CCJack

We took a taxi from ship to Titantic museum (the museum is very nice). Then after our museum visit we walked from museum to city center. That is an easy 20 min walk. Then we caught a taxi from city center back to the ship. You could do the reverse order - taxi to city center than walk to museum and taxi back. You cannot walk from the ship to either (at least where our ship docked.)

Our tour was with SAGA tours. They had two vans going to the Lake Myvatn stops but in different order so they would not overlap. Then both ended up at the natural baths in the afternoon at the same time. People who didn't want to do the baths could board one of the vans and go straight back to the ship while those who wanted to do the baths could stay longer. Our intention was to do the baths at blue lagoon and not do the baths at Myvatn, but the first van back to the ship was full. So we volunteered to stay a bit at the baths (45 min) for them to return to take us to the ship. So we hung out there but we did not get in the water as we did not have our swim gear. However since we had a taste of the natural baths we opted to skip blue lagoon in favor of golden circle. In hindsight, probably should have taken our swim gear to Myvatn baths, but it all worked out in the end. I am glad we did the golden circle. Those stops were really nice.

I would do the golden circle, and while in Akureyri do the Lake Myvatn tour with the natural bath option (similar but less famous as blue lagoon) - that combo tour is a lot less than 11 hours if I recall. We went to Akureyri before Reykjavik so we did the lake Myvatn with natural bath first. We had blue lagoon excursion reserved in Reykajavik but after seeing the one near Myvatn we cancelled blue lagoon and went on golden circle. I am glad we did. Golden circle is really 3 different stops / excursions in one already (without adding blue lagoon.). Here is the link to the natual baths at lake myvatn.. https://myvatnnaturebaths.is/ Have fun !

Cruisemom42.. I am also planning our first cruise to this area so I cannot help much. However, I am glad others have provided input to you since you are an All Star on these boards! Normally you are the giver of very good and well researched advice for other destinations....

Following our trip, I left a mixed review on my customer survey. I said land tour was great in all aspects except lack of information ahead of time. Looks like my review didn't cause any improvements !!! We were with the same people each day on the same main transportation bus which took us city to city (not excursion vans/bus). Our bus was about 75% full and everyone was from the same ship. At the time, RCCL buses were much nicer than Princess and others that I saw. I would suspect that Princess has upgraded their buses by now though. Princess had the edge in lodging, they have their own properties near Denali, where as RCCL (and I suspect Celebrity) lodge in independent properties. Many people recommend DIY instead of the cruise tours, but I actually really enjoy meeting some others on the group tours. I also really dislike driving while on vacation, so for us it worked out really well. Not sure about the hotel question.. we did not go to Fairbanks. RCCL lodged us at the Marriott in Anchorage, but I do think that RCCL told us that ahead of time, so if we wanted to stay longer we could have booked there.

My info is a couple years old, but we went on RCCL cruise tour... Good news is that it was really well run, with a good guide on board and we had a great time. Bad news is we got very little info. ahead of time. If I remember right the guide on the bus with you described the excursions and then asked about your interest. I got the impression there wasn't a concern about excursions selling out like on the ship. Things are in much smaller numbers than on the ship, and the guide spent time on the phone on the calling ahead to arrange enough guides / vans for people who were interested. We went on very few excursions, I didn't think it was necessary. We did a lot of hiking on our own, etc. They picked us up and took care of all hotel reservations and check-ins, etc. I recall most dining was not included however. the tour guide who will be with you with your group is important. They seem to make all the arrangements.

Our booking for 2 (my wife and I) included the free at sea promo. a couple of questions: 1) it indicates 2 specialty meals as part of the promo, I assume that is 2 for each passenger? 2) the specialty restaurants have menus online with al a carte prices. How does that work with the promo? Are you allowed one entree? etc. 3) how soon can we book reservations? One of the perks of club balcony suite was to book out 120 days. We opted for a regular balcony and not club, but our online account gives a date to check back to reserve and it is 120 days prior to sail. So maybe that really is not a perk for club balcony but everyone get to book 120 days out? thank you.

Thank you... that helps. Pre book dining likely worth it.

We are new to NCL. Looking at a cruise on NCL Joy. A club balcony suite is only a little more $ than a balcony. However I see the floorplans look nearly identical. Are there any perks to the club balcony suite that I am missing? It doesn't look like a suite to me !! thanks...

Thanks! This is very helpful.

thank you. We have no interest in bumper cars etc! we are empty nesters now... However, we didn't want a run down ship or bad service. We may try HAL.

