bigsky

On 7/17/2024 at 8:13 PM, DTtravelers said:

Hi BigSky:

 

Since you are a bit of a DYI type, as are we...  here are some notes from our March trip.

 

Tauranga: Just walk to the beach and swim!  Miles of beautiful beach and not very many people.

 

Gisborne -

Climb the hill.  Excellent views of the ocean.  On the way back, don't forget to count how many logging trucks pass you by.  400 per day (that is NOT a typo).  There is also a steam train ride.

 

Napier -

We took a shuttle to the National Aquarium of New Zealand along the shore.  We payed extra for the back scenes tour and enjoyed it.  They have about 15 small blue penguins that we watched for a lll-ooo-nnn-ggg time (my wife's favorite).  After that, we just walked back to town through the botanical garden, and then spent time wandering through town.  An excellent day you can do on your own.

 

 

 

 

 

Were the shuttles close by after getting off the ship? Were the botanical gardens close to the aquarium? Shuttle back? 

On 8/13/2024 at 11:44 AM, Cleocruiser said:

We always do excursions on our own. We were on the Ovation in Feb24.

 

We loved the rafting tour we did in Napier. It was through Raftfish.com 

It was very mild and we got to see some authentic New Zealand countryside.

Deon picks you up and drops you off right at the ship

.

Best tour we had in New Zealand hands down was with Suzie in Wellington.

http://www.utourswellington.nz/   It's a private tour and she takes you wherever you

want to go. She knows when the cable car is not busy and she pretty much covered 

the whole city in a few hours. Also picks up at the ship. She is very knowledgeable.

We stopped for lunch and ice cream along the way. Highly recommended! She books up fast.

 

Also recommend a tour with Matt in Sydney.  http://sydneyguidedtours.com/  

He is a wealth of knowledge and gets you out of the city for the day. Lots of 

wildlife encounters and nature. We got to pet koalas and kangaroos. 

 

The other tour we loved was www.bluemountaintours.com.au.

 

Hope that helps. Just make sure any tour you take will refund you if you don't make it to port.

We missed Auckland due to the crew not being able to get the lifeboat locked from the tender port the day before. We got a refund form our tour guide, but many other lost a lot of money.

 

Have a great time!

Rafting sounds fun. Another posted an idea as well that sounded fun. 

That link for Suzie didn't work. Nothing came up. Was she expensive?

We're going to fly into Auckland for 4 days to stay with a friend that lives there. Then we'll fly to Austrailia to spend a few days pre cruise. We have one day we'll be watching a sailing event. Then I do want to go to a zoo.  Have to ck that link out! Thank you!!

On 7/31/2024 at 10:24 AM, Penny Hansen said:

Hi BigSky, there are 5 of us that will be cruising out of Sydney on Feb. 9th also.  Are you on Ovation of the Seas? I am just beginning to look at excursions for our port of calls.

Yep! I replied on our roll call! : )

On 7/17/2024 at 8:13 PM, DTtravelers said:

Hi BigSky:

 

Since you are a bit of a DYI type, as are we...  here are some notes from our March trip.

 

Tauranga: Just walk to the beach and swim!  Miles of beautiful beach and not very many people.

 

Gisborne -

Climb the hill.  Excellent views of the ocean.  On the way back, don't forget to count how many logging trucks pass you by.  400 per day (that is NOT a typo).  There is also a steam train ride.

 

Napier -

We took a shuttle to the National Aquarium of New Zealand along the shore.  We payed extra for the back scenes tour and enjoyed it.  They have about 15 small blue penguins that we watched for a lll-ooo-nnn-ggg time (my wife's favorite).  After that, we just walked back to town through the botanical garden, and then spent time wandering through town.  An excellent day you can do on your own.

 

Wellington -

Do not miss Te Papa museum.  You can easily spend hours and hours there.  One of the best museums we have ever seen.  You will get at least a taste of Maori culture.  Warning: It is HUGE.

 

Christchurch - (we got to spend 4 days here)

We spent half a day at the excellent Botanical Garden.  If you want to float the punts on the Avon river, book the day before.  We enjoyed it.  If you are into wine, do a wine tour to Waipara, but note it is an hour north of town.  The wine at Greystone was "knock your socks off" 

 

If you stop at Picton, you can arrange a wine tour of the Marlborough region.  We used Marlborough Wines Tours and only got to taste 27 different wines at 5 different wineries.  I discovered that the NZ Pinot Gris' were actually my favorite. 

 

We missed Dunedin because of weather, but that was the one place that we really had no plans.

