Trishastravels

There is a train that runs a few times a day direct to Olympia when a ship is in port, we used it last year and it was fairly cheap, can't remember if it was €10 return or each way! Then it's a short 5 - 10 minute walk to the site where you paid the entrance fee, headphones were available in multi languages. It was fairly easy to do on your own

We visited these areas earlier on in the year and wondered the same before we went as it was our first time in a tropical area and have never needed the usual vaccines for these areas. If I remember correctly I looked up the government recommendations and we didn't need any. So we travelled without! We had no problems, just used a good insect repellent with deet in it and didn't get any bites! Hope this helps.

We have done cruise only with Thomson before and we turned up at the ship around midday, we got onboard straight away without any problems. The staff were excellent and took our luggage and showed us to our cabin.

We have just sailed on the Luminosa in October and it was fantastic. We have also sailed with NCL. There are a few differences between the two, meal times are different, Costa had the usual choices at breakfast in the buffet but if you want a cooked breakfast you are best off eating in MDR, lunch again really good choices in the buffet, afternoon tea in the buffet served from 4.30pm which was the usual cookies, cakes and tea/coffee. The buffet then closes! 1st sitting for dinner was 6.30pm and 2nd sitting 8.30pm, this is a 5 course meal and portions I think just right for 5 courses, there is no coffee served with this, you have to go to bar afterwards but we found there was 1 machine in the buffet which was open in the evening for water, tea and coffee. There is no buffet option for meals in the evening. We had no language problems at all. There is usually a formal night which means elegant dress code but there were a few men who just wore a smart shirt with no tie so it's up to you how smart you want to dress. We had a white night and an Italian night. There is lots of dancing which was really good fun to watch! The main theatre shows were more visual, acrobats and the like. There were very few British and Americans on our cruise but that didn't bother us at all, most of the passengers were really nice but they have no idea how to queue so you just have to be like them and go with the flow! Hope this helps but we loved it.

Luminosa had Nescafé decaf in sachets in buffet last month [emoji3]

Just back from a cruise on Costa Luminosa and absolutely loved it! The food was great in both the restaurant and the buffet, the entertainment was good with a huge variety to suit all different tastes and loved the party atmosphere and all the dancing. All the staff were so friendly and helpful and nothing was too much trouble. Announcements in the 5 different languages didn't bother us and we thought it was fun to try and guess what was being said before the English version came on! We met lots of great people from all different parts of Europe. This was our first time with Costa and would definitely go again, we were a bit apprehensive before we went after reading some negative reviews but we shouldn't have worried[emoji3][emoji483][emoji482][emoji322]

We disembarked from San Pedro yesterday after doing the first leg of the Luminosa's world cruise. I can honestly say we've had a fantastic trip, the ship and the crew are fantastic, a great itinerary and party atmosphere just wish we could have stayed on. So sad to leave!

We use Caxton card, my Son lived abroad last year and it was an easy way to control the amount of money he got every month! It has one of the best exchange rates around and now we just use it when travelling in Europe. You just load it with however much you think you will need then you can use it at ATMs and pay for goods in store with no extra charges

We did NCL Jade over Christmas & New Year and were travelling with our 20 year old son, we had the soda package but occasionally we would have an alcoholic drink, my hubby ordered them for the 3 of us and my son had vodka and none of the waiters challenged us about our son's age! So from our experience there wasn't a problem but it may be more difficult if you are ordering on your own.

We did the HOHO and were disappointed! It takes at least 2 hours for each route and we found we were stuck in traffic a lot of the time. If we are lucky to go again we would head for Sagrada Famila, we noticed there was a separate queue at the opposite end for folk with advance tickets, hope this helps

The local bus stops outside the port area, easy to find, we got the bus there and back and had plenty of time in town

Also you could pay for extra activities eg chocolate making, water colour painting and choir [emoji2]

The sea days were not a problem for us at all, we found them very relaxing. We are not too bothered about sitting in the sun all day so I can't really comment too much on finding sun beds, we generally found them easy to find in the late afternoon. There are a lot of things going on during the day, we started with the progressive quiz at 11am, dance class at 12.30, the clocks went forward an hour almost every day at 2pm whilst crossing the Atlantic so that shortened the day, there was a guest lecture at 3pm, then another dance class at 4pm. As you can see there is plenty going on and I have to say we loved it. The ship was almost full!

Just returned from 18 night transatlantic cruise on the dream and we had 2 formal nights[emoji73]

Thanks for all the helpful comments, we are off on Tuesday, can't wait[emoji3]

Thanks for your replies everyone, we shall just have to see how our time goes, if we manage to get into mobay after check in that will be great if not it will still be great after all we will be in the Caribean for our 1st time, 7 days and counting[emoji3]

Thank you so much for your reply and useful information, we realise that time is short here and it seemed such a waste to fly all the way to Jamaica and not see any of it except the transfer to the ship! We are usually quite resourceful and do DIY ourselves. I think our best option will be to take the taxi to the beach you suggested even if it's just for an hour, a nice stroll along the sand to stretch our legs from the long flight and maybe a local cocktail

Our cruise starts in Montego Bay, our flight arrives at 3pm and the ship leaves at 8pm! We would love to get a little taster of Jamaica but not sure if this is possible with so little time, does anyone have any ideas? We would be happy just to stroll around town/walk along the beach

Can anyone tell me if we will have time to see a bit of Montego Bay, our flight arrives at 3 pm and the ship leaves at 8pm. If so does anyone know the best thing to do to give us a little flavour of Jamaica

If you fancy a change from Thomson then I would give NCL a try. We have cruised with Thomson on Spirit, Dream and Celebration and enjoyed them all. But decided to give another cruise line a go and found a good deal with NCL, I'm surprised no one has mentioned them! Food great much better than we were used to with Thomson, entertainment also great but different. It's good to try something else and were so glad we did. We would still go with Thomson but would not pay full price as personally it's not worth it, for the same price you can get much better.

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The video shown doesn't do the food justice! We have just returned from a 21 day cruise and ate in the Grand Pacific or Alizar every evening. The food was perfect for us including my 20 year old son who is a bit of a fussy eater with a nut allergy. We didn't need to order the same thing twice over 21 days which I think is pretty good going! The portion sizes were ideal, although on a couple of occasions the main course was a bit too much for me. We never had to queue for a table and we ate at variable times but always before 8.30pm. Hope this helps

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Thanks for the replies I have just done a bit of research and it looks like his passport will be fine. It's a British passport traveling within the EU except Turkey and the Turkish government web site states that no visa is required for cruise ship passengers

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I may have the same problem have just booked a last minute cruise round the med with NCL but my son's passport expires 2 months after our return. Not sure how strict they are with this policy? We leave on Saturday so no time to renew it!

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