I am also interested in booking our first cruise to this area, although we have sailed on many cruises elsewhere (mostly on Celebrity and RCCL, but some on Cunard, NCL) We are interested in a one way cruise that includes Quebec City. It seems like the ships that mostly do this are NCL Pearl, NCL Joy, HAL Zuiderdam, RCCL Jewel OTS, and Princess Caribbean Princess. Leaning towards Zuiderdam due to the itinerary, but it is an older ship and we have never been on HAL. I believe the ship was refreshed in 2017. A lot of these ships are older, is there a reason the newer larger ships don't travel in this area. Perhaps there isn't the demand and they cannot fill the larger ships like they can in Europe or Caribbean, etc. For us the ports are the most important, but we do like good food in the MDR, etc. We did go on NCL out of Rome a few years ago and we felt it was not as high quality as Celebrity.. So I am hesitant to try the NCL Joy although that itinerary looks good to us as well..... Any thoughts? Thank you.

Clarification on my post above... I did not mean to imply Celebrity made the decision to dock at Ringaskiddy the morning of arrival. They did tell us before the cruise started (however just before) that it had changed to Ringaskiddy. The comment from the tour bus driver about changing the morning of arrival I think meant that they (tour guides, taxi drivers, bus drivers, etc.) sometimes are not informed until last minute of changes and causes frustration for them the morning of the tours. VMax1700 correct in that port schedule is likely work in progress up until very shortly before arrival.

It's more than Ok, it is a beautiful and interesting walk. No issues at all.

We were on Apex last June with a stop at Cork (Cobh). First off the Apex is our new favorite ship -fantastic - but that is for another forum. Our stop was changed from Cobh to Ringaskiddy - I understand this happens frequently. Not sure who makes these decisions or why so late - but anyway they moved the Apex to Ringaskiddy - so you may want to anticipate that possibility. It is right across the bay - we could see the other ship docked at Cobh, however due to the shape/size of the bay it appears to be a good drive - maybe a 45 minute drive between the two. Ringaskiddy is an industrial area. Not friendly to walking, tourism, etc. They allowed the cruise ship excursion buses up close to the ship but taxis and independent excursions appeared to be lined up outside of the port area. Certainly walkable to taxis but a good walk. Ringaskiddy is closer drive to Kinsale than Cobh is to Kinsale. I think this stop is a good choice to take a ships excursion due to the two different port areas - let the cruise line get the buses to the right port. We took the ship's excursion to Blarney. I was pleasantly surprised... the grounds were beautiful. Our bus tour guide (a local) said they sometimes get calls the morning of whether to go to Cobh or Ringaskiddy. Enjoy your trip on the Apex, we certainly did.

Yes. I would be uncomfortable with 11:30 even though you may make it. 1:00 much better. The airport has had major problems this last summer and passport control could be an hour. I understand that is getting better however....

I don't recall seeing many (maybe none) hikers on our trip down. I would guess both bikers and hikers are allowed, but I don't know that for sure.

Agree, that these are easy DIY on vaporetto.. Assuming you are in Venice for more than one "cruise day". If you are there only for one day, I am not sure I would go to Murano or Burano, it would be an all afternoon trek to go to both and spend some time at each. I would stay back in Venice. However, if you are there overnight and have more time in Venice, then these islands would be fun. We enjoyed them both.

yes, it looks like the same Tram on the website... this is the first I had heard of Goldbelt. Perhaps a recent name change.

I assume the Tram excursion is the Mt. Roberts tram. I remember it as being very stable, no swaying at all. It was very close to where our ship docked - no more than a couple blocks, however, if there are multiple ships in dock, then I am not sure if you would be further than that. The trails at Mendenhall are flat and easy to walk. However the main trail takes you from the visitor center towards the glacier but not all the way. You need a more extensive excursion if you want to climb on the glacier, etc. In short I think both the tram and the glacier trail are easy excursions for most folks. I hope you enjoy your time there.

Your ship is overnight in Livorno, correct? You could possibly do both but it would be a busy 2 days. Personally, I would prioritize Florence over Cinque Terre... Florence is full of history... Also, we really enjoyed our day in Siena - very well preserved smaller city. Does Celebrity offer an overnight excursion to Florence with a hotel stay? I would consider that and try to do Florence and Siena.

Have a meal at the rooftop restaurant at the Grand Hotel Baglioni... I think the restaurant goes by the name of B-roof. Fantastic views of the city and our meal was very good.

Agree...We took the troll road excursion offered by the cruiseline and it was a really good excursion. Did not have high expectations based on the excursion description on the cruiseline website, but turned out to be a beautiful experience.

We found the taxi fare from ship to downtown was about the same price as the cruise shuttle (for 2 people that is.) So the taxi worked well. I asked the driver where to catch a taxi for the return and they said either at the taxi stand below, or they would be circling the park (with the founder statue, etc.) there were not as many taxis as you would see in a larger city, so it was good to know where to look when we wanted to return.

a photo from our bike trip down from Myrdal to Flam.