lexdisic

13 hours ago, jaxw17 said:

We are on this one on the 14th February. Love this part of the world. First time we went to Thailand it was 72 baht to the £.

same cabin as we were on Discovery on its stricken cruise from aquba to Dubai. hope the electric holds out !

We were on it too - hoping to get on it this year so we can get to see the ports we missed - I wonder if they will give us it at the same price as we booked it for last year.

Post office at the moment is 37.86TBaht =£1- Superich in Bangkok will give 40.40 to the £. We got 44 to the £ last March = 10% drop 😞

20 hours ago, merciaman said:

The Vietnamese Dong is not a closed currency and is readily available here. We are due on board on the 31st so may bump into each other! I think i am just taking dollars but making sure i get small denominations as any change will be given in local currency

I stand corrected regarding Dong being a closed currency, but at nearly 26,000 to the £, small denomination $ has to be preferable. Enjoy your trip - wish we were going too 😞

8 minutes ago, Gate54 said:

Thanks for that. I’ve just checked on line and the excursions are now available.

As a matter of interest - let us know how up to date cruisingexcursions compare for your cruise

2 minutes ago, Gate54 said:

Just checked prices for cruising excursions.com and they are very expensive.

Like for like they were not for our upcoming cruise -e.g. £48 Marella £42 for cruisingexcursions - but the OP wanted to know about excursions for their cruise and this is a good guide to whats on offer. Of course you will always get cheaper from cutting out these middlemen and going to the company that actually does the excursion. We now mostly do our own thing and only use the cruise lines tours if there is very little in it due to the insurance factor that they won't sail without you.

39 minutes ago, merciaman said:

We have been thinking of booking one of the Asian cruises for Jan/Feb time, but finding out the price of excursions has so far proved impossible.

Marella will not tell you until after you book! How are you supposed to budget your cruise? I am assuming that most of the ports will involve booking excursions

as most attractions seem to be miles away and booking locally will be a no-no I assume,unlike the carribean so the cost for two could run into £1000+. Any other advice on the ports will be much appreciated

You can book similar excursions to the cruise line here -  https://www.cruisingexcursions.com/

Their prices tend to beat them too. Just enter the details of cruise you're looking at and the itinerary will pop up showing excursions available.

You will also find plenty of reputable excursion companies that are "local" and much cheaper too - alot of the time the cruise company use these companies themselves. Asia is very tourist friendly and are geared up for cruise passengers. Google is your friend - just type the city and excursions

7 hours ago, nancyneptune said:

 

Someone suggested that solos should wait for price to drop then book twin cabin for two but only one show up. May not save much by doing this but will definitely get a better cabin.  

 

If all solos did this then maybe solos would start to get a better deal from Marella and other cruise companies.

 

 

I would be careful with that tactic and check with the cruise line first before booking. Someone on CC reported that they tried to do that and were refused. The cruise lines apparently prefer 2 guests as they will spend more while on board compared to one. There are little or no savings to be had by not feeding the second passenger as the food and drink is already allowed for  -  the bean counters try to extract the maximum. I was looking at a cruise, forget which line, which was charging singles 2.5x the PP fare. Most unfair but only to be as expected from cruise lines these days. Years ago the small ships eg Marco Polo, charged the single fare with no supplement regardless of cabin - profit,profit, profit these days - such a shame.

1 hour ago, MGB1973 said:

Hi

 

Just got back from Discovery. I think opening times were 08:00 - 20:00. There are stretch / abs classes from 7am and a cycle / yoga class a couple of times a day at a £7.00 charge. 

 

I took my gear and trainers, never made it to the gym though. Someone mentioned the indoor pool is open 24 hours,  didn't make that either. 

 

Hope you are more motivated / dedicated than me 😊

 

Someone else will post if I've got any info wrong. 

Thx - Not for me - DW is under the illusion she will go before breakfast - never happened yet 🙂

Hi

My searching not up to scratch so can anyone tell me the opening times for the gym please.

Many thanks

4 hours ago, oxygenbanditnot said:

 

Will prices for Manchester come down at various times in the next year?

Anything is possible, but really depends on the demand at any given time. The cruise I was on fluctuated so many times (Birmingham flight) by £3-£400 for an os until it was sold out and then a balcony from LGW was a further £300 cheaper again. You have to stay glued to the screen and just watch for the deals and strike when you're happy with it, things can change on a daily basis. I also tend to find more deals online from independant TA's rather than direct and then quote their price to my TA who invariably beats it 🙂

I wouldn't be hasty to jump ship just yet. Gone are the days where booking early had a price advantage - the only one being the choice of cabin. All cruise lines work on supply and demand algorithms that set the price,  and as they've just come out, they haven't had chance to calculate it yet. For a few years now I have watched the prices for this year and waited for the deals to appear that closely match it - and they always do appear - then book when I am happy about it. Patience and flexibility are the key - we've always had a good deal and a good TA to get it - just watch and wait.

