Jamietravelstheworld

9 hours ago, eppler said:

We have been on a dozen plus cruises over the years with 2 in Europe and the rest in the US/Carribian/Mexico.

Starting to look/plan at an Australia cruise.  Any recommendations on Step 1?

Previous responder made good point about how long you have to travel and time of year. Australia is a huge country and most of the tourism areas are on the southeast and east coasts. And the majority of cruises are in the US fall/winter which is Australian spring/summer, which can be very hot and humid, especially as you get further northeast. 
 

Having done the west coast of Australia on a cruise last year, I would say if you have the time, do a circumnavigation cruise. The west coast is ver different. I have now been to all states and territories in Australia except for Canberra, and my favorites are Tasmania, Western Australia, and Adelaide/Kangaroo Island. But honestly, Melbourne and Sydney are amazing too, especially if you like big cities. 
 

Princess is the big cruise line in Australia but they stick with the major ports. I cruised with Oceania and Regent Seven Seas there and they do a lot more of the smaller ports. 

30 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

I’m just back from an 18 day cruise on Sirena. On my previous Cruises on Oceania there always were frequent activities for solo (not single) travelers. Unfortunately on this most recent port-intensive cruise there were fewer solo events. There was one dinner planned on a sea day, but seas were rough and I missed it due to seasickness.

Sorry you missed the dinner. I’d guess there were fewer events because it was port intensive, especially if you were in port until after 6pm. Also, if many solos didn’t come to the first event, the social hostess may have thought there wasn’t interest. 

6 hours ago, nbhwarrior said:

Hi Fellow Cruisers

 

Will be on a cruise ship docking a victoria cruise port on 1 day and La dique cruise port for another day, in the sychelles in February
looking to get to some beaches for a few hours, can anyone recommend or suggest

A - best beaches to to got to near to the cruise port (easiest to get to by transport) and the facilties there?

 

B- the best way to get there e.g.  public transport , taxi or tour and also rough prices for transport?

 

many thanks in advance

Also, check out www.whatsinport.com for those locations. You'll find maps and information on transportation options.

6 hours ago, nbhwarrior said:

Hi Fellow Cruisers

 

Will be on a cruise ship docking a victoria cruise port on 1 day and La dique cruise port for another day, in the sychelles in February
looking to get to some beaches for a few hours, can anyone recommend or suggest

A - best beaches to to got to near to the cruise port (easiest to get to by transport) and the facilties there?

 

B- the best way to get there e.g.  public transport , taxi or tour and also rough prices for transport?

 

many thanks in advance

Just an FYI, La Digue is a tender port. Many cruise lines don't list it as a tender port and then passengers are surprised to find to it is. Unless you're on a very small ship (like yacht size), it's very likely you'll be tendering, not docking.

I've done several Oceania cruises. There's a social hostess on each who is responsible for solo traveler gatherings. On the first evening, there's a cocktail gathering, it will be listed in the daily schedule. It's usually around 5:30. There will be several other cocktail gatherings as well, and possible a sea day lunch or a dinner on another evening.

1 hour ago, IamAlyce said:

Hi all, I will be coming into Sydney from a 15 day cruise. I am spending one night at an airport hotel, then flying out to spend 14 days traveling. A lot of the items that I will have from the cruise are not what I want to carry around Australia while I’m enjoying the second part of my vacation. I only want to travel with a small carry on those last two weeks. My question is; is there a way while at the Sydney airport/hotel can I send a bag home to the US? If so, what is the easiest way to do this?

thank you, Elaine

Check out Luggage Forward. They are pricey but will meet you after you come through immigration in Sydney and take your bag and ship back to your home. It's a very well run company. I've used them to ship bags to cruises and last year to ship a bag home from the cruise port in Sydney. They also pick up/ship to hotels. 

13 hours ago, snag said:

Hi, could you please tell me if you can walk off and see some of kangaroo island without doing a tour? Thanks snag

To really experience KI, you need to do a tour. There are no (or very few) taxis on the island and no Ubers. KI is gorgeous and the wildlife is spectacular. The island is bigger than you would expect. I did a ship's tour that was full day and totally enjoyed all of it. It included Seal Beach, Remarkable Rocks, lunch, a honey shop, a morning tea stop with fresh and amazing oysters, and more. It took at least an hour if not more to drive from the tender dock to the farthest point on the tour. In fact, I'm going back to Australia next year and spending 4 days on KI so I can see more of the island. If you don't want to do a ship's tour, there are many private tour companies on KI, however, not all of them will refund your money if the ship doesn't make the island due to weather.

I am looking for feedback on who has successfully been to Greenland on a mainstream cruise line. I don't want to spend the money on a long, expensive expedition ship. I've seen that most NCL and Carnival port calls in Greenland get canceled. I've been to Iceland before so don't want to end up with just an Iceland cruise. I see that Princess has a couple of Greenland cruises, but don't know how successful they are in reaching port. And what about HAL and Viking? Others? Looking for June or July 2026.

On 7/10/2024 at 1:08 PM, momofmab said:

Greetings!

 

I was wondering if experienced Explora cruisers could help me with travel insurance.  Does Explora offer this option when booking a cruise?  I have a cruise on hold and don't recall seeing it offered as an add-on.  If not, where do you go for the best deal?

 

Thanks!

My travel agent told me Explora doesn't offer travel insurance. I compare policies at SquareMouth.com.

