karinad

1 hour ago, SoonerDog said:

Edinburgh is kind of divided between what's known as "Old Town' & 'New Town'.  Old Town basically sits above the New Town area and that is where you'll find the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle.  The Castle is at the top of the Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace sits at the bottom.  Along the way are many shops, pubs, restaurants and interesting sites.  It's best to find a ride to the castle (Taxi, Hop-on/Hop-off tour bus or City Bus (Lothian Buses) and walk down- much easier as getting to the castle on foot is a pretty good climb.  

 

Definitely stay in the City Center of Edinburgh.  The hotels there will be a bit more expensive, but well worth it in my opinion.  Anywhere in the 'West End' or York Place/St James Quarter of New Town will be great as the Edinburgh Trams run pretty much everywhere in the City Center, even down to the Leith area (seaport region where the Royal Yacht Britannia is moored).  

 

There are also a number of nice hotels along the Royal Mile, as well as the Grass Market which is just below the castle; however, Trams do not run in those areas, so you'll have to walk or grab a Taxi or Bus.  One positive thing about the Edinburgh Buses (Red Lothian Buses) is the fact that they all run down Prince's Street at some point-  Just make sure to ask the driver if he is headed to or away from Princes Street. 

 

 The Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle are pretty much a 'must see', they are a pretty tough climb from Prince's Street which is the main shopping street.  The Edinburgh 'Hop-on/Hop-off' buses are a great way to get a general overview of the city and also will eliminate some of the walking/climbing between the main sites.  I would do that, stopping off along the way to see the Castle and walk DOWN the Royal Mile.

 

Depending upon how much time you have, some of my favorite places are as follows:

 

The Surgeon's Hall Museum on South Bridge/Nicolson St

Scottish National Gallery on Prince's Street 

National Museum of Scotland (near the University)

The Edinburgh Playhouse (There is usually a good play on)

The Conan Doyle Pub for a meal (named in honor of Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes).  Conan Doyle lived nearby.

Stockbridge area if you have time and check out the 'Charity Shops'- Fun & full of bargains

The basement supermarket at Mark's & Spencer's on Prince's Street.

Primark Clothing Store- Prince's Street

Walk along Rose Street which is like a pedestrian only street right behind Princess Street.

TISO outfitters on Rose Street

Stop at the Gregg's bakery on Rose street for a 'Steak bake'

Also, any of the 'Pret' sandwich shops for a delicious quick snack

 

Edinburgh is a magnificent city and, in my opinion, one of the World's most beautiful.  It's easy to get around and people are friendly- even if a bit hard to understand at first.  You'll love it!

Thank you for the detailed response and great information. Two of our stops will surely be the Royal Yacht and the castle.

15 hours ago, SBLOK64 said:

We stayed at a Premier Inn which was located just a block or two from the Royal Mile.  It was also only a block or two from the train station.  We took the train to London's King's Cross station but we weren't going on a cruise.  

Thank you! I've heard of Premier Inn before but never stayed in one. Will check it out.

15 hours ago, edinburgher said:

With only a short stay and the city having much to offer, probably best to stay somewhere central.  There is a massive amount of accommodation in Edinburgh in all different price bands, including  hotels, guest houses, B and B's, self catering apartments etc.  I know  from personal experience that it can be very time consuming and frustrating trying to find accommodation in any city which matches comfort level, location and price points., but it is the only way you will find what you are looking for, or the closest to it. 

 

As far as sightseeing is concerned, best advice is to read, read and read even more about the city and decide which attractions/sights appeal to you, not those which appeal to others as everyone has different priorities depending on their own interests.  You could try googling Edinburgh Tourist Information and choose which sites to read from the results, alsoTripadvisor,  YouTube videos and guidebooks, some of which you could perhaps borrow from your local library.

 

I don't know if reading any past threads would be helpful to you or not, as the majority are from CC members with only a few hours in the city, but here are some of them for you to decide:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=edinburgh&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

Thank you for the link! We have never had a long land vacation in Europe. We do love a cruise vacation but love to spend a few days on land. I wish we had more time!

19 hours ago, John Bull said:

As per @Scottishclover's post, the weather starts to turn in October.

And sunset in Edinburgh is around 6.30 pm.

 

Same applies to the seas in UK waters - you're heading into the risk of Autumn storms.

For that reason there are a limited number of round-UK cruises, and that repo cruise is pretty late in the season.

 

Yes, Edinburgh is well worth several days.

Because we were touring by car and in high season we stayed at an hotel near the airport - cheaper hotels, no parking woes, excellent & frequent tram service into the heart of Edinburgh. But October isn't high season, and unless your date clashes with a major event such as the Edinburgh Tattoo or The Fringe hotel prices should be reasonable. Somewhere along or just off the Royal Mile (Lawnmarket & High Street) or Princes Street would be as central as you can get.

