter and had a great time.