edinburgher

I have no idea if this is helpful or not, but it used to be (and I stress USED TO BE) the case that onboard purchses on an EU itinerary could only be made free of taxes if the ship visited a non EU port within that itinerary. Without this, taxes were payable on all onboard purchases. Geographically, a port call in Turkey offers the easiest non EU requirement from Greece. Others may know if this requirement still stands or if it has changed in recent years.

As your question is Viking apecific, you might want to consider cross posting on the Viking Forum where Viking passengers who took this tour would be more likely to see it and respond.😀

Zana711, thank you for taking the time to post the link to your Marseille DIY blog as I am sure others will find it really useful. I have also dipped into the others you posted, found them all very informative and hope that others will take time to read them. I know Marseille quite well from numerous previous land and cruise visits and have long encouraged others to consider spending their port day there due to the ease of DIY sightseeing which offers many varied options to suit most interests within really quite close proximity to the shuttle bus drop off/pick up points. And with no need to have any knowledge of the French language. Some members really dislike the city and encourage others to go anywhere at all, as long as they get away, although some of those who have spent the day in the city have posted that they enjoyed their time. As you mention le Panier district in your blog,as a complement to your own info, I am posting some additional information on it which I had posted on a previous thread as others may find it useful. Consider exploring le Panier district. The oldest in the city. There are entrances to it from a block or two behind the Old Port, but the main entrance/exit there is via Rue Poiriers, an incredibly steep street (the handrails are there for a reason) which is best avoided if you value your legs. 😀 An alternative with flat, easy access is next to the Cathedrale de la Major, (when facing the Cathedral, the small entry streets are to the right) barely 5 minutes walk from the Old Port and across from MUCEM , in turn next to the fort St-Jean. (These locations are where the cruise shuttles usually drop off and pick up) Entering from this direction also gives the opportunitiy to visit MUCEM and the Cathedral. Lacking the views enjoyed from the Basilica Notre-Dame-de-la Garde, the Cathedral is nonetheless worth visiting inside and is one of the largest in France. Entry is free. Le Panier offers a few sights, but it is mostly best for strolling the narrow streets. At the top is Place des Moulins, the perfect location for rest and resfreshments, although only two towers of the original windmills mills remain, and these are incorporated into homes. All downhill from there, means you can exit down the steep Rue Poiriers, much better for the legs than going up. The splendid looking Intercontinental Hotel is only a few steps away to the left and has a lovely outdoor terrace with views of ND de la Garde and a little of the old port. Across from it is the "Maison Diamantee" a building with unusual design features. Info on MUCEM, the Cathedral, le Panier, Maison Diamantee, etc can all be found online. And for history enthusiasts, Marseille, having been founded by the Greeks around 600 BC (or perhaps even earlier) has a rich history, and visting any of the museums which display this gives a new perspective of the city.

When her tour schedule included Edinburgh concerts, hoteliers (and indeed all accommodation providors) were heavily criticised for increasing prices by at least 2 to 3 times- and they still sold. mlbcruiser, If she is indeed performing on your dates, you could struggle to find anything in Amsterdam with pricing closer to the norm.. Won't be easy but I think you may need to decide between location and cost. Could you perhaps consider a nearby town instead? One with easy access to Amsterdam. I am thinking Leiden or Utrecht, both with many trains daily and only a short distance to travel. You could book one close to the train station. Or perhaps one of the Dutch based members could suggest an alternative, although some suggestions have already been made in earlier posts to this thread..

You may find it helpful to read past threads containing the word "Salerno" as i think your question has been asked and answered before. And there should be references to ferries between Salerno and Amalfi, also Salerno and Positano. Choose from these https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=salerno&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=464

You may find that the HOHOs are not suited to viewing much of Valencia historic centre as many streets there are either too narrow for buses, or are totally pedestrianised, so I would read HOHO reviews (Tripadvisor?) very carefully before deciding if a HOHO is the best way to visit this wonderful city of two halves, the historic area and the futuristic area. It is flat so easy on the feet and very easy to walk around especially as a number of sights are in close proximity to each other and there are many many restaurants, bars and cafes throughout. Ships dock a few kilometers from the central area, but you could take a taxi or a local bus to Placa Ayuntamiento from where the historic area is easily explored on foot, or to any other location of your choosing. Or go in the opposite direction, again by bus or taxi, to the futuristic area, explore on foot then either take a public bus or taxi to the historic centre to explore there. Should you decide to visit both, a day ticket may be a good option for you. The bus stop near the port is really quite close and across a main road. I have a vague(very vague!) memory of some markings on the ground from the terminal exit, but you should ask. The Tourist Info people at the terminal were very helpful and the official visitvalencia.com website is a wonderful research tool to help you plan your day to suit your own interests and should be the starting point for your research before you arrive there. The more you look into that website, the more you will find. It even used to show bus routes and numbers, fares etc. And of course use other research tools such as Tripadvisor, YouTube, and any guidebooks you could borrow from a library, plus other websites such as Frommer's, Fodors, Rough Guides etc which appear when you google eg "Valencia tourist Information". We have visited twice. Second time we took the public bus to P. Ayuntamiento at one end of the historic centre, walked the historic area and when finished sightseeing at the opposite end of the historic centre, we took a differently numbered bus back from a stop beside an ancient tower to the stop at the cruise terminal. I think you will have a really enjoyable day there as Valencia has much to offer and is the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona. We really liked it as it is not entirely given over to tourism and we thought it had a better balance between working city and tourist city..

