amyj23

Thanks to all of you for your feedback and suggestions. After I read what you said, I researched and realized how gorgeous this island is. I finally settled on a private tour of the island. I'm really looking forward to it!

I somehow missed all the comments about where this thread belonged until today. Yeah, it makes zero sense that it's listed under the Mediterranean. I wish someone could explain that one to me. Well anyway, all of you who responded to this gave me loads of great advice. So hopefully it won't matter that no one will find it unless they purposely search for the right keywords!

All great advice/info Edinburgher! I have been busy the last few weeks and suspended planning, but this will aid me once I pick up planning again! 😃

Thanks, Edinburgher! I have plenty of time to plan an alternate activity. I will use your suggestions above!

Thanks for taking the time to give all the suggestions and advice, JB! Will check that other thread out, too!

Thank you JB! That’s really helpful. That would take a bit to walk down. This was the description the tour operator told me “The cruise port is on the other side of the marina, so if you come by taxi is close but if you come walking it would be 15min approximately.” The address on the company’s website is this, but not sure if this is the exact location of where the catamaran will be: Avenida Do Mar, Funchal, 9000, PT. After reading your post, I’m leaning towards not going. Unless I could fill the catamaran with others from my cruise. But no one is responding to my FB post, so there’s probably little hope for that at this point. (Sorry about this formatting. Lol. I’m on my phone and can’t get it off.)

I’m aware. CC is thin with Canary Island threads and it seemed most fell in this forum. Not sure why Portugal doesn’t have a spot somewhere.

We are totally aware of doing tours independently of the cruise ship. We are seasoned cruisers and routinely book independent tours. This is a snorkel excursion and there isn’t one offered by the cruise line or I’d actually consider it. The only thing close to it is on a speed boat that’s rough and my husband’s back and my neck can’t handle it. Yes, we’re aware we can’t leave until the ship clears. That was why I posted this. I knew we wouldn’t be able to get off the ship until probably at least 30 min after we pull in. And if we did this excursion there isn’t a worry about getting back late because it ends several hours before we have to be back on board. The tour operator can only be so flexible, because if they have non-cruise passengers on it, it’s not fair to make them wait on account of us. (I see what you mean now, no, this isn’t a private tour. I just meant it’s a company not affiliated with RCL.) If he fills up with folks from our ship, then I wouldn’t even be worried. Because we’d all (forgive the pun) be in the same boat. But no one on our FB group is responding to whether anyone else has booked it. Your final advice is my plan B. To do some tour around the island. The island looks gorgeous. But I really wanted to sneak a snorkel excursion in to this vacation and this is the first island I found one. We’re doing island tours already on Lanzarote and Tenerife. I wanted to do something on the water for this one. I was hoping there’d by someone who has been to Funchal and could give me an idea of how far it is from ship to leaving the port. There really isn’t a lot of info on these boards about the Canary Islands. This has been a tough cruise to plan for! Thank you for taking the time to respond! 😃

Hello! We are arriving into Funchal on RCL at 9am on our cruise, and we are considering an excursion that's at 10am (independent of the ship) and requires a 9:30am check in. I have communicated with the tour operator, and they told me it's a 15 min walk, or we could catch a cab. I have never sailed to this port nor have we sailed RCL. I assumed it could be 9:30am before we even are able to get off the ship. Can someone tell me about their experience with distance from ship to a taxi at this particular port? The operator said they could be flexible and let us arrive 15 min prior. I don't know whether I'm trying too hard to make this work. We really want to do this excursion. Even if the tour operator agrees to refund our money if we miss it, I don't want to have to decide on the fly on another excursion. Anyone with advice, I'd love to hear it! 😃

I was so glad to find this post! Last year when I searched CC for Lanzarote tours, I couldn't find much. The private tour is a little pricey for the two of us, but I'm pretty sure I've found an equivalent small group tour tailored for cruise passengers from the same company! The other company I was looking at wasn't giving me the warm and fuzzies because all of the reviews were from Germans, and one person (who wasn't German) complained that her English tour ended up being in German. LOL. Anyway, your review was so helpful. Thank you!

I know. I saw that within a few minutes and edited my post.

We vacationed in Halifax in July and the Bicycle Thief restaurant on the water was a highlight. We all had delicious meals, and a great view. If you like craft beer, within walking distance is Garrison Brewing. The beer was awesome. EDIT: Didn't realize how old this post was! Leaving my comment in case someone else is looking for ideas. 😃

Glad to help! 🙂

Sorry! I forgot to report back. So here's the deal. In order to "up" our coverage for that trip, I had to sort of buy a separate policy. It was expensive -- about $400 -- but it was going to cover any delays of 3 hours or more and other higher coverages. For reference, it was a 17 day trip going to four countries. So a lot of moving parts. Turns out, our trip went off absolutely flawlessly so we didn't need to make a claim. 😂 But I had such peace of mind! So what I've learned is, the annual policy is awesome for all our smaller trips, trips to family, etc. Ones that don't need a lot of coverage. But for trips like the one we just took to Europe, we'll have to pay separate. This year, we're insured to the hilt and haven't had any issues. (I really hope that doesn't jinx anything LOL). And we're in good health with no major health conditions either... Anyway, your plan is good to read carefully through the coverages. But if you need help, I've had great luck with their customer service!