 

Other notes (and thoughts):

 

We were fortunate to be able to do a land tour, have time on our own, then do a cruise to Sydney.  The land tour plus cruise was perfect with no overlap.  We really enjoyed both.

 

My take was that the land tour (Mondumo) gave us a "bite" of each place along with a lot more exposure to Maori culture, while the cruise gave us more of a "nibble" of each place, but zero Maori culture (20% of the population). 

 

The time on our own included Waipara and Marlborough wine tours and travel on the Coastal Pacific and Northern Explorer scenic rail, and the Interislander between islands.  Christchurch to Auckland.  Very relaxing. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you...We'll be in Wellington, Picton and Dunedin from your stops...also Napier.

I'm torn with Napier. What you did sounds perfect, but someone mentioned rafting. More research. Thank you for your ideas. This helps!

On 7/6/2024 at 2:56 PM, sailingkiwi said:

What are your interests? Budget? How active are you? Any disabilities?

 

There is so much to do in NZ!

We like to do a variety of things. We enjoy sailing, seeing wild life… we’re open.

no limitations. Don’t really have a budget, also dont want to spend a fortune. Reasonable priced excursions.

Guess it’s not real specific. Thanks for suggestions 

We've gone on many cruises, but first time to NZ. We'll be cruising out Feb 9th. We have friends that live in Auckland, so we'll spend 3 days there first, fly to Sydney and spend a few more nights before cruising back to NZ.

We usually do excursions on our own instead of with the ship. I usually have things figured out by now as well. Anything that are must do's in each port?

Any places you reccommend booking excursions thru?

Thank you!

3 hours ago, ihate2cruise said:

jss5200 I was also happy to hear of Bigsky's experience, as we re staying there in two weeks. May I ask,how do I go about buying the Aerobus tickets online?

It’s very easy! Once u exit the airport, they’ll be a place right in front of the buses to buy your ticket. Pretty easy to figure out. 
It’s by the curb and u can’t miss it. Just know where u want to get off at. We took ours straight to the Plaza Catalunya. Our hotel was very close to where the bus stopped.

Going back to Barcelona in August and spend time just there! 

4 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

We are staying there before our cruise in November. Thanks for the info!

Before our cruise, we had a balcony room that had views of the plaza. It was noisy at night. After the cruise, our airline canceled our flight and didn’t see that til we were on our way to the airport! Had our driver take us back to the h10. Luckily they had a room!! We got a different location that was so much better! Very nice staff!!! Found a wonderful place to eat dinner in their recommendation. Are there each night for dinner… haha

On 4/7/2023 at 12:59 PM, crazybus said:

Someone recommended this hotel.  Have you stayed there?

We stayed at the h10 Plaza Catalunya. Loved the location! Walk to so much around you. Taxis are also out front if u want to grab one. We took the bus from the airport. Cheap and easy!

On 8/27/2023 at 5:30 AM, sleepingcat said:

NZ has such a lot of lovely places that is impossible to see  it all.  we had a whole month of land tour and still missed lots. so adding some days before/after cruise would certainly help. Unless you want to visit Sydney there is no benefit in starting the cruise there, as you ll just get sea days crossing to NZ and back. Good advice from Sinbad, much more local than me, above. 

 

Picton is the departure port for ferries between the South Island and north.  its a pretty place in a nice setting. but on a ship you ll probably want to do a wine tour as its near the most famous NZ wine producers. 

the South Island for us is all about the scenery, nature and the wildlife so if that s your interest then favour the South Island.  Its also wonderfully quiet, though maybe will not seem that way on the day a cruise ship calls somewhere. 

 

We actually would like to visit Sydney a few days prior to the cruise since we’ve never been. 

On 8/27/2023 at 12:13 AM, SinbadThePorter said:

Wouldn't both cruises do the Sounds? It would be an unusual NZ cruise which didn't.

 

For someone who hasn't visited NZ before, I'd say that both are good. Nothing to pick between them.

 

More important would be departure port and which ship. I assume you are considering a round trip from Sydney. My preference is Coral Princess, but that is from Brisbane.

 

The museum in Wellington is probably the Te Papa.

 

You could also consider a NZ cruise that starts in Sydney and ends in Auckland, they usually include Melbourne and Hobart. Which gives you the option of a few days at both ends for land touring. This would mean only one Tasman crossing.

No, we visit the Sounds  and the other visits the Bay of islands. We don’t visit Auckland and Christchurch as well.

