fvandewouwer

Hi,

we are from Belgium and love to walk and being in the nature

we are doing our first Canary Island Cruise with NCl next month

although there is a roll call there is no one on it :rolleyes: so I hope to get some information here.

stops are Casablanca ( we would do the ships tour, for safety reasons / or walk on our own to the mosque not sure yet as I have seen so many mixed reviews about safety )

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria ( decided to walk to Vegueta and walk or bus back )

Santa Cruz Tenerife : not sure yet, hope to find a local tour rep who can bring us to El Teide and back or is there enough to see/ walking from the ship ??

Funchal Portugal : hoho bus seems not that bad to see a little bit from the area ??

Malaga Spain : have been there a very long time ago, can't really remember should I stay or go to Granada

Alicante Spain : seems to be a lovely port is thisone walkable ?

we love to walk all day long so distance is not a problem but we do hope that if this is just "another" town we would love to see the area by jeep /4x4

we are not really interested in shopping ( but I would never skip a nice shop ) and we are not looking for a nice restaurant and a local drink just love to see the area

all your ideas are more then welcome

thanks for your time

br from Belgium

yes we do understand there is never a guaranty if one is safe or not and yes we share the same idea about traveling as for us it is also an adventure wondering around worldwide seeing how people live and taste what they eat. We also were lucky to have been traveling a bit all over the world ( countries with all kind of religion and habits ) so we do now how to behave.

Need to be honest morocco is not on our bucket list to visit but as we are there we will try to see what Casablanca has to offer.

good night from Belgium

We did not walk between the drop off point and the Mosque as I had mentioned, but just in the area easily walkable from the drop off point and near to the Mosque.

 

Obviously I cannot guarantee safety and I think that area between those two points was more run down than by the shuttle drop off, which was a centre of town and a location in which we felt safe. There were other people on the ship who did not like this port as they prefer a more holiday like environment.

 

The area right by the Mosque and along the seafront nearby is completely open with a number of tourists taking photos etc., so it would not be easy for anyone to approach you without being seen first, though the other side of the road looked quite run down. Also, like many poorer countries, the pavements were not good in places, so it would be quite easy to trip over.

 

We are very well travelled in North Africa, so we always dress down and make sure we appear purposeful rather that strolling around looking at everything around us. I travel with my husband, but unaccompanied women can be hassled somewhat in North Africa. So do be aware and do not take any valuables you do not need ashore.

 

Everyone has to make their own decisions, but I really do think time may be better spent in other parts of the city if you only have the one day there.

 

Above all, enjoy your day there. We are always amazed at the number of people who travel to other parts of the world and then prefer to stay on a ship or only venture out in tour groups if the port does not look pretty much like home. Good to find someone else with a sense of adventure and wanting to experience other countries and cultures like we do.

thanks for your respond

I am also active on tripadvisor but did not find the correct information

a lot of people find walking from the cruise ship to the mosque not doable but distance can be far for someone and not that bad for another person so we were more concerned about safety then about the distance.

Will check again and hope to find a little more information

thanks

We found the Trip Advisor forums very useful for the Morrocan ports as you get more response from regular travellers to there, who were very helpful to me. You may find my questions on Casablanca (I use the same user name as I do here).

thank you so much for your help regarding Casablanca

we'd love to walk distance is never an issue, safety can be

that is why I am so happy with your update regarding safety.

I have printed out a walking map which I can take with us, will collect some money from the atm so we are almost good to go. Not sure if our ship provides shuttles.

will see when we arrive.

Again, this is a great help, thank you so much.

Wishing you a wonderful day

from Belgium

We were in Casablanca in November and saw the mosque and city independently. You do not need a tour and there were no safety issues beyond what you would have in any large city.

 

The distance to the mosque from the port has to be added to the distance to the port gate from the ship's location. Having said that, our ship provided a shuttle into the town. As we had paid full cruise fare we were not charged for the shuttle, but there was a minor charge for guarantee fare people. I do not know what your ship may charge, but I suggest it is worth taking the shuttle into town (and may be needed as not sure you can walk in the docks). There were ATM's near the drop off point and any surcharge would still be much cheaper than the amount you would be ripped off using Euros, but you may manage with Euros - not sure.

 

Beyond that, it is still quite a way so I suggest you still get a taxi rather than waste time walking. I understand all taxis have to have meters and use them - but we found not all drivers were prepared to comply even when asked. We are well travelled in North Africa and refused to use one taxi driver who was asking a ridiculous amount and would not agree to use his meter (I think 5 Euros, but it should have been less than than 2) We negotiated another driver down. We walked away from the shuttle drop before getting the taxi so we were not obviously cruise passengers who are always looked upon as less knowing and therefore, more gullible.

