Chocolate Teapot

I remember Godiva used to offer extra packaging for posting, which I think was bubble wrap and a polystyrene outside box, but I don't know if they still do.

Ballotins, or standard Belgian chocolate boxes, are a specific oblong or slightly trapezoid shape, and tend not to have extra packaging inside. I find that if the layers are separated by card rather than paper, then that seems to help with transport. Alternatively, some chocolatiers offer limited editions in tins. Leonidas has Asterix and Neuhaus has Smurfs at the moment.

To confirm what George and Michelle have posted above, Barcelona Day Tours can propose a half-day tour of Barcelona, with collection from your hotel and drop-off at the cruise port, but I think they can propose other options if you ask. I like the half-day tour, as otherwise there can be a bit of hanging around on embarkation day, so you may as well make the best use of (limited) time.

Please note I am not affiliated with Barcelona Day Tours in any way, simply a happy previous customer!

I like the Musee de Cluny, which is where the set of Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are on display. However it is partly closed for renovation, so you pay a reduced entrance fee for fewer exhibits, which seems fair enough. 

The main Tourist Information Centre is in the Hotel de Ville, and I recommend paying a visit for a good supply of maps (particularly the RATP one showing bus and underground stops) and the City Guide booklet, which has a list of attractions, opening times and details for public transport. 

I had a tour with The Travelling Viking in Akureyri and was very happy with the service provided. We saw Godafoss, a turf roofed museum, the Christmas House and a very hi-tech dairy with computerised milking for the cows.

Peterhof is my favourite of the Russian palaces, but it is true that if you visit both it and the Catherine Palace in a day, then they will blur into one. (Basically, if it has an Amber Room, it isn't on the Gulf of Finland!)

I visited the Yusupov Palace the last time I was in St Petersburg. The Church on Spilled Blood was ok, but not worth more than a few minutes, and the Peter and Paul Fortress seems to take longer to get to than you will spend inside the church.

During my very first visit to St Petersburg I stayed in a hotel near the Alexander Nevsky monastery. The cemeteries (there is one on each side of the entrance road) are full of famous Russians, so it is like Highgate or Pere Lachaise, and the grave monuments are very grand.

I used Wow Scotland on my recent visit to Invergordon and was very happy with the tour they provided (which was quite a bit cheaper than what the ship was offering!)

Brodie Castle is a National Trust property and very interesting, and our excellent, funny guide also took us to Culloden, a neolithic stone formation (if you've watched Outlander or read the books, it's from where Diana Gabaldon got the idea), Loch Ness and a short stop in Inverness (partly because coach parking is only available for 30 minutes)

It was a good day in terms of packing in lots to see, although I would have liked a bit more time in Inverness. I think it is a case of deciding whether you want to see the highland landscape or the town.

I used WOW Scotland for my day in Invergordan, and there was a lot packed into the day. Admittedly we did start with a castle (Brodie), but it was far better value than the ship's tour, and our guide and driver were fantastic.

It is quite easy to walk from Place de la Concorde, through the Tuileries and up to the Louvre. There are also Hop-on Hop-off buses if time is limited.

As I have mentioned on here before, http://www.ratp.fr is the Paris public transport website and is full of helpful information about buses and the underground.

Not quite what was asked for, but if you have a spare 3 hours, I recommend Lucy Worsley's series "Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia"

As the title suggests, it is a crash course on the Romanov dynasty and features a lot of the places you are likely to visit whilst in St Petersburg.

In Naples, do go to Pompeii but take in Herculaneum if you can - it's very different. I'd recommend a guide for both.

I have used ship's excursions, however I remember the Herculaneum guide saying it was best to visit in the afternoon as the sun was at the correct angle to see the interiors of the houses. You could do both in one day, but it gets very hot in Naples in the summer!

We (hubby and I) are arriving the first Saturday in August, after an overnight flight and having been in airports/on planes for 24+ hours, I think taking the taxi to The Square, will likely be our best option. We are planning to do some sightseeing in Copenhagen, as we await our hotel room being available, but plan to stow our luggage there while we tour around.

I stayed at The Square last year before embarking on my Getaway cruise. It is quite easy to reach on foot from the main station, (you walk past Tivoli) however, I arrived at about 9.00am and was told rooms would not be ready until after 2.00pm. There is a luggage room next to the reception desk though, and a coffee shop on both corners of the block where the hotel is situated.

The main dining room is usually open, and not too busy. I like to have a nice relaxing lunch, and by the time I am on the coffee, the cabins are ready.

I am biased towards Vienna, but I found Berlin to be quite spread out. It doesn't have a real centre and it takes a while to get from place to place. Nevertheless, public transport is excellent in both cities.

I saw no end of shops along the Royal Mile offering tartan scarves in both wool and cashmere and in various sizes and widths. There were lots of deals (GBP 14.99 or 2 for GBP 25 type) and plenty of options for "fashion" tartans, rather than a specific clan.

1. Prawns (obviously if you are not allergic to shellfish!) I had a superb prawn open sandwich in Copenhagen in a little restaurant where Hans Christian Andersen might have gone for his lunch. And another good one at Kastrup.

2. I had some wonderful chocolate and fudge in Finland and can't remember the name. It was in Porvoo though.

3. Apart from the chocolate and fudge, the other souvenirs I recommend are Dala horses from Sweden (if you don't want the wooden horse, there are other souvenirs such as a Dala horse teatowel) and Russian lacquer work boxes. These vary dramatically in quality and price, but I find that the finer the artwork, the bigger the price tag!

