Galley Slave

In 2013 we rented from Ken's Garage in Invergordon. Here are my notes: Go to blue gate office as you leave pier. Keys can be collected 8-9.30. KENS GARAGE, clare.mackay@peugeotmail.co.uk 55GBP ($85) includes tax & fully comprehensive insurance with liability for 500GBP. Peugeot 5 seaters, manual with full tank; petrol station across road.

 

My husband is reasonably good driving a manual, and driving on the left as well. Other than a few places (perhaps the town of Inverness?) there wasn't much traffic, so it was fairly easy. We drove to the Inverness area, visited a castle, drove a bit around Loch Ness, and came back. My photos are here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/invergordon__lerwick_shetlands

 

There was one place where we had a little bit of trouble navigating, and I don't remember exactly why, except that the road we ended up on was QUITE small. It didn't seem right. I'm not sure if we took a wrong turn somewhere or not, but we did manage to get headed to where we were going. I was using my Tom Tom GPS at the time but maybe the smartphone I have now would have been better at keeping us on track.

 

All in all it was fairly easy driving there and we had a great time. I also spent a little time when we got back walking through Invergordon. It was maybe a 5 to 10 minute walk up to High Street, the main street. I enjoyed looking at a number of murals along the street.

Thank you for the information, hope we do as well as you did driving in the area.

Thank you for all of the information. Does anyone know if we need some special drivers license to do this? Is there any type of age limit (too elderly) to rent a car?

We had to send a copy of my husband's drivers license, which we scanned and put in an e-mail before confirmation of the rental. They also asked his occupation, so I said he was retired and what his occupation had been. They sent the confirmation back very quickly, he will be 70 at the time we are in Invergordon. We have the itinerary for some of the tour operators, so we will follow their route to see the sites we prefer to visit.

We hope that your neighbors on the other side of the connecting door are quiet and do not get the cruise cough. We could hear every word, cough and argument from the people next to us on the Koningsdam. The ship was full, so there was nowhere for us to move.

We are renting a car in Invergordon. See this link: http://www.shorexcursions.co.uk/carhire.htm

They were slow in answering my request.

Ken's Garage is actually at a Peugeot dealership. Our contact was:

claire.cunningham@peugeotmail.co.uk

She was very good about answering my emails.

The cars all are Peugeots and it works out to be about 112USD for the day. They will deliver the car to the port for your pick up.

We are taking our GPS and following the route of some of the tours we have read about.

Have you seen or heard of any of the problems with plumbing, heating or cooling that have been mentioned previously? We are considering this cruise next year, so a lot could change as it gets closer to the transfer to the new owners in 2018.

I cannot comment on the tenders back to the ship however I live in South Queensferry and would say that you must be very sure on how you are going to return to the ship if you Do the tattoo on your own. There are no taxis at the train station and it's a fair walk. Buses going back from Edinburgh stop at 11.05 pm. Taxis during the festival are busy but you will get one.

 

 

If I can help with local info please just ask.

Thanks to you and all of the others who have written about their experiences getting back to the ship after the tattoo. I have decided to just stay in a hotel and not try to figure this out. I think HAL is keeping people uninformed in order to boast their sales of the excursion to the tattoo. Captain Albert's Blog said 415 people went on this excursion in August, so they are definitely making money on this event.

The Zuiderdam and Koningsdam will both be tendered at South Queensferry next August 7th. My group (on the Z) has purchased tickets for the Tattoo through HAL. We have a full day of sightseeing planned to the Borders that day. When we get on ship we are going to check with the excursion desk and see if we can do basically what you just asked. Instead of going back to ship after touring all day - just stay in Edinburgh for dinner, get to our own seats and then take the HAL bus back to the ship after the performance.

I called and asked HAL if we could do this and they said we could not. They said we had to go with the group and return with the group. They probably give the tickets to the tattoo out as you board the bus.

The last time I was there, tablemates had booked Tattoo tickets independently. They made it back to the ship just fine. Boarding the tender never became an issue.

Can you remember if they took the train or a cab back to the port? Thank you for the positive info on doing the Tattoo on our own.

I have called HAL a few times and gotten different answers to see if we can go to the Edinburgh Tattoo on our own. Some agents say they will give us the tender schedule onboard, some say they run all night, one said they would only run for the excursion participants. Our roll call is trying to figure this out. Does anyone have experience with the tender schedule when the ship is on an anchor overnight in South Queensferry. This year over 400 people took the excursion, so it must take some time to get them back onboard their bus and a tender.

One of the things we disliked about the Koningsdam was the fact that sweaty people took over the upholstered furniture around the pool. There are chairs and couches on the sides which were full every afternoon of people who had been in the pool sleeping. Some of them didn't even have towels under their wet bathing suits. These were not the lounge chairs, but more like nice patio furniture. It seemed like a new location for the lounge hogs to take their naps!

If you go to the Lido right when they start serving, there are no problems getting served or finding a seat. We did this in the morning and on the nights we wanted to eat there. I just went up about 5:45pm and sat at a window table. The view of the ship departing was great from the floor to ceiling windows in the Lido compared to the MDR. When they open the stations, we got our food very quickly. The same idea works in the morning, go up early and have coffee and take advantage of the lack of crowds.