 

There is a charge (10 Euros - you would not need local currency for that) to do the tour of the mosque. Non muslims can only go inside the mosque on the guided tours which take place at certain times (something like 10.00 am, 11.00 am and possibly 12pm or 1.00 pm). The tour takes about an hour and is very good. You need to buy tickets for the tours downstairs and there are clean toilets down there as well (always useful in Africa). You can also spend time around the outside areas before and/or after and there is a museum about the building process of the mosque nearby (small extra charge), which we went into later, but you could miss that if you wanted to. There was a vending machine near the ticket counter, but I suggest you take water as well because you would need local coins to use it.

 

The mosque has a website where you can look up the tour times and price of the tour. If you are there on a Friday you cannot go into the Mosque, but could still see the area around it and would be worth going there to see it.

 

After spending a couple of hours or so in total at the mosque, we returned to the shuttle drop area (we asked for a hotel near the drop of, which I think was the Hilton) and walked around a bit and had a drink or two. There are some art deco style buildings near the shuttle drop as well as a traditional market (souk).

 

Overall a very good day, but we did need to know what we were doing so go prepared.

THANK YOU ALL

I installed Tunnelbear and I could access the .com website and got all prices in USD as I wanted

for everyone else who is a geek in computers ( as I am ) it really is very simpel

install Tunnelbear and you can browse through your normal system to the website you want ( you can put Tunnelbear on and off with a switch )

thank you all so much for helping me out

br Frie

mking8288 thanks for the detailed explanation but I'm afraid most if that went straight over my head, but hopefully the OP understands more of what you say. For the record, I am using Chrome. See, I understood that bit!

☺

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thanks Dave

This was just info you can glean from searching the question I had a private tour so the question wasn't important. Anyone who has visited the mosque has recommended a visit. Again hire a guide to go inside! If you reserve a taxi in advance, you can pay in other currencies. You could use a taxi to go to the mosque and walk back if you felt it was safe

Enjoy your visit to Casablanca

Dave

thank you all for your advise

nothing helped

wishing you all a happy new year

We visited the mosque a few years back as part of a private tour I had setup to include a visit to Rabat. The walk is approximately 30 minutes, but not recommended. A taxi is inexpensive and the best way to visit. Hire a guide to visit the mosque and discuss the construction and learn of the fascinating inside work. You will love the visit.

Dave

Dave

May I ask why the walk was not recommended ? Hate to buy dirham as ATM use is really expensive

If we could pay a taxi with euro or usd that would be also a Solutions but our best option is walking

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Jetlagged787 is competely correct. I somehow skipped over the part of the OP's first message where they mentioned excursions. I thought they were trying to make a new cruise booking.

 

fvandewouwer, if you booked your cruises with NCL UK (through a UK agent), the currency for those bookings is GBP and all prices for add-ons in your Explore & Plan for those cruises will be in GBP (converted from the USD price based on the exchange rate locked in at the time of booking). This is normal and expected and, I think, unavoidable. If you want to pre-pay for excursions, beverage/dining packages, spa services, etc. they will be charged in GBP. If you wait until you're on board, everything will be in USD. You won't be able to do anything in EUR for these two bookings.

Ok,I do understand this perfectly and it makes sence now.

But checking prices for a new cruise is also not possible anymore in euro /usd

System refuses to bring me to the .com

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cleaned the cookies ... nothing ... will try from another computer tomorrow

thanks for your time to answer this question

happy holidays

Follow up: Sorry, I mean, http://www.ncl.com doesn't work if you want anything other than the version of the website that NCL wants you to see (or thinks that you want to see).

 

It sounds like the OP is being properly redirected to "eu/" so something else must be going on to make GBP pricing appear. (I don't know if it's stored in cookies, but it's worth a try clearing them.)

thank you for your reply tried to create a vpn as explained and everything is in German now which I can change into English, that is the good news, prices remain in gpb so I guess you are correct It probably has something to do with some parameters in my account.

really do not understand why NCL must make this so complicated there is absolutely no problem with Carnival or RCI

Well I learned about Hola now who knows changing some settings will help me out

have a wonderful happy new year

Interesting that you are seeing the UK pricing on the "eu/en" version of the site. I thought the site redirection was based only on geographical location, but in your case maybe NCL has set some parameter in your account to GBP because of your past bookings.

