sleepingcat

On 7/21/2023 at 10:25 PM, Tbird58 said:

I'm looking for suggestions for tours in Gran Canaria.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is one of my favourite cruise ports. You can walk directly off the ship into the town.  The beach side of town is walking distance from the ship and has nice bars and restaurants. the ho ho bus picks up from outside the port.  the old town is lovely, and the museum is all about Columbus and his voyage of discovery. And there is a large branch of my favourite Spanish upmarket department store, El Corte Ingles. what's not to love. So I wouldn't recommend a tour. The rest of Gran Canaria is a typical Canary Island, the mountains are scenic, we ve had a land based holiday there, but it rains quite a bit up in the mountains while it stays fine down on the coast. 

I'm restricting my replies to ports here in the southwest of the UK which is where we live.

Falmouth: castle, beach, port, national maritime museum with  boats to climb on and pretend to sail.

Torquay or Dartmouth: steam train trip combined with a river cruise. Kents Cavern, inhabited by early man. Nice port, good fish and chips, lovely beach. 

Isles of Scilly: castles, cute towns, lovely beaches, boat trips

Portland: Weymouth is a traditional British seaside resort with a lovely beach, playground, children's entertainments etc. 

After being really seasick on our first ever cruise , out of Southampton in December 2012, I now always carry seasick tablets and I wear those pressure point wrist bands.  The combination seems to work, so advise you to be prepared for anything, as others have suggested. 

For us there was too much coach, stops, climbing on and off,  and not enough of anything else.  We did two and cancelled the rest.  the best excursion on our canaries cruise was the one we paid for which was a whole day of fantastic guided visits on La Gomera.

On 7/21/2023 at 3:58 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

Not fussed about the first three, however losing Aqaba is disappointing.  Petra is on the bucket wish list, will just have to do it as a land holiday.

 

Its ironic that on our worldie (actually half a worldie as we boarded in Auckland), Arcadia was supposed to call in Egypt  for the Pyramids etc, but the FO advised not to, so Aqaba was a last minute replacement. Hence I got to go to Petra when I had not even known I would have the opportunity when we left home 3 months earlier!. That's why travel is so wonderful, because often its the unplanned things that are the best. 

the two beds pushed together as a double works well and is comfortable.  I had specified this when I booked by phone with Saga.  I had also specified two single duvets. the cabin steward was mystified, so he waited for us to board to check what we wanted.  He s obviously not familiar with couples where one feels the cold and the other doesn't.! 

the only slight downside of the S of A  standard cabins is that the access to the wardrobes is alongside the bed and its a bit cramped. Everything else about the cabins is just right, we loved it. 

Make sure you check the list of what Saga provide free in the cabins (binoculars, swim towels etc etc) to save you taking things you wont need. 

Holiday inn is the easiest walk for Mayflower - we did it when we stayed there.  and added bonus if you are on the western side, you wake up in the morning and pull back the curtains and there is you ship! felt like  the cruise which was our first, a few years a go now,  started right there.

Ive just looked at the street map of Auckland.  I think we must have stayed 3 nights at the Barclay suites on Albert Street.  the suites have kitchens and washing machines (essential for us as we were boarding after a month of land travel in NZ). and we could see the skytower from the balcony .  It was walking distance to everything we wanted , as we met friends over in the yacht harbour to go sailing on one of our days.  also walking distance from where the cruise ships dock, my husband went down before breakfast and came back with a photo of Arcadia to reassure me that our mode of transport back to the UK had arrived on schedule. 

we had to take a taxi to the ship though, as we had too much luggage to carry. 

check where your ship is going to dock.  some ships dock right close to the opera house and circular quay where the commuter ferries depart from.  that 's totally wonderful as everything is walking distance from the ship. We hadn't really preplanned anything for our two days (but admittedly I had been to Sydney before for work). the first day we just walked off the ship and went round to the Opera house and the botanic gardens, then into the centre of town.  on the way I checked the tickets and times for ferries to Manley. so on day 2 we went to Manly for the day, the ferry trip is as good as a harbour cruise imho, swam on the beach and ate fish and chips as everyone does. 

and the sail in and sail out are some of the best in the world....

19 hours ago, Host Bonjour said:

On 7/6/2023 at 2:07 AM, beatleman said:

By the way NZ is a lot stricter than OZ. 

 

Can confirm. My luggage was completely unpacked and dogs were on the baggage conveyor carousel at Christchurch airport.

and while we are on the topic, NZ also worries about hiking boots (they must be visibly clean when you arrive if packed in luggage). and they took away my hiking pole to disinfect it. (then I managed to leave it behind in the camper van we hired, but that's another story, nice pole, hopefully someone is still using it).

when we were last there, not that recently I admit, the hop on hop off bus picked up at the dock gates. 

I think it is the raisins that will be the problem maybe. I believe nothing fruit based, even dried fruit, can be brought in.  In NZ they use specially trained dogs at the airports to check arriving passengers' bags for food.  when we arrived long haul from the UK, the dog easily identified that my husband's backpack had earlier contained fruit which he had consumed about 12 hours earlier on the plane. I dont know about customs at ports in NZ, (we embarked in Auckland for cruise return to the UK) but it might be the same. 

On 6/27/2023 at 2:39 PM, bling19572010 said:

Gran Canaria, Canary Island

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. 

On 6/22/2023 at 12:55 AM, Texas_Traveler. said:

Anthem of the Seas docks in La Rochelle, but Royal Caribbean markets the stop as "Bordeaux," even though it's two hours away.

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.