 

And yes, fly from Edinburgh to Southampton. London's airports are 65 to 80 miles from Southampton, Southampton's airport is just 6 miles / £20 taxi from the cruise terminals.

 

JB 🙂 

Thank you for the great advice with where to stay, I was surprised with the late sailing out of Southampton. The possibility of rough seas makes me a little nervous. I'm sure I'll have more questions by the time my research is done. You're always so informative JB!

13 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

Just so you know you can fly direct to Southampton from Edinburgh with Loganair. It might be easier than flying to Heathrow and getting to Southampton. Another option to consider.

 

Don’t bank on good weather in October, come prepared for anything. If it stays dry you’ve hit the jackpot.

I will look into that! Thank you! Yes, going from Heathrow is a long drive!

We went on a British Island cruise that was supposed to stop in Edinburgh but couldn't because of high winds. I didn't book the cruise just for that port. The cruise was great anyway! I'd still like to get there so here's what I'm looking at. There's a repositioning cruise on the Anthem of the Seas on Oct. 14, 2024. Our 50th wedding anniversary is the 12th. The cruise leaves from Southampton. I've already checked the flights. We'd plan on flying into Edinburgh a few days before and spend at least 2-3 nights there. We'd want to fly into Heathrow a day before and stay near the port. British Airways has reasonable non-stop flights. We end up in Rome and would possibly want to stay a night before we fly back to New York.

At our ages we had hoped that we wouldn't have time restraints but I take care of my 92 yr old mom so time is limited. We have not booked the cruise yet. Does anyone have suggestions with where to stay and a good itinerary for sightseeing to make the most of our time. Is this a good time to be there? Our last visit to the British Islands was in mid-Sept. and we had pretty nice weather.

Thank you for any suggestions!

7 hours ago, Szt said:

I would choose NCL over CCL any day. But if you’ve been on both and are good with either, it sounds like CCL would be preferable just because of price. 
I will share- the cruise next credits can be extended  At least that’s what we were told. As long as you have a reservation using them before they expire. For example: they expire 03/25.  You book your next cruise for 03/26 in 03/25. Your cruise next certs are your downpayment. But in 01/26 you decide to cruise on another line. So you don’t cancel, you change your NCL booking to a different NCL cruise for 2027. The certs are shifted to that reservation. As long as you have the certs attached to a reservation you can use them for cruises well past the deadline. 
Hope that helps. 

Thank you! Originally, the certificates were to expire in 2023 but they extended them to 2025.

6 hours ago, Joebucks said:

What experience are you looking for? Honestly, just asking for random opinions is likely to result in answers stemmed from whatever line they randomly chose, something they felt they got for free, a bad experience they heard about, etc.

We go for the entertainment, food is important. We like seafood but I hear that lobster tail isn't offered on these two. RCCL has limited theirs. We're in our late 60's but dh has played in a rock band for years. We don't get out on the weekends ourselves because of him having gigs on the weekend. Since both of them are 10 day cruises I wouldn't expect a lot of kids on them.

Random opinions help because they could strike a nerve.

I'm trying to decide on one of these ships for a January Caribbean cruise. Both have similar itineraries but CCL has a longer stay in ports. We've been on both cruise lines but not for the past 5 years. Right now CCL is much cheaper but I have 2 CruiseNext certificates for NCL that don't expire until 2025. We've enjoyed both cruise lines in the past and multiple times on each.

I know that things have changed on mostly all the cruise lines. Our latest cruises were on RCCL and they were fine. Has anyone been on both lately? Thanks for helping!

We never cruised at this time of year, usually October is our time. This cruise is from Nov 26 to Dec. 6. Maybe it would help get me in a festive mood after a bad year. I wish the Christmas fairy's would come and decorate my house while I'm gone! Thank you so much for the answers!

We're considering the week after Thanksgiving on the Getaway. Will it be decorated for the holidays?

I think it's a good excuse to do a short cruise before our 10 day one so we get platinum benefits for the long cruise.😁

Thank you to all that replied! I think I will check in with the CN onboard. It's a 10 day cruise, too!

Will I get Platinum benefits while on my next cruise? It's a 10 day cruise. I'm only one point away! TY

In our case with transportation to the port in NY, we have an hour drive to the bus terminal and the bus would take us right to the port. I imagine that if it was a major storm that the bus would not go if there was a state of emergency. If that was the case I don't imagine most of the passengers would make the ship. I wonder if that ever happened????

I hear you about luck! We, for the most part have traveled to the Caribbean in October for the past 30 years on and off. We have never been hit by a hurricane. The day that hurricane Sandy hit NJ we just got off the ship coming from Bermuda. I shouldn't even say this out loud!

23 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Early January - until the 10th or 12th is likely to be free of too many school kids, but around the 15th (MLK day) it will be busy — as will the period around Presidents’ Day in February,  but the first and last weeks of February should also be good. 

