cruisegal415

We decided on a four hour Tuk Tuk tour on Sunday, when we arrive (booked for the afternoon in case our flight is delayed); found a private excursion to Fatima on Monday which will pick us up at the hotel, take us to Fatima, then drive us to the port; and on Tuesday I am looking for a small group excursion that will take us to Sintra, let us tour Pena Palace and the Regalerio, and maybe do a drive by the coast. The excursions I have found through Get Your Guide or Viator seem to be a pick up from the hotel, not a shore excursion (as in, pick up from port) and most are too long a time to get us back in time for sail away. I'll look in to We Hate Tourism Tours, never heard of them!

Thanks that's what I was wondering, Sintra versus Nazare and Obidos. I will check out Jeronimos, hadn't heard about that. Thanks!

I thought we would do a three hour tuk tuk tour on Sunday, seeing as we would just be getting there after flying from Miami I don't think we'll be up to anything more strenuous than sitting in a tuk tuk and seeing the city. Our plan is to get an early dinner and go to sleep early so that we can be ready to see the sights on Monday. The problem is, we have to be at the ship no later than 4 pm for embarkation, so we can't do an excursion longer than 5 hours on Monday.

We are flying into Lisbon for a 9 day cruise (Celebrity Infinity) in May. We arrive at 8 am on a Sunday. Monday is embarkation day, we have to check in at the ship no later than 4 pm. We overnight in Lisbon and are there all the next day. I am trying to decide between two different excursions on Tuesday. One would go to Fatima, Obidos and Natare, a shore excursion from the ship. The other would go to Sintra, Cascais and the Estoril coast. With the Fatima, Obidos and Natare excursion, the plus is it included Fatima which is a must for us. However, we could do a half day tour from Lisbon to Fatima on Monday, before we have to go to the port. But I'm not sure it makes sense to drive for an hour and a half, spend the same amount of time in Fatima, then drive an hour and a half (or more) back to Lisbon as opposed to seeing Fatima as part of a larger excursion. However, the private tour of Fatima would pick us up at our hotel and drive us to the port at the end of the tour. On the other hand, I am interested in seeing the Pena Palace, which is included in the Sintra excursion. There are a few different Sintra excursions that I am looking at. One goes to both the Pena Palace and the Regaleira, another goes to Sintra and Cascais but doesn't include the Regaleira. Any advice or suggestions?

I was thinking of Costa Maya. So, are there any nice beaches when we get to Belize?

We will be docking at Belize next month, from a Celebrity ship, so not going to a private island. I think last time we were in Belize, there was a huge pool and a beach area near the port?, but I may be thinking of a different port. We are "lay on the beach" people, and I have already booked a resort for a day place at the two other stops we are making. Anyone who has gone there recently, can you tell me if I am remembering correctly?

The weather here in south Florida is so nice, we hate to leave home in the winter. Summer is hot here but when we cruise to a beach area, it is lovely to sit on the beach and enjoy the ocean breezes. Same for sea days we sit in a shady spot on the ship and enjoy the sea breeze.

Thanks all! It’s 45 this am down here in sunny South Florida with a high (a HIGH!) of 60. I’m gonna wear a long sleeve top and a pair of Sketcher pants and a couple of layers on top. Tomorrow for Key West, I’m just gonna wear my winter clothes.

play the noise down theSo, I’m from south Florida where anything under 80 degrees is considered “cool” and anything under 70 is “cold.” Our cruise is leaving this Saturday. It’s supposed to be a high of 60 in Miami. If we were here, running errands or whatnot, you’d see people wearing fashion or warm boots, definitely bundled up, warm long pants, etc. I am aware that when tourists come, you can see them on the beach or even in the ocean at those temps, but for us natives, we are cold. So, for embarkation day I can’t wear the cute sleeveless top and shorts I originally planned but what I would usually wear for that temperature would look stupid on a cruise ship? I’ve never taken a Caribbean cruise in the winter so do people dress differently (warmer)? Even in our Cancun stop it’s only supposed to be 80, which is lovely but not hot.

Thanks for all the input. I think we'll stick with the basic. We also have that plan from AT&T where for $10 per day you can use cellular data (it's an extra $5 for the second person) so if we need to use that we will.

True, I am a rum drinker and the rums I like are included in the classic package. DH likes Guinness but can certainly handle a different brand for 5 days. I think we'll stick with the classic.

We are sailing this Saturday. Our price included basic wi fi, which, according to the website today, is worth $16.99 per guest, per day. We have a 5 day cruise, so by my calculations, that comes to 84.95 for one guest for one device for the 5 day cruise. When I looked at my invoice, it said we got a credit of $100 per person, total, for wii fi. Which sounds like we come out ahead, since we got $100 credit for something that only costs $84.95, right? Premium wi-fi is showing it costs 29.99 per guest per day, so for a 5 day cruise, that would be $149.95 per guest for one device for the five day cruise. The difference between the price of the basic versus premium is $65, or $13 per guest per day difference, HOWEVER, they are also offering a "Premium Wi-Fi Upgrade Voucher" "from $15 per device per day. I guess that means it could be more than $15 per device per day? But why would I purchase a "Premium Wi-Fi Upgrade Voucher" for $15 per device per day, when it would only cost $14 per device per day to upgrade my plan without the voucher? Also, the description of the difference between the plans implies that we cannot access social media if we only get the basic plan. However, I have been on other ships where we only got the basic and we were able to access Facebook, Instagram, etc. by going through their URLs versus the app. I guess the question is, if we are going to check email, maybe post to Facebook, on a 5 day cruise, where two of the days we will be in ports where it won't cost extra to access the internet (Key West and Mexico, is it worth it to upgrade (we would use our OBC) and why would I get the voucher that costs $2 more than to just upgrade it directly? Please, no comments about how we are on vacation and should leave the electronics behind, etc. My vacation, how I choose to spend it, if on email or Facebook is my choice. Thanks!