On 8/27/2023 at 12:13 AM, SinbadThePorter said:

Wouldn't both cruises do the Sounds? It would be an unusual NZ cruise which didn't.

 

For someone who hasn't visited NZ before, I'd say that both are good. Nothing to pick between them.

 

More important would be departure port and which ship. I assume you are considering a round trip from Sydney. My preference is Coral Princess, but that is from Brisbane.

 

The museum in Wellington is probably the Te Papa.

 

You could also consider a NZ cruise that starts in Sydney and ends in Auckland, they usually include Melbourne and Hobart. Which gives you the option of a few days at both ends for land touring. This would mean only one Tasman crossing.

Both are on the Ovation of the Seas. We are booked on it currently and it’s out of Sydney.

We currently have a cruise booked to NZ Feb, 2025. We usually escape the cold every winter. First NZ cruise. I found another itinerary for March. Wondering which one to choose now. Ours currently goes to Picton, Wellington, Napier, Dunedin and the Sounds....

The other one goes to Bay of islands, Auckland, Napier, Wellington and Littleton (Christchurch). The Sounds look beautiful, but maybe the other itinerary maybe better??

Love to hear others' opinions.

7 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

 

Public transit isn't for everyone, and it's especially trying if you don't use it at home (an issue for many Americans, who live in places without much mass transit).

 

It sounds like you maybe used two different train stations, one upon arrival and another for departure?  At any rate, even in the same station, it's easy to get turned around when you approach it from a different direction than you did before.

 

In the afternoon, trains leaving from Rome to Civitavecchia can be as frequent as ten minutes apart, to accommodate commuters heading home after work.  The trick is to know which ones are regionales, vs. Frecces or ICs, because you could get on any regionale with your ticket. 

I used the same train station. Just a stupid move on my part. 
yes, not for me. Plus we were exhausted and hot. Too much packed in the week

We just returned from our cruise.

Barcelona cruise port was the easiest of all ports to board. We ended up at the port around 11:30. We showed our doc's, they showed us where to go inside and went straight up to the counter.

We just wanted to get onboard finally and enjoy it! All that planning you do and you're finally onboard!

Well, we just returned from our cruise. Wanted to post in a few of my posts where I had questions.

We originally booked with a tour guide and they had to cancel on us since not many signed up thru the ship. It was very unfortunate since we didn't get to use them on one of our tours. It was amazing, organized and small! Much less than the ship as well. 

Anyways, we took the train to see the Colosseum. We booked a tour once we knew our other canceled. This one just met us there. Got off the ship later than I wanted. Didn't do advance tickets. Got there at 9:05, but next one was 9:53. Not knowing how long this would all take, I was a tad nervous.

Then had to take the metro which is a block away. Ended up getting to our meeting point with 5 minutes to spare!

Make sure when you return, take B back, NOT A. Ugh....I remember there were two stops, but we went in the wrong direction. Hubby warned me to check and I didn't listen. Someone finally was able to tell us once we got off that we needed to go on the other side to B. Very confusing to figure out at the time. Found some police and they told us. 

In my mind, I kept thinking when we got off the train, the metro was down below where we were. You have to exit out of the building, walk left to down the street to get the metro. Also, when we bought our tickets, she gave me to duplicates and hubby got the other two duplicates. I had both coming back and he had both going. A gal that worked there told me to put one in the machine to validate it. It validated the wrong one. We finally figured out what happened, didn't do anything more, and thankfully they didn't check them. They really should have someone there that can help direct you. Also, the train showed up 20 minutes prior to us leaving. We weren't sure to get on or not. No one speaks English either that didn't help.

Next time if we had to do it, would be much easier. But next time, we'll be sure to have a tour guide that picks us up and drives us to all our spots.

ok...just returned from our cruise!  I ended up at the airport with only 23.00 in euro's. I went to a store and easily bought chocolate for us and some as a gift. I really didn't want to have some left. During the trip, I used it up as needed to avoid a lot at the end. 

On 7/25/2023 at 4:39 AM, John Bull said:

To start off, before you travel buy yourselves just a few euros- perhaps a max of €150 between you for 7+ days in Euroland.  This is more for emergency use (eg an unexpected taxi ride) than for general spending - I find it comfortable to have some local cash in my pocket.

As I understand it, you get a poor exchange rate in the USA, but the rates at airports & on the ship are considerably worse.  Just for fun, I always like to check out the rates at airports, the difference between their buying and selling rates is truly staggering 😮 and will show how much buying and

then turning in the currency will cost you 😮😮😮

 

After that, rely on using your debit card at ATMs in the ports, but go armed with the names of banks which are affiliated with your own bank and try to use ATMs there rather than in shops. When prompted by the ATM, select for your card to be charged in local currency & not in your home currency.

