sleepingcat

I havent found anything which gathers the cabin reviews together. If you go to the CC reviews of the ship you are interested in and scroll through, you will find that some reviewers write a review of their specific cabin. Ive found that quite helpful in the past. And some bloggers take photos and videos of their cabins. Also on some cruise companies own websites they have interior photos of each cabin, we used this when booking a so called 'obstructed view' cabin , from which we had a prime view on waking up next to Sydney opera house, what I mean is, it was hardly obstructed at all.

St Vaast la hougue and Barfleur are two very pretty ports, fishing villages, only about 20 miles from Cherbourg. and the drive over via the coast road is pleasant. Maybe use a taxi or local tour company to get you there for the day? Tourist info in Cherbourg should be able to advise https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/unmissable-sites/cherbourg-en-cotentin/

Just to add to JB 's good advice above, and this is based on doing our own thing for the landing beaches, as we were in our motorhome not on a cruise: if you have a personal connection to operation overlord, as many of us do, research precisely where you want to go. My dad was bosun on a Royal Navy LST (landing ship tanks) and mainly transported Canadians and their equipment, so with my husband I went to the Canadian museum which is less visited and was a moving and tearful experience for me. A tour of the US beaches while interesting would not have had the same personal impact. and btw we are all assuming you are interesting in the ww2 landings, but of course you might prefer an art tour, in which case from Le Havre, Honfleur is nearby and there have been lots of previous posts about how to do this as well.

Hi cali82 we did what you are doing in 2014, except had spent previous 2 nights in an Aparthotel with a washing machine prior to boarding! although walking distance, we got a taxi for our bags and got to wharf at 12 prompt. as it was a RWC hardly anyone was boarding, so we were on board at once, cabin was ready, reunited with our unaccompanied suitcase of evening and cruise wear which had come direct from the UK. we had lunch, and then disembarked to do our own walking tour of downtown Auckland, I think we went to Albert Park and the art gallery. It was all incredibly easy and laid back, as I have to say, everything is in NZ. If I was you I would nt book anything but just do your own thing.

We did half a world cruise, boarding in Auckland and coming back to Southampton on Arcadia in 2014. We had an obstructed view cabin, as suggested by Britboys. (great location as the prom deck is just below). Loved every minute of it. P and O arranged our flights in to NZ for us for an all in price. they were fine with us flying out to NZ a month before we boarded Arcadia. (arranged with a well known cruise TA located in Derbyshire). We also sent our evening wear/cruise wear by luggage forwarding direct to the ship, so when we boarded in Auckland, we had clean fresh clothes waiting (recommended). also looking at world segments for 2024 on Arcadia, as we want to go through the other canal the one we havent done yet. Good luck with your plans.

great minds get there at the same time! some of us have nothing better to do on New Years eve , once we have watched the fireworks over the harbour bridge in Sydney. happy new year to all.

this one ought to do the job, but unsure how well it will operate if it recognises you are not in the UK https://www.nationalrail.co.uk It will take you through to whatever company operates the actual trains. and btw southampton central station to the cruise terminals is an easy taxi. You probably dont really need reservations as the train service is very frequent, but it might save a bit of time.

oh apologies Mark, I see you are already here (just catching up !)

I would repost on the Fred Olsen board, you ll get replies from folk who have done this cruise with Fred which may add something to the useful stuff you've already received above.

agree with all the good advice above. The train along the coast to Cascais is a nice ride and you could get off in Estoril as you've already seen Cascais. We did this on one of our cruise ship calls, , as the station was an easy walk from the cruise terminal. We can also recommend the Modern Art Museum. the better museum is the Gulbenkian, but that time it happened the ship was there on its closed day so we did the Modern Art Museum instead and it was also good. as to weather, good to warn you about cold, but also to know that it can easily be warm enough to eat out in the sun at lunchtime as we did on a lovely birthday in January 2019 in Lisbon. We were there on a different ship this last January and it was again very sunny. I know we cannot recommend a tour we have nt done, but in 2019 I did investigate guided wild life tours of the wetland area nature reserve close by. it didn't work with the ship timings, but as you have an overnight it will probably work. Others have posted rave reviews. cruising from Britain we tend to often get a port call in Lisbon as it is on the way to most places, but I will never tire of it, it is one our our favourite cities and the sail in one of the best.

when last in Malaga on a ship we did the city bus hop on hop off all day ticket. Picked it up at the port gates. It was good value, compared to some other cities where we ve tried this. as far as I remember there were two routes and you could get off one and continue on the other. We went out to the botanical gardens. Also possible from centre of Malaga is the light railway which goes along the scenic coast, frequent trains as it serves the airport.

