schagpal

Thanks so much for your "almost live review".  We are on Millie in March so this is just adding to our excitement.  Looks like your weather has been perfect.

Hey everyone. Got this 8 hours ago from Emerald in regards to upcoming Saturday Budapest departure. Looks good.

After an extended dry period, Europe has recently experienced rain along the main waterways, resulting in the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers being sailable on all stretches. Your cruise is expected to operate as per your original schedule. Weather forecasts for the coming weeks look promising and pleasant weather is expected for guests to explore Europe onboard Emerald

Thanks.  

I'm looking for the Emerald Sky Phone Number.  We will be in Budapest on our own pre-cruise so we need to figure out where to meet the ship to board.

Thanks, Ron

Loved your review. Laughed that I don’t have to make any notes for our trip, just send my friends to your journal. Glad your family visit worked out. Happy cruising and hopefully our paths will cross. R&M

Loving your pre-cruise review.  The Jewel cruise, weather, and ports were awesome and I agree anyone considering the ship and/or itinerary shouldn’t hesitate.  Can’t wait to see your pictures and review on that portion of the trip.  We are still unpacking and trying to get caught up on life! (We sat with you on the bus to Chania.)

Ron 

On 5/2/2018 at 2:27 PM, schagpal said:

 

Awesome. You are great. Will look into now.

Ron

THANKS  138east.  

Your advice was followed.  Last month, after driving into the area and quick stop at EWR we stayed at La Quinta Meadowlands for 2 nights.  Worked out perfect.  Parked the car out front on arrival and didn't touch it for 2 days.  Road the bus to/from NYC at a few bucks each (sr rate) - wow talk about convenient.  Ride back each night after shows was quick/convenient. Hotel quality is more than "tired" but for what we wanted/expected it was fine.  Mall 1 block away and shops across street/around corner.

Thanks again,

Ron

Having read many posts and opinions we settled on Fremantle and really enjoyed our experience. Stayed at the Hougomount (boutique type) and loved the location. Took Uber from airport in and then an Uber to the cruise ship - both were easy (assuming you have cell service). Just walking around the town is nice - full of coffee joints and pubs - how can you go wrong! We did not opt to spend time up in Perth but it would have been easy via the train service. For us it was a 2 night stay and a fair amount of walking around which helped battle the jet lag.

DUNEDIN: We had a fantastic time on our port call in Dunedin this past March. I arranged a private tour "Royal Peninsula" with Back to Nature for 5 couples. I worked with the owner Chris Roberts. We were met at the cruise terminal and saw highlights of Dunedin, visited Larnach Castle, visited Penguin Reserve, walked a beautiful beach, drove throughout the Otago Peninsula, saw the famed Royal Albatross. All in all everyone thought it was an excellent experience and felt it was worth doing. If were doing this all over would do it exactly the same.

PICTON: We did a private Marlborough Wine Tasting tour with Na Clachan Wine Tours this past March. I worked with Wendy in making all the advance arrangements. Helen did the tour itself and was fantastic in her explanations, descriptions and timing. The tour is customized to the # of wineries you can/want to visit. We picked Saint Clair (big operation), Spy Valley (great views, awesome story, some good tasting), Wairau River (fantastic lunch), and Johannesof (very small, unique). Having done a number of wine tours before, we thought Wendy & Helen really know what they are doing and do everything they can to make your experience one you enjoy. I would re-book them if I am ever back there.

We had close friends do both of these tours a year earlier with the exact same experience.

For those interested in the "how to", I booked the tours myself and then recruited other couples through the cruise critic thread for our cruise. There were far more folks interested in each of the tours than we had room for. Everyone sent in checks to me before departure. Had a get-together for sail away to meet each other - which is nice as you then know other folks right away for the rest of the cruise. The morning of each tour we gathered at a lounge and exited the ship together.

You have to balance time, money, and stress. Basically you want to make two trips into NYC and you have a car available. You can stay in Secaucus, Jersey City, or Newark Airport. My first recommendation would be to look at the LaQuinta at Harmon Meadows in Secaucus. http://www.harmonmeadow.com/PublishingImages/HMDirectory.pdf This gives you good bus access to Manhattan, reasonable price for 2 rooms, and free breakfast and free parking. Everyone drives to the pier and pays the $180 to park. The only down side is that party A has to pay for an Uber to Secaucus from the airport or take the train from the airport to Secaucus Junction for $12.75 plus an Uber from the station to the hotel. If this doesn't suit, we can discuss Jersey City or Newark Airport.

Awesome. You are great. Will look into now.

