cormike1

We did our Nile river cruise with Insight Tours in Oct/Nov, 2017 and they were excellent from start to finish.  Look on their website for dates.

I see on the webcam where the ships dock.  How far from the pier is the city itself?  Is it walkable from the ship? 

Thanks everyone.

On 4/22/2019 at 11:15 PM, wags said:

Thank you cormike1 for your tips. Bake Apple mentioned getting queasy in the dining room if facing either shoreline. Did this happen to you?

As a precaution I always face the way the ship is sailing.  I did not have a problem looking at the shoreline as we were sailing.  You should be fine.

I suffer from motion sickness on ocean cruises but never on the 4 river cruises we have been on.  The only thing I can't do is walk the wrong way and look at the sites going by as I am walking.  That kind of makes me dizzy and queasy.  I also face the same way the ship is sailing.  But sitting on board and watching the amazing sites going by never makes me sick.  Don't even worry about it....go and enjoy!

My sometimes travel agent asks me sometimes for advice when she is going somewhere we have been and she hasn't.  That makes me feel good lol.  Of course I have learned so much from the CC boards and I also read a few bloggers that cruise a lot and get a lot of good tips from them also.  It feels good to get on a ship and know what to do.

Thank you for posting about the Volendam.  We are doing an Alaskan cruise on her on May 22nd and are really looking forward to it.  We haven't cruised for about 2 years and I have missed it.  About a month to go....YAY!

On 3/1/2019 at 2:25 AM, anandaindonesia said:

Thank you. Will be on Volendam to Alaska 22nd May this year. Surprised to see very little pontings about her.

No roll call for our sailing 😊

There is only 1 person that posted a roll call for May 22nd sailing.  It was quite a long time ago.  I am on that sailing but did not join the roll call as we are with friends who do not do the "Meet & Greet" so I passed on joining.

I get asked a lot of times how I know "something about something" and I tell them that CC is my bible for info and I always look/ask here first if I need some info.  Great site!

Really enjoyed reading your review.  St. Kitts really has grown so much in the past 10 years.  One of our favourite islands so it was nice to hear you enjoyed it.  Thanks again for a great reivew.

3 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

There are photos of 2671 on Amsterdam (sister ship) on the HAL facts site.  Maybe see if it is similar - is it listed as being a quad?

Yes I believe I did see that picture and it was a quad...upper bunk showing.  I figured it would be similar without the bunk...just like seeing exactly what we are getting lol.  We booked a guaranteed inside MM and supposedly got an upgrade to a K, large inside.  We won't be in it too much anyhow so that is okay.  Thanks for your reply victOriann.

On 3/29/2019 at 4:22 PM, martincath said:

Heidi's correct - but if you want to figure out exactly which zone your destination is in you can check this official map. Just like from YYZ, cabs are not zoned fixed fares rather than metered.

 

Compare it to your hotel location on Google Maps or similar, the major cross streets listed on the YVR Taxi map should let you see which Zone you're in and what the fixed fare will be (NB: tip is not included but tax is, so just tip as you would in T.O.)

Thanks so much for that info.   Good to know!

Anybody have pictures of of this or similar large inside cabin.  Will it be quiet...it is on Deck 2-Main level.

Thanks alot.

We arrive at the airport around 8:30 p.m. and are heading to English Bay area.  Are there a lot of taxi's at the airport or is it better to book a car ahead of time?  What would be the approx. cost for the taxi?  Thanks for your help.

We also stopped at the Papyrus shop and bought our zodiac sign (we are the same) and 1 for our daughter.  Very reasonable I thought but then got it home and had them framed lol.  I found the camel ride very scary and just had him walk me in front of the pyramids in the background to get that touristy picture and then I got off.  My camel was growling and I know he didn't like me haha.  I had to do it though.  I went to the light show....husband stayed behind....I could have missed it but wanted to experience everything offered.  I wasn't that impressed but it was okay.  We had a Nile view room but were only in our room such a short time that it seemed a shame not to be able to really enjoy it.  Your pictures are wonderful and bring back such great memories!  Thanks again for taking the time out to write a review!