Marrakesh is way more interesting than Casablanca but not sure you can do it as a day tour from Casablanca. If there's an option for Marrakesh and you're willing to do the drive, I would.

Yes, visas will be required for some and it will likely be unclear which ones and how much until the last minute. Won't be as bad as Brazil (I went in 2024 to Brazil and had received mine) because depending on your cruise line, they can handle it for you. I did West Africa with Azamara in 2023 and it was a nightmare, but in the end, Azamara handled everything and all went smoothly. Early 2023 was when these countries were just re-opening after COVID and they had very little tourism infrastructure so they had no idea what they were doing, and the rules changed often. So did visa rates. Azamara advertised that one country's visa (sorry, I don't remember which country it was, maybe the Gambia) would be $50ish dollars and by the time the cruise rolled around it was $130ish. Some passengers felt that Azamara should eat the cost but Azamara was only charging us what the country was charging them, there was no upcharge or processing fee. The country had raised their fees substantially. Third world countries which is what most of West Africa is have poor infrastructures and you have to deal with it. If you can't handle the unknown, don't book a cruise there. You have to be flexible. Some of these ports had challenges - thankfully I was on a ship excursion when we were 4 hours late returning, which was 4 hours after sail away time. That was because of the Gambia's ferry issues and Senegal border issues. The people and countries are definitely worth visiting but you need to go in with a very open and flexible mind.

7 hours ago, trtog7 said:

Looking at doing a cruise in South Africa.

One thing I am concerned about is doing a Safari. Most of them appear to start later in the morning. Was always told that  the animals are more seeable  during dawn and sunset.

Can anyone who has done one of these cruises give me some information, please.

 

I have done many safaris, both as part of cruises and as land safaris. You will likely see many animals on cruise safaris, but the cat family animals are the ones that are harder to find midday. However, I have seen lions on cruise safaris, it's just not as common, and not as many. 

I will be doing a Baltic Sea cruise and as I look at many of the ports, it seems there's so much to do in each, I don't know how to decide. What would you say is the Must See/Do in each of the following:

• Oslo, Norway
• Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany - is it worth the time to go to Berlin - I was there in 1990 or 1991 (just after the wall came down) or is there something closer to the port worth visiting/doing?
• Tallinn, Estonia
• Helsinki, Finland
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Kiel (Hamburg), Germany

I will have 3 days between doing 2 cruises next summer. The first cruise ends in Copenhagen and the 2nd starts in Rotterdam and I am trying to decide if I should spend those 3 days in Copenhagen or Amsterdam. I only want to pack/unpack once so don't want to split the time. I've never been to Copenhagen before and the last time I was in Amsterdam was 1981. The 2nd cruise will have an 8-hour port stop in Copenhagen and I know I can't see everything I want in that time. For those who have been to both cities, would you recommend I spend my time between cruises in Copenhagen or Amsterdam? (And Amsterdam isn't actually the embarkation port for the cruise, it's Rotterdam, but I'd spend my time in Amsterdam.)

I will be on a Princess cruise that tenders to Moreton Island. What are the options for activities/excursions if one doesn't choose to do a ship excursion? From what I've read online at the Tangalooma Island Resort website (which I believe is where the tenders come in and where most of the ship excursions happen), activities at the resort are limited on cruise days to hotel guests and ship excursions only (no day passes). I'm not finding much else to do then other than ship excursions. Thanks.

I don't remember it being a big deal getting off the ship. Random bag checks for food were the main thing. Longer lines in the morning because everyone getting off at the same time.

It depends on the port. I did a cruise with many Japanese ports and some were very easy disembarkation and some were longer and more complicated. Will also probably depend on which cruise line and how experienced they are with working with Japan customs and immigration. So it's hard to give you a definitive answer. I don't however remember being significantly delayed getting off in any port, but also, I was on a smaller ship, less than 700 passengers.

Change to the later flight, not worth the stress. 

It’s Boxing Day, many places will be closed. Honestly, I’d do the Princess tour or find a private tour where the driver keeps your luggage in the car. Will be more expensive but much easier. I’ve done that on arrival before. 

I totally posted my above replies on the wrong board - meant to post them on my roll call, so sorry, I don't think I can delete from here.

FYI, in my above post about Taj Mahal, I realized I made a mistake - I have now corrected it so the information above is correct - but we are returned to Colombo on the 2nd day in Colombo, not the first.

Has anyone done an independent overland tour to the Taj Mahal recently (last couple years), and if so, what company did you go with? My ship's overland is ridiculously expensive and sold out, so I'm looking for other options. The ship's tour departs from Male, Maldives, but other departure options would be Mangalore or Cochin, India, with a return to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thanks.

7 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

The problem often is that if the forecast says conditions might kick up before the last tender of the day is scheduled to run and can't, he doesn't want pax stranded ashore.

Just now, Jamietravelstheworld said:

I was talking with a crew member who said she saw when they dropped anchor and the swells were high then and the ship was struggling with staying steady for that. (I may not be explaining this right but that was my understanding of what she said.) If it was tough to drop anchor, imagine how hard it would be to line the tenders up next to the ship. 

1 hour ago, SophieM said:

Idle curiosity question to anyone who is on this cruise or the last one. How is the new cruise director doing? She seemed a bit of an odd choice to me, but what do I know??

I think she’s doing a good job. She got a great full day schedule out very quickly today when port visit was cancelled. And she seems to listen to passenger concerns/requests when possible. 

Thanks everyone. I just cancelled (postponed) the cruise.