mamalovestraveling

Hmmm, I think I don't want to risk being late and missing the tour. We just had train issues (being delayed) in September on our last cruise and ended up paying a premium for taking a cab.

I will start a new post with guided vs audio tour.

Thanks!!!

Hello,

I will disembark mid October in Piraeus. The cruise ship told me 9am is the absolute latest I have to be off the ship. My inner European flight is not until past 2pm. Some cruise lines offer a small sightseeing tour with a drop off at the airport for later flights, but not this one.....

Can you recommend a tour company who does that since I don't feel like sitting at the ATH airport for 3+ hours when I could be out and about exploring for a bit. I have seen the major sights in ATH before, but would be nice to just drive around, have a quick lunch before heading out.

Thanks for any tips you might be able to share.

Hello,

I will be in CV mid October and would like to catch a train from CV to Roma San Pietro with an arrival time at 924am (due to ships arrival time I cannot get an earlier train into R.San Pietro). The guided tour for the Vatican which I would like to book starts at 10am (currently no later tours available).

Are there taxis around the R.San Pietro train station that could take me to the Vatican entrance? If not, can I speed walk to the Vatican in that time? I don't know my way yet, but can research it before I would arrive.

Thanks for any advice you can share!

hello,

i am looking for a trusted tour company where i could join a shared shore excursion to cinque terre mid october. the cruise line does not offer any excursions to c. t. and there would be plenty of time in port to finally explore cinque terre.

any recommendations are much appreciated!

thanks for the info... that was helpful.

just purchased our tickets for SF and they do give you a 15 mins window.

eg if you purchase tickets for 3pm = they allow entrance between 3pm -315pm

hello,

we are about to purchase tickets for SF and PG for mid September.

we are traveling with two kids (7/4 yrs) and we have a question regarding the timed tickets. we found out that kids have to be 7 or older to be allowed on the tower.

our ship gets in at 2pm, and not knowing how quickly everyone gets off etc, we want to take a cab and purchase tickets for SF at 315pm.

if we get to the SF earlier, will they allow us in eg. 10 mins earlier? i assume not since everyone would be doing it then and the system might not make sense anymore..... but thought i would ask in case anyone has experience with that.

i am sure i could spend hours at the church, but my husband and kids probably will be done with SF rather quickly :cool:.

since we have to take turns to go up the passion facade tower due to the little one, how much time should we plan at SF before heading to Parc Guell?

would 90 mins be sufficient to get a good feel for it incl going up and down rather "quickly" on the passion facade tower elevator?

we will then cab it to Parc Guell. Would it be safe to book PG tickets for 5pm (since reservation will be maintained for you during the 30 minutes following the selected start time)?

just wanted to make sure i time it all right :).

any infos that you can share would be great!

THANKS

ok, good to know about shops not being open in the evening, i was unable to figure that out online... thanks for the fast info... now we might have to figure out a different plan for the day to somehow include Eze.... back to more research ...:)

and yes we saw that dinners will be expensive, but we are willing splurge in Eze (of course we didnt expect a FREE shuttle service....that would be too good to be true in that region)

hello,

we will be in Monte Carlo mid september.

we are having a hard time to squeeze in Eze during the day and were thinking of treating ourselves to a romantic dinner in Eze in the evening instead.

are galleries and shops still open around 8/9pm ish? we love strolling through the little streets and window shop, but if Eze is rather dead at night, we might have to re think our complete day plan.

do you also know if any of the restaurants provide shuttles from/to Monte Carlo? paying 100 E just for a round trip cab is pretty steep.

i received no answers when inquiring with restaurants... not sure if that means absolutely NO :cool:.

thanks for any info you can share!

hello,

we will be in St Tropez mid September (8am-5pm).

we were thinking of strolling through St Tropez before heading to the beach midday. can anyone tell us what a nice beach would be with facilities such as beach chairs/umbrellas etc? i think nikki beach might be great fun, but maybe not so much with a 7 and 4 year old. any beach club you know of that you could recommend? also can we take public transportation to the beach? i read the beach within 1 mile walking is not nice and if we have to get a cab to be on a nicer beach, we would do that. but we dont mind saving $$ if it can be done easily with public transportation.

thanks!!

