fishman620

We will be disembarking our cruise ship around 8 a.m. and our flight doesn't leave until almost midnight.....I was wondering if you have any suggestions on a catamaran day excursion from Papeete......we have been to Tahiti before and taken a 4x4 land tour and also rented a car and driven around the Island.....so hoping to find a company that does catamaran excursions. Thanks for any info.

We are staying pre-cruise at the Little National Hotel and was wondering if taking the train would be a good option to get to the hotel because it is near the Wynyard Station.  Then our cruise leaves out of White Bay cruise ship terminal, can we take the train there, or ferry, what is the best option.    

We love to snorkel and want to know which day trip to take for snorkeling amongst the beautiful coral and tropical fish from Noumea.....which Island is better for that, Amadee Island or Signal Island??

We would like to snorkel while in Fiji.......Could someone tell me how the snorkeling is on Belo Vula Island, fiji? Is it better than Tivua Island, Fiji? Which has the better coral and tropical fish?

We will be be in Lautoka on a cruise early April of next year and want to take one of these excursions and need help in deciding which one.....snorkeling and beach time on either Tivua Island (more expensive) or Beachcomber Island (less expensive).  I would appreciate any advice in helping us decide.  Thanks.

We will be on the NCL Spirit tendering in Moorea (I think Opunohu Bay) next April 2024.  My wife and I were wanting to go to Tamae Beach to snorkel.....what are my options of getting to/from the tender port to Tamae Beach....car rental? local bus? tour that picks up/drops off @ the Bay?  Thanks for any info.

7 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

IMO out between the twin motus ... especially towards the reef. It's all close together and you can walk much of the way towards the reef.

So is this spot close to a resort or what is the bay called

Which beach or place on Moorea is best for snorkeling for seeing coral reefs and tropical fish?

On 7/28/2023 at 3:12 PM, kitkat343 said:

I'd also vote for visiting Olden, Gieranger and Flam.  There are private tours available in all of those ports you should chose if possible (all of that info is in my signature line if you find a cruise that works for you in those ports).

 

Generally the people on this forum recommend choosing the itinerary over the cruise line in the Baltics, but please note  some concerns with NCL.

 

On my last sailing, they changed our itinerary on our sailing after final payment to help save the environment, cancelling one port my kids really wanted (the Dominican Republic) and cancelling the morning of another (Antigua) which prevented us from seeing the giant toirteses because that's only open in the morning.  I called NCL and asked them to let me switch to the same cruise a few weeks later and they refused because they'd made the itinerary changes after final payment.  For an entire month, they continued to advertise the original itinerary on their website after the changes were made and even people who called NCL directly to book after the port was cancelled were not told  of the changes and weren't able to cancel either.  Especially if you choose NCL, please make sure that you are aware of the cancellation policies, and that either your credit card or trip insurance would cover nonrefundable deposits in case you can't dock (this can happen with any cruise line.)

 

 

 

Kit Kat, this just happened to us on our upcoming Aug. 6th cruise on the NCL Prima.....2 ports cancelled, which added more sea days!!!  Calling NCL was worthless, I was just told they (NCL) are able to cancel ports if they want......

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

They could have had lifeboats that are certified to use as tenders instead of the lifeboats that they have.

Maybe that could have solved the cancelled port in Bruges too!!  I see that the NCL Getaway (bigger ship than the Prima) is in port in Zeebruges on the 6th, and it is a lower tide than the 7th,  so how can it be a tide issue🤔

For those who have had a late stay in Akureyri.....please tell me some things to do at night.....we will be there until midnight on our upcoming cruise.

13 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I have been e-mailing our tour operator the last few days to let her know the Prima is skipping the port. I included the e-mail from NCL showing the new schedule.

 

Her terms included a refund if the ship did not dock, less 5% to cover her expenses. That was ok with me as we would lose only a little over $10, not a big deal.

 

Her e-mail started with there were acceptable reasons for the ship not showing up and the port is not finished and the ship refuses to tender is not one of them. So, she was only going to refund 40%. I think that would have led to me calling the credit card company to challenge the charge in its entirety.

 

She then went on to say that it was neither her fault or mine that the ship was not going to be there, and she would hold back 10% and return the rest. She had just processed this though it could take some time. It's not worth the hassle to fight this over approximately $20 instead of about $10. And I do feel sorry for her as a small businesswoman who gets hurt by this. NCL is hurting local business people as well as their passengers with port cancellations.

Ontheweb.....we had an excursion with Arctic ShoreEx in Isafjordur, I sent the email that NCL had sent us and they got back promptly stating they would refund back to us 100% of the money.  I am so disappointed that Isafjordur was cancelled on our Prima cruise, it would have been a fantastic excursion!

Looking for a moderately priced English Pub near Hampton Inn by Waterloo.....any suggestions?

9 hours ago, Globaliser said:

SWR's page has now been updated, with no mention of any changes to 6 August services: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/industrial-action

😁🎉  Thank goodness!!

9 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Most ships start disembarking about half an hour after docking so it should be fine. Centraal Station is an easy 10-15 minute walk from the cruise terminal.

 

You don’t need to pre-purchase train tickets. In fact you don’t need to purchase tickets at all if you have a contactless-enabled credit or debit card, or Apple/Google Pay on your phone - just tap in and out at the barriers and you’ll be charged the correct fare automatically.

If not, just buy a ticket from the machines but that costs a bit more.

Gumshoe, could you please tell me, the "must-see" places to go while walking around in Haarlem.....I read The Hiding Place and really wanted to go to the Ten Boom Museum, but it is closed on Mondays. So I will just have to be happy about seeing it from the outside, I have taken the virtual tour online. I would like to see the Windmill, St. Bavokerk (inside), any other suggestions? Do you think we should take a canal sightseeing cruise there, or wait until the next day in Amsterdam...And this last question might be a little stupid, sorry if it is, but when we are on the train, will they announce the stop in Haarlem, or is that the last stop? Thanks.

gumshoe, again you are a wealth of information......Thank you!

Thank you both Gumshoe and Globaliser for the explanation......This does ease my mind🙂

We are coming into Amsterdam on a cruise on a Monday in August @ 3 p.m. (porting overnight and leaving in the late afternoon the next day).  We want to take the train to Haarlem the first day and stay for a couple hours, then return back to the ship. Do you think we could make the 4:35 p.m. train, if we dock @ 3?  Do we need to pre-purchase tickets or can we just walk up and easily purchase them.

17 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

It is that line, yes - but the overtime ban doesn’t seem to be having a major impact on it. The 9:35 (which is faster) and 9:53 to Southampton are both scheduled to run.

Thanks Gumshoe.....so if it shows that they are both scheduled to run on Aug. 6, does that mean for sure that they will, or can they change that??

We are taking the 9:55 South Western Train from Waterloo Station to Southampton on Aug. 6......there is a Aslef Overtime Ban on Aug. 5 and they said there would be "a level of disruption on Aug. 6, and services are also likely to be disrupted and start later on the day immediately after."  One of the railways mentioned is the South Western Railway Mainline......is that the one going to Southampton?  Do we need to get other transportation to the cruise ship?  Thank you for any information!

You can do it.....if you hit the ground running....check in to your central London hotel, then go on a night bus tour of London......set your alarm for an early morning wake up to walk to the sites that you want to visit, or you can use internationalfriends.co.uk for your transfer to Southampton and tour Windsor or Stonehenge......it is by no means much time at all in London but you could get a little taste of it.....

We are on the same cruise and we were really looking forward to visiting Bruges.....it is So Disappointing!!  We also have been to Amsterdam twice before....I looked into doing a day tour from Amsterdam to Bruges but that is a 12 hour tour so won't be able to do that, since we leave @ 6 p.m.

Thank you Gumshoe, this is very helpful information!  And thanks John.....hoping it doesn't rain🙂

Thanks John for the information. We are coming in on the train to Southampton from London the morning of our cruise, so we won't need a hotel.  But having to take two taxis from the train station, I think we will attempt to walk to the Horizon terminal.

John Bull, we (5 persons) are coming in to the Southampton train station from London and was planning to walk to the Horizon cruise terminal with our luggage....wanted to know what you think, we are all in our 60's and don't mind walking....