25 minutes ago, Skills said:

Yikes now I’m not sure then, maybe by the time I have paid commission on say £30  it may be easier to just swallow the higher price in USD as I have some anyway. It’s mainly for a tip or drink on an tour outing as I’m only there 1 day. Thank you .

If you already have some US$ and you are on a trip like Oh-But-Is-It says, then they will be accepted but just take small notes as the change that you will be given will be in JD. Unlike some places here in the UK, you will not be charged commission over there for changing money and the rate is better. Get Dirhams over there with your GBP for Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas, Dubai - always better off with local currency

1 hour ago, Skills said:

We are going on this cruise and will need only a small amount of money for tips, are USD in Jordan acceptable please?

\Hi

It will depend on what you wish to buy.  Numerous places such as restaurants are likely to accept USD but the smaller local shops etc will only take JD. Those that do accept USD are likely to be the tourist places with higher prices and give you a poor rate so you may as well just take GBP and avoid the exchange rate to dollars in the first place. If you're doing Petra, US$ are widely accepted but again the prices are high and remember that the JD symbol is $ as well and cost more than US$.

2 hours ago, gramwold said:

hi all.   yes we will have to bight the bullet and change £ to $ over here  and get  malay, thai, Singapore, money locally. the visa for Cambodia will def  cost us 30 us but hope marella  will charge it to onboard account.  balibeach0 you will not be disappointed  we love to cruise, been doing it since 2005   but not yet cruised to far east but have been there before, it will be a first for Cambodia/Vietnam though.  like you cant wait.    thanks again lexdisic  and enjoy your jollies to Thailand in march

Thx gramwold - we're also off to Aqaba to Dubai in just under 4 weeks on Discovery.  The majority of our cruises involve the middle/far east - never tire of it - just like cruising - smashing

4 minutes ago, Balibeach0 said:

I was last in Thailand in 2006 and got approx 70thb to £1 back then. It was a bit of a disappointment when I checked the exchange rates when booking the cruise. 

And the $ was nearly 2 to the £ then too.   😞

Just looking at the exchange rates - very poor at the moment. Thai Baht are for £100  = 39.7bht to the £ from the Post Office and in Thailand using Superich Exchange which is one of the best is still only 42.2 - a difference of around 250bht or £6 on £100 converted. Other currencies are doing just as badly - seems no-one wants our £ 😞

2 hours ago, Balibeach0 said:

Thanks for the info, we go on this cruise on 18th January boarding in Langkawi so will be half way through our holiday when you board gramwold. 

 

I was planning to take some Thai Baht,  Malaysian Ringgit and Singapore Dollars, and then get the other currency when we get there (using a fee free card), I hadn’t planned on getting any US dollars to take in case we end up having to just exchange them back again when back in the UK. I’m unsure if I’d be better off doing this now though 🤔

 

So excited, this will be our first cruise and cannot wait!

Hi

You certainly need some USD for Vietnam/Cambodia - the local currency is a closed one so you will be unable to change it back when you get home. Like I said earlier, you are 10-15% better off changing your money there - they are geared up for the tourist so competition there gets you great deals.

2 minutes ago, gramwold said:

many thanks for all of the info lexdisic,  it will come in handy.  cant wait for it now

You're welcome. We love Asia - the people, the food, the weather 🙂 - we go most years, Thailand next March for us but land hol this time - cheap as chips too

Have a great time

45 minutes ago, gramwold said:

hi all  we are going to the far east on marella discovery on 24th jan and the only place that we need a visa at a cost of $30 per person is Cambodia,  as we will dock there on our second day from Thailand,  will marella charge us this fee to our on board account or will we have to hand the Cambodian port officials 30 us dollars. also the travel money shop says we cant get Cambodian and Vietnamese currency here and will have to get it over there.    we will need Singapore dollars  thai bhat ,malasian ringets,  will it be best to take a supply  of us dollars as well.   anyone with previous cruise experience to these places  and the money  visa thing   would be greatly appreciated. also anyone else flying out of Manchester on 24th january

Hi

Cambodia/Vietnam - dont bother with local currency even the Vietnamese themselves US dollars, taxi's cafes, markets take them.

