J_M_F

50 minutes ago, Mtn2Sea said:

Easter Island??

Correct! I didn't show the statues as that would have been too obvious. It is one port where you really need to take the ship's tour because the ship's tours have hired all the vehicles on the Island.

52 minutes ago, bennybear said:

That runway!   A similar one in Skiathos, is it St Martin?  

Not St Martin. This is a tender port but the weather and wave action are such that even when a ship calls there, there is a good chance they won't be able to land. The runway was built by the US as an emergency landing field for the space shuttle.

Where is the Statendam?

7 minutes ago, Quartzsite Cruiser said:

My guess is Scrabster, Scotland.  We dock there in 2017 pn the Prinsendam.

 

Yes, it is Scrabster. We had beautiful weather and a great walk around the dock area and the nearby town.

23 minutes ago, ScottishMaid said:

Aleysund Svalbard spitzbergen

Correct, although they call it Ny Aleysund

Here is another Prinsendam port to identify.

Where is the Prinsendam?

10 hours ago, RetiredMustang said:

Where is this tender pier?

 

 

 

 

Looks a bit like Fanning Island.

4 hours ago, RetiredMustang said:

This one may be harder.  Where is Maasdam?

 

 

 

Dave

Komodo Island, Indonesia

When we sailed out of Tilbury about eight years ago we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Dartford, which is a short taxi ride from Tilbury. We walked around Dartford (which is over the hill from the hotel) and had a drink in a local pub where we were greeted as long lost cousins. We actually arranged at the pub for a taxi to take us to the port the next day, thanks to the help of the bar maid who hooked us up with a cab driver who was in the pub. Unless things have changed greatly in the last few years, there really aren't any hotels in Tilbury that I would stay at. I would suggest that if you are arriving in London by air that you arrange for a private transfer to Dartford since taxis are too expensive and hauling luggage on the train is a real hassle. We were able to do that online before leaving the US. 

The rental company was happy with my US driver's license. My credit card includes insurance when I rent a car, otherwise I would get insurance from the rental company. We only used the car one day so we did not have to park it at the port. 

We are careful about which countries we will rent a car in. There are some where the police can't be trusted and some where the drivers are crazy. There are also certain large cities where I am not willing to fight the traffic even if the rest of the country is OK.

Jeff

If we are on a ocean cruise and only stopping in port cities on the ocean we don't worry about Malaria pills, but going up the Amazon or if we are "in country" on a trip we do.

We were in Tanzania two weeks ago and saw plenty of tsetse flies in the Serengeti Park. They can be carriers of sleeping sickness, as well as having a painful bite. We were glad we had sprayed our clothes and had our Deet. 

Flies are often seasonable. We were in Machu Picchu in late November a number of years ago and the little black flies were a major problem. Their bite leaves a blood blister that last for a couple weeks that itches like crazy. I was lucky in that the only time I got bit was after washing my hands and forgetting to reapply the Deet. We have talked to folks who were there at other times of year and they had no problems. On the other hand we were on a cruise that stopped in Peru, also in November, and a lady we met took a shore excursion to Machu Picchu and was so covered in bites she had to go to the infirmary.

We have been to the lower Amazon, the upper Amazon (in Peru), Myanmar, the Mekong River, central India, and three safaris in Africa, all areas where Malaria meds are recommended. Some trips we don't see a lot of bugs, some trips we do. It pays to be prepared. 

We were told on our last cruise to the Amazon that WHO now considers the yellow fever shot good indefinitely instead of ten years. We also take malaria meds (usually Mallarone) where that might be a problem. We also were stopped at St Lucia because we had been to Yellow Fever areas earlier in the cruise. After much discussion between the cruise line's lawyers and the port authorities it was decided that those with valid yellow fever shot records could go ashore, those who didn't or had only a doctor's  waiver had to stay on the ship.

Whenever we go to areas where Yellow Fever or Malaria are a problem, we spray our clothes with permethrin (which is good for a number of washings) and use 35% Deet on exposed skin. We have been told that 35% Deet is more effective than 100% and easier on the skin.

Sailed there on Oceania last December. Oceania handled the visas for Mozambique as well as for Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar. 

Our cruise overnighted in Reykjavik. I took a taxi to the airport and rented a car, then drove back to the port and picked up my wife and another couple. We did the Golden Circle trip on our own with no problems. Since the ship was overnighting, we even had time to drive out to the Blue Lagoon. The price at that time (6 years ago) was a couple hundred dollars for the four of us. We had no problems driving and the only traffic was in Reykjavik itself. I will warn you that the price of beer at the Blue Lagoon is a bit high.

Jeff

Two years ago we were on a cruise to Rio on the Veendam. Yellow Fever shots were recommended but not required. While we in Brazil there was a yellow fever outbreak in part of the country. On our return to the US the ship stopped at St Lucia. The local officials would not let anyone off because we had been to Brazil. After two hours of negotiations, including discussions between the port authorities and HAL's lawyers in Seattle, it was decided that those who had proof of Yellow Fever vaccinations would be allowed ashore. All others, including those with a doctor's wavier, would have to stay on board. My wife and I were allowed ashore because we documentation of our vaccinations, a lot of others were stuck on the ship. We did learn at that time that WHO has decided that the vaccinations are good indefinitely.