Thank you! That's what I was thinking of MLK Day and Presidents Day. As Thinfool said about the amount of days the cruise is. Hopefully, we won't have a major snow storm here! We've been lucky the past few years!

7 minutes ago, thinfool said:

Take a cruise of 7 days or longer.  Most parents cannot be off work longer than that.

We always cruise in early January, maybe the 2nd week or so, after the college folks go back.

Or you could do a full transit thru the Panama Canal.  The year that we did it there were less than 6 children on board.

The big time for families in the winter is over the holidays.

We would be cruising out of NYC. I'm looking at either the CCL Venezia 10 or 12 days or NCL Getaway 10day. We usually cruise in October and never had a problem. Thank you!!!

We have never cruised in the winter, January or Feb. My question is with winter break, etc., for the school kids. When are we in danger of the ships being crowded with school vacationers? Thanks!

We have never cruised in the winter months before out of NYC, I'm most concerned about winter break for the school kids or MLK Day/weekend. When do these time typically start with winter or holiday break. The dates we're looking at are the end of Jan and mid Feb,, Typically we travel in Oct and not to many children around the ships. Thanks in advance

16 minutes ago, 3dogmom said:

 

I booked directly with NCL. I called WP, used my points to upgrade to the OV, and then chose my balcony and paid for that upgrade. I didn't know WP could handle anything other than upgrading using points, but she was able to handle the entire transaction. I *think* you would use your agent for anything not point related, but possibly you can have the WP rep book the entire transaction and then transfer the booking to your TA? Not really sure how that works.

 

As far as benefits, I lost the 3x point accrual bonus that I received when originally booked. This didn't bother me since I'm pretty low-level on NCL....I don't even know the names of the levels! 

Thank you! I wish it was all black and white with no question about what's allowed and what isn't. We earned the points! When I talked to WP the other day I asked her if the availability to upgrade was there. She couldn't tell me unless I had a booking number. They are probably limited to just doing the upgrade and then your travel agent has to handle the rest.

3 hours ago, 3dogmom said:

 

For my CA/NE Oct cruise, I used 30k points to upgrade from an Inside to Outside and then paid $593 to upgrade and choose my balcony.

Did you go through a travel agent or directly through NCL? So, the process for this to be done would be to book the inside with my agent, call WP to upgrade the inside to the outside and then call back my agent to buy the upgrade to balcony? With the agency I'm going to use it is only the balcony and higher that comes with paid gratuities and $150.OBC. I understand that when using points to upgrade that you only get the benefits of the original booking but if I pay to upgrade from outside to balcony would I get the benefits that go along with the balcony because I am paying for it? With my math I'd be saving $500. to do this process rather than cash the points out and put it towards the balcony. I'm hesitant since the cruise is only a little more than a month away. The availability seems to be all there for all categories using the next lower to the family category.

43 minutes ago, 3dogmom said:

 

For my CA/NE Oct cruise, I used 30k points to upgrade from an Inside to Outside and then paid $593 to upgrade and choose my balcony.

That's what I was wanting to do and another poster told me that it can't be done. I had called World points and asked them and they told me it can be done. If you read a few posts up you can see where I asked the question.

I had to come back to tell you about what I decided to do about my 30,000 points. The cruise I'm booking is a little over a month away. I have never booked a cruise this close to sailing. From what I'm seeing with the other NE/Ca. cruises they are not dropping in price. Instead of even taking a gamble and trying to use my points to upgrade I am just going to cash them in for a sure thing and not worry about having to cancel and lose points/money. I haven't asked any other agent about upgrading from inside to outside and then trying to see if NCL would let me pay to upgrade to a balcony from outside with cash. NCL should have something in black and white as to what's allowed like redepositing the points if needed to cancel. As any of us know that points are more precious than money. I have always used miles to book flights ever since we started travelling and the airlines have it written down if you can change or cancel a flight with miles. As one of the other posters has said not to trust what one person has told you.

17 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Katrina,  the problem, as you will find, is that agents, whether it is WP or NCL, may give you wrong answers.  In a perfect world every agent would give you the same, correct answer.  But I would be very cautious in this going forward.   Call another agent, try one at NCL outside of the WP dept and see what they tell you.

Ok, yes, I'll ask NCL directly if they know anything about it. Thanks!

12 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Katrina,  the problem, as you will find, is that agents, whether it is WP or NCL, may give you wrong answers.  In a perfect world every agent would give you the same, correct answer.  But I would be very cautious in this going forward.   Call another agent, try one at NCL outside of the WP dept and see what they tell you.

Yes, I do realize this with anything and wouldn't trust the answer unless everything was refundable. Do you mean to call my or a travel agent to ask them about it. I don't know that if once you put money down and it's in final payment, do they allow you 24 hours to cancel if things fall through?