Ron

Party A - 2 people? Party B - 2 people? Can you all fit in the 1 car to drive to the port? Budget range?

Party A is 1. Party 2 is 2. Yes can fit all to drive to port.

Budget is flexible based upon what makes most sense.

Thanks

Question for 138 East

Looking for your suggestions regarding airport/hotel given these plans for Oct 18 cruise out of Cape Liberty

Party A flying in Tues Oct 16 and flying out Sat Oct 27. Will Uber/Taxi to/from airport.

Party B driving in from PA same day. Will drive home Sat Oct 27.

Want to visit NYC for Broadway play evening Oct 16 and do NBC/911 tours Oct 17.

Budget is flexible.

Not opposed to parking at cruise terminal if best logistics.

Spent time trying to browse thread but thought I'd just go to the expert...best combo of airport to use for Party A and most convenient hotel for plans.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Ron

Looks like it started in Australia as news reports in the fall reported BIG outbreak. Certainly then brought on board by local passengers.

Sailing in March so hope it is resolved by then. Know the crew works super hard to stop the spread.

We were just in an aft on Reflection on 7 and found the balcony the same size as our friends who were in traditional balcony cabins. We were a bit surprised as our experience on Royal aft cabins has been the balconies were all much bigger than regular balcony cabins.

There also was little overhang above us which in our case was not as good as we normally like the shade. The other thing was there was more ship movement/vibration than we've experienced in other afts we've been in on Royal. Going into ports we were jolted awake more than once in early AM.

We love the view of an aft and enjoy the extra walking but have decided moving forward for us we would not pay extra for a Solstice class aft.

Schagpal,

 

We did a variation of this when we disembarked in Harwich last month (June). The car and driver met us at the port and then took us to Flatford and Colchester. We also went through Windsor on our way to Heathrow. They are very flexible and will tailor the transfer/tour to your expectations. We used Eddie Manning who I found through the London tool box site. We were very pleased with their service. I also used them for the transfer from the airport to London hotel and then from London to Harwich. Very professional and very receptive to our needs.

Thanks Finnjsh Fun

They are an agency so depend on their suppliers, but I have not seen any bad reports. I have no personal experience though as I live in the UK.

Their recommendation is to use a Windsor based service as they are experienced in this type of request/service.

It seems to be a popular excursion and The London Toolkit http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/harwich_late_flight_solution.html offers one of them.

 

I note that with this one, they use a Windsor based taxi firm which means that they will offload and store your luggage while you are in Windsor. Other firms will probably just wait and charge accordingly.

 

The cost is around £225 for two, including the storage charge and Windsor to Heathrow transport.

 

Unless you have at least three hours to kill, I would not consider the detour worthwhile. You should be at Heathrow at least two hours ahead of your flight time.

Thanks - they are one of the places I've gotten info on. Have you used them?

Has anyone any experience with a transfer/tour company that picks up at Harwich then goes to Windsor for 2+ hours then drops you off at Heathrow.

I've seen some companies that promote the service but cannot find reviews to verify.

thanks

Ron

Thanks for the review...loving it.

We are booked for the same cruise next August and looking forward to posts about cruise itself. Really enjoyed the London posts as they brought back memories of our past visit.

Unfortunately there is NO reliable internet connection when on the ship. There are periods of good connections but not to the extent you can rely upon it for something critical. Even when you are in port. As Merion Mom suggests the only reliable option would be to do the online exam while at an Internet cafe while ashore...also lots cheaper.

Sailor Jack

Hope you enjoyed Infinity as we really liked it last fall. Loved your review (like always). Spilled my coffee laughing about the glass bottom boat tour of the Navy, boy did that one sneak up on me. Hope you have thawed out.

Another great review. I always look forward to discovering one of your gems hidden somewhere on CC.

You will love X Infinity. We were just on her for 15 nights and hated to get off.

We did the Segway tour with Segway Caragena, booking direct on our own and had a fantastic time. Can't say enough good things about it, especially after being unsure about visiting the city. We made arrangements via email with Cesar (college educated in the US and a number of years working for US businesses) and he was very quick to work out details with us. We had seen that he was the #1 Tripadvisor rated tour and liked the web site. We arranged transportation with him and he actually met us at the pedestrian exit from the port and had a taxi to take us to the city. We ended up as the only ones but he did not hold anything back and spent over the booked 90 minutes showing us all around the city and sharing history. Having done Segways in two other major cities, we found this as easy and professional as any other operation. In fact, given the heat in Columbia, this was by far the easiest, quickest and coolest way to see much more than can be done on foot. We saw many foot tours from the ship and there were many who spoke to us later wishing they'd known about the Segways.

Ron