chem eng

I am currently booked on the MSC Sinfonia to sail from Capetown to Venice on March 10th.  I was wondering if anyone was able to access the Marine eVisa that is available for Saudi Arabia.  We will be arriving in Jeddah on March 29, 2023?

What about the Egypt Visa has anyone bothered to get that ahead of time?

Just to let you know that I booked all of my excursions with MSC.  I thought that the prices were very reasonable.  The only port I'm not doing an excursion is Sofkna as both of us have spent several days in Cairo before.  The price to Cairo with day tours of sights with dinner was $182.52 USD with the 20% discount if you booked before the cruise.  

It just makes it easier with no worries about missing the boat or meeting the private drivers.  

I just noticed that you replied to my question.  Thanks a lot.  I already have visited Egypt with Memphis tours so I have seen the various temples, so I'm not feeling the pressure to find excursions in this area.  

Are you sailing on MSC?  How did they handle the Jeddah visa?

MSC now has all the excursions available on their website.  Most of the excursions are reasonably priced which makes it easier for me.  

I'm not sure if we have met up on our travels.  I'm a retired female engineer from Toronto Ontario in Canada.  I have done lots of cruising as it is great way to see the world.

There is a rollcall group for my cruise but nobody has done any of the work yet. 

I'm asking about the quality/cost of MSC tours as I cruised with Costa from Rome to Dubai before and really did not find very many independent operators in that area.  I actually ended up paying more (fewer people) than the cruise line.  

We are planning to take the MSC Sinfornia from Cape Town to Venice on March 10, 2023.  There are a lot of ports that I have not been to.  MSC hasn't released the available shore excursions list yet.

I'm wondering if MSC shore excursion prices are reasonable.  I have cruised with Costa and found that their excursions covered good places to see and were generally reasonable.  I am willing to pay about 100 USD per excursion.  I have also cruised extensively with Norweigan and found that I had to to a lot of work to get shore excursions from the locals' as the price of their excursions were not reasonable. 

We will be going to Durban South Africa, La Possession Reunion Island, 2 days at Port Louis Mauritius and Victoria Seychelles, Jeddah Saudi Arabia and Eqypt ports.

Any advice is appreciated.  If I end up going with local shore excursions I will place the information on the Cruise Critic roll call.  

Thanks

Thanks for the information. It is very helpful

Chris

I am going to Airlie Beach on Feb. 25 on the NCL Jewel. The ship arrives at 7:00 am and leaves at 5:00 pm.

I have looked at all the offerings for boats to the various beaches at Airlie Beach and none of them really work. Being independent it will be a challenge to get off the boat and get on a tender. With the ship leaving at 5:00 pm and being tendered the latest we could get in line is about 4:00 pm. One of the other passengers looked at chartering a boat but he didn't get enough responses to want to take the risk.

Do you have any suggestions to what I can do in Airlie Beach. The Whats In Port website says that there will be locals with Offers. Has anyone had any experience with these?

Thanks

Chris

Thanks for the information. It really helps. Looks like Darwin is definitely out of the picture due to crocodiles and Brisbane due to sharks. What about Newcastle?

Chris

We went with a Air BNB that is close to the Sydney Airport as I found the prices were very high. Managed to get a room with twin beds for about $120 CAD.

Chris

My friend loves to snorkel and where to snorkel is obvious for Airlie Beach and Cairns. However my friend hates to miss an opportunity to snorkel whenever she is traveling. We will be going to the Darwin, Brisbane and Newcastle ports in Feb/March and I was wondering is there any snorkeling in these areas that are accessible on a shore excursion.

Thanks

Chris

We will be sailing on the NCL Jewel in Feb. 20th (Sydney to Singapore). The ship will be docked on the Fisherman Island. I heard that there are usually shuttles available to get to the main business area in Brisbane. Does anyone know the location of the drop off. What hours do they usually run the shuttle?

Thanks

Chris

Location of Shuttle Drop Off

Our ship the NCL Jewel (Feb. 20) will be docked on Fisherman Island. It looks like there is normally a shuttle bus to main downtown area. Can you tell me where they drop you off!

Thanks

Chris

Thanks for the advice.

We will be in Recife on Nov. 30th on a Costa Ship.

The ship is in port from 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm I am trying to decide between 2 of Costa's shore excursions. Both excursions cover the Historical part of Recife:

Recife and Olinda: Olinda is a UNESCO site

Cultural Recife: This excursion includes the Francesco Brennard workshop and the Richardo Brennand Museum which is a Traveller's Choice (Tripadvisor rating) museum.

We are both senior women.

What do you recommend?

We will be flying from Santiago Chile to Houston on November 21 at 10:40 pm and will arrive in Houston at 5:30 in the morning (Nov. 22).

We are planning to rent a car at the airport as it appears that Houston doesn't have suitable public transit. I believe the airport car places open at 7:00 am. Being from Toronto I am used to express ways and busy traffic. I also drive on the same side as the USA.

At this time we are thinking of renting a hotel room for Nov. 21st as we will need to crash once we get here and most hotels don't let you have the room until 2 pm.

We would like to go to the Houston Space Center and the Museum of Fine Arts. How long does it normally take to do these sights.

