WeeCountyMan

Question time please.

Thinking about a cruise with the grandkids, six and five, around next Easter.

Are any of the Marella ships suitable - staffed kids clubs and activities etc. ?

Thanks.

We've sailed from Newcastle once before, however we had no time to recce the local area.

Thanks.

Glad to hear the hard bit uphill is unladen !!!

Thanks Colin.

Apolgies for appearing dense - just to sure, FO berths near the Outlet Centre ?

It's not clear on the maps I found.

I believe this retail centre is near the Port of Tyne - is it walkable from where FO ships are located ?

It appears to be on the north side of the river, and I can't remember if Fred berths on the south or not.

"Apparently staff on their MSC ship stated that no form of compensation was appropriate as it was not their liner that caused the incident."

That opinion is from staff on the other MSC liner which was waiting to berth, not the Opera.

Apologies, I missed the relevant tram detail in post #5 - wasn't paying enough attention !!!

The locals usually speak better English than I do !!!

Friends of mine were on the next ship, also an MSC cruise liner, waiting to berth when Opera was involved in the accident - as a result they were 5 hours late and missed their homeward flight.

Apparently staff on their MSC ship stated that no form of compensation was appropriate as it was not their liner that caused the incident.

However, as MSC are the parent cruise line would it be appropriate for them to accept responsibility and reimburse flight costs ?

My friends are only looking for the cost of their flight home.

Any thoughts from people in the know ?

OK it seems to be a fair(ish) hike to Anne Frank's house, we are fit enough to hack that, but maybe it would be better to get some form of local transport, at least on the way there, maybe walk back.

Is there a tram that would suit ?

Yes, and thanks for the walking heads up.

We were in Amsterdam last year and took a canal boat from a jetty near the rail station.

Got off at the stop for the Anne Frank house,  totally unaware you had to book entrance tickets well in advance.

I was in auto pilot mode (our travelling friends led the way) and didn't pay much attention to the canal boat options - is it safe to assume you can pay for a roundtrip journey on a hop on hop off basis ?

We have a chance to visit again this summer, so I want to make sure I get it right this time !!!

The nights are long up that way in the summer, so I don't think it'll make much difference one way or the other which dinner sitting.

On our Norway cruise a few years back we sat up on deck around 11pm and it was still light enough to see all the scenery etc.

If you were to consider driving down, you can leave your car at Ferry Toll free of charge.

https://www.ferrytoll.org/

We've done so for a couple of package holidays out of Edinburgh airport, no problems at all.

You'd need to 'phone and find out the maximum number of days allowed.

There is a bigger facility at Halbeath, just up the road in Dunfermline, which may allow longer stays.

Update - I searched for Railcard on the Money Saving Expert forum and came up with a Tesco deal to get a "free" Two Together railcard.

You need £10 in Tesco vouchers, which 'er indoors had - then follow the instructions which are straightforward.

You need a passport size photo to include with your electronic application - all I needed to do was scan our passport images, crop them down and attach - there is a function on the application which allows you to fit (reduce or enlargen)the image to their specified size.

A £30 railcard for £10 value Tesco vouchers, plus a third off tickets from Newcastle to home is a decent saving.

Thanks folks.

Taxi to rail station looks best option.

Can get 1/3 off train tickets if we buy a railcard, and I believe the "Two Together" card @ £30 is the best deal, rather than two separate cards, a 50% saving.

Thanks Tring - we need to go in the opposite direction, port to rail station. as soon as possible after berthing.

I'll 'phone Fred again and ask - when I called the other day to enquire it was a waste of time and effort.

We are looking at the L1919 cruise out of Newcastle on 7th August, "Cruising European Rivers & Canals" for nine nights.

Very conveniently there is a one night repositioning cruise from Rosyth (not far along the road from us) to Newcastle the day before, so we can add that and cut out a journey down to Geordieland.

Obviously that leaves the question of getting home when the cruise ends in Newcastle on 16th August.

Can the resident experts here please advise - is it easy enough to get from the port to Newcastle rail station, or any other suggestions on how to get back to central Jockland ?

There won't be any problem.

My wife and I still have a chuckle about our first ever cruise which was on Princess - she clocked the notice for the daily "Friends Of Dorothy" get togethers and expressed an interest in attending out of curiousity - without a clue as to what they were about. Fortunately she didn't follow this up.

On our next cruise, also Princess, she casually asked fellow diners one evening what the name meant - and got a huge red face when her innocence was exposed by the explanation.

Enjoy your FO experience.

For the benefit of this dumb Jock - what exactly is a Black & White theme night ?

The words TUI and free are rarely found in the same sentence!!!

In my long experience of TUI, cruises and hotel packages, they don't do free.

Can't be many cruise lines that charge extra to select a cabin ?

Having said that, on a couple of cruise we had a compilmentary £25 credit voucher for the onboard account.

No idea how or why we qualified for that nice little earner though.

I can't mind if there was one on our most recent FO cruise this summer - it was from Rosyth so that might explain it !!!

There was on our first Fred the previous year and the plastic flags etc. was embarrasingly cringeworthy - we gave that aspect the big bodyswerve.

The singalong in the theatre is OK if you like that sort of thing.

Would this possibly be the 26 night cruise that is going to Canada?

A mystery cruise to Canada ?

The aircraft would have to lose fuel to land, hence the 1 hour 20 mins before landing at Gatwick. It would only land immediately if it was an extreme emergency.

Would a cracked window not be considered an extreme emergency ?

They also knew very little about cruises, telling me that I would not need my passport

Over many years experience I had come to the conclusion that nothing could surprise me about Thomsons/TUI's ineptitude...........but that has revised my thinking.

Apparently there is a new online system going live from the start of November

Hopefully no repeat this time.