edinburgher

Is there a better/different alternative for transportation, not knowing ahead of time when we will want to return to ship? Sorry kac911 but i am confused by your question as it isn't acually totally clear(to me)what you are asking. Are you only asking about transportation options from A to B and return, or is your question concerning availablity of transport to get to or from the tattoo? There are always two shows on a Saturday evening, one early, one later, but if you are sailing before the first show, I don't understand why the reference to the Tattoo as it is only one of several very large festivals which run throughout the month of August, and the city is rammed with folks. it is far and away the busiest month of the year in the city. You also didn't actually say where your ship will be docked or anchored and as there are several locations where it could be, each option will offer different transport choices, especially if you are in one of the out of town locations and tendering, so that too will determine what time you want to leave the city. More info?

Taksim Square down to the Galata Tower area. We have also explored that area, but only on our earliest visits as there has been more than one incident in the area over the years and Taksim Square is quite often the location of protests which we would avoid in any country.

I don't know if it would be possible for you to access any of the baths without being a client, and even then, only to the ladies section unless you were there outwith opening hours, an appointment you would need to try to arrange before your trip.

Will be flying from Los Angeles to wherever we decide to go pre Lisbon unless we stay in Lisbon and do day trips from there Thank you for the added info. Mid-June should be a lovely time for most of Europe as the hottest temperaures won';t have arrived at that point and the weather should be pleasantly warm almost everywhere.by then. And 4-5 days is a decent amount of time to at least crack some of the big cities and enough for smaller cities or large towns if they can offer a side trip or two. A few suggestions, but I suspect others will have many more and may disagree with some of these. Spend it all in Istanbul, our personal #1 favoutite European city in he whole of Europe. Totally fascinating and with a multitude of sights to explore. We have spent a total of 12 days there and didn't run out of ideas. Vienna. An archiectural gem should you have an interest. Barcelona. Again, an incredible amount to see and do. Berlin, likewise, but take a day out to visit Potsdam, almost a suburb of Berlin.. Valencia with a side trip or two. Desenzano del Garda. Perfectly located for exploring pretty Lake Garda towns and villages by ferry, but take one or two days out (or an overnight) toiisit pretty Verona (of Romeo and jJuliette fame). A lovely mix of lake scenery and Verona. Sorrento, perfectly located and with all the transport necessary to visit Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Mt Vesuvius, Capri, Ischia and the Amalfi Coast. Easily reached from both Rome and Naples and even if you visited Pompeii and/or Herculaneum a few years ago, due to the ongoing excavations and additional areas being opened up to the public, you would probably find "new to you" excavations to explore, plus the parts of Pompeii you probably had to miss first time around as it is really too huge an area tocovere in one day for most folks. Prague. Quite small, so one or two days side trips. Budapest, ditto. Nice with so many side trip options both coast and country. Last for now, Krakow, Poland. 2-3 days only for the city, but the two really popular and easy side trips are to the monster Wieliczka” Salt Mine. Impressive hardly does it justice. Read about it online. The second really big side trip is to visit The Auschwitz-Birkenau. concentration camp. A truly moving and unforgettable experience which puts some events of WW11 iinto perspective. And i should also include both London and Edinburgh.

And during one of your fall visits, do try to swing by Caferaga Medresesi, as I think you would like it and you most likely won't be far from it anyway. The menu offers only very simple food, (plus apple teas, coffees etc)but the courtyard and all the little cabins alongside where artists show their work are both historic and authentic. They offer courses in several Turkish crafts with international students attending from a number of other countries. The street level store has many more handicrafts for sale. That info was all pre-pandemic so I don't know if things have changed.

Did you get to experience such a room at Cagaloglu baths? Sorry to disappoimnt cruisemom42, but I remember only a much larger and brighter space than I had expected, also immaculately clean,but didn't particularly notice the architecture as I was (being 100% honest here) a bit discombobulated at that point as I was (and still am!) unused to being naked in a semi-public area even if it was a woman only area! I was way out of my comfort zone. And despite having read in advance of what to expect and the procedure, all that I had learned had mysteriously gone from my head and I was feeling like it had been a terrible idea to come in. That soon changed though as my attendant got to work, and afterwards as I was relaxing on the heated slab, I almost fell asleep. Could not though as had arranged to meet DH at a specific time in the communal entrance area. At the time, and you would need to check recent reviews, that one had one of the best reputations so we were encouraged to choose it over others, but that may have changed. What I did like was, that there wrere a number of Turkish ladies of varying ages in there, and I thought that if locals went, then it should all be OK. At home, where I would meet female friends for a coffee and chat together, Turkish ladies meet their friends for a bathe and a chat together. Although I don't remember stunning architecture, that isn't to say it wasn't there, I maybe didn't notice(per above remarks). I can say with some certainty that it wasn't bad, cramped or anything else, and I would have remembered a negative impression although I do remember the changing cabins were quite small. Perhaps your specific question about the ladies archiecture should be asked on a tripadvisor forum if you are a member, or directly to management at the hammam. Do give it a try as it really was a memorable experience for us both.