 

Anyway, you can try the suggestions discussed in this thread from last month:

Need link to American and EU "version" of ncl.com

will be visiting Casablanca in februari

normally we visit ports by ourselves as we love to walk for miles and wander around on our own, but this port is different as we do not know how far our ship will be located from town and I worry a bit about safety

this tour CASABLANCA HIGHLIGHTS & HASSAN II MOSQUE is exactly what we would love to do

has anyone did this tour and would it be possible to do this on our own

( no taxi's no busses just to walk from the ship to the Mosque )

thank you all for your time to help

best wishes from Belgium

how to change the website ? https://www.ncl.com/eu/en/

I have booked 2 NCL cruises through an English agent and now I get all the information in GBP prices

Anyone knows how I can change ( or take a look at ) the website into the US or euro currency ?

My system does not allow to see prices in us or in euro anymore.

I am trying to book an excursion but it would be ridiculous to pay this in GBP as my currency is euro.

Thank you all

happy holidays

from Belgium

At this point we are very happy with QLS as they answer to every of my questions We have got our comfirmation and if they have availability they will drive us all the way to the hotel with an extra charge No hassle renting cars which we did a couple of times wishing you all A joyful Christmas and may Every New Year be happy

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to rent a car in the US is for European people a little more complicated we need an Internationale driver licence ( have to add that price to ) we need special arrangements due to insurance

so the price you pay is never the price we pay

also the hassle when cruise ships ( probably a lot of ships ) comes in

there is a waiting line that can be outrageous ( oh yes we have been there and done that )

we would have rented a car for more than one day ( we have also done that )

but not this time

Why didn't you take the free shuttle from POM to the MIA rental car center? They don't run out of cars. Just because you picked the wrong location of the wrong rental car company doesn't mean the OP should skip doing it correctly.

 

For someone who is from a foreign country and English is their second language all "you people" telling them to go here, do this, then go there, do that, then stay here so you can catch a trolley is very confusing when they are unsure of everything and whether they are doing it correctly.

 

Just keep it simple: Make a car rental reservation to pick up at MIA, ride the free shuttle to the MIA car rental facility from the POM, pick up the car and with the aid of a GPS drive to your hotel anywhere they desire to save some money. Then they can drive to Galleria Mall.

Hi to you all,

just wanted to let you know that we booked a shuttle with QLS from MIami port to FLL Airport and from there we will take a taxi to our hotel ( which is The Victoria Park Hotel which we choose for their location )

We emailed SaS a couple of times but they never answered ( probably because we are from outside the US )

QLS answered immediately kind and polite their rate is the same 15 us pp to the airport. There is a chance they can bring us to the hotel for a higher rate but that depends on their availability closer to our date. ( need to email again a little closer to our travel date )

soall it settled

May you all have a Christmas that is more special than it has ever been.

Our best wishes to you and to all those who are close to you.

br from Belgium

Frieda

WoW, thanks everyone for your input

did not think of renting a car for just one day ( husband who is the driver is probably not happy with this idea but I will give it a try )

I am checking out prices for the hotels around 17th street We have stayed in the past at the Renaissance / W hotel / Hilton beach /the Grande hotel but their prices are increased a lot compared to our past cruises.

dates are april 22 till april 23th and we need a very quiet room

( "light sleepers" is our problem )

we will probably use a shuttle ( if they still are available ) as that seems to be the most easiest way

best regards from icy Belgium

I will check out Lift but again we are from Belgium so if they work the same as Uber we will have a contact problem or I should make arrangements now

thanks for the information

We did this last year one cruise out of FLL and the other out of Miami , we used Lift which Is just like uber . It could not have been easier they have a separate area of the pick up zone for these drivers.

 

 

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about SaS take them to where ? to the airport ? and then use a taxi

oh ok that makes sense I guess never thought of doing that

15 us from port of Miami to FLL airport is hard to believe as a taxi from FLL hotel to the port of FLL would cost 15 usd .... right ??

thanks

Use SAS (or QLS, MJS, Go Airport, etc.) to get from POM to FLL. $15 per person is pretty standard and the ride takes about 45+ minutes, depending upon traffic/day of the week. From there you can use a taxi/Uber/hotel shuttle to get to your hotel.

 

A cab straight from POM to FLL area hotels will run about $75-80+tip; Uber on the same run will be about $40+ -- IMHO that is enough savings and convenience to motivate most cruisers to figure out how to use Uber. ;)

 

http://www.sunny.org has lots of FLL area tourist and hotel info, including lists of hotels offering free airport and port shuttles. A taxi from FLL or nearby hotels to Port Everglades is only about $15.

thank you all for your replies, at this point it is clear as I looked up all this information ( also on our previous cruises )

uber I am not familiar with and I guess we have to have an account and at the time being log in for getting a taxi from uber ( please correct me if I am wrong ) Making an account is not difficult (I think ) but we never have access to the internet while on cruise s(only wifi in the hotels ) so using an app to locate Uber will not be possible

That is why I do believe we cannot use Uber.