We wanted to hire a car/driver who would be taking us from Lucca to Pisa with a stop in the countryside. Not sure if that is doable. I am having a hard time finding a place that encompasses a Tuscan "retreat" between Lucca and Pisa and surroundings.

Hello,

We are looking for a true Tuscan countryside lunch after exploring Lucca.

We will be taking the train to Lucca, walk around for about 2 hrs and then jump in a cab to ??? restaurant before heading to Pisa for the mandatory picture of the leaning tower and back to the ship.

I am having such a hard time finding a restaurant that offers the Tuscan countryside feel (lunch on a terrace overlooking the Tuscan hills).

Do you have any recommendations?

When we were in Siena, there were plenty but since we are pressed for time, we need to have it all mapped out before hand.

THANKS!

hello,

we just booked a cruise on a short notice (we leave in 3 weeks) and will be in corfu on a saturday.:)

we will be traveling with a 7 and 4 year old and want to plan our stay in corfu (11am-8pm) mostly around a lazy beach stay.

we would like to take a taxi (costs?) to the old town, stroll around, catch the wooden tourist train (where do they leave?- couldnt find much info about that) and then take a bus (if possible) to either Glyfada or Paleokastritsa beach (which one is more beautiful?).

we do not feel comfortable renting a car in corfu. do you have an idea how much the taxi cost is from the beach back to the port (just a ball park figure)?:confused:

thanks for any input!!!

Hello,

We are currently looking at a Med cruise on either Celebrity Silhouette or Emerald Princess. We have a 4 and 7 year old.

We just came back from the Regal Princess and the kids LOVED the kids club activities.

We also did a cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the kids did not like the kids club on port days, since they were all put together with all age groups in one room and put in front of a big screen TV all day in port.

We have never sailed on Celebrity and are intrigued not only about the itinerary but also about the ship. Therefore we would love to get your feedback on their kids clubs. If the kids club is so/so on Celebrity, especially on port days, then we rather go with Princess again.

Any feedback is much appreciated!

your thread is so helpful! thank you.

but i don't know if i overlooked it ... but... can you pay the commuter train with credit cards? we are planning on doing the hop on/hop off bus tour upon arrival at the central station in stockholm and will purchase tickets online. we then plan on getting off in gamla stan, stroll the streets, enjoy some coffee before boarding the bus a couple of stops later again and then finish off our stay in stockholm at the ice bar before having to head back to the ship. can we get away with paying with credit cards everywhere? we are not into souvenir shopping at all.

thanks!!!

Hello,

We are doing the Baltic with a 3 and 6 year old.

Since we plan on doing a lot on our own (hop on hop off and lots of strolling through the streets), we are debating if its worth it, bringing our Bugaboo stroller with an extra board to stand on for our older one. Both kids are not fond of walking a lot. Our last cruise was the Med and we used the umbrella stroller, but it was a workout on the streets to push the umbrella stroller around.

The bigger stroller might be a pain though getting on and off the bus etc....

What have you done?

hello,

i just realized we are going to Nynaeshamn instead of e.g. Frihamn.

what is a convenient and affordable way to get from Nynaeshamn to Stockholm city and back? we are traveling with a 3 and 6 year old, and the trip from N. to S. and then city tours/boat tours in S. might be a lot on them and not as much fun for everyone.

thanks for any advise!

hello,

we are looking at e.g. C 621 which is right across from the self service laundry.

is that a noise factor? never stayed close to the laundry room and always tried to avoid it.

also... can people look into your balcony from the sea walk?

thanks!!!

Hello,

We will be arriving around 1030am into CPH . We will sail on Regal Princess.

We would like to explore Copenhagen on our own before heading to the ship.

I was unable to find out if the port offers luggage storage as I would assume the cruise ship wont take our luggage that early, or am I mistaken?

We always enjoyed taking canal cruises and its fun for our young ones as well.

We were also thinking of doing a hop on hop off bus tour along with the canal cruise, or might one be better than the other given the little time we will have?

Can we easily explore some parts of the city by foot as well? (We are traveling with smaller children who do not enjoy massive walks, so we wanted to do parts of the city by foot first/ then a canal tour and/or hop on hop off and then walk a little bit more).

If the cruise line does not take our luggage in the morning, would we have to travel to the train station first and drop off our luggage there (I read about the luggage storage there)?

