libno

Thank you for all your information and response to my questions WisRiver. Much appreciated. I have a lot of "looking" to do still;)

Marise

On 2/26/2022 at 6:05 AM, edinburgher said:

On this N Europe and Baltic forum, simply use the SEARCH facilty for previous threads on Greenland and Iceland.  You only need to log in then put the name of your port call into the search box directly under your username and choose THIS FORUM from the drop down.  Hit the little magnifying glass and all previous threads conraining that place name will appear in the results.Repeat the process with the different names.

 

Have you looked at sites such as WHATSINPORT and CRUISE MAPPER? They give some useful info too, with more than their site  names would suggest.

Thank you Edinburgher. Appreciate the info and your response.

has anyone every reviewed or discussed Iceland and Greenland? It will be my first visit there, and I am interested in information about weather in August, currency, food specialities, what clothes to take etc. Also, are hop on hop off buses available or does one HAVE to book a tour? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Marise

7 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

The water can also be ordered under Beverages in the Already Booked section of the HAL Website. Same price.

my husband uses a CPAP machine and never uses distilled water .... straight from the tap;) has been on a machine for about 6 years, and all is well;)

I’m currently onboard the TA crossing. Bermuda was replaced with Nassau. :(

The seas are calm and the Captain definitely made the right decision. This is my second cruise on Oceania and probably my last. I can travel on Regent or Seabourn for similar cost and get a much better product.

My sister and her husband are on this transatlantic crossing and my fingers are crossed for all of you for a safecruise in light of Florence’s presence. Please keep us apprised of your cruise safety.

Thanks,

Marise

We did 5 euros each (so 10 total) - others gave less, but we felt comfortable at 5 each.

 

On another note, be sure to go to Nyhavn and have ice cream at Vaffelbagaren (on a corner with a big waffle cone outside! [emoji39]) and try to get over to the food market across the bridge next to Nyhavn. We loved Copenhagen!

 

 

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Thank you so much for your quick reply and wonderful tips in Copenhagen. This is our first trip there so we look forward to wandering around and enjoying this New Port for us;)

We actually decided on which free walking tour to take (we took two) based on which start times were convenient and where we were at the time [emoji4]

 

 

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can I ask what kind of tip you left?

It's in the region of £50, one of the most expensive we've been on.

It does offer three different routes and gives free water.

The currency is the dihram I think

 

 

thanks for your reply. That is quite expensive, but worth considering, since we will be flying halfway around the world to get there;)

We are in Dubai in January and have a 2 day hoho bus pass and a desert safari lined up.

Then off on a cruise, can't wait.

Can I ask what you paid for your 2 day HOHO bus pass. And what is the currency in Dubai please?

marise

I am half of an inter racial couple and we were there 6 years ago. Stayed with family in Johannesberg and Cape Town. No issues at all. We also took a hotel in Cape Town for a couple of nights and did a 4-night Gold Coast tour with another white couple from Europe. No issues at all. Go with the attitude that there is no issue, and there should be , no issue! Have a great vacation. I loved South Africa!

Hi Marise

 

The rate we got in BA was about 14 pesos to the US$ and we exchanged 2x new 100$ bills. We had read here that it was better to wait till we got to BA to buy our pesos and so it proved. We told our guide Jack this when he picked us up and he said that he'd take us to a safe place which was also really important to us. On Calle Florida there are DOZENS of people calling out for you to exchange your money with them but we ignored them. I lost my credit card in BA (genuinely lost it, not stolen!) and so unexpectedly we had to use cash on our first evening then next morning we went back to the same place on our own to get more pesos and got the same exchange rate. If you decide to do the same as we did , just look out for the store I mentioned and the stall is right in front of it. Rhona

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. That definitely is a good rate. We are not going until Feb.2016 but having never been in that part of the world, there is SO MUCH to research. Luckily, time is on my side;)

thanks again and I really enjoyed your review and fabulous pictures!

Marise

So after Montevideo it was a short trip across the river to Buenos Aires. We were a bit concerned about the fact we'd seen a TV show in December where British TV presenters and their film crew were attacked by Falklands Veterans. More of that later.

 

Our first view of Buenos Aires was inauspicious with cranes and container ships. We'd read on this site that the shuttle to the terminal wasn't very frequent but I have to say we found it a fantastic service and on our first day in port there were three other ships but we didn't have to wait. The terminal building is really big with a selection of shops and a large seating area with wifi.

