bconley351

I was mistaken on my earlier post. We do have NCL airfare both ways, but it was recommended that we book our own hotel for our pre cruise 1 night, which we have at a hotel that we used the last time we cruised out of Rome. I called our cruise consultant and advised the air deviation desk of my mobility problems, and asked that the 2 booking numbers be linkred so we could fly together, we will know in a week or two if that was possible.

Sorry this will be later mg and rambling. We live in Orange County, California. We’re on the Epic on June 17, out of Rome. Traveling with our teenage grandkids, I’m in a wheelchair from a stroke in 2018, so I will have to be pre boarded. We’re using NCL’s ticketing for the trip home only since we want to get to Rome 1 day before our boarding date, and our travel consultant suggested we book our inbound flight and hotel ourselves. Then use their hotel before the trip home and fligh home since we’re staying 3 days past disembarkation, to sightsee. This is our grandkids first trip out of the country. How soon will we get our flights? There was no way to link our bookings to make sure we were on the same flight. I can’t travel without my husband. Myself and my granddaughter are on one booking number and my husband and grandson are on another. I foresee problems with this. 

We are thinking about taking our 18 yr old and 16 yr old gks on a med cruise next summer. How old do they have to be to share a cabin? We don’t want a quad cabin, and I have to have a wheelchair accessible cabin. Can they be next to us, or across the hall from us?

Just another question, if we want to take our grandkids (18 and 16 at time of sailing), can we put them in a cabin by themselves? I realize we may have to put one each,on paper, into a cabin with one of us and then switch when we get onboard, but would rather not. BTY I need to have a wheelchair accessible cabin, and don’t know how close we can get them to us. What do we need from their parents?

I was wondering how available the wheelchair accessible cabins were on NCL cruises. We have cruised Princess in a wheelchair accessible cabin, but if they can get passports in time we were thinking about taking our 2 teenage grandchildren on a Med Cruise this summer. Also, they will be 16 and 18 when we sail. We were thinking of getting us a balcony cabin and them the opposite inside cabin. Is this possible?

We were also on the Big Red Boat. That was my daughter ‘s intro to cruising. I remember that where you booked your cabin had some impact on which pre-cruise hotel they put you at. And what hotel you were at once you were at WDW (I suppose that could have affected the precruise hotel). We were at a hotel in coco beach, the waiters at our table were so excited that my daughter would try things off the adult menu, while the family at our table would only order French fries for their 3.

We still haven’t booked our flight home from YVR. We were hoping to be able  to fly home from SEATAC but apparently Princess doesn’t provide a shuttle to Seattle , so we can’t. I tried to book an Uber or Lyft but I keep getting a msg that they don’t operate out of Vancouver. Has anyone been successful getting a ride down to  Seattle? 

Thank you! I'l be sure to contact rental agencies in advance to make sure our itinerary is acceptable before we commit. Our friends want to go into Poland to pick up documents for ancestry work.

A

This is the Volkswagen Passat Variant it also comes in all-wheel drive but if you search german rental agencies for this type of car it will offer comparable autos.

Looking at Sixt.de at the port of Warnemunde these are the types of station wagon they offer:

 

Ford S-Max

Audi A4 Avant

BMW 3er Touring (automatic)

BMW 520 Touring

Audi A6 Avant

 

The German word for station wagon is KOMBI so if you put that in to your car search it might help. ALSO some agencies don't allow for the rental car to go into Poland so you need to do your homework.

 

 

We have learned during prior vacations that car model names are not the same in Europe as they are in the US. We will be renting cars in Germany twice during our vacation. Pre-cruise to drive from Berlin to Warnemunde, and post-cruise to drive from Warnemunde to Poland - then back to TXL. We will be 4 adults (2 rather tall). I expect we'll have 4 large suitcases, 4 roll aboard carryons, and 4 personal backpack/carryons. Are station wagons available in Germany? We are hoping to not have to go as large as a minivan.

Might we have better luck with a particular rental agency?

Thank you for the info! Our iPads are wifi only, so no SIM card with them. Do the Mobal cards for the iPhone let you hot spot? When when we're in Germany a couple of years ago I got a SIM card for my iPhone, and was able to hot spot our iPads with it. We were road tripping so I booked all of our hotels a day ahead while driving down the autobahn. Unfortunately at that time the data stopped at the Germany border so I was data-less in Belgium and Holland. I did all of my communication to back home with Facebook Messenger or iMessage text. I didn't worry about making phone calls.

I was traveling around Europe last summer. I didn’t find my US carrier’s international plan compelling, so I searched around. I had an iPad and iPhone.

 

For the iPad, I used CellHire, which I believe I bought through Amazon. It had a separate SIM, I just plugged it in and I was off and running. Worked great, easy to check data usage, no problems.

 

For my phone, I used Mobal, which I also bought through Amazon. Popped in the SIM card once I got to Europe and all went well. One important note: this option gives you a European phone number. In my case, I had a U.K. number. So calls to my US number did not go through.

 

Also, I had to manually edit phone numbers in my contacts to dial them. For example, in the US, you can dial 212-555-1234 and it will go through. But from the U.K. you have to dial +1 212-555-1234. So I had to edit each contact for the few times I needed to call back to the US. (It doesn’t hurt anything to leave the +1 part on when you are back in the US. Your phone is smart enough to figure out what to do on that case.)