If we do that, does the hop on hop off bus depart anywhere close? And where should we get off to see some major sights in the city and also for the canal cruise?

Thanks for any tips you can give us!!!

Totally valid points. This has crossed our minds as well.

We will opt for a 2 days private tour, since we are able to then fully enjoy it.

The tour company confirmed that we can only leave the ship with a tour guide.

We might do one day with the kids and one day without.

Wondering if the Peter and Paul Fortress is an absolute must.... wasnt high on our must see list?????!!!!!!

We much rather spend some more time at other places (Hermitage/Catherine's palace/Peterhof with gardens/Church of spilled blood/lunches/subway/city tour).

Any feedback on Peter and Paul Fortress?

Thanks again!

thanks for all the great feedback!!

hello,

we would love to see the following sights in one day if possible and we are aware that we would not have much time at each location. however we are traveling with two children (3 and 6 years old) and they are not too fond of spending too much time in one place. we noticed fast paced tours work better with them. we could also skip the metro and market.

is this doable all in one day? or would we have to break it into a two day excursion?

also... if we can manage to do a one day private tour with the kids, could we get off the ship the next day on our own? or is the visa only valid for that tour?

Hermitage

Catherines Palace

Church of spilled blood

Peterhof with gardens

typical Russian lunch

Subway ride and Market

looking forward to your feedback!

Hello,

We will be doing a Baltic cruise with a 3 and 6 year old.

We just did the Med and the kids loved it, but mainly for the kids club.

We never left them for a full port day on the ship (only a couple hours max, since we spent the morning on shore with them and the afternoon raced through the main sights again without them - port permitting), but with the Baltic being such a port intensive great itinerary, we have a tough time deciding when to leave them on the ship (knowing they will have more fun there) and when to take them off (since we still want them to be part of everything and get to know diff places as well). Well, the 3 year old might not care so much , but the older one is very interested already and has been in the past as well. But our 3 year old would never stay in the kids club alone and we would also not feel comfortable doing that.

We have done a ton of hop on hop off tours with the kids in Europe, since it is so easy and whenever they got enough of the tour, we would just hop off and do some kid friendly stuff for a while before hoping on the next bus.

Which cities can you recommend doing that?

In St Petersburg we would love to really do a 1 or 2 days tour (we overnight there) and might have to bite the bullet and pay for a private tour (OUCH) either with (slower pace) or without the kids (fast tour). St Petersburg was the big selling point for us to book the cruise and we kinda feel, we would much rather do a full day private tour alone (leave the kids in the kids club) and then take the kids in the city the next day. I know the visa is an issue... any advise on what kid friendly tour (and not expensive) to book for St. Petersburg?

We will also stop in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Tallinn, Warnemuende (no we would not go to Berlin, since we have been there with the kids before), Stockholm, Helsinki.

Are these cities we could just wander around, take a hop on hop off tour or need to book a family friendly tour?

Looking forward to any feedback we can get.

Greatly appreciated!!!!

Hello,

We will be going on the Regal Princess in May for a Baltic sailing. We read really mixed reviews about the Pelicans club. Do you have any insight? I read they did not open Pelicans until the evening hours during their entire cruise, which would be very disappointing for our kids, since that is currently the only reason they love cruising. We are not going during major holidays and fear that if not enough kids are there, they might do the same? We just went on a Holland cruise and the kids club was great on sea days, but we hated it on port days as they just put all the kids in one room in front of the TV, which our kids did not enjoy.

Since the upcoming cruise is a port intensive itinerary and we are just now getting started on shore excursions, we became very hesitant in committing to a tour or might even feel the need for some private tours (but they are so expensive) in case the kids club throws a curve ball at us.

Any feedback is much appreciated!

thanks for the tip with rolling things tight :D

ship services advised me that it is 20 USD per bag as of August 2014 and gave me the dimensions (thought I post them in case someone else would like to know).

they also advised me, that if you like to pre book the unlimited laundry service before your cruise, you have to pre pay it in full (currently $7/day as of August 2014 for cruises up to 30 days). but you can always book it on board as well, and have it charged to your room. doesnt really make a difference to us, but might be good to know for some, who have extra ship board credit.

just came across the thread... but good idea on starting a new one next time!

we will go with the "bag service", which is less than paying for two staterooms and just fill the bags to the top. the bags are 14 in x 24 in in size.