 

We'd booked a tour with Buenos Tours and our guide Jack arrived punctually. He's a semi-pro basketball player from Denver via Berlin and Colombia where his father was a diplomat and he immediately felt like a friend with his warm relaxed personality. We'd said we were happy to use public transport as we think it adds to the experience of new places but as we'd just arrived he treated us to a taxi!! However he advised us that we should get away from the port to get better taxis so we walked up through the Retiro area to Plaza General Martin, a large park 10 minutes or so from the port.

 

We headed across the city to Calle Defensa in the old part of the city and we loved walking round with Jack's detailed informative descriptions.

 

 

We then took the subway a short distance from the oldest station on the oldest line to the city centre and it's hard to describe how amazing it is. We saw the quirky, the strange, the historic, the beautiful and the fascinating! Here we are at Café Tortoli with Jack

some interesting shots!

 

 

It's so hard to sum it up in a short review but we can only say that Buenos Aires completely blew us away and exceeded our expectations 100 times over. It must surely be the most beautiful city in South America and it definitely has the sort of vibe we love. We could truly see ourselves living there. I know I'm going to run out of space for my photos on this port so before I even start to describe our amazing evening I'll start a new post with more photos.

 

I also want just to mention changing dollars to Argentinian Pesos. We asked for Jack's help and he took us to a newspaper kiosk. We'd read horror stories on CC about forged notes but Jack was confident this was the place to go. For anybody visiting BA in the future, the kiosk is on Calle Florida and right beside Hanley's on this street which just happens to be the main tourist shopping street. You get the best rate for $100 bills and we certainly got a far better rate than we ever imagined.

I am thoroughly enjoying your review and photos. One Q: WHAT is the best possible rate to hope for when changing US$ to Argentina Pesos??

Also, did you deliberately decide not to buy any pesos before embarking on your trip, or were you unable to?

marise

This is the official site.

 

 

https://reciprocidad.provincianet.com.ar/

Thank you so much for your response. It looks doable at this site! Much appreciated.

marise

I can't find the answer to this question. Last year we took a South American cruise from BA to Santiago. We each paid $160 for the entry fee which is supposed to be good for ten years. But then, my husband's passport expired and he now has a new passport number, but the certificate we have shows his old passport number.

 

We liked the cruise so much we were thinking of repeating it next year. Does anyone know if we can get the passport number changed or do we have to pay another $160 for a new certificate?

 

Thanks for any information.

Could you please tell me WHERE to go to get this paid? I followed the "provinciapagos.com.ar" and it makes no sense whatsoever:( All paths seemed to lead nowhere:( HELP!!! I am canadian if that makes any difference!

Thanks in advance for any help.

A friend of mine would love tvitals a cruise that stops in Trinidad over the Christmas holidays. Are there cruises from Miami that stop in Trinidad?

I had the same idea, and finally found HAL's 16 night southern caribbean out of FLL. It stops for a day in Scarborough, Tobago:D

Marise

Does anyone know why mass market cruise lines no longer have port stops at Trinidad? :confused:

 

