RosannaEL

Hi! I live in Gran Canaria. Taxi will be expensive, to Pasito Blanco probably upwards of 150€ per way. Bus number 30 leaves from the Santa Catalina bus station garage, a 10-minute walk from the cruise port, two or three times an hour (note that not all buses start from there), and will take you to Faro Maspalomas station in 50 minutes or so. From there, take a taxi for convenience to Pasito Blanco, it'll be 10 minutes tops. Here is the timetable: 

https://guaguasglobal.com/en/routes-timetables/line-info/?id=30

Rosanna

4 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Next time, as a non- EU citizen, when buying wine (or anything) in the EU request a duty/tax free form, drop it off at the port Customs prior to boarding to receive a refund.  Some stores will automatically deduct.  Don’t forget to bring one’s passport as evidence.

 

We live in Spain... 😞

My husband and I are just back from a 2 week Med cruise on QE and for the first time we brought out own wine. We bought 6 bottles of decent wine in Barcelona and took it down to the Britannia restaurant (shout out to the person who wanted more reviews from Britannia!) at lunch time as we wanted to drink them at dinner (3 at a time). Three different waiters asked if we were aware of the corgage fee (yes!). I can't say the looked overjoyed, but it was no problem. Oddly we paid $25 per bottle for the first 3 and $20 for the last 3. With the service charge, the expensive dollar and the Spanish 20 % IVA (VAT) thas was added it ended up a bit more expensive than I had anticipated, but well worth it. The drink prices onboard are... high. Incidentally, I noticed that few tables had wine bottles. Many ordered by the glass, and MANY stuck to water and soft drinks...

I should also add that we had an amazing holiday, and the food in Britannia was miles better than 3 years ago. 

Thanks again, this was exactly what I was looking for! I'm covered as a spouse, so all good!

Thank you so much, D&N, I will check this out!

My husband and I have a Cunard cruise coming up in a couple of weeks. The cruise was booked through Cunard's UK website. My husband is British (with a British passport), I'm Swedish, but we're both Spanish residents. I'm struggling to find any information on insurance that applies to us. The website says "It is mandatory for all UK guests to have suitable travel insurance", but for the recommended insurance company (Holiday Extras) you need to be a UK resident. I've talked to my local Spanish insurance company, who told me we'd be covered anyway through our home insurance, on top of the cover we have through our EU health card (it's a Med cruise with only EU ports). I don't want us to be turned away at check-in, so I'm thinking of buying the Cunard recommended insurance even though we're not UK residents, just to have a piece of paper to show (the cost is not enormous). I've checked Cunard's Spanish site, but it just takes me to the UK one when I click on insurance info. It's the weekend, so no answer when I call. Any input? 

I had the same question. Thanks for these answers. Odd, but fine by me!

Hi all!

Sorry for hijacking the post, but I'm also looking for info on drinks. We had planned to bring a few bottles of wine onboard (Queen Elizabeth in August), leave it with the staff and pay the corkage fee to enjoy (better and all in all cheaper) wine with our dinners. This seems to be possible with HAL, but as someone pointed out, there seems to be a 1 bottle limit per person. Any experience of this? We DO NOT want to drink in our stateroom, but with dinner. 

Thanks for all your replies. I obviously have to update my sense of fair fares... 🙂

I had a look at that Qatar flight, and it's looking pretty good. Thanks!

8 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Do you live in the EU? If yes, can you buy the cruise and the flights as a package from a TA? Even if you have booked the cruise it will be considered a package if you can book the flights at the same place. I think that should cover the risks if the cruise is cancelled. (That may be a Swedish thing but I think it's like that in the whole EU.) 

Yes, we live in Spain (men jag är svenska). However, I book our cruises through an American company. I don't think the do flights, but I will contact them just in case.

15 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Have you checked with the cruise line air program? For a complicated routing like this, the cruise line air fare is an important option.

 

 

They only have flights from the US online, but I might contact the cruise line just in case. Thanks!

Thanks for your input! Flights are currently 500 plus Euros per person one way, which I think is a bit steep. We're cruising to Alaska, so only need to go one-way, and that seems to be the crux. Return flights are pretty much the same price as one way. ☹️ I'll have to look into this further. Thanks again for your help.

Hi all!

I've started looking at flights for our cruise out of Yokohama late April 2022. We are flying from Europe, Madrid or Barcelona. Any advice on the best time to book? Flights are generally quite a bit more expensive now compared to last year (we had our April 2021 cruise cancelled), but have already gone up a bit compared to a couple of weeks ago. I'm hesitant to book in case the cruise gets cancelled again, but maybe it's time to bite the bullet? We'll book with Iberia/British Airways, most likely. So how early/late do you generally book long-haul flights? Any other advice? Should I pay for insurance, or is the coverage through my credit card enough?

Kind regards

Rosanna Lithgow

I agree that Cunard is quite formal (I love it!), although perhaps slightly less so compard to when they had three different dress code levels. My husband and I sailed with them last summer and I actually saw couples being asked to leave the Commodore club on a formal evening for not complying to the dress code. As dressing up is a big part of why I love cruising I'm delighted they uphold the dress code.  

Rosanna

Thank you all! I have now booked the cruise, mid-ship starboard stateroom and we will fly into Japan a few days ahead of the cruise. Fingers crossed for relatively calm seas and no more cancellations. 🤞 What a great community!

Thank you, RuthC, that is very helpful. We will probably pick a stateroom then, rather than go with guarantee, like we normally do. And thanks, JimnKaren!

Rosanna

Hi all!

I'm looking at a Pacific Crossing in April 2021 on the Noordam, Yokohama to Vancouver, but I'm a bit nervous about rough seas. I understand it's impossible to predict the weather, but any input would be appreciated. I have never been seasick, but my husband can be sensetive to movement. Should we opt for a mid-ship stateroom? Or should be skip this cruise completerly? (We have sailed Alaska, Nova Scotia, the Med and northern Europe before.) Any other advise? We'll be flying into Japan from Europe - is one day before enough to get over the jetlag? Should we choose port or starboard side? Any difference? Anything you can tell me about this run is much appreciated! Apart from possible rough seas the weather doesn't bother us - we don't mind rain and we know it will be cold.

Best, Rosanna