If you prefer to use your credit card for cash withdrawals, be aware that interest is charged from the moment that it's withdrawn so pay off the card soonest rather than waiting for your statement or regular direct debit.

 

But that last paragraph is hardly worth reading - the best exchange rates by far are from your card issuer, and Europe uses credit cards for pretty-well every purchase, even just a coffee or a beer or a small souvenir. A few places don't even accept cash. You probably won't need to add to the euros that you bought before you travelled.

 

POS card readers recognise foreign currency and give you the option of being charged in local currency or the currency of your card - always but always select local currency, so that your card issuer converts rather than you being at the mercy of whatever exchange rate the merchant or their bank cares to use.

Check the sum before you swipe, PIN or sign - some are geared to automatically charge in the currency of your card. If so, insist that it's switched to local currency. That also means that you can see that the charge is the same as the price on the check / menu / meter / price-sticker.

 

Same applies if your currency isn't the same as ship's currency - if for instance you're a Canadian on a US ship or an American on an Italian ship.

DECLINE any offer to charge your card for your on-board account in the currency of your card - leave it in ship's currency

 

Does your credit card/s charge a fee for converting foreign currency?

If so, its worth getting a card with no foreign transaction fee - even if you only use it for foreign travel.

Your fellow-countrymen can suggest suitable cards.

We have one with no foreign exchange fees- apart from avoiding fees it helps us to differentiate between that spending and our regular spending.

 

JB 🙂

Assuming there's lots of ATM's at the Barcelona airport if I decide to just grab some euro's from there instead of ordering them from online. My bank doesn't order them anymore. I need to order online today in the next few hours to get them tmro. We fly out Thursday.

Thinking exchange rate will be better at the atm and don't have to pay a shipping fee.

Thanks

Will be boarding Sunday in Barcelona for our cruise. Stuck with 1:00-1:30 boarding time. We always arrive around 10:30. I've read some don't bother looking and some places may be more strict about boarding times. Anyone recently board in Barcelona?

Thank you...

On 7/25/2023 at 11:17 AM, cruisemom42 said:

Yes -- agree that if the Colosseum is your destination, getting off at Ostiense will get you there quite a bit faster. 

 

If it's not already clear, what you are doing at Ostiense is getting off the train and getting on the Metro. "Ostiense" is the name of the train station/stop, and "Pyramide" is the name of the Metro stop. The two stations are side by side and internally connected (although sometimes it can be a bit confusing, try to just follow signs to "Metro").  If all else fails, you can walk outside and over to the metro station too...

 

Once you are at the Metro station you want the Blue or "B" line, heading north. There are subway maps on the walls to show you the direction of the trains -- it helps to know the last stop, as that will be listed on the train itself and on the arrivals boards in the station. Going North on B, the end station may say "Jonio" or "Rebibbia" -- either one is fine to get on.

 

Once onboard you will get off at the second stop, which is Colosseo -- as already mentioned, you cannot miss the Colosseum as you exit the station: it is directly in front of you (and huge).

 

If you are early, there is a refreshment bar/window at the exit to the station with good espresso/cappuccino to fuel up, also restrooms. Take a few photos from the front of the station before you cross the street, it's a good vantage point.

 

Thank you! Yes, this has been confusing, but the more I read posts, its starting to sink in. I'm just going to get my tickets when we arrive and when we leave. As long as I know the times they leave.

Hoping to see more next time as our tour ended up canceling on us since we didn't have enough people. So we're only doing half on our own.  I'm sure it will be amazing anyways.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

14 hours ago, ldock said:

Buy on arrival, it’s easy and fast.  You can grab the next train To leave without stressing about time

That sounds good : )

On 7/25/2023 at 10:28 AM, euro cruiser said:

Actually, if you take a regional train it makes more sense to get off at Ostiense, not Termini, if you are going to the Colosseum because (a) it gets to that station first, (b) the trains slow down significantly to enter Termini, and (c) the distance from the Lazio train tracks at Termini to the metro station is a three block walk.

 

I thought I posted this map earlier but maybe it was on another thread.  You can see that the Ostiense train station and the Piramide metro station are connected, but not the same station:  mappa ferro e tram (giu 2022) (atac.roma.it)

Someone else said to take the train to Ostiense and then the blue line to Colleseo....