LuLu

~~~~

I was told the reason is because the port cannot accomodate BIG ships!! I have always wanted to go to Trinidad and Tobago, and will be sailing on HAL's smallest ship the Prinsendam, this Christmas/New Year on it's 16 night southern caribbean cruise which touches Scarborough, Tobago!:D

marise

I was very surprised at the varied responses and very much appreciate everyone's opinions. Yes, to date we have only cruise the mega ships (19 times!) which is why I was wondering how I would feel about a smaller ship. I will read the reviews quoted in some of your replies. I also very much appreciate and look forward to reading the "live" reports/reviews. I too, am on this ship for the variety of ports that the big ships cannot touch, so in that sense, I will have achieved what I have set out to do .... see "new" caribbean ports;)

Thanks again everyone,

marise

We will be sailing her on the Christmas and New Year's cruise this December and wondered what your thoughts (pictures?) are on this ship? Never been on a smaller ship before and a little apprehensive about activities onboard:) How about the entertainment and if anyone has pictures, I would love to see them (of the ship i.e.:D)

Thanks,

Marise

Hi,

Just wanted to add, we returned last night from our NOS cruise where we stopped in Roatan and used Victor Bodden Tours for our Highlights of Roatan tour. Victor was very prompt with communication and information on what was available. We paid $25- p.p. and were 6. We asked for a private tour, did not want a bus load, and only had certain things we wanted to do - did NOT want the bird sanctuary or Monkeys, or Zip Line. He made many suggestions and told us, in the end, it was entirely up to us what we wanted to do, and his driver Marty would accomodate. We also chose when we wanted to meet and how long we wanted to be away. Marty also directed us to a restaurant at our request that was not full of tourists and where the food was excellent. I would highly recommend Victor Bodden Tours as trustworthy and definitely cheaper than the cruise ship tours.

Marise

Nothing beats replaceable junk......:rolleyes:

one person's junk is another's treasure.....

We had Lany as our tour guide just last week. I wish I were back on Roatan! I can't help you with your question about "Mayan Eden" but we did have lunch and a couple of drinks at the Bananrama beach bar and grill on West Bay beach. The bill came to $30, my husband and I shared a plate of chicken nachos, each had a drink and we bought Lany lunch too. Enjoy!

5seamama the cruise is looking more enjoyable by the day;) thanks for your informative info re your tour. It will give us an idea of what to do.

marise

We recently returned from the Oceania Riviera and would like to recommend our guide “KENNY”. Prior to contacting Victor Bodden, I read through numerous reviews here and on Trip Adviser and wrote down a list of names of guides who had provided others with good tour experiences. In the event none of the ones on my list were available and we would have to be assigned a guide of their choosing, I also provided a list of guides that we did not want due to a poor review. This worked out well for us and fortunately we did not need to be assigned a guide as Kenny was available from our list.

 

We knew about the hill we would need to walk but had to look for it at first. When we got out of the terminal building, we didn’t immediately see the hill, we had to turn left and make a short walk through a parking lot and the hill is on the side of that parking lot. There were folks we ran into on the way that were able to confirm we were on the right track. It was just me and my husband and our immediate reaction was that we were pleased to have a nice clean, roomy, air-conditioned van in good condition for our tour. We found Kenny to be a likable and polite young man; friendly, easy-going, cordial. He is around 23 or 24 but has been training to be a tour guide since the age of 9. He is not a loud person, not too talkative or too quiet (just right), or the type of tour guide that seems to tell the same jokes to every tourist. He is unpretentious and just comes across as a nice person who wants to do what he can so that you will enjoy your day. We had already had some active port stops so just wanted a relaxing tour day in Roatan seeing different parts of the island by vehicle. We requested stops at scenic lookouts for photos. We enjoyed a stop of the Mayan Eden. He did not make any stops at vendors of any kind where it looked like he may have gotten any kind of kickback. We wanted him to stop at a local store so that we could buy some pure vanilla and it was cheap at $1.50 a bottle. We told Kenny that we wanted a lunch stop at a place that a local would choose, nothing fancy as we got lots of that on the ship, not expensive, didn’t have to have a great view, just good local food. He delivered and we were very pleased with his selection. We hadn’t planned to ask our guide to join us for lunch but thought we would make that decision based on our interaction with him whilst on tour. We liked Kenny so much that we did ask him to have lunch with us and he was very grateful. Kenny was also an excellent and careful driver as it certainly did not look easy manoeuvering through some of those narrow roads and at times tight spaces. We wanted a guide that would provide us with plenty of culture and history about the island. Throughout the tour we continually asked questions and Kenny was always able to provide a good answer. We had a very simple tour but he will take you anywhere you want to go and anything you want to do. We would have liked to have done more but the time goes by amazingly fast. If we ever find ourselves back in Roatan, we will not hesitate to ask for KENNY again.

Hi , thank you for your very nice review of your tour. Could you please tell me, what "Mayan Eden" is? Also, you mentioned stopping at a restaurant for lunch which was 'local' and inexpensive ..... what did you eat there and what was the name of the restaurant?

\thanks again for the information ... I believe it is exactly what we plan to do.

marise

I miss the luggage tags arriving in the mail:(

taking away the little "perks" is reducing the luxury of cruising to merely sailing on a huge boat! Just MY OPINION .. and everyone is allowed one, right?:D

marise:cool: