calmac
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Posts posted by calmac
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We used Megatrain in January from Southampton to London with no problems.
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This website is aimed specifically at cruise ships and should answer your Rosyth question
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can someone clarify this for me wrt eu cruises can an over 18 year old buy/get cocktails on an eu cruise. Is the wine /beer rule just for the US. Our young adults look after themsleves at uni all year and they can buy what ever the wish over 18 in UK (16 in some other EU places). My youngest DD will just have turned 18 and I planned on treating her to a one or two pina coladas on our cruise. She doesn't like wine- yet:p
I can confirm that, on European cruises, anyone aged 18+ can order alcohol, including cocktails (our 18yo son just did so on the Jade).
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I live in Europe myself, but I always book/pay my cruises in US dollars through the American website. I have an American based NCL personal cruise consultant (PCC) that I have had since before the two markets (American and European) were divided online by NCL, so I see no reason to change her in for somebody in Europe who would force me to pay in Euros....
Since the regular prices in the US are lower than regular prices in Western Europe - that difference also shows in cruise rates. Americans are usually not willing to pay as much as Europeans for a cruise vacation - and the result is that even though we are only 2 persons, we actually save a few hundred $$$ on every cruise we book.
One other reason they still let us "keep" our American based PCC instead of an European one, is that we always purchase cruise rewards on a cruise to have as deposit for our next cruise. And the cruise reward has to be purchased in the currency you paid your cruise in, and can only be used as deposit on a future cruise that is booked in the same currency. Meaning that all our cruise rewards have been in US dollars, and therefore the future cruises we use them on also have to be paid in US dollars.....:p
We usually book through our US based PCC but our next cruise was booked through NCL UK as it was much cheaper. Also, we paid the £ deposit with a $ Cruise Reward - they use a standard conversion rate.
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You certainly used to be able to but there is likely to be an admin charge - phone them up to check.
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I can recommend this pub
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, 145 Fleet Street, EC4
Rebuilt in 1667, this rambling tavern of creaking floors, cosy rooms and snug corners, possesses a timeless ambience that keeps the contemporary world firmly at bay. Portraits of those who have worked and supped here over the centuries gaze fondly down from its dark wooden walls. Dr Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – to name but a few – have all ducked beneath its low beamed ceilings to absorb its 17th-century atmosphere. Dickens, too, was a regular, and the table to the right of the ground floor restaurant’s fireplace is said to have been his favoured place.
This is believed to have been the pub that Dickens had in mind when, following Charles Darnay’s acquittal on charges of high treason in A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton invites him to dine: ‘Drawing his arm through his own’ Sydney leads him to Fleet Street ‘up a covered way, into a tavern… where Charles Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain dinner and good wine’.
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This is a very good website which should help you
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At county Hall you are diagonally across the river from the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. You are close to the London Eye and can walk along the south bank to Borough Market.
For hotels there are Premier Inn County Hall, Marriott and Park Plaza. The main differentiator would be your budget.
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We are looking at July 18 and 19 OR maybe just one night the 19th. Would like to spend less than $150 a night for a quad room. There are many hotels that come up in the lower price range but then you start reading the horrible reviews!! I know you get what you pay for....but we will be leaving on a 2 week cruise and spending a lot on that also....so budget just gets tight. I hate to not see London even if just a short bus tour around the city!
Then I have not even looked at how to get from London to Southhampton and being convenient to some kind of bus/train that would take us there!!
I think your budget is unrealistic for London. Most decent rooms are £150+ (pounds not dollars). There are unlikely to be deals available in July as that is during the main tourist season. Some of the larger chains have rooms which will sleep 4 - Marriott, Crowne Plaza etc.
As you have found, you would need 2 rooms in a Premier Inn. Personally, I avoid Travelodge if at all possible.
Options for London to Southampton are private transfer, train or bus. One option is the Megabus which actually uses the train although available times are restricted. Last week we used this option for Southampton to London for 3 adults at the cost of £3.50. If we had just turned up and caught a train it would have been about £90.