Symphony out of Barcelona? We want to arrive much earlier than we're scheduled. We usually go at 10:30. I was late to set up a boarding time and stuck with 1:00. Hoping to just show up and get on. Many said they don't check boarding times. 

On 7/23/2023 at 11:46 AM, John Bull said:

 

That's two stops on the metro / subway / call-it-what-you-will

 

Train direct  from Civi to Ostiensa (train terminates further on at Termini station).

Follow the clear directions from Ostiensa station to the attached Piramide metro station, & take the blue metro line (end destination Rebibbia or Conca D-Oro) two stops to Colosseo station.

If you took the Regional train from Civi., unlimited same-day travel on Rome's metro and fare-stage buses (not ho-ho's) is included with your train ticket. I don't know whether that's included with Express train tickets.

 

If you don't pre-purchase your train tickets (difficult, because you can only buy from about 7 days ahead) and there's a line at Civi station ticket office, buy from the newsstand at Civi station (same price)  .

 

Train tickets are un-dated. Be sure to validate (activate) your ticket on the platform at Civi. (our first time we didn't, expecting there to be machines on the train - so we spent the whole journey worrying that there'd be a ticket inspector on the train -there wasn't)

 

If you haven't pre-purchased your Colosseum tickets (a three-site ticket for Palatine Hill, the Colosseum and the Forum) get off the metro at the first station, Circo Massimo, and walk toward the Colosseum (10-minute walk) down Via Di S. Gregorio. On the way you'll pass on your left the entrance to Palatine Hill.

Lines there are short, so buy your 3-site tickets there - altho on a port-of-call visit you won't have time to visit  Palatine Hill as well as the other major sights.

Continue down to the Colosseum, smugly walk past the long line for tickets and join the line for security.

 

The Forum is right across the road from the Colosseum 🙂

 

https://www.rome.info/transport/public-transport/metro/

 

https://www.rometoolkit.com/transport/rome_train.htm

(good Rome info on other pages of that website)

 

JB 🙂

 

All makes sense now  : ) I was confused as some said to get off Ostiensa  and others said Termini...doesn't matter and both have two more stops to get to the Colosseum via blue line.

You're full of information which I appreciate for a first timer. Hopefully we'll want to come back and will be much easier next time!

Thank you!

41 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

The absolute worst rates of exchange you will get are at airports and onboard a ship, (and sometimes hotels too)

Thank you

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

To start off, before you travel buy yourselves just a few euros- perhaps a max of €150 between you for 7+ days in Euroland.  This is more for emergency use (eg an unexpected taxi ride) than for general spending - I find it comfortable to have some local cash in my pocket.

As I understand it, you get a poor exchange rate in the USA, but the rates at airports & on the ship are considerably worse.  Just for fun, I always like to check out the rates at airports, the difference between their buying and selling rates is truly staggering 😮 and will show how much buying and

then turning in the currency will cost you 😮😮😮

 

After that, rely on using your debit card at ATMs in the ports, but go armed with the names of banks which are affiliated with your own bank and try to use ATMs there rather than in shops. When prompted by the ATM, select for your card to be charged in local currency & not in your home currency.

If you prefer to use your credit card for cash withdrawals, be aware that interest is charged from the moment that it's withdrawn so pay off the card soonest rather than waiting for your statement or regular direct debit.

 

But that last paragraph is hardly worth reading - the best exchange rates by far are from your card issuer, and Europe uses credit cards for pretty-well every purchase, even just a coffee or a beer or a small souvenir. A few places don't even accept cash. You probably won't need to add to the euros that you bought before you travelled.

 

POS card readers recognise foreign currency and give you the option of being charged in local currency or the currency of your card - always but always select local currency, so that your card issuer converts rather than you being at the mercy of whatever exchange rate the merchant or their bank cares to use.

Check the sum before you swipe, PIN or sign - some are geared to automatically charge in the currency of your card. If so, insist that it's switched to local currency. That also means that you can see that the charge is the same as the price on the check / menu / meter / price-sticker.

 

Same applies if your currency isn't the same as ship's currency - if for instance you're a Canadian on a US ship or an American on an Italian ship.

DECLINE any offer to charge your card for your on-board account in the currency of your card - leave it in ship's currency

 

Does your credit card/s charge a fee for converting foreign currency?

If so, its worth getting a card with no foreign transaction fee - even if you only use it for foreign travel.

Your fellow-countrymen can suggest suitable cards.

We have one with no foreign exchange fees- apart from avoiding fees it helps us to differentiate between that spending and our regular spending.

 

JB 🙂

Thank you!!