HawaiiUK

No we don't know everyone else, but a couple of comments made me want to add an 'it's a small world after all', if I may...

On that other travel forum related to this one, we have pub meets occasionally in London. I hardly ever get to them. On this one occasion, I decided to go; got chatting to an Israeli couple, so I asked whereabouts they came from as my brother lives in Israel. Haifa. Oh, that's where my brother lives. 'I work at the university there'. So does my brother. [pause] 'You're not (my brother)'s sister, are you?' Yes!! So it can happen.

Oh, and decades ago my Aunt & Uncle went to Australia as their son was living there. They got chatting to an ex-pat who invited them back for dinner with them and their neighbours... The neighbours also were ex-pats from England, and were in fact my parents' ex-next door neighbours!

Just to add that the Queen can be in residence (although unlikely in September) and the castle is still open to the public. It's when there are state occasions or special occasions such as Prince Harry's recent wedding, or the Order of the Garter Ceremony that the castle's closed.

For anyone going in the near future, I really would recommend purchasing tickets online before you go. I've been to Windsor several times recently, and the queues for on the day tickets have reached down Castle Hill and almost all the way to the Curfew Tower.

I picked a couple up from LHR this week. Their flight landed at 07.10 - they got through to arrivals at 10.10!! I think T3 was having a bad day, as a lot of people coming through were complaining about the length of time. However it's more typical for people to get through between 50 - 60 minutes after landing. Sooner if in business class. Don't know whether an ordinary taxi would've waited 2 hours for them though.

Hi,

I met a couple at the airport who had flown in that morning to LHR for their cruise departure that afternoon from Southampton. Their cruise departure had already been delayed an hour (which proved to be a good thing). They arrived at 7.10am ... and got through to me at 10.10am!! We visited Stonehenge as requested, although I felt I had to rush them around. We also visited a small village, but I had to cancel the lunch booked for them, as well as the rest of the tour, and we got to their ship at 2.45pm. It's an 'all's well ends well' kind of story, but it did just reinforce my decision to arrive at my own cruise embarkation port a couple of days before the sail date 'just in case'.

Hi

Thanks for that. Cueva del Indio was also mentioned, and a coffee farm. But to be honest, as long as we have the radio telescope to keep my husband happy, and we get to see what the countryside is like, we'll be happy.

I discovered a bit too late about Bio Bay and when we go it'll be a half-moon, so I'm not sure the experience would be so good as at a new moon.

Looking forward to our little adventure!

Thanks for your replies. As I mentioned, the first day we have booked a full day private tour with Carlos (who is mentioned a lot on here) but that takes us further west to Arecibo, and some caves etc in that area.

So if we don't have to be there until 7pm, that's excellent. I do feel we'll have time to explore Old Town San Juan (our b&b is in the old town) and get out to El Yunque. If I do it that way round, then whoever we use for the rainforest part hopefully can then just drop us and our luggage at the port afterwards.

Hello, Our cruise departs at 8.30pm (in November). We're arriving late evening, have one full day in P.R. and then this departure day. I was planning on using this for sight-seeing and embarking as late as possible. But I have a half-remembered memory of a thread (which I can't find) that suggested we embark at midday, and then go off again in the afternoon to look around San Juan.

We are in a Concierge stateroom, and I know there's a lunch provided, but in all likelihood this is the only time we'll be out in the Caribbean, so I'd rather try and squeeze in a trip to El Yunque (all 15% of its open bit at the moment, I know) and Old San Juan, based on the assumption that we'll get fed rather well once we're on board even if it's not lunchtime, and a Concierge welcome lunch is no reason to miss out on sightseeing.

Am I missing something? I'd quite like to board around 5.30 / 6pm.

Ps the previous day we've booked Carlos to take us to the Arecibo radio telescope and other sights out that way.

Many thanks!

Doing this in November, but in reverse. What time did your ship sail? I think ours leaves at 8pm, and I'm kind of wondering if we need to be on board so early. Basically I've booked a slightly expensive hotel in San Juan (just don't tell the husband!) and want to get the most of out that, and not leave too soon!

I'm sorry MM Down Under; I must be being obtuse, but am genuinely wondering - so you're saying it's ok for the tour provider to lose their income for the day because they should offer a refund? I would have thought wowzz point of having cruise insurance means everyone's 'happy'. The tour provider isn't out of pocket, and the cruise passenger isn't out of pocket either (or not much).

Out of interest, regarding those tours who've been paid upfront / deposit and who don't refund... what are they supposed to do? It seems to me they have planned for, and are available to do the tour. If they refund money because of the ship not docking, then they have lost that day's earnings through no fault of their own. That doesn't seem fair either!

We did a private shore excursion with Orkney Uncovered a few years back now. We were able to keep ahead of the ship's excursions, which was great. I'd also recommend the Orkney highlights for a first time visit.

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But I hope you have a lovely cruise!

Funnily enough I think I remember reading that 2 hour before and after. Are you on Celebrity Summit, Strawberry? I just thought it a bit weird and wondered if they meant embarkation and disembarkation day. *shrugs shoulders*

I was in Southampton for the Getaway - I was providing a private tour for some people. Having expected to pick them up at 08.30am, I could see (from the Southampton dock schedule website) that the arrival time was getting more and more delayed. But I swapped things around with the midday arrival. I happened to be there to see the ship sail in, as I had run out of things to do with my time otherwise. And there I and all the other drivers and friends waited, and waited and waited. And as the time ticked on, I was ticking things off. Bath? Forget it. Salisbury AND Stonehenge? No, it will have to be one or the other. Finally they got through 4 hours later. Too late for both Salisbury and Stonehenge. I couldn't believe there were still coaches departing, and I'm not surprised to hear how little time people would have got attempting to go to London.

