eileen108

Great review, thanks! We are planning on a long cruise on the MSC Poesia in early 2024. Does anyone know if there is a phone app available for the Poesia? I heard about the "MSC For Me" app but the Poesia isn't listed among the ships that use it. Is everything still just on paper (the nightly newsletter distributed) and the TV in the cabin?

I went on a 10-day group tour with "Mara's House Luxor" (you can Google it - Mara is an Irish lady who has lived in Egypt for many years) in 2018 and had an amazing and totally safe time! It was the trip of a lifetime and everything went totally smoothly! We were 16 Australians and Americans, and a couple from England. The best and dare I say only way to see Egypt is with an 'all inclusive' tour. Even travelers much more experienced than me say that it is very, very hard to go through Egypt alone, whether man or woman or family. The Egyptians are desperate to make some money and their ways are completely aggressive - shop owners, taxi drivers, tour guides. VERY hard to get anyone honest and reliable. A group tour will entirely protect you from that. I am returning to Egypt in November as part of a 'Holy Land' 10-day tour and again in early 2024 on a World Cruise - and I will be taking an Excursion at that time too, though most other ports I will be exploring independently. Really hope you can make the visit to the Pyramids dream come true! TOTALLY worth it, guaranteed! 😁

The Newgrange tour is on Saturday so no local rush hour."

Thanks for the helpful advice, it gives me a sense of relief that quick disembarkation is possible, as also getting to the Newgrange meeting place.

I found this gem in Rick Steves book regarding Dublin: "If the taxi lines are long, start walking into town and they will soon show up empty." If I can't snag a quick shuttle into town, that's what I plan to do, to snag an empty taxi returning to port! Fingers crossed all will go well.

Generally speaking how fast is disembarkation in the port of Dublin? Are people getting off the ship at the stated port arrival time or within half an hour of it?

Crown Princess arrives in Dublin port at 7am, and I am interested in a private Newgrange bus tour starting in town at 8:15 am. Allowing for disembarkation and a 15 min taxi ride into town, I would need to disembark by 7:45 am at the latest. If I am at the door at 7 am, is it plausible that disembarkation would start fast?

I know that people who book cruise ship shuttles have to wait in other designated areas and are taken in groups via numbers, involving a delay of 1-2 hours, but I'd like to know if anyone has the experience of just independently disembarking at a faster time. Thanks so much!

Here is the link for the place we booked, "Odilicious'Studio 48 in Paris-Le Marais": https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/962959?s=51

Rick Steves has some good less expensive hotel suggestions, see if your local library has either the physical or ebook of "Rick Steves Paris". 

He suggests five "safe, handy and colorful" neighborhoods: the village-like Rue Cler (near the Eiffel Tower); the artsy and trendy Marais (near Place de la Bastille, and where we will stay); the historic island of Ile St. Louis (next door to Notre-Dame); the lively, Latin, and classy Luxembourg Garden neighborhood (on the Left Bank); and the less polished, less central, but less pricey Montmartre neighborhood.

On Airbnb, put in your travel dates in Paris, then your price range, and scroll around the map to see what is available in each neighborhood. 

Ok, only a backup plan but I NEEDED to get that straight. All's clear now and written down correctly. Thanks for your help!!

We're doing the same Itinerary in July 2018. These are awesome to see, thanks so much for scanning them!!

Cotswold Eagle, good question, not sure what I meant - I'm running blind here, not being familiar with London, haha! I probably meant there's the option of taking the tube from Heathrow or bus 59 "towards" King's Cross (not "from"), and getting out at St Pancras International.

Oh yes, I already planned to take a taxi from the port to Le Havre train station (one mile away). Since trains are only once an hour to Paris, it makes sense to do a quick change of trains in Rouen if timings don't match up to the hourly train.

In case by some fluke of nature we don't dock in Le Havre, we have our plan mapped out: shuttle Southampton to Heathrow (or train Southampton Central to Waterloo), then Heathrow to St. Pancras Station (bus from King's Cross), then St. Pancras to Gare du Nord Paris via Eurostar. (There's also the ferry from Portsmouth at 23:30, arrives LeHavre at 8:30 am.)

I also want to thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write all the details of your port experiences, this is helping with my planning of our Crown Princess UK trip next July 2019!

