snookie1

I looked up the National Trust info you mentioned, and it gave me exactly what I needed.  Thank you so much!

Peregrina, your list of BIE sites was helpful.  I had seen most of them, I think, but reread them all, and I did come away with some new information.  So thank you for that.  

Whitbob, thank you so much for your advice on the castle.  It sounds like an OK excursion, we'll see.  And DH is thrilled to hear all the good reports on the Ffestiniog railway.  That is a definite go for us!🙂

Thank you all for your excellent advice.   I am getting a better idea of what we should do in all these wonderful places.  Another question:  We would love to do the Coastal Drive and Glens of Antrim in Belfast, but I am concerned about the rating of "demanding" that it is given.  Has anyone been on this excursion?  What makes it demanding?  It says there are trails but you go at your own pace.  How far did you walk?  I love to walk, but I have a new knee (Dec 11th), and am not sure how it will fare.  Of course I have another 3 months until the cruise, so hopefully I'll be nearly back to normal.  Any advice??😕

We will soon be able to book our excursions for our BIE cruise on May 1st.  I am trying to line up the excursions we would like to book so when the time opens up for us, it will be a quick task.  I've run into a couple of questions that maybe some of you who have done this cruise before can help me with:

Is the Tower of London a worthwhile excursion?  Or can we do the same thing on our own in our 2 pre-cruise days in London?

In the included Canterbury excursion from Dover, do you get to go into the Cathedral?  Maybe on your own afterwards?  Can you walk from there back to the ship?

We are looking at the Walmar Castle and Sandwich excursion from Dover, and the Caernarfon Castle excursion from Holyhead, but we don't want to do a bunch of castles.  Is one of these better than the other?  What would you recommend?

We are interested in the Beauty of County Wicklow excursion from Dublin.  Has anyone taken this one?  Would you recommend it?

DH loves trains and would like to take the Ffestiniog Railway excursion from Holyhead.  Is it worth the 8 hour trip and the $209?

This is as far as I've gotten so far; I am sure I will have more questions as I continue.  I think the best source of information about excursions is the people who have been on them, so thank you in advance for any advice you can offer!☺️

We will be on this cruise May 1-15 and are thinking about the excursions we'd be interested in.  Was wondering if anyone has been on the Coastal Drive and Glens of Anthem excursion out of Belfast.  It is marked "demanding", but it doesn't sound as if there is anything particularly demanding about it.  Maybe some of the trails -- are they steep or very uneven?  Has anyone been on this excursion and can explain what may be involved?  I had a knee replacement in December, but am able to walk well; I just don't want to get in "over my head".  But the excursion does sound like something we would enjoy.  Thank you in advance.

18 hours ago, Azulann said:

I spent a week on a retreat in Glendalough. Go on a day trip to this most historic place if you come from Dublin.  It was the home of St. Kevin and his monastic community. There are two beautiful lakes, lots of Irish crosses and old stone churches,, a  great visitor center with artifacts, hiking trails with good signage and historical markers and beautiful overlooks.  A lovely hotel and restaurant overlooking one of the lakes for a lunch or break. 

https://glendalough.ie

Skip the  other sites and go straight to Glenalough, part of national park, in County Wicklow.

That sounds wonderful.  I guess we'd have to see about private transportation to the monastery.  Maybe as part of a small group Viator tour we would get more time there.  Has anyone taken these kinds of Viator tours?  Do they do a good job?  Thanks for your input.

20 hours ago, biggerbearmom said:

We did the Discover County Wicklow last September and we were disappointed.

It was expensive and it did not meet our expectations. The lunch was good, the gardens and grounds of Powerscourt were beautiful but rushed. Also, we had very little time to explore the monastic settlement in Glendalough. I personally would not recommend it.

Was this an 8-hour tour?  How long was the travel time to the gardens?  And then to the monastery?  Were you in a 40+ person bus?  Perhaps the smaller group Viator tour will give us more time?  Just collecting information now, and yours is appreciated.

22 hours ago, Kountess said:

Just out of curiosity, I looked at Viator and saw this tour - Chauffeur Driven Tour of Beautiful County Wicklow.  It sounds like the one we did, and it does show availability on May 5, with one price for up to three people.  The price has definitely gone up since 2022, however!

Huh,  that's funny.  When I look up that tour, May 5th is greyed out, and thus unavailable.  But you are right; it is a bit pricey.

So I just found this Viator tour and see that there is no tour running when we will be there on May 5, 2024.  (Or any other Saturday, Sunday, or Monday in May.)  So we can opt for a small group tour from Viator, I suppose; we'll have to see what Viking offers.

Thank you so much Kountess.  It sounds like you had a wonderful tour.  I will certainly look into this; hopefully Bob hasn't gotten the last seats!!

I am looking at the excursions that might be offered on our BIE cruise in May.  For our day in Dublin I see 2 offerings that go to County Wicklow.  One is called "Discover County Wicklow"; the other is called " The Beauty of County Wicklow".  Has anyone been on either of these?  Would you recommend them?  Is there a difference between the two?  From the description they sound pretty much identical to me.  Any advice would be welcome.  Thank you.

Or, do as we did and call Viking.  Sometimes they can find you a table for 2, or they will ask if you mind being seated with others.  We chose to be seated at a table for 8 and got our preferred 6PM seating and had a wonderful time talking with the other couples.☺️

11 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

I am wondering, and so hoping, you got flights you like.  Let us all know.  

