ajtraveler66

We will be in Puerto Vallarta in January '24.  Have any of you ever done an all-inclusive hotel 'resort day' while at port in PV?  If so, what hotel resort would you recommend?

Also....what other beach-area suggestions might you suggest in the event we should opt out of the 'resort day' plan?  (beach area with lots of beachside restuarant available).

Thanks!

At my age, it's doubtful I will ever do another Mediterranean cruise (I've done two) ... and I want to stay closer to home for the rest of my 'cruising adventures'.  HOWEVER, if I ever should decide to do another Mediterranean cruise, I would INSIST that Split be on the itinerary.  (Another cheer from me in my support of this wonderful port city).

AJ makes a great point.  Unfortunately, because our time in Split was shortened, we did not make it up to the viewpoint that is mentioned (AJ might give more info here on that viewpoint because I can't remember the details).  He offers good advice, so I would take that advice if you find that you have a lot of time in Split.  We were originally to be there for 10 hours or so... but for whatever reason, our time was shortened considerably.  But we still LOVED Split.   ...  Take in that view if you have ample time.

We hope to be on a 15-day Panama Cruise in January, and we definitely would like to have a good beach day or two.  And if the excursion can be through the ship, that'd be okay with us.

Suggestions for the ports in the title?  (Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala).

Also any other input you might care to share about these places.  I do understand that Acapulco is a bit unsafe (but a beach day through the ship is mentioned...it's simply called "Acapulco Beach Day".  {We'll also be at the canal  (Pacific Terminal) ... and we are to go to Cartagena, Colombia, South America}

I was thinking back today on our Mediterranean cruise (Apr 15 - April 30).  We hit all of the typical tourist sites along the cruise (Italy, Spain).  But one of my favorite days has to have been the day in Split, Croatia.

Please consider this port if you are planning a Mediterranean itinerary.

We saw Diocletian's palace, the Riva ... and for the most part it was just a very relaxed day.  The gals really enjoyed the market area too.  And we all wish that we could have spent some more time there.

You can see so much right there near the port.  No excursion necessary at all.  A great day.  A great memory.

We are looking at a Panama Canal cruise.  While at the canal, we are at port at the Pacific Cruise Terminal from 6 p.m. on Day 1 until 10 p.m. on Day 2.  Any suggestions on what to do?  Are there things to do right at the port?  Are there any beach areas that are safe?  ....  Any other pertinent info is welcome.  Thanks.  (This will be in January of 2024).

Our cruise ship offers an excursion for Puerto Quetzal that is called "Surf and Turf at Monterreco Resort Getaway".  The site is at the Cayman Suites.

Has anyone taken this excursion?  If so, please offer your comments.  On the surface, it looks like a fairly decent beach excursion (and I realize that it is a black sand beach).

We are also considering possible beach excursions for Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and Acapulco.  Ship excursions are nice, but an independent day pass to a resort that is 'cruiser friendly' is something we would also consider.  (Feel free to add your thoughts on those three ports as well).

We are looking at a Panama Canal cruise for late January/early February.  That said, it's always good to know which ports have great things to do relatively near the port (without the need to look for an excursion outside of the port area).  Things we'll be looking for:  beaches, casual restaurants.  We aren't into shopping.  And architectural treasures are only a possible option.   Here are the ports:  Cartagena, Colombia; Panama City (Pacific Cruise Terminal); Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Acapulco, Mexico; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Mazatlan, Mexico.

Please feel free to offer any thoughts on what you think are 'must do's'.  

Thanks.

We're looking at a 7-day cruise out of Galveston sometime during the winter of 2024.  Can you recommend a good hotel/resort in Galveston to extend our vacation (perhaps a few days prior to the cruise and a few days after the cruise).  Shuttle service to and from cruise port would be nice, but is not essential to our plans.

Thanks.

The main dish was a very tasty pasta dish.

3 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Regarding the winery, how many wines did you actually get to taste? What did they have for lunch?

 

We're weighing this tour vs.doing a Pisa/Lucca tour and trying wines and having lunch on our own, for probably less money. Decisions, decisions.

Several.  They weren't chintzy, for sure.  And the food was wonderful.  I would repeat this experience without question.  I really don't think you'd go wrong ... unless Lucca is a 'must' for you.  Lots of people were there, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  It was extremely well organized.  As I said, our party of four loved it.

Seeing the leaning tower was all that we wanted to do as far as Pisa was concerned, so skipping the optional guided tour was great for us....giving us more time on some of the side streets.  Lots of vendors were there with very good deals for souvenir shopping.  

We didn't stay in Venice prior to the cruise.  But if you really want to see Venice, you are probably doing the right thing by staying a few days THERE prior to (or after) the cruise.  If I ever go back, that's what I'll do.  But still...we did get to see some good stuff....just not as much as I would have liked.  St. Mark's Square is AWESOME.  We only saw the exterior of the cathedral...and that was quite impressive.  (If possible, I would take in the interior of the Cathedral....and probably want to do Doge's Palace as well..... Sadly, my traveling companions weren't much on architecture ... and in all honesty we really didn't have time to do all of that anyway.  I'd set up a tour if you want to see those two things).

As for the Amalfi Coast, we didn't get to stop in any of the towns.... just drove through it (Amalfi, I think...also the fringes of Positano) ,,,  We had our lunch between the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii.  

If you're trying to pick an Amalfi town to visit, Positano seems to be the one I hear about most often.

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

AJ Good to read that all your port planning helped you enjoy your sightseeing in the various ports, even better to read that you followed the advice of others and chose to explore Split independently despite your hesitation to do so.  I hope this experience has given you more confidence to  venture out in the future without the need for a shorex in the ports where one isn't essential if it is easy to explore independently. without straying far from the ship. as that had been your main concern.

 

How did you get on with the other ports not mentioned above?.  Cannot remember them all, but  they included Motril, Cadiz and Portimao.

We enjoyed Cadiz very much.   We just went out there on our own and really enjoyed the city that day ... much like we did with Split.  Many had said that if we had never been to Cadiz that we needed to do Cadiz before venturing out to Seville.  We're glad that we took that advice.  If we're ever there again, we'll probably then do Seville.  CADIZ is a great port city.

Motril...we pretty much took a day off and stayed on the boat.  If the other three in the parrty had been game for Alhambra, I would have definitely wanted to go.  But...you know how these things go.  ...  Some that we met on the ship took a Flemenco dancing excursion that day included a meal.  They really raved about it.  

As for Portimao....what a beautiful area.  We made the most of JUST Portimao, but I really do wish that I would have taken your "Alvor" advice.  (It was our last day and we seniors were starting to 'poop out'  LOL. 

We visited five ports in Italy:  Venice, Catania (Sicily), Naples, Rome, Livorno   (Cruise on Norwegian Star --- April 15 thru April 30)

Venice:  In all honesty, Venice was a nightmare....and what a shame.   New regulations in Venice do not make this a cruise-friendly city....navigation is horrendous.  But we made the most of our day taking in a very crowded St. Mark's Square along with a must-do gondola ride.  But the highlight of the day was accidentally running into a sidewalk pizzeria on the way to the water taxi plaza.  Great time.  

Catania:  We took the cruise ship tour "Taormina On Your Own".  Beautiful place, and I highly recommend it.  Just too bad that we only have about 2 1/2 hours there.

Naples:  We did the exhausting, but must-do "Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast".  Don't miss these two.  We didn't get to throw in Sorrento on this excursion, but I've been there before....and it's wonderful too.

Rome:  We did the exhausting, but must-do things that people do in Rome:  The Vatican (make sure your tour includes the Sistine Chapel), Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, along with some time for a nice lunch.  A great day .... but very exhausting, as I said.  ...

Livorno:  We knew that Naples and Rome were going to be tough days, so we lightened up things for our time in Livorno.  And this....WITHOUT QUESTION.... was my favorite day in Italy.  We took an excursion through the ship  https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/LIV_59/Pisa-A-Taste-of-Tuscany.  While is Pisa, we skipped the optional guided tour thus adding to our 'time on our own'.  There are lots of sidewalk cafes in the area ... and we took the time to enjoy some coffee and some gelato.  Then as the excursion explains ... we went to a winery for a VERY short, informative talk (5-10 minutes) followed by a WONDERFUL meal.  This was a great choice ... and the day was very relaxing...and lots of fun.  Yes, we could have gone to Florence, but our day in Pisa and Tuscany was a great memory that I will never forget.  Everyone in our party of four feels that THAT was our best day in Italy.

As a side here .... It's not in Italy ... but we all really enjoyed our day in Split, Croatia.  Wonderful place.  You can do it on your own with ease.  I just wish we would have had more time to enjoy the city.  No excursion necessary in Split, Croatia .....  just enjoy Split.