It is also RCL specific, and cross posting on the RCL forum is where passengers who took this RCL shorex would be more likely to see it and reply.

You could try cruisemapper and selecting Munich before selecting the month to access ship/boat calls and their dates.. Rremember that for Octoberfest you will need to check dates in both September and October as there can be more days which fall into September than fall into October (despite the name)

Should you find a taxi at Fos, a driver will probably be really happy to take you all the way to Cassis, but as he/she will likely have to return without a fare it could be costly- although that is a guesstimate. Are there any online taxi companies you could e-mail to get an approximate cost? Or have you tried googling something like " transfer from port of Fos to Cassis"??

You will have read the post above which explained the potential travel challenges. If you intend to go to to Cassis with the sole intention of taking a boat trip to the Calanques, you could do that from the Vieux Port in Marseille without having to make the return journey to Cassis. We have never found the town of Cassis itself to be particularly interesting, although it is pleasant enough sitting at the harbour area with a drink for a time.Much better shopping to be found in Marseille, also a much bigger selection of restaurants. You might be interested to read this previous thread. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2909078-cassis-on-our-own/#comment-64692785

as Hank has already mentioned, an "interesting and somewhat far flung" itinerary. Given that Etretat and Bayeux lie in opposite directions from le Havre, it would add time and more expense to your journey as you would first travel to Etretat from le Havre ,then travel back to le Havre before setting off again in the opposite direction to Bayeux. If you would consider dropping Etretat from your plans, you could travel by long distance coach or train to Bayeux from le Havre, or stick with your original idea of hiring a car service, which would still be costly, but less than it would be if you were to include both.

Thought I would try to reassure you that minimal "wandering" would be needed, but this time with another member explaining how they did it. Suggesting you read this current thread, but especialy post #4 by the other member.😀 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2998979-marseille/#comment-67145803

Thought i might add this for you.Karatemom 2 did a couple of these. The following is a copy/paste of a reply I gave earlier last year with some minor tweaks. It is easy to spend time around the Vieux Port, itself worth a visit in its own right And if already in the area next to the Vieux Port, you could wander into the historic Fort St Jean,at one end of the VP, part of which is free entry. From here you can cross a footbridge to the ultra modern MUCEM complex.on the waterside which is worth visiting. (as an aside, your shuttle bus may drop off and pick up from here or close to it) It is mostly outdoors with walkways and terraces, and some lovely views of the Vieux Port, Notre Dame de la Garde and the Med. It is a public space and can be enjoyed free of charge by anyone whether local or visitor unless you choose to enter any of the paying exhibitions. There are seating areas, and cafes and restaurants and it is a lovely place to stroll or sit whilst admiring the views of both city and sea. And from there you will be able to see the huge Cathedral de la Major a 5 minute walk away across the road. one of the largest cathedrals in France, it merits a short visit and has free entry. There are also short boat trips on offer from the Vieux Port going to the Chateau d'If (think Count of Monte Cristo) and a couple of other tiny islands, and longer ones to the Calanques of Cassis. And one of those little tourist trains which tootles around and it goes up to the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde for the wonderful views, and a couple of HOHOS. The little train and HOHOS leave from alongside the VP close to the historic building with the flags outside which is actually the Hotel de Ville. Also a few museums close by too. . And the shopping is excellent. These suggestions would be the easiest to do given their very close proximity to each other, but at the same time offer a number of sights/attractions Do read about the city and include the official Marseille Tourist Information website which I think is excellent (click for english version), Marvellous Provence, Tripadvisor and others,

Toulon is a fairly big station and unlike many around the region these days should have a manned ticket counter and several machines. However these days many tickets are bought online and displayed in an app. It might save time at the station if you buy on the app. If you buy on the app you obviously can't use the machines. Here's a link to the site associated with the app: https://www.sncf-connect.com/ This doesn't apply in the South Region (PACA) at present, but due to the reduction in paper ticket use SNCF have started removing the yellow machines. This article (in French) tells you about it. You may need to translate in a browser if you don't read French. https://www.quechoisir.org/actualite-sncf-ce-qui-change-avec-la-disparition-des-bornes-de-compostage-n105698/ I only casually referenced the machines as I thought they would travel by train and may not know about the validation requirement. i am sure that kctwinmommy will appreciate the updated info, as will others reading the thread.

