Westbound TA north, port advice

[rm1247]

We recently booked a TA on Brilliance next September and will be traveling with my parents and my four kids, ages 3, 8, 13, & 15. I'm very excited about the cruise, but haven't worked up the nerve to post on the roll call yet. It's huge and everyone seems to be my parents' age. Hopefully they won't mind my (usually well-behaved) kids on this trip. This will be their 4th cruise.

 

I'm looking for some advice on the ports. The airfare and cruise cost for 6 of us is pretty steep, so I need to keep the costs down at the ports. However, I don't want to be so cheap we miss out on important tours and sights. I'm hoping we can rent a car/van at some of the stops. My husband has some experience driving in England.

 

Any advice/experience with these ports with kids in tow?

 

Le Havre, France

Portland, UK

Cobh, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Klaksvik, Faroe Islands

Reykjavik, Iceland (2 days)

 

Any advice for a TA with kids? I know there won't be many other kids on board, but that doesn't concern me. My kids will enjoy being with their grandparents and each other. They love cruising!

[Keith1010]

I would also post this on the respective ports of calls boards as you will have a lot of people with first hand knowledge in these ports who also have children.

 

In Dublin, I would recommend doing the HOHO bus. Tickets are reasonably priced and it will take you to the major sites.

 

For Reykjavik I would do a tour. I would see if a private tour might be more economical for you. A place the kids and the family might enjoy is the Blue Lagoon. I want to warn you about this port in terms of clothing. The odds are that while you are there that there will be period of a lot of rain and it can be very cool and windy so be sure to take this into account when you pack.

 

Keith

[rm1247]

Thanks! I'll do that.

[powelweb]

Hi there!

 

We're on that sailing too with our 9 yr old DD (she actually turns 10 shortly after we dock back in Boston). She's now excited to know about other kids on this sailing, which will be her 9th cruise.

 

Her grandparents are coming along as well (my inlaws), and we haven't booked any excursions yet although I know my father in law wants to go to the Normandy beaches during the le Harve stop but since I've already been, I think DH and I will take a ship sponsored excursion to Paris for the day as DD has already indicated she is not interested in the 2+ hour commute to Paris. And when we're in Ireland, we're planning (with ship's permission) to deviate with a rental from Cork to drive to Galway and overnight there so we can visit my extended family, then reboard in Dublin, but there is the Queenstown museum right in Cobh where the ship docks and Cork is a short train or bus ride away.

 

I know the roll call can seem intimidating, but the folks are very nice, and very active, including a separate website with tours and organising bus transfers from London to Harwich, so I do encourage you to check both out- http://www.katedencruises.com/brilliance2013/home.html

 

~Wendy

[rm1247]

Hi Wendy! My daughter will turn 9 very soon after we return, so it sounds like they are about a year apart in age.

 

That website looks incredible. Wow! It does sound like a very friendly group.

 

My husband would like to go to Normandy, so I'm looking into possibly renting a car and finding a tour once we get there.

[powelweb]

That's great- let me know if you'd like to exchange email addresses so the girls can become pen pals before the cruise. We've done that before, although I got to do the typing, but it worked out well as they had a friend when they got onboard.

 

For Normandy, when I did an excursion in 2008 from Cherbourg, it was through Normandy sightseeing tours (which is one of the companies listed on that group website) and they were fantastic. Our guide had a three ring binder with lots of photos to show what the sites looked like on D-day. He knew so much, spoke excellent english and kept us ahead of the big tour buses.

 

We were a group of 8, and one couple was from Bedford, VA which apparently is this tiny city of 3,200 that lost 19 boys in the D-day invasion (the largest per capita loss, more than anywhere in the US). This couple mentioned they were from Bedford, and our guide flipped his book to their platoon picture, gave us their story and then when we were at the American Cemetary, he took us to the graves of 2 brothers in the platoon from Bedford.

 

I still say that is the best excursion I've ever done, so I would highly recommend them if your DH is interested.