We've pretty much ruled out Alhambra.  

We're going to have quite a bit of time on our hands while at this port in Motril.  So we will probably want to get out and roam around a bit.  Evidently the town doesn't have that much to offer -- at least in the line of buildings, major history, etc. .....

So....we were thinking maybe FOOD and people watching (Yep, we like to do that).

Any restuarant you could recommend for a nice seafood lunch or just tapas with good atmosphere ... perhaps a little deeper into the 'real city' and not so much a tourist restaurant near the port.  (Although if there IS a great place near the port, we certainly wouldn't want to rule that out).

We can check out Tripadvisor--this I know.  But it's always fun hearing from fellow cruisers who have 'been there, done that'. 

All of that said, it's just fun to enjoy some good food and watch the locals in their everyday life.  That's probably what we're going to do while in Motril.

We look forward to hearing from you.  

If true, and if we port at Marghera (rather than tender) ....  do taxis (water or land) require euro's?  Do they accept credit cards?

We are to be at port in Venice on the NCL Star on Monday, April 17th from 6am-9pm.  

What is the most up-to-date information on what to expect on getting to set foot in Venice.  I understand that at one time bigger ships could no longer dock there...and maybe that's still the case.  Otherwise, is it a tender?  Something else?

Thanks.

While we were at port on a cruise in 2016 we had a tremendous day doing a day-pass to the Elbow Beach Resort.  My understanding is that this resort is no longer in operation.  Hopefully I'm wrong, and you can correct me...or perhaps it is going to re-open.

That said...if indeed Elbow Beach Resort is no longer in operation, any suggestions for a resort day-pass for a beach in Bermuda.

It's hard to believe that our Mediterranean cruise is just around the corner.  We've got our excursions all lined up, but we're looking for some reasonably-priced local must-try food suggestions at these ports (should we have time):  Koper, Slovenia; Split, Croatia; Saranda, Albania; Cannes, France; Spain, in general (tapas, I would presume...yum, yum), Portimao/Alvor, Portugal. 

We look forward to hearing from you.  

We've been on several NCL cruises, but we've never stayed in "The Haven".  We're thinking about doing one on a Bermuda cruise on the NCL " either this year or next.

I'd just like your thoughts, in general.  Is it all that much different?  Is it more quiet?  (Of course, I guess that depends on who's aboard.  😀).

Is the food any better?  (Not that it's bad in the main dining room).

We look forward to hearing from you.

Our ship has yet to post any excursions for Rome that include the Sistine Chapel.  So we are looking outside the ship for some possibilities.

Ideally what we are looking for is one that INCLUDES skip-the-line tickets to the Sistine Chapel ... but ONLY INCLUDES the exterior of the Colosseum (we've seen it).  We would just as soon have time for other sites rather than to spend time in the interior of the Colosseum once again.

We definitely also want to see the Trevi Fountain.  Beyond that ... whatever the tour guide thinks will be of interest to us will probably be fine with us.  The Spanish Steps have been mentioned as a possible 'must see' for our group.

Any suggestions on finding the right tour?

I was curious if NCL had any currency exchange areas onboard its ship for converting dollars to Euro's?  We will be on the NCL Star in April (Venice to Lisbon).

I have read that most restaurants, etc. do accept Visa/Mastercard.  However, I realize that it might be convenient to have a few euro's on hand for who knows what..

Your comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks, Edinburgher.  I thought I had done so, too.  For whatever reason, when I went to my profile, it didn't show that I had posted that. 

There's something about the format/settings that I'm missing or overlooking.

Thanks again.  ....  And this is the reason--I suppose--that I keep requesting the same info.  For I certainly wouldn't do it, if I could locate those original posts. 

We are trying to decide what to do while at port in Portimao, Portugal.  If there is plenty to do (2-3 hours worth), we will probably choose to stay put for the day.  We look forward to your input. 

Whether we opt to take an excursion or not...any places to recommend for sardines? 

I'm fine with just plain old black coffee, and it doesn't have to be Starbucks.  But I need it on a daily basis because I guess you could say that I'm addicted.  😀.  Is there plain old black, non-Starbuck's coffee aboard the ship that's complimentary?

I checked out the Le Bistro menu (it'll be 2 of our 3 meals on the meal package), and I noticed that the coffee on the menu is Starbuck's.

So what's the pro's and con's of the Starbuck's package, and where must I be leery on the ship if I don't take the package?  (FYI... We're on the NCL Star in April).