Usually a doctor's wavier (given to folks over 60 or who have medical conditions that preclude them getting the vaccination) is accepted, but in this case it wasn't.

If you are going to travel in the tropics and can get the shot, get it.

First go to the Indian Embassy web site. In the US they have one company that handles their visa applications. The application a is a bit of a pain, but you fill it out on line and then send your passport and photos (and money) to the agency. The turn around time is fairly quick and the visa for US citizens is good for ten years. I understand that you can now get an electronic "e" visa from the embassy that will work for someone on a cruise ship that is only there for a short time. Check on the embassy web site. My brother-in-law was on a cruise with us last month that stopped in those ports and that is what he did.

If you don't have a visa, you will not be allowed to board even if you don't plan on going ashore.

We saw some whales as we cruised past Jan Mayen Island, cruising between us and the island. At Ny Alesund we ran into some rather aggressive artic terns protecting their nests.

We took the Prinsendam in 2011 to Spitzbergen, stopping in Longyearbyen and Ny Alesund. We cruised north from there to about 82N where we ran into enough pack ice that we had to stop. Both stops in Spitzbergen were great. I loved the signs at the edge of town that said "Danger Polar Bears. Do Not Go Past This Point Unarmed." This was really brought home by the fact that a British teenager had been killed by a polar bear 2 days before we got there. There was a memorial and a lot of flowers for him in the town square. The cruise also stopped in Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Norway, and cruised within a mile or two of Jan Mayen Island. We really loved the cruise and would highly recommend it to anybody.

We go the equivalent of about $150 (US Dollars) from the ATM at the airport. Some was used to tip local guides, some was used for small purchases, and what was left we gave as tips at the end of the cruise (along with US Dollars). Although we didn't need to use them, our guides would sometimes stop at ATM's so that the passengers in the tour group could get cash if needed.

The tree tour guides we had experience with spoke very good English, as did the folks at the front desk. Some of the waitresses in the dinning room spoke good English, the others spoke enough to do their jobs. My only problems with the cruise were with the home office, not the staff on board.

Jeff

We just returned from this cruise on June 17th. My understanding is that we were the third cruise on the Sineus since they started cruising this year. The ship is newly refurbished and the cabins are very clean and modern. The crew is still a little green and some of the stewardesses in the dinning room a little unsure of themselves, but overall they were very good. There were four tour buses that followed the ship from port to port for the excursions. Which bus you ended up on for a given excursion was random, as was which tour guide was assigned to the bus. By chance (or luck) we alternated between two tour guides for almost all of the excursions, Olga and Ninna. They were excellent. We went on all the included tours. I wish we had taken the optional tour to the opera house in Odessa. They performed Swan Lake and we heard it was very good. We liked the Ukraine and the people we met. We learned a lot of history, both old and new. We had planned on taking a private tour to Chernobyl but had to cancel at the last minute because the Viking home office gave us the wrong departure time from Kiev. They told us 5 PM but we found out the day before that it was 1 PM which didn't give us enough time to make the trip. We went to the local Chernobyl Museum instead (about a mile walk from the ship) and found it interesting and worth while. They have English audio guides available which were very good.

I suggest that you use the ATM's in the Kiev airport to get some local currency. The ATM's will only let you get 2000 hryvnias per transaction (about $76), but you can do more than one transaction.

We flew to Kiev on Lufthansa from Seattle, changing planes in Frankfurt. Our return flight from Odessa was Austrian Airlines to Vienna, overnight in Vienna, then Lufthansa from Vienna to Frankfurt to Seattle. Be aware that airport security in Germany is even worse than TSA.

Overall we enjoyed the trip and I think you will too.

Jeff

We have been to the Antarctic on HAL. It is true that you can't get off, but we spent several days cruising the Antarctic peninsula. It was a great trip and I highly recommend it. We have also done the Antarctic on an expedition ship where we were able to land. Interestingly, we stopped at a lot of the same places in the Antarctic on both trips. While it is nice to be able to say you have set foot on the Antarctic, the HAL trip is very worthwhile.

We have also done Alaska. The scenery is beautiful, but there are a large number of cruise ships going there now, including some of the really big ones. I would hate to do Skagway with five ships in port including one with 5000 passengers! If you do Alaska, check on what ships will be in port the same time as you.

Last October we had to skip one of the islands just north of Sicily (it was a tender port) because the seas were too rough. There was a strong west wind with high seas for several days. Three weeks later we had to skip our second stop in Malta and spend two days in Valletta, again because of high seas and a tender port. The other times we have been in Med we had no problems.

Check in at FCO can be very long. We spent several days in Rome after our cruise. We had a morning flight out of FCO. We thought we had allowed plenty of time, almost three hours. It took us two hours to check in at Al Italia (code share with Delta). Then we found that to pay for our extra bags we had to go to another desk with its own line. After waiting 20 minutes I finally forced my way to the front of the line explaining I would miss my flight if I didn't. Then we had to clear security for US bound passengers. Fortunately that was rather fast. Then we literally ran to the gate which was a looong way away. We made it just as they were closing the gate. I would allow myself plenty of time at FCO and pay for any extra bags online if you have access to a computer. Be aware that you may well run into a fair amount of commuter traffic between the port and FCO in the morning.