CoralReef

St. Maarten: Orient Beach is a gorgeous beach with clear, calm water. Not much to see snorkeling.

For St. Thomas, Coki Point meets your criteria. Great snorkeling, lovely beach, plus the Coral World Ocean Park. Magens Bay is an exceptional beach, but little snorkeling.

If you are interested in a Dominica rainforest tour, I can highly recommend Bumpiing Tours.

Cool, thanks!

Lots of reccs on this thread:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2563777

I read that Galleon Beach has decent beach snorkeling. Anyone try it?

Good to hear. Enjoy!

We went on our own and shore snorkeled at West Bay, and it was awesome. Tons of fish and big coral formations in just 5 feet of water, and the reef went on out for a long way, all very shallow. We had our own equipment, but there were rentals available. This was one of the best snorkels I have ever done!

Hubby and BIL took a kayak out, and enjoyed it. There were many vendors selling all kinds of excursions, so I think you could do a boat snorkel on the fly if you wanted.

I can’t compare other excursions, but we had a great day doing exactly what we wanted, when we wanted.

Having been to all these locations, I can say:

Cozumel is the only one with ruins nearby. Also has good snorkeling.

Roatan West Bay snorkeling is one of the best off-beach snorkels I have ever experienced. There are tons of fish and massive coral formations in just 5 feet of water!

Costa Maya has no great snorkeling (too rough and deep), but you may be able take a day trip to some ruins.

We were at 20 on the map.

After our Viking Cologne walking tour, our guide showed us from a viewpoint where the ship would be docking in an hour or so, and gave detailed instructions on how to to get there. It was just a walk across the “love lock” bridge, then a couple of blocks along the river. Easy for anyone who could do a 2-hour walking tour.

We stayed in town for several hours for a great brauhaus lunch. We would have loved to visit the Roman museum, but it is closed on Mondays. After lunch, we went back to the ship and changed shoes, then had a long walk in the Rheinpark.

Back to the ship, changed shoes again, went back into town to walk around, took some great photos, and had a wonderful dinner. So yes, it probably depends on where you dock, but we had no difficulty getting around, and no trouble entertaining ourselves in Cologne.

I read that Uber is not allowed to pick up from the cruise terminal:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147320-i72-k10258087-o10-Uber_in_PR-San_Juan_Puerto_Rico.html

Did you have to walk outside the terminal to meet your driver?

Hi Riverroad,

I previously replied to you here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2570245&page=2

Page 1 of that thread has contact info for two private tour guides who were most accommodating.

Surmy

 

Currently on Star Pride and our stop in Anse Mitan was cancelled due to strong swells and they moved across the bay. to the pier in Fort de France instead.

Thank you for this. We have a private tour booked in Anse Mitan, so I will definitely have a contingency plan for getting there from FdF. Thank you for the information!

+1 taxi.

Coralreef - how many were on the tour you were on? We've never been a fan of large (more than 10 - 12) group tours.

About 20, which was typical for the Viking included excursions. I’m not a fan of large tours either, but they are pretty much inevitable on the Rhine Getaway, since it’s often hard to know where your ship will wind up.

I must say, as generally DIY/private tour people, we were really impressed with how Viking organized the tours. They were very well planned, and we never encountered anything like the 50-person restroom lines that ocean cruiseline excursions notoriously entail.

The tour was excellent, and included. And on the A->B, there was nothing to do the rest of the day after the morning Kinderdijk tour. Don’t know why you wouldn’t take it!

But yes, it’s a short walk if you decide to leave early. Our tour was conducted on foot from the ship, no buses.

@Briansbrain,

Very interesting! Thanks for posting.

@Riverroad,

Plan is to visit Maison de la Canne, Savane des Esclaves, Musee de la Pagerie, lunch at a French style bakery, snorkeling at Anse Dufour, and Le Diamant lookout.

I also found some great hikes in a book, but I don’t think we’ll have time to do them.

Both guides I talked to can arrange any of these places. Also, I believe you could easily visit them using a rental car, if you’re comfortable with that.

Our experience in June was similar to harrodsfan’s, give or take 15 minutes. This was also what I was expecting based on past dailies people have posted, so I think it’s pretty typical.

However, as you’ve heard, you have to stay flexible. We had one docking location & time change twice in the course of a day.

We spent our last night in Luzern, and took a train in the morning to fly out of Zurich. The train took less than an hour and went right into the airport. Large suitcases were not a problem, there were racks at the end of each train car. Luzern old town is compact, and the train station is an easy walk from anywhere in the scenic old part of town. We had no problem doing this, and Luzern is definitely worth seeing!

The Swiss train site, sbb.ch (scroll all the way to the bottom to select English) makes it easy to find direct trains that end at the airport.

Hope this helps!

So, I did finally connect with two guides who are willing to do private tours from Anse Mitan for a reasonable price. Brandon - barronb306@gmail.com, & Meri - anolitours@gmail.com. Both were very accommodating.

Hope this helps someone!

@cruiseoholic000,

On our June Rhine Getaway A->B, the Rudesheim stop was from 5:30 PM to midnight.

As you have heard, Rudesheim is quite safe and has many, many restaurants. We were getting tired of German food by then, and had a very good Italian meal in Rudesheim. You will find plenty of choices.

Pappadeaux in Houston is one of our favorite airport restaurants. I assume the DFW location is similar.

Once, when notified that our previously direct flight from Kansas City to Calgary was now connecting through Houston , we thought about it for two seconds, then said “Yay, long lunch at Pappadeaux!”

According to TripAdvisor reviews, the ferry and the shuttle are running.

Table for two was not possible in the dining room on our June Viking Rhine cruise. The smallest tables were for 6. And the Aquavit Terrace was not open every night.

I would have preferred a table for two every night, but we did enjoy all of our group meals.

Not the answer I had hoped for, but extremely helpful! Thank you!!!

I use insuremytrip.com. You input your criteria and compare quotes from many different companies.

I prefer higher medical evacuation coverage than cruiseline trip insurance typically offers. Plus, I usually combine a cruise with a land vacation, and buying insurance independently lets me insure the whole package, not just the cruise part.

Note - typically you must purchase trip insurance within 10 days of making your first non-refundable payment, if you want to be covered for pre-existing conditions.