I could not nap in the afternoon as I did not want to miss anything while we were sailing on the Nile.  I say in my room in the armchair pulled up at the window taking hundreds of pictures while my husband snoozed away on the bed lol.  I kept thinking....I have seen this same scene in the movies!  Such an amazing experience.  Did you experience the vendors that hooked onto the ship with ropes and got pulled along by the ship.  We had quite a few.  They would show their wares and if you wanted a closer look, they would toss them up to the top deck.  You bartered and then put the money in the plastic bag and tossed it back down to them.  Sometimes it got quite heated with the bartering lol.

We did our Egyptian trip with Insight Tours in Oct/Nov. of 2017 and it was hot!  There were only 10 of us in our group along with our guide who was wonderful.  There was never a question of whether all of us could go to Abu Simbel....it was part of our tour.  We had an option of hot-air ballooning over the Valley of the Kings to watch the sunrise and it was absolutely spectacular!!!  Once we landed, our bus picked us up and then we toured Valley of the Kings on land.  Very neat to do that in that way.  Loving your write-up as it is bringing lots of great memories.  This trip far exceeded my expections.  Thanks for your review.

Thank you for your review.  We will be on her in May for an Alaskan cruise and are looking forward to it.

I like having that like button even if I find their symbols for it odd.  It is nice not having to go into the write-up and say I like your write-up lol.

Thanks Keith for posting all your beautiful pictures and directions.  We will be there in late May and will probably want to walk and see the city as much as possible.  This looks like the perfect thing to do.  The city looks wonderful!

We looked at tours offered by Viator and they have a Victoria/Butchart Garden tour that is an all day affair but has hotel pick-up and drop-off also.  It gives you quite a bit of time at both places.  It is approx. $210 for adults.

On 2/11/2019 at 7:40 PM, franski said:

Hi - Can you be a bit more specific about "very hot as the morning went on"?  Am looking at late Feb/March 2020 - but may book later in the year as final payment would be a bit further off...(still have our Hurtigruten cruise to pay for this year....)

 

Thanks so much.

 

Fran

Sorry for not answering right away....was away on vacation.  It was usually nice when we first got up...maybe 70F and after breakfast we usually left to go tour something.  By the time noon came around it was usually up around 95F.  We would go back to the ship around 1:00 p.m. and have lunch and the afternoon was spent many times sailing.  They we would dock and do a late afternoon, early evening tour.  This way we avoided the really bad heat of the day.  I hope this helps.  I never wear a hat but was glad I listened to people on CC and brought one.  I wore it every day and the one time I forgot, I just about died from the heat on my head.  Do bring one lol.

We went at the end of October into the first 10 days of November and it was warm in the early morning and continued to get very hot as the morning wore on.  We did early morning tours and back to the ship for lunch and the afternoon and then another tour later in the afternoon or evening.  I usually dont wear a hat but was so glad I took the advice of someone that had been, and brought one and wore it all the time.  It is a wonderful trip!!!!!

We are doing a 7-day Alaskan cruise in May on the Volendam.  Are there still 2 formal nights on a 7-day and how dressy do the men have to be.  My husband really doesn't want to pack a jacket but we like eating in the DR for our dinner.  Would a long sleeved shirt cut it?

Sometimes it is better to book HAL's ahead of time as they do fill up and you might be disappointed in not being able to take the tour you want.  I have seen the price go up about $5.00 from booking online to booking once you are onboard.

It is nice to be able to help out fellow cruisers that have questions.  We had no surprises on our trip because of all the help we received here on CC.  One thing I would like to add that I did not know beforehand.  Yes I knew to bring a lot of $1.00 U.S. for tipping but if you are Canadian or British, etc., Egyptians are allowed to take foreign currency (no coins) to the bank and have it exchanged for EP's.  I wish I had known that ahead of time as being CDN and having a crappy dollar exchange rate against the U.S. dollar, I sure would have liked to have brought CDN dollars instead of losing so much on the exchange.  So if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask here and everyone will try and answer your questions.