cruisinqt

Reykjavik and Akurreyri are with Saga Travel which uses mini buses that carry no more than 15 passengers. The reviews often say there were only 8-10 people in their groups. With Grundarfjordur I used Sandra’s Tours which uses the large tour buses with reclining seats and a toilet. It’s a long tour with lots of long distance traveling so I think that’s why it’s a bigger group. I’m not crazy about big groups but there’s not a lot of local cruise tours to choose from and this bus sounds pretty nice.

Finding tours in Ireland and Scotland were easy since the ports are large cities with a big tourist industry and lots of cruise ships visiting. But Iceland was challenging. Reykjavik was easy since it’s the capital and a very large city. But the other 3 ports are small with only one or two small cruise ships visiting occasionally so they mostly cater to land based vacationers who will be there for a few days. So most of the tours I found online were very lengthy with no pickups at the port mentioned. I did finally get some amazing tours booked for decent prices though. Here’s what I booked all prices are for four adults: Dublin- Boyne Valley Tours. A private tour with just our family where we choose where to go for a whole day for $550 Belfast- Giants Causeway Tour with Odyssey Coach Tours for $238 GBP Reykjavik- Golden Circle Tour with Saga Travel for 79,600 ISK which is $580 USD Grundarfjordur- National Park, volcano, & waterfall tour with Sandra’s Cruise Tours for $476 Akurreyri- Lake Mayvatn Tour with Saga Travel for 79,600 ISK which is $580 USD Seydisfjordur- We booked a private taxi with Asgrim’s taxi’s to Vok geothermal baths for 150 Euros or $163 USD Invergordon- Dunsrobin Castle & Distillery Tour with Thistle Excursions for 500 GBP or $619 USD All of these have very good reviews online and have good ratings with TripAdvisor

I’ll do that thanks for the information it helps a lot.

That’s good to know because I was contemplating some longer sailings with them. On the longer journeys you need extra stuff to make those extra sea days more fun so I’ll probably stick to cruise lines that do more things. Lectures are interesting but I really like the throwback days and dance classes. My favorites were the 1950 throwback day and the 1987 throwback day. It was fun learning the jitterbug and the Charleston too.

I’ve had total knee replacement surgery so I doubt I’d be able to hop some fences but my daughters love history and would jump at the chance to do so (pun intended lol.) 😆 Thanks for the info.

I’m looking at a private tour that’s more personalized so I can request places to go to. I’ll look into those places I appreciate the suggestion.

I guess that’s why most of the tours go there instead of Boyne Valley. I’m glad I researched it ahead of time thanks for your input.

Hmm this worries me because my husband is 6’6” and has a bad back. I watched the video and the inside of the tomb didn’t look near as fabulous as I thought it would. I imagined all of these tunnels, tombs and carvings on the wall. It’s still very cool though. I wonder if my husband could get through there. If you were visiting Dublin again and had to choose only one tour which would you choose to go on?

It’s not on the room service menu. But you can order from the pizza place or any of the restaurants and have food and alcohol delivered to your cabin. It goes onto your bill as a room service charge since it’s delivered to your cabin so the casino comps it if your offer includes room service. Or at least they comped it for us.

We are looking for a tour in Dublin and came across a tour going to Boyne Valley (Bru Na Boinne). Most tours go to Wicklow and Glendalough (along with Sally Gap and Lough Tay) and that area does sound interesting. But now that I’m reading about the tombs in the Boyne Valley area I’m more inclined to do a tour going there. It sounds like such a unique experience and I love historical sites. It includes a visit to Hill of Slane and Hill of Tara and possibly Trim or Slane castle and some Abbey’s too. Can you really go inside of the structure where the tombs are? Is it as interesting as it looks? Or is the Wicklow/Glendalough tour a more interesting area to visit?

I’ve been on several Elite cruises and I really like them. They will send you an email about 3 weeks before your cruise. There’s a link so you can arrange for free parking or car service to and from the cruise. It’s in a nice luxury sedan or SUV. It can be from anywhere not just the airport so we usually book ours from the hotel to the port pre cruise then from the port to the airport post cruise. You also select your choice of alcohol and mixers to be in your cabin. You can choose a free excursion from the list or use the $300 elsewhere like the spa. They have several cash giveaways at the Elite party and everyone gets an Elite lanyard. In the casino they have lots of cash giveaways for Elite cruisers too. You’ll get a big fruit basket with cheese and crackers it’s the $50 one in the fun shops. They give you several gifts and more bottles of wine mid week. The free room service is really good you can order anything steaks, bottles of wine, dessert etc. We usually order a couple 12 packs of soda to keep in our fridge. The free drinks anywhere is really nice on the ships with the Shake Spot. Their spiked milkshakes are amazing, especially the white chocolate truffle. If we see an Elite cruise we usually try to book it because we love being pampered.

It’s the same situation for me. I booked an Alaskan cruise almost a year ago with Royal and I just checked the price and it’s more than doubled for me too. Cruise prices are crazy right now

I never thought of it that way but you’re probably right it makes sense.

I think Carnival has changed their strategy since the pandemic. All of the cruise lines, having been shutdown for 2 years, are hurting pretty bad financially so they’re looking to make up for all of their losses as quickly as possible. Carnival seems to be trying to do so by appealing to their main moneymakers, the gamblers, so they’ve revamped their casino players program. They are trying to get as many gamblers as they can on the cruises because they spend way more money than other regular guests. I’m not a huge gambler but I’ve been getting some insane offers with lots of very cheap last minute cruises. I used to never get offers like this because I’m not a whale I’m more of a guppy lol. I bet the minimum and limit my spending. But even nobody’s like me are getting great offers so I think Carnival is betting on the gamblers to help them get back on track financially. And they’re saving their last minute cheap cruises for gamblers as a perk for them so maybe there won’t be cheap last minute cruises for non gamblers anymore.