Should have also suggested what was a wonderful bakery/cafe which I l hope is still wonderful. Cigdem Pastanesi on Divanyolu Cadesi so you will most likely find yourselves walking past at some point if you are in Sultanahmet day or evening. Discovered by happy chance one afternoon, we fell into the habit of strolling to here from wherever we had dined nearby, to enjoy coffee and delicious cake to end our meal. And for an inexpensive authentic lunch or snack in historic unpretentious surroundings, try Caferaga Medresesi, literally a stones throw from Haghia Sophia, in a quiet street usually a peaceful oasis far from the tourist throngs a few steps away. And explore the little craft shops around the courtyard, as they run all sorts of traditional craft classes and sell some of the crafts. There is a shop and terrace at street level, although the dining courtyard is downstairs. We discovered it on our first visit and called in twice for late lunches after longer Topkapi and the Architectural Museum visits and a third time on the day before our flight home.. The next three times we visited for overnights/two day stays on cruise ships, we made a point of revisiting to take tea with the manager whom we got to know quite well following our several visits (he had a cousin living in England and liked a bit of chat)

We had both tipped our attendants, and thought we had been quite generous as we thought the attendants maybe didn't earn too much and they did a good job, but in each case they were indicating they wanted more, perhaps because we were tourists rather than locals? I do not know. Some hammans have only one area, and have specific timings for either women only or men only. A hotel we stayed in elsewhere in Turkey had one, and one only, with days and times set aside for the different sexes.

What I discovered is that the men’s baths get the large, beautiful scenic spaces while the women’s baths are crammed into smaller, cramped and less decorated spaces. Does this apply to every one or only some? Or only to the ones you personally visited? Sorry to disagree, but although my own personal experience is limited to just the one hamam and I cannot compare the ladies and mens areas of it as separation of the the ladies and mens areas was very strictly regulated, I was perfectly comfortable in the ladies section of the one we visited in the Sultanahmet area where we were staying and did not think for one moment that it was cramped in any way as the ladies section was actually larger than I had expected. We went to this one based on reviews andonline images. Cagaloglu Hamami. Our only negative was the same one. In both the ladies and the mens section, the attendants were quite pushy about asking for a tip.

This recent thread has info for Tromso and Alesund to get you started. See post #6 https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2930127-on-the-spot-shared-taxisminivans-at-these-ports/#comment-65199301 As already pointed out above, there have been many many previous hreads about your ports, you only need find and read them. I have a different way of finding them from poster #3 so you may want to try both versions for best results. Go to the main N. Europe and Baltic Sea Forum (but not to an individual thread). In the empty SEARCH box under your username, input the name of one of your ports, hit the little magnifying glass and threads containing that words will appear in the results. Follow the same method for each port in turn.

what to do on our first evening 1) You could go for a traditional Turkish Bath, only need to check opening hours. If you never tried one before now, it is quite the experience, and one you are unlikely to forget. 2) Or go for a sunset or evening Bosphoros cruise, with or without dinner, as it isn't essential to have a dinner cruise. 3) Head to Sultanahmet as some of the buildings there (including the Blue Mosque) and the fountain in the square in front are illuminated in the evenings. If it isn't a prayer time, this might be a less crowded time to visit the interior of the Blue Mosque and/or Hagia Sophia, but check opening hours.

You could visit Christmas Street in Naples (reviews, images and location to be found if you google)and buy hand crafted ornaments or a small nativity scene. Every Christmas we still bring out the small one we bought there on our first visit over 20 years ago.

Lots of online info for Trieste sightseeing suggestions, also reading some past threads should throw up a few ideas. Use the SEARCH tool under your username to find them. This one should help you get started. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2844331-trieste-what-to-see-do/#comment-62992388

Vuisited Rhodes twice and docked both times, each time on smaller ships. Have no idea if larger ones need to tender. It is only a short walk in to Rhodes Town.

Sorry if I in some way offended you. Apology accepted. I had said Prices in Scandinavian countries, (and I include Iceland in that) can sometimes be eye wateringly expensive compared to "home country" prices,especially when it comes to meals and alcohol pricing, and you should also expect to pay more for excursions i had only given these examples as they are areas where cruise pax would be more likely to spend ashore. And many pax on Scandinavian itineraries return to ship with empty shopping bags as the prices have deterred them from buying souvenirs such as woolen jumpers or gifts for families. TBH, I think Norway is the most expensive.of them all, with Denmark possibly the least expensive although it is difficult to be exact. We have though, noticed that prices appear to rise the further north one travels.One time we saw some American pax from our ship outside a "Golden Arches" outlet in Norway where they had taken photos of the menu/price list above and behind the counter.as they were so surprised at the cost of a Big Mac burger, fries and soft drink combo, and some Scandinavia fellow pax on some of our 6 or 7 Nordic itineraries have told us they very rarely dine out, often not even on birthdays or anniversaries as the cost is too high even for them. They tend to socialise more at the homes of themselves or their friends or their families. Glasgow used to have many Icelanders fly in to go on shopping spees, and when there was a ferry from a Norwegian port to Newcastle, free shuttle buses used to meet the ferry passengers and give them a free ride to a major local shopping centre where they were known to spend spend spend, so it must have been quite a saving to shop here rather than at home.