Also for anyone who is interested, since Paris is the last stop (leaves Paris 8 pm, arrives back Southampton 5 am), we called Princess and requested to disembark in Paris so we could spend a few days there. The rep took down our info and within a few days we got an email with the "Route Deviation Approval" confirmation (our online reservation now shows disembarking in Paris, too). I am soooo thrilled that we don't have to disembark in Southampton and spend the better part of a day travelling back to Paris! Also, we have picked out a wonderful Airbnb private apartment (with kitchen) in Paris where we'll stay, central location and the price was only $103 a night.

Just wanted to post an update. Several days ago I booked our cruise with Princess and paid the deposit (the cruise is July 2019, 10 months in the future). I requested disembarkation in Le Havre instead of Southampton and the rep said it is no problem. She made it clear that there would be no partial refund for the one last night we'll miss on the ship and I am fine with that. She requested extra info from me and said I'd get the approval email within a week.

This morning I was so thrilled to receive the email and pdf file, "Route Deviation Request Approved"! I'll print it up as documentation for when we disembark.

Of course, I will reconfirm just before the cruise and probably on board too. We are also prepared with alternative independant and self-financed plans (probably train to Paris) in case of the rare occurrence that Le Havre is missed.

This thread was very helpful to me - thanks so much!

Hello Maddycakes! I know it's been a long time but we see we are assigned that same cabin 8112 on Norwegian Getaway for a 2019 cruise, how was it? Any noise from the theater below you? Just curious!

Another option for Newgrange is Unplugged Tours. They pick up at the ship, and have agreed to drop us off at Trinity Collage at the end of the 4 hour tour. We then have put together a self guided walking tour for the rest of the day. Are Dublin Castle and St Patrick’s Cathedral worth getting tickets to tour?

Hello Itsanita! I'm planning for our 7am to 10pm stop in Dublin on Princess in July 2019. I really want to see Newgrange but only half day, so I can see the rest of the city in the afternoon/evening. Unplugged Tours sounds perfect! Please let me know how your tour was: was the pickup in the morning when you arrived at port, what time did you arrive back in the city, and how much was the cost? Was it 2-4 of you in a taxi? Thanks so much!

Very helpful info, thanks tring!

What tour did you use for the Beatles experience? We're planning for July 2019 and there are so many tours online!

Such gorgeous pictures and a lot of helpful info with names and tours with links, thanks so much! My sister and I are hoping to do this tour in 2019 and now we have a lot more great ideas.

I think that missing Le Havre is actually quite rare, and I'd be interested to know the months where the weather is likely to be worse (perhaps in May/June rather than July/August?).

We will definitely prepared in case the ship misses Le Havre, I have already mapped possible plane, train and ferry routes from Southampton to Paris.

One other poster mentioned that yes, the cruise line booked flights to get people to their ultimate destination that was missed, but it was a crazy, long and inconvenient route taking all day! That is why I don't buy the cruise line offered insurance; they will do everything they can not to reimburse and even if they do, it will often be awfully inconvenient.

Like WNcruiser, my sister and I are interested in doing this next year, too. Thanks so much Cruiselover001 for this post and for updating, much appreciated!

My sister wanted to know if you remember the name of the 'outdoor restaurant' where you made the ceviche? Also, if they take American cash at that place?

My sister is a foodie and signed up for the Carnival "True Belizean Foodie Tour" for our cruise in mid-October 2017. There are now several 5-star reviews on the Carnival site and also a reply with details and pics on my post I put up yesterday - sounds like a fun tour (see link below)!

In addition, if you do an online search for "Taco Girl Belize Food Tour" there's a blog with descriptions and pics of private tour options.

My post with pics: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53768067#post53768067

You've made my day! Thank you sooooo much!!

Did anyone go on the Belize Foodie Tour through Carnival and if so, can you share some pics? My sister is a foodie and signed up for it and is excited about it! We're cruising to Belize in mid October 2017.

We hired a taxi at Bari port (literally right outside our cruise ship door), however it ended up costing the same as a cruise excursion (we were only two people sharing the taxi). A MSC Excursion would have given us history and other commentary the whole way. Our taxi driver only spoke Italian so it was a silent taxi ride with no info.

Taxis in port: Bari city 60 Euros, Alberobello 130 Euros, Polignano a Mare 100 Euros, Caves of Catellana 120 Euros, Matera 120 Euros

MSC Orchestra Cruise Excursion Rates (per person): Bari City 62 Euros, Alberobello 75 Euros, Caves of Castellana AND Polignano A Mare 72 Euros, Sassi in Matera 75 Euros

Pics from: Sunday (boarding in Venice), Monday (Bari), Tuesday (at sea, no Katakolon due to high winds) and Wednesday (Santorini).