waney

walk out the port, past the shops and bars in the small town and 5 minutes later by the park/beach is a train.

Hate these comparisons.When you give no indication of your own age and interests. Especially when the ships vary so much from Small and aging to bigger and shiny.

Of course both Co's are great at the things that matter. Price, service, Traditionally and Brits style etc.

But clearly P&O win if it was purely on features. Movies under the stars, buffet quality, ship deck activities,

but life is not as clear.

As pointed out Thomson do not charge for certain things P&O now do.

gimme more details and I can compare more appropriately for you? As you asked. For value its probably Thomson, but for that you'll likely eat slightly lower standard food.

Cannes has plenty of shops, many posh ones. Theres also a casino, the theater where they have the red carpet for the film festival and nice beaches (some private), its very stylish.

There is a castle or fort (not a famous one to my knowledge) where you can walk up to get a view.

Its also quite easy to get a train into Nice or Antibes. All doable in one day.

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/people-mover-to-marittima-cruise-terminals.htm

hope this is allowed here...

Glad you had a fun time, not sure how you managed to ride the buses so merrily as even though we saw public buses we would never had known what routes they took. Sounds like you spent most of the shore time off the ship. We ended up back on ship for late lunches most days; but did see all we wanted using Taxis (and metro/monorail in Dubai)

In total the 4 of us spent €50 euros in muscat and another 120AED /26£in Abu Dhabi and 230AED /£51£ Dubai.

Which we thought reasonable.

On your point about the Muster. We attended as we had already eaten and showered. But anyone who didn't would have had to attend the naughty muster at a later date. We where in B13 and at least 3 cabins were missing.

Could have been Jenster?

All in all the holiday was good. However I must take Thomson up on the fact... The Airport being 1 hour away in the middle of the desert and a building site should have been mentioned somewhere before booking.

P.s I thought the food and service on the airplane was better then in the main restaurant :/

Don't think they offer just a soft drinks package.....

Could use the juices during the breakfast period then use the ice cream bar in the Lido open pretty much all day and night, except 2 hours in the afternoon:o

We did this and the four of us came back with a ships bar bill less than £40 for the week. We did buy a few bottles of Wine in Bahrain duty free (cheapest) for 'cabin use'... All told well hydrated and not much spent...

train to Nice, then check your options as the main Nice train station is not linked to the Airport...

best way is the airport express bus from Nice station to Airport but last time i did Nice it was overpriced.

Other option is normal bus then a short walk, but I forget the bus number.

kettle and all the works provided so drink as much as you like, but sometimes the steward doesn't clean the cups properly so just rinse them out....... the plug is a 2 pin, but no idea if its us or euro. more importantly as the ship is very old you only get one socket in most cabins, bring an extension if you need......... hope that helps. p.s no fridge in cabins which may surprise you.

We stayed in The Savoy and walked everywhere.

very posh, not checked but my guess would be rooms start at £350 pp. But could be a lot more... but yes, very central and of course walkable :eek: pretty much perfect location for pre/post cruises due to its proximity to Waterloo and the train down to Southampton....

Live in London and hotels are over priced here as are public transport prices. A tough one to recommend as London is vast, but if you want west London look at EarlsCourt/Hammersmith then use Piccadilly Line to move about from west to central London, close to the South Kensington Museums and Harrods.

Could also use South West Trains in and out of Putney or Wimbledon. You could be in Waterloo, the London eye very quickly and also out to Hampton Court.

Use similar principles for North or East London to choose where to stay and that depends on your own budget and also where you want to visit during your stay. The only thing currently is Avoid South London as there are ongoing train strikes down that part of town.

It has often been said London's number 11 bus is very good for a cheap (£1.50) sightseeing bus tour.

Also check out #14 and #24 if your interested in riding the buses. A day pass costs £4.50, very cheap but the traffic might be a problem.... A must do is ride over Waterloo bridge for the best views of London via the River.

Policies on what you can bring on board depends on the ship. so check with your cruise co. I know thompson allowed booze for cabin use. there is a duty free area at the port (term 2), but it was very small and the booze on sale was very limited. Use the Dubai airport if you can. Good prices there!

Bahrain port was the cheapest post for tobacco, but booze was cheapest on board thomson itself.

Abu dhabi port also had a decent shop, but forget oman there were useless.

do-able due to the airport style travellaters

but if I were you I'd try one of 2 things

a) drop luggage off at the ship then sightsee or b) see if any malls or stations like burgman have places where you can store your luggage.

imo the hoho (even the so called discounted 3 city package) is vastly over priced and not needed.

due to the traffic you'd struggle to see much of dubai on a hoho.

We ended using taxis and metro (dubai) and spent less and saw more.

The only benefit of the hoho is the 48 hour tick in dubai and that is 'if' you have time to use the 'extras'

enjoy........ and don't miss the creek

p.s long shorts were fine for malls and hotels like the palm atlantis

Can only be Dubai Mall.

Buy a one day metro pass (22 dirhams) take red line to Dubai mall, walk the 15 mins from station to mall

get a bite to eat once the mall opens at 10 am

use the free wifi and take photos of the Ice rink, Aquarium and Waterfall. tip use the exit near the water fall

for best photos of the Burg Khalifa.Perhaps make the trip to the top too?)

