lisad63

We booking a family cruise on Quantum of the Seas, and one cabin wants to upgrade to a Grand Suite, which would entitle them to meals in Coastal Kitchen.  If they move to GS, could they still eat in main dining room with everyone else, or are the required to eat in Coastal Kitchen?

Thanks, 

Lisa

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You should join your roll call , there are probably other people also heading to Keukenhof for the day 

 

I have joined the roll call for both legs of our B2B, just trying to figure out the turnaround day process in Amsterdam.

Thanks,

Lisa

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

When we have  been there it was just walk off  when you are ready

 

 

Thank you!

3 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

We've done several transatlantic round trips.

As an 'in transit' passenger there were no customs / immigration formalities - likely due to passport screening [UK Border Force] during the eastbound crossing to Southampton.

The only exception was in LeHavre in 2017 - the overworked French port official needed to stamp passports before and after shore excursions. Passports were not checked on our 2019 visit.

Passports were not checked in Hamburg.

At all the ports (Southampton, LeHavre, Hamburg) where there was a mix of disembarking, embarking and in transit passengers - presenting the ship's card and saying you were 'in transit' allowed you to bypass terminal lines. (still needed to go through security)

If we can disembark any time that morning, that would be perfect!  

How do they handle collecting the first leg card and issuing the new one for leg 2?

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Was your turnaround port in the USA?

 

Ireland is  a fair distance from Amsterdam

 

Some European ports  may have this but  in Amsterdam there was no customs to go through when disembarking 

We walked off  picked up our bags  got  a cab to the airport 

 

We have  done turnarounds in Denmark  we could stay onboard or go ashore  no one checked  us

 

 

Yes, our turnaround port was in USA.

So, in Amsterdam, we can disembark any time that morning?

Lisa

We are booked on Celebrity Silhouette for transatlantic cruise in April.  We also booked the next leg to Norway as B2B with transatlantic.  We would love to be able to get off the ship in Amsterdam to take a tour to Keukenhof Gardens to see the tulip fields.  Does anyone know if that is possible since we will have to disembark and go through customs, and then re-board for 2nd leg?  The last B2B we did in Caribbean, Celebrity had all passengers wait until everyone else was off the ship, then walked us through customer and reboarded us together.  Do they do the same in Amsterdam?

Thanks,

Lisa

My husband and I will be cruising Norwegian Fjords next May.  He is a big fan of watching Viking history shows - both true and fiction.  We have Haugesund as one of our ports, and I'd like to book an excursion based on Viking history there, if possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Lisa

21 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

Yes, you’ll have time. Cobh isn’t a big place and everything’s easily walkable from the ship.

Perfect!  Thank you!

We have a port day scheduled in Cobh, Ireland this spring, from 7am - 4 pm.  If we take a trip to Blarney Castle returning at 11:30, will we have time to do a self-guided walking tour of Cobh?  We would want to see the cathedral and the Titanic experience.  

My thought is we take the ship excursion for the out-of-town trip, and do our own thing to explore Cobh.  

Any advise?

Lisa

For those interested in the excursions that drop you off to swim into shore at the Baths, just a warning that we've seen it extremely rough when there and talked to very experienced swimmers (after they caught their breath) and they were surprised at the current and undertow. So would not recommend this for the typical swimmer, at least on days with rougher sea conditions. And you won't know the conditions until you arrive, unfortunately.

And weather can cancel these excursions more often than say the ferry option to Spanishtown and walk down from the Top of the Baths. I know folks want to get there first to beat the crowd, just beware these other risks exist with that choice.

 

Lisa, I hope you were able to enjoy a nice beach or island tour while on Tortola? Tortola is great in that you have a variety of beach options from secluded and empty to Lido deck busy in the event of a change.

 

[EDIT] - Don't mean to scare anyone off of course, the Baths are a very unique attraction and I would recommend a visit there for anyone visiting Tortola for the first time if they are interested. Just want to thank Lisa for posting this for others and also note the different problems one may encounter with these choices. There are operators that can beach for drop off but they are also dependent on sea conditions to some extent.

Thanks for the additional details.

We hated missing the trip to the Baths, but were able to spend some time in Tortola at Cane Garden Bay beach. Not the views we had anticipated, but still a beautiful day in calmer water. Hopefully we'll be back to try for the Baths again.

Lisa

We just returned from our cruise. One of the excursions I was looking forward to the most was a Snorkeling excursion to the Baths by boat. It said we would swim from boat to beach. Unfortunately, due to high winds and rough seas, that particular excursion was cancelled (along with snorkeling excursion to Jost Van Dyke).

If this is a must do for you and you plan to book through the cruise line, I would recommend the one where you travel to Virgin Gorda by boat, then are driven on land to the Baths. That excursion went as planned, but was full and we didn't get to go at all.