Maria, just to add fashion advice for Spain in winter: In Barcelona the locals will all be wearing their winter clothes, lovely stylish leather jackets and coats and boots (Spanish women are super stylish, especially in the cities, and if you like clothes be sure to check out the fashion stores). They laugh when they see tourists in their summer clothes. It wont be cold the way that you know cold at home, but it wont be hot. In the sun in the middle of the day it may be warm enough to sit out at a bar, for example. We were in Cadiz last January and everything was covered in thick mist (I thought I had a photo somewhere but can't find it). but another year another cruise in Lisbon we celebrated a birthday with lunch on a restaurant terrace in lovely sunshine. As JB says, its somewhat hit and miss, be ready for anything.

downtown Auckland is a pretty nice place to spend a day. Auckland harbour is one of the most beautiful in the world. A harbour cruise would be a good option or the skytower(or whatever its called). The cruise terminal is right in the downtown. so I might suggest the opposite, ie get a hotel room as close as possible to where the ship docks and use that as a base for your day, then rest up and go out to the airport later. our experience was 2 nights in Auckland prior to boarding a half world cruise. the cruise dock is so close that my husband walked down from our hotel before breakfast to see if our ship had arrived. if we hadn't had luggage we could have walked to the check in. we did not like driving around Auckland, the road system is not great, got lost several times finding our way in to centre, so would not recommend hiring a car. and it is busy.

Hey /WG, here is some average weather data for September around the /british coast: September weather data Around the coast Hours of sunshine / month Rainfall in inches Temperature in ° F London 115 2 66 North East England (Newcastle) 95 2 62 North East Scotland (Inverness) 85 2.5 60 West Scotland (Oban) 75 6.5 58 North Wales (Anglesey) 95 4 62 South West England (Pemzance) 105 3.5 64 South Coast (Dover) 125 2.5 65 from the British Met Office. you can see the big contrast between Scotland and the southern areas of England.

WG - my husband is the weather person in our house, so I will get him to prepare some figures for you. the main thing to know is that weather patterns are so different between the south of England, and the north and more specifically Scotland. For example, some periods this last summer, when southern England was sweltering, it was miserable in Scotland, cold and wet. so on a September cruise you might encounter a variety of weather.

for Torbay, no question, the circular tour using the historic steam train, ferry across the Dart, historic seaport of Dartmouth, riverboat up to Totnes and return is the only choice. We took our French Rotary visitors group this last summer - they described it as merveilleux. you might have time for fish and chips lunch in Dartmouth as well. If not, Rockfish in Torquay harbour is the recommended place. Pace Globaliser, I would not opt for Dartmoor if you've only got one day, very frequently it is wreathed in mist and/or raining, while on the coast (where we live) there is brilliant sunshine. that is unless you want to experience that real Hound of the Baskervilles atmosphere. Enjoy.

Hi WG, I see I'm the first Brit to reply to your topic. To avoid tendering, you need a small ship (by US standards I mean). At many UK ports the ship will dock right near the city centre (though not Edinburgh, that always requires a bus ride). The suggestion of looking at everything departing Southampton in the months you are interested in is a good one. I would also check Dover and Tilbury as British lines use these two ports as well and easy to access from LHR. Summer weather in the UK can never be relied on. Looking at where you live, I dont think you'd have had a problem with the very few days of high (for us) temps we had this last summer. I would think more about avoiding the height of British holiday season which is from when the schools break up, usually about 16 July. A good time to travel is from mid June to mid July. Schools go back about 2nd September and after that is good as well though it may be getting cooler by then (2022 not, September was lovely 70s temperatures at least where we live on the south coast). You might try posting on the 'UK cruisers' section and you will get a lot of comments about round UK cruising. There are also sections for the UK port calls.

My brother and sis in law returned to UK today from a hurtigruten Norway trip. They had a wonderful Northern lights experience and have got their souvenir certificates of the sighting. re daytime activities, they preferred the hurtigruten ship because it has a port call every day so they were off the ship and out walking. It did get dark at 2.30 pm each day, they said. Yes, it was very cold, they sent us a wonderful photo of the pair of them well north of the arctic circle and looking very cold. But they loved it.