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The standard balconies are the same as on the Breakaway - just big enough for 2 chairs and a mini table.
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If you are going from "Venice to Rome" you are not going to be anywhere near Mt. Etna since that is located well south of Rome (about 500 miles) on the island of Sicily. You would need to revise your itinerary and perhaps spend a couple of days in Taormina...which is a good base to explore Mt. Etna.
Hank
Our itinerary is from "Rome to Venice" and one of the ports is Messina, Sicily. By land, going between Venice and Rome takes you nowhere near Sicily but on a cruise you will stop at / sail past Sicily.
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This is another route to buying tickets for shows at ATG Theatres. We have a Theatre Card and managed to save more than it's cost due to special offers on two shows.
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If they offer you Scottish pound notes in change, then explain you're going back to the USA and won't be able to exchange them, and they'll give you Bank of England notes. Probably.
If you ask for your change in Bank of England notes, most places will give you what they have but Bank of England notes are not too common! Any bank will change Scottish notes to Bank of England ones.
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Thanks for the info. We have 4 ports in Scotland so I may still go ahead and order Scottish currency anyway - just for the fun of it. The exchange rate is the same. I imagine I would get change in Scottish pounds?
You will not be able to order Scottish currency. When you order Sterling you will receive Bank of England notes. In Scotland your change will be a mixture of English (Bank of England) and Scottish notes (Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank). The coins are exactly the same in both Scotland and England. Outwith the UK you are unlikely to be able to exchange any Scottish notes. Also, in some places in England, they will query the use of Scottish notes.
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So I finally found the details on the UBP and the fine print states;
A 15% gratuity plus any applicable taxes will be added to all package purchases. Packages must be purchased b y all
qualifying individuals residing in the stateroom or additional staterooms under the same method of payment for the entire
length of the cruise. Packages may not be shared and are non-transferable and non-refundable. You must be at least 21
years of age to purchase any alcoholic package and to consume alcohol. See the terms of our guest alcohol policy.
Other terms and conditions may apply. Package not available for purchase March1-April 15, on 1-2 day sailings or
charters or Pride of America.
The way I read it, its just not available on cruise to nowhere and charters! meaning any cruise over 3 days that isn't chartered the package will be available! please tell me I'm right.
Sorry, there is a blackout from March 1 to April 15 in addition to not being available on 1-2 day sailings . . .
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great. :D I hope they have some cruises that will embark/disembark in Dublin. My boyfriend is from there so it would be convenient for me..
Unlikely. In the past, NCL used Dover as a home port but in recent years, Copenhagen is the closest NCL home port to Dublin.
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This year (2013) NCL used the Crowne Plaza Tower Hotel near the airport.
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Can UK residents actually book through the US NCL?
I've always thought that the site wouldn't allow it.
Yes, no problem booking through the US. We have a PCC in the US and deal with her but don't have a PCC in the UK!
For our next cruise (on the Jade) an SF suite was more expensive booking through the US so we booked through the UK. Interestingly, the UK pricing had a mini-suite costing more than an SF suite.
NCL pricing can be all over the place at times!
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Tickets for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo typically go on sale at the start of December. For 2014 the tickets go on sale on Monday 2nd December. Here is the link to the online booking
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From the article
The outright ban on cruise ships in November 2014 only applies to those over 96,000 tonnes
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This website provides sunrise / sunset times around the world
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18% of the suite fare :eek: I tip very well usually more then the $10/$5 recommendation but with the cheapest suit on the Getaway TA just over $10,000 there is no way I will hand out $1800 in tips ;)
Rather than 18% of the suite fare, how about 18% of the difference between the mini-suite fare (when you do not have the services of a butler and concierge) and the cost of your suite??
Of course, this would work well for our next cruise as the suite price was less than a mini-suite lol
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For your stops in Scotland you might want to look at the Visit Scotland website for ideas on things to see and do
For your stop in South Queensferry (Edinburgh) have a look at this website
Non-alcoholic drink package?
in Norwegian Cruise Line
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Yes, the non-alcoholic versions are cheaper.