Consider allowing additional time for viewing of the exterior of SF, as there is much to look at, and the more you look the more you will find.

You may get more info if you were to cross post this thread on the Royal C Forum., where ohers who used it (should there have been one) would be more likely to see it and answer.

Can you recommend any must see cities that we could get/fly to prior to our cruise So so many options, but until the OP can give some additional info, too difficult to offer a selection.

for example on alcohol, cigarettes and automobilesYou are helping to pay for the cost of alcohol problems, and lung diseases when you purchase the first two items I don't actually believe that warning first time visitors to Scandinavia of the high prices they can expect across the board is a bad thing. Alaska was referenced as a comparison which Americans could relate to as the cost of tours/excursions is quite frequently mentioned in posts or threads. on the Alaska forum Nobody mentioned tobacco at all, I don't think many visitors would even think about buying an automobile as a souvenir,and the reference to alcohol pricing was only one example of an area wherethe quite substantial price differential.would be noticed by tourists from other countries who might want to indulge in a beer or small glass of wine during their stay. So using your same logic, are you saying that the cost of dining (especially in Norway) is somehow connected to paying to alleviate obesity problems should they purchase a meal?

You may OR MAY NOT find a small number of taxis or shared minivans dockside, but better you book ahead as there is no guarantee at all that you will find find any in any of your ports.. Should you see any dockside when you arrive, these may have been pre-booked and they are there only to pick up their pax. This in part is due to their being a smaller number of tour operators in these less populated areas, and as the cruiselines will book a number for shorex, as will cruise pax looking for private shared tours,, there may simply be none left. There are many tour group recommendations to be found on CC boards, also online. i would also suggest that both Tromso and Alesund are easy DIY ports with no need for a tour at all. Alesund in paricular is a favourite of cruise pax as it offers so much with little effort. Tromso has a good selection of museums, some with a focus on Polar/Arctic exploration. but there are others. Much tromso tourist info online. Do some pre-trip homework/research for Tromso info, but for Alesund, you would only need to read this one link for all the info you would need; https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2826391-alesund-norway/ And do use the SEARCH tool under your username to bring up past threads and replies ready for you to read. Insert your ports, only one at a time, on the relevant geographical forum, hit the little spy glass and all previous threads containing that word will appear.

reasonable priced in Reykjavik? As others have said "reasonable" is subjective, but you should be aware that prices in N. European countries can be higher than in other European countries such as Spain and Portugal due to the high cost of living in them. Have you cruised previously? If so and your your only previous cruising has been to the Caribbean, expect to be shocked... Prices in Scandinavian countries, (and I include Iceland in that) can sometimes be eye wateringly expensive compared to "home country" prices, especially when it comes to meals and alcohol pricing, and you should also expect to pay more for excursions A bit like Alaska, where tour costs and incidentals such as accommodation and dining can be higher than in other areas of the USA.

Many of the streets in Lisbon are extremely steep, not only the ones which go up to viewpoints. There are free elevators in Lisbon which can take you part way up to some of them, and tuk tuks are everywhere for short trips, probably more suited to the roads than regular taxis. We took a bus almost to the entrance of the tile museum. We found public transport very easy to use, you only need spend some time pre-trip reading how to use it. Same with the free elevators. The info is out there. You say you are staying in the Alfama area, there are two free elevators leading up to that area .

Desenzano del Garda. It isn't Lake Como, but Lake Garda, but for anyone reading this and looking for a base for Garda as opposed to Como, this is a good one as there is a train station, buses and ferries to both "sides" of the lake. And multiple hotels and guest houses. We stayed a week there and visited pretty Verona twice in that week so a nice mix of lake and city sightseeing. Como We also stayed for a week in a villa owned by friends which was midway between Como and Bellagio which was served by local buses and ferries, although they didn't all stop there. I would suggest a hotel in a location which offers options for dining other than the hotel itself. Would Como itself be an option? Plenty hotel reviews can be found on Tripadvisor and other review sites, so once you decide location, check reviews to help you decide on a hotel.

split. No need for a shuttle here. Ships dock 10-15 minute walk from town, some of which you will be able to see see from your ship. You only need walk past the bus station and ferry docks and you are there. Kotor is even closer. You only need cross the road from the dock or tender point. Be up on deck early for the beautiful approach and sail-in. Dubrovnik. You can take a taxi from the dock or a public bus from the road outside the port, or ship shuttle. All traffic will stop at Pile Gate, the entry to the pedestrianised walled city, so it is your choice which you would prefer. For the return, head back to Pile for shuttle, taxi or public bus.

I understand it is a tender and not technically docking , but where? Sorry to be bearer of possible bad news, but if you missed it you should read this recent thread as your call here may be impacted.. Start from post #11 https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2912760-zakynthos/#comment-65135026