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia dependant on what you are doing, the majority of the time you will need local currency for local things including taxi's. Places where they do accept dollars (not many) will rip you off.

The exchange rate will always be better from local money changers - much better than you get here and better than the ship can offer. Make a note of what it is here at the time and compare to the rate at the changers. They are everywhere so just compare - you should get 10 - 15% better rate than here.

IF you are charged for the visa it will be charged to your account

13 hours ago, jaxw17 said:

We are off on a middle east cruise in November. We will be visiting Bharain, sir yani bas Dubai etc what currency will we need can anyone help who is going or has been

Thanks

Hi

UAE stops - Dubai - Abu Dhabi - Sir Bani Yas are UAE Dirhams

Jordan $JD but will accept $US

Oman -OMR Rials They will accept Dirhams ad US$ in the souks but any change will be given in OMR and at a not very good rate.

Bahrain - Bahrain Dinar but US$ widely accepted 

We have found that the best exchange rate is from the money changers in the towns. There are plenty of them and are way better than you get here. Avoid port and ship exchanges as they tend to be worse than here. As usual, spend your coins as they cannot be exchanged back to pounds or give them to the staff if - they will spend it or the charity collections in the airports and planes. We have already got a few dirhams and dollars from previous trips but its useful to get some so that you can get taxi's from the ports if need be.

I only wish they would learn by their mistakes.

We can but hope :)

But surely changes are part and parcel of cruising especially when some are sold 2 years ahead! We missed Grand Cayman due to bad weather and ended up in Jamaica yet again :( We liked our itinerary because it included Cuba but our holiday wasnt ruined because we were unimpressed. The whole Caribbean area is playing catch up with weather events and cruising itineraries have changed as less affected islands get more ships. What would ruin a holiday is booking 2 weeks somewhere that was awful. At least on a cruise there is always the next port to look forward to.

Nobody is disputing changes are part and parcel of cruising - in this case it is the way TUI are handling it thats the problem. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise to the Caribbean, and circumstances didn't spoil it for you, but for some the whole point of going is this stop and like in our case with the Pyramids omission, we would prefer to have the option to cancel and not have to accept the alternatives - which fortunately we did as there are no alternatives to Pyramids. Seems TUI has taken away the choice by not letting people decide for themselves whether they still want it by hiding behind T&C's when they've paid.

I know! It has been unbelievable. It is my first experience of Marella too!!!!!

 

I think the worst has been the total lack of communication and all the conflicting info being bandied around because the people inside the organisation don't know what is going on.

 

Family members work in IT and I do understand that new systems often need a lot of bedding in and can go wrong and can miss deadlines ( remembering that first plan was the online booking ready for mid August, then beg Sep, then middle, then late September... and still not here) .

 

But I can't understand why TUI Marella can't put up a corporate statement/explanation on their website and FaceBook pages and also send the same to all departments and stores and to affected customers, so that we ALL know what is going on??

 

Is this too much to ask?

I agree whole heartedly. We have cruised with 8 different cruise lines and they have all been pretty much the same when it comes to their websites - something I don't understand considering the years of practice they've all had and the amount of business it does. The difference between the good and bad ones is the way they resolve the problems. None will admit there has been a problem and some can solve issues over the phone quite well - TUI on the other hand seems to be unable to whether its an IT issue or as you say, a lack of communication between departments.

I won't let this type of thing stop me from booking again with any of the lines - if I did, I would never cruise again.

I have got a good independant TA who is on the ball and will eventually sort these things out for me without the hassle. This is where it may be going wrong as TUI cruises is being resolved by TUI agents and the buck will be passed ad infinitum between them until someone owns up - IF they ever admit it of course

Thanks for that. Had a look at the available excursions and they look pretty good. May go down this route if TUI don't get their act together in the next fortnight.

We're looking at the Dhow cruise in Khasab from them. Little bit cheaper too - may avoid alot of kerfuffle getting our tickets onboard from TUI - they're not inspiring confidemce at the moment,

Not TUI but excursions from another company that follow most cruise lines itineraries recommended from my TA. Private excursions are quite expensive but like for like ones work out cheaper. They all use the same operators in the ports and no guarantee the ship wont sail without you if these are late back, but for half days I think there is very little or no risk.

https://www.cruisingexcursions.com/itinerary/marella-cruises/marella-discovery/22-11-2018/14/2

A couple of points about our stop in Muscat from the roll call thread :-

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?p=57169265#post57169265