 

 

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We will be on a Princess cruise this summer, with pre and post cruise independent travel. Except for our StPetersburg days we will be doing DIY excursions. We want to have ample data available for navigation, email, etc, and don't want to depend on free wifi where we can find it. We aren't happy with our carriers international plan and would like to get a SIM card that we can use in several countries. Has anyone tried any of them? We have unlocked iPhones that we can switch out SIM cards with. If it matters we will be starting and ending in Germany.

I’ll look forward to an update on your experience.

We will be on a Princess cruise this summer, with pre and post cruise independent travel. Except for our StPetersburg days we will be doing DIY excursions. We want to have ample data available for navigation, email, etc, and don't want to depend on free wifi where we can find it. We aren't happy with our carriers international plan and would like to get a SIM card that we can use in several countries. Has anyone tried any of them? We have unlocked iPhones that we can switch out SIM cards with. If it matters we will be starting and ending in Germany.

We were picked up at 8:00. As I remember I had no problems getting our group assembled on the pier by that time. We had a minivan full.

A few years back I organized a small group tour to St Andrews with Starfish Taxis. They picked us up at the dock and drove us out. Our group chose to stop at the ruins of the cathedral, but that isn't necessary. We had a lunch stop after we left St Andrews. There are guided walks of the Old Course available that you may want to look into.

Has anyone ever used a SIMsmart prepaid SIM card? It appears it would work across all of the countries on our Baltic Sea cruise. We'll be doing DIY tours in most of our ports, as well as arriving early and leaving late from the cruise, so having data for navigation, and email is important to us.

Try to check prices for a rental car - Hertz does have drop-off close to the cruise terminal in Warnemüde.

Just make sure that the car is big enough for your luggage.

We are a group of 4 considering renting a car to drive from Berlin to Warnemunde (Rostock) also. Between the 4 us us there have been 2 back surgeries, shoulder surgery, a broken wrist with mental plates still in place, and 1 bypass surgery. Needless to say we are not in shape to haul luggage onto trains and from the train to the boarding area, which is why we would prefer a car.

I went on Hertz and saw their 'office' closes at 11am. I believe that is because they are open for people disembarking and picking up cars. Is there a way to drop off a car at the port if we don't arrive until about noon? Since we don't actually leave port until 9pm, we don't want to get up at the crack of dawn to drive out, and if we could miss some commuter traffic even better.

Non us us pack 'light' so I am guessing we'll go with a MBZ 8 person van and spread out a bit.

Thanks for the clarification! I just wanted to know we'd have them back for SP. if I remember correctly we've had them held on a NoEurope cruise before. Not a big deal, just one less thing in the safe.

We'll be on a Baltic Sea cruise in August. We were wondering if passports were collected and held, or if we would have them to take onshore with us. We tend to tour independently, make sure we have plenty of time to get back to the ship, but still would like our passports with us 'just in case'. We'll be on Princess.

We will be in Helsinki from 7-4 next August. We were thinking of renting a car with another couple during our day there. Is it possible to see both the Rock Church and go to the park with the reindeer farm during the time we have available?

According to our confirmation our cruise boards in Warnemunde. I see there is a rental car terminal that is open on cruise days at the Warnemunde cruise terminal, I'll verify which companies operate out of it.

We're leaning away from train travel this time because the couple we're traveling with have shoulder issues, and in the last two years I haven't had such good luck myself (surgery for herniated discs and broken wrist requiring surgery to patch me back together). We don't want to haul luggage up and down stairs.

We were thinking that with a car we might be able to see a little of the German sea coast also.

Next August we, and another couple will be doing a Baltic cruise, embarking in 'Berlin'. We plan on arriving a few days early and are thinking about renting a car and driving to the port. We'll probably do this a day ahead to make sure we don't run into major traffic difficulties, and spend the night near the port.

Is there a better company to rent through? We've used Europcar in France before, and Hertz last year in Germany. I've gotten a hypothetical quote from Sixt also.

We'd like a little freedom, as well as keep the cost below the Princess shuttle cost.

Any recommendations?

Our TA is a big box store distributor. We used to use a small brick and mortar TA but the perks were better this way. In the past I simply evaluated cost advantages.

Princess has Sip and Sail offered for a cruise we're booked on next August. We booked a looonng time ago. Since our TA charges a fee for changes to our reservation, I'm trying to decide if it is worthwhile contacting them about the added incentive. There may be a little more in OBC from the TA now too.

We'll be on an 11 day cruise. We do enjoy wine before and with dinner, and my dh enjoys a nice scotch after dinner sometimes.

Any guesses what the sip and sail would cost?

How did this work for you? Our group of 4 will be going from TXL to Warnemunde next August?

Hi

 

We are a group of 4 persons taking the same route in July and since we are pressed for time we opted for private mini van transport. The journey will take slightly less than 3 hours.

 

It is not cheap because it will cost us approx. Eur280.00 each way.

 

If you require further details hereunder is the link

 

http://www.tourshuttle.com/

 

bon voyage