My father was in the navy so being a military brat naval things fascinate me. So was my husband, his father served in the Navy in World War 2 and boy did he have some good stories. I really miss him. Anyways, I’ve inherited tons of naval books from both of them and read quite a few so there’s a good chance I’ve read it but I’ll have to check to make sure. (Though if it’s a really new or recent book I might not have it.) I can’t check the collection right now since I’m letting my cousin go through it, he loves these types of books too. I do remember a book that really fascinated me though, it was called “Stability And Trim For The Ships Officer.” I liked it because it broke things down really well without getting too complicated. You should check it out sometime it’s a good read. I may even bring it with me on my upcoming transatlantic cruise since we will be having lots of sea days. I had planned on bringing some of my father in laws old World War 2 books but now you’ve got me missing all of those naval books.

Our cruise just replaced a port stop with Dublin. We are looking to book a small private tour there. Most tours go to Wicklow and Glendalough along with a visit to Guinness. I found one that goes to Boyne Valley and it sounds interesting, especially the tombs at Newgrange. We aren’t big drinkers so the distillery doesn’t interest us. We love history though, especially castles and Abbey’s. Does anyone have firsthand knowledge or experiences with these two areas? I’m torn about where to go. Also, are either of these areas physically demanding? I’m fine walking around and exploring but I have a knee that will start to hurt after about 30 minutes but I’m good if I rest it a few minutes.

All last summer Isle Of Sky was replaced with Stornoway so I expected to go there instead which I wasn’t thrilled about. But hearing that we are going to Dublin is great news. I’m really excited about going there too!

I just got this too. I’m going on the 8/20 cruise out of London. But the itinerary change isn’t showing on my planner. It still says Isle Of Sky. I’m trying to find what the exact changes to the schedule are so I can plan accordingly.

I wasn’t going to get technical but perhaps it’s warranted with the various comments I’m seeing. A ship will be affected by rough seas in two ways, roll and pitch. The roll is when waves hit the side of the ship (side to side motion) which the stabilizers help with. Pitch comes from front and aft of the ship. Larger and longer ships sit atop waves more and are less affected by pitch. According to numerous maritime websites, “The degree in which a ship will roll, pitch and yaw in different sea conditions depends on its inherent stability. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the ship, the less likely it is to be affected by rough weather.” Therefore, larger ships will be less affected by rough seas than smaller ones, that’s a fact. However, the bigger ships have a larger lever arm which will increase the motion felt when you’re up high on the ship or if you at either end of the ship. So there is some merit to a smaller ship feeling slightly more stable in those specific areas (very high or at the very end or way up front.) But for overall stability of a ship (and I’ve been on many ships with over 20 years of cruising) I’ve personally found the larger ships much more stable. As for cabin location, lower and in the center is best. The ship pivots around its center of mass which is down very low and in the middle. So you’ll want a cabin closest to that area if you don’t want to feel motion in your cabin while sleeping. I hope this helps. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. We are here to help.

Yes Carnival adds extra events on longer sailings. They call them “Carnival journeys” cruises. They add enrichment lectures on stuff like photography, stargazing, etc. They also have Q&A sessions from various departments (maritime, entertainment, hotel operations) throughout the cruise. They also add on dance classes and will usually have a 50’s dance hop one night. And there will usually be a throwback day where the whole day will a throwback to that time, it’s usually in the 1980’s or 1990’s. The whole ship will be decorated according to that decade, they even have an old timey photo booth setup. Carnival really goes out of their way to make their longer cruises more fun.

Most people with seasickness get the behind the ear patches from their doctors. I usually take Bonine along which is available at most stores but I’ve never needed it. Most of the time you don’t even realize you’re on the sea because the ships are huge with big stabilizers on them. But I have been on a few cruises that were a little rocky. I’ve never really noticed much noise from the cabins next door. It’s just like a hotel room, for the most part you don’t hear a peep but occasionally you’ll get a noisy neighbor. One of the reasons I started cruising over 20 years ago was because of the free child care and great kids programs on cruise ships. It’s nice to have a break from them occasionally but still have them along for the fun. The kids centers break the kids up into groups like 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, & 12-15 but each cruise line does it differently. The workers have to have a degree in a child related field so most of them are teachers. They do fun stuff like scavenger hunts, arts & crafts, board games, and watch kids movies. You can drop them off in the morning with a break for lunch and dinner and after 10 pm it’s no longer free. But it’s still very cheap and is usually under $10 an hour.

I enjoy talking to the various workers and hearing what life is like in their country. I love learning about other cultures. And just like you were saying just about every single person said they sent 60-70% of their pay back home. So it must be a very normal thing for them. They always feel very blessed to have what they have on the ship. I like their thankful attitude they appreciate everything they’ve been given. That’s why I don’t mind giving a little extra to those that go out of the way to make my vacation more enjoyable.

Thanks for the tip that helps.

I say that because many of the staff on board are from very poor countries and are supporting large families back home. And they get very small wages from the cruise ships and rely mainly on our gratuities for their income. So when some go way out of their way for us we usually tip them a little extra.

And that’s as it should be. American tipping culture is completely out of control.