There is a "pinned" thread at the top of the Spain Ports forum for Palma. If you post there, local resident roger b keeps a close eye and will usually reply, although I think your question has been asked and answered a few times already and you could use the handy search tool to look for some of the posts in it as it is very long.. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2697012-palma-de-mallorca-diy-new/page/24/#comment-67131532

if you listed your port names, that would help as in some ports it is easy to explore independently, in others less so. Did you feel like you had enough time in each port? Cruising rarely gives enough time in ports to "see it all" and the bigger the town or city the more difficult it will be to plan your sightseeing to suit your own interests. But in Europe you should look for the longest possible times in port, maybe especially so as NCL sometimes has really quite short timings. And you asked How is the food and ship in general? There will be reviews of Norwegian Pearl in the review section which you could read, but as your questions re food and ship are NCL specific, you might want to cross post on the NCL forum where you would probably get more replies.

Just wondering if you have browsed the SOLO Cruisers forum here on CC? It is where you could ask questions about which lines offer the best deals for solo travellers. This forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/279-solo-cruisers/

Toulon is a port of two parts, Toulon itself, and the other is la Seyne-sur Mer. You could be in either. There are frequent trains from Toulon to Marseille St Charles, the main train station. Remember to validate your tickets in one of the yellow machines before boarding a train as you otherwise risk a fine. In case you are at la Seyne, you would find it helpful to read about transport options and shuttles there. I do not like to post links to websites, but if you have not heard of it before now, a really useful information website for cruise passengers is "whatsinport", much much more than its name suggests and I think you will be pleased with what you find there.. Google that followed by the name of your port for all sorts of helpful info uniquely for cruise passengers. Expect Marseille to be busy busy that day, but buzzing too. I really do not think you need an excursion there unless you particularly want one.

i just now had a look to see if any timings have been given and they have. As I am wary of posting website links, try googling "the Olympic flame arrives in Marseille" and the Official Marseille Tourism website should appear in results. Clicking that link took me directly onto the dedicated page. On it there is a fuller description than I am posting. In brief, the three masted ship Belem will arrive in the vicinity of the harbour around 1130am, and sail around the Corniche Kennedy and the greater harbour in general, before arriving into the Vieux Port at approx. 5pm and mooring around 7pm. It is expected that the "Belem" will be accompanied by a large flotilla of vessels. There will be a specially constructed very long pontoon at the Vieux Port built with an athletic track above which will also have the Olympic cauldron on it..There will be giant screens, grandstands and other structures as there is to be a ceremony, concert and fireworks display that evening. I would therefore assume that ship shuttles on May8th will likely be relocated to a different central area instead of the area by the Vieux Port. I would also assume that calls to Marseille in the preceding days might also be impacted to allow for the infrastructure to be erected, and possibly for a day or two afterwards for the clearing away operation.

You must be disappointed with the lack of responses. I would caution that should you go ahead and book it, if the minimum numbers to run the tour are not met, there is a chance it could be cancelled, so maybe have a "Plan B" for whichever port it is, just in case.

You would get much more "close cruising" on a river cruise boat than you will on an ocean cruise ship, so perhaps an option for you to consider in the future?

You mention CROATIA, but don't give the names of the ports. We have never yet had to book an excursion with any company for a port call in Croatia, and we have visited a good number of them, some several times, in most you dock or tender into a central location from where they are easily explored independently and at low cost. You only need do some pre-trip homework to plan a day which suits your own interests.

To help you decide, you might want to compare how long you will have in the different ports, as NCL has a bit of a reputation for having shorter times than other lines. I do not know, have only read posts mentioning this, but worth checking anyway.

As you have had no replies as yet, and your question is specific to HAL, you might want to consider cross posting on the HAL forum where passengers who took this shorex would be more likely to see it and respond.

agreeing with the post above. Nagasaki is super easy to DIY using the tram and we bought our day ticket at the dockside "welcome/information " tent where maps, info and transport tickets were available. Staff were really helpful and there were also some souvenir stalls available. We visited the Peace Park, the Atom Bomb museum and other related sites which were close together, and on the return got off the tram a stop or two early and strolled part of the city, including the quite attractive waterside walkway where the "Spectacle Bridge" is to be found. A quick snack lunch onboard before visiting Glover Garden, a few minutes walk from the ship. It is much more than "a garden" which its name suggests, more like an open-air museum with great views from there and definitely worth a visit as there are a variety of things to see. Info online. It was at that time possible to rent very colourful traditional dress for men and ladies and many visitors were doing exactly that. There are escalators to take you up to the garden, unfortunately on the day of our visit these were not working and we had to walk up. Coming downhill after our visit, the main route was lined with souvenir shops. if I remember correctly, we took one tram from the port area then had to switch at a sort of transport hub to another which took us almost to the entrance of our first sight. I cannot remember the name of the stop, but staff at the port information tent can help with that. Whatever, with a day ticket it was very easy, almost everyone on the tram was doing exactly the same,and the tram emptied at the Peace Park. You really cannot go wrong. Unless you feel you absolutely must, a tour is not really essential although a little pre-trip homework would help.