There are very few drinks listed on the menus on the app, but I can still take a guess that the drinks that I like are probably similarly priced. For example, the menu lists a Frozen Daiquiri for $8, but does not show what a Pina Colada would cost. I'm going to assume it's a similar price. I usually get a Miami Vice (pina colada and strawberry daiquiri combined), so I assume it will be within the $10 limit of our Classic Package. I was trying to see if it was worth it to upgrade to the Premium package, but I was told that if we have the Classic package, we just pay the difference over $10 if we order a more expensive drink. The difference between the Classic and Premium, if purchased before boarding is about $18 pp per day, so I'd have to drink more drinks than I would usually drink per day to make it worth that while.

Oh wow, that sounds wonderful. My mother always used to order a "Toasted Almond" which was Kahlua, Amaretto and cream. I like the inclusion of Baileys and ice cream! I will have to order that next week.

How do you make a Frozen Toasted Almond? That sounds divine!

We just came off the British Isles cruise on the Emerald Princess and got Christmas ornaments every where we went. The gift shops in the various attractions all had them, most of the gift stores in all the places we went had them, there’s a Christmas store in Edinburgh on Victoria Street, pretty much any place you go you will find some. I was looking for a “hairy coo” ornament which proved the hardest to find. I think I found it in the gift store in the port. We got ornaments from the various castles we saw, from the Guinness Storehouse, and from each port. Love seeing them when we put up the tree each year!

The photos I had seen before booking it looked much more beautiful than it did to me, in person. Maybe it's our age, maybe more youthful people would have enjoyed walking over the rocks. Maybe it was because we were rushed, and our guide had told us that if we walked there and back, we'd only have about 15 minutes to actually look at everything. It just seemed that we spent more time getting there than actually being there and to me, it wasn't worth it. I'd rather just look at the pretty pictures other people posted.

To each their own! I'm sure some people enjoyed it. I would have rather just taken a ride into Belfast and done the Titanic on our own, or, taken an historic tour of Belfast and learned more about the troubles. We are more into history than geology.

On the Emerald Princess’s British Isles tour. Had wonderful tours and excursions in Guernsey, Cobh and Dublin. Felt that Giants Causeway from Belfast was a waste of time. If you’re a member of the National Trust, you can get the $13 Causeway Experience for free but if not they won’t even let you into the cafe to grab a takeaway or an ice cream cone. Be sure to bring cash (4 pounds total for two people round trip) for the shuttle that takes you up and back from the top. Otherwise it is a very long walk. Maybe it’s just me but I didn’t think spending almost 2 hours to get there and about 90 minutes to get back was worth it to look at a bunch of rocks. Our ship was supposed to dock at 8 am but due to some issues with the tide or something we didn’t dock till 9 and weren’t able to leave the ship until about 9:45. Our excursion which was supposed to start at 8:30 didn’t leave until maybe 10:15. Since our tour guide had booked tickets for the Titanic Experience for 3, we ended up having to skip our lunch stop. So I was glad I had taken along some protein bars and crackers at the last minute. The ride to Giant’s Causeway from Belfast was almost two hours including a 10-15 minute stop to see the rope bridge. Honestly we could have gone to the Titanic Museum on our own rather than being on a bus for most of the day.

We are doing a walking tour in the morning and then will have a few hours. We were going to go to Castle Coronet but now I’m thinking maybe Victor Hugo House or German Occupation Museum. If you had to choose between those three, which would you choose and which would be easiest to get there? We’re coming next week.

Someone mentioned Megabus? I checked and their website said they are no longer doing it but referred us to their partner, City Sightseeing. They also have red buses. I'll check their routes as suggested.

Exactly the information I was looking for!! Thanks John!

Our overnight flight arrives at 10:30 am London time, so we figured we'd drop our bags at the hotel (our room probably won't be ready yet) and take a sightseeing bus through London to start getting acclimated. Should we take a HOHO bus or a sightseeing bus or are they one and the same? Looking for something that would take us around to all the sights and give us some commentary, so we can get an overview before we have a few days to explore. Already booked Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Tower of London, which we will visit on subsequent days before our British Isles cruise.

Some of the excursions we are taking require paying the balance in cash (pounds sterling or euros) at the end of the excursions. Would that we could use our plastic for everything!

Very good point. I'm guessing we'll be tired/exhausted after making the trip from Miami FL, and as we are mid sixties, the idea of just finding the official taxi rank outside the terminal vs looking for or having to navigate our way to one of the airport car parks seems easier. On the other hand, wouldn't there be someone with a sign in the terminal or don't they do that any more?