Another option is to fly from Southampton to Paris CDG with

https://www.flybe.com/

Southampton airport is about 7 miles (£20 taxi) from the port.

From CDG airport it's a (20 minute?) train ride to Gare du Nord.

Pricing on Flybe is similar to Eurostar, it's flexible & prices tend to rise steeply closer to the date.

From Southampton port to central Paris , flying will be quicker.

When comparing costs do check out Flybe's luggage charges.

 

JB :)

There is a direct RER (regional train, similar to the underground) service between CDG and the Gare du Nord.

http://www.ratp.fr has further details and information about other forms of public transport in and around Paris.

I didn't bother with Swedish Kroner as I could pay for everything with a credit card, even for a coffee or a small souvenir. I did order Danish Kroner as I was spending some more time in Copenhagen, but again, using credit/debit cards and contactless payments appeared to be very common.

For ship's tours in St Petersburg, very often these include a lunch stop in a restaurant, and there is no charge to use the toilets (in my experience). Also, there will be a mandatory stop for souvenir shopping and these places are set up for tour groups, usually with free toilets and the possibility to pay in Sterling, Euros or Dollars as well as credit cards.

 

How common are pay toilets? If you have paid to go in to a museum or attraction (for example, the Minatur Wunderland in Hamburg), do you still have to pay to use the restroom? I've been to Europe but have no recollection of ever having to pay to use the restroom, but it's been a while so I may not be remembering correctly. Specifically for Bruges, I saw on the map that there is a restroom at the Bargeplein park, but I can't figure out if it's free or not.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Off the top of my head, there are public toilets in Bruges at Oude Sint Janshospitaal costing EUR 50 cents. Most cafes only have facilities for customers and for museums it varies on whether you have to pay or not.

Stockholm is absolutely amazing - and so smart to book an itinerary that includes an overnight! It is beautiful and so worth touring.

 

We were supposed to dock in Stockholm so we had to scramble to change tour, etc. the biggest issue is that it is far from Stockholm (and we hit huge traffic) and really eats into the limited time you have in port. I was also personally really disappointed not to go through the archipelago.

 

I'm curious as to how many Getaway cruises actually ported in Stockholm. We paid extra to dock in Stockholm and it felt a bit like a bait and switch to advertise docking in Stockholm when in reality it seems to hardly happen.

My cruise on Getaway last year docked at Nynashamm. The guide on our NCL tour (Skansen Museum, which is on the same museum island as the Vasa, Abba and Viking museums) said that Getaway was too big to sail through the archipelago.

That said, my very first cruise was the same itinerary on NCL Sun and we docked at Nynashamm then too. At least now there is a pontoon bridge to the quayside rather than tender boats!

I got notification from Best Guides:

"please be aware that on your first day in St. Petersburg disembarkation and passport control could take one hour or more due to very long queues. Please make yourself ready for disembarkation in advance and try to be at the head of the queues"

This was my experience last year on NCL Getaway, meaning I finally got through to find my tour bus had left without me! Fortunately it got resolved and I joined my tour later.

The second day was very quick to disembark, however I wonder if the queues are worse when it is a larger ship?

Having done the Baltics twice on a cruise ship, I would recommend an organised tour for St Petersburg, namely to avoid hassle with the visa. I used ship's excursions, but have heard good things about Alla and SPB.

All the other destinations are easy on your own, with Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm all having Hop-on Hop-off buses and Warnemunde station being next door to the cruise terminal.

I have done this cruise several times now on Epic, but the ports have varied between Marseille, Cannes and Palma de Mallorca.

What I found was that after 3 very intensive days in Italy, the French/Spanish ports are an opportunity to relax. I enjoyed wandering around Cannes and buying fruit from the covered market to eat on a bench overlooking the seafront. I still haven't managed to see Nice (we arrived the day after the terrorist attacks) but I did not think Monaco was all that interesting. My memory of Palma is going to the top floor of the El Corte Ingles department store which has a cafeteria with a superb view of the cathedral.

I am also a fan of Barcelona Day Tours. I have used them for a half day tour with drop off at the ship and a full day tour including Monserrat on a Saturday. They have always been extremely professional and the guides full of interesting information.

I think it depends on the sailing. My experience on Jade a few years ago was that the "Solo Travellers Gathering" comprised me (the solo traveller) and whichever member of the Entertainments Team was on that night.

On the plus side, I learnt a great deal about what it's like to work on a cruise ship. :):)

Thank you, Bruce. May I also ask, what is the most crowded place to visit in SPB? Is it the Hermitage?

I always found the Hermitage to be very busy, in a trying not to lose your guide sort of a way. (And regular warnings about pickpockets and minding your possessions)

However Peterhof was quite crowded, especially as all the tour groups were waiting for the lunchtime fountain switch on and the first time at the Catherine Palace, my group was stuck in one of the staterooms because there was a VIP visitor who was holding everyone up. (Normally VIPs arrange to visit after hours to avoid congestion, apparently)

I have posted on here before about going on a ship's tour and being left behind because of the delays in going through passport control, so the bus went without me. Thankfully it got sorted, but as you might imagine, I was not happy!

 

Or you can take the kusttram to the nearby seaside resort of Blankenberge - or a little further to Ostende (also spelt Oostende). Or, if you're feeing a little more energetic, to just beyond Ostend the Atlantic Wall fortifications & museum at Raversijde.

:)

The Kusttram takes a couple of hours altogether from Knokke (chic seaside resort) to De Panne (family seaside resort) with Oostende roughly in the middle. I paid EUR 6 for an all-day ticket last year and trams are every 10 minutes. De Lijn has all the timetables and connections.