I’m glad you brought up the extra coverage. We have a huge trip coming up next week and I keep trying to contact them outside of their open hours. I’m trying to upgrade the policy we have to cover shorter delays (the annual policy only covers 12+ hour delays, I want the 3 hour delay coverage — we often get messed up on our flights coming back from Europe!). When I tried to fool around with the optional coverages, it would show me prices. Again, their website isn’t great. Yes, their Covid policies were super generous and easy to do! Shockingly so considering their website is usually so crappy. I’ll definitely let you know if we have to make any claims. Fingers crossed 🤞🏼 that we don’t!!! Lol

Oh wow! I didn’t realize they had bad reviews. I will say, their website leaves a lot to be desired, and their app is useless. But they’ve paid out when necessary so I didn’t think much of it. Also, the rates we get are great. 🤔 In fact, in January we purchased their new annual policy and it was less than $100 for both of us. (We haven’t had to file a claim this year though…) We filed claims in fall 2019 and fall 2021. That’s interesting! We really like it here and the proximity to Nashville. I can’t imagine what your winter will be like! But on the flip side, it’s going to be close to 100° here the rest of the week 🥵. South Dakota is on my list for states I haven’t been to yet. Allegiant flies to Sioux City for cheap so we’ll get up there someday soon!

They (USAA Travelinsured) denied my claim (not during Covid) for the cash value of the Southwest points I had to redeem to change my flight when a cruise went over by a few days. But I argued and they paid me. Lol. BUT, I, like you, get nervous about the possibility of paying for something that I think is insured and then it’s not. But I feel like with any travel insurance company it could happen. They’ve paid out all my other claims with no issues, so I’ve stuck with them. I’ll be curious to hear other people’s experiences!

I can't believe you asked this (a few years ago). I am trying to find the exact same information for the exact same reason. Love my Brümate! Now that you've sailed, can you please tell me for sure what sizes were on the ship? We're going on our first Celebrity cruise in less than two weeks. TIA

Ok great! I booked a reservation for Dukes' brunch yesterday. I'm excited for a beautiful day with great food! And low stress. 😃

Thank you both. You've given our group something to think about. I really want to see Poipu Beach. I just keep reading and seeing rave reviews about it. But of course, we'd use time retrieving our rental vehicles, and then it's about 30 min to drive down there. I just looked up Kalapaki and it looks gorgeous. We are probably not hitting Duke's in Waikiki so this could be my chance to go! Let me pass on your wisdom to our group and see what they say. I appreciate your advice! 😃

Our cruise recently eliminated our stop in Kona and replaced it with Kauai. We will only be there from 10am to 4pm. I say 5 hours b/c I never count on being off the ship until about 30 min after we pull in, and we have to be back on board by 3:30pm. We had a snorkel excursion planned for Kona and were really disappointed that we will miss that. It was the only port where we were going to snorkel. Carnival is not offering a snorkel excursion, and it looks like the private outfits either don't go out on Sundays, leave before our ship gets in, or they don't go out close to the port. I considered a helicopter or plane ride, but the prices are just too much. I've been researching online and watching Youtube videos with suggestions for Kauai all evening. My current idea is to simply rent a car from Turo and go to Poipu Beach and walk around the area there. I just don't think we have the time to really get a good day of sightseeing in. And I don't know that we're going to be at a beach to swim in any other port we go to. So I thought maybe this was our chance. My biggest concern is that I've read parking fills up fast, and to get there early. Well, we can't get there early. We can't go any earlier than we get off the ship and get our car. I've read there's ample parking, and I've also read that it could be completely full. Since it's a Sunday, I'm especially concerned. I'd hate for us to rent a car and then not even be able to go to the beach. Any locals on here or people who have spent time in Kauai who can advise? I just want to make the best decision so we make the most of our day. Thank you!

Hello! We will be in Honolulu off the Carnival Miracle from 11am-11pm on Friday, Oct 21st. I have been researching for several days now, and am less overwhelmed now, and feel like I'm getting my bearings. I'm reading a lot of great advice from some of you and have learned a lot, but still want some more guidance/advice. Our group's one ABSOLUTE must-do is Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona and Punchbowl Cemetery (my great uncle is buried there so this is non-negotiable for me). I'm having a hard time understanding how long it will take to do the Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona portion. It says you have to be there an hour before your timed entry to the Arizona. It sounds like the whole thing will take several hours. After then doing Punchbowl, I feel like it will practically be evening. I wanted to do Diamond Head but I see that they close around 6pm, so I think we'll have to drop that. So I thought maybe we could go to Waikiki, see the beach, go to dinner and drinks and just explore that area until we decide to get back to the ship. Is my concept of time accurate here? Am I overestimating how long it will take to do Pearl Harbor? I have other things on my wish list: I wanted to see the Iolani Palace (just the outside, no tour necessary) and King Kamehameha statue. I'd love to see the capital and maybe go inside. A scenic overlook would be nice. But I understand our daytime hours there are limited. The second part of my question is about transportation. At first I wanted to hire a tour operator to shuttle us around. It would cost $800 for our group. But I just priced rental vehicles and can't believe how cheap it is for the day. But then I'm overwhelmed by how long it will take to get to the car rental agency, do the paperwork, actually get the car and then get to Pearl Harbor. I want to be as efficient as possible without spending tons of money on an Uber... I saw that parking is free at Pearl Harbor and the Punchbowl. But Waikiki parking sounded difficult and expensive. I'm asking so many questions, I realize! I'd love some insight from some of you Hawaii experts. TIA