I am so happy to report that my TA called today and said she called Viking early this morning and questioned them if we would be able to book our flights now.  They said that the rules have recently changed, and for Air Plus customers they can book their flights much earlier (didn't say how early) than non-Air Plus customers.  They looked up the flights I had suggested to my TA, said both were available, and at no extra charge.  So she made the reservations.  We are not ticketed yet, and I was going to do that right away, but I am expecting to have knee replacement surgery before the end of the year, and, though my doctor says I should be "back to normal" in 3 months, you never know.  So I asked her to question Viking if we are ticketed if there would be a problem if we have to move the dates of our cruise.  Waiting on that answer now.  But I am so grateful for the help I have gotten here; I would never have known that we could get our flights this early.  Muchos Gracias!!

1 hour ago, SantaFe1 said:

Before you call your TA pick 2-3 acceptable flights, and number them according to your preference.  Also pick the seats you want for all of the flights.  Don’t just let you TA pick.  When we get Air plus, I try to get my flights and seats set up as soon as they are open, usually about 300 days from the date of the return flight.  Most are wide open then.  And if Viking says they don’t have your preferred flights, check back.  For our Med cruise in February, Viking told us we couldn’t have our preferred flight, and then about three weeks later, it was available to us.  I was also told I couldn’t choose seats for our KLM flight from Bergen, but a few weeks later, the seat map popped up and I snagged two good seats.  For some reason, we seem to have better luck with Viking Air than others here.

1 hour ago, Cruising Domer said:

 

I agree with this, and as crazy as this sounds, if there are codeshares for the flights you are interested in, have those flight numbers available too.  On our cruise this past summer, there was a flight we were interested in which happened to be a flight operated by American Airlines.  We were unable to book the AA flight; however, we were able to book that same flight via the British Airways flight number under their codesharing arrangement.

Thanks for all this advice.  I've found a couple of good flights; I will e-mail them to my TA now.

On 10/19/2023 at 12:01 AM, CDR2001 said:

Snooki, you or TA can call Viking Air plus and select your preferred flights and seats from the options on the Viking air contract. That’s what you’re paying for with plus. Don’t wait for flights to appear on MVJ, talk to a rep. We have our flights for next April all set… unless the airline makes a change. We will request early ticketing. Fingers crossed! 

I will do just that.  Thank you so much!

On 10/18/2023 at 6:02 PM, SantaFe1 said:

I don’t really think it’s because of business class, but because we paid $150 pp to be able to chose our flights and seats.  Our TA called and arranged our choices a few months ago.  Got them right off, no extra charge besides the business fare originally quoted (which was about $2000 pp less than what we got through Viking). The other thing I think is that because we have to fly out of ABQ, which is an airport that doesn’t fly that many places, there are only so many flights Viking can put us on.  And, I have to laugh, because there are so few, we have taken the same international leg several times with Viking, notably the Frankfurt to Denver flight on United, and the Amsterdam to SLC flight on Delta (or in reverse).  We did both of these this year and will do AMS to SLC again coming home from BIE.

Huh!  We also paid the $150 to be able to choose our seats and flights.  I will e-mail my TA right now and see if she can get some flights for us!  Thanks for putting that bee in my bonnet!

2 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

We used Air Plus so we could chose our own flights and the seats we wanted.  These are in business class on all flights.  We have had the same flights and seats for several months, and I actually changed our KLM seats to move us out of row 1 about a month ago.  Now, all that being said, these flights have been chosen and seats selected, and nothing has changed in months.  But the flights are NOT yet ticketed.  We had our TA ask to have them ticketed and Viking said they would ticket them after final payment, which for us is Nov. 9.  I am well aware that nothing is solid until ticketed, and even after that, the flights could be changed by the airline,  I guess we are lucky, though.  We have never had problems using Viking Air Plus.

OK.  So maybe it is because you are doing Business Class; we are in the cheap seats.  I do realize that you have to be ticketed before you actually "own" them, but we did make our final payment last month, and nothing is showing up on MVJ.

On 10/15/2023 at 12:23 PM, SantaFe1 said:

Well, I have Air Plus for our Douro River cruise in Nov 2024.  So I guess if you already have it, it remains, but if you want to order it now, they don’t have it anymore.  I also have it for our BIE cruise next May, with flights chosen, seats assigned etc.  they confirmed that with me just last week.  To be ticketed next month.  But I guess for our April 2025 cruise we are on our own!

We will also be doing the BIE cruise next May, and have Air Plus for this.  I am surprised to see that you have flights and seat assigned already.  I just checked MVJ again, and it says that our flights will not be assigned until Jan 30th!  Any ideas why the discrepancy?  I booked through a TA.  Might that have something to do with it?  Just wondering if I should reach out to our TA and see if she can get some flights for us.  TIA

Our favorite was South America and the Chilean Fjords last December.  There was just the right mixture of sea days to port days for us, and we got to see PENGUINS!!  Which was something on our bucket list.  And cruising around the Horn was fabulous.  Gorgeous scenery.  

OK.  Thank you.  We have that set up, so it should be easy when the time comes!

Can someone explain please what ACH is?

Oh my goodness, dbtrb22!  We very much want to do the Churchill War Rooms, but the 500 pounds for the private tour you took is too pricy for us.  I looked at the official website, and saw that they offer a guided tour before the Rooms open to the public for 47.25 pounds.  That is more in line with our budget.  I am sure your experience was invaluable, though, and thank you for suggesting it.

I am beginning to feel more comfortable with the idea of navigating on the Tube, thanks to everyone's helpful comments!

I'll have to look into that!🙂

That is the impression I am getting, Redtravel.  I plan to get my Rick Steves guide and see what we can do on our own.  Thanks for the advice!

7 hours ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

If you go to Tile Trackers | Bluetooth Tracker for Keys, Wallets, Cars, and More

and click on the How It Works drop down arrow, they have lots of info to help you.  Also check out

Tile Support (thetileapp.com)

for the Support/How To's.  

Will do!  Thank you!!