Galley Slave

We have decided to take the train to the port. We are leaving earlier in the morning and hope to get our wine, etc.

Hi, this is Kit from Sydney, Australia. Have booked on 20 day Christening cruise for a group of 4 which includes my wife Joyce, David and his wife Regina. We will be using a shuttle service from Rome to Civitavecchia by Sharedshuttle.it on 9th May. We are paying 105 Euro (or 26.25 pp) but the rate can go down to 73.50 (18.35 pp) if we can have 6 in the shuttle van.

There are 2 more spots left and if you are interested you can book

on their website sharedshuttle.it . To get this discount you will need to insert my reservation code 68759SSI in the requested data in your reservation. We will need to go together in the shuttle to enjoy the discount.

We are on the same cruise and may want to share the shuttle with you. Where is your hotel? It looks like we need to all go from one location. We are staying at the Marriott Grand Flora. If you post the name of your hotel, I can look it up on a map of Rome. What time are you being picked up? We wanted to pick up some wine and soda in Civitavecchia. I have the name of the grocery store.

We took the bus and train to Vienna earlier in the day(around 9:40am). I made reservations online. We had the front seats on the top level of the bus. It was a pretty ride, seeing the Julian Alps near the border. The bus drops you off right at the train station and you get on the train. The bus was in great condition. I would buy your lunch at the Vienna station to have on the way. My husband ran off the train to grab us a sandwich before we left the border. The whole trip was seamless, but I would book tickets 90 days out and they are less expensive than if you get them that week. We got to Vienna, took the subway to our hotel and had dinner. Sit on the right hand side of the train and you will have a view of a few castles.

We tried to take the train to Aix and our credit cards would not work in the machine to buy tickets. We tried our debit cards and finally gave up and took the bus. It was fine on the outbound. The driver told us where to wait to go back to Marseille. We waited there(by the terminal) for over an hour and a half. The bus was actually stopping down and across the street. My husband walked down to confirm the stop. We got back to Marseille after losing over two hours trying to return. Make sure you allow time to buy the train ticket at a window and make sure you are in the right place for the bus. This was one of the biggest disappointments of all of our travels. We didn't have time to see Marseille after losing so much time. We had shared a cab to the train from the ship, which is a good idea.

Which ship is apt to circumnavigate Australia in 2017 if HAL sells the Maasdam? I have read that they are trying to sell it.

If you join our Roll Call for May 9 on the Koningsdam, you will see the planned excursions. There are two tours set up for Gibraltar.

Those of us on the Christening Cruise for the Koningsdam would like to hear from any of you who have been on a christening cruise. Is there still access to the dining room, theater and other areas? We are worried that the VIP's will limit our options during the cruise. We would love to hear how these festivities will affect our cruising experience.

I guess in 22 years we've had I think four itinerary changes so I can't say it happens frequently but it certainly happens. One was driven by weather, one was a dropped port because of a political situation, one I have no idea why but it was just a swap in days so same ports, and one was a complete overhaul of the itinerary. The last one was the inaugural cruise of a new ship that we booked more than a year out. It really wasn't all that surprising that the itinerary changed but in this case the changes were so significant that we actually cancelled our booking. Other than that we've had the occasional late arrival/early departure changes once on a ship but most of those weren't significant.

HAL has changed four interesting ports on the Christening Cruise for the Koningsdam on May 9th, 2016. They have added more time in Rotterdam and Amsterdam to accommodate their christening plans. Did they reimburse you for any airline change fees when you cancelled your booking? We are very disappointed as they pulled out Malaga(Alhambra) and Zeebrugge(Bruges)along with A Coruna and Porto. For people who have booked using airline points it is expensive to change your plans. It sounds like booking around an inaugural or christening cruise has some risks.

Does anyone know the name of a company in Malaga which provides small group tours to Alhambra? We would prefer a small group to a large bus tour group.

When will HAL release information for October 2016? Does anyone have an idea as to which ship will be on this itinerary?

I bought this plan last year before our cruise. I read the fine print and saw that they do not cover the cost to take you off the ship in a medical emergency. It only covers you from one hospital in a foreign country to your home hospital. I called and cancelled it since I thought it was misleading consumers. Be sure to read the fine print on the policy!

Which cruise takes you near Edinburgh during August? I have thought about taking a cruise that would allow us to see the tattoo. Thanks for the info.

We used Hello Ephesus. They were really prompt at answering e-mails. We ended up taking our tablemates, so we had a group of 4. The tour director was excellent! We paid after the excursion, so we did not have to pre-pay. The tour that included the Terrace Houses was very informative. Check their website.

Have you actually taken this walk?

There is a paved walkway that goes from the Seattle waterfront, through Myrtle Edwards Park to Pier 91. It passes through the Smith Cove marina. Yes, we have walked it. It follows the water, it is not along the road. I am shocked that people who do not live near Seattle think: 1) it rains all of the time 2) there is only the route along the road to the pier.

I thought the purpose of the CC boards was to help other people with their travel plans. It does not rain all of the time. We had one of the driest summers on record last year. We watch the cruise ships leave every Sunday from our house and it is almost always sunny. How can people from out of town appear to have all of the answers about any particular city?

There is the Waterfront Marriott and the Edgewater along the waterfront. There is a flat, paved sidewalk which takes about a half an hour if you are walking with a rolling suitcase. They are closer than the downtown hotels.

We plan to take the airbus to the airport from the ship. It is about $20 and runs frequently. It goes between the airport and the ferry terminal. Look it up online at:

airbus.co.nz

We plan to take the HOHO boat to the Vasa and then tour City Hall. Will they take credit cards or should we get currency before we leave home? We assume most restaurants will take credit cards. The HOHO boat is the main concern since we will probably see ATM machines once we start walking around town.

Is it possible to walk from the Vasa Museum to City Hall? What about walking from City Hall to Gamla Stan? It is hard to tell on maps if that is just a bridge for cars or can pedestrians walk across safely. How long would each walk take? We walk about 3 miles per hour. It may be quicker to take a cab or HOHO boat.

Thanks Rostocker for the prompt reply. We look forward to exploring the area. We think taking the train is easier than renting a car.

We will be arriving on July 12th at 6am and want to take the train to Scherwin. Is there a new schedule for 2011 that will tell us what time the train leaves Rostock in the morning? We want to walk around Rostock before or after the trip to Scherwin before we return to Warnemunde.