Thanks so much for the Rick Steves idea! I would never have thought of using his book for a port stop.

The Tourist Information office in Flam has a great map of all the trails in the area. We were there at the end of May and wore windbreakers over a sweater or a fleece vest. I took gloves and a hat and only wore them once.

We love to get out on our own and go for a walk, or hike, but not too many hills. The ports look perfect for walking. Have you met anyone who just discovered on foot? Are there hiking paths? Thanks for the info on the ports. We are going in June...wonder what to expect weather wise?

There are a lot of trails in Flam. We walked along the fjord and up to Otterness Farms. It was about a six mile hike, level most of the way. The farm doesn't open until June. There were other trails that had more gain in elevation. Rick Steves' Snapshot book of Norway was a great resource for all of the ports.

On the Christening Cruise people were putting liter bottles right on the water spigot. Others were putting thermal coffee mugs on the spigots for coffee. The couple in the cabin next to us were coughing for three weeks. They were caught putting their water bottles on the spigots. There were no signs on the ship when we debarked on May 29th. Maybe this contributed to all of the people with respiratory infections. I asked one man if he had washed his bottle and he said "no." I mentioned this on our survey, so hopefully they have put up a sign and started to monitor the situation.

We were on the 13 day Christening Cruise and the 7 day Viking Sagas cruise on the Koningsdam. We went off the ship for the day, returned and went through security. We used the same key cards for the whole 20 days. It was a very seamless process for us. The elevators were tied up for hours, so be prepared to walk up the stairs or wait. This was an unusual weekend as several Visitors were onboard the ship to see the ship and receive their plates in Amsterdam. The Lido was very crowded!

Our tips would include: Be sure you do not have a connecting room unless you have friends or family staying in the adjoining room. You can hear everything, especially if the people have compromised hearing and talk loudly to each other.

Go to the Lido as soon as they open since lines form due to the fact that they serve all of the food. It is no longer self serve. This seemed to also apply to the pizza station at lunch time.

Go to the theater about 30 minutes ahead of the show since it fills up, especially the early show.

We emptied the refrigerator contents and put it in the cupboard below the glassware since we do not use their mini bar contents.

heya galley slave.......can you do me/us a favor and inquire about the Elite Beverage Package on the K'dam? Would really appreciate.

 

dave

The Elite Beverage Package was $54.95 per day. I am still so tired, my memory may be failing, but I think that is what I read on the little signs they had posted on the bars.

We met on the third floor atrium across from Guest Services. The Dutch Café has seating that is between Guest Services and the Café. It was a good place to sit and wait for the other members of the tour. If people are late or do not show up, you can call their cabin.

My husband went to the medical center and got antibiotics and Allegra. He started getting better in the middle of the 20 day Christening Cruise. The couple in the cabin next door(connecting door) refused saying "meds do not help." They were still coughing loudly all night up until we disembarked. If everyone took the responsibility when they start coughing and sneezing in crowded areas we may all stay healthy. All of the ports had pharmacies that helped provide cough medicine. I used the nasal spray Ayr the whole time and did not catch the respiratory problems that seemed to hit this cruise. Since lines form in the Lido on the Koningsdam(no self serve food) people were sneezing and coughing in the food lines as they leaned over the glass. Many people were refilling their water bottles by holding them on the water spigots. People were doing the same thing with their thermos bottles at the coffee dispensers. I asked one man if his bottle was clean and he said NO. Other cruise lines have signs telling people not to do this. HAL needs to do the same.

May I ask which cabin area you were in? Also how much room did the connecting door take in regards to closet space, etc. Thank you.

We were in cabin 7139 behind elevators at stern. There were two closets and three small drawers. There was some shelf space above the safe. Location was good for running up to the Lido or to the stern deck to catch the sights. Crew added weatherstripping along the edge of connecting doors which did not help.

Do not book connecting cabins if you have good hearing. You can hear every word, sneeze and cough. Christening Cruise was full of people with bad respiratory infections. Meds from infirmary not helping very much. I would make sure not to have connecting verandah cabin!! Coughing next door ruined cruise for us. We never had this on connecting cabin on other ships.

Based on what HAL Guest Services in Seattle told me yesterday, its only offered on the K'dam and pricing is only available on the ship.

I will start asking at Guest Services, if they send me somewhere else I will follow up with whoever has the info. I will let you know when we return in June.

heya galley slave.......can you do me/us a favor and inquire about the Elite Beverage Package on the K'dam? Would really appreciate.

 

dave

I can try to find out the info. We never buy beverage packages, so not sure where the source would be. Are those the ones they offer during check in?

We are leaving next week for the Christening Cruise. Were there any parts of the ship that were very cold? I am starting to pack and just wonder how many sweaters or shawls to take for the dining room or theater. Thank you for your helpful and informative reviews!

Clipper Vacations is starting a new Catamaran service between Vancouver and Victoria. It is supposed to start this spring. This is the company that now has service between Seattle and Victoria.