If you have time use the Metro pass to see parts of the Dubai Creek. But when time is up and you want to head

to the ship

(which one is it??) use the stop Burjuman (which is near the Creek) and the cost of the metered taxi should be around 25 dirhams.

Just have your cruise ticket handly if needed.

happy hols

flightextras.thomson.co.uk

try that as I too had login problems and only the above option worked for me.. cannot buy excursions (but why would you due to thomsons markups) but using my link u can check in flights and add API details.

Asamoah Gyan deemed to have 'unethical hair' in United Arab Emirates

By Mike Henson

BBC Sport

From the section Football

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38978373

Looks like its not just clothing we need to be wary of ;)

Apologies if anyone is offended by my reply (above), which just stated what I like to do. On point of record, I always attend A muster drill when cruising. Just I prefer to attend the relaxed one on the sea day as opposed cattle ranch one after I've spent half a day travelling then embarking when I am normally in need of a rest, shower and food.

I'd think just shorts and t-shirts is pushing it too much...

Long shorts (i.e knees covered ) and polo top (i.e with a collar) is for me the best options... but not sure even these will get you into some malls or hotels (like the palm atlantis??) ??? any views forum?

Fab! Thanks Waney! We may be joining you for the naughty muster [emoji6]

Shame about the weather, let's hope we have a freak heat wave to help boost that tan [emoji12]

When are you planning on going into the palm?? We were thinking the Tuesday we get there?? X

 

 

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Sounds like you flyout monday evening and have whole day in Dubai tuesday:eek:

we don't fly out until 2230 tuesday uk time...... so our whole day in dubai is the last day of our cruise.... :p

We go on the 22nd Feb cities of Gold too [emoji133]

Just a quick question, hope someone cane help....

So what IS the hoho bus?? [emoji85]

Also when we get to Dubai is the Muster drill on the Tuesday or weds when we sail??

Also what's the easiest way to get to the palm from the port?? I've seen their is a water taxi but this was from a forum in 2009 so not sure if it's still around??

Also...might seem like a silly question, but just for walking around Dubai/Abu Dhabi etc (not necessarily Mosques) does my husband need to be in long trousers and my shoulders to be covered??

Also, are all the vibration's as bad as the horror stories??

 

Thanks a Million x

 

 

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Hi, we just checked in the flight out of Gatwick, see you on board. Weather in Dubai is forecast to be a tads cooler than I had hoped, only early 20's when we go (which is still perfectly warm; just not the high 20's Ideally wanted for the tan)...:rolleyes:

Can only answer a few of your Q's. Hope others will help with the others...

HOHO= hop on hop off buses, like the bigbustour company do in London

Never been on Thompson, but if they follow other Cruise Lines, the muster will be the evening we set sail. Although I always try to accidentally miss the mass drill and instead get something to eat and wait for the inevitable card to pop thru the cabin door informing me to the muster on the next seasday.

When we plan to go to the Palm, Atlantis it'll be by taxi as its a fair way from the nearest metro .. that's all I can help with.....

Does anyone know where the Discovery docks in Bonaire and how far it is to walk from there to the Klein Bonaire water taxi please? Travelling with someone who has limited mobility so I'd be grateful for any information.

Kralendijk the capital, google Bonaire cruise port and you'd see you are the other side of town to the water taxi you mention. You can walk off the ship to land, but no way can you walk to your desired destination, its a good drive away. We walked from the port down to the beach, past the shops we got only half way to your location and it took us some time... as we found a nice spot by the beach with sea views

If I had to guess, I would say the walk would be 45-60 minutes down the road behind the beach; get quote from a taxi at the cruise port.

Ibiza town is quite a long stroll from where the ships dock. I'd say 20/25 mins walk. Mostly along the coast, past Pascha nightclub..........

as for the town itself... good old town style with a hint of modern club culture. Could easily grab a drink where the shuttle drops off and get a good sea view or go up the castle and find a spot with a view of the sea.

imo a walking tour (if paid for) is not worth it. As nice as Ibiza is, there is imo not much a guide can tell you that a stroll by ones self couldn't.

if clubbing isn't for you, there's a number of bars on the waterfront to try.

with the Groupon can you go up the burj any time? or are there restrictions with times like OFF PEAK ONLY? plus is the 007 expo any good?

Best Western (a known standard, 4ish stars) 5 mins from the Train station was good and spacious , Tram stops nearby too. Near the shops too.

shocked at the level of cutting back CoSTA are resorting too :confused:

My last cruise on CoSTA was late 2014 Savona to Istanbul, via Athens and Ismir and back via Rome... on the same ship. (The itinerary was bang on and just before the refugee crisis really became a problem) I noticed things were being cut back, we still had brekkie in the buffet on my cruise but noticed late night meals were not as plentiful as before.

TBH if they continue to offer this type of cruise food (NON) service I won't be with CoSTA again. Yes, low prices but no longer acceptable food standards.

In Rome they used to have a shuttle bus that dropped you off at the Civitavecchia train station. But when I was last there 2014, the bus stopped off in Civitavecchia town. Which was a 15 min walk to the train station, which if you don't get lost is actually a nice stroll along a few roads then finally down the sea front). Remember if using the train it is pleasant (but can get sweaty) and if you get the one day ticket it included use of Romes Metro too.