Where should we rent the hotel room? What are the areas around the airport like? Are there places to eat that are not associated with the hotels? I would like to use Hotwire or the Express Deals on Priceline. Will I have any problems getting 2 beds if I use them. (some European or Asian hotels are very small and you can end up with a small double there!)

Since Nov. 24 is Thanksgiving we are thinking of leaving then as the Museums and Space Centre would be closed. Our flight would leave around 11:30 am which gives us time to return the car and go through security. Is there anything to do on Thanksgiving?

Thanks

Chris

We will be flying from Santiago Chile to Houston on November 21 at 10:40 pm and will arrive in Houston at 5:30 in the morning (Nov. 22).

We are planning to rent a car at the airport as it appears that Houston doesn't have suitable public transit. I believe the airport car places open at 7:00 am. Being from Toronto I am used to express ways and busy traffic. I also drive on the same side as the USA.

At this time we are thinking of renting a hotel room for Nov. 21st as we will need to crash once we get here and most hotels don't let you have the room until 2 pm.

We would like to go to the Houston Space Center and the Museum of Fine Arts. How long does it normally take to do these sights.

Where should we rent the hotel room? What are the areas around the airport like? Are there places to eat that are not associated with the hotels? I would like to use Hotwire or the Express Deals on Priceline. Will I have any problems getting 2 beds if I use them. (some European or Asian hotels are very small and you can end up with a small double there!)

Since Nov. 24 is Thanksgiving we are thinking of leaving then as the Museums and Space Centre would be closed. Our flight would leave around 11:30 am which gives us time to return the car and go through security. Is there anything to do on Thanksgiving?

Thanks

Chris

I have from about 8:00 am on Dec. 6th to 5:00 am on Dec. 8th and was thinking about renting a car to go to the Dead Sea, stay overnight in Jerusalem and do a tour there and then drive home. I will be arriving and leaving on a cruise ship.

I tried several car rental sites but it says that there are no cars available from 9:00 am on Dec. 6th Sunday to 9:00 pm on Dec. 8th. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I decided to go with the ship's excursion to Jerusalem for the first day at the 235 euros and the 2nd day the Dead Sea with Masada for 139 euros with the ship as well. This totals 374 euros for both days and I don't have to make the arrangements just go on the tours.

I just couldn't find any tour operators that I would feel comfortable with from the Eilat port to take me to Jerusalem, which can be explained by only 5 to 10 calls from cruise ships. Most of the tours are to Petra or more local sights.

I figure if I'm blown away by Jerusalem and Israel, I can always come back. It looks like flights between Toronto and Tel Aviv are only about $1000 CAD. The direct flights only take about 11 or 12 hours not like going to Singapore. Then I can take my time and really see the sights.

Thanks for the advise.

We will be in Fujayrak Khor Fakkan in Dec. 2015. I was looking at possible excursions and a company called Pecora Verde came up. They are offering City Tours of Fujairah City for 35 euros. The tour is 4 hours and the meetup details are 9:30 am at the Khor Fakkan port.

I was not able to find any reviews on this company in Tripadvisor or on the internet.

Has anyone used this company and what is your opinion.

Hi:

I have a problem. I booked a cruise with Costa to see Israel but they have dropped the Ashdod port.

Costa is going to Eilat from 8:00 am on Dec. 6th to 6:00 am on the Dec. 8th. They are offering a tour for 235 euros to drive to Jerusaleum and then fly home the same day (length of tour 13.5 hours). One of the other passengers pointed out that the excursion will likely be in Italian.

Do you have any recommendations for any tour companies that could take us from Eilat and show us Jerusaleum, and go to the Dead sea on the 2nd day for a reasonable cost with an overnight stay in the area?

Any other suggestions.

Actually the cruise has the two final days in Dubai so I will not have a hotel room. I am thinking that I would take the cruise ship transfer to the airport first thing on the morning of Dec. 20th, and store my luggage there. I would then take the metro to a convenient Big Bus stop, or use the other freebes associated with the Big Bus tickets. It still would give me about 1/2 day to use the Big Bus ticket and then take the metro back to the airport when I'm done.

Chris

I'm arriving in Dubai on the Costa Riviera on Dec. 19th and flying out on Dec. 20th at 11:55 pm.

I'm debating whether or not to get the Big bus 48 hour ticket. It appears that there is no connection from the port to the metro. You will need to take either a cab or a shuttle bus to a mall and then get the metro from there. The metro also doesn't go everywhere you would want to go as it doesn't go to the Dubai Museum.

I have had some bad experience with HOHO's in other cities and usually just take public transit.

What is your opinion and experience?

Thanks for your help. It is appreciated. The guide is probably a good idea.

Does anyone have any experience with doing Heraklion on your own. I would like to go to Knossos and the Archaelogical Museum.

Costa has a tour for this but it is 52 euros per person. With 2 of our this would be 104 euros. The combined price for both sites is 10 euros each. From the cruise critic description of the port, it appears that you could take a public bus to site and the museum is close to cruise port. Or it would be about 7 euros to take a cab there. I'm thinking that if we go by ourselves, we could have more time to look at the sights. We will only be in port from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Does anyone have any experience with Crete taxi drivers? I'm always nervous getting cabs in foreign countries as I have had bad experiences before.