India: each passenger needs their own visa, and. this applies even if you dont get off the ship. Getting an India visa in the UK is tedious: we had to go to the consulate office in Birmingham twice before ours were sorted. The photo requirements are different from the UK ones, check carefully. And it is quite expensive. My advice: start early and get as much info as possible. Our company (P and O) did not do this for us, we did it ourselves. Sri Lanka: we needed tourist visas, but that was because we flew in to catch the ship up in Colombo (an emergency operation in Singapore was involved, don't ask). So again, check carefully and early. Oman: for us this was a port call on RTW cruise, after Mumbai call. We did not need visas, but if you are flying in you might (as we did in Sri Lanka see above). Can recommend a visit in Muscat if that is where you are boarding, the port is beautiful and the royal palace spectacular. Good Luck.

yes, when we first cruised with Fred Olsen out of Southampton, back in 2012 there were passengers who pretty much lived full time on board and that was quite normal. but of course during covid that must have stopped and I am unsure what could have happened since. Cruising is only now getting back to anything like it ws before, as most of this year there have been special measures for boarding, with testing and isolation. These measures are only now slowly being phased out. I think the advice to take a long cruise and see how you get on would be a good start.

just to note also that there is likely to be at least one extra public holiday (ie on weekdays) around that time because of the Coronation ( this year there were two extra ones in June for the late Queen's jubilee celebrations). This may disrupt train timetables, and mean some facilities being closed when normally open. As far as I know no dates apart from the coronation date have been announced as yet so the train companies will not yet be able to plan for them. concerning luggage forwarding, you havent said which cruise line you are going with but I would expect them to be able to help on this. We ve only done it once when we sent luggage unaccompanied on a P and O ex UK round the world cruise, we then caught our luggage up when we boarded the ship in NZ. it was super efficient pick up from our house and a confirmation that yes, our luggage was definitely on the ship. Can't remember the name of the forwarding company but it was organised via P and O. Agree with the comments above re train journey, Edinburgh to Southampton will be a long and tedious day of travel.

mercadona (several in Barcelona, but find a large one), tends to be a bit cheaper than carrefour (Carrefour is a French company and good quality). Nice toiletries in Mercadona, I have specially looked for the hand cream on several visits. Clothing is a bit more difficult, but try an outdoor market, Ive bought things like trainers and handbags for about 5 euros a time. And Barcelona has a lot of the European chains: depending on your style, Zara is a Spanish company and very stylish. ah, Ive just been using my mapping programme: Barcelona has several branches of Primark, which is the good value chain here in the UK so I would head there for clothing.

have a look at the port reviews elsewhere and the port forums for more advice. We have been to all these places several times. everywhere in the canaries, and in Madeira, the ship docks close in to the centre of town, so if you like doing your own exploring there is no need to book anything. In Tenerife the best excursion is to the top of the mountain, but the risk is its covered in fog or saharan sand and you see nothing. If not, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a modern sophisticated city with interesting historic areas to wander around. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is one of my favourite cruise Ports. the city is the capital of Canaries. it has a fantastic history and the museum and historic area can be visited easily by taxi or bus. just walking off the ship and wandering, the nearest beaches are a ten minute stroll. We ve also hired bikes there as its all set up for car free cycling. however we thought the open topped city bus tour was poor value, unlike most other places where it is often the best thing to do. Lanzarote is less interesting than other Canary Islands in our opinion. However the one tour worth the effort and cost is to the active volcano area, where you might get your steak grilled over an open volcano vent. hope you have a great time.

have a look at the separate reviews for each port. Here's a quick guide to our experience on various cruises... Gibraltar: its fairly easy to do your own excursion to the top of the rock: you can walk or get a taxi to the bottom of the funicular. Barcelona: once in the historic centre all the wonderful architecture is pretty much in walking distance. if booking a tour I would opt for architecture, but its lovely to just wander around. (and there is a mass of info on shuttles etc on the ports forum) Cadiz: the ship docks right next to the centre of town. Cadiz has lots of history and you can make up your own walking tour. Lisbon: my absolute favourite cruise port, make sure you are up and about for the sail in, its beautiful. ship docks close in to the centre. choose one bit of Lisbon to focus on, and make up your own walk. We ve also caught a train along the coast to Cascais on one visit. Enjoy!

You are lucky to even b e able to get onto my saga!. we were on S of A in January this year, I had to phone Saga and get a list of excursions emailed to me before we could book anything. (but once I had the list it was easy to book what we wanted). btw, we mostly thought the included excursions which we did were not worth the effort, too much time sat in a coach. whereas the excursion we paid for was absolutely first rate.