The reason why I feel this is complicated is that I want to book an hotel near the Galleria ( or North FLL ) as we like this area but will there be shuttle services from Miami port .... should I email all these shuttle providers and give the area where we want to stay for our night before our next cruise ?

or should I stay near the airport to have a more non complex situation

or do I need to book my hotel and check out later which shuttle service we can use

some websites are complicated to understand ( perhaps it is the language issue ) but I checked out SaS and found their hotel list it seems they are all located near the FLL airport

and even it is only for one night we would love to stay near a place where we can walk and enjoy a little bit of Sunny FLL.

thanks again for your time

chilly regards

Hi,

we just have booked 2 cruises out of 2 different ports and there is a day between the 2 cruises so we need to get from the Miami port (our first cruise ) to a hotel near the FLL cruise port ( cruises number 2 which brings us back home )

so I have been checking out our best economical way to go from Miami cruise port to a hotel near the FLL cruise port. ( renting car, bus, train, taxi , uber )

it is just the 2 of us and we only have 2 suitcases and one small trolley

( we travel light :) )

taxi prices are expensive, uber I am not familiar with ( and we are from Belgium so I am not aware if we can use uber in Florida ?? )

seems to be no busses from the port of Miami to ....

have been checking out SaS as they advertise prices of 15 us pp from the port of Miami to the airport of FLL ( that seems so inexpensive ?? ) but I am not sure if they would bring us to a hotel in FLL which by the way I did not book yet.

any idea is appreciated from you all

thanks for your time

br from Belgium

Frie

( we have been cruising out of both ports and are familiar with the area we just do not know how to get from Miami to FLL inexpensively )

it would be lovely if you could update me

I wish you a wonderful cruise

br from Belgium

Wifey and I will be on her 23rd October 7days. I will be sure to let you know :) Have been on Magnifica before and love her.

the cabin available for us was at the aft

guess we will not take this cabin and I am seriously doubting

please let me know how your cruise was I do hope you have a wonderful time

br

Thank you Frie.

 

From the above post it seems as though some aft cabins can suffer various problems! Fortunately we are on the port side so shouldn't have these affect us. Really looking forward to our itinerary so hope that yours is as good. Never had any noise problems of any kind on the Magnifica so not expecting any on the Poesia.

 

Rob

I am sorry for the both of you and to read this post

as this is not how a cruise supposed to be.

and your balcony should be your small piece of heaven.

I do not agree that guest relations could not do anything about this rude behaviour We have once been on a ship where people were removed from the ship ( I guess we were the only floor knowing what was going on and the staff acted very professional and discrete )

we have heard stories from Costa customers about booze cruises, people throwing up, screaming and shouting ... (drinking packages included is not always a good idea ) that is why we never check out what Costa ( or any other Italian company ) has to offer, a pity as they often have very good itineraries.

that is why I was checking out MSC as they provide cruises to the French Cariben islands ( Martinique Guadeloupe...)

I do hope you will cruise again and I wish for your future holidays to be as wonderful as they suppose to be.

thank you for sharing your story

My husband and I are just back on 30 September from a 7 day cruise on the Poesia. We have cruised twice before on Celebrity and were travelling with a couple from USA and a couple from Australia. We are all in our fifties but we are very young at heart and very much enjoy travelling and meeting people and seeing new places.

We were in an aft cabin on Deck 11. The cabin was very nice and clean however the balcony was a nightmare. The customers at the buffet on Deck 13 throw food overboard which often landed on our balcony and the customers on Deck 14 using the disco would throw lit cigarette ends over which also landed on our balcony. Some evenings it was like a firework display. All of our balcony furniture had cigarette burn holes in them. Every morning there was something new to discover out there, cigarette ends, chunks of bread, slices of lime and even a glow stick one day. When we complained to guest relations we were told that there was nothing they could do as the behaviour was due to the poor education of the other customers.

There is also a lot of movement and the engines are noisy and lots of people smoke on their balconies. There is no way to prove that they do this as all the aft cabins will have cigarette ends on them in the morning.

Customer service is non existent. If you complain the staff shrug their shoulders and walk away. There are not enough waiters in the restaurants and bars so the service is extremely slow. Many of the bar staff obviously take pleasure in not filling orders and making things very difficult for the waiters. It would appear that this is a game they like to play, as well as ignoring customers who approach the bar, arguing with supervisors and other staff in front of customers and taking no pride in their work.