My group? I took them to Avebury instead and we had a pub dinner. I got home just before midnight. But I've never experienced anything like that before and whilst these things may have (mostly) been out of NCL's control, I don't understand how people can suggest cruisers shouldn't be disappointed. I'd have been bitterly disappointed to miss out on the Azores, Brest, the best part of a day in Southampton and Bruges.

So yeah, it impacted an awful lot of people that day, not just crew and passengers...

Ok, I'm back!

And I still can't fully answer my own question! We were given a fairly late embarkation time, so by the time we arrived, the other car park was full, and we were told to park in the area right outside the terminal! Happy with that!!

We allowed a lot of time to get there, mostly allowing time on the south side of the tunnel, and once through knew we had time to stop for lunch in Thurrock. Coming home, we had no problems getting over the bridge, but the queue from Kent into the tunnel was horrendous because of an accident earlier that day. We were feeling sorry for anyone who might be joining the cruise that day stuck in that queue.

Another vote for Windsor.

Allow an hour to get through to Arrivals; back at the airport 2-3 hours before your flight departure; 20 - 30 minutes by taxi each way and you've got more than enough time to visit the castle, look around the town and have some lunch. Book your castle ticket online to save queuing on the day.

I usually recommend 5starwindsor.com or windsortaxis.co.uk as they will also look after luggage for an extra fee. Costs about £25 each way; slightly more for arrivals if you want them to meet you in the arrivals hall.

Hampton Court is further away - I'd allow 40 minutes to get there, and an hour to get back, especially if it's nearing 5pm. Again, book your ticket online - cheaper too.

True. Fenchurch Street is even worse for us. I'm Kentish-born but live in Hampshire. Our time for embarkation is late-ish afternoon, so (touch wood) plenty of time to drive there, avoiding rush hour traffic. If early, we could visit relatives in Dartford, or perhaps have a nice lunch, maybe on the Essex side as I am a worrier when it comes to travel; would much rather be somewhere hours early than a minute too late.

You could make it, but my gut feeling is saying make it a bit later. The M3 and the M25 / M20 are the unknowns. And all you need is 'Operation Stack' to be in place on the M20 that day... I would have thought it would take longer than 2.5 hours on a July Saturday to be honest. Plus you should arrive 1/2 hour before your departure time.

I think I'd say 12.30 or 1pm, as I'd rather not fret about the roads, and be happy if I arrived early, rather than be stressed if the roads are bad.

Hi,

Thank you for your replies. I am a Brit. Believe me, I've looked at all the various options. Essentially it's come down to convenience - driving and car parking is cheaper than a taxi from home, and less hassle / time (M25 allowing) than getting up to London to catch the bus.

The only downside that I can see is I'm already thinking I don't need to be so careful about what I pack! How many evening dresses and pairs of shoes can I fit in? ;)

Hi,

We'll be driving to Tilbury for our cruise on the Marco Polo. From what I've gleaned, the car park is about a mile from the terminal? Would I be able to drive up to the ship area, drop the luggage and then go and park? Would make using the shuttle bus less of a hassle without the suitcases. Or do I have to park first and get the shuttle with all the luggage?

Many thanks.

We loved having a balcony. On the day we arrived in Stockholm, I got up early to see the archipelago, and then we had breakfast in our cabin, and watched the scenery unfurl whilst still in our pyjamas and dressing gown. Felt quite decadent!

A balcony will never be a waste of money for us, even on port-intensive days. It's each to their own.

I got a starboard side suite because our cruise was travelling anti-clockwise just in case we could see anything of the land.

I've arrived at Stonehenge outside of my allotted time on a few occasions now, and not yet had a problem getting in.

If you have a look at the website the day before, or whenever you can access it, you can get an idea from their booking calendar how busy it's going to be (ie if all the time slots are sold out or just have 1 or 2 spaces available) vs 'available'. If most slots are 'available' you shouldn't have a problem turning up early or late for your slot.

At least with Salisbury Cathedral it IS 'suggested donation' and if you want to enter for free, all you need to do is walk past the booth. Or you can pay £1. £6.95. Or £20. It's really up to you, so I don't see the problem. Winchester DOES have an admission charge - If you go a lot, one ticket will do for the rest of the year so works out to be good value. Not so great if you're there for one time only. But the cathedral is fantastic, and there's a lot to see. Better value than Stonehenge, I'd say.

Ah yes, That name came up in my google search too. It just didn't sound right (I must be mis-remembering how the name sounded) which is why I wanted to check. But blow me; put that into Google maps, and up it comes. Which is annoying as I'd already gone onto Google maps and not spotted it!

Thank you! I can carry on with the photo book now.

Finally, I'm sorting out a photobook of our Baltic cruise back in August - and I'm stumped on the name of the old dockyard full of Soviet era ships and submarine after you've left port and are on the way to Helsinki.

I remember somebody writing about it on here - but I can't find the thread.

Please could someone remind me of its name? Thanks!

Ps I feel slightly ashamed that I never got around to writing a trip report. :(

We got to see a bit of St Petersburg we never anticipated seeing - we did so much fast walking on the first day, that my husband's knee gave out. He nearly didn't go on the 2nd day, but our guide and driver (it was a tour for just the 3 of us) stopped at a pharmacy, and translated for us so DH got a knee brace which did the trick.

We were very pleased with TJ Travel.